Gravitas Ventures has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Paper Tiger,” written and directed by Paul Kowalski. The drama/thriller film will be released on VOD/digital on Aug. 24. Starring Lydia Look, Alan Trong and Elaine Kao, “Paper Tiger” follows an immigrant mother who fears her mentally-ill teenaged son is turning into a school shooter.
A judge has denied a request from Britney Spears’ attorney to expedite her next hearing, regarding the suspension and removal of the singer’s father, Jamie Spears, from her conservatorship. The hearing is still set for Sept. 29. On Monday morning, the court ordered that the petition from Spears’ new attorney, Mathew Rosengart, had been denied
Billie Eilish’s second full-length album, “Happier Than Ever,” proved to be one of the big recorded music events of the year, as expected, even with five of the tracks already previously out as singles. The album release easily landed at No. 1 on the Rolling Stone album chart with 271,500 album-equivalent units. The breakdown of
Bravo is postponing its fan fest BravoCon to 2022, amid a staggering rise in nationwide COVID-19 cases. In a statement, the network shared its disappointment about canceling the 2021 convention. In 2020, BravoCon was also canceled, as all live events were shut down during the global pandemic. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are
Britney Spears didn’t want to wait until September to ask a judge to boot her dad from her conservatorship, but the judge just shut down her request. The singer’s request to move up the hearing to sometime this month or to at least suspend Jamie immediately until the final hearing, was denied … according to
“Housebroken” has been renewed for Season 2 at Fox, Variety has learned. The animated comedy series stars Lisa Kudrow, Clea DuVall, Nat Faxon, Will Forte, Tony Hale, Sharon Horgan, Jason Mantzoukas and Sam Richardson. DuVall also co-created the series. In “Housebroken,” Honey (Kudrow), a standard poodle, opens her living room for the group to come and
DraftKings plans to buy Golden Nugget Online Gaming — letting it tap into the internet gambling company’s database of more than 5 million users — in an all-stock deal worth an estimated $1.56 billion. With the acquisition, DraftKings can “instantly reach a broader consumer base” of online-gaming fans, said DraftKings chairman CEO Jason Robins. “This
The story goes that the legendary singer Aretha Franklin thought long and hard about exactly which multitalented performer had both the musical chops and the acting depth to play her in “Respect,” a big-screen biopic chronicling her rise. But years after she was handpicked by Franklin herself and ultimately made the film, Jennifer Hudson can’t
In the wake of reports of widespread sexual harassment at Sony Music Australia, Universal Music has become the second major label in the country to launch an investigation into inappropriate behavior at its offices, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. The allegations surfaced in posts on an Instagram account called Beneath the
Columbia Records has promoted Kerry Hickey to senior vice president, film & television licensing. The Los Angeles-based Hickey, who reports to general manager Jenifer Mallory and chairman/CEO, Ron Perry, joined Columbia in 2018 as vice president. In her newly elevated role, Hickey will continue to utilize the systems she has put in place over the
Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz, the creatives behind the critically acclaimed political thriller “Fauda,” have extended their existing creative pact with Netflix following the success of their new action thriller, “Hit & Run.” The show, starring Raz as Segev Azulai, premiered last Friday and made its debut in Netflix’s Top 10. “Hit & Run” centers
“Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence has landed a series order at Apple for the drama “Bad Monkey” with Vince Vaughn attached to star, Variety has learned. The series is based on Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel of the same name. It tells the story of Andrew Yancy (Vaughn), a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern
Jen Statsky has extended her overall deal with Universal Television. Statsky is the co-creator, co-showrunner and executive producer of the HBO Max comedy series “Hacks.” The series, which she created alongside collaborators Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs, recently earned 15 Emmy nominations and was renewed for a second season. Statsky received two Emmy Award nominations
Food Network’s star chefs not only serve up delicious recipes, but they also link food with emotion and something deeper to which the audience can connect. Since March 2020, when COVID forced the world to stay indoors, more people than ever before turned to food and cooking in order to occupy their time. The subsequent
The African American Film Critics Association has scrapped its planned in-person ceremony for the 3rd annual AAFCA TV Honors, and will instead now take place as a virtual event. The shift was made in light of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in both Southern California and around the country due to the delta strain
