France’s Autour de Minuit, FKLG and Canal Plus are teaming to co-produce Théo Grosjean’s “Freaked Out” (“Flippé”), an animated series for adults whose first season was presented – and received an upbeat reception – at September’s Toulouse’s Cartoon Forum. The producers are currently in talks to greenlight a second season. The two-minute episode comedy series
“Stalk,” Simon Bouisson’s timely French show tackling cyber spying and bullying, has lured a flurry of top TV channels across the world. Produced by Priscilla Bertin and Judith Nora at Silex Films, the half-hour psychological thriller series was a big hit on France Televisions’s platform Slash and later aired on the broadcaster’s linear channel France
Just as Disney Plus, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video are revving up their fantasy, horror and sci-fi series slates for winter 2021-2022 debuts, Netflix is touting the abundance of genre series headed to the streamer. Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s head of scripted series for the U.S. and Canada, announced premiere details for a slew of
Sting is set to the take the stage at next month’s 2021 Game Awards as one of the event’s feature musical performances. The 17-time Grammy winner is slated to perform “What Could Have Been,” from Netflix animated series “Arcane,” an adaptation based on Riot Games’ “League of Legends.” Netflix recently renewed “Arcane” for a second
Digital media veteran Kelly Day is exiting ViacomCBS to join Amazon as VP of Prime Video International, a newly created role overseeing the ecommerce giant’s streaming video business in global markets. Day will join Amazon in early January 2022, reporting to Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Amazon Studios and Prime Video. She will lead Prime
Emmy-winning actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has officially added producer to his resume, with the launch of his production company House Eleven10. Abdul-Mateen and House Eleven10 have also inked a creative partnership with Netflix, with the actor starring in and producing films for the streamer under the new production banner. Named as an homage to his
Three days after the death of Stephen Sondheim and 60 years after its first film debut, “West Side Story,” Stephen Spielberg’s expansive remake of the classic movie musical, premiered in New York City. A momentous occasion for the revival of a beatified American film, the premiere, attended by Spielberg, executive producer Rita Moreno, and the
Allblk, AMC Networks’ streamer for Black content, has greenlit “Send Help,” a coming-of-age dark comedy created by “Insecure” recurring star Jean Elie and writer and story editor Mike Gauyo. “Send Help” will follow Fritz (Elie), a young first generation Haitian American struggling to overcome the challenges of “making it” in Hollywood, while coming to terms
Comcast and Disney renewed a critical carriage pact that will keep ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC and more flowing to the subscribers of the Philadelphia cable giant. The two companies said they had struck a “multi-year agreement” that includes carriage of the ESPN networks, Disney’s kid-focused cable networks, Freeform, the FX and National Geographic networks and
The “Game of Thrones” prequel series “Tales of Dunk and Egg” at HBO has found its writer, Variety has learned from sources. Steve Conrad has been tapped to serve as writer and executive producer on the potential series under his Elephant Pictures banner. As Variety exclusively reported in January 2021, the one-hour show would be based
Diversify the Stage, an organization formed to promote inclusivity in the touring industry, is rolling out an “Inclusion Initiative” today that the group hopes to have companies and individuals throughout the live entertainment business sign onto. Among the industry leaders that have already put their names to the pledge at its launch are such promoters
Apple Music has unveiled its biggest songs of the year with its annual Top 100 charts, which not only include the most-streamed songs — topped by BTS’ smash “Dynamite” but it has also shared its “Top 100 2021: Fitness” chart—spotlighting the most-played workout music across Apple Music and Fitness+— its top 100 most-Shazamed songs and its
The Whistler Film Festival is back with a hybrid offering that includes online and in-theater screenings, alongside various talent programs, masterclasses, workshops and its Content Summit. The fest will kick off opening night with the Canadian premiere of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” starring Olivia Colman, Ed Harris and Dakota Johnson. This year, the festival
Cameron Bailey has been named chief executive officer of the Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF’s board of directors announced his promotion on Tuesday, on the heels of word that Universal Music Canada head Jeffrey Remedios had been named new chair of the board. Bailey has been affiliated with the festival for 25 years and is
GREENLIGHT Starzplay has greenlit a six-episode second season of hit travel documentary series “Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham,” featuring “Outlander” stars Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. They will hit the road again, this time in New Zealand. Developed by Heughan and McTavish, the original series is produced by Boardwalk Pictures, in
