Phillip Boutte Jr., assistant costume designer for Mattel and Netflix’s upcoming “Masters of the Universe,” has worked tirelessly for well over a decade to establish himself as a concept artist whom costume designers and studios are eager to work with. With credits such as “Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Captain Marvel,” to name just three, Boutte has
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Cellar,” the series premiere episode of the reimagining of “Amazing Stories,” now streaming on Apple TV Plus. As an anthology series, “the whole point” of “Amazing Stories” is “doing something new every week,” says Edward Kitsis, co-showrunner of the new version of Steven
Ambitious mobile streamer Quibi is one month away from debut, coming out of the gate with 51 shows and movies — the first major test of whether people will pay for premium short-form content they can watch on smartphones. For the April 6 launch in the U.S., Quibi’s programming slate features originals with Jennifer Lopez,
Social media giant Facebook has closed its three London offices from Friday afternoon through Monday for deep cleaning, after a visiting Singapore-based employee tested positive for coronavirus, Variety has confirmed. “An employee based in our Singapore office who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 visited our London offices 24-26 February 2020. We are therefore closing our London
Disney-Pixar’s fantasy film “Onward” launched with $2 million in North America on Thursday night. The number is in the same range as “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” which opened with $2.3 million in previews in June and went on to a $47 million launch weekend. “Onward” is expected to dominate domestic moviegoing this weekend
As a movie, “Promising Young Woman,” the debut feature from “Killing Eve” writer/director Emerald Fennell out April 17 via Focus Features, defies easy categorization. Anchored by a star turn from Carey Mulligan, the film blends equal parts thriller and pitch-black comedy with occasional dashes of traditional rom-com and ‘90s noir drama structures. It’s all told
Although the new remake of “Mulan” isn’t a musical like the original, one key music component from Disney’s animated version is back. Christina Aguilera has done her own remake of “Reflection,” which was her first single when she recorded it for the 1998 film. It’s joined on the forthcoming “Mulan” soundtrack (out March 25) by
In this week’s International TV Newswire Variety checks out Netflix’s new and explosive trailer for “Money Heist: Part 4,” details Mediapro’s 2019 results, and reviews hirings and promotions at ViacomCBS, Frapa and Red Arrow’s Studio71. NETFLIX DROPS TRAILER FOR “MONEY HEIST: PART 4” Netflix launched a new trailer for Part 4 of Spanish original series
Plans for transforming a former factory site in East London into Dagenham Studios, a state-of-the-art facility for film and TV production, are back on track. Be First, Barking and Dagenham Council’s regeneration organization, has submitted a planning application and new designs. The council’s planning committee is expected to consider these in July. In March 2018,
It would be a great mistake, sight unseen, to pigeonhole Ulrike Ottinger’s “Paris Calligrammes” as just another nostalgia-filled personal documentary about how amazing life was in Paris in the 1960s. Where others self-servingly wax lyrical about being in the nexus of the Left Bank’s Golden Age of hipness and activism, Ottinger takes us through this
“The Young Pope” producer-distributor Fremantle has hired WME’s Raffaella de Angelis to lead literary acquisitions for its global drama division. De Angelis will also lend her expertise to Fremantle’s development and production outfit The Apartment, which is headed by “My Brilliant Friend” executive producer Lorenzo Mieli, as well as “True Detective” executive producer Richard Brown’s
German director Uli Edel (“The Baader Meinhof Complex”) is set to direct “Heisenberg,” an adaptation of Richard von Schirach’s historical book “The Night of the Physicists: Operation Epsilon: Heisenberg, Hahn, Weizsäcker and the German Bomb,” about the team of German physicists who tried to develop the atom bomb for Germany during World War II. Munich-based
Franco-German TV network Arte has boarded high-profile doc “Fellini of the Spirits” exploring Italian director Federico Fellini’s lifelong interest in everything metaphysical and featuring Oscar winners Damien Chazelle and William Friedkin among talking heads. The project, now in post, is directed by Anselma Dell’Olio whose “Marco Ferreri: Dangerous but Necessary,” about eclectic Italian auteur Marco
TikTok, in a step to address concerns over the security and privacy of its social-video platform, hired cybersecurity veteran Roland Cloutier as chief information security officer. Cloutier, who reports to company head Alex Zhu, was previously chief security officer at payroll-services firm ADP. His hiring comes after TikTok, which is owned by Chinese internet giant
MADRID — As of Friday, some more contained TV events in Europe were moving full-steam ahead. One, ONSeries Lisboa, set for April 28-29, has revealed a new major section, and the enthusiastic backing of Portugal’s government. In one move, ONSeries Lisboa and Conecta Fiction have opened a joint call for projects in early development linking
March 6, 2020 3:23AM PT Endemol Shine Nordics has appointed Hanne Palmquist to the newly created post of head of scripted. Palmquist will also take charge as managing director of Swedish production company Filmlance. Both outfits are backed by production-distribution powerhouse Endemol Shine Group, which is in the process of being acquired by Banijay Group.
