[UPDATED: Aerosmith’s star unveiling ceremony, scheduled for today, has been postponed “due to severe weather conditions,” according to an announcement from the Hollywood Walk of Fame committee. “We are currently working on another date to reschedule this special event.”] “First of all, aren’t those things supposed to be saved for movie stars?” asks Steven Tyler. “But
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February 14, 2019 7:33AM PT Studiocanal is joining forces with Nickelodeon and award-winning producer David Heyman to create a CGI-animated series adapted from its “Paddington” franchise, with actor Ben Whishaw on board to reprise his role as the voice of the beloved bear. The toon series will be based on Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear stories, as were the
“All That” was the show that kept on giving to Nickelodeon over the course of a decade in the 1990s and 2000s. Now the company’s president thinks a revival of the sketch-comedy series could be all that — and more. Nickelodeon will revive the program — a “Saturday Night Live” for the tween set —
In an era when young TV viewers are increasingly abandoning the traditional TV screen, Brian Robbins wants to make it very difficult for kids to give up on Nickelodeon. The veteran producer who was named Nickelodeon’s president in October hasn’t spent his first months in the role noodling over the formula for the network’s famous green slime.
Jussie Smollett is sticking to his story. Addressing naysayers who doubt he was ever attacked, Smollett went on “Good Morning America” to talk to Robin Roberts about the alleged hate crime that reportedly saw the “Empire” actor assaulted by two men in Chicago as they spewed racial and homophobic slurs in late January. “If I
Grammy- and Golden Globe-nominated composer Clint Mansell has signed a long-term, worldwide music publishing deal with Decca Publishing. Mansell is best-known as the composer of such acclaimed Darren Aronofsky films as “Requiem for a Dream,” “Black Swan” and “The Fountain,” but rose to prominence as frontman of Pop Will Eat Itself, which scored 11 top-40
February 14, 2019 5:57AM PT Katy Perry and Zedd have teamed up for a new single released today called “365,” which has a video that shows the singer as a “Stepford Wife”-type robot who falls in love (with Zedd). Directed by Warren Fu (The Weeknd, Daft Punk) and conceptualized by Perry, according to the announcement,
Overtime, a digital sports-media startup focused on high-school athletes, has raised $23 million in Series B funding as it looks to expand its content footprint and diversify its revenue base. Venture-capital firm Spark Capital led the round, which brings the two-year-old company to $33.5 million raised to date. Others participating include MSG Networks; Sapphire Ventures; Charles
Bright-eyed Australian director Damon Gameau set out in his previous movie, “That Sugar Film” to challenge everyday thoughtlessness about the dangers of our modern lifestyle — and became profoundly sick while doing so. In his new film “2040,” which plays in Berlin’s Generation Kplus section and which he styles as a “hybrid feature documentary,” Gameau
February 14, 2019 5:03AM PT Simon Cowell and his team are plotting the biggest changes to “X Factor” on ITV in the show’s history in an attempt to boost ratings and secure a new deal for the talent competition on British television. Amid reports of wholesale format changes, there were rumors that the show was
With fashion shows, the end is really the beginning. Sure, the models and the makeup artists are packing up for London… but now that you’ve seen the clothes on the catwalks, you can start getting ready to actually buy them. (The best part, right?) Here’s one last load of NYFW inspiration to pin, post, and
Netflix is closing in on a deal for Antonin Baudry’s “The Wolf’s Call” (“Le Chant du Loup”), an anticipated big-budget French submarine thriller, for multiple territories. The streaming service is in advanced negotiations to pre-buy “The Wolf’s Call” from Pathé International for North America, Latin America, Spain and Scandinavia, as well as for France, where
February 14, 2019 4:27AM PT Most web series and online films in China must register with the government and report their budgets and actor salaries starting from this Friday, the country’s media watchdog has decreed, in a further tightening of official oversight of the entertainment sector amid an uproar over talent pay. All live-action and
The Chinese city that is home to the world’s largest film studio has released lists of its top registered taxpayers in 2018, revealing the payments by major production companies and movie stars at a time when new tax regulations have upended the industry. In years past, the small city of Dongyang in coastal Zhejiang province
“A First Farewell,” which debuted this week at the Berlin Film Festival, has secured its first sale and looks set to have a promising festival career. The movie is the first in nearly 30 years at the Berlinale to have been shot in Uighur, the language spoken in the vast western Chinese province of Xinjiang.
