Jim Reeve, a British entertainment executive and producer with more than 40 years experience in the business, died on Feb. 27. He was 64. Reeve founded and was chair of U.K. media company Great Point. “It is with profound sadness that Great Point must confront the sudden and unexpected loss of our founder, mentor and
Danish sales outfit DR Sales, attached to the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning doc “A New Kind of Wilderness,” has boarded another high-quality Norwegian documentary – “Phantoms of the Sierra Madre” by the multi-awarded Håvard Bustnes (“Raging Grannies,” “Golden Dawn Girls”). The epic and self-reflective film, made in partnership with the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is
BBC Studios has tapped Nicola Pinn for the newly-created role of chief operating officer of factual productions. BBC Studios factual managing director Kate Ward unveiled Pinn’s promotion. Pinn moves up from her previous role as factual’s director of production. She will continue to lead production and business management across BBC Studios’ factual portfolio as well
Lena Dunham‘s Netflix comedy series “Too Much” has filled out its cast with a star-studded lineup, Variety has learned exclusively. Joining previously announced series leads Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe will be: Richard E. Grant (“Saltburn”), Stephen Fry (“The Dropout”), Janicza Bravo (“Sharp Stick”), Michael Zegen (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Rhea Perlman (“Cheers”), Rita Wilson
Pathé has defended its 2022 film “The Lost King” — starring Steve Coogan and produced by his company Baby Cow Productions — after legal action was launched by the one of the real-life characters it depicts. Richard Taylor, a former deputy registrar at the U.K.’s University of Leicester, is suing Coogan, alongside his BBC Studios-owned Baby Cow,
Bollywood star Yami Gautam reveals her process in making “Article 370” and has addressed the issue of the film being banned in the Middle East. A political action thriller, the film deals with the events leading to the 2019 revocation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted special status to the Indian state
Following its world premiere in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival, Beta Cinema has revealed first sales across Europe and to Australia and New Zealand for Andreas Dresen’s “From Hilde, With Love.” The drama about anti-Nazi activists in Berlin, which is led by “Babylon Berlin’s” Liv Lisa Fries and introduces Johannes Hegemann in
Italian director Paolo Taviani, who with his late brother Vittorio formed the revered filmmaking duo that in 1977 won the Cannes Palme d’Or for “Padre Padrone,” has died at 92. Taviani died on Thursday in a Rome clinic after suffering from a short illness, according to Italian media reports. “Paolo Taviani, a great maestro of
SONGBIRD’S SORROW Atlas Distribution Company, a U.S. indie distributor, has set Vietnamese-American co-production film “A Fragile Flower” on course for a theatrical release in the U.S. Produced by the duo Mai Thu Huyen and Jacqueline Thu Thao, the romantic musical drama, with a screenplay by Vietnamese singing sensation Nhat Ha, is set debut from Mar. 29.
BBC Studios has bought British broadcaster ITV‘s 50% stake in streamer BritBox International for £255 million ($322 million), the companies revealed on Friday. The streamer was founded in 2017 as a joint venture between BBC Studios, which is the commercial arm of the British broadcaster, and ITV. “The transaction will provide net proceeds including loan
South Africa’s Known Associates, the fast-growing parent company of Johannesburg-based Known Associates Entertainment (KAE) and Cape Town-based Moonlighting Films, is launching into unscripted programming, Variety can reveal. The company has acquired a 60% stake in Zero Gravity, a production outfit founded in 2017 by former Endemol Shine Africa and Trace Studios CEO Sivan Pillay, and
The corridor talk at next week’s FICCI-Frames conference in Mumbai, often Indian media’s top confab, is for once less likely to focus on ‘what if?’ and more on ‘what next?’ That’s because, with the January collapse of the $10 billion Sony-ZEE merger plans and late February’s confirmation that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (which incorporates Viacom18
After making its debut at last year’s Cannes Film Festival with Jean-Luc Godard’s last work and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Strange Way of Life,” Anthony Vaccarello‘s Saint Laurent Productions has boarded Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” as a co-producer. The musical thriller joins Saint Laurent Productions’ roster of prestige projects, including Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope,” David Cronenberg’s
It’s not every day I get to review a documentary about a subject I feel personally close to, so let me put my bias right out there. “Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World” is a movie about one of my favorite New York restaurants — and, in fact, countless
Bollywood aspirants the world over wanting to feature alongside top Indian stars can now cut out the middleman. Leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films (YRF), the outfit behind Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone starrer “Pathaan,” and “Tiger 3,” led by Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, has launched its YRF Casting app. Acting aspirants from across
SPOILER ALERT: This story includes major plot developments on the first episode of “Elsbeth,” airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. On “Elsbeth,” Carrie Preston reprises her Emmy winning role as the eccentrically shrewd attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, a fan favorite character from the CBS drama “The Good Wife” and its Paramount+ spin-off “The Good Fight.”
