Instagram creators who have used the platform to launch full-time careers have, to date, relied on indirect sources of revenue like branded content and merchandise sales to support their livelihoods. Now, the Facebook-owned social platform is rolling out new ways for creators to make money directly from their content on Instagram Live and IGTV. First,
HBO Max has sweetened the elixir for “Harry Potter” fans: It launched Wednesday with all eight of Warner Bros.’s movies based on J.K. Rowling’s popular fantasy book series. HBO Max’s film lineup — which will serve up more than 2,000 movies in the first year — includes all of the “Harry Potter” titles, which star
The U.S. president, amid the worst pandemic in more than a century, took to Twitter — his favored social media platform — to promote a debunked conspiracy theory that a cable news anchor might have killed one of his employees nearly 20 years ago. In recent weeks, Donald Trump has mounted a campaign on Twitter insinuating that
Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven,” the disco-fied 1976 reinvention of the composer’s most famous symphony, seems like an unusual choice for the theme of “Mrs. America,” FX’s Cate Blanchett-starring series on the history of the 1970s women’s movement as seen from the perspective of its fervent opponent, arch-conservative Phyllis Schlafly. The song dates from
As the Venice Film Festival forges ahead with plans to hold its next edition in September, there are still many uncertainties about the shape of what seems poised to become the first major physical film event since the coronavirus outbreak. But one thing is for sure: organizers aren’t letting factors such as the social distancing
The BBC has acquired “DNA,” a Danish-french crime thriller series starring Charlotte Rampling, from Newen Distribution. Co-created by Torleif Hoppe (“The Killing”), “DNA” is an eight-part series following Rolf Larsen, a respected detective working for the Copenhagen police whose life is brutally turned upside down when his baby daughter goes missing. Five years after the
Fremantle has scored a raft of deals on the Iraq war drama series “Baghdad Central” following its well-received world premiere on Channel 4 in the U.K. and its U.S. debut on Hulu. Produced by Fremantle’s scripted label, the series explores the U.S occupation of Iraq in 2003 and is told from the perspective of Iraqis.
The Festival of Far East Film in Udine will open with a world premier screening of “IWeirDo,” a romantic comedy that is curiously prescient about the coronavirus and human obsessions. Entirely shot on an iPhone XS, the film chronicles the meeting of two obsessive compulsives; a young man who is constantly washing his hands, and
The Sydney Film Festival has revealed a heavily Australian leaning selection as the backbone of its first virtual edition. Organizers had planned a real-world festival for late June. But that was canceled in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, which caused cinemas to be closed and audiences confined to their home addresses. More recently, the
Executive producer Willow Grylls has been appointed as co-chief executive officer of New Pictures, whose output includes “The Missing” and “Catherine the Great,” working alongside existing CEO Charlie Pattinson. Elaine Pyke also takes on a new role as creative director. Grylls joined Pattinson and George Faber’s Company Pictures when it was set up, working initially
Sony Pictures International Productions and Amazon Prime Video have closed a multi-picture deal with celebrated Spanish cineaste Álex de la Iglesia to produce a new horror feature film anthology, “The Fear Collection.” Put through Pokeepsie Films, De la Iglesia and Carolina Bang’s Madrid-based production company, the deal will see De la Iglesia direct and/or produce
Joe Biden called President Trump an “absolute fool” for not wearing a face mask during a CNN interview on Tuesday. Biden made an appearance at a Memorial Day event on Monday wearing black face mask, while Trump has refused to wear a mask in several public events during the coronavirus pandemic. Most health experts around
Japan is considering stepping up its laws against cyberbullying. The moves follow the death on Saturday of Hana Kimura, a pro-wrestler and personality in the “Terrace House” reality TV show. “It’s necessary to properly implement procedures to disclose information on senders in order to curb online abuses and rescue victims,” said communications minister Sanae Takaichi
Paul Feig has reflected on the vitriolic response to his women-led “Ghostbusters” reboot, claiming it was similar to criticism faced by Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign for president. In a discussion with Julia Cunningham on “The Jess Cagle Show” on SiriusXM, Feig discussed the vocal negativity that arose following the casting of Kristen Wiig,
Japanese police have arrested Shinji Aoba, the man suspected of the arson attack on Kyoyo Animation last July. The arrest came after he was judged sufficiently recovered from his own burn injuries to face scrutiny. The blaze at the animation production studio killed 36 people and injured another 33. Aoba was found near the scene
