MONDAY, AUG. 17 Amazon Unveils Footage of Stacey Abrams Documentary Amazon Studios has released a powerful trailer for the Stacey Abrams voting rights documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” less than three months before the Nov. 3 election. “If the power of the right to vote was truly made available to everyone in America,
Beyonce’s visual album “Black Is King,” now streaming on Disney Plus, is truly a visual feast, filled with fashion moments to celebrate as it celebrates Blackness, motherhood and womanhood. It’s a celebration of Black ancestry and Black diaspora. The film opens with a whisper into a baby boy’s ear and his journey downstream, which mirrors
A few minutes before the end of “Digger,” first-time feature director Georgis Grigorakis arrives at a closing shot for the ages: an ambiguous, breath-halting ellipsis that distills all the film’s themes of dueling familial, economical and community values into one spooky, funny man-versus-machine tableau. Except, as it turns out, it’s not the closing shot, as
Ellen DeGeneres’ resident DJ Stephen “tWitch” Boss has been named a co-executive producer at the daytime talk show, two individuals familiar with the decision told Variety. The news was announced during a highly emotional address from DeGeneres to her “Ellen Show” staff on Monday, where she confronted months of reports of a toxic work environment
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced a premiere date for “Sneakerheads,” and YouTube announced a premiere date for the Paris Hilton Documentary, “This is Paris.” DATES Netflix has announced a Sept. 25 premiere date for “Sneakerheads,” a comedy series starring Allen Maldonado, Andrew Bachelor, Jearnest Corchado, Matthew Josten, Yaani King Mondschein, Justin Lee and
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has overhauled its senior production team in the wake of accusations of racial insensitivity, sexual misconduct and other problems in the work environment at the long-running daytime talk show. Three senior producers — executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman — have been ousted from the
It’s taken a very long time for the term “economic inequality” to approach popular usage, but we seem to be getting there at last. Gig-worker business models, government policies and the declining power of unions have contributed to many Americans’ feeling the deck is stacked against them in ways that the old-school values of enterprise,
Bleecker Street has released the first trailer of “The Secrets We Keep,” a drama starring Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman and Chris Messina, set to premiere Sept. 16 in theaters and Oct. 16 on VOD. In the suspenseful trailer a woman (Rapace) living in the American suburbs, reveals her biggest secret to her husband (Kinnaman). “I
Xhafer is a 45-year-old pharmacologist who left Kosovo to live in Germany, where he has a comfortable, middle-class life with his German wife and children. But one day a dead rat mysteriously appears hanging from the garden gate in front of his home, setting off a bizarre series of menacing events. Xhafer believes he’s being
French writer, director and producer Michel Hazanavicius discussed his career path and the future of film as part of the 2020 Sarajevo Film Festival masterclass series, hosted in the Variety Streaming Room. Hazanavicius is this year’s jury president for the film festival. The conversation and subsequent audience Q&A, moderated by Ben Croll, covered the director’s
French writer, director and producer Michel Hazanavicius discussed his career path and the future of film as part of the 2020 Sarajevo Film Festival masterclass series, hosted in the Variety Streaming Room. The Oscar-winning Hazanavicius is this year’s jury president at the film festival. The conversation and subsequent audience Q&A, moderated by Ben Croll, covered
Epic Games’ fight with Apple over the App Store’s 30% fees has gotten uglier, with the “Fornite” maker alleging it needs a federal court’s intervention to prevent the tech giant from taking retaliatory action and “crushing” it. Epic, whose most popular title is “Fortnite,” said on Monday that inApple threatened to revoke its developer accounts
HBO is bringing quarantined celebrities to the small screen with their new original film “Coastal Elites,” and the just-released trailer shows the lighter side of isolation. The film, the latest in a slew of pandemic programming, stars Issa Rae, Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Dan Levy and Sarah Paulson as several people telling their socially-distanced stories
Today, Amazon Music announces the hire of Raymond Leon Roker as its global head of editorial. He will “lead all aspects of Amazon Music’s editorial content strategy across music, video, and voice,” according to the announcement, be based in Los Angeles and will report to Ryan Redington, director of Amazon Music. Nathan Brackett, Amazon Music’s
ICM Partners has promoted Robert Gibbs to head of contemporary music, it was announced today by CEO Chris Silbermann and head of worldwide concerts Rob Prinz. Gibbs has been with the agency for 14 years and was named partner in 2016. He becomes the first African-American department head of a major agency music department, notes
Entertainment marketing and production company Dolphin Entertainment has bought Be Social, a digital influencer marketing firm. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. As part of Dolphin, Be Social and its 20-employee team will continue to operate under its own name out of the existing L.A. office, with founder Ali Grant (pictured above) remaining as CEO.
