It was a brutal process to get “Spotlight” made. The movie was dead at least three times before we shot it because of financing problems, studio problems, deadlines, actors’ availability and the time of year we could shoot. There were moments when Steve and I were just going at it. We’d have hilarious late-night correspondence.
After testing them with “Game of Thrones” fans and a few dozen other Subreddits for the past couple of months, Reddit is now launching two new post types to its entire user base: Events will help communities with discussions about TV show episodes, awards shows, breaking news and more; Collections will help to curate posts,
April 23, 2019 9:00AM PT Steve Lassiter, a 20-year veteran of talent agency APA, has been promoted to co-head of worldwide music, president and CEO Jim Gosnell announced today. Lassiter joins fellow co-heads of worldwide music Bruce Solar and Steve Martin. He most recently served as head of concerts at APA Nashville, where his roster
Malevolent toddler voice? Check. Boozy, foul-mouthed teddy bear voice? Got it. Silky-smooth singing baritone that can croon a saloon song all the way down to the bottom of the whiskey glass? Seth MacFarlane can do that, too. When he’s not minding his expanding multimedia empire, MacFarlane’s personal passion project is singing and recording classic tunes
Sony Music Entertainment today announced the promotion of Sylvia Rhone to Chairman and CEO of Epic Records. According to the announcement, in this role, Rhone will report to Rob Stringer, CEO, Sony Music Entertainment. She will lead the overall creative direction and management of Epic Records, overseeing a roster of chart-topping artists including Camila Cabello,
The last time Mars Wrigley’s Extra gum debuted an original ad campaign with original music, 2015’s “The Story of Sarah & Juan,” the spot achieved a rare made-for-synch trajectory for its custom cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by former “American Idol” contestant Haley Reinhart. [embedded content] Reinhart’s romantic, vocals-and-piano version of the Elvis
SF Studios has scooped international sales rights to Santiago Requejo’s heartfelt comedy drama “Grandpas” and Kasper Torsting’s WWI-set Danish love drama “A War Within” in the run up to Cannes. Both films are third-party pickups. “Grandpas” is a high-profile Spanish movie starring Carlos Iglesias (“Crossing Borders”), Roberto Álvarez (“Talk to her”) and Ramón Barea (“Everybody
On Tayla Parx’s debut album, “We Need to Talk,” released April 5th, fans finally got a glimpse of the preternaturally seasoned songwriter that they’d never seen — or, rather, heard — before. “It’s my perspective without any filter,” says Parx of her solo songs. “I’m an artist that pushes the boundaries of both genre and
Will Smith battles a familiar antagonist in the official trailer for Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man” — himself. Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media dropped dazzling new footage of the futuristic sci-fi drama, scored to a haunting version of “Forever Young,” that sees Smith playing an elite assassin. Things get tricky when he finds out the man
London-based sales house Film Constellation has boarded Oscar-winning director Werner Herzog’s Japanese-language narrative film “Family Romance,” which will have its world premiere in the special screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival. Written and directed by Herzog, the movie was shot last spring and summer in Tokyo and Aomori, Japan, with non-professional actors (Yuichi Ishii,
As Apple’s recent star-studded event for its new TV streaming service demonstrated, the worlds of entertainment and technology are becoming increasingly intertwined — a convergence Variety will explore during its inaugural Silicon Valleywood Summit on April 23 in Menlo Park. Entertainment leaders will join tech giants on the latter industry’s home turf to discuss how
“Avengers: Endgame” has its sights set on world domination. Disney and Marvel’s upcoming superhero epic should light the box office on fire when it launches this weekend, with the hopes of setting domestic, international, and global records. In North America alone, “Avengers: Endgame” is expected to earn between $250 million and $268 million in its
As exclusively revealed by Variety last week, Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ album — which had been exclusively available for streaming on Tidal — is now available across all major streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music. Upon its release in 2016, sources close to the singer said that the album would be a Tidal exclusive “in perpetuity,”
Tribeca Film Festival and AT&T gave one young filmmaker a million and one reasons to rejoice at the “Untold Stories” third annual competition. After a nerve-wracking 10-minute long pitch in front of over 850,000 live stream audience members and a panel consisting of celebrities and industry leaders, filmmaker Kate Tsang was awarded $1 million Monday
Netflix is going back to the debt markets — to fuel more content spending — announcing plans to issue $2 billion in unsecured bonds. The proposed offering would be the seventh time in four years that Netflix is raising $1 billion or more through debt, and would bring its long-term debt to around $12.3 billion
Check out the official Godzilla: King of the Monsters trailer starring Millie Bobby Brown! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Buy Tickets to Godzilla: King of the Monsters: https://www.fandango.com/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-2019-213136/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
Check out the official Gemini Man Trailer starring Will Smith! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for Gemini Man: https://www.fandango.com/gemini-man-210964/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.
