“Harley Quinn” has been renewed for a third season at HBO Max rather than DC Universe. The news comes as Warner Bros. officially announced Friday that DC Universe will no longer be home to scripted original series and will instead transition to solely a comic book subscription service called DC Universe Infinite. “Harley Quinn” is
Alt-rock veterans the Smashing have announced a new double album, “Cyr,” is dropping on November 27. The 20-track album was recorded in the band’s home base of Chicago with frontman and chief songwriter Billy Corgan producing. The group has also created a new five-part animated series called “In Ashes,” the first two episodes of which
On Nov. 27, 1929, three years after Greta Garbo’s American film debut, Variety described her as “the most mysterious of Hollywood stars.” More than 50 years later, in 1981, a Variety story began “Given that Greta Garbo still remains the most elusive, mysterious and speculated about film personality on the planet…” It’s rare for any
Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” has been selected at the opener for the ninth edition of the Montclair Film Festival on Oct. 16, with Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” as the Oct. 24 closing title. “Nomadland” premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 11, and won the Golden Lion. The film is set after the
“Cheer” coach Monica Aldama said she is “devastated by this shocking, unexpected news” following the Thursday arrest of her co-star Jerry Harris on the charge that he enticed a 13-year-old boy to send him explicit photos and videos. “My heart is shattered into a million pieces,” wrote Aldama on Instagram. “I am devastated by this
The Black Effect Podcast Network, a joint venture between Charlamagne tha God and iHeartMedia, has made its first executive hire: Dollie S. Bishop, who joins as president of production and creative development. Announced earlier this month and set to launch this fall, the Black Effect Podcast Network is touted as the industry’s biggest podcast publisher
In today’s Global Bulletin, the global film community calls for the release of Sudanese filmmaker Hajooj Kuka, Jana Bennett is announced as Congress ’20 closing speaker, PBS Masterpiece heads to Amazon in Canada, Leonine gets Oliver Vogel for W&B Television role, the Production Guild of Great Britain opens nominations for 2020 Innovation Awards and The
In its first three seasons, “Fargo” found a surprising amount of elasticity within its constrained format. Each installment borrowed the tone of Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1996 Midwestern noir, which places human greed against a setting of frigid climate and rigid propriety, to tell increasingly complicated crime stories. Until now, the show’s big swings —
Sarah Jones (“Marriage Story”), Giovanni Ribisi (“Avatar”) and Alexia Landeau (“Day Out of Days”) have joined the cast of Julie Delpy’s upcoming dramedy series “On the Verge,” a co-production between Canal Plus and Netflix. Canal Plus will air the series in France, with Netflix distributing it in the rest of world. “On The Verge” was
UPDATED: The dispute between Roku and NBCUniversal over distribution of the fledgling Peacock streaming service has taken a nasty turn. Late Thursday, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal notified Roku that the media company plans to force Roku to pull access to NBCU’s TV Everywhere channels on the Roku platform, including the flagship NBC app. Comcast may require Roku
European pay-TV operator Sky has greenlit production of Italian prison drama “The King,” toplining Luca Zingaretti, best known as the titular character in the popular “Inspector Montalbano” series. In “The King” Zingaretti will play Buno Testori, chief of the San Michele penitentiary, where “he applies his own personal idea of justice,” according to a Sky
The U.S. government will prohibit app stores from offering new downloads of TikTok and WeChat, two popular Chinese-owned apps, effective Sunday over the Trump administration’s claims that it wants to prevent the Chinese government from accessing data on Americans. The new rules, issued Friday by the Commerce Department, is pursuant to President Trump’s executive orders
UPDATED: Michelle Obama is taking over Instagram Live next week — with several celebrity guests — for a seven-and-a-half-hour event urging Americans to register to vote. The Registered and Ready Takeover, organized by the former First Lady’s When We All Vote nonprofit advocacy organization, will take place Tuesday, Sept. 22, which is National Voter Registration
Spanish producer-distributor and sales agent Filmax will handle international rights on Lara Izagirre’s “Nora,” the film opener at this year’s San Sebastian Zinemira Basque cinema showcase. Selected for San Sebastian’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2018, “Nora” is Izagirre’s second feature, following on ”An Autumn Without Berlin,” a Basque homecoming drama which scored a best
In its first announcement following cancellation of its inaugural edition due to coronavirus, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has recruited a high-profile jury that will award two production grants for Arab cinema projects each worth $500,000. The jurors who will pick winners among 12 projects taking part in the inaugural Red Sea Lodge
