“Black-ish” Season 7 has received a back order for six additional episodes at ABC. The order means the critically-acclaimed comedy series will have a full seventh season consisting of 21 episodes, despite the fact that its launch was delayed by the production shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Season 7 of “Black-ish” debuted on ABC
Here comes a new big-data approach trying to crack the age-old problem of understanding what a TV show or movie is really about. Entertainment-analytics startup Vody is coming out of stealth after more than two years of development and testing. Co-founders and co-CEOs Stephanie Horbaczewski and Jeremy Houghton, who both were previously top execs at
“Bad Hair” star Chanté Adams will play the female lead opposite Michael B. Jordan in the Sony drama “A Journal for Jordan,” which Denzel Washington will direct and produce. “A Journal for Jordan” is written by Academy Award nominee Virgil Williams and based on Dana Canedy’s New York Times best-selling memoir, which was published in
Producer Lydia Pilcher, after decades of collaborating with filmmakers like Katheryn Bigelow, Wes Anderson and Gina Prince Bythewood, is stepping behind the camera for the first time as a feature director. Her directorial debut, the historical drama “Radium Girls,” is opening in theaters and on demand on Friday. The movie, set in New Jersey in
Get your McLovin ID ready because the “Superbad” cast is reuniting. Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, Martha MacIssac, director Greg Mottola, producer Judd Apatow and co-writer Evan Goldberg are reuniting for a virtual script reading and fundraiser benefitting the Wisconsin Democratic Party. The event will feature the actors’ commentary and
An 80-foot prehistoric shark is returning to the big screen with “The Meg 2,” and Warner Bros. has hired “Rebecca” filmmaker Ben Wheatley to direct. Development of the sequel comes two years after “The Meg” took in an impressive $530 million worldwide. That film revolved around the monstrous megalodon emerging from the Mariana Trench, the
Celine debuts its spring-summer 2021 runway show live from Monaco on Monday, October 26 at 4PM CET (10AM EST). Watch the brand’s latest unveiling below, with additional coverage on Instagram and CELINE.com. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able
Grant Imahara’s family and friends have formed a new educational foundation in his memory. The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation, named for the late “Mythbusters” host, will work to inspire and empower underserved youth to become active in science, technology, engineering, art and math. The formation of the nonprofit was announced Friday on what would have
Another Netflix exec is exiting the company in the wake of Cindy Holland’s shock departure and Bela Bajaria’s elevation to TV head just over a month ago. Nina Wolarsky, Netflix’s vice president of original series – drama, is set to leave the streamer after an eight-year tenure, Variety has learned. Wolarsky’s exit was prompted by a
As the hangover from last night’s final presidential debate fails to wear off, we’ve gotta say that soothing female voices are just the thing right now — and that’s reflected in each of the week’s picks for top songs (well, except for the Illenium and Tom DeLonge track). We’ve already covered Ariana Grande’s latest and
After a full decade spent living in a sprawling Coldwater Canyon estate she bought from Candice Bergen, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden have upgraded to a new home in a different section of the 90210, where some of their nearest new neighbors include Vin Diesel, Gene Simmons, John Mayer, Kate Upton and Justin Verlander. The
Netflix, as it ramps up Middle East operations, has announced two initiatives to reach out to Lebanon’s film and TV community: an emergency fund providing grants to below-the-line crew facing economic hardship, and a “Made in Lebanon” package of films playing on the giant streamer. The $500,000 relief fund set up by Netflix in collaboration
Polish-born filmmaker Filip Jan Rymsza, the producer of Venice Film Festival entry “Hopper/Welles,” which he is presenting this week at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, will follow his latest directorial outing “Mosquito State” – also a Venice premiere this year – with “Object Permanence,” Rymsza tells Variety. Partially set in Berlin and shot in English,
Writer-director Justin Simien remembers how he was far too young when he saw his first-ever horror movie, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.” It was his aunt who shared her love for movies — not just of horror, but all genres — with a young Simien. He recalls picking up on the movie’s
Italian singer Laura Pausini has released “Io Si (Seen),” written by 11-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren. The song is taken from “The Life Ahead” starring Sophia Loren. “lo Si” (Seen) is the Grammy winner’s second entry in the original song race, with hopse to land a nom for the 93rd Academy Awards set for next April. Warren,
