After recently hosting Michael Bay’s big-budget actioner “6 Underground” and George Clooney-directed series “Catch 22,” Rome’s Cinecittà Studios is set to welcome several more productions with Hollywood ties. The next one is Netflix witchcraft series “Luna Nera,” helmed by a trio of Italian women: Francesca Comencini (“Gomorra”), Susanna Nicchiarelli (“Nico, 1988”) and Paola Randi (“Little
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May 17, 2019 2:00PM PT “Rick and Morty” is getting the Dungeons & Dragons treatment later this year in a new tabletop adventure, Wizards of the Coast announced Friday. “Dungeons & Dragons vs Rick and Morty: Tabletop Roleplaying Game Adventure” will include everything those looking to dive into D&D will need to get started. D&D
Wizart, Russia’s leading animation producer, has inked a co-production pact with U.S. sales and finance company QED Intl. Last month, Wizart’s “The Snow Queen: Fire and Ice,” the third pic in the franchise, became the highest-grossing Russian film in the international box office of all time with a $20.3 million gross worldwide, excluding Russia, where
“Flight Risk” is taking off with Great Point, which has boarded sales on the U.S.-produced thriller. The film follows a group of strangers who wake up with amnesia on a bullet-ridden plane. Luis Prieto, who helmed the remake of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher,” is attached to direct. The action thriller is being produced by L.A.-based
May 17, 2019 1:45PM PT Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, officially has its own official music video with stars such as Chris Rock, Vince Staples, and Diplo making appearances in the Wild West. The five-minute video, whose cinematography and dialogue compares more to an old-school Western film, starts off in
Salty Pictures, the production and finance company headed by Jonah Greenberg, CAA’s former head in China, has unveiled a five-picture production slate in tandem with Thailand’s The Studio Park Prods. (TSPP), including a Chinese-language film together with Johnny Depp and his Infinitum Nihil partner Sam Sarkar. Studio Park is a leading facilities provider and property
“John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” is gearing up to take down Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Lionsgate’s third installment of the Keanu Reeves action franchise is over-performing forecasts, which had been in the $30 million and $35 million range. With at least $50 million at 3,850 sites, it should handily beat the fourth weekend of Disney-Marvel’s
May 17, 2019 12:48PM PT PledgeMusic, the direct-to-fan marketplace that is headed into administration (the British equivalent of bankruptcy), today posted a note to artists and fans, offering the ability for artists to download their data from the platform. A source tells Variety that more information will be coming once an administrator is named —
Tan France may be the resident fashion guru on Netflix’s Queer Eye, but soon he will be lending his expert advice to a new group of hopefuls—18 to be exact. France and Alexa Chung are set to host a new unscripted, 10 epiosde fashion competition series (think Project Runway meets…Tan France) on Netflix titled Next
The China UniCreative Culture Industry Group and Canada’s CarpeDiem Film & TV are allying for the development, production, financing and the exploitation of animated IPs for the Chinese and international markets. Pink Parrot Media will handle international sales outside China while China UniCreative Culture Industry Group (CUC) will oversee distribution in China. Over the next
Saturday night marks the first time that Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu will climb the steps of Cannes’ Grand Théâtre Lumière to premiere a film in competition. But for a director who’s called himself a “child” of the world’s glitziest film festival, the butterflies are familiar. “Every time I’m coming to Cannes, I have this type
May 17, 2019 12:12PM PT Saban Films has bought the U.S. rights to the Elijah Wood horror-comedy “Come to Daddy.” Saban, which is planning a theatrical release, announced the deal on Friday at the Cannes Film Festival, where XYZ Films represents “Come to Daddy” for international sales. “Come to Daddy” premiered at the Tribeca Film
“4×4”(Television Abierta, Mediapro)First solo feature from Mariano Cohn, this is a pointed social dramedy about a thief trapped in a 4 x 4 by the car’s owner.Sales: Latido “Advantages of Traveling by Train”(Morena Films, Señor y Señora Films, Logical Pictures)Aritz Moreno’s debut feature, penned by Javier Gullón, revolves around stories told by untrustworthy narrators: a
In the six years since it first arrived on the scene, the Shoot the Book pitch session has grown in breadth, scope and above all, ambition. A fixture in Cannes since 2014, Shoot the Book has also spread to festivals and markets in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Annecy, but this year will mark its most
The U.K. production scene has been dominated by a phalanx of successful producers for many years. A fresh wave of U.K.-based producers is now also getting international attention. The producers are navigating a business that offers unparalleled opportunity, and facing fundamental challenges. With the key funders putting an emphasis on inclusion and diversity, female producers
Despite even more outlets, thanks to the arrival of global streaming giants, Spanish sales agents and producers are caught in a current double-bind. Sales to Netflix are diminishing, as it drives more into original production, but bullish theatrical distribution at home and abroad remains restricted to high-profile auteurs, big-budget productions or breakout titles. In international,
Spain’s big shoot business is rocking, galvanized by more regional options and incentives that are highly competitive — at least in rates. With a long tradition of hosting international productions, Spain earned larger global visibility after “Game of Thrones” filmed there from 2014 to 2018. Production services has become one of the healthiest audiovisual sectors
May 17, 2019 12:00PM PT Variety profiles a selection of upcoming film projects by younger British producers Untitled Irish-Set Gothic DramaFodhla Cronin O’Reilly’s next project is an as-yet-untitled gothic psychological drama. U.S. directing duo Anna Rose Holmer and Saela Davis will direct the Screen Ireland-backed project. It will be set in and shot in Ireland.
