Grammy-winning musician John Mayer might just have a future in standup comedy. While presenting the label of the year award to Columbia Records’ Ron Perry and Jenifer Mallory at Variety‘s Hitmakers event on Saturday, Mayer had the audience in stitches with his nearly four-minute speech. Taking the podium after decade award winner Lana Del Rey,
Sony Pictures Animation pulled the curtain back on its follow-up to “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” on Saturday, unveiling the first footage of the upcoming animated sequel. The teaser caps off with the reveal of the title “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” along with a surprise subtitle “Part One,” suggesting that more “Spider-Verse” sequels are on the
Olivia Rodrigo, who rose to stardom after the success of her debut single “Drivers License” topped the charts in January, was honored with Variety’s Songwriter of the Year award at this year’s Hitmakers event on Saturday. Avril Lavigne presented Rodrigo with the award, introducing the artist by saying, “This year we were introduced to a
While accepting his award for Variety’s Hitmaker of Tomorrow, Jack Harlow gifted the audience with a story from his childhood, revealing how a reading program stoked his competitive side, and how he’s been a voracious reader since he was a little kid. That combination, along with a little Harry Potter, made him the artist he
Lil Nas X was honored with Variety’s Innovator award at this year’s Hitmakers event on Saturday. Singer Chloe Bailey presented the award after introducing the artist behind “Industry Baby” and “Montero.” “There could not be a more appropriate honor for Lil Nas X. He has embodied the spirit of courage while also representing the culture
Lana Del Rey was presented with the Decade Award during the Dec. 4 Variety Hitmakers brunch held in Los Angeles. After being presented the award by her “Wildflower Wildfire” collaborator Mike Dean, she thanked many of the people who helped her on her journey. “My managers helped me up the stairs,” she said. “I still
CNN fired Chris Cuomo, its most-watched anchor, on Saturday, in the wake of revelations he had helped his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, while he faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment — a breach of journalistic ethics and in ways of which CNN management had not previously been aware. The WarnerMedia-backed news outlet,
BTS delivered a heartfelt video speech at Variety‘s Hitmakers event on Saturday, after being awarded record of the year for “Butter.” While accepting the honor, RM reflected on what the success of the hit song means to them, and described what it was like to perform their first shows since 2019 this past week. “We’d
A couple anniversaries have passed since the breakup that inspired fast-rising singer-songwriter Giveon’s platinum-certified 2020 hit “Heartbreak Anniversary.” But the Long Beach, Calif., native’s distinctive, soulful vocals and poignant lyrics have led to several other, happier dates on the calendar that he can celebrate in the years to come. Chief among them: the day “Peaches”
Back in 2013, Austin Rosen wanted to give creators a base from which to build a career, so he started his own management company. That business has proven to be wildly successful for Electric Feel Entertainment, where Rosen’s stable of hitmakers has contributed to an aggregate 215 billion audio streams. Among them: Louis Bell, Blake
When Polo G began planning the rollout of what would become his breakout single, “Rapstar,” the song didn’t even exist — at least not in its current form. Instead, both the creation and promotion of the song evolved in a masterfully drawnout tease campaign, engaging fans over the course of nearly an entire year. Upon
Saudi Arabian stand up comedian, actor, writer and producer Hisham Fageeh in 2013 posted a satirical video on YouTube titled “No Woman, No Drive” that became the country’s most popular YouTube video and probably helped the movement to strike down Saudi’s ban on female motorists in late 2017. He also acted and co-produced groundbreaking Saudi
For a band from England, Glass Animals, Variety’s Group of the Year, has spent so much time touring the United States, it may as well be American. “I feel comfortable here, and I get to eat all the food I grew up with, like Hot Pockets,” says Dave Bayley, the quartet’s ringleader and songwriter-producer, on
“I wanted to make Pop Smoke a superstar,” record executive and artist manager Steven Victor says wistfully. He succeeded — the young rapper has two songs on Variety’s Hitmakers 2021 list, “What You Know Bout Love” and “For the Night” — but tragically Pop Smoke, born Bashar Jackson, was fatally shot in a rented home
As new COVID protocols bedeviled travel to the U.K. and other parts of Europe, 3,000 lucky souls, including several hundred execs from Europe, were able to enjoy summer sun and post-lockdown reunions at Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur. Latin America’s biggest film and TV market and forum, it wrapped Friday Dec. 3 with an humungous, though
“Spencer” director Pablo Larraín has thrown his weight behind Chilean Oscar entry “White on White” (“Blanco en Blanco”), hailing it as a “really interesting, strange and highly violent film.” “White on White” also addresses issues that are “highly unsettling and complex and which haven’t been resolved or at least discussed at sufficient length,” Larraín adds.
The Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund every year pays thousands of musicians for their movie and TV work when it appears on cable, free TV, streaming services or home video. But not every musician is aware of this benefit when they begin their recording career, and many who have left the business are still owed
What does the future hold for the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund? Like so many aspects of a rapidly changing media business, that’s hard to predict. When union musicians struck the networks and studios in 1980, the hope was to gain residual payments for reruns of network TV series, something that had been overlooked in
Ventana Sur’s genre-dedicated sidebar Blood Window hosted a special panel this year, The Phenomenon of Fantasy Genre in an Ibero-American Environment: New Content, Formats and Trends. There, filmmakers, producers, festival heads and other industry professionals met, discussed and debated the state of genre filmmaking in Latin America and Spain, coming to a positive consensus concerning
The Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund, which collects and distributes residuals to union musicians who play on films and TV shows, will mark its 50th anniversary in 2022. It’s become a financial lifeline for many musicians, from helping them to achieve financial security to being a primary income source during their retirement years. Every July
City Girls’ hustle is strong. The hip-hop duo — composed of JT and Yung Miami — have been friends since middle school and were forced to grow up fast due to their circumstances. But even back then, they realized the future is female. Sadly, City Girls’ story is not atypical. Both grew up in tough
As is fitting for the days after Thanksgiving, moviegoers are largely turning out for leftovers this weekend. “Encanto,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “House of Gucci” will retain the top three spots at the domestic box office, replicating the final standings of last weekend’s rankings. Disney’s “Encanto” is projected to gross $12.3 million from 3,980 locations in
Check out the top new trailers released this week that you’ve gotta see! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert or Buy Movie Tickets: https://www.fandango.com?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to
Variety‘s annual Hitmakers event, presented by Peacock and comedy series “Girls5eva,” takes place Dec. 2, returning to an in-person red carpet and invite-only brunch after last year’s virtual event. A red carpet pre-show hosted by Variety‘s Marc Malkin, Angelique Jackson, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Clayton Davis begins at 11:30 a.m. PT, with the awards ceremony following
Riz Ahmed has boarded Egyptian-American director Dina Amer’s “You Resemble Me,” a bold exploration of the roots of Islamic radicalization through the story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen – who in 2015 was wrongly believed to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber – ahead of the pic’s premiere in the Middle East and North Africa region
“I am a product of my dream. Even as a child, I wanted to be an actress and enter this world, even though it was very far from my reality,” said Monica Bellucci at the Torino Film Festival, where she accepted the Stella Della Mole Award for Artistic Innovation. Bellucci also held a masterclass at
Lucy Animation Studio’s Colombian cartoon “Halloween” was one of two feature films, alongside Star Toons Animation’s “Chaskis – Mensajeros del sol,” honored with the MIFA/Annecy Award from this year’s Ventana Sur Animation! sidebar. Teams representing the two films will receive full accreditation to Annecy 2022 and its MIFA marketplace, where they will pitch as part
When the Torino Short Film Market kicked off its inaugural edition in November 2016, the young event already set a clear intention: To catapult new talents into the wider film industry. “The short film world is kind of detached from the feature and docs markets,” TSFM artistic director Enrico Vannucci tells Variety. “Our job is
The most colorful contributor to this year’s Ventana Sur Blood Window Works in Progress section, where it won the Chemistry Award for post-production services, is “Niobe,” a high-octane dark comedy thriller set in a fictitious South American country run by a group of ruthless men. Pajé Produções Culturais founder Fernando Mamari produces and directs the
Since 2004, Israeli documentary filmmaker Avi Mograbi has sat on the board of Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower organization that collects and publishes testimonies about life in the Occupied Territories, all while exploring similar subjects via oft-irreverent films. And as Mograbi’s still ongoing festival tour with his latest film, “The First 54 Years – An