Ahead of its summer launch in the U.K., streamer Paramount Plus has unveiled a raft of U.K. original unscripted commissions. “Haunted” (working title, 4×60) details the most terrifying paranormal cases in Britain and America, combining personal testimony with archive and dramatic reconstruction. It is produced by Story Films in association with All3Media International. Executive producers
Can a band that seems to operate under rigid and even blatantly joyless conditions still produce music that sparks spontaneous ecstasy in listeners? That’s the sort of question that might not seem unusual if it were a classical ensemble we were talking about, or the ballet. But in a new documentary about the group King
Bradley Jackson’s “Facing Ryan” tells the story of an agreeable fellow from small-town Texas who married his high school sweetheart, followed his dream of playing major league baseball, pitched for four MLB teams over a 27-year career while operating a cattle ranch during off-season, set records for no-hitters and strikeouts that remain unbroken to this
In “Slash/Back,” something sinister from outer space lands a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle, and humanity’s first line of defense proves to be a group of Inuit girls armed with nothing but their wits and a bunch of traditional hunting and fishing tools. In most low-budget alien-invasion movies, the heroes/victims are fairly generic, whereas
Celebrated Israeli filmmaker Matan Yair, whose “Scaffolding” has had festival play at Cannes, Zurich and Singapore, is nearly ready with his new film, coming-of-age drama “A Room of His Own.” The film, which is in the work-in-progress strand of Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), follows 17-year-old Uri, who has botched his first army interview.
Treasure-hunting action adventure “Uncharted” picked up $1.95 million in China on Monday, its official opening day, according to local box office tracking sources. Provisional data from Ent Group showed it launching in first place on Monday, becoming the first film to displace the long-running Chinese patriotic war movie “The Battle at Lake Changjin II,” which
Taraji P. Henson thinks there’s a parallel between Jussie Smollett and Emmett Till — and wouldn’t you know it … the late teen’s own family agrees. Emmett’s cousin, Deborah Watts, the co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, tells us Taraji’s heart is in the right place — namely, that Black people and other POC
“Downton Abbey” is gearing up to return to the silver screen with its second film, “Downton Abbey: A New Era” this May. But now, the British TV phenomenon is also hopping into the audio realm with “Downton Abbey: The Official Podcast.” Hosted by Rotten Tomatoes awards editor Jacqueline Coley and British radio and TV presenter
In “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a group of rich kids — five old friends, along with a couple of not-so-significant others — gather for a hurricane party at the pastoral suburban mansion of one of their parents. What’s a hurricane party? A storm has been predicted, and they’re using that as an excuse to barricade themselves
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Timing Is Everything,” the March 15 finale of “How I Met Your Father.” The finale of “How I Met Your Father” didn’t reveal who the father is — but it did give fans a cameo from the original show they’ve been waiting for. During the
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead, if you have not watched part one of ABC’s “The Bachelor” finale with Clayton Echard, which aired on Monday, March 14. If you were hoping to get some clarity from watching part one of “The Bachelor’s” Season 26 finale, you were severely disappointed. Following last week’s dramatic fantasy suites episode
Prominent Dubai-based satellite pay-TV and streaming service Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) is launching OSN Plus, a new premium streaming service that replaces its streaming app and marks OSN’s full-fledged entry into the MENA region’s increasingly crowded SVOD landscape. The move comes after OSN in January re-upped its long-term exclusive partnership with HBO, and expanded its
Disney Plus’ “Muppets Haunted Mansion” and Apple TV Plus’ “For All Mankind” and “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” were among the winners on Monday as the Producers Guild of America announced the winners of four categories from this year’s PGA Awards. Held in person at its annual East Coast celebration of the 2022 PGA nominees, winners
Kat McNamara (“Maze Runner,” “Shadowhunters”) has joined the cast of “Jade” the feature directorial debut of producer, director and stuntman James Bamford. The film began production on Thursday. The cast already includes Mickey Rourke “Sin City,” “The Expendables,” “The Wrester”) and Mark Dacascos (“John Wick 3,” “Crying Freeman,” “Brotherhood of the Wolf”) and Shaina West
HAF work in progress project “In Retreat” is a deeply personal project for debutant Syed Maisam Ali Shah. A graduate of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Shah made several globally seen shorts before embarking upon his fiction feature debut “In Retreat.” In the film, a man returns to his hometown after
