Last week, “The Equalizer” star and executive producer Queen Latifah announced that the hit CBS series had been picked up for a third and fourth season. The show, in which Latifah plays vigilante Robyn McCall, is currently the network’s No. 2 primetime series, behind only stalwart show “NCIS,” so the multi-season commitment is logical. But
Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo are set to star in a new comedy series set up at Onyx Collective on Hulu, Variety has learned. The series is titled “Unprisoned” and has received an eight-episode order. It is inspired by the life of series creator Tracy McMillan. In the show, a messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and
Natasha Lyonne is set to host the season finale of “Saturday Night Live” on May 21 with Japanese Breakfast performing as the musical guest. The episode will mark the “Saturday Night Live” debut for Lyonne, who is the co-creator, executive producer, director and star of the comedy-drama series “Russian Doll,” which debuted its second season
Although summer used to be a time for TV fanatics to catch up on reading, that’s not the case these days, with new content constantly rolling out —— even during what used to be the TV off-season. Networks and streamers continue to mine existing IP — HBO Max will bring “Harley Quinn” and “Pretty Little
Richard C. Wald, a former president at NBC News and a senior vice president at ABC News who worked behind the scenes with Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Ted Koppel and Roone Arledge, died May 13 after suffering a stroke earlier in the month. He was 92. Wald was involved with the creation of “Nightline,” the
An animated revival of “Married…With Children” is in development with the original series main cast set to return. Ed O’Neill, Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate, and David Faustino are all set to reprise their roles as the Bundy family in the show, which is not currently set up at a network or streaming service. It is
Emmy nominee Paapa Essiedu (“I May Destroy You”) and BAFTA winner Stephen Dillane (“Alex Rider”) have joined Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”) on the cast of “The Outrun.” The film is the feature adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir “The Outrun,” adapted by Nora Fingscheidt, the multiple award winning director of “System Crasher.” Fingscheidt
Neon has teamed with CJ ENM to acquire North American distribution rights to “Broker,” the new film from writer and director Kore-eda Hirokazu. The deal was inked prior to the film’s premiere in Cannes, where “Broker” is slated to premiere in competition. Kore-eda is no stranger to the festival, having previously won the Palme d’Or
Despite the optics of shirtless volleyball games and locker room sparring, you can’t make a “Top Gun” movie without a strong and emotionally centered woman. For “Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel 36 years in the making, the successor to the original film’s Kelly McGillis is Jennifer Connelly. She plays Penny Benjamin, a character referenced in
Play video content It’s Tricky with Raquel Harper Gillie Da Kid is in the crosshairs of Lil Wayne’s camp — all thanks to comments he made about his recent interaction with Weezy. Gillie was on the “It’s Tricky w/ Raquel Harper” earlier last week when he claimed Lil Wayne appeared to be scared of him,
Like virtually every major rock act in the mid-1970s, the Rolling Stones had become bloated and overblown. After the generation-defining singles of the ‘60s and the stellar string of albums running from “Beggars Banquet” to “Exile on Main Street,” they’d eked out three comparatively uninspired sets that, due to Keith Richards’ formidable heroin addiction and
SPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched all five episodes of “Candy,” now streaming on Hulu. “Candy” viewers knew that star Melanie Lynskey’s real-life husband, Jason Ritter, was appearing in the new series — but they didn’t expect to see Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel’s husband pop up as one of the other
YouTube earlier this year wound down most of its originals division, in a significant pullback on its investment in scripted and unscripted programming. But it’s not totally out of the game: YouTube is continuing to bulk up its slate of kids and family originals, as part of its previously announced $100 million fund earmarked for
Erotic love story “99 Moons,” which will have its world premiere in Cannes’ ACID sidebar, has debuted its trailer (below). Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has acquired the world sales rights to the film, which is directed by Jan Gassmann. The film centers on Bigna, a 28-year-old scientist, and 33-year-old Frank. Bigna is used to having
I’m happy to report that all is well between me and Machine Gun Kelly. In September, a video of the musician slapping my microphone at the MTV VMAs in New York City after I asked him about a scuffle he got into with MMA fighter Conor McGregor earlier on the carpet went viral. However, MGK
