Bappi Lahiri, a celebrated Bollywood singer, composer and politician, died Wednesday in CritiCare in Breach Candy. He was 69. Lahiri had been ailing from various health issues, including sleep apnea. Lahiri’s music popularized disco in the 1980s and ’90s, long after it had left the West, with his music used in films such as “Namak
Original “Futurama” cast member John DiMaggio, who has long voiced the chain-smoking robot Bender on the show, has given an update on his tentative position on returning for the animated series’ upcoming revival on Hulu. DiMaggio shared his thoughts on Twitter on Tuesday evening, clarifying that he believes that the original “Futurama” voice cast should
Original “Futurama” cast member John DiMaggio, who has long voiced the chain-smoking robot Bender on the show, has given an update on his tentative position on returning for the animated series’ upcoming revival on Hulu. DiMaggio shared his thoughts on Twitter on Tuesday evening, clarifying that he believes that the original “Futurama” voice cast should
In their last outings as leaders of ViacomCBS, the executive team led by Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish finally started to sound like they have a solid plan to compete in streaming. On the day ViacomCBS unveiled its corporate rebrand to Paramount, starting as of Feb. 16, the company put on a nearly three-hour virtual
Police in Hong Kong on Tuesday arrested Tommy Yuen, a popular singer and pro-democracy campaigner. Local media and rights groups reported that Hong Kong authorities have also blocked access in the city to a pro-democracy website operated from the U.K. Yuen, a former member of the Canto-pop boy band E-kids, was arrested by national security
As the Met Gala sets its return to the first Monday in May, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced plans for the 2022 spring exhibition themed “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.” The Met curators, led by Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu curator in charge of the Costume Institute, have
Girl in Red, aka Marie Ulven, the Norwegian singer/songwriter who has achieved considerable acclaim and racked up solid streaming results in the indie realm, has signed with Columbia Records. The label confirmed the signing to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits. After a series of digital songs and EPs, Girl in Red released
Allison Gollust, the chief marketing officer at CNN, has resigned from the network following corporate parent WarnerMedia’s investigation into “issues associated with Chris Cuomo and former Governor Andrew Cuomo,” according to a memo from Jason Kilar, the company’s CEO. “Performed by a third-party law firm and led by a former federal judge, the investigation was
Graduates of Netflix’s first ever Documentary Talent Fund have launched their short films. Ten U.K.-based filmmakers were chosen to receive £40,000 ($54,000) as well as mentorship and access to production workshops covering legal, creative, HR, production and finance in order to create a short film with the brief of “Britain’s Not Boring And Here’s a
Paramount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS) expects to increase direct-to-consumer content spending to more than $6 billion in 2024, the company revealed on Tuesday during its Q4 earnings and streaming investor day presentation. This is a jump from its previous guidance, which was that Paramount expected streaming content spend to exceed $5 billion in 2024,
If you have watched any movie on any TV show in the past few years, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered motion smoothing. Even if you don’t know what it is, you might have noticed a favorite film you’ve seen in theaters looks noticeably different, some might say uglier, on the small screen, thanks to
Robert Pattinson revealed during a recent “The Batman” post-screening Q&A (via Insider) that nailing his Caped Crusader voice “was a lot of trial and error.” The actor had “seven or eight months” prior to production to “experiment with a lot of different things” for his Batman voice, but he began filming the Matt Reeves-directed comic
Katya Martín, the star of ABC’s “Promised Land,” has landed the lead role in the upcoming indie feature “The Death That Awaits.” Martín will play a drifter in search of answers to a mystery from her past, who takes on a job in the countryside looking after a sick teen. She soon realizes the teen
Trey Songz is being sued by a woman for sexual assault in Miami, and now he wants a judge to toss the case … because he says her attorney tried paying off a key witness. The singer filed new legal docs in response to a recent lawsuit filed by Jauhara Jeffries — who alleges he
Paramount Plus and CBS are expanding their reality TV lineup. On Tuesday, the streaming service announced the renewals of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” “Queen of the Universe,” “The Real World Homecoming” and “The Challenge: All Stars,” as well as multiple new series. “The Challenge: All Stars,” which landed a Guild of Music Supervisors Award