Peacock has nabbed streaming rights to the Howie Mandel documentary “But Enough About Me.” The film that examines Mandel’s long career in comedy and his long battle with obsessive compulsive disorder made the festival rounds last year. Directed by Barry Avrich, “Howie Mandel: But Enough About Me” will be available as of Aug. 10 on
Showtime announced that Season 2 of “Back to Life” will premiere on Sept. 13. Created by and starring Daisy Haggard, “Back to Life” follows Miri Matteson (Haggard) who stumbles back into adult life after 18 years behind bars. The six-part second season sees Miri optimistic about her future, as probation officer Janice (Jo Martin) has
Bam Margera filed a lawsuit on Monday against Paramount, Johnny Knoxville and director Spike Jonze, alleging that he was wrongfully fired from the upcoming fourth installment of the “Jackass” film franchise. Margera, one of the stars of the original TV series and the subsequent films, was fired last fall, after allegedly testing positive for Adderall,
2021 has been a prolific year for actor and comedian Lil Rel Howery. After the success of films like “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Fatherhood” with Kevin Hart, plus starring opposite Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming “Free Guy,” Howery is launching a new audio-only comedy album, titled “Lil Rel – Humbly Vulnerable: I Said
Lionsgate has elevated Marisa Liston to oversee the movie studio’s marketing efforts. Liston has been working in the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group marketing department since March and has been named president of worldwide marketing. In her new role, she will spearhead promotion for the studio’s upcoming films, including “The Protégé” starring Michael Keaton, “American Underdog” with
Broadway’s revival of “West Side Story” will not be returning to the Great White Way when theaters reopen later in the year. “It is with great regret that we are announcing today that the 2020 Broadway revival of ‘West Side Story’ will not reopen,” producer Kate Horton said in a statement. “This difficult and painful
“Jeopardy!” executive producer Mike Richards has weighed in for the first time on the prospect that he may be named the show’s permanent host, and he addressed decade-old allegations made against him as part of employment disputes during his tenure as executive producer of “The Price Is Right.” In a memo sent Monday morning to
In a competitive situation, Amazon Studios has landed the rights to the pitch “Coyote Blue.” The action film will be written by Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter behind “John Wick” and “Nobody,” with “This Is Us” Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown attached to star. Hanelle M. Culpepper (“Star Trek: Picard”) will make her feature directorial debut.
Roberta Kaplan, a prominent lawyer who co-founded Time’s Up, has resigned from the organization after she was named in the New York Attorney General’s investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment allegations. Her resignation comes after a group of former Time’s Up staffers and Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund clients published an open letter to
Brandi Carlile’s performance of Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album at L.A.’s Disney Hall in late 2019, which has become nearly the stuff of legend, was not a one-off after all. Carlile is set to reprise that program, two years later, at Carnegie Hall, with a single performance of the album set for Nov. 6 at New
Just in time for fall, and New York Fashion Week, Target has revealed the lineup for its next designer collaboration. Instead of one chic remix of a designer’s greatest hits, we’re getting four. New York City designers Victor Glemaud, Nili Lotan, Sandy Liang, and Rachel Comey are bringing accessible versions of their best styles to
Outfest announced on Monday that Elliot Page will be honored at this year’s edition of the LGBTQ film festival with the Achievement Award. “The Umbrella Academy” star came out as transgender on his social media platforms last November. Page, in a heartfelt message wrote, “I love that I am trans. And I love that I
Serbian director Srdjan Dragojevic, best known for Thessaloniki awarded “Pretty Village, Pretty Flame” and Berlin prize-winner “The Parade,” is at the Locarno Film Festival with dark comedy “Heavens Above,” which is in the International Competition lineup. He speaks to Variety about the film, which has Pluto Film attached as its sales agency, and looks ahead
It was a bold move for Stefan Ruzowitzky (“The Counterfeiters” among many others) to conceive of a gritty Expressionist detective-thriller set in the aftermath of World War I, shot almost entirely on blue screen. Whether it’s also fully successful is open for debate. Thematically, the idea was to tackle the impotent rage of the Austro-Hungarian
Earlier this spring, I had the privilege of moderating a panel with the always joyful cast of one of my favorite recent comedies, “Superstore.” But the timing was unfortunate: Just days beforehand, NBC had announced that the show was ending its run. You would have excused the cast for not exactly being on cloud nine