Actor Natalie Desselle-Reid, known for her roles in “Madea’s Big Happy Family,” “Eve” and “B*A*P*S*,” died Monday at the age of 53. Desselle-Reid’s manager, Dolores Robinson, confirmed the news on Twitter. “Natalie Desselle the beautiful talented actress passed away this morning,” Robinson wrote. “Natalie was a bright light. She was an amazing actress and comedienne
Sci-fi drama “Dune” will receive a collective action figure line courtesy of McFarlane Toys, which will bring to life some of the main characters of the highly-anticipated pic, set for a theatrical release Oct. 1. The toy line will include figures of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem and Dave Bautista. The action
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. As many across the country continue to practice self-isolation due to coronavirus, why not while away
LuckyChap Entertainment has signed a first-look TV deal with Amazon, Variety has learned exclusively. Under the deal, LuckyChap’s Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, and Josey McNamara will work with Amazon Studios to create television projects that will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Brett Hedblom, LuckyChap’s vice president of television, will also be involved in the
California is set to receive 327,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by Dec. 15 and distribute 2.16 million doses by the end of the month. “Hope is on the horizon,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday during a morning news conference in Sacramento. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is meeting on Dec. 10 to
And just like that, Chloé has a new creative director. Today, December 7, Chloé’s chief executive officer Riccardo Bellini announced that Gabriela Hearst will be taking the reins as its new creative director, effective immediately. The New York-based, Uruguayan designer’s new role as creative director comes on the heels of Natacha Ramsay-Levi’s departure, announced just
Former “The Voice” contestant Ryan Gallagher, who abruptly left the singing competition show, is disputing the nature of his exit and says he did not break the rules implemented during the pandemic. According to a joint statement from NBC and MGM, which called Gallagher a talented artist, the contestant had to be ejected after violating
Public service broadcaster ITV has been found in breach of fairness rules around competitions involving members of the public, U.K. media regulator Ofcom has found. An Ofcom investigation found that some 41,000 viewers who had entered competitions between 2016-2019 with postal votes were excluded from prize draws. The ITV competitions involved include “Good Morning Britain,”
Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet is rarely able to sit down and read a script in one sitting because of work or family commitments. But when Francis Lee’s screenplay for “Ammonite” came her way, Winslet’s agent implored her to read it, and she did — in one sitting. “It was just spectacular,” she says. Winslet recently
Gwen Stefani is clearly on a self-retro kick with her new single, “Let Me Reintroduce Myself,” which dropped on Monday. The song features a loping reggae/ska vibe similar to her hits with No Doubt — particularly that group’s 2001 album “Rock Steady” — in addition to the title the song’s lyrics contain a reference to bananas (from her
Legendary Entertainment, the production company that co-financed “Dune” and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” may take legal action against Warner Bros. over the studio’s decision to send its movies to HBO Max at the same time they debut in cinemas. Legendary financed a significant portion of “Dune,” which cost roughly $175 million, and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which
Breaking News Scottie Pippen says “The Last Dance” didn’t tell the REAL story of the ’90s Chicago Bulls … and he was so upset about it, he directly voiced his frustrations to Michael Jordan. The 10-part series documentary was one of the most-watched series in 2020 … with fans getting an inside look at MJ
IFC Films has nabbed U.S. rights to “Falling for Figaro,” a romantic comedy set in the world of opera singing competitions. The film is directed by Ben Lewin, the filmmaker behind “The Catcher Was A Spy” and “The Sessions,” and stars Joanna Lumley of “Absolutely Fabulous” and Danielle Macdonald, who earned raves for her work
Milan’s venerable La Scala opera house on Monday will stage a globally distributed TV gala event featuring its mask-wearing orchestra in the empty venue and a multimedia medley of arias and other performances by opera, ballet, pop music and screen stars, substituting its canceled season opener. Due to the pandemic, La Scala has been forced
The French trial for Vivendi’s shareholder securities fraud lawsuit is expected to kick off early next year. The commercial court of Paris had initially set a Dec. 8 trial date, but will soon announce a new date that could potentially fall in January, Variety has learned. Vivendi, the Paris-based parent company of Universal Music Group
