Netflix is expected to hike prices on its streaming plans in 2024 — a move that should accelerate its revenue and earnings growth — as it continues to take a bigger bite out of overall TV viewing, according to analysts at UBS Securities. “We expect to see rate increases this year” by Netflix, UBS analysts
Lil Nas X’s feature documentary has been acquired by Universal Pictures Content Group for international distribution. “Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero” is a fly-on-the-wall feature helmed by Oscar-nominated director Carlos López Estrada (“Billie Eilish: When the Party’s Over”) and filmmaker Zac Manuel. It follows the Grammy-winning artist as he embarks on his first world
Jake Gyllenhaal is trying to cool the controversy surrounding his upcoming action movie “Road House,” a remake of the 1989 cult favorite starring Patrick Swayze. The Amazon Prime Video movie has been slammed by none other than its director, Doug Liman, who is boycotting the film’s release due to Amazon’s decision not to open the
PRODUCTION Filming is currently underway in Bali and Milan on “Forza” from Indonesia’s Adhya Pictures (“Glenn Fredly: The Movie”) and U.S.-based Riva Studios. Written and directed by Marco Balsamo, who previously produced “The Brave,” the film tells the story of Bima, an 11-year-old boy, living in poverty in Bali, who dreams of becoming a professional
Taskovski Films Sales has picked up documentary “My Sextortion Diary,” directed and produced by Patricia Franquesa. The film, which explores Franquesa’s reaction to an attempted digital blackmail that occurred in 2019, will have its world premiere at SXSW. Variety debuts the trailer, below. In May 2019, a laptop belonging to Franquesa is stolen during a
The bruising battle over royalties between Universal Music Group and TikTok entered a new and more severe stage in the early hours of Tuesday as songs published by UMG began to be removed from the platform. The standoff, which began earlier this month, initially saw recordings owned or distributed by UMG removed from the platform,
Stephen A. Smith, known for his no-filter commentary on sports, politics and culture, has a new podcast partner. “The Stephen A. Smith Show” has joined iHeartMedia’s iHeartPodcast Network, after originally launching with radio and audio company Audacy’s Cadence13. The show is produced by Smith’s Mr. SAS with Smith serving as executive producer. New episodes of
Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” topped the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £2.3 million ($3 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The biopic now has a total of £11.3 million after its second weekend on release. Studiocanal’s “Wicked Little Letters” debuted in second place with £1.6 million. Universal’s “Migration”
The Sundance queer drama “Sebastian,” directed by up-and-coming Finnish-British director Mikko Mäkelä, has been bought by Kino Lorber for U.S. distribution, along with a string of international buyers. Represented in international markets by LevelK, the film made its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. “Sebastian” follows Max (Ruaridh
The Brit crime comedy “Down Terrace” was a hit with critics back in 2009. Made on a shoestring budget and shot over a little more than a week, it was lapped up for giving a uniquely dark and hilarious twist to the standard gangster flick while adding splashes of U.K. kitchen-sink social realism into the
Welcome to Same Same But Different. As Gen Z and millennial fashion editors, respectively, we know a thing or two about shopping—for all ages, and especially our demographics. As we find the best products for you, we can’t help but do a little shopping for ourselves and build our personal (age-appropriate) wish lists. And now,
A new study indicates that the tenets that contributed to “Barbie’s” $1.4 billion box office success and pop culture dominance — namely featuring a female-led ensemble — was the exception rather than the rule in Hollywood this year. Outside of Barbieland and a handful of other movies that were fronted by female characters, there was
Following on the news that the music industry generated some $9 billion on Spotify in 2023, the streaming giant has revealed that half of that total went to independent labels and artists — $4.5 billion. Streaming has leveled the playing field in many ways since it became the main platform for music around a decade
The U.K.’s Film and TV Charity has been liaising with Muslim, Arab and Jewish screen industry workers following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and the subsequent war against Hamas. Representatives of all three groups have taken part in a total of 10 independent roundtables attended by senior leaders from broadcasters, production companies, newsroom executives,
Germany’s Beta Film is introducing at the London TV Screenings the first episode of “Maxima,” a six-part drama about the love story between future Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and the then Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. The series is produced by Millstreet Films “The Neighbors”), with Videoland (RTL Netherlands) holding Dutch broadcasting rights. “Maxima” is
