It’s not exactly an iron-clad guarantee — especially by Drake standards — but the superstar rapper said on Saturday that his long-delayed “Certified Lover Boy” album, which he’d originally promised would be out in January but then changed his mind, will be out by the end of the summer. On Saturday night, Drake sat down
MusiCares, which has distributed more than $25 million in Covid-19 relief to members of the music community, announced Monday that it is distributing a “final round” of such funding. The effort continues the support for music professionals, concluding upon distribution of the $2 million raised during its Music on a Mission concert and campaign in
“The Republic of Sarah” starts straightforwardly enough. Opening in the idyllic New Hampshire town of Greylock, the show introduces us to history teacher Sarah Cooper (Stella Baker), her friends, and to her own surprise, her estranged brother Danny (Luke Mitchell). Though he abruptly left Greylock, their abusive alcoholic mother (Megan Follows) and his fiancé Corinne
Since “In the Heights,” a lauded adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, fell short of box office expectations, it would be easy to point to its hybrid debut on HBO Max as the culprit. But streaming isn’t necessarily to blame for the movie’s lackluster $11.4 million four-day opening weekend. Yes, it’s possible that some HBO
“The Morning Show” will return for Season 2 on Sept. 17 on Apple TV Plus, and when it does, things are going to look very different at the fictional morning news program. Last audiences left veteran anchor Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and newcomer Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon), they decided to reveal to the nation live
Noel Clarke’s former agent, Gary O’Sullivan, has set up his own talent management firm, Variety can exclusively reveal. The firm, Accelerate Management, was launched last month. O’Sullivan previously worked at 42 Management & Production, where he repped Clarke among other high-profile actors, including Emily Beecham (“The Pursuit of Love”) and Tom Felton (“Harry Potter”). O’Sullivan
“The First Step” follows Van Jones — social entrepreneur, justice and environmental activist, and one of CNN’s legion of political commentators — as he presses those in Washington, D.C. to pass a watershed justice reform bill in 2018 called the First Step Act. Premiering at the Tribeca Festival, the Brandon Kramer’s documentary has something of
In the 1990s, Jim Carrey was an unstoppable force. After a stint on “In Living Color,” where he created a rococo list of characters like Fire Marshall Bill and Vera De Milo, the rubber-faced comic seamlessly made the transition to the big screen. Despite a critical drubbing, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” became a sleeper hit
Altitude Film Sales has boarded “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass,” Oliver Stone’s forthcoming examination of the assassination of President John F Kennedy. The London-based sales agent will debut footage and launch worldwide sales at the Cannes Virtual Market later this month. Meanwhile, Altitude Film Distribution will also release the film in the U.K. and
Optimus Prime and Bumblebee will soon be zooming around on a street near you. “Transformers: Heavy Metal” is an augmented-reality mobile game due out later in 2021 that will use the AR platform from Niantic, the company behind breakthrough title “Pokémon Go.” The game promises to let fans use their smartphones to team up with
“The Two Popes” actor Jonathan Pryce, “The Great British Bake Off” judge Prue Leith and “Strictly Come Dancing” judge Arlene Phillips are among those in the arts named to Britain’s Queen’s Birthday honors list. Pryce, an Oscar and BAFTA nominee for “The Two Popes” (2019) and Cannes best actor winner for “Carrington” (1995), has been
Netflix has revealed more artwork and clips from four of its kids and family animation titles, which are set drop this summer and fall. During the streamer’s online Annecy session, introduced by Netflix director of character animation James Baxter, it was revealed that three of the titles – “Karma’s World”, “Vivo” and “Centaurworld” – are animated
Courtesy of Tiffany & Co. If you know Tracee Ellis Ross, whether it’s from her 25-year career in film and television or through the lens of her vibrant social media channels, it should come as no surprise that she loves fashion. Like, really loves fashion. The actress’s love affair with beautiful clothes presents itself in
In one of the biggest deals on titles at this year’s Visions du Réel, Switzerland’s premier documentary festival, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), the public broadcasting organization for the French-speaking part of the country, has acquired eleven titles from Visions du Réel’s 2021 selection. The deal is part of a longstanding partnership between the Swiss doc
Leonine Studios and Mediawan have boarded upcoming English-language horror “The Twin” for German-speaking and French-speaking territories respectively. The deal, inked by Film Constellation, marks the first time Leonine and Mediawan have jointly acquired a film. Don Films has unveiled a first image of the film by Finnish director Taneli Mustonen (“Lake Bodom”), which recently wrapped
