The sky was the limit when it came to voice casting “The Last Kids on Earth.” Based on Max Brallier’s graphic novel, the animated Netflix series follows Jack (Nick Wolfhard) and his teenage friends, who spent much of the first season playing video games and zombie-fighting in a post-apocalyptic world that wiped out most of
Using his popularity for good, Post Malone treated fans to a 75-minute-long livestream of Nirvana covers and used the performance as an opportunity to raise money for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO. Joined on bass by Brian Lee and Nick Mack on guitar (playing from Post’s house in Salt Lake City), and on
The current social distancing climate has artists turning to new ways of staying connected to fans, whether through Twitch or Instagram live, releasing cover songs, or in the case of Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman, dropping an entire animated series. The FOB guitarist has released all 10 episodes of his animated series “Mondo Trasho 3042,”
SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will commence negotiations for successor agreements to the SAG-AFTRA TV/theatrical contracts on April 27. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state government stay-at-home orders, talks will be conducted via video teleconference. SAG-AFTRA’s current three-year master contract expires on June 30. The two sides announced the agreement
Sony Pictures has pushed back its two untitled “Spider-Man” sequels for several months as Hollywood studios continue to revamp their release schedules due to the coronavirus pandemic. The studio announced Friday that Marvel-Sony’s “Spider-Man Far From Home” sequel had been moved from July 16, 2021, to Nov. 5, 2021. Sony Pictures Animation’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
The untitled Cassian Andor series at Disney Plus is continuing to build out its cast. Variety has confirmed that both Denise Gough and Genevieve O’Reilly have joined the show, which will serve as a prequel to the film “Rogue One.” O’Reilly will reprise the role of Mon Motha, whom she played in “Rogue One,” while
The “Disney Family Singalong” continued to be one jump ahead of the competition in delayed viewing. ABC’s special rose on a magic carpet to a 3.2 Live+3 rating among adults 18-49, comfortably topping an encore of “The Masked Singer” by almost an entire ratings point. For comparison, the regular “Masked Singer” is averaging a 3.0
In today’s TV News Roundup, Netflix released the trailer for Season 2 of “Dead to Me,” and Global Citizen announced a “Friday Night Lights” cast reunion to benefit the World Health Organization. DATES NBC has made adjustments to its upcoming schedule due to the recent addition of “A Parks and Recreation Special”: “Council of Dads”
British singer-songwriter and author Ian Whitcomb, a long-time resident of Los Angeles, has died at the age of 78. While studying in Dublin, he formed the band Bluesville, which released the single “This Sporting Life.” It reached number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100. Whitcomb’s next song, “You Turn Me On,” reached number 8 on
Stanley Kramer’s executive secretary Leah Bernstein died on Thursday of complications from coronavirus at the Motion Picture & Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles. She was 99. She is the sixth MPTF resident to die of coronavirus complications in the past two weeks, beginning with John Breier on April 7 followed by Allen
Paradigm President Greg Bestick will be retiring from the agency effective immediately. Sources say that Paradigm has not yet named a replacement. Prior to becoming president, Bestick was COO of the agency and began working there in 2009. “Greg played a vital role in the agency’s growth and successes. I am forever grateful to him.