The movement for an effective childcare infrastructure for workers in the U.K. film and TV industry is taking a major leap forward with the opening of the first dedicated, on-site childcare facility at a U.K. studio. Variety can reveal that Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, home to the forthcoming “Wonder Woman 1984,” will open a nursery
Two of India’s leading media industry events have taken contrasting approaches to the spread of coronavirus in the country. The annual Frames media conference, organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), had announced Italy as their country partner for the 2020 edition due March 18-20 in Mumbai. The conference will
“Man, you get beat up a lot,” an aspiring boxer tells the eponymous punching bag/pulp-fiction private eye Mark Wahlberg plays in “Spenser Confidential.” “And I’ve noticed every single time you get your face pushed in, you come back with just a little bit more information.” That’s a pretty apt description of Spenser’s modus operandi, and
3Mouse House streamer Disney Plus has revealed a substantial amount of programming ahead of its March 24 U.K. and Ireland launch. This includes more than 500 films, some 350 series and a slate of 26 originals. As expected, the Marvel universe, with more than 30 films and 50 series, including “Avengers: Endgame,” “Black Panther,” “Captain
March 5, 2020 10:04PM PT Starz is the latest entertainment company to pull out of the annual SXSW festival over coronavirus concerns, a source tells Variety, canceling its screening and activation for Cape Cod crime drama series “Hightown” and its featured session for “Power.” There have thus far been 14 confirmed cases of the respiratory
Universal Music Group has advised its employees not to attend the upcoming South By Southwest music festival and conference in Austin, Texas, due to the growing concern over the coronavirus, a source close to the situation confirms to Variety. The directive is not mandatory, the source stressed, adding that exceptions may be made, “but no
March 5, 2020 9:17PM PT The moody music and lyrics from the Bob Dylan playbook both define and heighten Conor McPherson’s haunting vision of the Depression. Some people think Bob Dylan’s music is depressing — and in “Girl From the North Country,” Conor McPherson makes the case by setting more than twenty of Dylan’s songs
Perhaps it’s fitting that “Westworld” is the recipient of the most extensive, and jarring, reboot in recent TV history. After all, the show’s characters are hyperintelligent androids, forced in the show’s early going to forget who they once were and what they’ve endured in order to begin their “storylines” anew. Later on, these unhappy automatons
It’s been almost two years since “Westworld” was last on the air, and fans could be forgiven for struggling to remember exactly who escaped the titular park at the end of season 2, and in what body. Fortunately, the upcoming third season of the HBO series “feels like the show is starting all over again,”
March 5, 2020 8:02PM PT Starring Daniel Radcliffe as a jailed anti-apartheid activist, this true-life prison-break thriller is stronger on genre mechanics than political nuance. “You are the white Mandela,” says a ham-faced warden, all but spitting in the face of anti-apartheid activist Tim Jenkin upon his arrival at Pretoria Local Prison in 1978. It’s
March 5, 2020 7:04PM PT A psychiatric patient’s convoluted backstory drives this intriguing if overloaded indie genre exercise. One of three directors who first won attention with 2007’s excellent three-part thriller “The Signal” (not to be confused with another enterprising sci-fi-tinged indie of that title from 2014), Dan Bush has made several interesting genre features
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Leave a Light On,” the 16th episode of Season 16 of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Adios, Alex Karev. Justin Chambers has officially been written out of “Grey’s Anatomy.” In the March 5th episode entitled “Leave a Light On,” Chambers’ longtime character revealed in a heartfelt letter that
Was the official cancellation of the Ultra Music Festival in Miami Thursday a one-off, for now, for a music industry that’s weighing its options on a case-by-case basis… or an inevitable bellwether for the fate of other upcoming festivals like South by Southwest and Coachella? And if it’s the latter, why wouldn’t SXSW, which begins
In today’s film news roundup, Pearl Jam teams with Abramorama, “Bloodshot” get an Immersive Cinema Experience release, Philip Kaufman is honored, the Doc10 Festival unveils its slate and “Testament” gets rolling. RELEASE DATES Pearl Jam and Abramorama have scheduled the “Gigaton Listening Experience” for March 25 in more than 200 Dolby Atmos-equipped theaters in 20