An elegant traditional estate conveniently sited in the Hollywood foothills just above the iconic Sunset Strip recently traded hands for nearly $9.2 million. Originally built in the late 1930s, the house was sold by tech tycoon Sean Rad, co-founder of juggernaut dating app Tinder, and acquired by exceptionally prolific songwriter/record producer Benny Blanco. Blanco may
Fitness expert Bob Harper spent a dozen years training contestants to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time on the original, NBC incarnation of “The Biggest Loser,” a show he calls “the O.G. fitness reality series.” But in 2017 he suffered a major heart attack that had him rethinking his approach
Matthew McConaughey and Nic Pizzolatto are coming together for a potential new TV series at FX. The “True Detective” collaborators have landed a script-to-series order for a drama series titled “Redeemer,” which Pizzolatto will write and in which McConaughey will star. Both will also executive produce the project. In addition, Pizzolatto has signed an overall
“Miracle Workers: Dark Ages” sees Steve Buscemi shift from playing God to a local excrement remover, and Daniel Radcliffe ditch his awkward angel for a soft-brained prince. Given the malleable nature of the TBS anthology series, creator Simon Rich was presented with a blank canvas for Season 2. Rich made the decision to leave behind
The annual iHeartCountry Festival has announced a slate of performers for its 2020 concert stream and broadcast, led by top country performers Dierks Bentley, Kelsea Ballerini, Sam Hunt, Lady Antebellum, Dustin Lynch and Kane Brown, iHeartMedia announced Tuesday. The show will take place at Austin’s Frank Erwin Center May 2 and be broadcast live across
Although “The Bachelor” dipped week-to-week, the ABC show still managed to top the TV ratings charts for Monday night. Episode four of the dating show’s 24th season scored a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 and drew just under 6 million total viewers. That’s down around a quarter million viewers from last episode, but is still
Just months after Cathy Yan’s feature directing debut, Shanghai-set ensemble comedy “Dead Pigs,” made a big splash at Sundance in 2018, the Chinese-born filmmaker landed a gig helming a giant studio franchise movie, the DC Comics adaptation “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” starring Margot Robbie. Going straight from indie buzz
Netflix and production company Fandango on Tuesday unveiled the streamer’s third Italian original “Luna Nera” (Black Moon), a fantasy rooted in historical reality about a group of women accused of witchery in 17th century Italy. The innovative show will drop on January 31 in the roughly 190 territories where Netflix operates. Shot in Rome’s revamped Cinecittà Studios
For dance music fans, festival season kicks off early, with the number of warm weather winter events growing apace with demand. Festivals targeting the same American audience of EDM enthusiasts took place — or will take place — this winter in Costa Rica (BPM Festival), Hawaii (next month’s ‘E Komo Mai’ festival), Florida (Groove Cruise),
Over the past few years, the Universal Music showcase has become a staple of Grammy Weekend: a tightly run, three-hour-ish sampler of the company’s current and upcoming talent, ranging from superstars to brand-new artists, wherein each act plays a song or two. It was the first place we saw Ariana Grande and Chris Stapleton; the
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” switched gears Monday night and spent the hour paying tribute to late Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, making it one of several late-night shows that acknowledged his death. Every late-night show took time to acknowledge the news, particularly Los Angeles-based “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Conan” and “The Late Late Show With James
Shortly after Harvey Weinstein accuser Miriam Haley took the stand and testified that she was sexually assaulted by the fallen movie mogul over a decade ago, her attorney Gloria Allred ripped apart Weinstein’s defense team, speaking to press outside of the courthouse. During the six-hour testimony, Haley told the jury that Weinstein forcibly performed oral
January 28, 2020 7:02AM PT Locally-made political drama, “The Man Standing Next” dominated the four-day Lunar New Year holiday weekend box office in South Korea. Opening on Wednesday (Jan. 22), the Showbox release earned $24.5 million from 3.23 million admissions over its opening six days. It accounted for more than 53% of the total holiday
Writer-director Dee Rees’ career continues to be a fascinating journey to follow. From her breakthrough feature debut, the soulful coming-of-age indie “Pariah,” to the Oscar-nominated literary adaptation “Mudbound,” the filmmaker has been confidently expanding her range with every new effort. That gutsy spirit is very much at the center of her latest, “The Last Thing
January 28, 2020 5:55AM PT Kobalt today announced that it has signed Lewis Capaldi to an international neighboring rights deal. The Capitol recording artist was previously represented by PPL for international collections. Ann Tausis, CEO of Kobalt Neighboring Rights, commented on the deal, “Lewis’s ascent to the top has been breathtaking. His emotive songs and