It seems barely a day passes without some noises coming from the Foo Fighters camp, and the noise is big today: The newly minted Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have announced 17 more concert dates, adding to shows on the West Coast and South America late this year and next, which will take place
Yet another week has passed without any news of a release date for Sony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which debuted stateside Oct. 1. In China, rumors have quietly circulated that it may be due to two ‘anti-China’ interviews that star Tom Hardy gave at Cannes back in 2012 while promoting the film “Lawless.” Asked
Maradona documentary “The Death of God” (“La Muerte de Dios”) is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Latin America, making it the perfect companion piece to the BTF Media series “Maradona: Blessed Dream,” which bowed Oct. 29 across 240 countries on the streaming giant. “The Death of God” turns on the Argentine soccer icon
British director Peter Webber (“Girl With a Pearl Earring,” “Hannibal Rising”) is attached to direct an adaptation of Italian psychological thriller “Le Parole Lo Sanno” (“You Will Find the Words”), which is being produced by Rome-based shingle Fenix Entertainment. Webber, who more recently directed ITV miniseries “Tutankhamun” and high-end Arabic historical skein “Kingdoms of Fire,”
Amazon Prime Video announced that Season 4 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will premiere on Feb. 18 with two new episodes dropping every Friday for four weeks, and also released the first teaser. The series follows Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a Jewish housewife in New York City who becomes a stand-up comedian after her
ViacomCBS announced a deal to sell L.A.’s CBS Studio Center to two investment firms for $1.85 billion, the latest in a series of real-estate divestitures for the company. The media conglomerate had confirmed that it was looking to sell CBS Studio Center, which sits on a 55-acre site in Studio City, this summer. The CBS
Adele has announced an exclusive residency in the Colosseum of Las Vegas’ famed Caesars Palace Hotel beginning Friday January 21, 2022. Titled “Weekends With Adele,” the singer will perform two shows each weekend through Saturday April 16, 2022 (see full list of dates below) for a total of 12 weeks. The dates appear below. This
M-Appeal has closed deals for two of its Ventana Sur titles: Marcela Lordy’s “The Book of Delights” to Pigeon Co. in Taiwan and “The Night of the Beast” from Mauricio Leiva Cock to HBO in Eastern Europe. “The Book of Delights” is an Argentina-Brazil co-production between Cinematográfica Marcela and bigBonsai which had already sold in
Ostinato Cine, one of the high-energy company hubs on Ecuador’s burgeoning film scene, is teaming with Germany’s Rohfilm Productions to co-produce “Alfredo Larón,” the feature film debut as a writer-director of Benjamin Mirguet, an editor on Carlos Reygadas’ “Battle in Heaven” and João Paulo Miranda Maria’s “Memory House.” Developing and financing features for the international
British television dominated the European Broadcasting Union’s prestigious Rose d’Or TV awards on Monday evening. Among the shows that picked up gongs at the ceremony, which honors international television and audio production outside the U.S., were “Strictly Come Dancing,” the Davina McCall-fronted series “Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace” and “Help,” a drama about the
Interscope Geffen A&M has announced the promotion of Matt Morris to the position of senior vice president of A&R at the label. He will continue to sign and develop artists for the label as well as oversee the company’s A&R Research department. According to the announcement, Morris is credited with signing 2021’s breakout star Olivia
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has ordered social media giant Meta, formerly known as Facebook, to sell GIF provider Giphy. The move requires Meta to unwind a $400 million deal that it believed completed in May. Meta disagrees with the decision and is considering an appeal. In August this year, the CMA provisionally found
Anita Ekberg, the Swedish star immortalized in Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita,” where her character decides to walk into the Trevi Fountain to the delight, and terror, of Marcello Mastroianni, has a “complicated” story, Italian director Antongiulio Panizzi tells Variety. In Panizzi’s “The Girl in the Fountain,” Ekberg is played by another star, Monica Bellucci.
In Dec. 2018, two years after he had picked up “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon” at the first edition of Ventana Sur’s Animation!, Edward Noeltner’s Cinema Management Group (CMG) announced he had pre-sold it to over half the planet. Further deals followed with Signature for the U.K. and Rialto for Australia/New Zealand. Even before COVID-19
Production heavyweights from international markets converged on Monday afternoon to talk talent as part of Ventana Sur’s SoloSerieS. Moderated by Paula Cobo, content and sales manager at ESPotlight, the digital panel also relied on the expertise of Jacobo Aparicio, co-ordinator of international TV and film at Anonymous Content, Nick Lafferty, a scripted global TV agent