Village Roadshow sued Warner Bros. on Monday, alleging that the studio sabotaged the theatrical release of “The Matrix Resurrections” in order to drive subscribers to HBO Max. The suit stems from Warner Bros.’ controversial move to release its entire 2021 theatrical slate simultaneously on its streaming service, including “Dune,” “The Suicide Squad” and “King Richard.”
Not long ago, the South African designer Thebe Magugu consulted a local healer who “reads” bones and other objects in the same way someone might read tea leaves. Magugu requested she ask the ancestors what was next for him. But before she could respond, he stopped her: “It made me too nervous, for some strange
National Geographic is sending Will Smith to both ends of the Earth. The programmer announced Monday that it has ordered the non-fiction series “Pole to Pole,” which follows Smith on a journey from the South Pole to the North Pole. “Pole to Pole” is part of an extensive slate of new content that Nat Geo
France’s Anamaria Vartolomei, star of Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening”; Ireland’s Clare Dunne, whose character in AMC’s Dublin-set series “Kin” has been dubbed “the female Tony Soprano”; and Croatia’s Gracija Filipovic, who made a splash in Alamat Kusijanovic’s “Murina,” winner of the 2021 Cannes Camera d’Or, are among the 10 young actors selected
John Williams turns 90 years old on Feb. 8. And the world’s most famous film composer shows no signs of slowing down. The five-time Oscar winner, creator of many of the most well-known movie themes of all time — everything from “Jaws” and “Star Wars” to “E.T.” and “Harry Potter” — is finishing work on
Longtime ICM Partners agent Jeff Barry has joined Range Media Partners, where he will head up the company’s international TV department. He arrives at the management company — founded by a trove of top representatives who defected from the legacy agencies over the past two years — as a partner. He will be tasked with
“The Smurfs” empire will continue to expand. Multiple feature films based on the Smurfs, as well as another season of the original television series, have been put into development, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation announced on Monday. A renewed emphasis on the tiny blue creatures is the result of a new creative partnership with LAFIG
Chris Huvane, a partner and manager at Hollywood firm Management 360 and former magazine editor and PR executive, died Sunday night. He was 47. The cause was an apparent suicide, according to Deadline. Huvane had been open about his battles with depression. He is survived by two brothers: Slate PR partner Stephen Huvane and CAA
Elton John is back. The legendary rocker and his husband David Furnish’s annual Oscar viewing party for the Elton John AIDS Foundation will return as an in-person event on March 27 after going virtual last year due to the pandemic. The AIDS organization announced Monday morning that Grammy winner Brandi Carlile will perform during the
It’s cool enough that U.S. Olympic skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates chose Daft Punk for their performance on Sunday — but even cooler was the music they chose: One would expect maybe one of their dancefloor hits, like “One More Time,” “Around the World” or their actual 2013 radio hit, “Get Lucky.” But instead,
Micky Dolenz has announced a “Micky Dolenz Celebrates the Monkees” tour, in which he’ll keep the torch for the band alive with a series of shows that will utilize multi-media elements to honor the legacy of the ’60s band, and put to further use the “Mike and Micky Show” band that accompanied him and late
Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God have teamed up for a slate of originals for Audible, Amazon’s premium audio division. The duo have set five new projects from their newly created audio production banner SBH Productions, coming to Audible in 2022 under their previously announced multiyear development, production and audio-licensing deal. Award-winning audio producer Nicole
Entertainment Master Class (EMC), established in 2005 as a new platform for peer-to-peer TV industry education, has launched the Showrunner Society, a hybrid online/in-person community for showrunners and media executives. The first face-to-face masterclass is planned for this summer, hosted in Germany with supported from film funding agency Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. Described by EMD
Dr. Dre has made the historic move of bringing two deaf rappers into this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Sean Forbes and Warren “WaWa” Snipe, will appear alongside Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar on Sunday to sign the big performance. It’s the first time sign language interpreters will be included in the halftime show’s
Billie Eilish put the well-being of a fan front and center during her Saturday, Feb. 5 concert at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The Grammy winner stopped the second night of her “Happier Than Ever” world tour mid-way during the concert after seeing a distressed fan in the audience. Eilish then took it upon
