December 11, 2018 2:04PM PT Is Amy Poehler is just getting our hopes up? We hope not, because the funny lady tells Variety that she’s ready for a “Parks and Recreation” reunion. “I am technically available,” Poehler said on Monday at Smart Girls’ 10th anniversary celebration dinner. “I have like six of Leslie’s blazers in my
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Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” has won three awards from members of the African American Film Critics Association, taking the trophies for best film, director, and song for “All the Stars.” The AAFCA made the announcement Tuesday and will present the awards in ceremonies on Feb. 6 at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles. “Selecting Disney’s
Refinery29 will begin production in 2019 on “Embrace,” a pilot from writing duo Kathreen Khavari (“Big Little Lies”) and Chuck Neal. “Embrace” will star Khavari as she comes up with an unconventional solution to prevent her Iranian immigrant parents from having to move back to Iran. Refinery29 bills the show, set in Khavari’s hometown of
WASHINGTON — Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai made it through a 3.5-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee free of committing the company to new business practices or behavior. He didn’t even promise not to pursue a censored search engine in China, even as human rights groups have called on the company to abandon the project.
After postponing six December concerts due to bruised vocal cords, Justin Timberlake has announced the rescheduled dates for his “Man of the Woods Tour,” all of which will now take place in 2019. Timberlake had been pushing back dates since late October due to bruised vocal cords, and the singer’s rebooted tour begins Jan. 4
December 11, 2018 12:45PM PT Variety chief film critics — and cinema omnivores — Owen Gleiberman and Peter Debruge spend the year devouring everything from superhero movies to subtitled festival gems, which leaves a wealth of exceptional films to savor at year’s end. While “A Star Is Born” scored high with both critics, and “Eighth
Every so often, Hollywood changes the world, but most of the time, the world changes Hollywood, which adjusts to reflect the innovation happening around it. A year after the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements forced the film industry to confront the sexism baked into the system, we are starting to see progress reflected onscreen and
December 11, 2018 12:14PM PT Disney is facing a class-action lawsuit from the screenwriter of the 1982 hospital parody “Young Doctors in Love,” who alleges that the studio has withheld millions in home video revenue. Michael Elias filed the suit on Dec. 6 in Los Angeles Superior Court. His attorney, Neville Johnson, filed similar class-action
Bob Bakish’s entre to Viacom came in the early 1990s when the company’s future CEO was hired as a consultant by what was then Paramount Communications to help restructure its Madison Square Garden division. Bakish worked with a range of media, publishing and consumer products clients during his years as a consultant with Booz Allen
“Bless This Mess,” the single-camera comedy co-created by Lake Bell and Elizabeth Meriwether, has been ordered to series at ABC, Variety has learned. The series had previously been in contention at Fox and is a co-production between 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios. Bell also stars in the series alongside Dax Shepard. In the series, a
Richard E. Grant is so memorable in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” that it’s a shock to realize he’s only in a fraction of the film. Fox Searchlight’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”centers on biographer Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) when she is broke and desperate, and begins forging celebrity letters. Israel has encounters with multiple
December 11, 2018 11:11AM PT Epix has renewed “Get Shorty” for Season 3. The loose adaptation of the 1990 Elmore Leonard novel and subsequent film stars Chris O’Dowd, Ray Romano, Lidio Porto, Megan Stevenson, Sean Bridgers, and Carolyn Dodd. In the series, O’Dowd plays a hitman from Nevada who struggles to shed his criminal past after
Female-led movies outperformed male-led titles at the worldwide box office during the 2014-17 period, a study released Tuesday showed. Creative Artists Agency and technology company Shift7 said that the analysis found that female-led films outperformed male-led films at all budget levels. The study grew out of the Time’s Up movement in a collaboration aiming to
December 11, 2018 11:00AM PT Amazon has renewed legal drama “Goliath” for a third season. “Goliath” centers on washed-up lawyer Billy McBride, played by Billy Bob Thornton, who has one shot at redemption after a client he successfully defended from a murder charge went on to slaughter a family. Thornton won a Golden Globe for
Aquaman isn’t like the other DC Comics superheroes, so it seems only right that his big-screen solo show should have a personality all its own — which, in the hands of “Furious 7” director James Wan, it does. Gone is the Aryan-looking Atlantean in green-and-orange spandex, replaced with a bare-chested Hawaiian super-stud with long, shaggy
