ICM Partners has taken a minority stake in Stockholm-based lit agency Albatros. As part of the investment, ICM veteran Pete Stone will relocate to Sweden and help run Albatros alongside founders and managing partners Martina Österling and Elin Sandström Lundh. The duo founded Albatros in 2017. The deal with Albatros is part of ICM’s effort
Australian audiences may be among the first in the world getting to see Christopher Nolan’s much anticipated blockbuster “Tenet.” Warner-affiliated distributor Village Roadshow has confirmed that paid preview screenings of “Tenet” will go ahead in all but one state during the weekend of Saturday Aug. 22 and Sunday Aug. 23. The film’s official local release
In today’s Global Bulletin, Maven Screen Media gets backing, Venice unveils its VR offerings, Little Mix teams with BBC Three and AMC Networks International extends ties with Formula 1. U.K. Creative Content EIS Fund has invested in Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler’s media and entertainment development company Maven Screen Media. The investment was made to
Mongolian filmmaker Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s “Ze” won the top prize at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors co-production forum, which featured eight projects from Southeast Asia and Mongolia looking for international partners. Purev-Ochir’s feature debut tells the story of the budding relationship between a teenage shaman and a young woman, set in the rough-and-tumble yurt district
Grammy-winning songwriter Jozzy has signed a worldwide administration deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The Memphis native is best known for her work on Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road Remix,” writing the Billy Ray Cyrus verse. She’s also collaborated with such artists as Beyoncé, Usher, Summer Walker, Lil Wayne, and Ella Mai, among others. she
Indie film and series distributor 1091 Media, which recently renamed itself as Streamwise, hired another key exec for its forthcoming business-to-business analytics platform for content owners: Doug Shineman, an alum of Roku and The Orchard, who has joined the company as chief revenue officer. As CRO at Streamwise, L.A.-based Shineman leads teams responsible for revenue
Mondo.NYC, the music and tech conference created by the founders of CMJ Music Marathon, has announced the initial speakers for its fifth annual edition, taking place virtually Oct. 13-16. They include Binta Niambi Brown, attorney and founder of Omalilly Projects in conversation with Ty Stiklorius, founder & CEO of Friends at Work and John Legend’s
The Country Music Hall of Fame has selected Hank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart and songwriter Dean Dillon as this year’s trio of inductees, it was announced Wednesday morning by the Country Music Association. Of all the Hall of Fame announcements in recent years, this particular crop may get even louder whoops and hollers than most
Sumner Redstone, a towering figure in media who built his father’s drive-in theater business into an empire that included Viacom, Paramount Pictures and CBS Corp., only to see his legacy tarnished in his final years by corporate battles and sordid allegations by former girlfriends, died Aug. 11 at his home in Los Angeles. He was
Chinese war action film “The Eight Hundred” will open in theaters in North America, Australia and New Zealand at the end of the month, a week after it becomes the biggest local film this year to open in Chinese cinemas.. Handled by Huayi Bros., the controversial film will release in China on Aug. 28. Overseas,
Charles Bukowski, the legendary gutter-rat-of-Los-Angeles author and poet, had such a pungent public image — the raw-meat face, like a bulldog’s mug sculpted out of hamburger; the fights and fornications and benders; the notes-from-the-underground beatnik derelict mystique — that watching “You Never Had It: An Evening with Charles Bukowski,” you may be surprised to hear
The coronavirus pandemic might have brought production to a standstill across Southeast Asia earlier this year, but the continued growth of regional VOD platforms and an uptick in public funding is poised to boost the independent film industry and bring fresh voices into the fold, particularly among female filmmakers. Those were some of the takeaways
Exclusive The case of Carole Baskin‘s disappeared husband, Don Lewis, is going the route of ‘Don’t F**k with Cats’ — with an online group claiming it’s dug up a massive, and crappy, clue about where his body might be. Jack Smith — the spokesman now repping Don’s family — tells us he and a group
Hit songwriter Starrah is segueing from behind the scenes to front and center as an artist, dropping her debut single, “How It Goes,” on Aug. 12. The moody song about a tumultuous relationship was produced by June Nawakii, whose credits include tracks by Nicki Minaj and Faouzia. The tune’s stormy tone is reflected in the
Australian sitcom, “Metro Sexual” has landed multiple streaming arrangements in North America. It will premiere in the U.S. on Sept. 1 on the free streaming service Crackle, and on Canada’s OUTtvGo and OUTtv’s Apple TV from the same date. It will then play on Prime Channels in Canada. “Metro Sexual” is the first Australian sitcom
