Michael Yezerski composed the music for the film “Blindspotting” and was invited back for the series currently airing on Starz, this time collaborating with fellow musician Ambrose Akinmusire. Dance and music play a key role in the series alongside the spoken word, with sequences meant to be evocative and used to enhance the characters’ emotions.
ESPN had to devise a new game plan for the NBA Finals. The Disney-owned sports-media giant said it would move its veteran basketball reporter Rachel Nichols off sideline duties for the NBA Finals, slated to be broadcast tonight on ABC and feature the Milwaukee Bucks taking on the Phoenix Suns, and utilize Malika Andrews instead
For the first time in a long time, people are actually going to the movies. After a delayed start to summer, Universal’s action franchise “F9: The Fast Saga,” Paramount’s thriller “A Quiet Place Part II” and the Warner Bros. monster movie “Godzilla vs. Kong” have each had a hand in putting butts in seats at
The Los Angeles LGBT Center will host its second annual live Love in Action telethon on Aug. 14. The star-studded lineup includes Adam Lambert, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Manila Luzon. “LGBTQ people have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the work to build back amid the full reopening of
The “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon” at HBO has cast Milly Alcock and Emily Carey in recurring roles. “House of the Dragon” is set a few hundred years prior to the events of “Game of Thrones” and tells the story of House Targaryen and the Targaryen civil war that became known
Michelle Yeoh has joined the prequel series “The Witcher: Blood Origin.” Yeoh joins previously announced cast member Laurence O’Fuarain. Yeoh will star as Scían, the very last of her nomadic tribe of sword-elves. No one can come close to her artistry with the blade, and no one carries as much loss within their heart. When
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish in early June predicted this year’s upfront ad-sales session would be “off the hook” for his company, and, in general, the media industry. And it was — but perhaps not in the way many executives would like. Big entertainment conglomerates ranging from WarnerMedia to NBCUniversal have called this year’s haggle with
With films from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bill Murray, Todd Haynes, Leos Carax and others, the Cannes Film Festival, movie theaters and streamers are alive with the sound of music. “It might just be the shuffling of release dates as a result of the pandemic, but 2021 is shaping up to be an embarrassment of riches for
Amazon Studios is in late-stage discussions for “Foe,” an adaptation of Iain Reid’s science-fiction novel starring Saoirse Ronan, LaKeith Stanfield and Paul Mescal. The streamer is closing in on global rights in a competitive situation, though a deal has yet to be signed. FilmNation is handling international rights, while CAA Media Finance and UTA’s Independent
Yvonne Strahovski comes head-to-head with an alien army in her performance as Commander Romeo in “The Tomorrow War,” but the Australian actor says she’s also had a real-life extraterrestrial experience. “This is a legitimate story. Back in 2006 I was sitting on a beach cliff with somebody, somebody witnessed this with me. And I saw
Roblox signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment under which the companies plan to feature more Sony artists in the popular massively multiplayer online game. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. The companies said the partnership will “offer a range of new commercial opportunities for Sony Music artists” to reach new fans and generate new
“The Valet” is switching distributors. The upcoming comedy starring Eugenio Derbez of “Instructions Not Included” fame was originally set up for release by Lionsgate. It’s been sold to the Walt Disney Company, which will release it domestically on Hulu in summer 2022. “The Valet” will be released internationally on Disney Plus as a Star Original.
