The William Morris Endeavor agency has launched a new division for representing and servicing celebrity and brand estates. Run by Phil Sandhaus, a veteran estate manager and consultant to late icons like Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly and Whitney Houston, the new WME shingle will bring trailblazing artists and iconic brands into the modern business landscape.
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“Men always seem to end up on top,” goes “Women Is Losers,” the Janis Joplin song that lends writer-director Lissette Feliciano’s 1960s-set feature debut its title. It’s a fitting line to ponder in the context of her over-enthusiastic yet frustratingly clumsy feminist film, which declares “inspired by real women” in its first frame before going
Veteran studio executive Lee Rosenthal is leaving Paramount Pictures, it was announced internally on Tuesday. In a memo from Paramount Motion Picture Group President Emma Watts, staff was informed that Rosenthal was “departing Paramount Pictures to pursue other opportunities.” His most recent title was head of physical production. “Lee has been a driving force in
In an internal memo to Fox Corporation employees Tuesday morning, CEO Lachlan Murdoch told staff that the company is deferring its next possible phase one reopening date to “no earlier than September 7, immediately after Labor Day.” The company had previously set a return-to-work date no earlier than April of this year, amid the ongoing
David Beckham, legendary soccer player and club owner, entrepreneur and founder of production company Studio 99, will be a keynote speaker at Digital MipTV. In his first in-depth television industry keynote, Beckham will talk about launching his own production company, his global ambitions for Studio 99, and current projects in production and development for several
Epix and Blumhouse have teamed for a new partnership, in which Blumhouse Television will develop and produce eight horror/genre-thriller movies exclusively for the network. Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum will serve as executive producer on the original films slate. “A House on the Bayou” from writer-director Alex McAulay marks the first film in the
After last year’s scandal over Roman Polanski’s director win, the 46th Cesar Awards, France’s highest film honors, which took place on Friday in the presence of nominees, has been the subject of vitriolic criticism from industry figures. Some have claimed that the spectacle was so vulgar that it has tarnished the image of French cinema
Sometimes you have to cut loose from the shackles of self-perception to really be free. Nearly two decades into their recorded career, Kings of Leon are a band now willing to let go of commercial concerns. “We’ll argue with the record label later if we don’t have the radio hit,” frontman and principal songwriter Caleb
Legendary golfer Tiger Woods is stepping back on the virtual links. Woods inked an exclusive, multiyear deal with Take-Two Interactive’s 2K to appear in the company’s PGA Tour golf video games and also serve as a consultant. It marks Woods’ return to the video game world after an eight-year absence. News of the pact comes
Starzplay has unveiled plot details, casting and a first-look image for “Express,” an original co-produced with Spanish production giant The Mediapro Studio and U.S. streaming platform Pantaya. “Express” is Starzplay’s first local language Spanish production, but one of several announced in August of last year. Each will be available on the Starzplay platform in Spain
Following hot on the heels of the recently wrapped Berlin Film Festival, this year’s online edition of the Hong Kong Intl. Film & TV Market (FilMart) will include a host of buzzy titles and award winners gathered under the Europe! Umbrella, which brings together 29 European sales agents in a virtual pavilion organized by European
European Film Promotion, a network of 37 film promotion bodies from across the continent, is gathering 29 European sales companies from nine nations under the Europe! Umbrella at the virtual edition of the Hong Kong Intl. Film & TV Market (FilMart). For the second year running the annual event has been moved online because of
U.S. actors Maika Monroe (“It Follows”), Karl Glusman (“Nocturnal Animals”) and Burn Gorman (“Enola Holmes”) are attached to star in psychological thriller “Watcher,” directed by Chloe Okuno, which starts shooting this month. The previously announced film marks the feature film debut of Okuno, director of the award-winning AFI short film “Slut,” centered on a naive
The lucrative western India box office market will take a hit as a fresh wave of coronavirus has driven cinemas back to 50% occupancy. On Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which is in charge of Mumbai, the commercial capital of India and the home of the Bollywood film industry, ordered that cinemas return to 50%
The School of Film Advancement’s (SOFA) workshop — usually held physically in Tbilisi, Georgia — will go online for a second consecutive year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. SOFA is a program of workshops that focuses on cultural managers and film entrepreneurs rather than producers and directors. The 2021 workshop will focus on the
