“Snowpiercer” producer Tomorrow Studios has struck a first-look deal with Frank Spotnitz’s London-based production company Big Light Prods. Under the deal, Tomorrow Studios will tap into Big Light’s network of established and emerging writers and its pursuit of IP for projects to produce together under one development slate. Big Light Prods. specializes in returning and
“The Boy Who Belonged to the Sea,” the multiple award-winning 2001 novel by Canadian author Denis Theriault, has been acquired for film adaptation by fledgeling U.K. outfit the White Lotus Picture Company. Set on the rugged north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, the novel tells the story of two lonely boys united
Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and producer Denis Ivanov are teaming up again after their last collaboration, the ‘90s-set crime drama “Rhino,” premiered in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar last year. The new feature, “Shining World,” centers on a mother and her young son living in a small American town in the 1960s. Described by
Tom Hanks, Jodie Comer, Olivia Colman, David Cronenberg and Richard Linklater head projects at a Cannes 2022 pre-sales market that looks like the most buoyant in recent years, while also ushering in what is being hailed as a new era in global rights licensing. “We’re very optimistic, expecting a pretty busy market with a lot
WestEnd Films has closed a series of new deals on “Out of the Blue,” an upcoming thriller that brings together Neil LaBute and Diane Kruger. Rights for the film, which LaBute writes and directs, have gone to Australia and New Zealand (Kismet Movies), France (Metropolitan Filmexport), Germany (Koch Films), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Italy (Eagle
British director Michael Winterbottom will start shooting his long-gestating “Promised Land,” a thriller set during the leadup to the 1948 partition of Palestine and the subsequent creation of the state of Israel, this fall in Italy. U.K. actors Douglas Booth (“The Dirt,” “That Dirty Black Bag”) and Harry Melling (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”) and
Filmax has swooped in on one of Spain’s most awaited fiction feature debuts of 2022, Alex Lora’s “Unicorns” (“Unicornios”). Pic is produced by Inicia Films’ Valerie Delpierre, producer of director Carla Simon’s debut, “Summer 1993.” Due to be completed by the fall, “Unicorns” is made with Valencia’s Jaibo, the shingle behind Chema García’s Locarno hit
As the war in Ukraine approaches a grim, three-month mile marker, and the Russian military continues its relentless onslaught, the harsh crackdown on domestic opposition by the Putin regime has left a beleaguered film industry pondering its next steps. Many Russian filmmakers fear they’ll have no choice but to toe the party line, or to
Malaysia is set to increase the value of its location-based incentives from the current 30% to 35%, the government is expected to announce this week in Cannes. The Film in Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) was launched in 2013, around the time that the Iskandar Malaysia studios were opened in the south of the country, and is
“Naomi Judd: A River of Time Celebration” was broadcast live on CMT Sunday night two weeks and one day after the country music legend died. But it hadn’t been half that long in the planning. The show’s gestation really came just a week prior to air date, on — appropriately enough — Mother’s Day. That
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “A Bright and Cloudless Morning,” the May 16 season finale of “9-1-1: Lone Star.” The third season of “9-1-1: Lone Star” came to an end Monday with a moment years in the making: T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein) proposing to his boyfriend Carlos (Rafael Silva). It’s
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the sixth episode of “Better Call Saul” Season 6, titled “Axe and Grind.” Giancarlo Esposito didn’t appear in the latest episode of “Better Call Saul,” but that was because he was busy behind the camera directing this crucial episode, the penultimate entry in Season 6’s
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invested about $2.6 billion in Paramount Global during the first quarter of 2022, according to a Securites and Exchange Commission filing that disclosed the quarterly stock trading activity of his Berkshire Hathaway holding company. The 91-year-old Buffett, who serves as the owner and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has garnered the reputation
AWARDS CIRCUIT COLUMN: How the Emmys Dumped ‘Primetime’ to Focus on Genre, As We Move Closer to a Post-Linear Era We live in an on-demand age where viewers can watch late night talk shows in the morning, soap operas at midnight and game shows all hours of the day. What’s even a daypart anymore? It’s
(SPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Starting Over,” the May 16 season finale of “9-1-1.”) “9-1-1” gave its characters a well-deserved break with its Season 5 finale Monday. Almost everyone got a happy ending of sorts, with the exception of Buck (Oliver Stark) and Taylor’s (Megan West) complicated relationship, which
