David France, the director of “Welcome to Chechnya,” can’t say for sure that his documentary played a role in pushing the U.S. government to place sanctions on the country’s leader, but it certainly looks that way. The film, about the Chechen government’s sanctioned arrests and torture of LGBTQ people in the autonomous Russian region, premiered
The New York Times Company officially announced that it is acquiring Serial Productions, the podcast company behind the breakout hit “Serial.” As part of the Times, Serial Productions will independently commission and edit its own stories, which “will now be amplified by the Times,” the company said. The publisher and media company paid about $25
“Love Island” will could be back for season 2 sooner than expected, but not on an island. Pre-production on the CBS reality show is underway in a Las Vegas hotel, Variety has confirmed with sources close to the production, and the network is hoping to have the season ready to air near the end of summer.
A judge on Wednesday handed a significant win to AMC Networks in its long-running battle over profits from “The Walking Dead.” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Buckley held that the cable network was entitled to define “modified adjusted gross receipts” under the terms of its contracts with profit participants. Comic creator Robert Kirkman
Streaming giant Netflix has set an Oct. 16 launch date for Aaron Sorkin’s star-studded political drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — three weeks before the national election. Netflix closed the deal on July 1 with Cross Creek Pictures for the drama, which recaps the trial that followed what were intended to be peaceful
A new report by members of the U.K. Parliament has severely criticized the government’s “slow” response to the needs of the country’s cultural sector that is facing an “existential threat.” The report, titled “The Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS Sectors,” compiled by a Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, found it “regrettable” that
Tomorrowland Around the World performers Katy Perry, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Nervo and Dimitri Vegas joined Tomorrowland co-founder Michiel Beers and moderator Sean Dhondt in an online press conference today to preview what fans can expect from the virtual festival. Scheduled for July 25 and 26 on the Tomorrowland website, Tomorrowland Around the World has
Amber Heard, giving evidence Wednesday at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on the 12th day of Johnny Depp’s libel trial against the publisher of The Sun newspaper, alleged Depp headbutted her the night before she appeared on James Corden’s “The Late Late Show” in December 2015. Depp is suing News Group Newspapers and journalist Dan
It appears that the lobbying by representatives for independent venues has at least begun to pay off on Capitol Hill: Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota introduced a new relief bill for indie venues impacted by the coronarvirus pandemic. The “Save Our Stages Act” would provide six months of financial support
In today’s roundup, Disney Plus has released first footage of “Marvel’s 616” and Tiffany Boone was cast in Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers.” CASTING Tiffany Boone has been cast in the upcoming Hulu adaptation of “Nine Perfect Strangers“ as the character Delilah. Other cast members currently include Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, and Luke Evans. Boone recently
The makers of “Citizen Penn,” a documentary about actor Sean Penn’s volunteer work in Haiti, have updated their film to include footage of the Oscar-winner’s efforts to expand access to COVID-19 testing. Over the past few months, director Don Hardy and producer Shawn Dailey have followed Penn as he worked with his non-profit organization CORE
The director of a 15-year-old animal rights documentary at the center of a baffling hostage situation in Ukraine has condemned the incident, saying, “We do not cause terror to awaken people to terror.” Director Shaun Monson’s comments came after an armed man in Ukraine, identified as 44-year-old Maksim Krivosh, held 13 people hostage on Tuesday,
Demi Moore was only a teenager when people began noticing her very distinctive voice. “One of my first jobs as a young girl was that I worked for a collection agency,” Moore says on the Variety and iHeart podcast The Big Ticket. “I had to make calls to people whose bills were past due —
In his role as ABC News’ Chief White House Correspondent, Jonathan Karl has helped tell the story of the Trump administration’s oversight of the United States. Now he and the news outlet are gearing up to tell the story behind the story. ABC News will on Tuesday, July 28, at 9 p.m. unveil a “20/20”
Exclusive Details Derek Chauvin — the ex-Minneapolis cop charged with murdering George Floyd — now has more legal trouble on his hands over his taxes … and so does his estranged wife. Chauvin and his estranged spouse, Kellie, were each hit Wednesday with 9 felony counts related to their alleged failure to pay state taxes