Variety has named media titan Tyler Perry as this year’s Showman of the Year, not only for his contributions to the industry through his Tyler Perry Studios, one of the first to return to production amid coronavirus restrictions, but also for his dedication to social justice efforts. “Just to try and use what I’ve been given — this platform
Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili, whose film “Beginning” is her country’s Oscar entry, thought COVID-19 was the reason why there were so few people backstage when the San Sebastian Film Festival jury, headed by Luca Guadagnino, was awarding its prizes. “Backstage there were only two other film teams.” For the next hour, the 34-year-old would trundle
In a very non-traditional news cycle, Lester Holt is holding on to at least one regular habit. Since 2017, Holt has taken viewers of “NBC Nightly News” to meet with Americans on the ground in important areas of the country, part of a series known as “Across America.” His plans to visit people for the
It could be quite a fire sale after Quibi’s nearly $2 billion flameout: The Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded company has tapped LionTree to manage the process of selling Quibi’s assets, following its decision to shut down. A rep for LionTree confirmed that the firm has been enlisted by Quibi in an advisory capacity to evaluate in-bound inquiries
On Wednesday morning, Mike Catherwood spent an hour on a call with Quibi executives for his new animated project, “Rudy.” Then, he went to pick up his daughter from school. By the time he got home, Quibi was dead. “I have to assume that those executives didn’t know,” Catherwood told Variety. “Otherwise they’re really good
The Oscars best actor race has continued to fill up with an abundance of talent as A24 has confirmed that Steven Yeun will campaign as a lead actor for his performance in “Minari.” Along with Yeun, co-star Yeri Han will also campaign for best actress, while his cast mates Alan S. Kim, Will Patton and
NBC has given a put pilot commitment to the Native American family drama “Sovereign,” which boasts Ava DuVernay among its executive producers. The pilot was written by Sydney Freeland and Shaz Bennett from a story by DuVernay. All three will executive produce with Bird Runningwater co-executive producing. Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes of DuVernay’s ARRAY
The National Comedy Center will lead a preservation effort for comedian Johnny Carson’s archives. On Friday, in celebration of what would have been the former “Tonight Show” host’s 95th birthday, both the National Comedy Center and the Elkhorn Valley Museum announced that they will jointly exhibit documents and pieces from the archived collection. The Elkhorn
Tyler Perry is Variety‘s 2020 Showman of the Year. For the full cover story, click here. Music supervisor Joel C. High distinctly remembers meeting Tyler Perry for the first time in 2004 on “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” “It changed my life,” says High of what was the beginning of a beautiful filmmaker-music supervisor partnership that continues
Be careful what you wish for. In recent years, industryites have complained that awards season has gotten too big and exhausting, and we needed a change. We certainly got our wish: Clearly, this season won’t be like any other. Traditionalists may hope for an eventual return to the old ways. But to optimists, this is
Showtime has released the first trailer for “Supervillain,” a revealing docuseries about the rise of provocative young rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine. Directed by Karam Gill, the three-episode docuseries will examine how 6ix9ine manufactured his own cult celebrity status through his mastery of social media and purposely stirring up controversy. Gill conducted an exclusive interview with 6ix9ine
Early in Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s just-released documentary, “Letter to You,” the group drinks a toast to the fans in San Siro Stadium in Milan, happily reminiscing about the audiences in Italy and looking forward to performing there on tour in 2020. That was in November, 2019, after a five-day recording session
If anyone knows Bruce Springsteen, it’s filmmaker Thom Zimny. The two have been collaborating for 20 years, from video shorts to retrospective documentaries like “The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town,” before moving his cameras into a New York theater for “Springsteen on Broadway.” Their latest collaboration is “Letter to You” (now
Tencent Pictures this week stepped out alongside fellow Tencent subsidiaries New Classics Media and China Literature (aka Yuewen Media) to present for the first time a joint, collaborative film and TV production strategy. Tencent Pictures and Hong Kong-listed e-book platform China Literature were both established in 2015. Production firm New Classics Media was established in
Prominent media technologists discussed how the pandemic has altered their content flow as distribution platforms for digital entertainment see increased viewership. Presented by Western Digital, Variety hosted the Innovators in Media Technology Management, a panel with leading executives as part of the Variety Streaming Room series. The conversation, moderated by Variety’s New York digital editor