ESPN plans to explore a new business plan for The Undefeated, its site devoted to exploring sports, culture and race that will expand the outlet to other parts of the sports-media outlet’s parent company. Walt Disney. The Undefeated, which was launched in 2016 under the auspices of John Skipper, previous president of ESPN, was envisioned
March 3, 2020 1:47PM PT The series finale of “Fresh Off the Boat” ended up with more viewers than its season average. After seven days of delayed viewing, the first of its back-to-back episodes grew to 3.5 million total viewers, an 18% bump from its Live+Same Day audience and roughly 400,000 viewers more than the
March 3, 2020 1:40PM PT J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot has teamed with Warner Bros. Pictures to develop Daniel Casey’s supernatural thriller “The Pinkerton” as a feature film. The movie will be the first original film project for Bad Robot under a five-year mega-deal the company signed with WarnerMedia in September. The studio is keeping the logline
Google axed its biggest annual event, the three-day I/O developers conference, becoming the latest confab to pull the plug over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. I/O 2020 had been set to run in Mountain View, Calif., from May 12-14. Last year’s conference, featuring keynotes, panel discussions and a first look at Google’s latest developer products
“When the video first came to me, it was in the form of a voicemail from Gaga,” director Daniel Askill recalls of the clip for the Oscar-winning singer’s new single, “Stupid Love.” “She spoke about these seven warring tribes as a metaphor for the state of the world today — that’s what hooked me. She
Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka thinks there is a stealth member of “the resistance” in President Donald Trump’s inner circle: his spray tan guy. “I just like picturing that he keeps giving him bigger goggles, and Donald’s like, ‘Do you have any smaller goggles?’” she tells Variety. “He’s like, ‘No, actually, I’m so sorry. This is the
March 3, 2020 1:04PM PT Super Tuesday may stretch into early Wednesday. The major broadcast and cable news outlets have big plans for covering a large number of primaries among 14 states, the event known as “Super Tuesday” that some anchors believe is one of the two or three most important events on the political-news
Europe’s coronavirus outbreak is causing major headaches for the international TV industry as numerous companies move swiftly to rein in foreign travel and cancel crucial pitch events and company gatherings. The outbreak, which has so far claimed 56 deaths in Europe, comes at a particularly frenetic time for the local TV industry, which holds a
My Chemical Romance’s reunion tour, kicking off March 20 in Australia and running through October, is among the most coveted tickets of the upcoming concert season and it comes with little marketing and zero publicity. Instead, the band reintroduced itself by way of a one-off show at Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium in Dec. 2019, and
Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film Festival has postponed its inaugural edition due to coronavirus concerns. Organizers announced the “difficult” decision on Tuesday “given the current global health emergency,” they said in an email to prospective guests which noted that their “primary consideration” is “the safety and wellbeing of our guests, staff and audiences.”
“The Republic of Sarah” pilot at the CW is continuing to take shape. Three new players have been added to the cast, namely Izabella Alvarez, Nia Holloway and Hope Lauren, joining previously announced leads Stella Baker and Luke Mitchell. In addition, Kat Candler, whose directorial credits include “13 Reasons Why” and “Queen Sugar,” has been
Charlie Barnett and Natalie Martinez have joined the cast of the NBC pilot “Ordinary Joe,” Variety has learned. James Wolk was previously announced as the series lead. The drama explores the three parallel lives of Joe Kimbrough (Wolk) after he makes a pivotal choice at a crossroads in his life. The series asks the question
Daniel Baker still remembers the field trip he took in third grade to the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Baker, better known as Desus Nice and as the co-host with The Kid Mero (aka Joel Martinez) of Showtime’s “Desus and Mero,” told the crowd at the museum’s annual fundraiser on Monday night that the trip
Though Lena Waithe’s latest project “Twenties” — a comedy that follows the adventures of a young, black, queer woman and her two straight friends struggling to make it in Hollywood — is semi-autobiographical, the 35-year-old actor says that that due to strides made by the industry, the series no longer resembles her journey. “It’s not
Two rock ‘n’ roll homes owned by music magnate Jeffrey Jampol, best-known for managing the assets of rock legends like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and the Ramones, have popped up on the market. Though the houses feature different architectural styles, they both share a quintessential California vibe, with wide open spaces and plenty of widows
