This summer, the movie theater business is essentially starting at square one. For nearly a century, the studio executives responsible for rolling out movies big and small had relied heavily on facts, figures and past precedent to calculate how a film might perform at the box office. Those instincts helped fuel a $42.5 billion-a-year global
Legendary rapper Snoop Dogg has joined Def Jam Recordings as executive creative and strategic consultant, “a new role that will allow him to strategically work across the label’s executive team and artist roster,” according to the announcement. With an immediate focus on A&R and creative development, Snoop Dogg is joining Def Jam as a senior
Producer and financier Anton, whose credits include “Greenland,” “His Dark Materials” and “The Night House,” has announced that its latest production, the feature film “CURS>R,” has wrapped principal photography in the U.K. A dark twist on the ‘80s gaming obsession, the horror thriller stars Asa Butterfield (“Sex Education,” “Greed,” “Hugo”), Iola Evans (“The 100,” “Carnival
Paramount Plus is busting out the popcorn: The ViacomCBS streamer is stuffing more than 1,000 movie titles into the service this week as it fights for ground in the streaming wars. The new batch of flicks includes “Infinite,” Paramount’s sci-fi thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and Chiwetel Ejiofor and directed by Antoine Fuqua, which will exclusively
The Zac Efron survival thriller “Gold” has sold to Screen Media following a competitive bidding situation that saw several studios and distributors circling the project. The film co-stars Anthony Hayes who co-wrote the script in addition to directing the picture. Susie Porter rounds out the cast. “Gold” centers on two men who stumble across the
To celebrate New York’s apparent reopening, Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning a large-scale performance by multiple acts in Central Park and is working with veteran producer and executive Clive Davis to help organize the talent, according to a report Monday in the New York Times. No acts have been confirmed for the show, which
Jeff Bezos will make his maiden space voyage on board the New Shepard, a spacecraft made by his company, Blue Origin. The journey is set for July 20, two weeks after he steps down as Amazon CEO. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to space,” the entrepreneur posted to his
“Pearl Diver” by Norway’s Margrethe Danielsen has swept Spain’s 16th Animayo Gran Canaria Festival awards, making off with the International Grand Jury Prize as well as plaudits for best student short film, stop motion and comedy for adults. “Pearl Diver” follows three odd couples: a hedgehog that falls in love with a balloon, two oysters anxious
Berlin-based sales agent Films Boutique will represent worldwide rights for Cannes Un Certain regard selection “Rehana.” The film, originally titled “Rehana Maryam Noor,” is written and directed by Bangladesh’s Abdullah Mohammad Saad and produced by Singapore’s Jeremy Chua. Saad’s debut feature “Live from Dhaka” won best director and best actor at the Singapore International Film
Moroccan director Aziz Tazi’s thriller “Night Walk,” featuring a turn by Mickey Rourke, has scored a slew of international sales prior to its U.S. launch this month via Lionsgate/Grindstone Entertainment Group. The English-language pic, for which Rourke won a supporting actor nod at the 2019 Moscow Film Festival, turns on an American named Frank, played
One of the many revelations of the Prince estate’s ongoing, exhaustive reissue series is that there’s so much more in the late artist’s legendary vault than even the most obsessive fans ever dreamed. Even the sprawling, multi-disc deluxe editions around “1999” and “Sign O’ the Times” barely scratch the surface. One of the key people
Produced with U.S. streamer Pantaya and top European production house The Mediapro Studio, “Express,” Starzplay’s first Spanish-language original, is rounding the final bend of production, shooting last week at the Casa Huarte in a leafy luxury suburb of northern Madrid. Reuniting “Locked Up” creator Ivan Escobar with its star, Maggie Civantos, “Express” refers to the
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the series finale of “Pose.” In the end, the series finale of “Pose” left it all on the ballroom floor. Staying true to its aspirational and uplifting storytelling nature while still never shying away from the reality of being LGBTQIA+ and living with HIV/AIDS
Strong demand for Sunday’s heavily promoted fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul has caused outages for some consumers on Showtime’s PPV service and its streaming apps, the company said Sunday. ViacomCBS’ premium network acknowledged “an issue impacting tonight’s PPV event as well as the Showtime and Showtime Anytime apps” in a Twitter message
South Korea enjoyed its biggest weekend box office of 2021 propelled, unusually, by a trio of Hollywood titles. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” topped the chart with a $2.68 million haul, ahead of “Cruella” and “F9.” Aggregate national box office for the three days from Friday to Sunday was $7.12 million, according
