Canadian media giant Corus Entertainment has made a rare production investment, buying a majority stake in “The Breadwinner” and “Raising Expectations” producer Aircraft Pictures. Founded in 2005 by Canadian producers Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen, Aircraft was Oscar-nominated for 2017 animated feature “The Breadwinner,” about an 11-year-old girl living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan in
You’re never too old to believe in magic. That’s the guiding philosophy behind writer-director Kate Tsang’s “Marvelous and the Black Hole,” which tells the story of a young delinquent who forms an unlikely friendship with an older magician. FilmRise has given Variety exclusive access to the trailer for the film (above), which opens in select
J Dilla — a.k.a Jay Dee, a.k.a. James Dewitt Yancey — was a pioneering hip-hop producer who never worked on a “hit” record, although his discography includes collaborations with or remixes of songs by greats like D’Angelo, A Tribe Called Quest, the Roots, Common, Busta Rhymes, the Pharcyde and many others. He died in 2006 of
Jessie Buckley, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps have signed on to star in “Hot Milk,” the debut directorial feature from “Colette” screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz. The film is based on Deborah Levy’s best-selling novel about a mother and daughter, Rose and Sofia, who travel to a Spanish clinic in the hoping of finding a cure for
The reign of Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” atop the U.K. and Ireland box office has finally ended with Universal’s animation sequel “Sing 2” claiming the throne. “Sing 2,” directed by Garth Jennings and featuring a stellar voice cast of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Taron Egerton among many others, debuted in pole
Hologic has been around for 36 years, but it’s only just getting around to using TV commercials. And its first TV ad will debut on the media’s biggest stage. “Go big or go home,” says Jane Mazur, the company’s vice president of communications. The medical-technology company will take to Super Bowl LVI on NBC with
Eiffel Mattsson, the producer behind Netflix’s upcoming miniseries “The Playlist” (“Spotify Untold”), has joined Nordic Drama Queens, the up-and-coming Scandinavian company backed by Endeavor Content. Nordic Drama Queens was launched in Sept. 2021 by a trio of well-respected female executives (pictured), Josefine Tengblad, Sandra Harms and Line Winther Skyum Funch. The banner focuses on developing
Munich-based world sales company Global Screen has closed further deals in major territories for the family entertainment adventure “School of Magical Animals,” the most successful German film at the local box office last year. Global Screen will also be selling the sequel, it announced Tuesday. Deals have been closed for China (A-Quest Culture Media), Japan
Kirill Serebrennikov, the iconoclastic Russian filmmaker behind Cannes competition titles “Petrov’s Flu” and “Leto,” is reteaming with French banner Charades on his next daring movie, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.” Serebrennikov, who is under a three-year travel ban, sheds light on the tumultuous relationship between Pyotr Tchaikovsky, the most famous Russian composer of all time, and his wife
The BBC’s Natural History Unit has partnered with transformational charity Moondance Foundation to launch a campaign inspired by David Attenborough series “The Green Planet.” The #OurGreenPlanet campaign will work alongside conservationists and digital influencers to highlight the role that plants and green habitats play in biodiversity in order to inspire behavioural change and ecosystem restoration.
AT&T announced that its board has decided to spin off the telco’s interest in WarnerMedia — rather than structure the media conglom’s divestiture as a split-off. The transaction will spin off 100% of AT&T’s interest in WarnerMedia to AT&T’s existing shareholders in a pro-rata distribution, followed by the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery to form
U.K. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries opened the virtual Creative Coalition Festival on Tuesday with a rallying speech about the creative industries, but stayed quiet on all matters relating to the future of broadcasters Channel 4 and the BBC. In what appeared to be a pre-recorded segment, Dorries talked up the music sector as examples of
Amcomri Entertainment has come on board as financier and producer, alongside Ireland’s Studio Atlantic, on Victorian-era thriller “The Gates.” The film stars John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli the dwarf in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Amcomri’s 101 Films Intl. will handle global sales. The film is set in London in the 1890s. Serial killer
Actors Ariana DeBose, Harris Dickinson, Lashana Lynch, Millicent Symonds and Kodi Smit-McPhee are the 2022 nominees for the BAFTA EE Rising Star Award. The nominees were announced by 2021 Rising Star winner Bukky Bakray (“You Don’t Know Me”) and presenter Edith Bowman on Tuesday. The five actors have been selected for demonstrating “exceptional talent in
Leonine Studios has secured all German and Austrian rights for Lionsgate’s upcoming film slate, including Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick 4” and its spin-off “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas. The deal, which extends Lionsgate’s existing relationship with Leonine, also includes culture-clash comedy “About My Father” from stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco (“The Irishman”) starring opposite Oscar-winner Robert
Beta Film has acquired world sales rights to “Estonia,” an ambitious Finnish series telling the true story of Europe’s deadliest maritime disaster of the 20th century. The eight-part event drama will reteam “Bordertown” creator Miikko Oikkonen (“Bordertown,” “Helsinki Syndrome”) and helmer Juuso Syrjä (Bordertown), who will split directing duties with Måns Månsson (“Snabba Cash”). Finland’s
HBO Max is continuing a steady roll-out in Europe with its second wave of countries. The WarnerMedia-owned streaming service is launching in an additional 15 nations on March 8, this time targeting Central and Eastern Europe. This covers Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia,
If you asked a random group of Israelis and a random group of Palestinians to describe the events that surrounded the founding of Israel in 1948 (chief among them the War of Independence, which lasted close to a year), you’d probably come about as close as you could get to a world political “Rashomon.” The
Meat Loaf songs are filled with parenthetical clauses, so it feels appropriate to use one in the service of explaining what happened with his 1977 “Bat Out of Hell” album on the new Billboard 200 chart: In 2022, following his death, it soared to its peak position to date. (But actually reach the top 10?