LevelK has boarded “Checkered Ninja 2,” the sequel to the hit animated feature co-directed by Anders Matthesen (“Terkel In Trouble”) and Thorbjørn Christoffersen (“Ronal the Barbarian”). The sales company has acquired world rights excluding the Nordics on “Checkered Ninja 2,” which is the film adaptation of Matthesen’s bestselling eponymous children’s book. The plot revolves around
New U.K. independent production company Buffalo Dragon has launched with an adaptation of Samantha Lee Howe’s bestselling novel “The Stranger In Our Bed.” The psychological thriller stars Samantha Bond (“Downton Abbey”), Emily Berrington (“Humans”) and Ben Lloyd Hughes (“Industry”). The film, directed by Giles Alderson (“The Dare”), from a screenplay by Samantha Lee Howe, sees
In today’s Global Bulletin, ViacomCBS licenses “The Stand” globally, Jonty Claypole steps down as BBC director of arts, Compact Pictures divides its production business, Saloon Media joins BriteSpark East on “World’s Most Scenic River Journeys” and Leonine Studios hires Patrick Phelan as the company’s new director of world sales. LICENSING ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group has
Dan Abrams is eager to turn a burgeoning interest in bourbon and whiskey into a new line of business. The entrepreneur and legal journalist’s Abrams Media has acquired the spirts review site t8ke.review and will use it to launch Whiskey Raiders, a new online resource that Abrams says will appeal to both whiskey aficionados and
Jim Keller is exiting Hulu after almost seven years to join Discovery as executive VP, digital ad sales and advanced advertising — coming on board less than a month before the debut of the cabler’s Discovery Plus direct-to-consumer service. In the new role, Keller will lead the strategic development of all Discovery’s U.S. digital ad
Colonel Harland Sanders has for decades captured the fancy of the American public, usually over the course of dozens of 30-second commercials for KFC that break into TV programs. On Sunday, he won’t have to interrupt any longer. He’s getting his own show. Mario Lopez will star as the nation’s best-known fried-chicken spokesman in a
In Jan. 2020, Israeli pop duo Static & Ben El (Liraz Russo and Ben El Tavor) teamed up with Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate Pitfull on “Further Up (Na, Na, Na, Na, Na),” a bouncy interpolation of reggae artist Ini Kamoze’s 1994 hit “Here Comes the Hotstepper.” The track, which features a version of the “Na Na Na
Argonon, the superindie production group with a presence in London, New York and Los Angeles, is expanding in the branded content realm with the acquisition of U.K.-based video agency Nemorin Film & Video. Nemorin’s client base includes global brands NBCUniversal, Nat Geo, Hugo Boss, McDonalds, Amazon and American Express. The acquisition brings Nemorin founder and
The song-catalog bonanza of 2020 just hit a peak that is not likely to be topped: Universal Music Publishing Group has acquired Bob Dylan’s entire catalog of songs in a blockbuster agreement encompassing more than 600 copyrights spanning 60 years, ranging from 1962’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” to this year’s “Murder Most Foul.” His catalog
First-time feature pitches won three of the four prizes announced on Monday at the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM). The $15,000 cash reward for best project went to director Wang Haolu and producer Camille Gatin for “Fellow Travellers.” The project is an adaptation of a short story by Alastair Reynolds. Wang’s debut tells
Egyptian director Mayye Zayed, who studied film and documaking at Wellesley and MIT, spent four years following the main character of her female empowerment doc, “Lift Like a Girl,” Zebiba (which means “raisin” in Arabic), who at age nine entered former Olympic athlete Captain Ramadan’s weightlifting training camp on a vacant Alexandria lot. After world-premiering
While some international film and TV production professionals are simply relieved that they were able to return to filming this year, in spite of the pandemic, many are looking ahead to see what can be improved in the sector. This positive mindset has been adopted by the folks behind Focus, the international production show that
Cinemas in Korea are trying to adapt to new straitened circumstances as the autumn box office recovery peters out. The Korean market, in normal years the world’s fourth largest theatrical territory, saw aggregate revenues of just $1.44 million over the weekend, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s KOBIS service. The top of the
Cult Filipino filmmaker Mikhail Red is deep in post-production on action thriller ‘Arisaka.’ The shoot was temporarily delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and following COVID-safe production protocols, principal photography was completed in the third quarter of 2020. News of the film was first announced by Variety during the Singapore Media Festival’s Southeast Asian Film
During Brazil’s CCXP on Sunday, “Wonder Woman 1984” director Patty Jenkins shared a new teaser for the upcoming film, one that features a down-to-earth Diana Prince just as much as her superhero alias. The 60-second trailer dives into the relationship between Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and Diana (Gal Gadot), in addition to Diana’s life