When Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas announced the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards, the most shocking inclusion was Lakeith Stanfield in best supporting actor for his performance in Warner Bros’ “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Not surprising from the standpoint of quality, as he delivers a career-best turn as William O’Neal — an
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Sales agency Pony Canyon is bringing some of the biggest upcoming Japanese live-action films to FilMart, including genre titles with global ambitions. One is “Office Royale,” whose title references the 2000 Fukasaku Kinji classic “Battle Royale,” but is an action comedy scripted by popular funnyman Bakarhythm and directed by TV drama veteran Seki Kazuaki. Nakano
Multiple agencies from The Philippines took to the virtual floor on the first day of FilMart to promote the Southeast Asian country’s companies and to tout the island nation as a desirable production location. Its biggest new selling point is a recently-unveiled funding system for Asian co-productions. The ASEAN Co-Production Fund (ACOF) provides grants of
Chinese director Cai Chengjie will follow up his Rotterdam prize-winning first feature with “Splash,” a new project that daringly takes on the topic of sexual assault. It has been selected as one of 20 narrative films to participate in this year’s Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum. The film will tell the story of 24 hours
Chinese helmer Xu Lei will return to the subject of rural life in northern China for his second feature “The Peacemaker,” one of the 20 narrative film projects selected to participate in the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum this year. Xu’s suspenseful and darkly humorous first film “Summer Detective,” which he wrote and directed, was
Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat is readying “The Forgotten History,” her next feature after the acclaimed “A Letter to the President” (2017). Sadat is one of the few women filmmakers from Afghanistan and taught herself cinema during the Taliban regime. “The Forgotten History,” set in pre-civil war Afghanistan, sees the friendship of two girls disrupted by their
All three songs from the new Drake EP, “Scary Hours 2,” punched in at the top of this week’s Rolling Stone songs chart, followed by the new single from Bruno Mars’ and Anderson .Paak’s supergroup, Silk Sonic in the fourth spot. All that action coming from newly released song helped make up for the lack
Two of the Hong Kong entertainment industry’s biggest names, Media Asia and One Cool Pictures Group have joined forces to launch a new company that will tap into fast-growing social media content production. The move reflects how social media and social commerce have gained while traditional forms of entertainment and retail have struggled during the
YouTube is getting another round of at-bats with America’s pastime. Major League Baseball and YouTube announced a renewal of their global pact for live baseball broadcasts, with the internet video giant set to stream 21 games — for free — over the course of the 2021 regular season. It’s the third season of YouTube’s deal
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix released the trailer for “The Irregulars,” and Apple TV Plus launched an interactive experience “Servant.” FIRST LOOKS Netflix unveiled its trailer for “The Irregulars,” out March 26. The dark, supernatural twist on the classic Sherlock Holmes tale follows a gang of troubled street teens who must come together to
The 2021 Grammys were an awards show like none before them, in countless ways — and although opinions are mixed about what worked and what didn’t, the consensus seem to be largely positive, with inevitable caveats. Perhaps most of all, the way the Grammys chose to handle the “In Memoriam” segment, which on most awards
Swiss art fair giant Art Basel is venturing into online streaming with a new digital film program featuring artist-made films. The section will launch ahead of its annual Hong Kong fair which has been postponed to May. The program began with a showcase of three works by Asian artists on the art fair’s website that
When Lake Street Dive settled in to work with producer Mike Elizondo on the band’s new album, “Obviously,” it might not have seemed like a completely obvious choice — at least not for those who think of him primarily as a hip-hop producer, not the jack-of-all-trades that he really is, and for those who identify
Facebook is officially in the running for an Academy Award. The social giant’s Oculus virtual-reality group, together with EA’s Respawn Entertainment, co-produced “Colette,” a documentary short created as part of VR video game “Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.” On Monday, the film received an Oscar nomination for documentary short subject. The 24-minute film from
Showtime has ordered a pilot inspired by the hit Swedish novel and film “Let the Right One In,” Variety has learned. Demián Bichir is attached to star in the series, with Andrew Hinderaker onboard as showrunner and executive producer. Seith Mann will also executive produce in addition to directing the pilot. The series centers on Mark
