Penned in by stay-at-home measures to fend off a pandemic, America’s audiences are turning to their television screens for comfort and distraction. Netflix, for one, saw an estimate-crushing 15.8 million jump in paid subscribers in its most recently reported quarter, more than twice as many as the streaming company expected. It is not the only
There are more “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” Original director André Øvredal, Guillermo del Toro, and writers, brothers Dan and Kevin Hageman, are all returning for a sequel. Paramount Pictures and Entertainment One will co-finance “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 2.” The second installment will be based on a story by
In today’s film news roundup, Maisie Williams’ “The Owners” and crime thriller “Chameleon” get acquired and Adam Alleca’s sci-fi project “Singular” is in the works at Netflix. ACQUISITIONS RLJE Films has acquired the North American rights to the thriller “The Owners,” starring Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”), Jake Curran, Ian Kenny, Andrew Ellis, Sylvester McCoy
The good folks of the Parks and Recreation Department in Pawnee, Indiana are back for more hijinks, well, at least for a little while. NBC has announced that the cast of its iconic sitcom “Parks and Rec” is set to reunite for a half-hour scripted special airing on April 30, in aid of COVID-19. Almost
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has made an incredibly generous financial donation to organizations representing working songwriters: the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and Songwriters of North America (SONA). The two will split $500,000 and provide additional support to their constituents struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic and shifting needs in the music marketplace. Both organizations will
Many of Fox Sports’ on-air anchors and analysts will take a temporary pay cut, largely in tandem with compensation decreases among top executives at parent company Fox Corporation, which is, like many other media conglomerates, grappling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on operations. Fox Corp. said Wednesday that top executives, including Rupert Murdoch
The Emmys must go on, and the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will become the first to hand out awards in this current shelter-at-home environment. The 63rd annual New York Emmy Awards will be announced on Saturday via a pre-produced webcast that could serve as a template for
In today’s TV news roundup, Hulu released the trailer for “The Great,” and AMC dropped a teaser for “Quiz.” DATES Paramount Network has announced “Yellowstone” Season 3 will premiere on June 21. The series follows the Dutton family and the conflicts that arise along the shared borders of their large cattle ranch. This season welcomes
Taylor Swift was not pleased when fans began alerting her Thursday to the impending release of a live album from her early days as a recording artist, taking to social media to slam Big Machine for being “tasteless” and showing “shameless greed” in exploiting her catalog by putting out “Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008”
Hanno Basse, former chief technology officer of 20th Century Fox Film, has landed at Microsoft’s Azure, where he’s the tech company’s liaison to the media and entertainment industry. Basse, who joined Microsoft last month, is CTO of Azure Media and Entertainment. Based in L.A., his charter is to work with Hollywood studios, television networks and
Fox Entertainment has brought on SideCar, its content development accelerator, and writer and executive producer Rob Long to develop the multi-camera comedy, “The Texanist.” Variety exclusively learned in January that Fox was in the very early stages of developing the series, which is based on a long-running advice column from writer David Courtney. According to
Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD has partnered with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall to provide $6 million in funding to mental health and personal wellness services as the coronavirus pandemic continues to throttle the country. The mental health initiative includes a key national partnership with UCLA. BeyGOOD has also partnered with the National Alliance in Mental Illness, which
Sometimes it snows more than once in April. “Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince” did well enough in the ratings for CBS Tuesday night that the network has scheduled the special for an instant rerun, to air Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The two-hour tribute, well received by casual fans as
Frederick Thomas, best known as his rap alias Fred the Godson, has died from coronavirus-related complication. He was 35. The Bronx rapper revealed his diagnosis on April 6 via social media, sharing a picture of himself on a ventilator in the hospital. His wife, LeeAnn Jemmott, told Brooklyn’s News 12 on April 8 that Thomas
“Straight Outta Compton” star Jason Mitchell was arrested in Mississippi on Wednesday on four felony drug and weapons charges, according to the Harrison County Sheriff’s department. The 33-year-old actor was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, plus two counts of possession of a weapon by a felon.