Musician Van Morrison, best known for songs like “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Domino” and “Wild Night,” and for seminal albums “Moondance” and “Astral Weeks,” is set to release three songs protesting the U.K. lockdown. First up is “Born to Be Free,” out Sept. 25, followed by “As I Walked Out” on Oct. 9, and “No More
Every four years, a few months before the presidential election, a batch of strategically timed movies materialize in hopes of engaging voters and influencing the outcome. Some are merely opportunistic, others downright propagandistic, but few have a shelf life past that first Tuesday in November. A warm, softball profile of Pete Souza, who had the
Navarre has never had such a prominent presence at the San Sebastian Festival as in this year’s lineup. Five linked-to-Navarre productions – three films, a TV series and a documentary – will screen at the Festival, highlighting its status as a standout hub for the Spanish audiovisual industry. Navarre’s higher-profile at San Sebastian, the biggest
After successful streaming premieres in Latin America and the U.S. as an Amazon Prime Video Exclusive, Argentina’s Meikincine, one of Latin America’s leading sales agents for independent, festival fare, has sold Chilean political thriller “Jailbreak Pact” in South Korea and Taiwan, and is in advanced negotiations in several other key territories. Shopping the film at
Memento International has unveiled the trailer for “Persian Lessons,” the anticipated WWII drama directed by Vadim Perelman (“House of Sand and Fog”), ahead of its theatrical roll-out in Germany later this month. Alamode Films Distribution will release the film in Germany on Sept. 24 in Germany and will present it on the opening night of
“Forgotten We’ll Be,” the latest film from director Fernando Trueba, an Academy Award winner (“Belle Epoque”) and nominee (“Chico and Rita”), has been sold to Italy, the film’s sales agent Film Factory Entertainment striking a deal for Italian distribution with Lucky Red, a classic arthouse and independent film distributor. Details of the deal come just
The devil is in the details in “The Dark and the Wicked,” a horror film that teases out the evil presence descending on a grieving family on a Texas farm, with the same ambiguous, psychological heft of Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw.” Writer-director Bryan Bertino’s slender script translates into a low-humming, allusvie narrative
Braving COVID-19, Spain’s 68th San Sebastián Film Festival bowed on-site on Sept. 18, launching a somewhat slimmed edition that maintains, however, all its main sections. Following, seven more takes on the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world as it finally kicks off: Depp, Dillon, Gershon Confirm Attendance Stars are rallying round this year’s San
Spain’s northern region of Navarre has fortified its position as a hub for the audiovisual industry in recent years and, mirroring trends seen elsewhere in the country, seen particularly strong growth in TV production in the past year, in spite of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Why is another matter. In 2019, Netflix produced more hours
Venice’s Special Jury Prize-winning “Dear Comrades!,” a Russian historical drama directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, has been sold by Films Boutique to Southern Europe. “Dear Comrades!” was acquired for Italy by Paolo Del Brocco at Rai Cinema and for Spain by the Barcelona-based distributor Vercine. The film, which sheds light on the Novocherkassk massacre, was produced,
The 1982 world of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” came to life Thursday night in a fundraising table read that included Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel, John Legend, Ray Liotta, Julia Roberts, Shia LaBeouf, Morgan Freeman and Henry Golding. The hour-long streaming event took place on the Facebook page for Penn’s nonprofit CORE (Community
In its sixth year and first-ever virtual format, the Television Humanitarian Awards, presented by The Creative Coalition, honored television industry figures and 2020 Emmy Award nominees who engage in advocacy work. Streaming exclusively on Variety’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, the event included dinner deliveries, VIP breakout rooms and an award ceremony. Following an introduction from
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross now have an Emmy to add to their Oscar and Grammy awards, having won Thursday night for their score for HBO’s “Watchmen.” The Reznor-Ross team were previously honored with an Academy Award for “The Social Network” and a Grammy for their score for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” (They
The first time Connie the Hormone Monstress takes the screen in “Big Mouth,” she takes it over completely. She emerges from the shadows in a flash of lightning, as if zapped to Earth by some vengeful, horny god. As she takes in her new charge, a tiny redhead scared to death of her changing body,
Kesha, Anthony Hamilton, Los Lobos and more will perform in the Biden for President campaign’s new online concert series. The campaign announced that “Team Joe Sings” will launch Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The weekly performances will take place every Thursday through Election Day, featuring a new group of artists supporting the