MADRID — Amazon Prime Video has secured global SVOD rights to the Javier Bardem starrer “Sanctuary,” a Toronto Festival world premiere which dispatches Javier and Carlos Bardem to the Antarctic to witness marine ecological devastation at first hand. Set to be released by Amazon on April 10, “Sanctuary” also paints a bigger picture – a
The Walt Disney Company’s previously announced furloughs have impacted each of its premium film labels, insiders tell Variety. Beginning on Thursday, staffers at labels like Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Searchlight and more were notified of furloughs, primarily impacting staffers who cannot perform their job duties due to ongoing shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic. Marketing and
John Finlay considered himself to be a normal zoo employee before “Tiger King” became an overnight sensation. Now, thanks to Netflix’s stranger-than-fiction docu-series, a good part of the country knows his name, his face, and most importantly, his teeth. “Tiger King” dove into the bizarre story of private zoo owner Joseph “Joe Exotic” Maldonado-Passage, to
Charli XCX today dropped a new song called “Forever” — the first track from her forthcoming recorded-in-quarantine album “How I’m Feeling Now.” According to the announcement, the song was written this week by Charli and co-executive produced by Charli with longtime collaborators A. G. Cook and BJ Burton. The track was created within the last
Sheltering-in-place has gone on long enough now that we’re starting to get songs about quarantining that sound fully produced, not like quick novelty knock-offs. That’s the case with Twenty One Pilots’ new release, “Level of Concern,” which the band just dropped to YouTube and most other digital services. The music video serves as its own
Advertising veteran Peter Naylor, after more than six years at Hulu, is departing the Disney-controlled streamer to join Snap in a newly created role. Snap on Thursday announced that Naylor will join the company as VP, Americas, in early May, overseeing Snapchat’s business in U.S., Canada and Mexico. He will be based in Snap’s New
“Saturday Night Live” will return this weekend, but it won’t be “live from New York” in the way its viewers have come to expect. NBC said that the venerable late-night series, which has been off the air for several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, would air original content on Satuday, April 11, with material
Nickelodeon is bringing popular kids group The BeatBuds to the small screen. The ViacomCBS network has signed a deal with Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, which acquired the property in 2018, for a new animated preschool series. Production is set to being this summer with a 2021 premiere planned. The 10-episode short-form series is written by
Stephen Colbert did not have to bone up on John Prine to pay tribute to the late singer. As he explained on Wednesday night’s telecast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” sharing Prine’s music was an early bonding experience between him and his wife-to-be, and he even studied and learned songs of his when
John Prine, who died Tuesday of complications from coronavirus, might not have been a household name — at least not in households that didn’t contain songwriters — but he was certainly one of the greats of the past 50 years: Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and virtually every tunesmith in Nashville hold him in
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been battling coronavirus for two weeks, is out of intensive care and back in the regular hospital ward. A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase
Breaking News “Doug Whaley can eat a d**k. Doug Whaley can die in a hole and drink bleach. I’m dead serious.” Ex-NFL running back Karlos Williams is opening fire on ex-Bills GM Doug Whaley … going OFF on the guy for how things went down during his time in Buffalo. Remember, Williams had an INSANE
Stunt pilot Frédéric North has decades of experience working in Hollywood on films like “Kong: Skull Island,” “Pacific Rim: Uprising” and Justin Lin’s latest “Fast & Furious” sequel, “F9.” So I shouldn’t be nervous as I climb aboard in mid-February for my first trip on a helicopter with him and aerial director of photography Dylan
“We Summon the Darkness” is a psycho thriller that pulls the bloody rug out from under you, and does it in a shivery sly way. The movie, set in 1988, opens with three young women driving to a heavy-metal show in their red Jeep Cherokee along a country highway; for a short spell, it feels
Tribeca Film Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced on Thursday the four winners of this year’s TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund, which will be awarded grants of $150,000 with mentorship. The Fund, which champions fiction films and series that feature themes of science, math and technology, has selected “Mabel,” “The Mushroomers,” “Neon Tilapia” and