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has nabbed the title of the world’s highest-paid actor for the second year in a row. Between June 2019 and June 2020, Johnson racked up $87.5 million, making $23.5 million alone from his starring role in the upcoming Netflix film “Red Notice,” according to Forbes. In addition, Johnson has found monetary
Hot on the heels of his big announcement that he is leaving SiriusXM satellite radio, Cousin Brucie Morrow revealed Tuesday that he will return to his roots hosting “Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Rock & Roll Party” on 770 WABC in New York. “It’s part of one of the most amazing moves I’ve ever made in
AFI Fest is going virtual for its 34th edition on Oct. 15-22, rather than hosting glitzy premieres at its usual site at the TLC Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The festival, an early stop on the awards season circuit, has opted to dispense with physical events, a spokesperson said. Upcoming fall festivals at Venice, Toronto and
Cinemas in some parts of China have been told that they may now sell up to 50% of their available tickets for each screening and play films over two hours in length without restrictions starting from Aug. 14, local reports and leaked directives show. Concessions may also now be sold — not to snack on
A new book will explore the racial collision that led to a cultural, sociological and musical revolution in Memphis, Tenn. “Memphis Mayhem,” due out Oct. 6, traces the city’s evolution as a mecca for musicians, starting with early blues at the top of the 20th century to the integrated collectives that were Stax acts like
The news that Kamala Harris would join the Democratic presidential ticket hit Hollywood with a jolt on Tuesday, as the entertainment community celebrated the elevation of its home-state senator. Harris has long-standing connections to the industry, thanks to more than a decade as a rising star in California politics. Her showbiz connections also come close
Check out newly announced release dates, which movies are coming to home video this week, and recommendations from your host Khail Anonymous and journalist/podcaster Karama Horne in this new episode of ‘Weekly Ticket’! ► Buy or Rent Movies on FandangoNOW: https://www.fandangonow.com?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Tune-in to Weekly Ticket every Tuesday to help you decide what to watch this
TikTok collected device-specific addresses of users’ smartphones via its Android app for at least 15 months over 2018-19, using a technique that Google had banned developers from using without user consent, according to a Wall Street Journal report. TikTok tracked Android phones’ MAC (media access control) addresses — unique hardware identifiers assigned to a network
In today’s TV news roundup, Apple TV Plus released a premiere date for “Tehran,” and Netflix announced a premiere date for “The Duchess.” DATES Apple TV Plus will premiere the first three episodes of “Tehran” on Sept. 25. The eight-episode series follows a Mossad agent who goes undercover on a dangerous mission in Tehran. The
When the news broke that Joe Biden selected Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate for the 2020 presidential election, one of the most immediate reactions could be summed up by this tweet from NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett: During the Democratic primary, Rudolph’s joyful performances as Harris were a standout on
The Stax Music Academy isn’t participating in the debate about whether schools should open their classrooms and risk the further spreading of COVID-19. They’re going online, choosing to create solutions to the pandemic that broaden the Memphis academy’s offerings rather than curtail the usual curriculum. When the doors open Aug. 17 at the music school,
Netflix has bought a trilogy of “Fear Street” movies, based on R.L. Stine’s teen horror series and directed by Leigh Janiak, from Disney. The three completed films were produced at Fox by Chernin Entertainment with the goal of releasing each movie a month apart. Filming began last year in Georgia and they were scheduled for
When he was making the video for the song “Slave,” off his just-released album “Help,” Duval Timothy rounded up a pair of unimaginable co-stars: Prince and Nipsey Hussle. No, the UK-based ambient-jazz musician didn’t resurrect the late “Purple Rain” icon, who died in 2016, or the late rapper, who died last year, in the form
Hollywood was left buzzing after Democratic candidate Joe Biden officially announced that Sen. Kamala Harris will be his running mate in this year’s presidential race. Many celebrities shared their reaction to the news on Twitter, including actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner, who celebrated the fact that Harris is the first Black and South Asian woman
Freeman Vines may not be a well known name in the music world, but his work is finally being recognized. In September, the gorgeously illustrated book “Hanging Tree Guitars,” published by Bitter Southerner in conjunction with the non-profit Music Maker Relief Foundation, and named for guitars Vines carved using wood from a tree used in