“South Park” is headed back home to ViacomCBS. The company announced that the Comedy Central adult animated series will stream exclusively on Paramount Plus beginning in 2025, after the expiration of “South Park’s” $500 million deal with HBO Max, set in 2019. In markets outside of the U.S., the full “South Park” catalog will become
The business anthology series “Super Pumped” has been renewed for Season 2 at Showtime. The news was announced as part of the ViacomCBS investor day presentation. Each season of the show will focus on a different major story from the world of business. The first season, which focuses on the rise of Uber, will debut
“Billions” has been renewed for Season 7 at Showtime, Variety has learned exclusively. Season 6 of the series debuted on Jan. 23, with new episodes airing every Sunday on Showtime. In season 6 , the dust of season five clears to reveal a world that has evolved. With Axe (Damian Lewis) gone and Michael Prince (Corey
“Sexy Beast” is back, and it’s part of a slate of six international scripted originals heading to Paramount Plus, Variety can reveal. The long-simmering “Sexy Beast” prequel series has evidently been resuscitated for the streamer after being scrapped for Paramount Network in 2020. The U.K.-originated show, based on the cult classic film of the same
Madison Avenue is getting closer to realizing its dream of using TV advertising to talk to viewers in a style more akin to a one-to-one conversation The future of the humble TV ad has long been described as the following: New data and interactive technology will trim the practice of throwing a diaper ad or
The second season of “The Amber Ruffin Show” will return with new episodes Feb. 25, Peacock announced Tuesday. The critically acclaimed late-night variety series is hosted by comedian Amber Ruffin, who made history as the first Black woman to write for a late-night network TV show when she joined the writer’s room of “Late Night
Paramount Pictures has given a taste of its upcoming theatrical film slate. During its annual investor day presentation on Tuesday, the studio announced plans for “A Quiet Place 3,” as well as another sequel to “Sonic the Hedgehog.” The studio, which is often seeing as being outgunned by larger rivals such as Disney, Warner Bros.
They’re boldly going back. Paramount is planning to enter negotiations for “Star Trek” stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Simon Pegg to return to the Enterprise for their fourth tour of duty in the venerable sci-fi franchise. The announcement was made by J.J. Abrams during the Paramount Investors Day
Warner Bros. argues in new court filings that it never agreed to an exclusively theatrical release for “The Matrix Resurrections,” and that Village Roadshow still owes $112.5 million in production expenses on the project. The studio is responding to a lawsuit filed last week, in which Village Roadshow alleged that Warner Bros. had breached its
Los Angeles County is expected to lift its outdoor mask mandate Wednesday following a decrease in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. The indoor mask requirement could be lifted by the end of March if case rates continue to decline. With guidelines imposed earlier this month, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said
Paramount Plus and Showtime gained 9.4 million streaming subscribers, topping a combined 56 million subscribers by the end of last year, as their parent company ViacomCBS — soon to be renamed Paramount — indicated that it was relying more heavily on revenue from streaming-media operations. 80% of those new subs — or 7.3 million —
Disney CEO Bob Chapek appointed veteran media and tech exec Mike White to a new role coordinating the Mouse House’s “metaverse” efforts going forward. White, who has worked at Disney for a little over a decade, is assuming the new role of SVP of next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences at the Walt Disney Co., responsible
Paramount Plus will begin integrating Showtime content this summer, launching an in-app upgrade that includes access to the pay TV channel’s programming, ViacomCBS — soon to be renamed Paramount — announced during its Tuesday investor event. “So let’s talk about how we’re helping subscribers access even more of our amazing streaming services, right there in
Paramount Plus will be the exclusive streaming home for all Paramount Pictures movies beginning in 2024. The announcement, which was made at ViacomCBS’s investor day on Tuesday, is a sign of how much the media giant is investing in its streaming service. It means that the company will forgo lucrative and profitable short-term licensing revenue
When “King Richard” star Aunjanue Ellis was approached to portray Oracene “Brandy” Williams (née Price) in a film about the early years of Venus and Serena Williams’ tennis career, the actor was primarily excited to celebrate the first family of tennis. Ellis describes the opportunity to play Price as “one of the greatest honors I’ve