ViacomCBS announced the five participants for its 2021-2022 Directors Initiative: Julie Herlocker, Bao Tran, Joy T. Lane, Pat Santana and Steven J. Kung. The initiative provides a platform for experienced directors to gain access to showrunners, executives, managers and agents as well as the opportunity to shadow CBS Television Network and CBS Studio shows throughout
With her introspective lyricism and calming instrumentals, Arlo Parks has become one of music’s fastest-rising stars. Months after releasing her debut album, “Collapsed in Sunbeams,” in January, Parks collected the Brit Awards’ breakthrough artist honor and the Mercury Prize for album of the year. Now the 21-year-old musician and poet is up for best new
Lady Gaga has had three major acting roles. All have been anything but lighthearted material. She first showed her dramatic chops as a vampire on “American Horror Story: Hotel” in 2015. Three years later, her big-screen debut in “A Star Is Born” earned her a best actress Oscar nomination for her work as Ally, a
Much like the character at its center, “MacGruber” has a surprising ability to withstand bombs. In the late-aughts series of sketches on “Saturday Night Live,” Will Forte’s character, a riff on MacGyver, would inevitably get caught up in his own neuroses while attempting to dismantle an explosive, resulting in detonation before he came back, unscathed,
To understand the success of Netflix Original “Squid Game” and other talked-about dramas such as “My Name” and “Hellbound” is to recognize their “secret sauce” — a combination of edgy, relatable and realistic themes in today’s Korean society that can easily translate to a global audience. Seo Jang-ho, CJ ENM’s senior vice president of content
“Why Women Kill,” Paramount Plus’ popular original anthology series starring Allison Tolman, Lana Parrilla, Veronica Falcón and Nick Frost, has been renewed for a third season. The dark comedy, created by Marc Cherry, the man that brought us “Desperate Housewives” and “Devious Maids,” also features Jordane Christie and B.K. Cannon in its cast. “’Why Women
A previously unreleased recording made when Whitney Houston was 17 years old was sold Tuesday in a 24-hour auction on the OneOf NFT platform. The winning bid was for $1 million, the highest priced NFT auction item on the Tezos (XTZ) blockchain. In total, the full collection, which features rare images and videos, has generated over $1.1
UPDATED: The Amazon Web Services cloud platform on Wednesday morning briefly experienced service disruptions across the U.S., coming a week after an major hours-long outage that took down multiple online services. User reports of problems with AWS began spiking around 10:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 15, peaking at 10:43 a.m. with more than 20,000 registered
British reality star Katie Price has been handed a 16-week suspended prison sentence for drunk driving while she was disqualified and without auto insurance. The 43-year-old media personality, who has become a fixture in recent years on channels like Discovery-owned Quest Red, will need to meet certain conditions as part of the sentence — which
U.S. broadcaster Fox may still be making up its mind about a second season of “The Masked Dancer,” but over in the U.K., ITV is hitting the dance floor for another round. The British commercial broadcaster has commissioned Scottish production company Bandicoot for Season 2 of the entertainment series, which first premiered in May. The
K-pop has seen massive popularity due to boy bands’ and girl groups’ debuts and comebacks with new concepts every year. 2021 was no different, witnessing a continued surge of Korean stars embarking on solo projects, making bolder moves in the U.S. and delving deeper into technology. The genre’s success and phenomenal fandom since 2008 has
Disney Plus has updated its suite of Apple apps to add support for the tech giant’s SharePlay feature, letting subscribers watch TV shows and movies with friends and family while connected on a FaceTime video-chat call. With support for SharePlay, Disney Plus subscribers with an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV can watch content together with
Michael Jordan and his son Jeffrey Jordan are looking to drive the six-time NBA champ’s legacy into the world of NFTs and next-generation entertainment. The Jordans have launched Heir Inc., a new holding company that plans to build a consumer-facing community platform for athletes to connect with fans — as well as other lines of
TrustNordisk is unveiling the trailer for Christoffer Sandler’s feature directing debut “So Damn Easy Going,” a teenage romantic dramedy. The film is headlined by a Swedish cast of newcomers Nikki Hanseblad and Melina Paukkonen and Shanti Roney (“Nymphomaniac: Vol. II). Sandler penned the script with Lina Åström, Jessika Jankert and Linda-Maria Birbeck. The heartwarming coming-of-age
The death earlier this month of Chin Doo-hwan, the most hated of South Korea’s three military dictators, who ruled for nearly a decade until 1988, is a timely reminder of the foundations of the country’s present economic might. Today, South Korea combines global prowess in electronics, semiconductors and shipbuilding (industries boosted by the old regime’s
Since launching in 2015, Keshet Studios, the U.S. division of Keshet International (KI), has proved a model worth copying for international content producers looking to make it big in Hollywood. The company now develops and produces content for all the biggest broadcasters and streamers in several languages for both U.S. and international audiences. Led by
Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” takes audiences to the frontlines as New York became America’s epicenter at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Heineman’s camera follows doctors, nurses and patients in a cinema vérité, as he shows the strength of the human spirit. Behind the scenes, he worked with editors Francisco Bello, Gabriel Rhodes and
Olivia Rodrigo and Morgan Wallen topped the RIAA’s 2021 gold and platinum awards, the organization announced on Wednesday, with both artists’ latest albums attaining double-platinum status and Rodrigo’s blockbuster “Drivers License” single being certified four-times platinum. A total of 16 albums and 98 singles released this year achieved gold or platinum status; highlights appear below.
