J. Crew has filed for bankruptcy, becoming the first major US retailer to do so amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement released early Monday morning, May 4, the retailer—made popular by the likes of Meghan Markle and Michelle Obama—said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is working with its lenders
The World’s Strongest Man organization is launching its first ever Snapchat series. “World’s Strongest Man: Home Edition” is set to debut on today, May 4 and run for eleven weeks, with new episodes debuting each Monday. New episodes will be available on Snapchat’s Discover page. The series comes ahead of the 2020 World’s Strongest Man
MADRID — 2bOriginals, the newly created production arm of 2b, a leading digital media group with offices in Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and the U.S., is teaming with top Dutch production company NewBe to produce hit film franchise ‘Misfit’ for Spanish-speaking markets. The remake forms part of a deal which sees 2bOriginals acquiring the rights
LevelK has boarded Anna Hildur’s directorial debut “A Song Called Hate,” a documentary revolving around Hatari, the performance art group which made headlines at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest. LevelK is handling world sales excluding Iceland. Executive produced by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (“20,000 Days on Earth”), the documentary follows the journey of Hatari,
Jeffrey Katzenberg is facing a big new foe — notorious activist hedge fund Elliott Management — in a legal fight accusing his mobile-streaming startup Quibi of patent infringement and theft of trade secrets, Variety has confirmed. Elliott Management, which claims to have some $40 billion in assets under management, has made an investment in interactive-video
Shares in Spanish telco giant Telefonica were trading 4% higher at 4.35 Euros ($4.76) Monday after it confirmed that it is in talks with John Malone’s cable company Liberty Global about the merger of its U.K. mobile-phone operator O2 with Liberty Global’s Virgin Media, a leading provider of pay-TV, broadband, fixed-line and cell-phone services to
Veteran exec Andrew Schneider has joined Fox Bet as chief marketing officer. Schneider joins Fox Bet, an online sports-betting product that is a joint venture between the Stars Group and Fox Corp., after most recently having served as senior VP, marketing, for Disney Streaming Services. In his new role, Schneider will oversee all marketing functions
A cinematic essay about life, memory and time, Argentine Nicolas Prividera’s “Adios a la Memoria” (“A Farewell to Memory”), the Doc Works in Progress (WIP) winner at Spain’s Malaga Film Festival, captures the life and recollections of the filmmaker’s Alzheimer’s-stricken father. Produced by Pablo Ratto of Trivial Media, “Adios a la Memoria” does so through
U.K. television news producer ITN has called for more stringent regulation of social media giants to stem the rise of fake news and misinformation. The producer of news for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 has published a submission to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee’s inquiry into the future of journalism. In
Peter Hamblin’s “RISS. A Film About More Love with Carissa Kainani Moore,” a documentary about the world champion surfer, will receive its digital premiere on May 7 on Refinery29’s Facebook Watch, followed by a Q&A with Moore. The film, produced by Red Bull Media House and Hamblin Imagery, will also be available on Red Bull
ITV has pulled the plug on this year’s edition of “Love Island” over coronavirus concerns, leaving a major void in the broadcaster’s summer schedule. Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV, confirmed Monday that the U.K. broadcaster has “tried every which way to make ‘Love Island’ this summer, but logistically it’s just not possible to
The coronavirus outbreak has caused an 88% drop in theatrical box office income in Asia-Pacific. The figure comes from a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence and OPUSData, which shows just $528 million of box office revenue in the world’s largest theatrical region over the January to March period. Cinemas around Asia reacted differently and
The Sydney Film Festival will go ahead in a smaller and all-digital format next month, organizers announced on Monday. They had previously announced that this year’s event would be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, and that the next edition would be held in 2021. The virtual festival will run June 10-21. The program will
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the season 3 finale of “Westworld.” A bumper “Westworld” finale was headlined by multiple (possible) character deaths and the dismantling of Serac (Vincent Cassel) and Rehoboam’s power over humanity. The episode kicked off with Caleb (Aaron Paul) being led taken to a facility where Dolores
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not seen “The New Decas,” the season 5 premiere of Showtime’s “Billions.” Can the group of hardcore characters who fuel the “Billions” universe overcome their baser instincts to find success and happiness? These are the broad themes of the fifth season of “Billions,” Showtime’s twisty-turny drama series set