Jerry Bishop, the longtime announcer for “Judge Judy” and a veteran of Los Angeles radio, died April 21 of heart disease. He was 84. Bishop spent 24 years as the announcer for the popular syndicated court show presided over by Judge Judith Sheindlin. Over his long career, Bishop worked as a morning drive-time host for
UPDATED: After a wave of criticism, Live Nation has revised its ticket-refund policies for events cancelled or postponed due to the coronarvirus pandemic. “Fans, we hear you. We don’t want you to be waiting in limbo while shows are being rescheduled,” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino tweeted Friday. “Thanks to your feedback, @LiveNation has revised our refund policy. If
Civil rights activist Tarana Burke founded “Me Too” in 2006, fire-starting a movement that would take down dozens of industry titans guilty of misogyny, sexual misconduct and abuse against women, most famously movie mogul Harvey Weinstein who last month was sentenced to 23 years in a New York State prison on charges of sexual assault
Live Nation’s ticket-refund site with details about events cancelled or postponed due to the coronarvirus pandemic, announced last Friday, is now live. Details of the refund program, now called Ticket Relief, were announced April 17, on the heels of a similar program from AEG Presents, but were not posted until the afternoon of the 24th. They can
Andy King, the viral star of Netflix’s “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” is hosting the Room Service Music Festival. The virtual festival, taking place from Friday to Sunday — on the third anniversary of the infamous Fyre Festival — will include performances by Yungblud, Channel Tres, Pink Sweats, Chromeo, A Boogie wit da
Ryan Reynolds has come aboard to star in and produce an untitled time-travel movie at Skydance with Shawn Levy directing. Skydance is planning a fourth-quarter shoot. Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger will produce along with Reynolds and Levy. Reynolds will star as man who must travel back in time to get help from
A handful states are starting to reopen for business, but theaters around the country remain closed. The major chains are not expecting to open until July at the earliest. But in Oklahoma, one theater is making plans to open well before then. Gov. Kevin Stitt — who stirred controversy in March when he posted a
Brooklyn-based Zero Chill has boarded “Off the Road,” joining Mexican producer Daniela Silva at Mexico’s production collective Tardígrada on a title which will bow from April 25 at the now totally online Visions du Réel Nyon Intl. Film Festival. Primed by financing from Mexico’s Imcine film agency, tapped from its Foprocine investment fund, “Off the
In “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels,” John Logan’s followup series to his previous three-season “Penny Dreadful” drama at Showtime, Natalie Dormer stars as Magda, a shape-shifting demon intent on sowing chaos wherever she goes. The backdrop is 1938 Los Angeles, an era rife with racial tension — the perfect opportunity for a hell goddess to start
It’s hard to imagine now, but once upon a time, there was no such thing as the elaborate, lights-and-lasers pre-game spectacles and music-heavy player introductions popularized by the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls of the 1980s and 1990s. Players would simply jog off the bench and into a formation with their teammates as their names were
Eminem announced today the “Love Your DJ” contest via his Marshall Mathers Foundation, which will aid DJs in his home state of Michigan who may have been financially impacted by the closure of venues and events due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The competition features cash prizes of $313 (the Detroit area code) to the first 500
The Variety Streaming Room will host an exclusive screening presented by BritBox of the first episode of upcoming chilling true crime drama series “A Confession,” followed by a Q&A with star Martin Freeman and director Paul Andrew Williams on May 6 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. BritBox is the first streaming platform
As Hollywood contemplates the risks and uncertainties around going back into production in the coming months after coronavirus-imposed shutdowns, strategies for scaled-back sets are beginning to emerge. Producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Chris Ferguson — from the companies Automatik (“Honey Boy,” “Bad Education”) and Oddfellows (“Child’s Play”), respectively — have created a proposal titled “Isolation Based Production
Andy Cohen, who recently recovered from coronavirus, has called on the FDA to lift its three month waiting period for gay and bisexual men to donate blood and plasma. Broadcasting from his home on Thursday’s “Watch What Happens Live,” Cohen recounted to viewers his recent rejection from a program for coronavirus survivors, who have produced
NBCUniversal said it would hold a one-hour streaming-video presentation for Madison Avenue on May 11 to discuss the advertising marketplace, the first of the big U.S. media companies to commit to a formal conversation with advertisers in the wake of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In a message sent to agencies and clients Friday,
When production of the fifth season of “Superstore” was shut down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there was still one more episode to shoot: the finale. The episode would also mark America Ferrera’s last. The “Superstore” star announced in February that she was leaving the series. Ferrara will still pop up in the
Archive PhotosGetty Images Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still remember what it feels like to wear a bra. Or footwear that isn’t lined with fur. What I can’t remember is when time stopped holding meaning, so lately my hours are marked by when it feels right to brew coffee versus uncork wine.
Paramount has delayed the theatrical releases of “Mission: Impossible 7” and “Mission: Impossible 8,” the next two chapters in Tom Cruise’s action franchise. The seventh installment, originally due in theaters on July 23, 2021, will now debut four months later on Nov. 19, 2021. The eighth entry was set for Aug. 5, 2022, and will
MGM has enacted a round of companywide layoffs, Variety has learned exclusively. The studio’s marketing and distribution arm United Artists Releasing has also furloughed one third of its staff. Around 50 people, roughly 7% of MGM’s 750-person workforce, was eliminated on Friday, insiders said. The cuts impacted the entire operation, including scripted and unscripted television