It’s been a year since the Television Academy put a halt to officially sanctioned Emmy For Your Consideration events, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they’re set to finally return next week — but virtually, of course. Emmy FYC events make a comeback on March 24 with two events at 7 p.m. PT. Nat Geo
The Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which runs March 18-21, is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood. Here are some of the event’s highlights: ‘The Life Ahead’ panel“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io
The film academy announced its nominations on Monday, and with it, the first concrete details about the 93rd ceremony, including utilizing Los Angeles’ Union Station as a venue, after being forced to relocate due to pandemic restrictions. Variety has obtained an exclusive letter that was sent to all Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Ever since “Justice League” released back in 2017, fans have been craving to see Zack Snyder’s unaltered version of the superhero film. A fan campaign called #ReleaseTheSnyderCut began to pick up momentum, and more than three years later, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” has arrived. Clocking in at four hours and two minutes, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League”
Boat Rocker Studios, a division of Boat Rocker Media, and veteran television executive Jessica Sebastian-Dayeh have partnered to launch the new production company, Maven. Maven will initially be focused on unscripted content. The company will also seek to collaborate with Boat Rocker’s scripted and kids & family divisions, with an emphasis on female-led narratives. “I’ve
Few film institutions, and certainly no film festivals, experienced a COVID trial by fire quite as SXSW did last year. The mammoth Austin event — which includes a film festival, a tech conference and its original smorgasbord of musical performances — was the first major film festival to cancel in response to the pandemic when
As Italy’s film and TV industry forges ahead after bearing the brunt of the pandemic in 2020, the Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood, is pulling out all the stops to drive and promote the country’s restart effort. After Filming Italy miraculously managed to hold its sister
Of all the locations one could possibly choose to stage modern relationship movies, cramped apartments surely rank as just about the least cinematic option. But that hasn’t stopped Swiss helmer Ramon Zürcher (“The Strange Little Cat”) from willingly embracing such boxy, where-to-place-the-camera confines yet again for his second feature, “The Girl and the Spider,” or
Hasbro promises to reveal a slate of new toys and products — including with partner brands Marvel, Star Wars and Fortnite — at a new collector-focused virtual event next month. The Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest will feature “never-before-seen content and product reveals,” the company says. The virtual event will take place April 9 at 11
Play video content Breaking News Clubhouse Tiffany Haddish and Nicki Minaj got beef … it sure seems like it anyway, after the comedian threw some major shade at the rapper. Tiffany was partaking in a Clubhouse chat recently when a guy compared her to Nicki — calling her the “Nicki Minaj of comedy right now.”
“Words for an End of the World,” the third feature by Spain’s Manuel Menchón, continues his exploration of the towering figure of Miguel de Unamuno, also the subject of his prior fiction film, “The Island of Wind.” The documentary, however, covers new ground, embarks on a far more ambitious revisiting of Spain’s still not so
Henry Darrow, the first Hispanic actor to portray Zorro on television who also starred in TV series “The High Chaparral,” has died. He was 87. According to his former publicist, Michael B. Druxman, Darrow died Sunday at his home in Wilmington, N.C. Throughout the 60s, Darrow appeared in television series such as “Wagon Train,” “Bonanza,”
Bento Box Entertainment and Australian television and film production company Princess Pictures have formed Princess Bento Studio, an all-new animation studio that will produce and distribute animated content for platforms in the United States, Australia and Australian co-production treaty countries and around the world. Supported through Film Victoria, a statutory agency of the Victoria State
Elisha “EJ” Williams has been cast in the main role of “The Wonder Years” pilot at ABC, Variety has learned. The project will show how a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama in the turbulent late 1960s, made sure it was The Wonder Years for them too. Williams will star in the role of Dean,
The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, hosted by South African comedian Trevor Noah and boasting powerhouse performers Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, BTS, Billie Eilish, Post Malone and Megan Thee Stallion, drew a scant audience for CBS. This year’s telecast was the lowest-rated in Grammys history in the early numbers. Per Nielsen Live+Same Day fast-affiliate