Blumhouse Television’s Mary Lisio is resigning her post. Named executive vice president of alternative and non-scripted programming at Jason Blum’s division in 2018, Lisio is departing the company amicably to pursue other opportunities. Her departure comes as a result of Blumhouse TV’s recent exclusive, multi-year unscripted overall deal with ITV America. The pact was designed
Short-form video app TikTok is putting a couple more minutes on the clock. The company said it will expand the canvas for users globally — tripling the length of videos they can share in a single post, from 60 seconds to three minutes. Why the change? The longer videos will “pav[e] the way for more
How do you score a show that tinkers with time, features a Norse god who is neither hero nor villain, and continually confounds the viewer with new mysteries? That was the challenge facing English composer Natalie Holt, who with her music for “Loki” becomes only the second woman to compose the dramatic score for a
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s “Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” released nationwide in theaters July 2 and simultaneously on Hulu’s streaming service, is the latest in a series of high-profile documentaries from L.A.-based Concordia Studio since it formally launched early last year. Concordia snagged a quarter of the 16 slots in
STREAMING Lionsgate‘s on-demand film content will be available on streaming aggregator platform ScreenHits TV thanks to a new partnership that was revealed on Thursday. The content will be available via Lionsgate’s AVOD and linear channel, Moviesphere. Territories covered by the deal currently include the U.K., Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Malta. The ScreenHits
Grab a revolver or a barbed-wire-wrapped bat: A new game based on “The Walking Dead” has landed on Facebook. “The Walking Dead Life” is a social game built for Facebook Gaming’s Instant Games platform, letting fans experience the show’s most memorable moments, collect virtual coins, and attack friends and foes alike. The casual game, developed
Bang Si-hyuk is stepping down from his role as CEO of HYBE (formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment) as a part of a major restructuring of leadership at the company that launched BTS, one of the biggest groups in the world. The move is part of a company-wide move to “accelerate global operations,” according to
Penske Media Corp. will launch a three-day culture festival, LA3C, in Los Angeles in December that aims to celebrate entertainment, food, comedy art, fashion, sports and music as well as the great diversity that defines the City of Angels. The event, staged by the parent company of Variety, is set to take place in venues
ViacomCBS said it would unite the company’s domestic and international businesses under top executives, and assigned new duties to three of its senior operating executives that expands their influence across the media conglomerate. Chris McCarthy, president of the company’s linear entertainment-focused cable networks, becomes president and CEO of MTV Entertainment Group. Brian Robbins, who oversees
Six years ago, “The Jinx,” HBO’s six-part series about murder suspect and real estate heir Robert Durst, reinvigorated the long-form docuseries format. A mad rush by premium cablers and streamers to come up with the next “Jinx” followed, with Netflix’s 10-part “Making a Murderer” later that year and ESPN’s format busting “O.J.: Made in America”
In May, Richard Ray “Rick” Perez became the first person of color to serve as executive director of the Intl. Documentary Assn., taking over for outgoing leader Simon Kilmurry following a six-year run. A documentary filmmaker turned exec, Perez most recently was the director of acquisitions and distribution strategies at GBH’s World Channel, in charge
Meghan McCain is departing “The View,” after nearly four years on the ABC daytime show, Variety has confirmed. As the panel’s resident conservative talking head, McCain regularly sparred with her co-hosts, resulting in many viral — and highly-rated — on-air moments. Her last day will be at the end of the show’s season later this
Can Apple TV Plus start earning its keep? This month, the free ride is over for millions of Apple customers who have been getting Apple TV Plus — regularly priced at $4.99 per month — at no charge. Some haven’t been paying for Apple TV Plus since the streaming video service debuted in November 2019.
