The American Cinematheque is kicking off a robust new Los Angeles nonfiction film festival dubbed This Is Not a Fiction, running from April 10-18. The festival opens with docuseries “Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story,” with Jon Bon Jovi in-person at the Aero Theatre for the L.A. premiere screening. The event will include
From the distinction of becoming hip-hop’s first billionaire to being honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star this week, the accomplishments and confidence of the man born Andre Young — aka legendary producer-rapper-entrepreneur Dr. Dre — could best be summed up with the lyrics from his debut solo hit, 1992’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’
If you’ve been on TikTok in the last few weeks, chances are you’ve heard Djo’s “End of Beginning,” a synth-heavy psychedelic track soaked in nostalgia. But you may not know that the man behind Djo is none other than Joe Keery, best known for playing lovable jock Steve Harrington on Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Keery has
Variety‘s Hitmaker of 2023 SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Blink-182, the Killers, Future and Metro Boomin, Hozier, Stray Kids, Melanie Martinez and Skrillex are set to headline a Lollapalooza 2024, which will also feature performances from Deftones, Tate McRae, Conan Gray, Reneé Rapp, Victoria Monét, and many more, the festival announced on Tuesday. The annual festival takes place August 1-4 with over 170 bands, eight stages and four days of music and programming
Sufjan Stevens is bringing his musical talents to Broadway. The singer-songwriter’s show “Illinoise,” based on his album of the same name, will open at the St. James Theatre in the spring. The musical will begin performances on April 24, which will act as the engagement’s opening night. The limited run will conclude on Aug. 10.
The rise of música Mexicana has been one of the more unexpected movements in the music world: While it was the fastest-growing Latin subgenre of 2023, per research data company Luminate, the genre is centuries old, and rooted in traditional guitar-based melodies that many of música Mexicana’s most promising young artists — including Peso Pluma,
Wanda Sykes will be honored with the Writers Guild of America East’s Herb Sargent Award at the 76th annual Writers Guild Awards, set for April 14 at the Edison Ballroom in New York. Sykes, the long-established comedy multihyphenate, is the co-creator, co-showrunner and star of the Netflix family comedy series “The Upshaws,” which is heading
Variety’s Series Mania Bulletin highlights breaking news at this year’s French TV festival: Paramount+ Unveils Pricing Details Paramount+ has announced the schedule and pricing for its international ad-supported Basic subscription offering and Premium plan, both set to begin this month in selected countries. The ad-supported Basic plan will be available in April in Canada and
Prime Video has unveiled a 69-title 2024 slate of new and returning series and original and licensed films. The slate was revealed at a star-studded event in Mumbai on Tuesday hosted by Indian media personality Karan Johar. Amazon executives present at the event included Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, Kelly
Reggaeton artist Feid and Mexican music pioneer Peso Pluma are in the lead as the most nominated artists at the Latin American Music Awards, Univision has revealed. They top the list with 12 nominations each followed by Bad Bunny and Grupo Frontera, with 11 nominations each. The awards show will be hosted by Latin pop
In the early 1970s, Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan wrote and recorded songs for the English version of Italian director Franco Zeffirelli’s film “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” about the early years of St. Francis of Assisi, that evoked the “flower power” hippie movement and developed a cult following. Half a century later, Donovan traveled to Italy last week
Longtime TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will be returning for more in-depth tête-à-têtes with noted filmmakers. Mankiewicz’s “Talking Pictures: A Movie Memories Podcast” has been renewed for Season 2 by TCM and Max. He announced the renewal on the Season 1 finale featuring guest Bill Hader, star, co-creator and director of HBO’s “Barry” and former “Saturday
Spotify has provided further details on the record $9 billion it paid out to the music industry in 2023, which was first announced in January. For context, the company stated that the “amount has nearly tripled over the past six years, and represents a big part of the $48 billion-plus Spotify has paid since its
Star Wars mastermind George Lucas has come out with a statement in support of Disney‘s board and CEO Bob Iger, urging Mouse House shareholders to reject a bid by two activist investor groups to take seats on the media company’s board. “Creating magic is not for amateurs,” Lucas said in a statement released Tuesday. “When
While at Series Mania Festival, Larry Tanz, Netflix‘s VP of EMEA Content, unveiled ambitious new shows commissioned from France and the Netherlands, including an untitled thriller series starring Isabelle Adjani, and “Amsterdam Empire,” a Dutch crime series starring and executive produced by Famke Janssen. The untitled French thriller series revolves around a young mother on