Rachel Brosnahan will star in and executive produce “The Miranda Obsession,” a scripted Audible original podcast series inspired by the true story of Miranda Grosvenor — the mysterious woman who seduced powerful men in Hollywood in the ’70s and ’80s over the phone. Brosnahan, who is best known for her Emmy-winning turn in Prime Video’s
“Flee” and “Pride” producer Vice Studios looks set to build its presence in Latin America with a new order from Netflix, “La Divina Gula,” as well as the appointment of “Last One Laughing: Mexico” executive producer Edgar Jaramillo as senior director of unscripted for the region. The latest move from Vice Studios, the global production
Heavy is the head that wears the Swarovski-encrusted crown—but Leni Klum sounds anything but weighed down. The bubbly 17-year-old is recounting the details of her first-ever runway walk, at Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda show—which took place in the hard-to-top setting that is Venice’s St. Mark’s Square. Not only was it the first fashion show
Midem, for decades the primary international conference for the music industry, will not be returning in 2022 and the brand will be taken over by the city of Cannes, owner RX France announced on Wednesday. “Due to the lasting pandemic and following a review of its activity, RX France [formerly Reed Midem] has decided to
The Recording Academy has announced that Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer will receive the 2022 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons award “for his leadership, impact and dedication to advancing innovation in the music industry.” Stringer will be honored at Clive Davis’ and the Recording Academy’s Pre-Grammy Gala, which is scheduled to return to the
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed several titles across various programs for its 2022 edition. In the fest’s multifaceted Panorama strand, women directors account for seven of the 13 projects revealed so far, including U.S. filmmaker Nina Menkes’ “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power,” emerging German director Annika Pinske’s debut feature “Alle reden übers Wetter” (“Talking About the Weather”),
Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed musical “West Side Story” and beloved canine mascot-hero property “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” were neck and neck for pole position at the U.K. and Ireland weekend box office. Disney release “West Side Story” topped the charts with £1.297 million ($1.72 million), while eOne release “Clifford the Big Red Dog” was just
The South Korean government is expected to reintroduce significantly stricter control measures in response to a rising wave of COVID-19 cases. Film releases are expected to be affected. The government eased its restrictions at the beginning of November as part of a living with COVID policy. But, since then, case numbers have begun to rise.
Global cinema box office is set for a strong recovery next year, analysis firm Gower Street Analytics predicts. But a return to pre-COVID levels of business will have to wait until 2023 at the earliest. In a briefing note published Wednesday, the U.K.-based analysis firm forecasts that 2022 global box office will reach $33.2 billion.
Banijay Rights has signed a package deal with Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) ahead of the launch of its Viaplay streaming service in the U.S. on Dec. 15. The deal will give Viaplay subscribers in the US access to a dozen of premium scripted titles from Banijay Rights’ hit Nordic drama titles, including Norwegian culture-clash
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has been allowed to maintain its 2022 edition on-site by the Dutch government. The upcoming edition will take place Jan. 26 to Feb. 6. The festival announced last week that its popular industry events, CineMart and Rotterdam Lab, were being switched to online due to the surge of COVID-19
After several COVID-induced delays, Ayan Mukerji’s magnum opus “Brahmastra,” starring Bollywood A-listers Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, has locked a theatrical release date of Sept. 9, 2022. The film, which also stars Nagarjuna Akkineni and Mouni Roy, will release in the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. The project is set in