December 11, 2018 10:54AM PT Starz is having an online holiday sale: The premium cable network is selling three months of its online streaming service for $5 per month, down from the regular price of $8.99 per month. The offer is available to new users who sign up until the end of December. Subscribers also
December 11, 2018 10:53AM PT Netflix has ordered a scripted drama series based on the life of Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla. The series is described as a coming of age story following Selena as her dreams come true and all the heart-wrenching and life-changing choices she and her family have to make as they navigate
December 11, 2018 10:48AM PT Comedy Central has canceled its Motor City series “Detroiters” after two seasons. The scripted half-hour from Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video and Comedy Central Productions bowed in early 2017. Season two premiered in June. The buddy comedy was created by stars Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson along with “Saturday Night Live”
Getty ImagesStephane Cardinale – Corbis Over 31 million people follow Chanel’s official Instagram, but Karl Lagerfeld isn’t one of them. “I don’t even know how it looks,” he told The Cut in a new, wide-ranging, and often hilarious interview. Why? Well, between getting texted photo updates “from” (his words) his beloved cat, Choupette, and overseeing
Issa Rae’s production company, ColorCreative, has signed a multi-picture production deal with Columbia Pictures. The pact is unique in that under the agreement, ColorCreative will work with and back projects from emerging, diverse screenwriters. The move comes as the entertainment industry is under pressure to develop films and shows that feature underrepresented talent both in
Virtual reality has been making inroads in the entertainment business for several years, but 2018 has been an especially big one for animated projects.This year, there are at least two VR-animated shorts vying for Oscar nominations: Google Spotlight Stories’ “Age of Sail” and Baobab Studios’ “Crow: The Legend.” Disney has created its first VR animated
Celebrating its 10th year anniversary, Les Arcs Industry Village is launching the Talent Village, a new development workshop and platform for emerging talents which will be under the patronage of Danish director Thomas Vinterberg (“The Hunt”). Kicking off on Dec. 12 and hosted at the Cinéfabrique Film school in Lyon, the workshop will take place
December 11, 2018 10:05AM PT [embedded content] “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s” latest zombie addition delivers players to a 1912 manor where they take on the roles of characters voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, Kiefer Sutherland, Charles Dance, and Brian Blessed. “Dead of the Night” is set at Rhodes Manor, a palatial estate in the English
December 11, 2018 9:55AM PT Mononymic Japanese rock star and record producer Yoshiki, an accomplished classical composer best known as the co-founder and drummer of the speed metal band X Japan — they sold out Madison Square Garden in 2014, has expanded his SoCal real estate holdings with the almost $3.4 million purchase of a
One is a legend in the media business, the other in the tech world. But together Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman are intent on bringing the best of both worlds together for their ambitious new venture: Quibi. On the latest episode of the Variety podcast Strictly Business, the dynamic duo shared their battle plan to
Producers Tim Headington and Theresa Steele Page have unveiled Ley Line Entertainment with a Brian Wilson documentary and a “Hugo Cabret” musical in the works. Ley Line said it’s a content development, production, and financing company with projects spanning film, television, stage, and music. Headington financed and produced “The Young Victoria,” “Argo,” “Hugo,” and “World
Brandi Carlile has some famous friends, and they seem to especially love her song “Party of One.” Recently Carlile released a duet version of the tune in which she’s joined by Sam Smith. Now, actress Elisabeth Moss has starred in and acted as “creative director” on a video for the original version of “Party of
December 11, 2018 8:47AM PT When Channing Dungey closes a door, a bunch of other doors open. Dungey’s next move has become a subject of speculation in Hollywood’s creative community. Sources tell Variety that the departing ABC Entertainment president is already being pursued by a number of potential suitors for what could be her next
Check out the official Glass Trailer starring Samuel L. Jackson! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Buy Tickets to Glass: https://www.fandango.com/glass-2019-213141/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc US Release Date: January 18, 2019 Starring: Bruce Willis, Anya Taylor-Joy, James McAvoy Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan Synopsis: Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track
December 11, 2018 8:39AM PT BTS concert movie has now garnered the biggest-ever box office haul for an event cinema release. “Burn the Stage: The Movie” has raked in $18.5 million around the world, distributor Trafalgar Releasing told Variety. The film follows Korean boy-band sensations BTS on their Wings tour, which was seen by more