Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is to receive S$133,000 ($99,000) in damages and aggravated damages from a Facebook user who linked to an article judged to be defamatory and originally published from overseas. The verdict against Leong Sze Hian was announced in writing on Wednesday by Justice Aedit Abdullah. Submissions were heard by the
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The revival of the touring business took another tentative step forward when AEG, the world’s second-largest live-entertainment company, sent a notice to furloughed staffers that they will begin returning to work on April 1. According to an email to staff from AEG CEO Dan Beckerman, the first group of employees who had been furloughed or
Tues. March 23 Ted Hope To Co-lead New Entertainment And Creative Industries Program At ASU Ted Hope, the former Co-Head at Amazon Movies, will join Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management as the marquee professor of practice in the new Master of Arts in Global Affairs and Management in the Creative Industries (MGCI).
Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s latest project for Netflix, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” has found its leads. Evan Peters, a longtime staple of Murphy’s “American Horror Story” anthology series, will take on the role of notorious serial killer Dahmer. Niecy Nash, who starred in Murphy and Brennan’s 2015 series “Scream Queens,” has been cast
George Segal, whose long career included playing Albert “Pops” Solomon on “The Goldbergs,” and garnering an Oscar nom for supporting actor for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” died Tuesday. He was 87. His wife Sonia announced his death, saying, “The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications
Beatrix Potter’s beloved literary character Peter Rabbit suffered from a bit of an identity crisis in his contemporized big-screen debut. In 2018’s “Peter Rabbit,” his headstrong, mischievous spirit didn’t bear more than a passing resemblance to the fundamental virtues the author had fused into her expansive children’s book series. He was reckless, arrogant and downright wicked, barely
She’s played a queen, and now she’ll be a god. Helen Mirren has joined New Line’s DC comics adaptation “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” as Hespera, the villainous daughter of the god Atlas. Practically the entire team behind 2019’s “Shazam!” is returning for the sequel, including stars Asher Angel (who plays teenager Billy Batson, who
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced the return of reality competition series “The Circle” and “Too Hot to Handle,” and Bravo set the premiere date for Season 13 of “The Real Housewives of New York City.” PROGRAMMING Popsugar announced Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Shonda Rhimes, Marsai Martin, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Auli’i Cravalho will join “Girl
The staff of Secretly Group, one of the largest independent music companies in the U.S., announced plans on Tuesday morning to form a union to address a list of concerns they’re hoping to correct with a union contract, according to an open letter and an article in Rolling Stone. The concerns include low wages and
Elsa Majimbo, comedian and social-media phenom, has signed with CAA for representation in all areas. A native of Kenya, Majimbo attracted worldwide attention during last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns with her funny, pared-down Instagram monologues — coupled with her contagious laugh, tiny sunglasses and predilection for potato crisps (which Americans call “chips”). Currently, Majimbo and her
Sherri Shepherd has boarded the ABC comedy pilot “Black Don’t Crack.” She is set to star and produce. Shepherd will play Angela Wright, a native New Yorker who is somewhere between 45 and death. She’s a single mom who’s put aside her musical dreams to raise her son after her husband dies. She’s been holding
ViacomCBS stock dropped nearly 9.1% Tuesday, as investors exited positions on news that the media conglomerate will sell up to $3.45 billion in stock as part of funding streaming content. The company’s shares closed at $91.25 apiece, coming a day after ViacomCBS’ announcement of plans to raise $3 billion in a stock offering. In addition,
By the end of the first episode of “Invincible,” 17-year-old Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) has discovered and embraced his own awesome powers, courtesy of his extraterrestrial father, Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons). He’s learned how to take a punch, fly, and land — after making several alarmingly deep holes in his backyard, anyway. He’s also gotten his
Adam Wingard left it all on the field. Despite the challenges of setting up an epic fight between two of the most famous monsters in movie history, the “Godzilla vs. Kong” director insists that there isn’t some four-hour long, Snyder Cut version just waiting to be released. So sorry kaiju fans, the film that will
Despite extensive news reporting about China’s secretive “re-education” camps in the Xinjiang region, it is difficult to imagine what it’s like for more than a million Uyghur, Kazakh and other minorities detained inside. A new film aims to put you in their shoes — almost literally — with the help of virtual reality technology. “Reeducated,”
