In her stunning and unsettling Prime Video limited series “Expats,” creator-writer-director LuLu Wang turns her lens on three American women living in Hong Kong whose lives are transformed into something so warped and raw that they are no longer able to cover the imperfections. As in her acclaimed 2019 feature film, “The Farewell,” Wang explores
Justin Timberlake’s hard-charging return to the spotlight continued on Thursday when he announced the “Forget Tomorrow” world tour during his appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The tour will begin on April 29 in Vancouver, B.C., six weeks after the release of his first solo album in five years — “Everything I Thought
Hyundai hasn’t put a commercial in the Super Bowl since 2020. On Sunday, it hopes its newest auto ad makes people think of the stuff they might see in the Big Game. The automaker will take to the NFL‘s AFC and NFC Championship Games on Sunday to launch the 2024 Santa Fe — a familiar
“Concrete Utopia,” the highly regarded drama-thriller that was South Korea’s Oscars contender and one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, has scored a streaming release in North America. Rakuten Viki, which specializes in Asian content, has licensed exclusive rights to the film in the U.S. and Canada and will begin streaming it to
Ariana DeBose, Boy George and Nile Rodgers have teamed up for “Electric Energy,” the disco-infused bop featured in Matthew Vaughn’s “Argylle.” Rodgers, who produced the track which plays over the film’s end credits, says he got a call from Vaughn asking if he wanted to be involved. Speaking with Variety over Zoom, the musician said
Ecuador-based 2bLatam, the driving creative force behind the wildly popular Spanish-language comedy channel enchufe.tv, has joined forces with Mexican media & entertainment indie Elefantec Global to develop content around enchufe.tv’s IP. Founded by former Televisa exec José “Pepe” Bastón, Elefantec Global is behind such notable productions as “Bosé” for Paramount+ in Latin America, “La rebellion”
Just a week after wrapping on Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” biopic, Austin Butler arrived in the U.K. to start work on Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ epic World War II drama “Masters of the Air.” He was joined on the Amblin and Playtone co-production by a cast who, like Butler, are poised to become the next
When the news came out in December that “The Grand Tour” — Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond’s post-“Top Gear” automotive series — would be coming to an end, fans were left wondering why. But, in a new interview with The Times, Clarkson has delivered a cheeky yet straightforward answer: it’s because he’s “unfit
Banijay Benelux’s Belgian banner Jonnydepony has set rising star Willem De Schryver from Netflix’s YA hit show” High Tides” (“Knokke Off”) for the title role of “I Was a Cop in the 80s,” ordered by Amazon Prime Netherlands and Flemish streamer Streamz. The period crime drama in development will be pitched by seasoned showrunner Philippe
Lucy van Beek, the award-winning factual TV and film specialist, has launched her own production outfit, Tailfeather Productions. The company, whose focus will be premium specialist factual documentaries and series for streaming platforms, broadcasters and theatrical release, launches with two major commissions, “Alexander: The Making of a God” for Netflix and “Born to Be Wild”
Chosen by Variety as one of 10 Euro Directors to Watch at 2013’s Karlovy Vary’ with her debut “Eat Sleep Die,” a Venice Critics Week winner, Sweden’s Gabriela Pichler confirmed her unique voice with her sophomore pic “Amateurs”, voted best Nordic film at the 2018 Göteborg Film Festival. At this year’s 47th festival, she makes her comeback with “Painkiller,”
Seasoned actor Tinna Hrafnsdóttir (“The Minister,” “The Valhalla Murders”) has joined Icelandic counterparts Aníta Briem (“The Tudors”, “As Long as We Live”) and Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir (“Paris of the North”, “Happily Never After”), successful female actors who have made with panache the leap to screenwriting, sharing the distinction of a nomination for best screenplay of a
Award-winning artist Justin Anderson’s debut feature “Swimming Home” has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Variety has secured access to the first clip from the film. The film, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2012 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, centers on poet Joe (Christopher Abbott) and war photographer Isabel (Mackenzie Davis),
Lotte Cultureworks will launch “Holy Night: Demon Hunters,” likely to be one of the biggest Korean movies of the year, at next month’s European Film Market in Berlin. The occult-themed action movie stars Don Lee, the Korean-American superstar who also fronts “The Roundup” comedy-action franchise. The fourth instalment in that series “The Roundup: Punishment” will