February 14, 2019 3:15AM PT BAFTA-nominated director Stephen Fingleton has been cleared of sexual assault. The case came to a close in a London court on Wednesday, with the jury finding the Northern Irish director not guilty. He had been accused of sexually assaulting an actress – who was in her 20s and cannot be
BARCELONA – “Saba,” the new project of Alexis Ducord (“Zombillenium”) and Benjamin Massoubre, the editor at “Zombillenium,” and “Big Bad Fox & Other Tales,” will be offered up to potential partners and buyers at Europe’s upcoming Cartoon Movie, which kicks off March 5 in Bordeaux. A 3D CGI animated feature project, “Saba” is produced by
February 14, 2019 12:09AM PT Berlin-based international sales company Films Boutique has picked up the world rights of “37 Seconds,” the debut film by female Japanese filmmaker Hikari following its Berlin Film Festival premiere in the Panorama section. The film centers on a wheelchair-bound 23-year-old woman, Yuma, who works in a manga studio. Yuma starts
The Premio Maguey, the Guadalajara Intl. Film Festival’s LGBTQ sidebar, will pay tribute to late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Plans include the screening of “Mapplethorpe,” Ondi Timoner’s drama starring Matt Smith, on its March 9 opening night gala, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the death of the iconic artist. Mexican photographers have also been
February 13, 2019 10:45PM PT Georges Schoucair’s Beirut-based Abbout Productions has teamed up at the EFM with 4 European producers on “Costa Brava Lebanon,” a first feature set amid Lebanon’s never-ending garbage crisis to be directed by Mounia Akl who studied film at Columbia University. Abbout has finalized its coproduction pacts on this pic with
Despite a cold and rainy night, Hollywood writers have given a strong endorsement of the leadership of the Writers Guild of America in the current battle over talent agency regulations. About 1,000 members attended a spirited meeting at the Sheraton Universal Hotel on Wednesday night, a week after the first formal negotiating sessions between agencies
“A Star Is Born” took home multiple wins at the 9th Annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards, held tonight at the theater at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The event celebrates the highest achievements in music supervision, recognizing exemplary work in 18 categories across movies, television, games, advertising, and trailers (read Variety‘s GMS Awards preview
London-based Matchbox Films has snapped up U.K. rights to Venezuelan supernatural thriller “The Whistler” from London and Tbilisi-based film production-distribution company, Alief. Closed at the EFM, deal comes in the wake of the drama’s Best Ibero-American Feature Award at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Fantastic Film Festival in December and best cinematography, original score and
BERLIN — Jamila Wenske and Sol Bondy’s Berlin-based One Two Films, co-producer of this year’s EFM buzz title “Persian Lessons,” has scored another early winner with comedy-drama “Franky Five Star.” The project, from writer-director Birgit Möller, won the Junior Entertainment Talent Slate (JETS) pitching competition at the Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday, securing it industry
Chelsea Handler may be best known for her pop culture rants and comedic musings, but the Netflix host and actress is tackling more serious subject matter in her new memoir, “Life Will Be The Death Of Me.“ Due out April 9 (via publishers Spiegel & Grau), the book follows Handler as she embarks on a “Year
The officers of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors has sent a letter to is membership attempting to assuage concerns about the decision to hold four Oscar presentations off the live air telecast on Feb. 24. “As the Academy’s officers, we’d like to assure you that no award category at
More than 40 high-profile cinematographers and directors including Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, and Roger Deakins have blasted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s decision to not televise four of the awards — including best cinematography, best editing, best hair & makeup, and best live action short — in an open letter to AMPAS president
In the wake of the bombshell New York Times article in which multiple women accuse Ryan Adams of sexual misconduct, the question arises of how much legal trouble the singer might be in. While the claims fall short of sexual assault — seven women and more than a dozen associates “described a pattern of manipulative behavior
In today’s film news roundup, Adam McKay is honored by Kodak, tax credit lender Forest Road forms an alliance, and Cohen Media Group makes a deal for “Shooting the Mafia.” KODAK HONOR Adam McKay will be the first recipient of the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented at the third annual Kodak Film Awards in
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Money for RENT,” the fifth episode of the first season of “Schooled.” It only took a few episodes for “Schooled,” ABC and Adam F. Goldberg’s 1990s-set comedy centered on a high school music teacher to dedicate an episode to “Rent,” the 1996 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical that