SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for the entirety of Hulu’s “Happiest Season.” Proceed with caution, etc. Even if you only watched the opening credits of “Happiest Season,” you’d understand how hard the movie works to establish itself as a Christmas movie that both defies tradition and snuggles right up to it. To the tune of the holliest, jolliest song available, illustrations of
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
Erin Kellyman, Cailee Spaeny, and Ellie Bamber are negotiating to star in the “Willow” series at Disney Plus, Variety has confirmed. Details on the characters the three would play are being kept under wraps. The show will take place years after the original and will introduce new characters to the world originally established in the 1988 film.
“The Mandalorian” has officially become the first Disney Plus series to make an appearance on Nielsen’s recently-launched streaming top 10 list. The “Star Wars” series jets in at number three for the week of Oct. 26, placing only behind “The Queen’s Gambit” and “The Office” on Netflix. According to Nielsen, the show’s 9 episodes (including
For those pursuing a career in notoriously cutthroat industries like music or acting, social media fame offers a great way to sneak in through the proverbial back door, so to speak. One of the finest examples of success on that front is Andrew Bazzi, now known mononymously by his surname, who first rose to viral
Topic, the fast-growing streaming service from First Look Media, has acquired North American streaming rights to Anabel Rodriguez Rios’ documentary feature debut, “Once Upon a Time in Venezuela.” The film, which explores the decline of the Venezuelan fishing village of Congo Mirador and, more broadly, the country’s complicated current political and social climate, made its
Robert De Niro, Viola Davis, Al Pacino, Jennifer Lawrence and more Hollywood stars have expressed gratitude to Sen. Chuck Schumer for advocating on behalf of movie theaters and “working to ensure the survival of New York’s critical arts and culture institutions.” Schumer has been a vocal supporter of the bipartisan Save Our Stages act, which would
“Goonies never say die” is right! The stars of Steven Spielberg’s 1985 cult classic “The Goonies” are reuniting again for a good cause. Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Martha Plimpton, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Jonathan Ke Quan, Jeff Cohen, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi will be participating in a live script reading on Saturday at 8
Variety has added keynote speakers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to its virtual Music for Screens Week from Nov. 30-Dec. 3. The conversation, presented by BMI, will join previously announced keynote speakers Mary J. Blige, Marcus Mumford and Dave Meyers. Reznor and Ross will demonstrate their creative and collaborative process in composing for film and
Managers Alexa Daniel and Gerald Lee have joined M88, a full-service representation firm founded by former WME partner Phillip Sun and Macro founder and CEO Charles D. King. Beginning their careers in the talent department at WME, Daniel and Lee work with Michael B. Jordan, Idris Elba, Donald Glover, Naomi Scott, Riz Ahmed, Gemma Chan,
The Slamdance Film Festival has unveiled its lineup of 25 features along with 107 shorts and episodics for the mostly virtual 27th edition of the festival — a number that equals previous editions of the festival. The opening night film, which will screen at a drive-in in Joshua Tree on Feb. 13, is the world
Talent agency WME has appointed Cindy Garas as senior VP of human resources. She is starting her new role immediately and will be based in the company’s Beverly Hills office. In her position, Garas will have oversight of human resources at the agency, including teams based in Beverly Hills, London, Nashville, New York, and Sydney.