Primary Wave Music announced that it has acquired the music rights from the estates of Layne Staley and Mike Starr of the Grammy-nominated Seattle band Alice In Chains. The deal will see the publisher acquire a stake in the Layne Staley’s and Mike Starr’s music publishing catalog, as well as master royalty income stream; terms of the deal were
As Americans chow down on buffalo wings, beer, quesadillas, and chips, during the Super Bowl Unilever thinks it’s found a flavor that will help them swallow a serious message. The company is sending its venerable Hellmann’s mayonnaise back into the Super Bowl ad fray in a second effort to use the Big Game to get
Get ready for a taste of “Saturday Night Live” on Super Bowl Sunday. Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost, the “Avengers” star and “Weekend Update” anchor, famously got married after meeting at “SNL.” Now they are set to appear in their first project together: a Super Bowl commercial for Amazon’s Alexa. “There’s something nice about the
Dwayne Johnson is walking back his support of Joe Rogan. After the controversial podcast host apologized and said he was not trying to promote COVID misinformation on his podcast, Johnson took to Instagram to praise Rogan’s “perfectly articulated” response and to tell Rogan that he was looking forward to coming on his podcast. Then, several
Consolidation in the video ad-tech space continues apace: Innovid, a provider of connected-TV advertising delivery and measurement, announced plans to buy media-attribution firm TVSquared for $160 million. TVSquared tracks response to TV and digital video advertising to try to determine the effectiveness of marketing spend. The Edinburgh, Scotland-based company’s clients and partners include NBCUniversal, Roku,
PARALYMPICS U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has revealed a disabled presenting team for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, who will present on the ground in China. Award-winning presenter Ade Adepitan will front the daily highlights show, with former rugby player Ed Jackson and Paralympic champion triathlete Lauren Steadman presenting the “Breakfast Show.” Recently retired Paralympic
“The Wife” director Björn Runge was at Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival over the weekend to tease his stars-packed passionate Swedish drama “Burn All My Letters” which SF Studios is producing. Runge was on the ground at the festival’s industry sidebar along with his producer Annika Sucksdorff, and lead actors Asta Kamma August (“The Pact”) and
The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School is set to launch a Series Lab with the support of Netflix and VIS Social Impact, ViacomCBS International Studios’ new cause-driven production division. Hagai Levi, the creator of “In Treatment” and “The Affair,” has joined the new program as artistic advisor. For the last decade, the film school has
European cinema admissions rose an estimated 38% in 2021, with over 590 million total tickets sold, generating a 42% rise in box office to €3.7 billion ($4.2 billion) compared with the all-time low year of 2020. The preliminary figures were released on Monday by the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the trade org representing European
“Breaking Point,” a feature about breakdancing from the directors of hit film “StreetDance 3D” will get its sales launch at EFM. Directed by Dania Pasquini and Max Guia, who helmed both “StreetDance 3D” and “StreetDance 2,” “Breaking Point” is described as “an adrenaline fuelled, high energy deep dive into the world of breakdancing.” HanWay Films
The future of long-running Australian soap opera “Neighbours” is in question following its cancellation by ViacomCBS-owned U.K. broadcaster Channel 5. The soap, produced by Fremantle and now in its 37th season, is watched by 1.5 million viewers a day in the U.K. but Variety understands that its Australian audience is on the wane. Although “Neighbours”
Helen Mirren, who plays Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in an upcoming biopic, has broken her silence on the debate around her casting. “Golda,” which wrapped in December and also stars “Call My Agent’s” Camille Cottin, is directed by Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv (“Skin”). However, there was disquiet over the casting around the time the
In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Film Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard. Laura Wandel is the auteur behind “Playground” (“Un Monde”), her first feature, about the reality of schoolyard
Darkland Distribution, an imprint of U.K.’s Parkland, has picked up British sci-fi thriller “Deus.” As well as acquiring the U.K. and North American distribution rights, Darkland will represent worldwide international sales rights to the film, described as a “provocative and thought-provoking” sci-fi thriller. “Deus” is written and directed by British Independent Film Award winner Steve
The Edinburgh TV Festival is set to return with a live edition for the first time since 2019. The popular TV event confirmed on Monday that it’s planning for an in-person festival from Aug. 24-26. Sponsored by YouTube and Screen Scotland, the Edinburgh confab is one of the key dates in the U.K. TV industry