Last year, CBS hired two white-shoe law firms to conduct an independent investigation into alleged misconduct by then-CEO Leslie Moonves, as well as broader cultural issues at CBS. Writing for Variety, Whitney Davis — a veteran of the company’s news and entertainment divisions — describes how the investigation prompted her to reconsider her nearly decade-and-a-half career
Content is king — but the queen for direct-to-consumer streaming services is overall user experience, according to a new study. It’s well understood that the price/value ratio for subscription VOD hinges on access to content, including exclusive originals and popular library titles. But just as important is an SVOD offering’s ease-of-use and other consumer-friendly features,
April 23, 2019 6:21AM PT Netflix chief Reed Hastings is being handsomely rewarded for calling the shots at the streaming giant. His compensation package, which is largely in the form of stock options, climbed 48% in 2018 to $36.1 million. That’s up from $24.4 million in the previous year. Hastings’ salary is a relatively modest
When Avengers: End Game finally hits theaters this week, we’ll see our favorite superheroes go toe-to-toe to save the universe in an epic battle. But on Monday night in Los Angeles, the stars of the upcoming film united, dressed in their finest threads to celebrate the film’s premiere. Brie Larson gave a nod to Thanos
When Christopher Abbott walked into the audition room to read for the lead role in “Catch-22,” George Clooney greeted him wearing a leather helmet. “I took a breath a little bit,” Abbott says. “I wasn’t as nervous. I was like, ‘All right, we can play.’” The icebreaker worked. Abbott landed the role of Capt. John
The Paramount+ subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service is to begin operations in Latin America and Brazil from next month. The moves are made possible by deals with Claro Video and with Brazil’s NET. The South America expansion in in addition to the platform’s existing presence in the Nordic region and Central and Eastern Europe. The deal
CNN programming is coming to Pluto TV, Viacom’s free streaming TV service, on a dedicated channel launching for users in the U.S. Tuesday. To be clear, however, it’s not CNN’s live broadcast feed — that’s available only to pay-TV customers on traditional cable or satellite services, and via authenticated access on the web and mobile
Verizon has turned to Google for over-the-top TV: The telco will market and resell YouTube TV to wireless and Fios broadband customers nationwide — leading with 5G early adopters — under a pact with the internet giant. The companies didn’t announce YouTube TV pricing, availability or other details; a Verizon rep said only that the
Emma Thompson will play a climate-change activist in “Extinction,” a timely satirical short film that will include footage of the Extinction Rebellion group’s ongoing wave of action in London. Two-time Oscar winner Thompson has herself been involved in the high-profile London-based protests. She addressed crowds over the weekend from Extinction Rebellion’s signature pink boat, which
April 23, 2019 5:07AM PT Buckingham Palace has confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump will make an official state visit to the U.K. this summer. British Prime Minister Theresa May promised a state visit, with its accompanying pomp and pageantry, when meeting the President shortly after he took office in 2016. The British Royal family’s official
Twitter turned in another quarter that topped Wall Street earnings estimates and grew its user base on both a daily and monthly basis sequentially — as the company touted success of efforts to thwart abuse on the platform. The social network’s Q1 revenue was $787 million, up 18% year-over-year, and net income was $190.8 million
April 23, 2019 3:41AM PT Diego Maradona waves to raucous Napoli fans before heading into a media scrum and press conference in the first clip from the feature documentary about the soccer superstar. “Diego Maradona” is the third film from the team behind the award-winning “Senna” and “Amy,” with Asif Kapadia directing and James Gay-Rees
April 23, 2019 3:13AM PT This slick, enjoyable documentary pays tribute to the wit and wisdom of the firebrand Texas political commentator. One of the more entertaining as well as insightful political commentators of the past half-century is paid a suitably entertaining tribute in “Raise Hell.” A long tall Texan too amusingly outrageous to draw