Month: April 2024

Variety‘s annual Power of Law breakfast, presented by City National Bank, featured speakers discussing the radical changes that have rocked the entertainment industry in recent years and how insiders are adapting to the uncertainty surrounding Hollywood. The event honored Cliff Gilbert-Lurie, Ziffren Brittenham LLP co-managing and senior partner, with the Power of Law Award recognizing
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One of the most impressive parts of the April 13 episode of “Saturday Night Live” was Kenan Thompson‘s ability not to break during the hilarious “Beavis and Butt-Head.” During the episode, a NewsNation anchor (Heidi Gardner) attempts to interview a professor (Thompson) about AI, but the conversation is interrupted when Thompson’s professor notices that two
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Netflix made a surprise announcement in reporting its (very good) first quarter results this week: The streaming TV powerhouse will stop reporting quarterly subscriber figures starting in 2025. In response, Netflix shares have taken a hit: The stock is down 8.7% Friday on the news, as investors fret that the lack of visibility into the
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Jeff Boone has joined Fremantle‘s North American team as its new VP of scripted development. In this role, Boone will be responsible for developing new series for its pipeline and play an active role within Fremantle’s global scripted network. Boone will report to Fremantle’s EVP of Scripted Programming, Jenni Sherwood.  Boone joins Fremantle from his previous
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Brent Miller, the producer who helped Norman Lear achieve even more success in the legendary icon’s final years, is launching his own shingle. Miller will continue his first-look deal with Sony Pictures TV, originally under Lear’s Act III Prods., via the new company A House On Brame Productions. Miller was most recently president of production
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Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” is sweaty, sexy and full of angst. The film, which hits theaters April 26, centers on a love triangle between three tennis players with deeply competitive spirits both in the game and off the court. In it, former doubles partners Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) face off in
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Keanu Reeves is in talks to star in two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund’s highly anticipated next feature “The Entertainment System Is Down,” Variety has learned. While the exact plot of the movie remains under wraps, Östlund has teased it several times as a social satire set on a long-haul flight on which the entertainment system
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“She-Hulk” star Tatiana Maslany went viral during the SAG-AFTRA strike last year when she called out Disney CEO Bob Iger for being “completely out of touch” due to his controversial comments about the Hollywood work stoppage. That “She-Hulk” was a Disney-backed Marvel series streaming on Disney+ only drew more heightened attention to her Iger call
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There’s a lot of magic in “The Spiderwick Chronicles.” Based on the acclaimed children’s fantasy books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, and adapted for television by Aron Eli Coleite, the TV show is full of mystical creatures like ogres, fetches and dragons. However, this story is no fairytale. Instead, the series, which was axed
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UPDATED: After building its business on YouTube and generating more than 400 million views on the platform, Watcher Entertainment will now offer full series of its original unscripted content — including “Ghost Files,” “Mystery Files” and “Puppet History” — exclusively on its new, subscription-based streaming service. Watcher was formed by former BuzzFeed creators Steven Lim,
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Spring has been filled with scares, like Sydney Sweeney’s “Immaculate,” the “Omen” prequel “First Omen” and the talk-show thriller “Late Night With the Devil” in recent weeks. Now the vampiric “Abigail,” from the directors of the last two “Scream” movies, is sinking its teeth into the box office with $1 million in previews so far.
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In an exclusive interview with Variety after picking up the top industry prize at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel, Franco-Iranian director Mehran Tamadon outlined the intention of his upcoming feature documentary “The Last Days of the Hospital.” Set against the backdrop of France’s public health crisis and shortage of personnel, the film will show
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SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for “Baby Reindeer,” streaming now on Netflix. In just over a week, Richard Gadd‘s miniseries “Baby Reindeer” has captivated Netflix viewers with its shocking story of a struggling comedian being stalked by an older woman named Martha. Even more shocking? The fact that the show is based on Gadd’s
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Arab distributor Mad Solutions has taken distribution rights for Arab world territories on French director Jonathan Millet’s “Ghost Trail,” ahead of the psychological thriller’s upcoming world premiere as the opening film of Cannes Critics’ Week. “Ghost Trail” is being sold by French arthouse production and distribution giant MK2. Inspired by real-life events, “Ghost Trail” is the
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Disney+, Max and Mubi are among the new participants of Cannes Film Market‘s Streamers Forum, a series of conferences discussing the evolution of the streaming landscape. Clément Schwebig, Warner Bros. Discovery’s president of Western Europe and Africa, and Mubi CEO Efe Cakarel will deliver exclusive keynotes at the event. Schwebig will make his debut on
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Héléna Klotz’s “Spirit of Ecstasy” will open the 2024 Kashish LGBTQ+ film festival in Mumbai, while Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s “Mutt” will close it. “Spirit of Ecstasy,” which debuted at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, follows a gender-questioning stock-market trader who is determined to make it in the world of finance; not for the glory orwealth, but because
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Film Factory has picked up rights to Luis Gabriel Beristáin‘s revenge action thriller “The Gentleman,” a Spain-Mexico co-production starring an international cast led by Golden Globe-winner Ron Pearlman. Produced by Spanish company Esto También Pasará (“Ferocious Wolf,” “The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth”) and Mexican outfit SDB Films (“The Deal”), shooting on “The Gentleman” is
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Gabriel Guevara, the breakout star of the huge hit film saga “My Fault” (“Culpa Mía”) on Amazon Prime Video, is now set to lead Atresplayer‘s new series, “Mar afuera.” This project marks a significant collaboration between Atresmedia TV and Beta Fiction Spain, taking on the adaptation of the smash Italian series “Mare Fuori,” (“The Sea
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Elodie Grace Orkin (“Stranger Things”) and Samuel Small (“The Strays”) are set to star in “Screening Room,” a short drama written and directed by Abdullah Khan (“Find the Light”). “Screening Room” explores the connection between two moviegoers. Set during a film festival in London, the short follows a young screenwriter, played by Small, who while
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“Sentinel,” by Hollywood legend Phil Tippett, and “Sister Inconnue,” the first solo directorial outing of RKSS’ Anouk Whissell, cold well be two highlights at a 2024 Cannes Frontières Platform that looks set to underscore the robust range of genre as it is embraced by Hollywood, big independents, horror devotees and auteurs alike.  Creator of creatures
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Standout Paris-based sales outfit Luxbox (“1976”) has acquired international sales rights to the debut solo feature effort from Chilean multi-hyphenate Vinko Tomičić Salinas(“Durmiente”),“The Dog Thief” (“El Ladrón de Perros”), which bows in the international narrative competition at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, running June 5-16. The film follows an adolescent shoe shining orphan, Martín (Franklin Aro Huasco), in
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John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel reunited at the TCM Classic Film festival on Thursday for a 30th anniversary screening of Quentin Tarantino‘s “Pulp Fiction” to reflect on the film’s impact on their careers — and upon the medium itself. “It changed cinema, so it’s almost hard to have it sink
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Berlin-based Picture Tree Intl. has acquired the international sales rights, excluding the Nordic countries, for the Finnish daughter-father comedy “Butterflies” (Perhoset). “Butterflies” is directed by Jenni Toivoniemi, based on a screenplay by Anna Brotkin. Set against the backdrop of Finland’s vibrant Tango Festival, “Butterflies” follows the journey of Siiri, a world-weary 29-year-old woman, and her
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