Following the success of Chris Hemsworth’s “Extraction,” Netflix is doubling down on action movies, tapping Jessica Alba to lead the next one. Sources tell Variety that Alba will star in the new Netflix action-thriller “Trigger Warning,” with Mouly Surya directing. Josh Olson and John Brancato penned the script, and Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica
The corpse of MoviePass — the cinema subscription service that flamed out last year after running out of cash — could be yours for as low as $250,000. The court overseeing the sale of MoviePass’s assets has set June 18 as the deadline for interested bidders. The proceeding comes after MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson
An unauthorized version of Disney’s Club Penguin game for kids went offline Friday. The shutdown of Club Penguin Online came after Disney filed a copyright-takedown notice against the site this week — and after a U.K. man connected with the site was reportedly arrested on child-pornography charges. The unlicensed, fan-run Club Penguin Online website (at
Sinclair Broadcast Group will pay more than 1,000 of its eligible freelance sports broadcast technicians $2,500 each in the second phase of its assistance program, Variety has learned exclusively. A company spokesman said Friday that the payment — a response to the COVID-19 pandemic — will total more than $3 million. The payment comes nearly
Wise Entertainment has signed a first-look deal at Amazon. Wise Entertainment is a production company known for producing five seasons of the Emmy-nominated Hulu drama “East Los High.” The company was founded by producer/writer/director Katie Mota and producer Mauricio Mota. “We are thrilled to be working with Amazon Studios, and their incredibly innovative team,” Katie
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to keep television and film production on an indefinite hiatus, Showtime is shifting its programming strategy to spotlight its documentary series and features by plugging them into the Sunday night schedule, the network’s most-watched programming block. The premium cabler has also picked up the Matt Tyrnauer-directed four-part docuseries “The Reagans,”
Welcome to Variety Music’s first-ever Fri 5, our collection of the best, most noteworthy or simply most remarkable new songs from the past week. It is not complete or definitive or a fight-to-the-death “best of,” but rather a bunch of songs that we find interesting — because a world without five interesting new songs every
Danny Boyle will direct Michael B. Jordan in “Methuselah,” while Simon Beaufoy, who worked with Boyle on “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours,” is being eyed to rewrite the script. The original concept for the film, from Warner Bros., was based on the Biblical story of a man who lived to be 969 years old. But
The “Chrysalis Night In” virtual fundraiser paid tribute to Broadway star Nick Cordero on Thursday night. It was just two days before that the Tony-nominated actor woke up from a medically induced coma after complications from his battle with COVID-19 The Chrysalis benefit was co-hosted by Zach Braff, who got emotional while talking about his
The Directors Guild of America has been fast-tracking nearly $9 million in foreign levies to 5,000 directors over the past week. “As production remains suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Guild has continued its work to expedite vital income when it is most needed,” the DGA announced Friday. “Foreign levies are fees collected by
You can now add Apple’s “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” to the burgeoning list of TV series which are producing one-off, virtual specials. The workplace comedy series, which hails from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” stars and executive producers Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, has shot a half-hour quarantine episode launching May 22 on Apple TV
It was revealed in Bong Joon Ho’s 2013 feature film “Snowpiercer” that the titular train needed children in order to carry on its mission of lapping the globe in perpetual motion. They were cogs in the machine — literal replacement parts — as the train was already wearing down after only a few years of
ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” which reaches its climax May 17, focuses on Michael Jordan and the six-time NBA champion Chicago Bulls. In one sense, the show couldn’t come at a better time, filling the void caused by canceled live sporting events and delivering the exploits of a legend. Production house Sim intended to assemble the
“American Idol” has been renewed for a fourth season at ABC. The news comes just days ahead of the Season 3 finale, which will air on the broadcast network on May 17. Among the performances scheduled for the finale are: Luke Bryan performing his new single “One Margarita;” Katy Perry performing her new single “Daisies;”
The cyber-extortionists who stole a trove of private data from entertainment law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks now have a new target in their sights: President Donald Trump. In a blog post Thursday on the dark web viewed by Variety, the hacker collective that is holding thousands of the law firm’s documents hostage —
