Amazon Studios motion picture executive Ted Hope is stepping down from his role under chief Jennifer Salke, Variety has learned. The official word from within Amazon is that Hope left by choice, and will transition out with a multi-year first look producing deal at the streamer. He brought deep indie street cred to the fledgling
Exclusive Boxing star Jermall Charlo is a suspect in a police investigation of a brutal assault that allegedly took place over the weekend … TMZ Sports has learned. Cops in Fort Bend County, Texas tell us they responded to a Missouri City residence at around 10 PM on May 23 … initially for a welfare
Following the news last month that Tom Ascheim would depart as head of Freeform to lead Warner Bros.’ kids and young adults division, the young adult cabler has named Tara Duncan as its new president. She will step into the role on June 8, overseeing strategic planning, brand development, content strategy, original programming, production, scheduling,
Stu Mundel, perhaps the most well-known of L.A.’s TV helicopter reporters — specifically for his frequent coverage of police car chases and brush fires across Southern California — is boarding a new chopper. Mundel has exited his longtime perch at the CBS-owned KCBS/KCAL duopoly for a new gig at crosstown rival KTTV “Fox 11.” KCBS/KCAL
Brandi Carlile is throwing fans or herself a birthday party — take your pick — with a livestream performance of her “By the Way, I Forgive You” album, the first in a promised series of full-album sets, to take place June 1 as a benefit for her band and crew. She’ll be accompanied by bandmates
Just hours after Megan thee Stallion landed her first Billboard number one single for her “Savage” remix featuring Beyonce, the hot girl rapper had another reason to celebrate, getting all dressed up for the virtual premiere of the HBO Max series “Legendary,” where she serves as a judge. Meg joined fellow judges — fashion stylist
Andy Samberg’s romantic comedy “Palm Springs” is hitting Hulu just in time for summer. The movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, was expected to first release in theaters but will instead launch on the streaming service on July 10, along with some drive-in theaters. The announcement is surprising, given how much Neon and Hulu
When Hilal Ibrahim found out that Muslim healthcare workers were throwing away their hijabs in between shifts for infection control purposes, she set out to design a sanitary head scarf that could be easily washed and safely reused. The Minnesota fashion designer and owner of Henna & Hijabs, a boutique specializing in organic henna and
As people who are lucky enough to be able to work from home slide into their 12th week of doing so, certain fashion standbys are starting to feel as remote as a matinee with a large popcorn or a night out at a crowded bar. I’m talking about jeans and all other “hard pants,” anything
After two seasons on YouTube, the series version of “Step Up” has been picked up by Starz, Variety has learned. The new season will continue to hail from series creator and executive producer Holly Sorensen and Lionsgate Television. News of of the move makes a lot of sense given that Lionsgate is Starz’ parent company. The series
“The Good Fight” is the kind of show that deserves to be in the Emmy conversation. The acclaim is almost universal: The program has a solid 80 rank on Metacritic, and Season 4 received a stunning 100% score from 16 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet the series has received just two Emmy nominations: one for
Paul Feig will adapt Soman Chainani’s fairytale fantasy novel “The School For Good and Evil” for Netflix. Feig, whose credits include “Bridesmaids,” “Ghostbusters” and “A Simple Favor,” will direct from a script by David Magee (“Life of Pi”) and Laura Solon. “The School For Good and Evil” was published in 2013 as Chainani’s first novel
Under normal circumstances, film festivals are fiercely competitive. Their reputations rise and fall by the caliber of world premieres they’re able to secure each year, and savvy sales reps and producers play them against one another in the game to book the most advantageous platform for the life of each movie. But there’s nothing normal
Colin Farrell (“The Lobster,” “Dumbo”), whose eclectic acting career underscores a desire to venture off beaten paths, took time during lockdown to share with Variety his thoughts on stepping into virtual reality with “Gloomy Eyes,” a critically acclaimed series that world premiered at Sundance in 2019. The three-part animated VR series, which won prizes at
The U.K. is inching closer to an insurance arrangement that would allow film and TV production to resume with confidence after the industry emerges from lockdown. Variety has confirmed that a U.K. taskforce on insurance protection has submitted a proposal to the government for a guarantee around coverage for suspension or abandonment costs relating to