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Zoey’s Extraordinary Dad,” the Season 1 finale of “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.” The time Zoey Clarke (Jane Levy) — and let’s face it, most of the audience of “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” — has been dreading has come. In the first season finale of Austin Winsberg’s
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Journeycake,” the 11th episode of “Outlander” Season 5. In the 10th episode of “Outlander,” the show jumped the Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) storyline ahead in time, skipping quite a bit of cat-and-mouse chasing from Diana Gabaldon’s book series. Instead, it neatly wrapped up Bonnet’s
CBS News veteran Lesley Stahl revealed a weeks-long battle with coronavirus in the waning minutes of Sunday’s broadcast of “60 Minutes,” adding to the list of prominent journalists who have grappled with the disease. CBS News and Stahl, who is 78 years old and the “60 Minutes” correspondent most associated to the show’s earlier days
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer watched last weekend’s “Saturday Night Live at Home” and noticed one thing wrong about Cecily Strong’s impression of her. She was drinking a Canadian Labatt beer — not a Michigan brew — so the governor mailed her a homemade care package. Strong, one of the long-running “SNL” cast members, posted a
Carole Baskin, one of the zookeepers who skyrocketed to fame from Netflix’s “Tiger King,” hasn’t done many interviews because she was unhappy with how the docuseries presented her. However, she was recently tricked into giving an interview over Zoom by YouTubers posing as “Tonight Show” producers. Josh Pieters and Archie Manners, who have more than
If you thought pirates were just out at sea being bad, you’d be wrong — Washington state cops say there’s piracy happening on their own porches … by none other than nurses!!! Fake nurses, rather. This story comes to you from Kennewick, Washington … where the local police department released photos of two women dressed
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Never Have I Ever,” streaming now on Netflix. Since fans finished binge watching the first season of Netflix’s new comedy series “Never Have I Ever,” one debate has dominated Internet conversation — and star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s DMs — are you Team Ben or Team
As cars lined up by the dozens to get into the Mission Tiki Drive-In before dusk on Friday night, the producer of one of the films showing at the four-screen outdoor venue was holding a clipboard, manning a guest list for cast and crew members who were driving across the L.A. County line to Montclair
Francesca Mazzoleni’s “Puntasacra,” Francisco Bermejo’s “The Other One” and Nick Brandestini’s “Sapelo” scooped the top prizes in the three major sections at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel prize ceremony Sunday night, held online as the whole of the documentary festival. Major plaudits in the festival’s main International Feature Film Competition also went to Markku Lehmuskallio and
The Grammy-winning band Gorillaz has dropped a new song titled “How Far?” in honor of the legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, who died April 30 at the age of 79 from an aortic aneurysm. Allen, an Afrobeat pioneer who worked for many years with Fela Kuti, was featured on several songs by Gorillaz, the group
Gil Schwartz, the colorful longtime CBS executive who was also an author and columnist under the pen name Stanley Bing, died Saturday of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica. He was 68. Schwartz led communications at CBS for more than 20 years. He was well-liked and respected by journalists for his erudite and
Matt Keough, a former pitcher for the Oakland Athletics who appeared on “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” has died. He was 64. The Major League Baseball team announced the sad news on Saturday night with a statement from Billy Beane, the team’s executive vice president of baseball operations. “He left an unforgettable impression on
Drake helped break the tedium of lockdown with a mixtape drop on Friday, which had been teased for a few hours before its release. “Dark Lane Demo Tapes, aptly named for the these somber times, includes all of the rapper’s recent singles including the massive, TikTok-assisted “Toosie Slide,” “When to Say When” and “Chicago Freestyle”
At only 18 years old, “Never Have I Ever” star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is soon to become a household name, but the Canadian teen isn’t letting any of the early success of the go to her head. “I think I’ll always just be a girl from Mississauga,” Ramakrishnan said on the Variety After Show, presented by
Film4 deputy director and industry titan Sue Bruce-Smith has died following a battle with cancer. She was 62. Bruce-Smith had been receiving treatment for cancer at home in Dublin, Ireland, with the support of her family. She died Saturday morning, Film4 confirmed to Variety. Bruce-Smith, a well-respected figure in the British film industry, spent 20