“Penguin Bloom,” the Toronto International Film Festival player led by Naomi Watts, has been acquired by Netflix in key territories. The streamer will roll out the film in North America, the U.K., France and select countries in Asia on Jan. 27. Oscar nominee Watts stars in the real-life survival story of Samantha Bloom, an active
Screenwriter-playwright Christopher Hampton, who won an Oscar for “Dangerous Liaisons” and was Oscar nominated for “Atonement,” has penned a screen version of his one-woman play “A German Life,” about the life of Brunhilde Pomsel, the infamous secretary of Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Maggie Smith is set to reprise the role she played to great acclaim at
Paris-based Axxon Films has picked up international rights to Imanol Rayo’s thriller “Death Knell” and Mireia Gabilondo’s comedy “The Hive,” two very different titles set in and produced by Spain’s Basque region. The production, distribution and sales-company is presenting the Spanish pics, both distributed in Spain by Bilbao’s Barton Films, as part of its Ventana
Haim, Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson and Feist are among the more than 40 artists who will perform songs by Yusuf/ Cat Stevens for the CatSong Festival, a special live YouTube broadcast in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his classic 1970 albums “Tea for the Tillerman” and “Mona Bone Jakon.” According to the announcement, fans can expect new interpretations of
Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, everyone on Rihanna’s list gets a special treat. Following a scorching hot holiday-themed edit by the Hot Girl Coach herself, Megan Thee Stallion, Rihanna returns to the forefront of Savage x Fenty’s December campaign to debut its upcoming Xtra Vip Box and a new batch of sizzling styles to
BBC Studios is adding an inclusion rider underlining its commitment to representation across all new BBC and third-party U.K. commissions. Effective immediately, the rider sets a minimum target of 20% for BBC Studios’ on-screen talent and production teams who come from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background, have a lived experience of a disability,
The NFL’s Week 16 matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, Dec. 26, will not be broadcast on national TV — instead, it will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch. Amazon also confirmed that it plans to stream CBS’s broadcast of the NFL Wild Card playoff game
Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed Republican chairman of the FCC, announced that he will leave the agency on Jan. 20, 2021, when president-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office. Pai’s exit is expected — it’s customary for political appointed heads of agencies to step down with a changeover in presidential administrations. Beltway insiders have identified Jessica
British rapper Stormzy, one of the most successful British musical artists to emerge in the past decade, is the first signing to Universal Music Group’s newly launched 0207 Def Jam record label. Stormzy has spent much of his professional career with Warner Music’s label Atlantic, which distributed his Merky label. Stormzy is pictured above in
Miley Cyrus and Lil Nas X will star in the first episode of “Holiday Plays,” Amazon Music’s first holiday special, taking place on Tuesday (Dec. 1) at 8 p.m. ET. The show marks her first performance since the release of her new album “Plastic Hearts.” Lil Nas X will kick off the episode, performing his new
Disney Plus’ “The Mandalorian,” Marvel’s “Avengers” films and Netflix’s “Stranger Things” are the top entertainment franchises, according to a new survey from the National Research Group. Beginning in January 2019, NRG, a global insights and strategy firm, conducted more than 350,000 interviews about 700 entertainment franchises to discover which were considered the most bold, inspiring
U.K. production and distribution powerhouse BBC Studios has reduced its gender and minorities pay gap to below 10%, the outfit’s 2019/20 U.K. Pay Gap Report reveals. The report shows that the company has narrowed the difference between the median pay for men versus women to 9%, down from 10.3% in the previous year. The report
During the first episode of Netflix’s “Selena: The Series,” about the titular Tejano music superstar, the patriarch of the family, Abraham Quintanilla Jr. (Ricardo Chavira), strums his guitar as his 8-year-old daughter Selena (Madison Taylor Baez) sings the popular 1970s song “Feelings” like any gifted little girl would. “The notes are good, you’re just not…”
In today’s Global Bulletin, Channel 5 announces Season 2 of “All Creatures Great and Small,” BAFTA backs Indian talent, CJ ENM commissions format deals for “I Can See Your Voice” and Newen hires a new distribution executive. COMMISSION Channel 5 in the U.K. has commissioned a second season of its hit period drama “All Creatures
HBO series “The Undoing,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, has proven to be a success for Comcast’s U.K. pay TV operation Sky Atlantic, with the opening episode reaching a cumulative 28-day audience of over 2.78 million viewers, marking a bigger launch than “Game of Thrones” in 2011. The first three episodes have recorded audiences
Cate Blanchett-produced mini series “Stateless” and Shannon Murphy’s feature film directing debut “Babyteeth” dominated proceedings at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA Awards). At a ceremony on Monday night at The Star in Sydney, immigration drama “Stateless” grabbed 13 awards including best telefeature or miniseries, best screenplay in television and all
DR Sales, the distribution division of Denmark’s public broadcaster DR, has closed a raft of deals on “Cry Wolf,” a searing social drama created by Maja Jul Larsen (“Borgen”) and co-directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen (“Becoming Astrid”). The eight-episode limited series tells the intense and emotional story of a teenage girl who has written a
The period action animation “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” has passed “Titanic” at the Japanese box office, to become the territory’s number two all-time hit, according to figures announced on Monday by distributor Aniplex. Based on a hit comic by Gotoge Koyoharu that has sold more than 100 million copies in all formats, including