Andre Harrell, the music executive who launched Uptown Records and helped usher in a new era of hip-hop flavored soul and R&B, was laid to rest on Saturday (May 23) at George Washington Cemetery in Paramus, NJ. The funeral followed a celebration of his life at Vander Plaat-Caggiano Funeral Home in Fair Lawn, NJ. Harrell
The nation’s TV-news outlets have spent countless hours covering the coronavirus pandemic. On late Wednesday afternoon, for at least a little while, they will focus on something entirely different. CBS News, NBC News and ABC News are preparing to break into regularly scheduled programming a few minutes before 4:30 p.m. eastern Wednesday in a bid
The Tribeca Film Institute has suspended operations and enacted a small wave of layoffs amid ongoing coronavirus havoc, insiders familiar with the decision told Variety. TFI is a non-profit devoted to funding and education aspiring filmmakers, serving as an educational outfit alongside the annual Tribeca Film Festival. Fewer than 10 people were laid off as
In today’s film news roundup, the Sundance supernatural film “Run Sweetheart Run” finds a home, Sundance programmer David Courier retires and “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” gets a week of free screenings. ACQUISITION Amazon Studios has bought Shana Feste’s supernatural film, “Run Sweetheart Run,” starring Ella Balinska, from Blumhouse Productions and Automatik. It
HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s shiny new vessel into the streaming wars, is set to launch on Wednesday, May 27. It’s regularly priced at $14.99 monthly, the same as the existing HBO Now service, but with much more: HBO Max includes everything on HBO plus hundreds of additional titles, including the complete runs of “Friends” and “The
Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli has confirmed he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March, but had a “swift and full recovery” before his hugely successful Easter Sunday webcast. In a Facebook post shared on Tuesday, the opera singer explained he did not reveal his diagnosis earlier because he wanted to protect his family’s privacy and
Twitter has, for the first time, added a warning label to a tweet by President Donald Trump pointing out that what he said is inaccurate. However, the social network was calling out Trump’s falsehoods about mail-in ballots — and was not taking action about Trump’s repeated use of Twitter to promote the unfounded conspiracy theory
An award-winning architectural tour-de-force high above L.A.’s storied Laurel Canyon owned by mononymous hip-hop superstar Pharrell has come for sale at $11.95 million, a substantial amount over the slightly more than $7.1 million the music industry heavyweight, fashion designer and occasional film producer paid for the imposingly gated and heavily fortified property just over five
In today’s TV news roundup, Quibi has released the trailer for “Royalties” starring Darren Criss, and Hulu shared a first look at “Love, Victor.” DATES Fox Business Network will air a fourth installment of its “America Works Together” town hall on May 28 at 11 a.m. during “Varney & Co.” Hosted by Stuart Varney, the town
Writers Guild of America leaders are seeking a wide variety of improvements to script fees and health plan contributions for writers as the guild holds master contract negotiations with studios. “Whether writing theatrical tentpoles, features for streamers, or indie passion projects, taken together these proposals would ensure screenwriters secure gains and protections they need and
After NASA confirmed their plan to work with Tom Cruise and Elon Musk’s SpaceX on a film that would be shot in outer space, sources tell Variety the project has found its director. Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made” has come on to direct the mystery movie, which
Veteran music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas is joining Netflix in the newly created role of director, music creative/production for original series. Starting in July, Patsavas will oversee Netflix’s creative music services and production strategy for original series, “fostering partnerships between the studio, producers and the music industry,” the company tells Variety. A pioneer of the field,
On Friday night, May 22, the internet belonged to a black woman. Amid the usual Instagram DJ live sets, photo dumps of simpler times pre-coronavirus, and sheer boredom Tweets, Congolese designer and Hanifa founder, Anifa Mvuemba, debuted her latest collection Pink Label Congo via 3D renderings on Instagram Live. The move was in response to
The new album by Future, “High Off Life,” got high on the charts, entering the Rolling Stone album chart at No. 1 with 155,300 album units. That tally was calculated from 26,000 full album sales (aided by a merch bundle), 23,500 song sales and 155 million streams. Another new hip-hop entry could be found at
ATX Television Festival has added the HBO series “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” “I May Destroy You” and “Room 104” to its first-ever virtual festival programming lineup, Variety has learned exclusively. In addition, “A Black Lady Sketch Show” creator and showrunner Robin Thede will be joining the festival as part of the “Showrunners: State