Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera is beginning to zero in on the event’s upcoming edition in September, which will necessarily be “experimental,” with far fewer U.S. talent on the red carpet and a greater European presence. Speaking Tuesday to Italian news agency ANSA — which has become the fest’s unofficial communication tool during
Apple is bringing back “Fraggle Rock.” Variety has learned that the tech giant’s streaming service has ordered a new iteration of the classic Jim Henson series titled “Fraggle Rock: Rock On!” Each episode will be three to five minutes long, with the first episode of the series available today for free on Apple TV Plus.
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the Season 5 finale of “Better Call Saul,” entitled “Something Unforgivable.” Save for the Season 4 finale of “Better Call Saul,” in which he kills an unsuspecting money wire service employee, Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) has rarely flexed his violent side, although its malevolent potentiality
Chicago is the next stop for ViacomCBS’ streaming-news plans. The media company is today launching a Chicago-focused edition of CBSN, its streaming-video news operation, marking the ninth local version of the service. ViacomCBS owns Chicago’s WBBM and the company has been developing a series of locally based streaming-news outlets in markets where it owns stations.
AT&T wants to use WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, which launches May 27 in the U.S., as a carrot to get people to subscribe or upgrade to its most expensive TV, wireless and internet tiers. The telco on Tuesday outlined multiple promotional offers for HBO Max — regularly priced at $15 per month — that will be
Having trouble falling asleep during these distressing times? Laura Dern is lending her voice to the cause, teaming with mindfulness app Calm to narrate a “sleep story.” “The Ocean Moon,” the story read by Dern, was written by Chris Advansun and takes listeners to the countryside with soothing sounds like cresting waves and campfires. “Quality
In 2019, Dmitri Siegel, VP-global brand at Sonos, was gearing up for the high-def audio company’s launch of Sonos Radio — which debuts today. It provides over 100 streaming options from 60,000 different stations — including exclusive artist-curated programming from Thom Yorke, Brittany Howard and David Byrne among others. But as he thought about how
Now that most of us are homebound, trying our best to social distance and do our part to ease the spread of COVID-19, household chores have taken on a new meaning. Gone are the days of leisurely hanging around a laundromat waiting for your sheets to finally dry, not to mention hiring a handyman or
Monday night saw some pretty significant dips in the TV ratings, as “9-1-1” dropped to a season low and “The Voice” ticked down. The Fox show scored a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.6 million total viewers, a season 3 low in the former metric, but not in the latter. Episodes four through nine
Vivendi, the parent company of Canal Plus Group and Universal Music Group, has acquired a 10.6% stake in Lagardere, the troubled French media conglomerate helmed by Arnaud Lagardère. “This acquisition is a long-term financial investment reflecting Vivendi’s confidence in the future prospects of the French group, which enjoys international leadership positions in its businesses, and
Millie Bobby Brown’s newest film is coming to Netflix. The streaming site has acquired the global rights, excluding China, to Legendary Entertainment’s “Enola Holmes,” in which Brown plays the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. The film tells the story of the younger Holmes, who is a gifted super-sleuth in her own right and often outsmarts
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the Season 5 finale of “Better Call Saul,” titled “Something Unforgivable.” Gustavo Fring, played by Giancarlo Esposito, may have made himself scarce in Monday night’s Season 5 finale of “Better Call Saul,” but he proved crucial in setting off the events leading up to the
Rosalie Varda, a seasoned French film producer who is the daughter of late New Wave filmmaking icons Agnes Varda and Jacques Demy, has been appointed senior advisor at MK2 Films. MK2 Films is part of the arthouse production, sales and exhibition group headed by Nathanael and Elisha Karmitz which had five movies in competition at
“The Willoughbys” hits Netflix this Wednesday, the latest in the streaming platform’s slate of animated, family-friendly features. Based on the Lois Lowry books, the film follows the four Willoughby children, who live in a house where their self-centered parents neglect them, depriving them of love. The children devise a plan to send their parents on
UPDATED: Classic past performances by Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Green Day, Cardi B, Ed Sheeran, Janelle Monáe, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Uzi Vert, David Guetta, and many more will be part of the massive three-day PlayOn virtual festival this weekend, supporting the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization (WHO), powered by the UN