For the past month, jurors in Virginia have been witness to a tabloid spectacle. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have taken turns revealing every detail of their four-year relationship, including serious allegations of bloody violence and sexual assault, as well as merely lurid accounts of screaming fights, promiscuous drug use, and bowel movements. Heard will
Leading arthouse sales company The Match Factory has acquired distribution rights to murdered Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius’ documentary “Mariupolis 2,” ahead of the film’s premiere next week at the Cannes Film Festival as a Special Screening. Kvedaravičius was captured and murdered by the Russian army in Mariupol, Ukraine in early April. The film was co-directed
One of Kendrick Lamar’s great strengths as a rapper is his ability to acknowledge and criticize his own biases and prejudices and not place himself above the people he’s singling out. It’s a characteristic that appears frequently in his work, particularly on his deep and dense new album, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” which
DNEG, the visual effects house behind “Dune” and “First Man” has opened the doors of its VFX and animation studio in Toronto. The studio is located in the King West district of the city with over 150 artists on board as it pushes forward in its expansion. In January, DNEG revealed plans to go public
Independent Entertainment will launch international sales at the Cannes Film Market on Jerrod Carmichael’s Sundance winner “On the Count of Three.” The film is the directorial debut of comedian, actor and filmmaker Carmichael and he also stars alongside Christopher Abbott (“Possessor”), Tiffany Haddish (“The Card Counter”), JB Smoove (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”) and Henry Winkler
Fred Ward, who starred in films including “Henry and June,” “Tremors,” “The Right Stuff” and “The Player,” died May 8, his publicist confirmed to Variety. He was 79. Among his other prominent roles were parts in “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins,” “Miami Blues” and “Short Cuts.” There was a certain retro quality to the actor’s persona that
Italian state broadcaster RAI’s president Marinella Soldi, who is a former CEO of Discovery Networks Southern Europe, has a longstanding rapport with the Eurovision Song Contest. It’s the show on which she remembers first seeing ABBA, one of her favorite pop bands, “with their white flares.” Soldi more recently was mesmerized by Måneskin and the
Is Elon Musk getting cold feet over his $44 billion bid for Twitter — or is he just trying to drive the price tag down? Early Friday, the mega-billionaire tweeted that his deal for the social network was “temporarily on hold,” citing the need to conduct due diligence on Twitter’s claim that fake and spam
Johannes Larcher and Luis Duran, respectively HBO Max’s general managers of international and Latin America, are set to exit the streaming service as part of the ongoing shakeup at Warner Bros. Discovery, Variety has confirmed. The two top HBO Max execs are the latest layoffs to surface as a new leadership team is being put
Billionaire Elon Musk’s plans to buy social media platform Twitter are on hold for now, he said on Friday. “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk posted on Twitter. Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts
Swedish director Ninja Thyberg is the winner of this year’s annual Women in Motion Young Talent Award, bestowed by the Kering Group and the Cannes Film Festival to a standout first-time female director. Thyberg is being honored for directing several shorts and a feature all centered around the theme of “sexuality as a prism for
Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed sales on Berlin Panorama title “Concerned Citizen” – Idan Haguel’s satirical feature on privilege and prejudice set in Tel Aviv – for several additional territories. Distribution in the U.K. and Ireland will be handled by Peccadillo Pictures; Arti Film will be distributing the film in Benelux, with a nationwide
Creative agency Once Upon a Time (OUAT) has acquired film content specialist The Special Treats Production Company for an undisclosed sum. Colin Burrows founded Special Treats more than 30 years ago and served as MD. Special Treats has produced a range of documentaries, TV movies and electronic press kits for the film, TV and music
Miguel Bernardeau, Guzmán in Netflix smash hit “Elite,” and Mexico’s Renata Notni will head the cast of “Zorro,” a reboot series from Los Angeles-based Secuoya Studios and John Gertz that will stream in exclusivity on Amazon’s Prime Video in the U.S., Latin America and Spain. The flagship series at Secuoya Studios, “Zorro,” a modern take
Spare parts of high school comedies from “Peggy Sue Got Married” to “Mean Girls” and beyond have been torn asunder, then sewn back together to create “Senior Year.” In other words, this vehicle for producer-star Rebel Wilson isn’t organic even as a genre homage; its Frankensteinian assemblage always feels more imitative than inspired. Nonetheless, if