A petition calling for restrictions on the British media following the death of former “Love Island” host Caroline Flack has been handed in to the U.K. government. More than 850,000 people have signed the petition calling for a “Caroline’s Law” to make media harassment and bullying a criminal offence, not dissimilar to corporate manslaughter. The
Fox Entertainment’s Bento Box Entertainment has brought on board two new executives to help expand its content development and creation goals, naming Brooke Keesling as the newly created role of head of animation talent development and Caitlin Winiarski as creative executive. “With the business continuing to evolve and platforms’ demand for quality animated content expands
When we think of very politically active musicians, we often think of those who are raging against the machine, as it were. John Legend is no political rageaholic. You could hardly find a mainstream superstar tripping through the 21st century with a lighter sense of grace or a higher everyday likability factor than this singer-songwriter
As France prepares for the third stage of its coronavirus outbreak, the impact is already being felt heavily across the entertainment industry. Of France’s 2000 theaters, 40 are now shuttered in the regions of Oise and the Morbihan, which have been hardest hit by the virus. The French government banned indoor gatherings of more than 5,000 people
Bobbie Battista, whose face became synonymous with the cable network known as CNN Headline News, died Tuesday after battling cervical cancer, according to statements from former colleagues and CNN. “Bobbie was the consummate trooper in her struggle with cancer, she was courageous and fearless in her battle and thoughtful for all the others in her
Check out the official Connected Trailer starring Maya Rudolph! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Sign up for a Fandango FanAlert for Connected: https://www.fandango.com/connected-2020-222870/movie-overview?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US Release
UPDATED: In response to her termination Monday, ousted Recording Academy president/CEO Deborah Dugan’s attorneys have fired back at the organization with a supplemental charge of discrimination that includes multiple new allegations, including what it claims is evidence of an attempts by the Academy — and longtime Grammy Awards executive producer Ken Ehrlich — to influence
Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy have been named as the honorees at this year’s “A Great Night in Harlem” benefit at the Apollo Theater, the annual fundraiser for the Jazz Foundation of America. The benefit will take place at the Apollo April 14, with drummer and producer Steve Jordan set to return as musical director.
Ubiquitous American pornography website Pornhub is releasing its first ever non-adult film on Wednesday, the company exclusively announced to Variety. The move places the digital giant, which estimated 42 billion visits to the site last year, in the company of other streamers seeking to expand audiences and diversify its content portfolios. The movie in question
Nearly three years after Hulu debuted its live TV subscription service, it’s finally available on PlayStation 4 consoles. Hulu’s VOD service has long been available on PS4, but the live subscription-TV service until now was not. PlayStation 4 users will now be able to subscribe to Hulu + Live TV, gaining access to both live
My priority for this election is not advocating for a lone candidate. My priority is advocating for democracy itself. At a breakfast at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Hillary Clinton spoke at length about what is at stake in this urgent moment. The hacking of, and outright attack on, our democratic system is a
March 3, 2020 9:40AM PT Robert Mitchell, the former managing director of Walt Disney U.K., has died at the age of 56. Mitchell started his career in the advertising industry, moving into film by joining Warner Bros. U.K. as an advertising director in 1983. He rose to become marketing director of Warner Bros.’ U.K. arm.
Tubi is taking its ad-supported VOD on the road. The free streaming service is launching directly on TVs in over 30,000 hotel rooms across the U.S., through a deal with Enseo, an in-room entertainment platform provider. Starting Tuesday, guests at participating hotels can watch Tubi’s lineup of over 20,000 movies and TV shows from over
Parkland shooting survivor Emma González, who co-founded March for Our Lives and is an activist for gun violence prevention, wants entertainment industry influencers to fight harder for important causes in the 2020 election. Here are excerpts of an email exchange with González, who is attending New College of Florida. What is your call to action
Like the first vertebrates to crawl from the ocean and onto dry land 500 million years ago, Donald Trump emerged from the primordial ooze of reality TV to be elected president of the United States in 2016. And like an invasive species, the star of “The Apprentice” has wreaked havoc on his new ecosystem —