May Fung Lee Pang will be 72 in October, but was barely out of her teens when she boldly entered Apple’s New York offices, lied about being able to type, and secured a job at the Beatles’ multimedia company. She would soon become famous for a much more intimate tie to the group than that,
The membership of WGA East has ratified a change to the union’s constitution, cementing a compromise between traditional TV and film writers and newer members who work in digital media. The amendment passed overwhelmingly, with 98% of the votes in favor. Turnout was 24%. The constitutional change creates three “work sectors” within the union: Film/TV/Streaming,
Britney Spears’ wedding to fiancé Sam Asghari was interrupted on Thursday by the pop star’s ex-husband, Jason Alexander, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Variety. Sergeant Cyrus Zadeh said that the Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Spears’ residence to investigate a trespassing complaint, during which they made contact with Alexander. After running a records
When Dick Wolf kicked off the “One Chicago” world on NBC in 2012 with “Chicago Fire” — a spinoff of the “Law & Order” universe — it was a bit of a boys’ club. Derek Haas, Matt Olmstead and Michael Brandt led “Fire” as showrunners; less than two years later, “Chicago P.D.” premiered with Olmstead
The trailer for “,” the HBO Max docuseries about the titular Latin American boy band, has been released. Directed by filmmakers Angel Manuel Soto and Kristofer Ríos, the four-part docuseries follows the rise of Menudo, a Puerto Rican musical group formed in 1977 by producer Edgardo Díaz that became one of the most popular boy
The “Dead Boy Detectives” series at HBO Max has brought on Beth Schwartz to serve as co-showrunner and executive producer, Variety has learned exclusively. Schwartz will now co-showrun the series with Steve Yockey. This is not the first time Schwartz has been at the helm of a show based on a DC property, as she served
No mere documentary can capture the turbulent life story of “America’s mayor.” In order to do justice to the rise and fall of Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani, director Jed Rothstein had to invent a new genre. The result, “Rudy! A Documusical,” weaves in musical performances by Broadway actors with archival footage from Giuliani’s metamorphosis from top
Marvel Studios may have its next big team-up movie. A film based on the Thunderbolts — a team of supervillains in the Marvel comics — is in early development, with director Jake Schreier on board, Variety has confirmed. “Black Widow” writer Eric Pearson will write the film, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will produce.
Disney-Pixar’s “Lightyear” sees Chris Evans voicing a new version of one of the company’s most famous characters, Buzz Lightyear. First introduced in 1995’s “Toy Story,” Buzz was made famous thanks to Tim Allen’s voice performance across the franchise’s four films, and Evans admitted that taking on the title role was a daunting prospect “The first
What does it mean to be a Time 100 honoree? For Jon Batiste, who recently dominated the Grammy Awards with five wins and a colorful performance of “Freedom,” he emphasized the importance of leaning into one’s power. “Lean into yourself because that’s your superpower,” Batiste told Variety on Wednesday night at the Time 100 Gala
Anyone who’s watched “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” has has been well aware of the erosion of women’s rights, and how this right-leaning Supreme Court was ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, despite it being the law of the land for nearly 50 years. Nonetheless, when word of an impending verdict came out, it was
The Washington Post fired national political reporter Felicia Sonmez, according to published reports. Her reported termination comes after Sonmez lambasted the Jeff Bezos-owned paper’s leadership and engaged in highly public feuds on Twitter with other staffers. The Post’s firing of Sonmez was first reported by the Daily Beast. A rep for the Washington Post did
On Thursday night, the first public hearing regarding last year’s Jan. 6 Capitol attack will take place, after over 10 months of investigation from a group of lawmakers. The first hearing will begin at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on Thursday. A formal schedule for the rest of the hearings hasn’t been publicly announced,
Jeff Frost is stepping down from his role as president of Sony Pictures Television Studios. Frost has held the position as the studio’s chief for the past five years. He was appointed by Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra following the exits of former presidents Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht for their
After the shocking news that Peter Rice has been ousted as the head of TV content for Disney, and will be replaced by his top lieutenant, Dana Walden, media insiders are left scratching their heads and speculating about the behind-the-scenes dealmaking taking place. For the uninitiated, Variety has put together a primer on the incoming
Facebook once called its Portal family of devices, first introduced in 2018, “the future of video calling” — and spent big on ad campaigns pushing the products. Now the social media giant, since renamed Meta Platforms, is switching gears: The company will no longer produce consumer versions of the Portal and instead will focus on
June 10 marks the 100th birthday of Judy Garland — and anyone who’s seen films like “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) or “A Star is Born” (1954) is automatically a fan. To many fans, she was a blazing talent and that was enough. But others became as fascinated with her personal life as with her
Judy Garland, who would have turned 100 years old this week, wasn’t just billed as “the world’s greatest entertainer” – in her time, she really was. Garland was much more than just little Dorothy Gale from Kansas who once had an adventure in far-off Oz. She spent 45 of her 47 years in show business,
“They’re coming out of the woodwork!” Jennifer Lopez is gushing in delight as an impromptu flash mob breaks out — to the tune of “Jenny From the Block,” naturally — on the red carpet of “Halftime,” her new documentary that opened the 2022 Tribeca Festival. “Only in New York,” she said, letting out a “woo.”