Japan will next month open the first round of film and TV production funding under its previously-teased location incentive scheme. The scheme offers reimbursement of up to 50% of qualifying expenditure in Japan, with an upper limit of JPY1 billion ($6.66 million) on each disbursement. Targeting larger-scale productions, the scheme is open to: film, TV
One of Banijay’s scripted centrepieces at the London TV Screenings, the Swedish crime drama “Fallen” (“Sanningen”), sees the first reunion of star actor Sofia Helin, writer Camilla Ahlgren, and Stockholm-based Filmlance International since the multi-season hit crime show “The Bridge” (2011-2018). Their collaboration has paid off again as “Fallen” has wooed a first batch of
The BBC has acquired a new K-pop reality series tentatively titled “Made in Korea.” The show follows a British boyband as they head to a K-pop boot camp in Korea, where the bandmembers will learn from experts behind some of the country’s biggest music exports. “Featuring incredible performances, television gold and a band set to
Acclaimed filmmaker John Sayles has revealed exactly what he thinks of former U.S. President Donald Trump‘s wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Sayles wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated 1996 film “Lone Star,” a Western set in a Texas border town where Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) unearths long-buried secrets amid racial strife. Since the film was
European giant Beta Film, known for ambitious titles such as “Babylon Berlin” and “The Swarm,” has shared with Variety in exclusivity a first-look picture of 1o-part series “Rise of the Raven,” which it hails as “one of the most epic European TV productions of all time.” “Rise of the Raven” weighs in as a passion project of
U.K.-based distributor DCD Rights has pre-sold the fourth season of New Zealand’s mystery drama “My Life Is Murder” to a raft of territories ahead of its Feb. 27 official launch at the London Screenings. Starring Lucy Lawless (“Top of the Lake,” “Spartacus,” “Xena: Warrior Princess”), the series’ brand new season rights have been secured by
Israeli surrogacy drama “A Body That Works” has been renewed for a second season. “A Body That Works” (titled “Goof Shlishi” in Hebrew) was Israel’s highest rating drama of 2023. The series, which stars Rotem Sela (“The Baker and the Beauty”) and “Fauda’s” Lior Raz, tells the story of a couple struggling with infertility who
Enough with the winter gloom: Feel-good shows are about to take over TV market London Screenings, as distributors echo Russell Crowe’s Maximus iconic words: “Are you not entertained?” “Most platforms are looking for entertaining shows. Escapism is a big thing,” says Fremantle International CEO Jens Richter. “You want to take the audience somewhere else
Is this now an age of TV caution? A brace of big swings at this week’s London TV Screenings belie that trend, and few come bigger than the English-language action thriller “Paris Has Fallen,” which Studiocanal launches at this week’s London TV Screenings. Like other major LTVS plays, it takes a mainstream genre – such as,
When “Dune: Part Two” star Stellan Skarsgård saw Austin Butler as the cruel and sadistic Feyd-Rautha for the first time, he laughed. “I laughed so much because it was so obvious that he really enjoyed being evil,” Skarsgård told Variety at the “Dune: Part Two” premiere Sunday night in New York City. Butler’s Feyd-Rautha is
The Berlin Film Festival said Monday that it has filed criminal charges following the hacking of its Panorama section’s Instagram social media site, which was used to post antisemitic messages. After a politically charged edition, festival organizers also attempted to distance the Berlinale management from the stances taken by some of the awards winners at
Can NBC squeeze ten years’ worth of Jimmy Fallon at its signature “Tonight Show” into just two hours? The network is going to try. NBC plans to celebrate a decade of Fallon at the helm of its venerable late-night program with a two-hour anniversary show slated for 9 p.m. eastern on May 14. The special
Taylor Swift‘s team has responded to claims of her father Scott Swift allegedly assaulting a 51-year-old man. After reports claimed Scott, attacked a photographer who was looking to get close to Swift, a representative for the pop singer told Rolling Stone that at the time of the alleged incident, two people were lunging towards Swift
Ariana Grande appeared on the “Zach Sang Show” on Monday night to discuss her new record, “Eternal Sunshine,” out March 8, and her role as Glinda in the upcoming “Wicked” film. Though the details of the singer and actor’s current ventures were slim, Grande did discuss multiple trending topics for both projects. After being asked what
After a string of lawsuits from former associates and employees, Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing yet another legal battle as a former male employee has filed a fifth sexual assault suit against the mogul. Producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed the suit against Combs in the Southern District of New York on Monday, alleging that