The ladies of “A Black Lady Sketch” show are back and the second season will be launching even sooner than fans expected. The sketch comedy series from creator Robin Thede will return on April 23, with a six-episode season airing on HBO and available to stream on HBO Max. “Oh you thought a pandemic was
After almost a decade, “Home & Family” is signing off of the Hallmark Channel. The morning show, which paused production twice amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to resume filming at the end of March. Now Variety has learned exclusively that that batch of episodes will be its last. “The ninth and current season of ‘Home
Halle Berry is set to take on “Our Man from New Jersey,” starring opposite Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming spy movie for Netflix. Wahlberg will also produce the film, working alongside Stephen Levinson, following last year’s successful launch of “Spenser Confidential” at the streamer. The film’s script comes from screenwriter David Guggenheim (“Safe House,” “Designated
Hundreds of members of the international music industry have signed an open letter to record labels titled “Pay Songwriters,” calling for better financial treatment from the record labels that are riding a tide of streaming-powered success. That success is evidenced by the strong numbers in the IFPI annual global report on recorded music released today,
As moviegoing slowly begins to rebound in the U.S., it appears Hollywood studios aren’t yet ready to release their biggest blockbuster hopefuls on the big screen. All that is to say Disney has massively overhauled its upcoming slate and amended release plans for “Black Widow,” Emma Stone’s “Cruella,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten
Praised for its immersive approach to mapping out a drummer’s confrontation with hearing loss, writer-director Darius Marder’s “Sound of Metal,” now contending for six Academy Awards, features a singularly story-driven use of sound. Part of that sonic alchemy proudly bears a “Made in Mexico” stamp. The film is nominated for best sound, and three of
Naomie Harris has signed on for a lead role in “The Man Who Fell to Earth” series at Showtime, Variety has learned. Harris joins previously announced series lead Chiwetel Ejiofor. The show is based on Walter Tevis’ 1963 novel and the 1976 Nicolas Roeg film that starred David Bowie, both of the same name. In the
“Snowfall,” the acclaimed drama set during the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles in the 1980s, has been renewed for a fifth season by FX, the network announced on Tuesday. Currently airing its fourth season, the show has seen a 41% increase in total viewers over its past season, with an average of 5.1 million
Producer Ted Hope will co-lead a new entertainment and creative industries program at Arizona State University. The program, which offers a Master of Arts in Global Affairs and Management in the Creative Industries (MGCI), is powered by ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management in collaboration with the Sidney Poitier New American Film School. The graduate
In trying to explain why 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long would walk into three Atlanta-area massage spas on March 16 and shoot eight people, including six women of Asian descent, law enforcement officials cited the shooter’s self-reported motivation as “sexual addiction,” not one of racial hatred. But amid a yearlong backdrop of anti-Asian sentiment fueled by
A holiday-themed romantic comedy centered on gay men is coming to Netflix from Michael Mayer, the Tony Award-winning director of the Broadway sensation “Spring Awakening.” In a genre that has seen increased calls for inclusion, the ensemble project “Single All the Way” boasts beloved actors of pop culture sensations past and a pedigreed filmmaking team.
Tyler Perry has found the stars for his passion project “A Jazzman’s Blues,” casting Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer in the lead roles for the film, which Perry wrote 26 years ago. “I have waited a quarter of a century to tell this story and now is the perfect time and Netflix is the perfect
The global music industry remained remarkably resilient despite a year under lockdown, according to the IFPI’s new Global Music Report. The headline figure showed that global recorded music revenues rose 7.4% in 2020 to $21.6 billion, only slightly below 2019’s 8.2% increase. But there was also an awful lot going on underneath the surface. Variety
Isobel Waller-Bridge, whose film and TV work includes the scores for “Fleabag,” “Emma” and Netflix’s upcoming “Munich,” has signed a deal with Decca Publishing, the four-year-old publishing company that specializes in handling the catalogs of outside-the-box composers like Max Richter and Clint Mansell. Waller-Bridge also recently signed with the Mercury KX label with the intention
Hulu has ordered the animated comedy “Koala Man” to series. The series hails creator and executive producer Michael Cusack, with Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez onboard as executive producers and showrunners. “Rick and Morty” and “Solar Opposites” co-creator Justin Roiland will also executive produce along with Princess Pictures and Bento Box. 20th Television Animation will