Riot police were deployed Tuesday night in Thessaloniki and protests across the city were banned ahead of the premiere of Greek filmmaker Elina Psykou’s “Stray Bodies.” Far-right groups had previously announced plans to disrupt the opening night of the documentary, whose poster features a bare-breasted pregnant woman nailed to a cross and had been deemed
Rachel Bloom has signed with WME for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. She continues to be repped by Sugar23, Ginsburg Daniels Kallis LLP, and April Tombs at YMU. Bloom is perhaps best known for the CW musical dramedy series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” Bloom co-created, executive produced, and starred in the series. It aired
At a festival known for raucous audiences, Dev Patel‘s “Monkey Man” made for the rowdiest screening yet. During the SXSW premiere of the actor’s directorial debut, Austin’s Paramount Theater was filled with cries of “We love you, Dev!” and “India!” that can only be described as guttural. The crowd’s love for Patel only grew more
As the vast reorganization of Universal Music Group’s labels continues, as expected, the company’s East Coast operations are uniting via the Republic Corps umbrella. The move reflects the company’s reorganization of its labels via the domains of Republic’s Monte Lipman (East Coast) and Interscope’s John Janick (West Coast). Jim Roppo, previously co-president of the Republic
Beyoncé’s upcoming album is titled “Cowboy Carter,” the singer revealed on her website on Tuesday. The country music project is the long-awaited “Act II” of her 2022 “Renaissance” album and is due March 29. Beyoncé has already released a pair of singles for the incoming project: “16 Carriages” and the Hot 100-leading “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The latter
“Enter the Dragon,” starring Bruce Lee, is one of the four or five greatest action films ever made. Yet it has a thin, awkward, lurching story. The movie gets away with it, of course; the plot is merely a frame on which to hang Lee’s singular hypnotic balletic fighting bravura. In that spirit, there are
Variety will honor Molly Ringwald with the Variety Creative Vanguard Award at the Miami Film Festival on Saturday, April 6. The award will be for her outstanding career achievements, earning acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Ringwald will participate in a Q&A about her extensive work in film and TV with Variety Senior Awards Editor
Variety has promoted Jamie Aronson to Associate Vice President of events marketing. Aronson has produced more than 200 events for the brand since she joined in 2017 as events manager, including festival studios and gatherings at Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto. She is responsible for oversight of the publication’s live media production, budgets and experiential
The music documentary “Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All,” which was critically acclaimed when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, will hit theaters for a one-night-only release on April 10, about a month before it becomes available for home viewing. “It is a beautiful documentary that captures the life force of our community,”
Roku said access to 15,363 streaming user accounts was obtained by “unauthorized individuals” who in some cases sought to purchase streaming subscriptions via the hack. The company disclosed the breach on Friday, March 8, in a filing with the Maine Attorney General’s Office. According to a report by Bleeping Computer, the perpetrators of the data theft were
Jeremy Strong‘s Emmy-winning tenure as Kendall Roy on HBO’s “Succession” is over, and he told The New York Times Magazine in a recent interview that “there was a moment when the show ended where I felt a profound sense of, ‘Was this the thing? Was this the event of my life?’ And then a great
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The Target-exclusive vinyl of Taylor Swift‘s forthcoming album is officially available to pre-order online. Continuing the partnership between Swift and the mega-retailer, which first began with the pop star’s release of “Fearless” in 2008,
“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” creator and star Rob McElhenney is expanding his burgeoning empire with the launch of More Better Industries. The company is comprised of three distinct entities: More Better Productions, More Better Advisory and More Better Ventures. More Better Ventures will invest strategically in sports, entertainment and related properties that further the
Scholastic is boosting its entertainment biz: The kids media and publishing company announced a $186 million deal to acquire full economic interest in 9 Story Media Group, a leading children’s content producer and distributor. Through the investment, Scholastic will acquire 100% of the economic interest in and a minority of voting rights in 9 Story
This year’s BRIT Awards was an unusual affair. Billed as the U.K. music industry’s biggest night, it was bookended by superstars, kicking off with a fierce Dua Lipa performance and ending with a joyous Kylie Minogue greatest hits medley to celebrate her Global Icon award. But, in between, the night was dominated by lesser-known names