The series premiere of “Lovecraft Country” scared up decent numbers for HBO. “Lovecraft Country” premiered to 760,000 total viewers in its 9 p.m. linear slot on the premium cabler, which isn’t too far behind the premiere of “Watchmen,” which drew 800,000 viewers. For further comparison to another big HBO series, “Perry Mason” debuted to 884,000
Hollywood agency CAA has launched CAA Scholars, a new initiative that will provide scholarships, fellowships and mentorship to underrepresented students. Formed through the agency’s charitable foundation, the program will target individuals attending college, university, or trade institutes, CAA said in an announcement. “From supporting our partner public schools to volunteering in reading and mentor programs,
Even in an election year without a pandemic, combining politics and music is a tricky proposition — but the Democratic National Convention, which begins tonight and runs through Thursday night, has assembled a lineup of (virtual) musical performances that is not only remarkably diverse, it also advances the party’s and presumptive candidates Joe Biden and
TikTok — the popular short-form video app that President Trump has threatened to ban in the U.S. — has announced a new deal with independent music distributor UnitedMasters that will allow full integration between both services directly through the TikTok app. With this deal, UnitedMasters becomes the first music distribution company to be integrated into
If you think you’ve seen Dominique Fishback before, that’s because you probably have. Since 2014, Fishback has stolen scenes in films like “The Hate U Give” and starred for two seasons as Darlene on HBO’s “The Deuce,” in addition to appearances on “Blue Bloods,” “The Affair,” “Royal Pains” and “The Americans.” But with Netflix’s “Project
Stuart D. Baker has been fired from the Adult Swim animated series “Squidbillies” after posting comments about Dolly Parton and the Black Lives Matter movement on social media. Baker, who performs under the name Unknown Hinson, posted on his Facebook profile about Dolly Parton voicing her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing
“Can you believe that’s an online orchestra?” asks composer Laura Karpman. She’s talking about the musical score of HBO’s new “Lovecraft Country,” which debuted Sunday night and is believed to be the first post-pandemic series to be entirely scored, from first episode to last, by musicians recording remotely from their homes. Together with musical partner
Check out the official The Secrets We Keep Trailer starring Noomi Rapace! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanALERT: https://www.fandango.com/the-secrets-we-keep-2020-223176/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US
Kenan Thompson is the latest star who has been tapped to fill in for Simon Cowell as a judge on “America’s Got Talent.” The “Saturday Night Live” cast member will temporarily take over for Cowell, who underwent back surgery over the weekend of Aug. 10 following a bike accident. Sources close to “AGT” say there
Apple is getting into the music competition series space. The streamer has ordered the series “My Kind of Country,” which will feature a global search for country music talent. Per Apple, the series will feature a documentary component as it hunts for “unconventional and extraordinary” country music stars. Adam Blackstone will serve as the musical
If a screenwriter wrote a spec script telling the story of how SAINt JHN’s “Roses” became a global smash, few would believe it. The seductive yet dark R&B tune by the New York-born artist (real name Carlos St. John) was originally released in 2016, then a sped-up, remixed version by a then-unknown bedroom producer from
The 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay, DJ for the pioneering hip-hop group Run-DMC, has been unsolved for nearly 18 years, but federal prosecutors on Monday announced the indictment of two men who have long been suspects in the crime. The men, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan, Jr., were indicted on charges of murder while
Hollywood studios and unions are finalizing an overall set of safety regulations for returning to work following the shutdown of production during the past five months. Steve Dayan, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 399, notified members of the progress in an update posted on the local’s website. “Return to work discussions are ongoing with the Studios
“Supernatural” will return for its final seven episodes starting in October. In announcing its fall premiere dates for the 2020-2021 broadcast television season on Monday, The CW revealed that the first of the long-running show’s final episodes will debut on Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The series finale will then air on Nov. 19