Alison Mosshart, singer of The Kills and Dead Weather, has a new solo project coming from which a song, “Rise,” is featured in the FacebookWatch drama “Sacred Lies.” Watch her home-made video below: Along with The Kills and Dead Weather, over the years Mosshart has collaborated with everyone from the Arctic Monkeys and Primal Scream
In Variety’s cover story on The Weeknd published Wednesday, the artist speaks about the far-reaching influence of his 2011 debut mixtape “House of Balloons.” In that segment, Weeknd says, “I heard ‘Climax,’ that Usher song, and was like, ‘Holy f—, that’s a Weeknd song.’ It was very flattering, and I knew I was doing something
AMC Theatres — whose business has effectively shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic — looks increasingly likely to file for bankruptcy with its cash reserves dwindling, according to Wall Street analysts. In a report Thursday, MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler wrote, “Based on our view that theatres will be closed until at least August
ViacomCBS has launched a $100 million fund to provide support to the crew members, actors, and filmmakers whose livelihoods have been impacted by the production shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Variety has learned. The funds will also support grants by the Motion Picture & Television Fund and The Actors Fund, along with the work
Breaking News Michael Jordan is the one player EVERY hooper in NBA history wished they had the chance to team with during their careers … right?? Nope!!! So says Jerry Stackhouse … who reveals being Jordan’s teammate actually SUCKED in 2002 … and he wished it never happened. “Honestly, I wish I never played in
France Televisions Distribution, the commercial arm of the French public broadcaster, has launched international sales on “Parliament,” the anticipated half-hour satirical series which is debuting on Thursday on the pubcaster’s streaming platform France.tv. The first original series commissioned by France.tv, “Parliament” is a comedy series about the European Parliament created by Noé Debré, whose screenwriting
“Modern Family” went out with a ratings bang after 11 seasons on Wednesday night. The series finale delivered a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 and a whopping 7.4 million total viewers, which represents the show’s largest audience since Jan. 2017. That rating is its highest since the season 10 premiere in 2018. The finale was
CNN has been informed by a spokesman for Vice President Michael Pence that it cannot have access to top government health officials grappling with the nation’s coronavirus pandemic unless it televises specific portions of the Trump Administration’s daily briefings on the spread of the disease. “When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials
Rising singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has confirmed details of her sophomore solo album, “Punisher,” to be released on Dead Oceans on June 19th. Watch the clip below. She follows her recent single “Garden Song” with a new track and video called “Kyoto” — watch it below. Bridgers will also perform the song on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Tekashi 6ix9ine must be a fan of comedy … and Shaggy, because he’s basically singing “It Wasn’t Me” in response to everyone calling him a snitch. C’mon, man. The rapper changed his IG profile pic to a claymation version of himself in an orange prison jumpsuit, lounging on a rat trap while devouring a piece
TikTok, the social-video company owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, pledged to donate $250 million in funds to support COVID-19 relief efforts as well as $125 million worth of advertising credits on the platform. It’s the latest example of a big tech company looking to demonstrate that it’s a good corporate citizen amid the unprecedented
Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to British-Cambodian filmmaker Hong Khaou’s “Monsoon,” a drama headlined by “Crazy Rich Asians” star Henry Golding and Parker Sawyers. Sold by Protagonist Pictures, “Monsoon” had its world premiere at Karlovy Vary last year and stars Golding as Kit, a young British man of Vietnamese decent who returns
MADRID — Cecilia Roth starrer “Alice,” Ana Piterbarg’s “La Habitación Blanca,” Brazil’s sure-to-be controversial “Princesa,” and Mexico’s “Intersex” look like potential standouts in the just-announced movie project pitching platform MAFF Online by Filmarket Hub, part of the biggest push by far into a virtual marketplace made by any festival in the Spanish-speaking world. Launched by
Even if it was almost 30 years ago in 1992, Wilson Cruz will never forget his first audition for a television series. “They wanted three white boys to play choir boys in this series that Tobey Maguire was starring in,” Cruz say on today’s episode of “The Big Ticket,” Variety and iHeart’s weekly podcast. “It
While families are stuck at home and looking for ways to entertain children, Disney Plus is offering audiences a new short film based on “The Simpsons.” “Maggie Simpson in ‘Playdate with Destiny,’” which releases Friday, will follow the 1-year-old, pacifier-sucking daughter of the Simpsons family as she finds friendship with a baby on the playground