Veering between profundity, faux profundity and a faintly discernible mockery of those who might mistake one for the other, Canadian filmmaker Denis Côté administers a thimbleful of COVID-era potion with “Social Hygiene,” which brought him the best director prize in the Berlinale Encounters sidebar (shared with Ramon and Silvan Zürcher for “The Girl and the
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. says it has reached a three-year agreement with Facebook under which the publisher will provide news and information to the social media giant’s Facebook News product. The move follows Australia’s recent historic move to approve a law that would force social media and tech giants to pay publishers for news on
As she developed her sophomore feature, director Yngvild Sve Flikke sought to evoke the messiness of life. “I’m a restless person,” the Scandinavian filmmaker tells Variety. “If I’m working on something knowing exactly where it’s going, I’ll get an itch in my back, telling me to change it up. I wanted to make [a film]
Yaphet Kotto, an actor known for his performances in “Alien,” the James Bond film “Live and Let Die” and the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street,” has died, his agent Ryan Goldhar confirmed to Variety. He was 81. Kotto’s wife, Tessie Sinahon, first posted about Kotto’s death on Facebook Monday night. “I’m saddened and still
At its peak in 2004, Blockbuster licensed its name to nearly 9,000 video rental stores around the world. According to my calculations, that means there must have been at least 90,000 copies of “Gigli” in circulation by the chain, which specialized in stocking up on new releases and strangling competitors out of business. Today, you
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead, if you have not watched the finale of “The Bachelorette,” which aired on Monday, Mar. 15. Bachelor Nation is getting two new seasons of “The Bachelorette” this year. Katie Thurston and Michelle Young were revealed to be ABC’s next leading ladies in “The Bachelor” franchise, with each starring in their
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read until you’ve watched the March 15 episode of “The Bachelor” entitled “After The Final Rose.” Usually, it’s “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison putting contestants in the hot seat on the “After The Final Rose” post-final episode of the ABC dating competition series, but following real-life scandal, he was the subject of tonight’s
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the March 15 season finale of “The Bachelor.” Reality host Chris Harrison coined the phrase “the most dramatic season ever,” but nothing has been more dramatic than the tension escalating off-screen during this season of “The Bachelor.” Season 25 — featuring the franchise’s first-ever
“World of Dance” has been canceled at NBC after four seasons, Variety has confirmed. Though there are currently no plans for the show to return to NBC, the Universal Television Alternative Studio — a division of Universal Studio Group — still owns its format, which has been adapted all over the world in countries like Thailand, the
A new album from Demi Lovato is coming next month. During a livestream on Clubhouse Monday night, Lovato revealed that her first album since 2017 is titled “Dancing With the Devil: The Art of Starting Over,” and will release on April 2. Lovato explained that the original title was just “The Art of Starting Over,”
Calling Fox News host Tucker Carlson a “relentlessly indignant picket fence,” among other things, “Last Week Tonight” comedian John Oliver critiqued the right-wing talk show host for being “the most prominent vessel in America for white supremacy talking points.” On the latest installment of his HBO show on Sunday, Oliver pointed to Carlson’s defense of
Elton John is speaking out against the Vatican after they issued a statement saying that the Catholic Church will not bless same-sex marriages. On Monday, the Vatican’s orthodoxy office issued a response to a question asking if members of the Catholic clergy can bless gay marriages. Their statement, which was approved by Pope Francis, stated
Mon. March. 15 Nine Female Filmmakers Chosen For Future Directors of Studio Features Initiative Nine female filmmakers have been selected to participate in the inaugural Future Directors of Studio Features Initiative. Blackmagic Design announced the initiative, which is designed to elevate and polish undiscovered and underrepresented female-identifying storytellers who are poised to make the transition
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been given notice by Hollywood publicists. A group of 102 PR firms has signed a letter to the HFPA advising them that they are instructing their clients not work with the HFPA until the organization not only releases a plan to drastically transform the non-profit organization. The letter was
Global revenue for recorded music had a significant bump in 2020, growing by 7% despite the pandemic, according to a new study released by Midia Research. That came despite a second quarter where revenue was down by 3% from the year before, as music took a hit as quarantining kicked in. By the fourth quarter