Breaking News Tekashi 6ix9ine is getting super close to releasing new music … because he’s begging the judge to let him shoot music videos in his own backyard. According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Tekashi’s legal team is asking Judge Engelmayer to allow the rapper to spend up to 2 hours in his
California Film Commission chief Colleen Bell says state officials are making progress on hammering out details for the resumption of film and TV production following industrywide shutdowns in light of the coronavirus pandemic. But they’re moving forward cautiously as the process is complicated, to say the least. “We are having daily conversations about the protocols,”
Great Odin’s Raven! There’s an “Anchorman” reunion on the cards at Apple TV Plus. The streamer has handed a straight-to-series order for “The Shrink Next Door,” a comedy limited series which will see Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd reunite on screen for the first time since “Anchorman 2.” Apple won the rights to the series,
Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network will simulcast a special “America Together” program aimed at highlighting inspirational stories of life during the coronavirus pandemic this Sunday, April 26 at 10 p.m., eastern, the latest example of new programming concepts being developed by TV-news outlets in a singular news cycle. The one-hour special will be
Earlier this month, HBO’s “The Plot Against America” came to a rousing end. It was up to production designer Richard Hoover to help the multiple directors of the show create the look for the show’s alternate timeline which posits that aviator Charles Lindbergh, played by Ben Cole, a Nazi sympathizer, is elected president in 1940
Paramount Pictures has tapped Steve Conrad to pen a film about the Adewumi family, who fled Nigeria after being threatened by Boko Haram, sources tell Variety. Trevor Noah will produce through his Day Zero Productions banner, with State Street Pictures’ George Tillman Jr. and Bob Teitel. The drama will tell the story of a Nigerian
Talk show veteran Jason Kurtz has been named executive producer and showrunner of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” the syndicated daytime series coming from CBS Television Distribution in the fall. Kurtz will take the reins of the celebrity and lifestyle series fronted the actor and entrepreneur who grew up in the public eye from her breakthrough
Scheduled contract negotiations between Hollywood studios and the Writers Guild of America have hit a bump over the issue of the guild’s health plan after WGA lead negotiator David Young called his studio counterparts “despicable.” It’s unclear whether the dispute could derail the start of scheduled talks, set for May 11. The Alliance of Motion
It takes more than a pandemic to keep “Saturday Night Live” off the air. The venerable NBC late-night program will air a new “remote” episode this weekend, according to the show’s Twitter feed, despite conditions under the coronavirus pandemic that make its normal production impossible to accomplish. “SNL” typically runs live in front of an
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted on-location filming in greater Los Angeles with an 18% decline so far this year, according to a report released Thursday by the FilmLA permitting agency. “After starting strong in January, on-location filming in L.A. slowed in March following a series of voluntary cutbacks and progressively tightening public gathering limits,” FilmLA
Jonny Campbell, who recently directed Netflix’s “Dracula” series, will helm Paramount’s “Cold Storage,” an adaptation of veteran screenwriter David Koepp’s first novel. Koepp became the go-to screenwriter for blockbusters, having worked on features like “Jurassic Park,” “Angels and Demons”, “Panic Room,” and “Mission: Impossible.” When he brought his debut book to the market in 2018,
Fox is setting the full run of “The Masked Singer” free. Just days after Fox Corp. clinched its acquisition of free-streaming platform Tubi, it’s putting the division to work to monetize its biggest hit. All episodes of “The Masked Singer” seasons 1 and 2, and the first 11 episodes from the current season 3, will
Lighting was a key part of the second season of Jemaine Clement’s mockumentary series “What We Do in the Shadows,” about a pack of vampires on Staten Island, which returned April 15 via FX, and airs on Hulu the following day. Cinematographer D.J. Stipsen shot most of the show’s first season as well as the
Drag queens aren’t exactly what come to mind when thinking about small-town America. But “RuPaul Drag’s Race” stars Shangela, Eureka O’Hara and Bob the Drag Queen are hoping to change all that. In HBO’s new unscripted series “We’re Here,” which premieres April 23, the trio travels to the Bible Belt and other conservative pockets of
Other than the actual fundraising, one of the enjoyable things about “at home” music events in this time of coronavirus is watching artists perform unvarnished. This was largely true of BET’s “Saving Ourselves” event (dubbed S.O.S.) on Wednesday (April 22). Although most of the videos were pre-recorded using backing tracks, the home-spun feel of the