Icon, the esports/digital talent management agency, announced today that Alec Strasmore has joined the organization in the newly established position of head of talent. In his new role, Strasmore will be focused on expanding the agency’s roster in alignment with culture and entertainment, adjacent to gaming. Icon’s current roster is comprised of popular e-sports streamers,
Check out the official Trailer for Catherine, Called Birdy starring Bella Ramsey! ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for Catherine Called Birdy: https://www.fandango.com/catherine-called-birdy-2022-228035/movie-overview?cmp=Trailers_YouTube_Desc Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to be notified of all the hottest trailers: http://bit.ly/2CNniBy US Release Date: September 23, 2022 Starring: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Billie Piper,
Flannel Nation, a ’90s alt-rock festival set for Los Angeles this weekend, has been canceled by organizers after several bands, including Everclear and Candle Box, dropped out of the event. The fest’s lineup was originally headlined by Sugar Ray, and included Everclear, Candle Box, Soul Asylum, Filter, Cracker, Fastball, Sponge, Star Zero and X Wire.
A year after announcing his farewell tour, comedian Bill Engvall is ready to reveal how he’ll wrap things up: With one final stand-up comedy special. Comedy Dynamics has partnered with Engvall to produce his final stand-up comedy special, which will take place in Salt Lake City at Eccles Theater on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31,
Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, has been tapped to receive the Variety Vanguard Award at the Mipcom international content sales conference set for Oct. 17-20 in Cannes. The kudo recognizes television industry leaders who have made a significant contribution to the global business of entertainment. Salke will receive the award, presented by Variety and
Jordan Peele’s latest nightmare, “Nope,” has crossed $100 million at the domestic box office, marking the director’s third feature film (out of three) to achieve that benchmark. After three weeks on the big screen, the film’s North American tally stands at $100.32 million. “Nope” — starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who discover
Hollywood stuntman and martial artist Gene LeBell has died. He was 89. Professional wrestler Bas Rutten announced LeBell’s death via Facebook, writing, “You will be greatly missed Gene, I love you my friend, till we meet again!” LeBell started catch wrestling when he was 7, under the guidance of American wrestler Ed “The Strangler” Lewis.
With streamers making their biggest bets yet on content — and more of them about to include advertising options — Variety spoke with Dan Erlij and Allan Haldeman, UTA co-heads of TV literary, about the state of the television industry. In a rare joint interview, the two covered a wide range of topics, such as
Comedian, writer and actor Larry Wilmore has been tapped to host the 46th Annual Humanitas Prizes, which return as an in-person event on September 9, 2022 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Wilmore is a previous Humanitas winner, having served as creator, writer and exec producer of “The Bernie Mac Show,” which won two of the
As the number of major late-night shows continue to shrink, so does the Television Academy’s window to figure out how to handle the variety talk and variety sketch categories. After the org faced massive blowback in 2020 when it attempted to re-merge talk and sketch (reversing that plan after producers cried foul), it has resisted
After nearly 12 years at Meta and Facebook, Nick Grudin is leaving the social-media giant. Grudin next month will join NFT digital-collectibles company Dapper Labs as chief business officer. Most recently, Grudin was VP of content and community partnerships at Meta, where he oversaw global partnerships and content across the company’s creator ecosystem, media, entertainment,
IFC Films nabbed North American rights to “The Lost King,” which will have its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Stephen Frears, the feel-good true story stars Sally Hawkins as Philippa Langley, an amateur historian who uncovered the remains of King Richard the III after they had been lost for
British crew union Bectu has released the results of its latest survey, which shows that racism is still prevalent in the broadcasting industry. Conducted in partnership with the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, the survey also found that reporting mechanisms were “largely ineffective.” Among the findings of the survey were that 61% of
From “Reservation Dogs” to “Stranger Things,” to hit films and blockbuster series, the 25-and-under actors, musicians and content creators spotlighted on this list are all making their marks on a business that is evolving and changing, but still puts a premium on raw talent.
