Production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation has inked new key deals on psychological thriller “John and the Hole,” directed by one of Variety’s top 10 directors to watch, Pascual Sisto. The film is written by Nicolás Giacobone, an Academy Award winner with “Birdman,” adapted from his short story “El Pozo.” The Cannes 2020 title,
Swedish pop savant Robyn, a pioneer of the innovative alt-pop sounds of the past 15-odd years that have influenced artists ranging from Charli XCX to Taylor Swift and beyond, has teamed up with Young Artists — a division of the entertainment company formerly known as Young Turks — which is now her global management company.
U.K. public service broadcaster BBC and Comcast-owned pay TV operator Sky have renewed and expanded their long-term strategic partnership to feature the BBC’s brands and services on Sky’s TV products. The agreement will ensure that the BBC’s original content will be even more prominent on Sky platforms by making it even easier for Sky customers
Spain’s David Galán Galindo, helmer of Netflix movie “Unknown Origins,” is attached to direct comedy series project “Todo mal” (“OK Boomer”), created by TV entertainment writers Fernando Erre and Manuel Martínez March. Thesp Alberto San Juan, a double Goya Award winner — for best supporting actor on Cesc Gay’s “Sentimental” and lead actor for Félix
France’s Les Films d’Ici has has issued a letter of interest to board as a co-producer on “Luis Mariano, All the Colors of the Rainbow,” a new feature-length biographical documentary from Spain to be highlighted at this week’s Conecta Fiction in the Pitch Euroregion NAEN series section. Vet Spanish producer Jose María Lara (“El cielo
Award-winning Taiwan actors Ding Ning and Tsao Yu-Ning have joined the cast of “Pierce” a sports drama film hailing from Jeremy Chua’s Singapore production firm Potocol. Ding, who won a Golden Horse Award for her supporting role in “Cities of Last Things,” and Tsao, who won at the Taipei Film Festival for his supporting role
Claire McArdle and Rebecca Knight, formerly senior executives at ViacomCBS International, have teamed to launch new production company Collective Media Group. Specializing in premium factual content, the privately backed company’s output will include high-end factual series, popular entertainment and podcasting – with a particular focus on storytelling around some of sport’s most iconic moments. Alongside
Spanish hip hop artist Mala Rodríguez, the first female artist to win both Best Urban Album and Best Urban Song at the Latin Grammys, will take a role in “Harem, Land of Goddesses” (“Harem, Tierra de Diosas”), a sci-fi drama series set in the land of Ellah, where women reign over men. Developed at the
Global box office this year overtook 2020’s COVID-stricken total of $12 billion at the end of August. It is now forecast to reach $20.2 billion in 2021, according to analysis firm Gower Street Analytics. The good news is that would represent a 68% rebound compared with last year. The bad news is the total would
A new film-TV territory is emerging in Europe: Euroregion NAEN, taking in Nouvelle Aquitaine in France and the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain. It will make a high-profile industry bow on Sept. 14 at this year’s Conecta Fiction, Europe’s biggest dedicated TV co-production forum with Latin America. Euroregions have been around for decades. Nouvelle
Ranging from La Rochelle in France to near Zaragoza in the South, well into Spain, Euroregion NAEN – Nouvelle Aquitaine, Basque Country, Navarre – has extraordinary locations and a rich historical heritage. It has hosted shoots from “The Longest Day” to “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” in Nouvelle Aquitaine to “Game
Seven projects will be introduced to an industry audience at the first Euroregion NAEN pitch competition, held on Tuesday Sept. 14 at Pamplona’s Conecta Fiction. “Being a first edition, the projects are pretty diverse and in divergent phases of development. But behind them are innovative visions and interesting propositions,” says Ana Herrera Isasi, head of
In “Lakewood,” Naomi Watts plays Amy Carr, who starts out in the late afternoon jogging through an upscale wooded suburb, mourning her husband’s death in a car crash the year before. The film tells the story of a woman and her partner, her significant other, the second self she can’t live without. The husband, named
In recent decades, numerous musical have arrived in London with outsized production values swamping the material, leading critics to wish for time machines so that they can fast-forward to the inevitable, hugely scaled-down revival in an off-West End house where the writing can be savored. “Back To The Future — the Musical” is not one
George Wein, who set the standard for what outdoor music gatherings would become with his leadership of the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals from the 1950s into the 21st century, died Monday at his home in New York City. He was 95. Wein produced the first Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in 1954 and