The Willem Dafoe-narrated documentary “River,” from “Sherpa” director Jennifer Peedom, has unveiled its first trailer. Produced by Stranger Than Fiction and Arrow Pictures, “River” is an exploration of the timeless relationship between humanity and rivers. Billed as an orchestral concert film, the doc is an ode to the natural word and a retelling of the
Leading arthouse sales agency and producer The Match Factory has acquired “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash,” which will receive its world premiere in competition at the 74th Locarno Film Festival in August. The film is directed by Edwin, one of Indonesia’s best known and most well-respected directors. The film centers on Ajo Kawir,
Kamen Rider may not have the international recognition of Godzilla — yet. But Toei, whose first “Kamen Rider” live-action TV series aired in 1971, has announced an ambitious project for raising the profile of its motorbike-riding, insect-faced cyborg hero both at home and abroad on the franchise’s 50th anniversary. Unveiled in April at a splashy
Academy Award-winning director Andrea Arnold (“Big Little Lies,” “American Honey”) will have her feature documentary “Cow” distributed by theatrical distributor and streamer MUBI in select European markets. The global curated film streamer has acquired all rights to the movie in the U.K., Ireland and Turkey. The documentary, which tells the story of life for a
For nearly seven decades, animation studio Toei Animation Co. has relied on recognizable franchises, including pirate adventure “One Piece” and fantasy “Dragon Ball,” in making itself a leader. But publishing platforms are now such that just about anyone can distribute animation, or so be moaned Toei Animation president Katsuhiro Takagi two years ago. “I feel
ARTEF, the anti-racism task force for European film that was initiated in the summer of 2020 by European and U.K. film organizations, is now fully operational. ARTEF’s main aim is to dismantle racist structures and combat all forms of racism in the European film industry and become a task force for change by raising awareness,
The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled a promising lineup combining edgy new works by established auteurs such as Abel Ferrara alongside plenty of potential discoveries by emerging helmers and global newcomers for its upcoming 74th edition. It will be the first one under new Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro, the former Venice Critics’ Week chief
Hype Film, the production company behind Kirill Serebrennikov’s Cannes competition title “Petrov’s Flu,” has signed a first-look deal with IVI, the largest Russian VOD platform. As part of the two-year deal, Hype Film will develop 10 and produce at least two Russian-language scripted shows exclusively for IVI, which boasts more than 59 million unique visitors
The British Film Institute (BFI) has kicked off its U.K. Global Screen Fund with cash awards for Cannes titles “Ali & Ava” and “Mothering Sunday.” “Mothering Sunday,” directed by Eva Husson from a screenplay by Alice Birch and starring Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, will launch in the festival’s Cannes Premiere section and is represented
HBO Max, which launches in Spain later this year, has commissioned Unicorn Content to produce a new six-part, true crime docu-series ahead of the occasion, “Dolores: The Truth About the Wanninkhof Case.” Originally convicted of murdering her former partner’s daughter, Dolores Vázquez, or Loli to her friends, turned out to be the victim of one
Iconic Japanese actor and director Kitano Takeshi has filed suit against Bandai Namco Arts, a member of the Bandai Namco media group, for copyright violation, the Daily Shincho paper revealed in its latest issue, which hit newsstands on Thursday. According to the exclusive report, which has been circulated widely in the Japanese media, Kitano made
Iggy Azalea has spoken out in support of her collaborator Britney Spears, and is alleging that her father and co-conservator, Jamie Spears, made the “Fancy” singer sign a non-disclosure agreement before their 2015 performance at the Billboard Music Awards. In a new statement posted to Twitter, Azalea claimed that she has “personally witnessed the same
In 2016 a fire nearly destroyed the only arthouse cinema on the East End of Long Island. Five years and $18 million dollars later, the iconic, century-old Sag Harbor Cinema is once again open for business. A former whaling village, Sag Harbor, NY, located between Southampton and East Hampton, was at one point a thriving
The production shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic last spring would have been reason enough to sound the alarm in Romania. But bigger trouble is brewing over the country’s rebate scheme, which has been imperiled by a bureaucratic logjam currently dragging into its second year. After a bureaucratic reshuffle following a change in government in
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the series finale of “The Bold Type,” which aired June 30 on Freeform. Endings are hard. The penultimate season of “The Bold Type” — cut short by the pandemic — left Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy) and Richard Hunter (Sam Page) in a difficult spot, disagreeing
After production dipped following a hard lockdown last spring, when the coronavirus pandemic first swept across Europe, Greece was quick to get cameras rolling again, thanks to swift action from the government. Now the sun-splashed Mediterranean nation is set to sizzle, with a slate of high-profile projects underway or scheduled to shoot this summer. Production
After swatting back the COVID-19 scourge to some extent, Puerto Rico opened its ports in June 2020. With the year-long curfew lifted in May this year, it’s been business as usual on this Caribbean island of roughly 3,500 square miles. The capital of San Juan held its first live audience concert on June 26, 2021