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions has swooped on world rights, outside Nordic, for Jalmari Helander’s World War II action film “Immortal.” Jorma Tommila and “Peaky Blinders” star Paul Anderson go head-to-head in the film, which is set to shoot in Lapland, Finland, in September. Nordisk Film has taken Nordic rights to the film. Set in 1945,
There’s a limit to how long a movie can mess with viewers’ minds, and “Ultrasound” eventually crosses that threshold. A thriller whose discomforting early going provides few clues to the head-spinning madness lying in wait, director Rob Schroeder’s feature debut channels a host of acclaimed masters (David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Christopher Nolan) while attempting to
Brazilian film “Nũhũ Yãg Mũ Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land!” has won best film in the Sheffield Doc/Fest international competition. Directed by Isael and Sueli Maxakali, who are Brazilian Indigenous directors, the film explores the loss of their land to local farmers. Elsewhere, the Special Jury Award in the international competition went to
Animaccord, the Russian company behind one of the world’s top five children’s shows, animation series “Masha and the Bear,” has revealed plans to expand into longer-form content, including a feature film, as well as podcasts, tech-driven content and custom-made content for social media platforms. More than a decade after its launch, the show “just keeps
If the only performance Ned Beatty had ever given was the six minutes he appeared in “Network,” he’d be an actor the world would remember. In that visionary satire-that’s-not-really-a-satire, Beatty, who died Sunday at 83, does one of the most towering one-stop scene steals of all time as Arthur Jensen, the corporate communications overlord who
Superights, the upscale distribution arm of France’s Superprod Group, a co-producer on Tomm Moore’s Academy Award-nominated “Song of the Sea,” has licensed international rights to three new series, securing properties produced out of France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. The acquisition marks the latest move from Superprod, founded in 2010 by Jérémie Fajner and Clément Calvet,
While the world, at least parts of it privileged enough to have easy vaccine access, is just starting to peel itself away from lockdown and reflect on the loneliness of the past year, artists have been trying to make sense of it all for months now. The virtual Sundance Film Festival back in January 2021
The New Zealand Film Commission has appointed of David Strong as its new CEO. He replaces Annabelle Sheehan, who stepped down from the role in May after three and a half years in the role. With a background both in the army and the film industry, String has been a specialist advisor to major motion
“Blindspotting” moves like a song: from opening verse to swelling chorus, emotional bridge and back again. Sometimes, this manifests quite literally, as the characters turn to the camera and burst into emphatic spoken word, turn on their heels and break into a staccato dance, or dream up an entire music video starring themselves. Other times,
Film and TV actor Ned Beatty, who was Oscar nominated for his supporting role in “Network” and appeared in a number of the most significant American films of the 1970s, has died. He was 83. Beatty’s management confirmed his death to Variety, adding that he died from natural causes on Sunday morning surrounded by his
Columbia Pictures’ “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” hopped up to second in China this weekend, but was unable to scurry past local sports drama “Never Stop” despite an extra day’s lead. “Peter Rabbit 2” grossed a relatively unremarkable $969,000 (RMB6.2 million) on opening day Friday but managed to pull in $7.8 million from 10,500 screens
Xbox’s highly anticipated E3 showcase, the first since Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda, took place on Sunday, showering fans with a torrent of gaming announcements. Specifically, the showcase shared details on 30 titles, 27 of which will be available on Xbox Game Pass. From the announcement of new Bethesda franchise “Starfield” to more details
The sensational title of ABC News’ Original special for Hulu, “The Housewife and the Hustler” — about the legal problems of Erika “Jayne” Girardi, of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and her estranged husband, one-time power lawyer Tom Girardi — obscures a persuasive and earnest program, which premieres Monday. It runs a little longer than
Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones are finally coming to “Sea of Thieves.” On Sunday, during Microsoft’s E3 showcase, developer Rare announced that it had officially partnered with Disney for a “Pirates of the Caribbean”-themed expansion, “A Pirate’s Life,” a free update hitting the multiplayer game on June 22. It is, as Rare executive producer Joe
“F9” became the most-watched foreign film in South Korea since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic on another weekend where Hollywood and Japanese titles dominated the South Korean box office. The weekend box office chart was headed by “Cruella,” which held strong in its third frame and swapped places with newer “The Conjuring: The Devil