TIMOTHY A. CLARYGetty Images In the year since the non-profit 15 Percent Pledge launched in June 2021, urging retailers to commit fifteen percent of their shelf space to products from Black-owned businesses, nearly 30 major sellers—including Macy’s, Old Navy, and Sephora—have publicly taken the pledge. On July 8th, luxury department store Nordstrom became the latest
Joanne LaMarca, the spirited executive producer behind the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” morning franchise, plans to step down from the role later in August. In a memo issued to staffers on Thursday, Libby Leist, a senior vice president at NBC News who oversees “Today,” said LaMarca was eager to spend more time with family,
Pierre-Antoine Capton and Fred Kogel have established their respective companies, Mediawan (“Call My Agent!) and Leonine (“Dark”), as European powerhouses in only a few years. With their new joint vehicle, Mediawan & Leonine Studios, they’re now ready to gear up to the next stage with the acquisition of the award-winning U.K. production company Drama Republic
Netflix and Shonda Rhimes are extending their creative relationship, inked in 2017, beyond television to feature films and gaming. Under the terms of the expanded deal, which encompasses Rhimes’ Shondaland Media and her longtime producing partner Betsy Beers, Netflix and Shondaland will exclusively produce, stream and distribute feature films in addition to potential gaming and
All products and services featured by Variety are independently selected by Variety editors. However, Variety may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. The Tokyo Olympics are finally kicking off on July 23, and after a year of uncertainty surrounding the
“Pause With Sam Jay” has been renewed for a second season by HBO. The late-night series debuted its first season this past May, making it one of the premium cabler’s newest talk show offerings. Created by stand-up comedian, writer and host Sam Jay and Prentice Penny, “Pause With Sam Jay” uses a fresh lens to
Though HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” revival series differs from the original in key ways — a more diverse cast, LGBTQ+ storylines, the incorporation of social media — one aspect in which the show stays the same is just how high-priority its soundtrack is. The music of the original series, which premiered in 2007, helped to
Jeff Goldblum has joined the cast of “Search Party ” Season 5 at HBO Max, Variety has learned. Goldblum will appear in a recurring role as Tunnel Quinn, a charismatic tech billionaire who enters a very public business partnership with Dory (Alia Shawkat) on the other side of her near death experience. Dory folds her old
Marvel Studios revealed that its first-ever animated series “What If?” will be released on Aug. 11, with new episodes dropping on Disney Plus every Wednesday. The animated series will rip the Marvel multiverse wide open, setting up unlimited possibilities for what fans could ultimately see. Each chapter of the 10-episode season will explore a pivotal
China’s market regulator has fined Tencent, Alibaba and other tech giants for failing to properly report 22 past merger deals, sending tech shares tumbling Thursday. The country’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued a fine of RMB500,000 ($77,000) for each late Wednesday — chump change for Big Tech behemoths but the max allowed by
Netflix has acquired the global rights to Toby Meakins’ horror thriller “Curs>r,” starring Asa Butterfield (“Sex Education”), Iola Evans (“Carnival Row”) and Eddie Marsan. The deal was negotiated by producer and financier Anton (“Greenland: Migration,” “His Dark Materials”) and Stigma Films. The film, a dark twist on the ‘80s gaming obsession, wrapped principal photography in
Amazon’s Prime Video and IMDb TV have inked a multi-year licensing deal with Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, bringing blockbusters like “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “F9” to the company’s streaming platforms. Under the new agreement, Prime Video will will have an exclusive pay-one window for UFEG’s slate of live-action films in the U.S. (starting with the
“Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn has signed up an all-star cast for his new film franchise “Argylle,” which will be produced by Vaughn’s U.K.-based studio MARV. Henry Cavill (“Man of Steel”), Sam Rockwell (“Moon”), Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World”), Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”), John Cena (“Bumblebee”) and Samuel L. Jackson (“Avengers: Endgame”)
ICM Partners’ senior vice president of administration Erin Oremland is resigning her post after nearly two decades. The well-liked agency fixture has accepted an SVP role in the treasury management solutions division at City National Bank, whose client base is largely comprised of Hollywood business managers. The institution also estimates it helped secure 10,000 Paycheck
Check out the Queenpins Official Trailer starring Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanALERT for Queenpins: https://www.fandango.com/queenpins-2021-225037/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
