Nestled at the foot of a large hill on the edge of downtown Providence, R.I., Cable Car Cinema was known to local moviegoers as ”the one with the couches.” That was a charitable description. They were love seats, really — perfect if you were with a date but awkward if you went to see a
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Spotify announced plans to acquire Parcast, a scripted-entertainment podcast studio — the streaming giant’s third podcasting pickup so far in 2019. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Spotify expects the acquisition to close in the second quarter of 2019. The Parcast acquisition comes after Spotify last month paid around $337 million to buy two
March 26, 2019 3:16AM PT Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki has been named president of the jury for Un Certain Regard in Cannes. The Festival said Labaki had been chosen after “moving hearts and minds at the last Festival de Cannes with her Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated ‘Capernaum,’ which won the Jury Prize.” The organizers
As it prepares to open a fully-staffed office in France and ramp up its investment in local originals, Netflix has unveiled three new documentaries, “Move” (working title), “Gims” (working title), and “Anelka” (working title), and the feature film “Of Earth And Blood” while at Series Mania in Lille. Announced during a panel with Netflix’s commissioning
WASHINGTON — A day after Attorney General William Barr released a memo summarizing the findings of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the Trump campaign has sent one of their own. The memo was sent to TV producers, and singles out a list of guests the campaign says made “outlandish, false claims” of collusion between the Trump
Michael Avenatti Charged with Extorting Nike … Arrested for Wire and Bank Fraud Michael Avenatti has been arrested and charged with trying to extort $20 million out of Nike. The feds claim Avenatti told Nike’s lawyers if they didn’t pay him between $15 million and $25 million he would hold a news conference on the
March 25, 2019 6:00PM PT The CW’s reboot of “Charmed” is changing showrunners. Variety has learned that Carter Covington has stepped down as showrunner on the series, which has already been renewed for a second season. Husband and wife team Craig Shapiro and Elizabeth Kruger have been brought on to helm the series going forward.
With “Us” in theaters, audiences will now get to see just how scary Lupita Nyong’o can be. In Jordan Peele’s sophomore feature film, Nyong’o plays both a “good” character and her doppelganger, for which she adopted a guttural, husky voice. “I was inspired by the condition spasmodic dysphonia,” she told Variety at “Us‘” Los Angeles
Amy Poehler took a moment at the PaleyFest “Parks and Recreation” panel to select who she thinks Pawnee, Ind. resident Leslie Knope would support in the 2020 presidential election. Her top two picks included candidates that hail from the Midwest, Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg. Watch above.
Steven Spielberg will debut his anthology series “Amazing Stories” on Apple TV+, the streaming subscription service announced Monday at the Apple Event in Cupertino, Calif. Michael Schneider, senior editor at Variety, and Andrew Wallenstein, Variety’s co-editor-in-chief, sat down to talk about the famous director’s backing of Apple TV+. “This was probably a subtle — or
In today’s film news roundup, “I Won’t Be Home for Christmas” is in the works, the NFL has made a documentary about female team owners and D Street Pictures has signed Kenny Gage and Devon Downs to direct the dance feature “Move.” HOLIDAY PROJECT Miramax has acquired film rights to Lauren Iungerich’s holiday-themed screenplay “I
Viewers got a sneak peek of upcoming shows coming to Apple TV+, Apple’s newly unveiled streaming service, during the company’s live-streamed event in Cupertino, Calif., on Monday. The stars and creators of the most highly anticipated projects like Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” and “The Morning Show” from Reese Witherspoon appeared on stage to reveal more
Kit Harrington, known best for playing Jon Snow in “Game of Thrones,” sat down to play some word association as part of his Variety cover shoot. At “Peter Dinklage,” Harington responded, “the funniest man I’ve ever met.” “Night’s Watch” yielded the answer: “Smelly men.” The eighth and final season of “Game of Thrones” premieres April
BBC Studios, the British public broadcaster’s commercial arm, has announced a raft of territory sales for Richard Gere starrer “MotherFatherSon,” a drama series written by Tom Rob Smith, Emmy-nominated for “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” The show will screen Tuesday at Series Mania, France, in the International Panorama section. Buyers for the eight-part thriller include
March 25, 2019 4:21PM PT Michael B. Jordan will produce and star in a “Methuselah” movie for Warner Bros., based on the Biblical story of a man who lived to be 969 years old. Jordan will produce through his Outlier Society production company along with Heyday’s David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford. Warner Bros. has been
