Month: February 2025

On a Tuesday in February, Hollywood is in the throes of a “Bonfire of the Vanities” moment. Karla Sofía Gascón’s old social media posts, with shocking takes on George Floyd (“a drug addict swindler”) and Islam (“an infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured”), are roiling awards season and have turned the actress
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The “For All Mankind” spinoff “Star City” has made three new additions to its main cast, Variety has learned. Adam Nagaitis (“The Terror,” “Chernobyl,” “The Responder”), Josef Davies (“Andor,” “The Hunt for Raoul Moat,” “Young Wallander”), and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis (“I, Jack Wright,” “Shardlake,” “Becoming Elizabeth”) have all joined the upcoming Apple TV+ alt-history drama.
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The scores for Italian horror films, from giallos to zombie movies, have in recent years become a cornerstone of the vinyl reissue market. Not a month goes by when collectors can’t acquire a new copy of the soundtrack to “Suspiria,” “Zombi 2,” “Nightmare City” or dozens of other terrifying titles. The music for Italian comedies,
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Nabbing exclusive rights to the prequel to “Shtisel,” the series Netflix made popular around the world, is more than just a financial opportunity for Izzy CEO Nati Dinnar to put his fledgling streaming service on the global map. Premiering Feb. 28 on Izzy, “Kugel” represents a chance to advance the interests of his homeland’s reputation amid war
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FilmNation Entertainment has hired Andy Kim, a top executive at Participant Media, to serve as its chief operating officer. In his new post, Kim will oversee all day-to-day operations, strategic planning, business development, and finance at the independent entertainment company. He joins as FilmNation is enjoying a wave of critical and commercial successes, including backing
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“Wicked,” the blockbuster movie musical the earned 10 Academy Award nominations and $727 million at the worldwide box office, will begin streaming March 21 on Peacock. The movie’s singalong version will also be available to stream on the same day along with a collection of bonus content. Directed by Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians,”
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Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud has completed his trilogy with “Dreams (Sex Love),” presented in Berlinale’s main competition. Its previous parts, “Sex” and “Love,” were shown at Berlinale’s Panorama and in Venice. M-Appeal handles sales. “It’s very, very good that it’s over. It has been a long run. Making these three movies wasn’t that hard
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Television shows depicting law enforcement officers navigating their professional and personal lives typically take themselves quite seriously, such as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Chicago P.D.” But series like “Reno 911!,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and now, The CW/Roku Channel’s “Good Cop/Bad Cop” have injected much-needed levity into an often severe and cynical genre. Created
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For cinema owners, “Survive till 25” has become a mantra as one catastrophe after another has kicked their business’s recovery down the road. But the end of that long and winding road is here, so will the upcoming slate result in a true box office revival? Over the next 11 months, Hollywood will unveil blockbuster
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Berlin-based world sales company M-Appeal has secured additional international distribution agreements for three of its Berlin Film Festival titles. Among the latest sales, “Dreams (Sex, Love),” which premieres today in Berlinale Competition, has been acquired by Films4You for Portugal, Swallow Wings for Taiwan and Beta Films for Bulgaria. “Dreams (Sex, Love)” is Norwegian writer director
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Keep Smokin’ has released the trailer for “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie,” a buddy comedy-documentary hybrid chronicling the career of the iconic stoner duo. The film’s official logline reads: “‘Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie’ defies documentary expectations, offering a wildly imaginative take on genre convention; a true-life tale told through a mix of animation and
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“Bad Boys for Life” filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are set to direct a film about the tragic true story of Sanda Dia, a Black student who died in 2018 after enduring a violent fraternity hazing ritual at an elite university in Belgium. Brussels-based production company Komoko, founded by Nabil Ben Yadir and Marc Goyens,
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In an amended complaint filed late Tuesday night, Blake Lively alleged that her “It Ends With Us” co-star Justin Baldoni made two other women on the set of the film “uncomfortable” — and they’re willing to testify at trial. The 141-page document claims that “Ms. Lively was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni and
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Endemol Shine Australia (ESA), part of French TV giant Banijay Entertainment, has formed a global partnership with Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS), the Japanese broadcaster and producer behind international hit formats such as “Ninja Warrior” and “Takeshi’s Castle.” The co-development deal will give ESA access to TBS’s library of new and existing formats which it
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FESTIVAL FORTUNES India’s 2025 box office kicked off in high gear, powered by a Sankranthi holiday-fueled Telugu-language onslaught that pushed local grosses past the INR10.13 billion ($116.6 million) mark. Leading the charge was “Sankranthiki Vasthunam,” starring Venkatesh, a genre-bending blockbuster that towered over the month’s chart with a commanding $23 million haul. Per Ormax Media,
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London-based Cineflix Rights has snapped up international rights to the premium crime series “Hildur” which just started filming in Iceland for production partners Take Two Studios, Sagafilm, Nelonen Media’s streamer Ruutu in Finland, Simínn in Iceland and private funder IPR.VC. The six-part series, primarily in the English-language, is based on Satu Rämö’s literary phenomenon “Hildur,” which sold
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Los Angeles-based film and television studio Happy Accidents has partnered with Australian production companies Total Fiction and Screen Invaders on the genre-bending drama-comedy series “Gnomes” (6×30′). The studio, which specializes in high-end content across multiple genres including films, scripted and unscripted series, documentaries and formats, has come aboard as co-producer and international distributor for the
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U.K. entertainment financier Goldfinch is making power moves in Southeast Asia’s largest market, inking a landmark joint venture to launch Goldfinch Indonesia. The deal, unveiled in Jakarta, brings heavyweight local players Synco and Goshen Group into the fold as the company aims to transform Indonesia’s creative industries. The venture, which was officially witnessed by Indonesia’s
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SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “The Mickey,” the Season 7, Episode 7 of ABC’s “The Rookie.” Jenna Dewan never expected to stick around on “The Rookie.” But after Dewan signed on to the ABC police procedural for a multi-episode arc in 2021, the actress’ fun-loving firefighter Bailey Nune immediately made an impression by
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