“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” lived up to its blockbuster billing with a more than $75 million box office haul by lunchtime on Tuesday, its opening day in mainland Chinese theaters. The film, aka “Watergate Bridge” had grossed RMB87 million ($76.5 million) by 1.30 pm, according to online ticketing agencies Maoyan and Alibaba’s Beacon
France’s Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas kicks off Feb. 1 with a gala screening of Iranian auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s 2001 Cannes winner “Kandahar” and will conclude on Feb. 8 with Kazakhstan filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov’s “The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time.” The guest of honor at the festival’s 28th edition will be Japanese filmmaker
Even by lone wolf standards, William Tell stands apart. Or so he tells himself. Out of prison and playing poker for money, Tell breaks his self-imposed isolation when he’s approached by La Linda, a sultry and mysterious backer of gamblers. “I’m always looking for a good thoroughbred,” La Linda says with a sly smile, before
Gawvi, an artist and producer in the Christian hip-hop community, has been dropped by his label, Reach, and from an upcoming tour in light of a developing scandal involving his allegedly sending unsolicited sexually explicit photos to women. “Due to behavior that is inconsistent with our core values, we have ended our professional relationship with
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Push,” Monday’s episode of “9-1-1: Lone Star.” We did it, “9-1-1: Lone Star” fans. On Monday, the Fox drama finally made it to the end of the four-episode ice storm arc that kicked off its third season, and turned viewers into nervous puddles of
Whoopi Goldberg has offered an apology after facing criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S. Holocaust Museum and other Jewish organizations for her remarks on the latest episode of “The View,” in which she stated that the Holocaust was “not about race.” “On today’s show, I said the Holocaust ‘is not about race, but about
“The Velvet Underground” marks Todd Haynes’ first foray into documentary filmmaking, and with the film on the Oscar documentary shortlist, Haynes could find himself making the cut for best documentary feature come Feb. 8. But when Haynes was first developing the project years ago, one of the hurdles he had to overcome was the fact
HBO Max announced that Joseph Morgan and Franka Potente have been cast as series regulars in Season 4 of “Titans.” Lisa Ambalavanar will play a recurring role. The series follows young heroes from across the DC Universe as they come of age and find where they belong. In the third season, circumstances drew the characters
Moses J. Moseley, an actor who performed on shows such as “The Walking Dead,” “Watchmen” and “Queen of the South,” has died. He was 31 years old. Moseley’s body was discovered by authorities in Stockbridge, Ga. last week. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of death. The actor’s death was confirmed by his
Adam Kay’s TV adaptation of his 2017 memoir “This Is Going to Hurt” paints a portrait of Britain’s beleaguered National Heath Service that is “genital warts and all,” according to the screenwriter. Its purpose, he says, is reminding audiences of the thankless and often unrecognized work of healthcare professionals. Starring Ben Whishaw (“No Time to
Netflix will join iconic names including Stanley Kubrick, Christian Louboutin and Ferrari with a dedicated exhibition in London’s Design Museum. The exhibition, which will launch this summer, will celebrate Netflix’s tenth anniversary since launching in the U.K. An exact launch date for the exhibition has not yet been confirmed. Although details of the exhibition are