Stu Cohen, a longtime head of promotion for Warner Bros. Records, died on July 20 from esophageal cancer. He was 66. Cohen had also been suffering from having contracted Covid-19 as well as a fractured hip resulting from a fall, although you’d never know it judging from his always-optimistic Facebook posts about his progress while
Nick Cordero’s “Feinstein’s/54 Below concert Live Your Life” live album will be released on September 17, to coincide with what would have been the late actor’s 42nd birthday. The album, which was recorded in 2019, will feature guest performances by Kathryn Gallagher (“Jagged Little Pill”), Drew Gehling (“Waitress”), Sara Chase (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), and Zach
The band Dawes has signed with Rounder Records, a return to a “major indie” after four self-released albums that followed on the heels of two early efforts on the ATO label. The group’s seventh release and first for Rounder will be “Good Luck With Whatever,” slated to come out October 2, preceded today by a
The “Drag Race” parade just. Won’t. Stop! For the third time this year, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is expanding its brand with a new series, “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Vegas Revue.” VH1 announced on Wednesday that the six-episode docuseries will follow six former “Drag Race” contestants as they prepare to launch the “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!” show in
“Perry Mason” has been picked up for a second season by HBO. News of the renewal was announced by Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming, and comes only five episodes into the series’ debut season. “Perry Mason” centers around the titular low-rent private investigator (played by Matthew Rhys) who is living check-to-check and is
Vince Vaughn is attached to executive produce an animated comedy series in the works at Fox, Variety has learned exclusively. Fox has given Vaughn, Victoria Vaughn, and Peter Billingsly’s Wild West Picture Show production company a blind script deal for an animated series. No writer is currently attached, but Fox Entertainment will produce. Vince, Victoria, and
The pandemic has made desperadoes of all of us. There’s a strange kind of helplessness that sets in as home-bound film fans search for a decent movie to watch. Mind you, the medium has existed for more than a century, and its classics have never been more available than they are now. But unless you
San Diego Comic-Con may be going digital, but the lineup still offers a wide array of panels and conversations. With four days of content, Variety breaks down a list of this year’s most notable, anticipated and exciting panels. Star Trek The “Star Trek Universe” panel begins Thursday at 10 A.M. Executive producers Alex Kurtzman and
The series of videos from The Weeknd’s blockbuster album “After Hours” continues with “Snowchild,” a semi-autobiographical song from the album that gets a semi-autobiographical animated treatment from the D’ART Shtajio studio, the first black-owned Japanese animation studio in Japan. The clip — which is loaded with easter eggs for fans — begins with his busted-nose
ABC is developing a drama series with both Eva Longoria and Forest Whitaker attached as executive producers. Titled “Chicano,” the series is inspired by the novel of the same name Richard Vasquez. It tells the multi-generational story of the Sandovals, a Mexican-American family that immigrates to Los Angeles in pursuit of the American Dream. It follows
CW chief Mark Pedowitz began this year planning for the possibility of writers strike disrupting the network’s 2020-21 season launch plans. All of the preparation to order a few extra unscripted series and to make opportunistic off-network acquisitions turned out to be invaluable when the curveball of the coronavirus pandemic hit in mid-March. In the
Annie Ross, the legendary Jazz singer who was part of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross died in the early morning hours of July 22 at her home in New York City. She was 89. Ross’ former manager, Jim Coleman, confirmed the cause of death to be emphysema and heart disease. Her nephew Domenick Allen
Apple is publicizing a study it commissioned looking at the App Store’s fees and terms — as the tech giant tries to make the case that its practices are in line with the rest of the industry. The upshot? Not surprisingly, the report says, Apple takes a cut from app developers that’s akin to rival
Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds are back at it again. The duo, who of course teamed up for “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” are set to star in an animated series at Quibi with a title that seems tailor-made for Jackson’s famously expletive-laden vocabulary. “Futha Mucka” will see Jackson play Reynold’s primary caregiver. Here’s the rather
HBO Max is expanding its slate of international series. The WarnerMedia platform has acquired the U.S. streaming rights to four shows, namely Italy’s critically-acclaimed crimes series “Gomorrah,” Spanish drama “Veneno,” about a transgender TV personality, and two U.K. unscripted offerings in “Singletown” and “The Great Pottery Throw Down.” Seasons three and four of “Gomorrah,” as