Cate Blanchett has officially closed a deal to star in director Eli Roth’s movie adaptation of the video game “Borderlands” at Lionsgate. Blanchett will portray Lilith, a legendary thief equipped with magical skills. Lionsgate announced the deal on Thursday, a month after Variety first reported the attachment. The project reunites Blanchett with Roth, who collaborated
When Disney Plus launched last November — with all 30 seasons of “The Simpsons” — it was immediately met with a backlash from fans. The problem: Older, pre-HD episodes were truncated to fit into a 16-by-9 frame, killing many of the show’s visual jokes. Disney quickly pledged to restore the classic segments to their 4:3
Rising Spanish singer Rosalia has dropped the latest in the string of singles that has followed her Grammy-winning 2018 album “El Mal Querer,” her second collaboration with multiplatinum rapper Travis Scott, “TKN.” Says Rosalia of “TKN,” “Travis es un artista al que he admirado mucho desde el principio de su carrera y no me puedo
Signaling its second project bound for Cannes’ late June virtual market, AGC Studios will fully finance and co-produce criminal justice thriller “Panopticon,” AGC chairman-CEO Stuart Ford announced Thursday. Sales arm AGC International is handling international sales; CAA Media Finance, which arranged for the film’s financing, will represent a domestic sale. The two companies will co-represent
Jim Parsons really knows how to play lecherous and repugnant. Just take a look at his work as Henry Willson in “Hollywood,” a new Netflix drama from Ryan Murphy. Wilson, a ruthless powerbroker whose clients included Rock Hudson, Lana Turner, Robert Wagner and Tab Hunter, was a sexual predator who preyed on young men trying
The Locarno Film Festival, which is Europe’s preeminent event dedicated to indie cinema, is moving into the vintage cinema space, just as streamers are snapping up library titles in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Swiss fest’s Locarno Pro industry component is launching Heritage Online, a first-of-its-kind platform that will serve as a database
If you want to put your finger on the pulse of China’s Gen Z, you’d best prepare a hot compress for your bleeding eyeballs and get ready to spend a few hundred hours watching videos on Chinese streamer Bilibili. The NASDAQ-listed site is often referred to as China’s YouTube, yet it is perhaps spiritually closer
Global Citizen has announced its first initiative since the “One World: Together at Home” special, a program that is enlisting celebrities like Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, J Balvin and Justin Bieber to lobby governments and corporations for funding of coronavirus relief funding and programs. Named “Global Goal: Unite for Our Future,” the campaign will also
After being shuttered for almost three months, France’s movie theaters will be allowed to reopen on June 22, confirmed France’s prime minister Édouard Philippe in a televised address on Thursday. Philippe said cinemas will be permitted to reopen everywhere across France on June 22 (or June 24 since releases are scheduled every Wednesday in the
With millions of Americans still under quarantine orders, Hulu is introducing a way for subscribers to sit together on the couch — virtually — to stream TV shows and movies at the same time. Starting May 28, Hulu is beginning to test Watch Party, its first social feature that will let viewers watch titles together
Disney is hoping to lure Star Wars fans back to its theme parks — once they’re allowed to reopen this summer — with the assistance of a new virtual-reality experience that extends the storylines encompassing the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction. ILMxLab, Lucasfilm’s immersive entertainment studio, announced the development of “Star Wars: Tales From the
“Dark Side of the Ring” is now the best-performing series in Vice TV history. According to Nielsen Live+3 data for both seasons of the show, the series as a whole has averaged 423,000 viewers per episode with 242,000 in the adults 18-49 demographic, marking the highest marks in both measures for an original series since
U.S. screenwriter Kirk Ellis, best known for adapting David McCullough’s “John Adams” biography for HBO, has been tapped by Fremantle to write the screenplay for “Bibi,” its TV series about scandal haunted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The previously announced high-end series about the personal and political life of Netanyahu – who on Sunday went
The European Producers Club, one of the continent’s most-prestigious industry associations, has published a set of eight simple but mandatory rules for post-lockdown shooting that it says will protect cast and crew from coronavirus but not overburden the production process. With extensive and complex sets of health and safety measures being published in multiple countries,
ViacomCBS is streamlining its digital marketing and audience development operations within its Entertainment and Youth Group channels division. Tyler Hissey has been promoted to senior VP of digital marketing, giving him oversight of digital marketing and engagement for CMT, Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel, Pop TV and TV Land. Previously he steered digital marketing and audience