Craig Melvin will leave his 11 a.m. weekday morning slot at MSNBC at the end of March, marking the latest shift of personnel at the NBCUniversal-owned cable-news outlet. Melvin will focus more heavily on his duties at NBC News and NBC’s “Today” program, where he is as regular a presence as Savannah Guthrie and Hoda
South Korean indie studio More In Group is using Hong Kong FilMart to launch its new feature film project “19 39.” Director Park Jae-ho is setting a quick turnaround for the comedy-drama movie which has not yet been filmed, but which he plans to release in summer this year. The story, written by Kim Min-Jung
The Minions are back — and celebrating with a splashy world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The long-awaited “Minions” sequel, dubbed “The Rise of Gru” will open the festival with a screening on Monday, June 13 in the Grande Salle de Bonlieu. The next chapter in the “Despicable Me” film franchise tells
Sony Music Entertainment Latin-Iberia has struck a new partnership with WK Records, the record label founded by WK Entertainment CEO-founder Walter Kolm. WKR artists include reggaeton star Alex Rose, Grammy-nominated/ Latin Grammy-winning producer-artist Foreign Teck, singer-songwriter Emilia, Argentine trap artist Seven Kayne, and Colombian artist Cheo Gallego, with more signings to be announced in the coming
Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” took more than a year to get to the top of the Billboard Hot 10, and now that it’s there, the song doesn’t have any plans to vacate quickly. After a rise to the top that took a record 59 weeks, “Heat Waves” is on top of that chart for a
It’s one thing to grapple with having been a one-hit wonder, and another when that singular smash may have given the world a wrong impression of what you were all about … or just represented a moment in which selling out was quickly succeeded by flaming out. These are some of the matters troubling former
Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” has been cleared for takeoff with a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. As Variety predicted earlier this month, the “Top Gun” sequel will screen during the French fest, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Described by Variety’s Elsa Keslassy as the “planetary blockbuster Thierry Fremaux has been
Evan Rachel Wood appeared on “The View” ahead of her two-part documentary “Rising Phoenix” debuting on HBO this week and stood defiant against a recent lawsuit Marilyn Manson filed against her. “I can’t obviously speak about any of the specific allegations of the lawsuit, but I’m not scared,” Wood said. “I am sad, because this
Discovery CEO David Zaslav received a massive $203 million stock option grant last year that inflated his total 2021 compensation package to a staggering $246.6 million. The stock option grant comes as Zaslav is about to lead a much larger company as the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery nears completion. Although Zaslav will not see
It isn’t the fault of “Halo,” the TV series adaptation finally premiering March 24 on Paramount Plus after years stuck in development hell, that it comes on the heels of a plethora of TV and streaming options that look and feel similar enough to lessen its ability to shock and awe. From “The Mandalorian” (Disney
As Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine continues and more music companies have ceased doing business with the country, many in the songwriting, music-publishing and especially the performing-rights communities have looked to CISAC, the global confederation of authors societies such as ASCAP and PRS, to make a unilateral decision. However, on Monday, the organization announced that
Just a few days after literally breaking the floor at a Detroit concert, Grammy-nominated rapper Baby Keem stormed the stage at New York City’s Terminal 5 to a packed crowd of young fans, dazzling them with a laser-light show and hits from his debut studio album “The Melodic Blue.” Keem, the cousin of 13-time Grammy
News that country music fans had long dreaded arrived this week: The Ernest Tubb Record Shop, a fixture of Nashville since 1947 and a mainstay in its current Lower Broad location since 1951, will be closing some time this spring, according to owners who purchased the iconic business and building two years ago. The store
Nearly ten years ago, Sandra Bullock pledged she would never again make a sequel to one of her many memorable movies. It was 2013, the year she and Melissa McCarthy released the buddy cop comedy “The Heat” — which grossed nearly $230 million at the worldwide box office. While simultaneously making the awards rounds for
Matthew Lawrence, who was barely a teenager when he starred opposite Robin Williams in the 1993 blockbuster comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire,” has revealed the late comedy icon gave him a “gift” on set by advising him never to do drugs. Williams battled with substance abuse throughout his career. Lawrence cited Williams’ advice as the reason he