Lily Gladstone is in good spirits following the 2024 Oscars, where many awards pundits predicted she would take home the Oscar for best actress thanks to her acclaimed performance as Mollie Kyle in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Gladstone won prizes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards prior to the
Michael Douglas, Kyle MacLachlan, Ella Purnell and Daniel Brühl are among the high-caliber stars who will take part in the seventh edition of Canneseries. The robust lineup, unveiled today by Canneseries’ artistic director Albin Lewi at a press conference in Paris, boasts the world premiere of Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” starring Michael Douglas as one of
Actor, comedian and activist Emily Atack has signed with Curtis Brown for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. She will be repped by the agency in all areas. Atack shot to public attention as the break-out star of award-winning sitcom “The Inbetweeners” and has since appeared in projects including “Dad’s Army” with Catherine Zeta Jones and
Netflix U.K., the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) and the Personal Managers’ Association (PMA) — which represents U.K. agents — have signed a first-of-its-kind deal on remuneration. Unveiled Tuesday, the deal will apply to U.K. writers working on Netflix scripted live-action commissioned series, and is retroactively effective as of Feb. 1. It’s also the first agreement between
Beta Film has acquired international distribution rights to Serbian crime thriller “Operation Sabre” (“Sablja”) about the assassination of the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. The eight-hour series – selected for Canneseries’ Long Form Competition – is created and directed by Goran Stanković and Vladimir Tagić. The duo already collaborated on “Morning Changes Everything” and wrote
Finnish comedy “Money Shot,” about an ex-porn star venturing out of her comfort zone, is heading to Canneseries. Sari, now in her forties, gets fired from her last role. Forced to find a new way to make a living, she teams up with Linnea – an aspiring director who struggles to get into film school.
Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has acquired worldwide rights for Indonesian film “Crocodile Tears,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart. The film is a co-production between Indonesia’s Talamedia (producer Mandy Marahimin), Singapore’s Giraffe Pictures (producers Anthony Chen and Teoh Yi Peng), France’s Acrobates Films (producer Claire Lajoumard) and Poetik Film (producer Christophe Lafont)
Media and entertainment powerhouse Banijay has launched joint venture Dynamic Ally Pictures in Germany, further expanding its scripted capacity in the country. The Berlin-based production company, founded and led by “Helgoland 513” executive producers Veronica Priefer and Johannes Kunkel, is dedicated to developing, packaging and distributing scripted content for the German and international market. Priefer and Kunkel
Berlin-based Rise and Shine World Sales has picked up the rights for “E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea,” which is vying for the top Dox:Award at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX, one of Europe’s leading documentary festivals. Variety is debuting the trailer and poster, below. Mixing archival footage and re-created scenes, this hybrid doc
KOREAN ACTION Korean action drama “A Shop For Killers” has become the most viewed local original on Disney+ in the Asia Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines) so far in 2024, the streamer has revealed. Set in contemporary Korea, the eight-part series follows college student Jeong Jian who
Shreyom Ghosh’s “The Vampire of Sheung Shui” is unique in that it is a Hong Kong-set horror-comedy with a protagonist of Indian origin. It has been selected for the 22nd Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart. Written by D.F.W. Buckingham (“Finding Love in Sisters”), the film
New Drake-produced doscuseries “Magic City: An American Fantasy” debuted at SXSW Monday night to a roaring crowd packed with friends, patrons and fans of the project’s titular iconic Atlanta strip club, Magic City. After the first episode of the three-part doc, which does not yet have a distributor or platform attached, was screened, producer Cole
The Black Keys named one of their most popular albums “Brothers,” which seems on the face of it to be a positive statement of purpose and, obviously, fraternalism between the rock duo’s two members, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. But the question remains: what kind of brothers? Like, Oasis’ battling Gallaghers, or some gentler brand
Eric Carmen, who became an icon of power pop as the frontman of the Raspberries before achieving even bigger hits as a solo artist in the 1970s and ’80s, has died at age 74. The news came in a message from his wife, Amy Carmen, on the singer’s website. “It is with tremendous sadness that
The 55th annual NAACP Image Awards got underway on Monday with Victoria Monét and Chris Brown leading the list of early winners. The three-day virtual Image Awards show is hosted by Khloe Thomas. Night 1 featured presenters Bellah (Hulu’s “Queenie”), Da’Vinchi (Starz’s “BMF”), Danielle Jalade (Disney’s “Saturdays”), Gabrielle Nevaeh (Nickelodeon’s “That Girl Lay Lay”) and