January 28, 2020 5:06AM PT The British government, led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, decided Tuesday to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to build parts of the country’s 5G network, in defiance of U.S. concerns over national security risks and the potential for Chinese espionage. The U.K.’s National Security Council green-lit the move to go
There’s mannered, there’s manic, and then there’s the malfunctioning pinball-machine delirium that Ben Whishaw brings to “Surge”: a blinking, buzzing, flashing clatter of hyper-accelerated impulses, chicken-fried synapses and staggered hypnic jerks that never culminate in sleep. You wouldn’t expect stillness from a film called “Surge,” and in that respect only does Whishaw zig where you
The Washington Post is under fire from its own guild and media critic for putting one of its reporters on administrative leave for a series of tweets put out in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s death. As news of Bryant’s passing spread on Sunday, political reporter Felicia Sonmez had tweeted a 2016 article from the
SF Studios, the Scandinavian production and distribution powerhouse, has struck an exclusive partnership with REinvent Studios, the banner launched by TrustNordisk’s former CEO Rikke Ennis. As part of the deal, REinvent will handle international sales for all SF Studios content, including films, TV series and catalogue titles. This new deal expands the existing relationship between
Scandinavian major NENT Group has commissioned romantic drama “Harmonica” from Warner Bros. International Television Production Sweden. The Swedish series has been co-created by Josephine Bornebusch, whose previous drama “Love Me” has performed strongly on NENT Group’s Viaplay streaming service in the Nordic region, and was recently renewed for a second season. The six-episode “Harmonica” is
Visual effects and animation studio Framestore, which won Oscars for “The Golden Compass,” “Gravity” and “Blade Runner 2049,” and whose recent work includes “Avengers: Endgame” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in movies, and “His Dark Materials” and “Watchmen” in TV, has launched FPS, which offers a suite of pre-production services. The move sees the company’s
A funny thing happens about a third of the way into “Horse Girl,” Jeff Baena’s fourth Sundance feature after “Life After Beth,” “Joshy” and “The Little Hours.” Or rather, a funny thing stops happening: the familiar, steady-heartbeat rhythms of the low-budget social awkwardness comedy become erratic, tachycardiac, as the initially endearing foibles of the film’s
Actress Romola Garai makes a distinctive feature directorial debut with “Amulet,” even if this upscale horror drama is ultimately more impressive in the realm of style than substance. It’s some style, though: She hasn’t just created a stylish potboiler, but a densely textured piece that makes for a truly arresting viewing experience to a point.
Inventor Nikolai Tesla is more popular today than when he died penniless in a New York hotel in 1943. Back then, he was the futurist who swore he could summon unlimited, clean, wireless electromagnetic energy from the earth — a neat idea, but surely coal and oil were fine. In the 21st century, as temperatures
ITV Studios has snapped up Endemol Shine executive Lisa Perrin, appointing her as the new managing director of international production. Perrin joins the company from Endemol Shine Group (ESG) where she served as CEO of Creative Networks. Her exit comes as the business prepares to merge with Banijay Group, resulting in the departures of a
At the risk of overselling Edson Oda’s ultra-original, meaning-of-life directorial debut, there’s a big difference between “Nine Days” and pretty much every other film ever made. You see, most movies are about characters, real or imagined, and the stuff that happens to them, whereas “Nine Days” is about character itself — as in, the moral dimension
January 28, 2020 12:35AM PT It’s the end of the world in Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s charming survivalist rom-com. At least their hapless couple has wine. Brooklyn couple Su (Sunita Mani) and Jack (John Reynolds) have several plans to salvage their lives. Go vegetarian, plant a garden, make sourdough bread, and above all,
“The only absolute in history is change,” said the Victorian historian Lord Acton. He might have been talking about the streaming platforms’ current international strategies. Since they launched internationally, Netflix and Amazon’s focus and priorities have been in constant evolution. Current pressures – evolving demographies, new regulation, new competition, still untapped growth – mean that
GÖTEBORG, Sweden — Swedish prodco Dramacorp has signed with U.K. scribe Michael Robert Johnson (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Mute,” “The Frankenstein Chronicles”) for the English-language supernatural thriller “Heritage” (a working title). Co-writers are Göteborg-based Morgan Jensen (“Thicker than Water”, “Hassel”) and Theo Gabay. The show, in early development, deals with modern elitism and hereditary. In it, a
Justin Bieber will release his fifth studio album, “Changes,” on Feb. 14. The Valentine’s Day drop comes a little over three weeks after his YouTube series “Justin Bieber: Seasons” premieres on the video streaming platform. The single “Yummy” is already out and has logged more than 300 million streams since its debut last month. In