Only a decade ago, Spain was on the periphery of world production, making movies that, as with Pedro Almodovar’s 2019 Cannes competition contender “Pain and Glory,” occasionally sold worldwide. Now, thanks to an OTT and digital TV revolution, Spain has become a burgeoning global production center. Take, for instance, Oriol Paulo’s drama “Durante la Tormenta”
Getty Images Whoever thinks the idea of “love at first sight” only refers to romantic encounters, probably hasn’t walked past a sneaker store and locked eyes with a particular shoe (or scrolled through the GOAT app because…technology). Sneakers have the power to leave you and the individuals you pass every day entranced. What the youths
Three years after Wanda Sykes’ Epix standup special, she is back with “Wanda Sykes: Not Normal,” this time for Netflix, the company she publicly called out just last year for pay inequality. “They came in with the best offer,” Sykes tells Variety, not just referring to the money made for selling “Not Normal” to the streamer,
May 17, 2019 11:00AM PT James Corden is in advanced talks on a new multi-year deal with CBS that will keep him at the helm of “The Late Late Show” as host and executive producer. Sources said Corden’s camp has been in deal talks with CBS for some time. The previous deal that Corden inked
UPDATED: Has the cavalry arrived for Woodstock 50? A new financial partner, Oppenheimer & Co., has come on board, although the exact capacity in which they’re involved isn’t entirely clear from the announcement, which describes the company’s involvement as a “financial advisor to complete the financing for the festival.” A source clarified (somewhat) that the
Bella Hadid, queen of the high leg slit at the Cannes Film Festival, came back to the red carpet in her staple look tonight for the Cannes premiere of Pain and Glory. Hadid wore a silky halter red cutout gown with a thigh-high leg slit. Her hair was styled in an exquisite bun where the
ASCAP came up with a triple bill Thursday night that managed to marry the best of 2019 with the best of 1979. The performing rights organization’s annual Pop Awards ceremony featured stirring three-song performances from Jeff Lynne and Blondie, who were being given lifetime achievement kudos, as well as Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas
Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” may have finally found a way to get its correspondents some Emmy love. In a first, the late-night show is submitting its team of on-air contributors in the comedy guest actor and guest actress categories. Competing for a nomination in the outstanding guest actor in a comedy
NBA YoungBoy Back Behind Bars … For Probation Violation After Miami Shooting NBA YoungBoy has been playing with fire on social media, and now — in the wake of his Miami shooting incident — he got burned, because cops arrested him for violating his probation. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … the rapper was taken
May 17, 2019 9:20AM PT Spotify is carefully taking a first step into the consumer hardware space: The company has begun to test a new in-car device that lets users access music and podcasts with voice commands, it revealed in a blog post Friday morning. “Car Thing,” as the device is being called for now,
Over the course of seven albums and a career that’s lasted twenty years, the National have accrued their fair share of trademark habits. For one, there’s the unmistakable moodiness of the band’s songs—brooding tales of suburban anxieties and the tender nature of love. There’s also the meticulous musicianship each member contributes, together creating a sonic
Sure, DJ Khaled is pop-hop’s most cheerfully optimistic cheerleader. More of a gatherer-party-thrower-influencer than an artist or producer (name one sonic signature beyond yelling his own name), the oversized Miami-by-way-of-New-Orleans personality has invited his famous friends to the brightly lit ball for 10 albums now. That they have all come in droves, willingly, says as