Brad Rukstales, the chief executive of a Chicago-area company that provides data-marketing solutions, said he was arrested Wednesday after he entered the U.S. Capitol alongside a mob of pro-Trump rioters seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election. His company, Cogensia, said in a statement that Rukstales has been placed on leave while it considers next
Few media watchers in the U.K. were surprised that Jeremy Darroch, CEO of Sky these past 13 years, is finally quitting two years after Comcast acquired the U.K.-based pay-TV giant. There’s been a steady exodus of senior execs from Sky since the U.S. cable group became its owner — and just weeks ago, Sky Studios
Some ten months after the coronavirus pandemic began devastating England, with 78,000 dead so far, the country now requires all international arrivals, including U.K. nationals, to present a negative COVID-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to departure. The devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to follow suit. U.K. Transport
Dave Creek, lead character designer for popular Fox animated sitcom “Bob’s Burgers,” died on Thursday following complications from a skydiving accident last weekend. A Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the California Institute of the Arts, class of 2005, he was also an adjunct professor there, teaching character animation and conducting character workshops. The news
Izabela Kiszka’s boutique sales agency IKH Pictures Promotion has boarded hostage thriller “Prime Time,” which will have its world premiere in Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. The Polish film stars Bartosz Bielenia, who broke through in Oscar nominated “Corpus Christi.” Variety spoke to director Jakub Piątek about his debut feature. “Prime Time,”
If “Redemption Day” were any more generic, the first thing you’d see on screen would be a bar code in place of the opening credits. It’s the handiwork of first-time feature filmmaker Hicham Hajji, making his directorial debut after years of assistant-directing gigs for Hollywood and homegrown productions in his native Morocco. And the best
Throughout the first episode of “Coyote,” I kept waiting for a moment that might surprise me. Surely, I thought, this swashbuckling tale of a recently retired Border Patrol agent (Michael Chiklis) has more to offer than bursts of violence and basic platitudes about right and wrong. Surely, I hoped, there might be different layers to
Writer-producer Geoff Johns has multiple projects at WarnerMedia and remains working with the company, despite a claim from actor Ray Fisher that Johns will be parting ways with WarnerMedia following the company’s investigation into Fisher’s allegations of misconduct on “Justice League,” multiple sources confirm to Variety. According to WarnerMedia, more than 80 people were interviewed
When creating the intimate romance story of “Wander Darkly,” writer-director Tara Miele and stars Sienna Miller and Diego Luna found a wealth of inspiration from their life experiences. The film, which takes a close look at mortality and life and death, was inspired by Miele’s experience surviving a severe car crash seven years ago. Experiencing
We all enter 2021 facing many challenges, and in the scheme of things this one is pretty minor: Advance notice of album release dates is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The “surprise drop” that Beyonce pioneered in 2013 in a flurry of non-disclosure agreements is fast becoming the norm, especially since the absence
President Donald Trump called for an “orderly” transition of power to a new administration on Thursday, one day after his supporters attacked the Capitol building, ransacked offices and clashed with police. Trump released a two-minute video on Twitter, offering his first concession of the election he lost more than two months ago. “Now Congress has
Mike Dean has made a name for himself as one of hip-hop’s top producers, having worked on seminal records by the likes of Kanye West (“College Dropout,” “Late Registration,” “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”), Travis Scott (“Astroworld”), Beyonce (“Lemonade”), Pusha T (“Daytona”) and dozens more. His work as an ace arranger and engineer, in addition
Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black are among the celebrities in line for President Donald Trump’s pardons. According to a report from Bloomberg, Trump is considering pardoning Wayne, with whom he posed for a photo during the presidential campaign. Wayne pled guilty in federal district court in December for illegally possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun,
We might not be experiencing the pain of a yellow mustard spill at a Mets game or boozy date nights involving Cabernet, but quarantine stains hit differently. Our first world problems seem magnified in lockdown. Something as small as spilled coffee on your favorite sweats to kitchen mishaps from a TikTok recipe can reveal just