This year’s Cannes promises to be an edition unlike any other. More movies, fewer guests, plus a slew of logistical hurdles (including a two-month date shift to early July, drawing cinephiles to the Riviera at the height of tourist season) all add up to an epic case of FOMO — fear of missing out —
Only four of the 24 films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year were directed by women. Statistically speaking, the odds that one will join Jane Campion as the lone woman to win a Palme d’Or are slim — and this in a year when Venice winner Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” went on to
If ever there was a year for the Allen & Co. conference to be a fertile ground for dealmaking among the titans of tech and media, it’s this one. The entertainment industry is in an everyone’s-talking-to-everyone moment, as evidenced by the surprise of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger and Amazon’s move to swallow up a legacy Hollywood
Spike Lee is making history at Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-winning director is the first Black president of the jury, where he’ll head the nine artists and actors — including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tahar Rahim and Song Kang-ho — tasked with voting on the prestigious Palm d’Or. “Cannes is the world’s greatest film festival,” Lee said
“Paddington 3” is among a host of slate titles revealed by Studiocanal at an event in Cannes on Tuesday. Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh said that principal photography on the keenly anticipated project would commence in the second quarter of 2022. The film reunites Studiocanal with Heyday Films, as previously reported by Variety. The director, cast
In 2015, Kering, a partner of the Cannes Film Festival, launched the Women in Motion Program to highlight female contributions in cinema. More than a celebration, the program works to advance gender equality throughout the industry. “The cinema is the most influential way to touch people,” Kering chief communications and image officer Valerie Duport tells
Megyn Kelly’s time on Fox News and NBC came to an end some time ago, but she continues to find ways to stay in the game. The former TV anchor, best known for her tenure on the Fox News Channel primetime schedule and a chaotic period at NBC News, will launch a new weekday talk
Carlyle Group co-founder David M. Rubenstein is expanding his relationship with Bloomberg Media with the launch of the new bi-weekly program, “Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein.” Rubenstein, who also hosts the interview program “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” will use the new forum to speak one on one with high-profile investing executives. The first
Your inclination towards “Schmigadoon!,” at least in its early going, will likely be determined by your reaction to its title. If you think it’s a clever, charming wink to “Brigadoon” — the Lerner and Loewe musical about an enchanted village, don’t you know? — then you may very well be along for the ride from
Cristina Gallego, producer-director of 2018 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight hit “Birds of Passage,” is set to produce “Kings of the World,” the second feature by Colombia’s Laura Mora. Mora’s “Killing Jesus” marked one of the most notable of recent Latin American debuts. Shooting this month in Medellin and Bajo Cauca, Colombia, “Kings” is set up at
“Moonfall” co-producer and sales agent AGC Studios is launching the Christopher Smith-directed supernatural thriller “Consecration.” Stuart Ford’s independent studio will fully finance and co-produce the pic alongside BigScope Films and Moonriver Content. The movie turns on events following the suspicious death of a priest, whose sister goes to the Mount Saviour Convent in Scotland to
Sean Penn’s “Flag Day,” Leos Carax’s “Annette,” starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, and Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” with Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet, will provide star power at a 2021 Cannes Festival packed to overflowing with established and very often new European and world cinema arthouse talent. The festival films will also drive
Pathé, a driving force behind France’s biggest movies slated for 2022 including “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom” and “The Three Musketeers,” is developing an untitled two-part film about Charles de Gaulle, the legendary French army officer who led the French resistance against Nazi Germany during World War II and eventually became president of France.
Game on. In a bold move to reenergize São Paulo’s production scene, city authorities are bowing Brazil’s inaugural rebate scheme for international and local shoots, launching a call for applications on July 6, the first day of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Since the turn of the century São Paulo consolidated its place as Brazil’s
Half a dozen reasons cited by city authorities to shoot in São Paulo. 1. Diversity One of São Paolo’s biggest attractions “is our diversity,” says SPcine president Viviane Ferreira. “By diversity, I mean the variety of locations — urbanistic and architectonic — but also the diversity of cultures, of histories that cross our city every
Larry Rudolph, who has represented Britney Spears for much of her 25-year career, is stepping down as her manager. In a letter to the singer’s father, Jamie Spears, and attorney Jodi Montgomery, co-executor of the estate of Spears, who has been under conservatorship since 2008, Rudolph cites the singer’s “intention to officially retire” as the
Netflix has picked up global rights to the documentary “Tinder Swindler,” about a notorious con man who lured women using the popular dating app and tricked them out of millions of dollars. Produced by “Three Identical Strangers” and “Don’t F*** With Cats” makers Raw TV, alongside AGC Studios, the doc tells the story of Israeli
There’s no denying that Richard Donner, who died Monday at 91, was one of the most influential architects of the blockbuster era. He directed “Superman,” the 1978 man-of-steel epic that invented the comic-book movie as we know it. He directed all four films in the “Lethal Weapon” series, which may be the quintessential incarnation of