Neil Patrick Harris responded to criticism of a resurfaced image from a Halloween party he hosted 11 years ago, which included a buffet platter made to look like the corpse Amy Winehouse. Winehouse, a genre-defining jazz vocalist and songwriter, died on July 23, 2011 at the age of 27. A few months later, Harris and
Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” album continues its historic stride, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and filling four of the top 10 slots in the Hot 100 chart, led by “Moscow Mule” at No. 4. As the undeniable winner of the week, Bad Bunny earns the year’s biggest numbers yet
Ron Howard’s ripped-from-the-headlines drama “Thirteen Lives” has moved to August, with the film launching globally on Amazon’s Prime Video shortly after a limited theatrical release. Produced and directed by Ron Howard, the film follows the 2018 rescue mission of a Thai soccer team and their coach who were trapped in a system of flooding underground
Toronto-based filmmaker Deepa Mehta has been making films since the 1970s, including the Oscar-nominated “Water,” part of her elements trilogy; “Bollywood/Hollywood” and “Funny Boy.” Her TV credits include “Yellowjackets,” “Little America” and “Leila.” As an immigrant to Canada from India, I felt “seen” twice in my life. And both those moments, ironically, were diametrically antithetical
A sprawling all-day Springtime event celebrating the darker edge of ’80s music held under a brutal Southern California sun? It might sound antithetical, but the Cruel World Festival, which took over Pasadena’s Brookside golf course at the Rose Bowl this weekend, was in fact, a fitting, full-circle moment for music, celebrating and validating an often
Netflix has been getting member feedback on original content — ahead of its public release — for about a year, Variety has learned. Since May 2021, the streamer has been reaching out to small groups of subscribers with a proposition: The company is inviting them to participate in a panel to provide feedback on Netflix’s
Johnny Depp’s lawyer began her cross-examination of Amber Heard on Monday afternoon, seeking to undercut Heard’s claim that Depp physically assaulted her numerous times. Camille Vasquez, Depp’s attorney, presented a series of photos of Heard taken shortly after alleged incidents of violence. In the images, Heard did not appear to have bruises or other physical
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban got the last laugh over Lil Wayne on Monday … firing back at the legend for calling Luka Doncic a “ho” — by using one of Weezy’s very own song lyrics!! Of course, Wayne — who is a big Chris Paul supporter — was sitting courtside as he watched the
Cannes Film Festival has responded to complaints over the online press ticketing system, saying that the fest is currently working to resolve the issue. “The technical difficulties met this morning on the online ticketing service are very likely due to acts aimed at saturating the site with ticket requests, thus preventing festival-goers from accessing it,”
The Crawley’s are back — but with a twist. “Downton Abbey,” the hit British TV series that ran for six seasons on PBS, is making its way onto the big screen for a second time. Rather than spawning a seventh season, writer and creator Julian Fellowes explained why he decided to transform the series into
In one of the first high-profile sexual assault cases in Latin America following the #MeToo reckoning, Chilean director Nicolás López, who was renowned for his raunchy box office comedy hits “Sin Filtro,” “No Estoy Loca” and the “Que Pena” trilogy, has been sentenced to five years and one day in prison for two cases of
After a bit of a delay going into Fox’s Monday upfront presentation, the broadcast network has finally renewed “9-1-1” for a sixth season. The Ryan Murphy-produced first-responder drama “9-1-1” stars Angela Bassett as Field Sergeant Athena Grant, Peter Krause as Capt. Bobby Nash, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie Kendall, Oliver Stark as Evan “Buck” Buckley,
“The Resident” has been renewed for Season 6 at Fox. The decision came down to the wire, with both “9-1-1” and “The Resident” without formal renewal announcements on Monday morning when Fox announced their 2022-2023 broadcast season slate. The network made their upfront pitch to advertisers later that same day. CLICK HERE to follow Variety’s
Fox Corp. surprised the industry on Monday by hosting an upfront programming presentation that was almost entirely pre-recorded. About 800 attendees gathered at the Skylight venue in Lower Manhattan for the presentation that unfolded in immersive fashion across giant screens for just over an hour. Once the lengthy pre-recorded portion was finished, Fox Entertainment CEO
Tom Blyth is headed to Panem. The actor, best known for “Billy the Kid” and “The Gilded Age,” has been cast as young President Coriolanus Snow in Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” The movie is based on the 2020 book of the same name, which is set decades before