“I can’t sit down,” says Gwen Bethel Riley, senior vice president of music at Peloton, the game-changing fitness company founded in 2012. “I think that’s a sign of a really successful festival.” She’s talking about “All For One,” a first-of-its-kind, three-day musical event leading up to the July 4th holiday that offered Peloton members 25
In a twist on the traditional streaming-service payment model, Portishead have released their 2015 cover of ABBA’s “SOS” exclusively on SoundCloud — which not only brings the song to a major streaming platform for the first time, it utilizes SoundCloud’s “fan-powered royalty” system, whereby revenue from its streams are driven directly by the artist’s fan
Fidji Simo, a 10-year Facebook veteran and one of social giant’s highest-ranking women execs, is joining online grocery company Instacart as CEO. Simo, who first joined Facebook in 2011, most recently led development and strategy for the company’s flagship app. As head of the Facebook app, a role she assumed in March 2019, Simo managed
An indie filmmaker announced plans on Thursday to build a new film studio in Savannah, Ga., which he hopes will turn the coastal city into a hub for major studio filmmaking. David Paterson, partner at Arcady Bay Entertainment, said the new studio will be the first one in the city built specifically for film and
“Clara Sola,” the debut feature from Swedish-Costa Rican director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, looks set for a French release. Luxbox has sold the rights in France to Paris-based art-pic distribution outfit Epicentre Films. News of the deal comes the same day that the magical realist is premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
“We are all brothers in Islam. Anyone with a problem can come to talk.” With these words, a local imam offers supposed comfort and counsel to troubled single mother Amina (Achouackh Abakar Souleymane), not considering that addressing her as his “brother” might not be the most welcoming invitation. Least of all for the problem Amina
“Black Widow,” the Disney and Marvel standalone superhero adventure starring Scarlett Johansson, launched internationally on Wednesday and collected $4.9 million in ticket sales from 11 overseas markets. The comic book adaptation, the first Marvel movie to grace cinemas in two years, had the strongest start in the United Kingdom, where it generated $1.7 million on
A giant screen Imax theater will soon join the screening options in Cannes. The new venue was demonstrated Thursday and will open to the public later this summer as part of the new Cineum Cannes multiplex. The venue is operated by Compagnie Cinématographique de Cannes which will seek official venue status for the theater, allowing
Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud and the Sundance Institute are pairing up to put Black women at the forefront of comedy, with a new screenwriting fellowship program called “Women Write Now.” Designed to champion the next generation of Black women in comedy, the new initiative focuses on providing one-on-one mentorship opportunities to Black women screenwriters,
“Red Notice,” the upcoming comedic action thriller starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, is debuting on Netflix this fall. Johnson announced Thursday morning to his social media platforms that “Red Notice” will premiere on Nov. 12. “You’re officially on notice,” he wrote on Twitter in a message adorned with siren, fire and globe
CBS and the Academy of Country Music Awards may have gone their separate ways, but CBS and the idea of country awards in the month of April have not. The network announced Thursday morning that it had scheduled its first airing of the CMT Music Awards for April 3, 2022, a declaration that follows quickly
Check out the official Encanto Trailer starring Stephanie Beatriz! ► Sign up for a Fandango FanALERT for Encanto: https://www.fandango.com/encanto-2021-225033/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 Release Date: November 24, 2021 Starring: Stephanie Beatriz Directed By: Jared
The NFL and Twitter have renewed their content partnership — which dates to 2013 — and are now kicking their collaboration into live audio. Under the multiyear deal extension, the NFL is making a full-season commitment to produce exclusive content on Twitter Spaces, the social network’s new live-audio feature. The NFL is the first sports
In the days since legendary filmmaker Richard Donner’s death at age 91, his longtime wife, Lauren Shuler Donner, has taken comfort in the outpouring of love and support from the “Superman” director’s fans and colleagues. “Each one is more remarkable than the next,” Shuler Donner tells Variety about the stories she’s heard about her late
Talkshoplive, a startup whose a livestreaming ecommerce platform has attracted a roster of celebrities and businesses to host their own QVC-style shopping channels, announced that it has closed $6 million in follow-on seed funding. The funding gives L.A.-based Talkshoplive a valuation of $75 million, sources familiar with the funding told Variety. The seed extension funding