The Tokyo International Film Festival will showcase the works of director Yoshida Keisuke at next month’s 34th edition. The festival runs Oct. 30-Nov. 8, 2021. Two films by Yoshida are getting commercial releases this year, his recent “Blue,” and “Intolerance,” which reaches Japanese theaters later this month (Sept. 23.) The festival will give house room
Mike Richards’ first episode as host of “Jeopardy!” — one of what would end up totaling only five — taped Aug. 19 but only aired, after his ouster, on Monday night. He was introduced by longtime announcer Johnny Gilbert as “the host of ‘Jeopardy!’”; he delivered brief tributes to Gilbert and to his predecessor Alex
The annual Met Gala may be the pinnacle of east coast entertaining, but make no mistake, Hollywood shows up in full force. That’s certainly the case this year for the guests of Thom Browne, the American classic gentleman designer who ushered in bare-ankle suiting and continues to up his game in streetwear. His table at
A group of elite entertainment lawyers are leaving their respective companies to form a new firm, eyeing a 2022 opening date. The unnamed venture will be led by attorneys Matthew Johnson, P.J. Shapiro and Gregory Slewett of Ziffren Brittenham LLP, and Tara Kole of Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman. They have represented top show
As the 2021 Met Gala kicked off in New York City, rapper Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to reveal that she wouldn’t be attending the event because of its COVID-19 vaccine requirement. “They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. If I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met,” Minaj, who has 22.6 million
HBO Max is developing a series about The Penguin that will be a spinoff of “The Batman” feature, Variety has learned from sources. Colin Farrell is set to play the notorious supervillain in “The Batman.” According to sources, Farrell has been approached to star in the spinoff series but no deal is currently in place. Sources
Howard Stern is continuing to criticize people who refuse to get vaccinated for COVID-19, and he’s now set his sights on Joe Rogan after the controversial podcast host revealed he took ivermectin to treat his COVID diagnosis, rather than get vaccinated. Last week, Rogan ranted on a podcast about the media’s coverage of his supposedly
Jannat Gargi has been named senior vice president and head of documentaries at Westbrook, where she will be tasked with making non-fiction features and premium series. She joins the media company from Vice Studios, where she most recently held the role of vice president of documentaries. At Vice, Gargi developed documentaries such as “Flee,” which
When Taiwanese actor Janine Chang was writing her masters’ thesis in industrial economics in 2010, she likely never imagined that two Chinese characters in it would become a diplomatic flashpoint and threaten to derail her lucrative acting career more than a decade later. This week, however, it has done just that. Her thesis at Taiwan’s
“Pinkfong and Baby Shark’s Space Adventure,” a movie that draws influence from the viral song, is coming to theaters this weekend. SmartStudy, the company behind the film, is partnering with Iconic Events Releasing to bring “Pinkfong and Baby Shark’s Space Adventure” to the big screen for a limited run on Oct. 9 and 10. “We couldn’t
Republic Records today formally launched Imperial Music, a new independent music company led by former Astralwerks executive Glenn Mendlinger that soft-launched last year. According to the announcement, the New York-based label is a new division of Republic and signs, develops and markets emerging independent artists and creators, and partners with Ingrooves Music Group for distribution services. Mendlinger reports to Republic co-founders Monte and Avery Lipman —”a structure that provides Imperial the flexibility to
Check out an official Cry Macho Behind the Scenes Featurette starring Clint Eastwood! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Buy tickets to Cry Macho: https://www.fandango.com/cry-macho-2021-225278/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US
New York Comic Con (NYCC) is taking over the city from Oct. 7 to 10, jam-packed with in-person and virtual programming. The East Coast’s largest pop culture convention, held in none other than Gotham City, will bring fandoms together and feature special guests participating in panels, autograph signings and photo tops, including Cristina Vee, David
Fox Corp. aims to rev up the tempo of its digital news, sports and lifestyle offerings now that the company has completed its acquisition of TMZ from WarnerMedia at a price tag estimated at around $50 million. Fox has acquired all of the company behind the daily syndicated TV shows “TMZ” and “TMZ Live,” which
Brian Robbins has officially been named president and CEO of Paramount Pictures, replacing Jim Gianopulos as head of the studio behind the “Mission: Impossible” and “Transformers” franchises, and setting up a new era in the oversight of one of Hollywood’s big movie studios. Robbins will take the reins while continuing in his current post as