Marcus Mumford revealed in a new interview with GQ magazine that he was sexually abused when he was 6 years old. The abuse and the resulting trauma make up the backbone of Mumford’s upcoming solo album, “Self-Titled,” and its lead single, “Cannibal.” The song, which got an iPhone-shot music video directed by Steven Spielberg, includes
Picture this: 25-year-old Becky G, the Latin music star who boasts 33 million followers on Instagram alone, arrives at a meeting with the owners of Los Angeles’ all-female soccer club, Angel City FC. She, too, is an equity partner, and one of the organization’s youngest investors. “It’s an awesome experience because I recognize how incredible
The first thing you see when you get off the commuter train in Mount Kisco, N.Y., is the Union Jack. Facing the station is a shop bedecked with several versions of the British flag, selling Cadbury chocolate and “Abbey Road” puzzles. But that’s not the only thing British in this upstate hamlet. A leafy and
Utopia and Showtime have acquired the North American rights to Pulse Films’ “Meet Me in the Bathroom,” a documentary about the explosion of rock ‘n’ roll that helped define the early 2000s in New York City and ushered in a new generation of musical talent. The film, which is directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan
“Fall” is a very good “don’t look down” movie. It’s a fun, occasionally cheesy, but mostly ingeniously made thriller about two daredevil climbers, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner), who decide to scale the B67 TV tower — an abandoned 2,049-foot communication tower that juts up in the middle of the California desert,
Growing up, Halle Bailey was obsessed with “The Little Mermaid,” wearing out her family’s VHS tape watching and rewatching the 1989 Disney animated hit and pretending to be Ariel every time she went swimming. “Her sense of longing, her searching for herself, was something that I could resonate with,” Bailey says. “She knew where she
UTA has signed BAFTA and Golden Globe winning actor Bill Nighy in all areas. The global talent, entertainment and sports company will help build upon Nighy’s career across a range of verticals. Over a career spanning five decades, Nighy won several awards, including a supporting actor film BAFTA for “Love Actually” (2003), the BAFTA TV
Check out the official The Menu Trailer starring Anya Taylor-Joy! ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for on Fandango: https://www.fandango.com/the-menu-2022-228129/movie-overview?cmp=Trailers_YouTube_Desc Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to be notified of all the hottest trailers: http://bit.ly/2CNniBy US Release Date: November 18, 2022 Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Hong Chau, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult Directed
Kevin Hart is buffing up his brand as a motivational speaker. The comedian-actor-producer-entrepreneur will release a new audiobook, “Monsters and How to Tame Them: Taking Charge of the Voices in Your Head,” next month on Audible. In the forthcoming title, Hart promises to help you slay the negative self-talk monsters the keep you from living
Movie theaters owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Cruise, who wouldn’t dare to let Paramount Pictures release his decades-in-the-making sequel “Top Gun: Maverick” on a streaming service in the height of the pandemic. You don’t have to closely follow the box office to know the action-packed blockbuster became a big-screen sensation, generating $663 million
Angela Yee, one of the longtime hosts of the popular “Breakfast Club” radio show, confirmed on Wednesday morning that she will be leaving the program. However, she’s staying in the iHeartRadio family to launch her own show. Yee stirred up “Breakfast Club” fans on Tuesday night after tweeting “‘The Breakfast Club’ as you know it
Spotter, a startup that pays YouTube creators cash for the right to monetize their video libraries, hired Galvea Kelly as its first chief marketing officer. Kelly most recently served as CMO for Collective, an online concierge back-office platform for self-employed workers in the U.S. The award-winning marketing exec has also held global leadership positions for
Many media companies have expressed concern about whether Madison Avenue will continue to keep spending as the nation worries about a possible recession. At Fox Corp., for now at least, advertisers have continued to loosen their purse strings. The owner of Fox News Channel and the Fox broadcasting network said profit in its fiscal fourth
Mega-billionaire Elon Musk sold share of Tesla worth about $6.9 billion in the past several days, according to regulatory filings. The tech mogul later tweeted that he raised the money in case Twitter wins its battle to force Musk to buy the social network for $44 billion. “In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces
FESTIVALS American narrative feature projects in rough or final cut seeking finishing funds are now invited to submit to the 2022 edition of U.S. in Progress, which takes place Nov. 9-11 during the 13th American Film Festival (Nov.8-13) in Wroclaw, Poland. The strand pairs American projects in final production stages with European buyers and top
The botched Operation Yewtree investigation, which sought to bring to light historic sex offences perpetrated by British celebrities in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, is set to be examined in a new Channel 4 documentary. Singer Cliff Richard, radio DJ Paul Gambaccini and former “Pop Idol” judge Neil Fox were among those publicly