Filmmaker Aaron Kunkel fashions an absorbing true-crime narrative with a danceable beat from the testimonies of exploited pop celebrities, bilked investors, criminal investigators and not-so-quietly aghast onlookers in “The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story.” Briskly efficient in its construction and execution, the documentary, which will be available to YouTube Premium subscribers starting April 3, focuses
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Production on the second season of Abhishek Bachchan-starring “Breathe,” for Amazon Prime Video, is underway and is 70% complete at Indian content outfit Abundantia Entertainment. The company is headed by Vikram Malhotra, the former CEO of Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, where he oversaw “Gangs Of Wasseypur,” “Kahaani,” and “Tanu Weds Manu.” Several other projects that
China’s first mainstream science-fiction film, “The Wandering Earth,” has surpassed “Operation Red Sea” to become the country’s second-highest-grossing movie of all time, with $679 million at the local box office and counting. “Crazy Alien,” another title released during last month’s competitive Chinese New Year period, has raked in $327 million domestically. Two more sci-fi movies
“Finding Steve McQueen” is a ramshackle indie heist drama that has a little bit (but not much) to do with Steve McQueen. The film’s central figure, a green-behind-the-ears thief named Harry Barber (Travis Fimmel), idolizes the squinty star of “Bullitt,” for all the reasons one might have back in 1972, when most of the movie
Google is shutting down its Spotlight Stories immersive entertainment unit, according to an email sent out by Spotlight Stories executive producer Karen Dufilho Wednesday evening. “Google Spotlight Stories is shutting its doors after over six years of making stories and putting them on phones, on screens, in VR, and anywhere else we could get away
March 13, 2019 7:00PM PT “Birds of Prey” actor Chris Messina is set to star in the YouTube series “Dark Cargo.” Ben Stiller and Nicky Weinstein will executive produce via their Red Hour Productions banner. Penned by Adam and Max Reid and directed by “The Girlfriend Experience’s” Lodge Kerrigan, the series is described as a
March 13, 2019 6:36PM PT WASHINGTON — Beto O’Rourke will announce on Thursday that he is running for president in 2020, according to El Paso TV station KTSM-TV. O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who came close to defeating Ted Cruz in last year’s Senate race, confirmed his plans in a text message to the station.
Howard Bragman, a longtime PR strategist and crisis manager, weighs in on the college admissions scandal that has ensnared “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman and “Fuller House” actress Lori Loughlin. Neither actress is a client of Bragman’s. Seeing your spin doctor is just like seeing your medical doctor after a scary diagnosis: Everyone wants to
Netflix is adding age ratings to more content on its U.K. service after partnering with the British Board of Film Classification. The goal of the new collaboration “is to work towards 100% coverage of BBFC age ratings across the platform,” the ratings board said. Online services in the U.K. are not required to submit content
March 13, 2019 4:45PM PT Universal Music Group today announced that Dan Morales has been appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO), overseeing UMG’s global technology platforms and developing new systems to expand the company’s analytics and data platforms. Most recently CIO of eBay, Morales will oversee UMG’s global information technology team, as well as the company’s
March 13, 2019 4:15PM PT The American Federation of Musicians has launched talks on a successor contract with studios with the union seeking streaming residuals. The AFM held a press conference Wednesday prior to the start of negotiations at the headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Musicians
On-demand service Rakuten TV more than tripled its distribution in Europe in one fell swoop Wednesday, launching in more than 30 new territories, company founder and CEO Jacinto Roca has told Variety. The VOD player has partnered with several major smart-TV manufacturers for the rollouts and is also available over-the-top in the new countries, including
Facebook continues pumping more money into its strategy of trying to engage users with new video and music content. The social giant has renewed Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk” talk show — which has become Facebook Watch’s most popular original series overall — for more than 20 new episodes. It’s also rolling out a
March 13, 2019 4:00PM PT “Sunflower” is the latest single to drop ahead of the band’s fourth studio album, “Father of the Bride,” due out on May 3. [embedded content] The band Vampire Weekend enlisted Jonah Hill to direct a new music video for the song “Sunflower.” The clip shows frontman Ezra Koenig at iconic
A week after Spotify finally launched in India on Feb. 26, the company published a chart of the 10 top-streamed artists, songs and playlists in the service’s inaugural seven days in the country. Those charts featured an interesting mix of global and local talent, where Lady Gaga was alongside singers like Arijit Singh, best known