There are at least a couple generations of music fans now that have Phoebe Bridgers at the top of a list of artists they’d love to be having still more musical conversations with. But especially for a streaming series that has women in their early 20s at the fore, as Hulu’s “Conversations With Friends” does,
The indie band Big Thief has announced the cancelation of two concerts in Tel Aviv following a preemptive Instagram post meant to explain their decision to play in Israel. The shows were scheduled for July 6 and 7 at the Barby club. There was no promoter attached to the dates, which would have wrapped their
Democrats are sounding the alarm about Rick Caruso’s first-place finish in the race for Los Angeles mayor in Tuesday’s primary, as the billionaire mall developer heads to a runoff against Rep. Karen Bass. Caruso, who has run on addressing homelessness and crime, took 42% of the vote, leading Bass by more than five percentage points.
Paul Yanover is stepping down as president of Fandango after nearly a decade atop the country’s leading movie ticketing service. He will be replaced by Will McIntosh, who currently serves as executive VP of NBC Sports Next. His new role will be slightly different, as he will serve as president of both NBC Sports Next
Cinema Management Group (CMG) has inked multiple new sales deals for César Zelada’s sophomore feature “Kayara,” an animated teen-empowerment fable produced by Lima-based Tunche Films in co-production with India’s Toonz Media Group via its Canary Islands-based Fortoon Island. In the latest wave of sales, Mis. Label Aps has acquired “Kayara” for Scandinavia, Films4You for Portugal,
Don’t cross the streams! Sony Pictures Virtual Reality is gearing up to launch “Ghostbusters VR Academy,” which will let fans of the 38-year-old movie franchise train to become Ghostbusters themselves. The VR experience, described as an “immersive training simulator,” is being developed by Hologate, an operator of location-based virtual reality entertainment, in association with Ghost
Check out a special Minions: The Rise of Gru Official Spot starring Steve Carell! ► Buy tickets for Minions: The Rise of Gru: https://www.fandango.com/minions-the-rise-of-gru-222389/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US Release Date: July 1, 2022 Starring:
Amazon Prime Video’s “The Underground Railroad” and Netflix’s “Bo: Burnham: Inside” are among the final round of entertainment series to be honored by the Peabody Awards this year. The last crop of winners were announced Thursday morning. “The Underground Railroad” award was presented by Ibram X. Kendi. “In Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel, the figuratively magical
Comedy drama “The Shuroo Process” has been snapped up by 4 Digital Media. Co-written by and starring Emrhys Cooper (“Dreamcatcher”), the film also represents Cooper’s directorial debut. He wrote it with Donal Brophy, who also co-stars. The duo also produced the feature. Rainey Qualley, Fiona Dourif, Tommy Dorfman, Olivia Sui, Hakeem Kae-Kazim,Jeff Hephner and Cornelia
“Perlimps,” Brazilian Alê Abreu’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “The Boy and the World,” has a trailer, released in the run up to the animated feature’s world premiere on June 16 at the Annecy Festival. Shared in exclusivity with Variety by the film’s sales agent Best Friend Forever, the full trailer reveals for the first time the real
Artists Road has landed rights to “Incoming,” a high school comedy starring “The Black Phone” actor Mason Thames. The company, a new joint venture specializing in funny films, is co-financing with Spyglass Media Group. Dave and John Chernin, who have partnered on “The Mick” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” are writing and directing in