The descendants of Walt Disney and his brother Roy O. Disney have weighed in on the bid by two activist investment firms to win seats on the board of the Walt Disney Co. Nelson Peltz, the activist investor who runs hedge fund Trian Partners, is waging a proxy-fight battle to install himself and ex-Disney CFO
Matthew Loeb is heading into what is likely to be the most consequential negotiation of his 16-year tenure to date as international president of IATSE. The union’s contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are set to begin March 4. After last year’s protracted strikes by the Writers Guild of America
Gravitas Ventures has acquired worldwide rights to Uinta Productions and Paper Street Pictures’ “Snow Valley,” the directorial debut from the late Brandon Murphy. Murphy, who died in January 2022, was the screenwriter for “Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.” He also wrote the script for “Snow Valley,” which was in post production at the time of his death.
I know we’re in the dead of winter, but I have to admit, fall is the best time of year to get dressed. Yes, spring and summer have their perks, mainly, being the peak season for wedding guest dresses and ultra-cute (but affordable) swimsuits. And sure, shedding all those heavy layers in favor of something
No one was shocked more than Hayden Christensen when he landed the role of Anakin Skywalker in George Lucas’ “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith.” Christensen was far from the biggest name that Lucasfilm was trying to lure into its galaxy far, far away. When he had
Dwayne Johnson now officially owns title to the sobriquet “The most electrifying man in sports and entertainment.” The actor and entertainment mogul, who broke out as a WWE star two decades ago, has gained rights to a number of nicknames, insults and catchphrases from his time in the ring in the 90s and early 2000s
Jack Antonoff has no time for anyone interested in slandering Taylor Swift‘s abilities as a songwriter. The Grammy-winning producer and longtime Swift collaborator recently told the Los Angeles Times that questioning Swift’s songwriting “is like challenging someone’s faith in God. You just don’t go there.” “I’m a little bitch sometimes,” he added. “But you come
When “Dune: Part One” wrapped, composer Hans Zimmer continued to write more music for the sci-fi epic. He was told to stop, but Zimmer insisted he would carry on, so much so that director Denis Villeneuve would joke that the composer was locked in the studio. Except it wasn’t completely a joke. Like many, Frank
Former Verve CEO Bill Weinstein has filed a lawsuit against the talent agency, alleging that he was improperly ousted from the company on Feb. 19 by two partners who are looking to sell the company. Weinstein’s suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accuses Verve partners Bryan Besser and Adam Levine of “a misguided
As expected, layoffs began hitting Universal Music Group almost immediately after the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. The moves, which have been signaled by chairman-CEO Lucian Grainge since last fall, were still evolving at the time of this article’s publication, and follow the broad consolidation of the company’s labels under Interscope (West Coast) and Republic
Oscar-winning directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known professionally as Daniels, will debut their cinematic follow-up to “Everything Everywhere All at Once” in 2026. Universal Pictures, which recently signed an exclusive first-look deal with the filmmakers, added to its release calendar an “Untitled Event Film Directed by Daniels” on June 12, 2026. There is zero information
James Gunn announced that Feb. 29 marked the start of filming on his new “Superman” movie, which will kick off the rebooted DC Universe under the supervision of him and his DC Studios co-boss Peter Safran. Gunn also revealed that his movie, which had been titled “Superman: Legacy,” is now simply called “Superman.” “Overjoyed to
“BMF” has been renewed for Season 4 at Starz, Variety has learned. The news comes ahead of the upcoming Season 3 premiere of the crime drama. Season 3 of the series will debut on March 1 at midnight on the Starz app before its linear network premiere at 8 p.m.ET/PT in the U.S. and at
Emily Blunt is in talks to join Benny Safdie’s solo directorial debut “The Smashing Machine,” an A24 feature film starring Dwayne Johnson as MMA and UFC champion Mark Kerr, Variety has confirmed. The film will begin production this summer. Blunt is in talks to play Dawn Staples, Kerr’s wife. Per the studio, “While trying to