WarnerMedia has set the start date for HBO Max: It’s slated to barrel into the streaming wars on May 27. The subscription-streaming package, with some 10,000 hours of content out of the gate, will debut May 27 in the U.S., priced at $14.99 monthly (the same as HBO Now). WarnerMedia announced the launch date Tuesday
Switzerland’s Rita Productions, producer of Academy Award-nominated “My Life as a Courgette,” is re-teaming with France’s Silex Films, the company behind France Televisions’ Slash hit series “Stalk,” to develop “Witch!” (“Sorciere!”). Aiming to rehabilitate the figure of the witch in contemporary society, doc-feature “Witch!” is based on the bestselling essay by Mona Chollet, “Witches, the
Disney Plus is making hit ABC television special “The Disney Family Singalong” available to subscribers of its new streaming platform. The one-hour lockdown special first aired in the U.S. on Disney’s ABC network on April 16, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, and is now available on the Disney Plus service in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland,
Apple has expanded the reach of its Apple Music platform to an additional 52 countries as part of the biggest geographical expansion of its services in almost a decade. Apple is also making App Store, game subscription service Apple Arcade, Apple Podcasts and iCloud available in 20 more countries. The expansion is the largest since
U.K.-based stuntwoman Olivia Jackson has won the latest stage in a long battle for damages following life-changing injuries she sustained during the filming of “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” in 2015. Standing in for Milla Jovovich, Jackson was driving a motorcycle that collided head-on with a camera attached to a boom that extended from a
Production of “Neighbours,” the long-running Australian TV soap opera is set to restart later this week, despite the coronavirus outbreak causing much of the country to remain in lockdown. The show’s producer, Fremantle Media said that its filming techniques would be distinctly different from pre-virus practices, and that it would be able to stick within
As multiple production companies lay off crew, French animation studio TeamTO has announced two new hires, both central figures in the huge explosion of French animation over the last two decades, with Clélia Santi being appointed as head of production, and Judith Bruneau to the newly-created position of line producer and talent scout, TeamTO announced
ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) has gone into production on “Balcony Stories,” a slate of user-generated, short-form content to mark the ways people are experiencing coronavirus lockdown. The short-form series, produced by VIS in collaboration with Fremantle, is based on content from audiences and talent. Videos will show off people’s new daily routine, with balconies transformed
Monday felt like “A Willie Nelson Christmas” but it was another internationally recognized holiday that the country legend was celebrating with a six-hour live stream: 4/20. For those who aren’t in the know, the date of April 20, along with the daily chime of 4:20 p.m., is code for stoners to spark up. Willie being
Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures has enacted a round of layoffs, reaching as high as chief financial officer James Pong, insiders told Variety. In addition to Pong, four creative executives were eliminated, two from the film division and two from television, and two assistants were also let go, according to sources. Those seven employees represent nearly
The Weeknd’s “After Hours” has kept its No. 1 position on the Rolling Stone albums chart for a fourth consecutive week, followed by new releases from Tory Lanez and the Strokes debuting in the top 10. Though its total album units decreased from 90,200 to 74,100, “After Hours” was able to clinch the top spot
It seems wrong, on some level, to think of a for-profit retail store as a cultural institution in the same way we think of performance halls, museums or other centers of the arts. But for Amoeba Music, a lot of people are willing to make an exception. The same goes when it comes to applying
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the second episode of “The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart.” Week 1 of “The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart” left the mansion in good spirits and even numbers: eight men and eight women remained as they coupled off to avoid elimination. But week 2
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 5 finale of “Better Call Saul.” Gus Fring needs to find better assassins. The Chicken Man’s (Giancarlo Esposito) plan to assassinate Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) massively failed as “Better Call Saul’s” Season 5 finale, “Something Unforgivable,” which aired Monday night on AMC,
The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new appreciation for streaming platforms while families are “together at home.” Variety recently reported that the streaming competition depends on strong children’s content. Kids have always needed creative, educational and inclusive stories. But during this time of self-isolation, the streamers have become a conduit to the outside and