In today’s roundup, Netflix releases a trailer for “Special,” and Wrestlemania’s main event will be a women’s match, a first in WWE history. FIRST LOOKS Netflix has released the trailer for its upcoming 15-minute comedy show “Special.” Ryan O’Connell stars in the semi-autobiographical series about life as a gay man with cerebral palsy. The series is
Piera Detassis recently became the first woman to head the David di Donatello Awards, Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars. Since then she’s been busy overhauling the inner workings of the prizes that will be awarded on Wednesday. Detassis, also the editor of Italian film publication Ciak, spoke exclusively to Variety about the challenges she’s faced
With 15 nominations Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman” leads the pack of contenders for Italy’s David di Donatello Awards in a watershed year for the country’s top film nods that sees highbrow auteur titles reaping most of the David love just as local box-office grosses hit an all-time low. Garrone’s gritty revenge drama is followed closely with
March 25, 2019 3:18PM PT The last episode of “The Big Bang Theory” before the show’s grand finale narrowly beat out “This Is Us” to top the Live+7 ratings chart for the week of March 4. The CBS megahit, which will come to an end after 12 seasons with a double bill airing on April
After revealing new services in news, finance, and gaming, Apple CEO Tim Cook kept the biggest, most anticipated announcement until last. Cook, along with heads of worldwide video programming Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, and a whole group of Apple’s creative talents, presented the company’s new Apple TV+ streaming service, which is slated to
One of Las Vegas’ biggest music players is doubling down on the power of a global brand instead of just a single DJ to help them stay on top of Sin City’s increasingly competitive clubbing scene. Wynn Nightlife has announced a year-long residency and partnership with Spain’s Elrow, a respected Ibiza-born party that last year
Lauren Whitney, the president of television for Miramax, is leaving the company, Variety has learned. She will now become the president of television for Spyglass Media Group effective April 1. The news comes less than two years after Whitney first joined Miramax. There, she oversaw the studio’s television development, in addition to “Spy City,” produced by
Apple won’t be entering the Emmy race this year — but get ready for 2020. The tech giant’s not-so-surprise launch of its new Apple TV+ video service on Monday included a hefty roster of top producing and acting talent that will immediately make the service an awards contender when it launches in the fall. That
Apple’s March 25 conference announcing various new services — including their upcoming passel of video content — was heavy on grandeur and light on specifics. Company CEO Tim Cook described the company’s move into television as part of an ongoing commitment not merely to diversion and customer satisfaction but to social change. “Apple has always
March 25, 2019 1:30PM PT Hannah Simone’s comedy pilot at ABC has cast one of its lead roles. Variety has learned exclusively that Art Malik has signed on to star opposite Simone in the single-camera comedy. In the project, Hannah (Simone) and her Indian-American immigrant father Sid (Malik) have always been close, but after she
YouTube claims it is not pulling up stakes from original entertainment — denying a report by Bloomberg over the weekend that the Google-owned video service was cancelling plans for “high-end dramas and comedies” and had stopped taking pitches for “expensive” scripted shows. In a statement, a rep said, “YouTube denies the report” and cited its
Many Hollywood heavyweights flocked to Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters to help reveal the tech giant’s revamped steaming service Apple TV+ on Monday — but one such legend was so polarizing he became a national trending topic on Twitter for simply showing his face. Steven Spielberg was the first to appear in a dramatic short film
Michael Lynne, the former co-chairman of New Line Cinema who played a key role in shepherding the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, has died at his New York home. He was 77. Lynne’s death was confirmed Monday by longtime business partner Robert Shaye, who told Variety that Lynne’s family had informed him of Lynne’s passing
March 25, 2019 1:08PM PT PledgeMusic, the direct-to-fan marketplace that has faced serious financial troubles in recent months, is down to a “skeleton staff” and payroll in the U.S. office ceased within the last month, sources close to the situation tell Variety, although a potential buyer is “very interested” in the company and has been
The runways have spoken, and the ’90s are back. So are the ’70s. And the ’80s. And so are some trends that can’t be traced back to any particular decade. Confusing, I know, but designers like Chanel, Gucci, and more declared everything from power shoulders to micro-micro bags to weird hats a thing, and we