“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is poised to stomp all over the box office competition… again. After its better-than-expected debut, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s monster tentpole has generated $95 million domestically and $210 worldwide to date. Now, “Godzilla x Kong” looks to add $32 million to $36 million in its second weekend of
Rob McElhenney’s More Better Productions and Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) are set to co-produce a docuseries about the first doping-friendly sports championships, Variety can exclusively confirm. Founded by Aron D’Souza and Christian Angermayer, the Enhanced Games is described as the world’s first sporting event which permits “enhancements” – including doping. It eventually aims to become
Netflix has released a trailer for “Dead Boy Detectives,” the upcoming series following the Neil Gaiman-created comic book characters of the same name. The series centers Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), who helm the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death, Edwin and
Add “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper to the list of non-traditional commentators taking part in NBCUniversal’s activities around the 2024 Paris Olympics. Cooper will lead “Watch with Alex Cooper,” a series of interactive watch parties that will stream on NBCU’s Peacock during Olympics activity. Cooper will be joined by special guests and will
Charli XCX has dropped two new singles, “Club Classics” and “B2b,” from her upcoming sixth album “Brat.” The avant-pop singer also revealed the official release date for “Brat” — June 7 — alongside the record’s 15-song tracklist. With artwork that appears to feature the back of fiancé and the 1975 drummer George Daniel, “Club Classics”
Jon Bernthal is back playing Frank Castle (aka Punisher) on the set of “Daredevil: Born Again,” new set photos from which have the character paired up with Charlie Cox’s eponymous hero and soaked in blood. The Disney+ series is now filming in New York City. Bernthal debuted as Frank Castle in Netflix’s “The Punisher” series,
While a number of films have been made about Panama’s Indigenous communities, few are by native filmmakers themselves. To date, perhaps only three Indigenous Panamanian filmmakers have ventured into filmmaking. Duiren Wagua, whose documentary feature debut “Bila Burba” plays at this year’s 12th Panama International Film Festival (IFF Panama), running April 4-7, is hoping to
Mario Van Peebles has been tapped to direct “That’ll Be the Day,” the story of how Buddy Holly and other musicians of the late 1950s helped give birth to rock ‘n’ roll and influence the wider societal and cultural landscape, including the civil rights movement. Music has been central to much of Van Peebles’ work,
No one needed to make sunglasses cool–it’s in their DNA. From Neo’s miniscule frames in The Matrix to Holly Golightly’s much-copied oversize pair in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, sunglasses have been used to both tell and hide our favorite stories. Often underrated but never overlooked, the glasses we wear live lives unique to their category. They
A group backed by many of the entertainment sector’s biggest traditional TV companies said it would back audience-measurement tools from Comscore and VideoAmp for use in national ad deals, the latest effort by media giants to create an alternative to Nielsen for tabulating viewership. Whether or not the new ad currencies will gain traction will
The long-awaited adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novel “The Mirror and the Light” has wrapped. In the first images from the production, released by the BBC and Masterpiece PBS, Kate Phillips can be seen reprising her role as King Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour, while Mark Rylance returns as the king’s chief advisor Thomas Cromwell
Felicity Jones and Jonathan Bailey are no longer attached to star in Simon Amstell’s comedy “Maria,” Variety can confirm. The movie is currently on pause after cast scheduling issues were followed by last year’s Hollywood strikes, although a source says Amstell is in talks to revive the project, which was first launched at Cannes two
On the eve of the global content market MipTV in Cannes, Viaplay Group’s Vanda Rapti, EVP Viaplay Select and Content Distribution, has offered a confident outlook on the Scandi streamer’s international activities and content sales. The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to announce exclusively to Variety a string of new deals on
Toonz Media Group and Be That Spark Corp, a joint venture between BLKBX Originals and Zuroam Media, have signed a co-production and co-distribution agreement for upcoming 3D animated series “Little Sparks.” “Little Sparks” is based on the children’s book series “A Little Spark” by Chris Parsons, recipient of the Mom’s Choice Award Gold Medal for
Marketing veteran Scott Donaton has joined VersusGame, an AI-powered interactive content company, as chief marketing officer. Donaton, most recently senior VP of marketing at Disney’s Hulu, will oversee all marketing functions for Versus, including brand strategy, communications, content, social media and consumer insights. Donaton had joined Hulu in 2019; he introduced the streaming industry’s first