Prom night has been put on hold due to the coronavirus outbreak, but students will be able to celebrate virtually with the help of Michelle Obama and MTV. MTV’s “Prom-athon” will take place on May 22, with an all-day virtual lineup of “throwback movies” and short-form original content. In tandem with the event, Obama launched
A new musical based on the classic film “Some Like It Hot” will premiere on Broadway in the fall of 2021. The show, which features a book by “The Inheritance’s” Matthew Lopez and music and lyrics from the “Smash” and “Hairspray!” team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, was originally scheduled to debut in Chicago
“Purge 5,” the latest chapter in Universal Pictures’ dystopian horror franchise, has been indefinitely delayed. The film, titled “The Forever Purge,” was set to release in theaters July 10 and has been pulled from the studio’s calendar. The move underscores the fact that Hollywood studios don’t expect cinemas will be able to operate in full
Quibi and LeBron James’ Uninterrupted sports media company are teaming up for a new docuseries about a cheating scandal that has gone down in baseball infamy. The short-form content platform has ordered “Sign Language” (working title), a series which aims to give viewers an inside look at the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal and its
When it came to designing the court of Peter III in Hulu’s “The Great,” which premieres May 15, production designer Francesca di Mottola carefully avoided the style of the Versailles-like Russian Winter Palace. “We wanted to invent our world for the show,” she says. Created by Tony McNamara, “The Favourite” screenwriter, the show focuses on
“RuPaul’s Drag Race,” like many other reality shows this season, is going virtual amid the coronavirus pandemic. VH1 ru-vealed on Friday that both “Drag Race’s” reunion episode on May 22 and the Season 12 finale on May 29 have been shot virtually. In previous seasons, the finale was filmed in front of a live audience,
“How to Get Away With Murder” signed off with an ending to die for on ABC last night, scoring its largest audience since Oct. 2018. The final appearance of Viola Davis as Annalise Keating scored a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.2 million total viewers. That represents the show’s highest rating of its sixth
The coronavirus crisis is deepening an already dire economic outlook for the nation’s newsrooms as companies launch furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts, union leaders are asserting. “The news business is in deep trouble,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of Writers Guild For America East. “The economic crisis has gutted ad revenues.” Peterson explained that the 3,500
Vice Media Group, which includes Refinery29, is laying off 155 employees, or more than 5% of its total worldwide headcount, in response to revenue declines stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. About two-thirds of the staff cuts (around 100) will be international, with 55 layoffs affecting U.S. employees, Vice Media Group CEO Nancy Dubuc wrote in
Facebook is snapping up Giphy in a deal reported to be worth $400 million, and the social giant plans to combine the GIF and sticker-sharing company’s services primarily with Instagram. “Giphy makes everyday conversations more entertaining, and so we plan to further integrate their GIF library into Instagram and our other apps so that people
Country star Keith Urban and his crew motored out to a drive-in theater Thursday night to put on a private concert for about 200 health care workers packed into 125 vehicles. The show took place at the nearest drive-in to Nashville, the Stardust in rural Watertown, Tennessee, which took the night off from doing sellout
The survival of Europe’s film and TV producers amid what is perceived as a growing imbalance between them and U.S. streaming giants was the overarching topic in a Rome MIA market panel on the main challenges faced by European indies as lockdown restrictions begins to lift across the European Union (E.U.). Platforms such as Netflix,
CBS All Access is bringing back some fan-favorite characters for a another brand new “Star Trek” series. The streamer has given a series order to “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” starring Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Pike, Spock,
Katy Perry spoke about her upcoming album, whose lead track “Daisies” just dropped, her performance of the song for Sunday’s “American Idol” season finale, and life in lockdown in an interview with BBC radio deejay Zoe Ball Friday. Speaking about the release on Aug. 14 of her fifth studio album, as yet untitled, Perry said:
“Masterpiece” is not a word we use lightly around here, but it’s hard to think of a better description for “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately,” the fifth and latest album from Perfume Genius. The genius in question is singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas, whose high, quavering voice and elaborate songs and arrangements cover such wide stylistic