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton With each new year comes an aura of possibility and reinvention. That spirit is at the very heart of the new Louis Vuitton x Urs Fischer collection, which fittingly launched on New Year’s Day. The capsule’s launch marries the Swiss contemporary artist’s vision with Louis Vuitton’s iconic monogram logo for an
With the third season of “Star Trek: Discovery” airing its finale on Thursday, Jan. 7, it is difficult to overstate what a significant milestone this season marked for representation across the franchise. Case in point, the series introduced a romantic relationship between the first non-binary and transgender characters in the “Star Trek” universe, played respectively
Nickelodeon has ordered a second season of “Nickelodeon’s Unfiltered” and an additional seven episodes of the live-action comedy “Side Hustle,” a sign that both series have served to attract young audiences as many kids and families are staying closer to home. The ViacomCBS unit said the second season of “Unfiltered” will debut this evening at
In today’s TV news roundup, an all-new “SportsNation” will debut exclusively on ESPN Plus, and Vevo is now available on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex. DATES An all-new “SportsNation” is set to premiere exclusively on ESPN Plus on Jan. 11. The upcoming show puts a fresh spin on the hit ESPN series, by providing recaps
Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long:
CNN saw the highest total day viewership in the history of the network during yesterday’s riot in Washington D.C. According to Nielsen overnight figures, CNN posted 5.22 million viewers in total day viewership. In the key news demographic of adults 25-54, the network posted 1.83 million viewers also in total day. MSNBC was second in
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” will resume production Monday on the Warner Bros. lot, albeit with no studio audience. The syndicated talk show from WB’s Telepictures Productions stayed dark this week rather than returning to production as scheduled because of the surge in coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County. “Ellen” has been airing reruns since Dec.
Avowed Trump-supporting musician Ariel Pink has come under fire after he was seen attending the rally that turned into a riot in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. In a tweet Thursday morning, he confirmed his participation, but denied being part of the mob that assaulted the nation’s capitol shortly after Donald J. Trump spoke. “i was in
Marion Ramsey, known for acting in the “Police Academy” films and gracing the Broadway stage in 1978’s “Eubie!,” died Thursday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 73. Roger Paul of Roger Paul Inc., the agency that managed Ramsey, confirmed the news to Variety. Ramsey had recently fallen ill, but her exact cause of death is
In her meditations on fame, Emily Dickinson deemed it to be “a fickle food.” The second season of Apple TV Plus’ series on the famous poet is all about Emily getting a taste. After a first season which saw Emily (played by Hailee Steinfeld) tussle with her father over her aspirations to become a published
NBCUniversal and Charter Communications announced Thursday a multi-year distribution renewal agreement that will allow broadband and video subscribers of Charter’s Spectrum service—about 30 million customers across 41 states—continued access to NBCUniversal channels. The new deal includes distribution of NBCU’s direct-to-consumer service Peacock. Charter broadband and video customers will be offered an extended free trial of
When “Wonder Woman” costume designer Lindy Hemming heard that the follow-up to the 2017 box-office hit starring Gal Gadot was going to be set in 1984, her first question was would the costumes fall under period or fantasy? The answer is a simple one, “both,” Hemming says. Below, Hemming breaks down key looks from “Wonder
Twitch has joined the widening movement to deplatform Donald Trump from internet services, following the rioting and violence by a pro-Trump horde Wednesday in Washington, D.C. Trump launched an account on Twitch, the game-centered live-streaming platform owned by Amazon, in the fall of 2019 as part of expanding his reelection campaign messaging. In a statement
Rudolph Giuliani’s embarrassing interview in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” provided the comedy smash with its most meme-able, headline-grabbing moment. But the former New York City mayor and personal attorney to one Donald J. Trump wasn’t the only member of the 45th president’s circle of friends, family and advisors that team Borat targeted. At one point, the
Josh Goldstine has officially been named head of worldwide marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures. The veteran feature film marketer emerged as successor to former marketing head Blair Rich in late December, Variety previously reported. Goldstine will report to Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Chairman Toby Emmerich, and will oversee all theatrical releases. “Josh is an
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of President Trump if he is unable to discharge his duties. If they fail to do so, she said the Congress “may be prepared to move forward with impeachment” against Trump for