IMAGINARY WORLDWIDE DEAL Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to “The Imaginary,” a currently-on-release Japanese animation film from producer Studio Ponoc. “Studio Ponoc is thrilled to bring our storytelling and innovative hand-drawn, hand-painted animated films to all audiences, and in particular to children and their families to enjoy together, around the world on Netflix,” said
Ahead of its 41st edition, International Film Festival Rotterdam’s industry event CineMart isn’t interested in uniformity. “The trend is diversity,” says head of IFFR Pro Alessia Acone. “We feature different themes, different production structures and different filmmakers. We want to make sure we can represent many things at the same time. This year, more than
In the final chapter of Apple TV+‘s “Masters of the Air,” a despondent Holocaust survivor reflects on burying every member of his family. He says, “To live, one must make choices.” The circumstances of war and survival make these decisions more complex and heart-wrenching. Based on the authoritative account by World War II historian Donald
Belgian group Lumiere has signed as co-producer – via its production arm Lunanime – and distributor for Benelux of the Icelandic crime drama “Haze” from Iceland’s seasoned showrunner Sigurjón Kjartansson (“Trapped” Season 1 & 2, “Katla”). The eight-part series, produced by Kjartansson’s S800 for Icelandic pubcaster RÚV, will be showcased at Göteborg’s TV Drama Vision
Depending on how you look at it, “Ponyboi” is either a Trojan horse for exploring nonbinary gender identity or a hackneyed crime movie with a radically unorthodox queer protagonist. Either way, it’s a sordid yet stylish showcase for intersex actor (and activist) River Gallo, who uses “they/them” pronouns and sees the project as an opportunity
There is a batch of “new” Morgan Wallen product in the marketplace — and he would very much like you to not listen to it. The country superstar took to his social media Thursday night to ask fans not to stream eight just-released tracks that he recorded back in his pre-Big Loud days, indicating that
Solo shows can be a blessing and a curse; they can be some of the most amazing theater you’ve ever seen… or an overindulgent trainwreck. Comedian Kate Berlant has somehow managed to capture the ineffable magic of both experiences with her one-woman show “Kate,” directed by Bo Burnham and now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse
Sony Pictures‘ “Madame Web,” the latest spinoff of the studio’s array of “Spider-Man”-based Marvel characters, has been granted a theatrical release in mainland China. The film will open in the country on March 1 — two weeks after the title’s Valentine’s Day bow in North America and multiple international territories, including the Chinese-language markets of
PBS and ABC News were among the top winners at the duPont-Columbia Awards, some of the top honors accorded each year to audio and video reporting done in the public interest. The 15 award winners of 2024 were announced Thursday during a special ceremony. The awards have been administered since 1968 by Columbia University’s Graduate
The George Carlin estate has filed a lawsuit against Dudesy, the media company behind the recent viral AI-generated hour-long comedy special “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” which featured an approximation of the late comedian’s voice and comedy style that was allegedly generated by a chatbot trained by Carlin’s own material. Filed in California federal
Amid the surfeit of films about women’s rights and men’s abuses of power that have emerged in the wake of the #MeToo reckoning, we haven’t yet seen one quite like “Black Box Diaries.” A tightly wound, heart-on-sleeve procedural documentary, Shiori Ito‘s directorial debut identifies a world of systemic iniquities through the prism of a single,
“Succession” Emmy winner Sarah Snook said on a recent episode of BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program that she was too “young and naive” to push back against a film producer who openly berated her for eating cake on set. It was one of two instances of body shaming that Snook remembered during an interview with The
Variety‘s Awards Circuit is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the the official predictions for the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual
Billy Dee Williams appeared on Entertainment Weekly’s “Dagobah Dispatch” podcast and discussed the backlash he’s faced throughout the years due to the “Star Wars” franchise. Williams debuted as Lando Calrissian in “The Empire Strikes Back,” which includes a moment in which Lando makes a deal with the Empire that leads to Han Solo being captured and
If there’s an Avengers of television directors, “The Last of Us” just assembled it. The juggernaut HBO series has landed a murderer’s row of directing talent for Season 2: Mark Mylod, who just won an Emmy for his work on the final season of HBO’s “Succession”; Kate Herron, who directed every episode of the first
Paramount has decided to not move forward with a second season of “Wolf Pack,” Variety has confirmed. Based on Edo Van Belkom’s book series and created by Jeff Davis, the show follows two teens whose lives are changed when a California wildfire awakens a supernatural creature. Season 1 aired in Jan 2023 alongside the “Teen