Paris-based film sales agency Cat&Docs has acquired “Kamay,” the debut feature documentary from filmmakers Ilyas Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran. The film will world premiere at Visions du Réel, which runs in Nyon, Switzerland, April 12-24. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below). In “Kamay,” the filmmakers pick up the story of a
Net profits at Tencent Music Entertainment, China’s largest digital music company, climbed 36% to reach $735 million (RMB5.22 billion) in 2023 – despite revenues declining by 2% to $3.91 billion. Fourth quarter profits were worth $198 million (RMB1.41 billion), earned from revenues 7% down at $971 million (RMB6.89 billion). The final figures cap a year
The U.K.’s foremost film college has launched a new intimacy coordinator certificate to help meet the rising demands of the industry. With shows such as “Normal People” and “I May Destroy You” having helped bring the work of intimacy coordinators to the forefront of conversations in recent years, The National Film and TV School has
BYE-BYE BUNYA Australian TV producer Bunya Entertainment says that Sophia Zachariou will step down as co-managing director, after a five-year stint. Bunya Entertainment is one part the Bunya Group of companies and was established by Zachariou, David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin in 2019. Zachariou is currently in post-production on “The Office” (Amazon) and “Ladies in Black” (ABC) and will deliver
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the program for its 55th edition, which includes 10 first films out of 15 in the main international competition, cementing its reputation as a springboard for emerging talent. The official selection includes 165 films from 50 countries, with gender parity for the second-year running, and no
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the series finale of “Young Royals,” now streaming on Netflix. Long live the (former) Crown Prince! In the series finale of Netflix’s queer romance “Young Royals,” Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) officially abdicates the throne as the future king of Sweden, effectively handing the crown to his cousin/sometimes rival August
Germany’s Beta Film (“Babylon Berlin”) sets its sights on the Croisette for the world premiere of Dutch Royal drama “Máxima,” selected to screen out-of-competition at Canneseries on April 9. In tow, Delfina Chaves (“The Secret of the Greco Family”), who portrays the titular character in the series that Variety recently likened to Emmy-Award-Winning Netflix Drama “The Crown.”
Prime Video has revealed a title and the extended cast for the Indian instalment of “Citadel,” the espionage action series created by the Russo brothers. The Indian series within the “Citadel” universe will be called “Citadel: Honey Bunny.” As previously announced, Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu will lead the cast. Prabhu will play Honey and Dhawan portray
Alfred Herrhausen, born in 1930, was the chairman of Deutsche Bank. But to the team behind German series “Herrhausen – The Banker and the Bomb,” premiering at Series Mania, he was a “visionary.” “He was a humane banker, always looking into the future. What you see in this show is a person who tries to
Grainne Brunsdon has been promoted to chief operating officer within federal funding and policy body Screen Australia. She was the organization’s director of content, where she led production investment and development, distribution support, and business initiatives for the last two years. Starting the new job from April 1, Brunsdon succeeds Michael Brealey, who departed the
Based on the book by Magnus Montelius, Swedish series “8 Months” seemed more like a fantasy than political thriller. Not for long. “I read this book on vacation and I was intrigued by the idea that you could use a political consultant to find a new foreign minister. The only problem was that it was
LILLE — Creating a major and ambitious new player on the Spanish-language film-TV scene, Amaya Muruzábal – showrunner, screenwriter, and executive producer on Amazon MGM Studios’ just-out big hit “Red Queen” and creator and executive producer on milestone production “Hernán” – is launching her own film-TV production house, M Content. M Content is founded with
“’I sacrificed my love on the altars of fame,’ Leonard Cohen said in the ‘70s,” “So Long, Marianne” showrunner Øystein Karlsen notes. Cohen was referring of course to his ‘60s decade-long relationship with Norway’s Marianne Ilhen, which shaped him for life. One of the highest-profile and most anticipated world premieres in Series Mania main competition,
Spinning audiences back to the mid-1970s, UFA Fiction‘s latest period series “Disko 76” is set in a pivotal time in the industrial heartland of West Germany as a new American pop music craze takes over the airwaves and dance floors. The six-part series, which premiered at the recent Berlinale Series Market, continues its international
“Catch Me a Killer” comprises many firsts: It is a series about South Africa’s first-ever criminal profiler, the first-ever woman to occupy such a position and, now, the first-ever series entirely shot in South Africa to be in International Panorama competition at Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival. Abacus Media Rights(AMR), an Amcomri Entertainment company,