CHANGING TRACKS YG Entertainment, the firm behind K-pop sensation Blackpink, has appointed Yang Min-seok as its new, sole CEO. The younger brother of company founder Yang Hyun-sun, he was previously joint CEO with Hwang Bo-kyun. The announcement was made shortly after YG’s annual shareholder meeting that closed the books on a year in which revenues
Warner Bros. Television Group chairman/CEO Channing Dungey is returning to the Banff World Media Festival this June to serve as one of its keynote speakers, the event announced on Wednesday. Dungey joins a lineup that also includes Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade as a summit series keynote. “We’re delighted to welcome back Channing Dungey as
ZDF Studios is set to launch sales on documentary “Tepui – Into the House of Gods” at MipTV. The 50-minute film will “take viewers on a journey to a forgotten world isolated for millions of years – the tabletop mountains in southern Venezuela,” the distributor said. The one-parter is produced by Gruppe 5 Filmproduktion for
Leading Japanese broadcaster TV Tokyo and Taiwan-based LGBT streaming platform GagaOOLala will this month release “At 25.00 in Akasaka,” a live-action drama series in the popular Boys Love (BL) genre. Based on a popular manga by Natsuno Hiroko, the underlying comic has sold over 1.2 million copies. The series explores the romance between a renowned
“Joker: Folie à Deux” has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association, it was revealed on Wednesday. The musical sequel to 2019’s “Joker,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, has been rated R for “some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality and brief full nudity,” according to the MPA’s daily ratings bulletin. This is
Disney is licensing a number of its original series to BBC Studios-owned broadcaster UKTV. Among the shows that are set to appear on UKTV networks are Anne Frank drama “A Small Light” and all seven seasons of “Sons of Anarchy.” “A Small Light” is heading to UKTV’s free to air network Drama in May while
Mitski is such a cerebral record-maker that I didn’t expect to be coming away from her 2024 shows making proclamations that I might have just seen the best-choreographed tour of the year. But it’s true: Her run of three shows at L.A.’s Shine Auditorium was the kind of unexpected, advanced study in movement that couldn’t
Bollywood A-list actor and musician Ayushmann Khurrana has signed a global recording deal with Warner Music India. Hit songs sung by Khurrana over the past decade include “Mitti Di Khushboo,” “Paani Da Rang” and “Mere Liye Tum Kaafi Ho.” Signing with Warner Music India will enable Khurrana to access the label’s global ecosystem, helping him
There’s more love to come. Netflix‘s U.S. version of “Love on the Spectrum” has been renewed for a third season after its second soared into the Global Top 10 for three weeks. The franchise, now entering its fifth installment including two for the Australian series, continues to captivate audiences with its heartfelt exploration of love
Jio Studios, the content arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), is on a roll with several box office hits in a row. Almost exactly a year ago, Jio Studios had launched a slate of 100 new films and TV shows. Those efforts have now come to fruition. 2023 saw Marathi-language “Baipan Bhaari
Paramount Global and its parent company are moving closer to an agreement with Skydance Media for an exclusive window for acquisition negotiations as Shari Redstone and David Ellison inch toward a deal to bring their companies together in a three-way transaction. The New York Times on Tuesday reported on the rumors that have been swirling
“Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s War on Democracy” is the scariest film I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a documentary that explores the rise of Christian Nationalism, and much of what it shows you, about the mutation of the Christian Right into a movement that has openly abandoned any loyalty to democracy, has been covered
Kiernan Shipka has paid tribute to her “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” co-star Chance Perdomo, who died at the age of 27 following a motorcycle accident. “Chancey Pants. Oh man this hurts,” Shipka wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. “He was a one of a kind soul. Just the most fiery, creative, loving, connected, and caring force
AMC Networks has released a sneak peek for Season 2 of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” this time subtitled “The Book of Carol.” Normal Reedus is reunited with “The Walking Dead” co-star Melissa McBride in the new season, which is set to premiere this summer on AMC and AMC+. Reedus and McBride reprise their roles
Jean-Paul Vignon, a French actor and vocalist who frequently lent his Gallic accent to Hollywood productions, died of liver cancer on March 22 in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 89. Among his notable work, Vignon lent his voice to Marc Webb’s romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer” as the French narrator. His voice appears when