March 13, 2019 3:26PM PT In today’s TV news roundup, Hulu begins streaming “Free Solo,” PBS launches its 32nd season of “POV,” and Comedy Central names Angelina Battista as vice president, brand creative. EXECUTIVE NEWS Angelina Battista will take over as vice president of brand creative for Comedy Central. Josh Line, executive vice president of
Lori Loughlin appeared in federal court in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, facing a charge of mail fraud in connection with the widespread college admissions bribery scheme. Judge Steve Kim set her bail at $1,000,000, the same amount as her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who is also being charged. Giannulli was not in court on
Lori Loughlin Surrenders To FBI … In College Bribery Scam 3/13/2019 8:54 AM PDT Lori Loughlin just surrendered to federal authorities in Los Angeles … turning herself in after being charged in a massive bribery scam involving some of the country’s most elite universities. Law enforcement sources tell us Loughlin made prior arrangements to meet
Univision is set to announce at SXSW today that it has partnered with Napster to bring more music streaming choices to its revamped Uforia app. In addition to live streams of Univision’s 58 local radio stations, the app is now also offering users hundreds of playlist based on Napster’s catalog of 40 million songs. “Univision
March 13, 2019 2:28PM PT Priyanka Chopra has just been added to the star-studded list of speakers at the 2019 Women in the World Summit. The lineup for the event, which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary at Lincoln Center from April 10-12, also includes Brie Larson, Cindy McCain, Susan Rice, Stacey Abrams, Ashley Judd,
An undisclosed number of employees were laid off Wednesday at Viacom’s CMT cabler as part of the integration of the Nashville-based operation with the MTV group headed by Chris McCarthy. Among the senior executives leaving the cabler in the restructuring are marketing chief Anthony Barton and Nashville office head Suzanne Norman. Most of the pinkslips
Khalid Itum, the executive tasked with overseeing day-to-day operations at MoviePass, has left the struggling subscription service, Variety has confirmed. Insiders had previously said Itum had been largely absent in recent weeks and MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe had assumed more of a leadership role after previously stepping back. According to a spokesperson for the company,
While Bozoma Saint John became rather famous after her memorable address at Apple’s WWDC in 2016, her most recent job transition may have been the most newsworthy. She left Apple in 2017 amid great fanfare to become Chief Brand Officer at Uber, and left that gig almost a year to day later for her current
March 13, 2019 1:18PM PT Denzel Washington is in talks to star in the thriller “Little Things” for Warner Bros., sources tell Variety. “The Blindside” and “Highway Men” director John Lee Hancock is board to write. He’s also being eyed to direct, though a deal for that has not yet been closed. The story follows
March 13, 2019 1:09PM PT Apps for Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp were down for some users around the world for several hours Wednesday, with unidentified technical problems causing widespread disruptions. Facebook took to Twitter to update users on the situation. The company acknowledged the problems in a tweet at 1:49 p.m. ET, saying, “We’re aware
When writer and executive producer Nick Antosca started working on his Hulu limited anthology series “The Act” about real-life mother/daughter duo Dee Dee Blanchard and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the documentary about them (“Mommy Dead and Dearest”) was still evolving and therefore not yet available as source material. Instead, he focused on Michelle Dean’s 2016 Buzzfeed
Elton John has announced his first-ever autobiography, set to hit bookshelves this fall. “My life has been one helluva roller coaster ride and I’m now ready to tell you my story, in my own words,” the singer tweeted last week. “My first and only official autobiography will be released October 2019.” The legendary singer and
March 13, 2019 12:31PM PT Shares of Viacom, Discovery and AMC Networks took at hit on Wednesday after DirecTV confirmed it has set two new low-cost skinny bundle packages that do not include any channels from those programmers. DirecTV Now has set new streaming skinny bundle options for $50 and $70, both of which do
Olivia Jade Giannulli, daughter of actress Lori Loughlin, is a YouTube beauty vlogger and social-media star with millions of followers. She’s also (for now) a freshman at the University of Southern California. But in the wake of her mother being implicated as part of a broad college-admissions bribery scam — alleging that Loughlin illegally schemed
March 13, 2019 12:16PM PT The Duffer brothers have signed with Creative Artists Agency, exiting previous rep Paradigm Talent Agency. The pair, who created the Netflix juggernaut “Stranger Things,” has signed in all areas with the shop, run by managing partners Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd, and president Richard Lovett. “Stranger Things,” an homage to