Disney’s “Cruella” strut into China on Sunday with a $1.78 million opening day, coming in sixth in a slow weekend behind reigning box office champ “F9,” according to data from Maoyan. Day one China figures for “Cruella” were less than a fourth of the $7.7 million the film grossed on its May 28 opening day
Clarence Williams III, an actor known for portraying Linc Hayes on “The Mod Squad” and Prince’s father in “Purple Rain,” died on June 4. He was 81. Williams’ management confirmed his death to Variety, citing the cause as colon cancer. Williams broke through in 1968 as one of the stars of the counterculture cop show “The
A few weeks ago, there was every reason to be skeptical about “Cruella.” The creative track record for live-action remakes of Disney animated films was middling to dismal (the only one of the recent wave I thought worked was “The Lion King,” and most critics would say I’m dead wrong on that one). And this
Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You” won two BAFTAs in a year where there was no single dominant winner at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ (BAFTA) Television Awards on Sunday. The BBC/HBO show won best mini-series and leading actress for Coel, who dedicated the award to the production’s director of intimacy Ita
Christina Ricci has joined the cast of “The Matrix 4.” An updated press kit from Warner Bros. on the untitled film includes Ricci’s name in the all-star cast, which features Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris, to name a few. No details
Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks are open to the idea of having their own talk show one day — but it would have to be in their home of Nashville, Tenn. When promoting her new cookbook, “Trisha’s Kitchen,” on TalkShopLive Saturday, Yearwood opened up about the possibility of hosting a show with husband Brooks. The
“F9,” the latest installment in Universal’s high octane franchise, has crossed a major box office milestone internationally. The film, starring Vin Diesel, John Cena and Michelle Rodriguez, surpassed the $250 million mark overseas, including a huge $203 million in China. Of course, “F9” carries a massive production budget and will require outsized global ticket sales
In a surprise box office victory, “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” triumphed over “A Quiet Place Part II” in the U.S. The latest entry in Warner Bros. and New Line’s “Conjuring” series scared up $24 million in ticket sales from 3,102 North American venues, exceeding initial projections and easily leading domestic charts.
During a FYC screening of the finale of FX’s groundbreaking series “Pose,” Ryan Murphy surprised attendees with a special appearance by two very significant fans of the three-season sensation: Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish. John and Furnish joined Murphy, co-creator Steven Canals and stars Mj Rodriguez and Billy Porter onstage at the
Julian Radlmaier, who made a splash this year with his Marxist vampire satire “Blutsauger” (“Bloodsuckers”), is developing a romantic river barge road movie as his next project. “Binnenschifffahrerin Birte” is an East-West love story that centers on an old housekeeper working in a western German hotel who fondly recalls her youth in 1980s East Germany,
The Weeknd won big at the opening night of this year’s Juno Awards, taking home three honors. “Blinding Lights” won single of the year, “After Hours” took home the award for contemporary R&B recording of the year and the Weeknd was awarded songwriter of the year, along with his co-writers Belly and Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville.
Actor Lisa Banes, known for her work in “Cocktail” and “Gone Girl,” is in critical condition after being involved in a hit-and-run scooter accident in New York City, Variety has confirmed. According to the NYPD, police responded to a 911 call around 6:30 p.m. on Friday reporting a motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian at the
In her impressive narrative feature debut, Mexican actor-filmmaker Ángeles Cruz examines the impact of migration and the difficulties women face in a small village in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Set in the fictional village of San Mateo (in reality Cruz’s hometown of Villa Guadalupe Victoria), “Nudo Mixteco” (or “Mixtecan Knot”) weaves together the stories
Comedian Katt Williams has thrown his take on cancel culture into the ring — and he doesn’t think it’s all that bad. On an episode of the Joe Budden Podcast that released on June 4, Williams discussed his upcoming film, “The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2,” and the conversation soon turned to comedy
Jeff Lowe is continuing to take legal lumps — the current owner of Joe Exotic‘s onetime ‘Tiger King’ zoo was behind bars to kick off his weekend … this after a DUI bust. Lowe and his wife, Lauren, were both arrested early Saturday morning in Oklahoma County for driving under the influence … and it