“Change is afoot,” Deborah Dugan said more than once during interviews with Variety in the weeks before her shocking removal from her post as president/CEO of the Recording Academy after just five months on the job. During those conversations, Dugan spoke of changes she planned to make in the Academy’s staffing organization, its Board of
January 17, 2020 4:13PM PT Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer are moving ahead with a third “National Treasure” movie with “Bad Boys for Life” screenwriter Chris Bremner tapped to write the script. Bremner has also signed to write a fourth “Bad Boys” for Sony with Bruckheimer producing. Bruckheimer produced the three “Bad Boys” and the two
“The Cave” director Feras Fayyad, who was supposed to be at the Television Critics Assn. press tour on Friday, failed to make a National Geographic panel for the show — after being prevented from entering the United States over the status of his visa. In a statement read by producer Sigrid Dyekjar, it was revealed
January 17, 2020 3:17PM PT Sony Pictures has launched early development of an untitled fourth “Bad Boys” movie with “Bad Boys for Life” screenwriter Chris Bremner returning to write the script. Bremner has also signed to write “National Treasure 3” for Disney with Jerry Bruckheimer producing. Bruckheimer produced the three “Bad Boys” and the two
Beyoncé has signed with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Variety has learned. Beyoncé and Jay-Z have worked closely for much of their careers with Jon Platt, who took the reins at the Sony Music company as chairman and CEO in 2019. Platt already brought Rihanna over to his new home last fall, after moving to Sony/ATV from
In a sketch from “The Armando Iannucci Shows,” a Channel 4 series from the “Veep” creator’s early catalogue, a couple tours a house with an eye to buying it. However, they discover that the property is, in fact, a paper drawing made by a bunch of youths with massive, life-sized crayons. Such commentary on the
National Geographic has renewed a trio of its franchise series. The network has announced that “Brain Games” hosted by Keegan-Michael Key will be returning for another season, as well as “Running Wild With Bear Grylls” and “Life Below Zero.” The renewals were announced by National Geographic Global Television Networks president Courteney Monroe during the network’s
The Nielsen ratings for the second night of Rachel Maddow’s interview with Lev Parnas Thursday on MSNBC fell short of Wednesday’s record-breaking viewership (4.5 million viewers), notching down slightly at 4.3 million. But it was the third most-watched program in the history of “The Rachel Maddow Show.” (The second most-watched was on Jan. 8, 2019.)
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever acquired two debut features, Camilo Restrepo’s Berlinale-bound “Los Conductos” and Pascal Tagnati’s “Corsican Summer.” Both films are produced by up and coming outfit 5à7 films. Set to premiere at the Berlinale’s new competitive section Encounters, “Los Conductos” is a Spanish-language film set in Medellin (Colombia) and loosely based on the
Amy Lippman, who co-created both the original 1994 version of “Party of Five” and the Freeform reboot, has been humbled by her work on the new drama. “I don’t think I realized until I got into that [writers’] room with people who had a very different life expeience than my own what value it was
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons launched an “intense campaign” to pressure Oprah Winfrey to withdraw her support from a forthcoming film about women accusing him of misconduct, including rape, a new report says. Following the shocking last-minute decision to remove the film, titled “On The Record” from noted sexual assault documentarians Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick,
Disney chief Bob Iger saw his compensation for 2019 drop to $47.5 million, a 28% decline from his 2018 pay package. Disney’s leader earned $3 million in salary and a $21.8 million bonus, plus another $10 million in stock awards and $9.6 million in stock options, Disney disclosed in the company’s annual proxy filing with
January 17, 2020 2:10PM PT Disney Plus has renewed “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” for a second season. The news comes ahead of the Season 1 finale on Jan. 24. The documentary series is the streamer’s first original with National Geographic. The second season will consist of 10 episodes. “Jeff has captured the imagination
French horror, fantasy and sci-fi movies – in large part generated by a younger generation of directors combining genre and arthouse styles – are a rising force on the international scene. Among the companies riding this genre wave is WTFilms. French crossover films are a key programming strand at A-list festivals. For example, Cannes Directors’
National Geographic has announced it is launching a program aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion behind the camera. The Field Ready Program is described as a two-phased training program that trains entry-level participants to become production assistants. Partnering with National Geographic Society, Nat Geo will choose 10 individuals per year to complete online training followed
Pascal Le SegretainGetty Images Jean Paul Gaultier is preparing to say goodbye to the runway. The prolific French fashion designer—known for his edgy and daring take on haute couture—announced on Twitter today that his upcoming couture show in Paris will also be his last. “This show celebrating 50 years of my career will also be
Apple TV Plus and Emmy and Peabody Award-winner R.J. Cutler (“Untitled Billie Eilish Documentary”) have partnered on a docuseries entitled “Dear…” Inspired by Apple’s “Dear Apple” spots, “Dear…” takes an “inventive and cinematic approach to biographies of the most iconic figures in society today by using letters written by those whose lives have been changed
January 17, 2020 1:45PM PT Freeform president Tom Ascheim laid out what he called the network’s “four-part formula for longevity and maybe gentle world domination” during an executive session at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Friday. “One, take a stand,” Ascheim began. “86% of young adults expect brands to be more than
“Bad Boys for Life” is tracking for a solid launch with as much as $70 million at 3,740 venues in North America over the four-day holiday weekend, early estimates showed Friday. The figure was nearly double pre-release forecasts. Some sources cautioned that the final number could be closer to $60 million but “Bad Boys for
Freeform has renewed comedy “Grown-ish” for a fourth season, a day after its season 3 premiere, and drama “Good Trouble” for a third. The pickup announcement was made at the network’s Television Critics’ Association press tour day. “Freeform is a megaphone for stories that deserve to be told and a place where the world’s biggest
ROADBACKGRID When she isn’t draining my bank account with the latest Fenty Beauty launch or withholding her new album just because she feels like it, you’d think Rihanna would give me some time to breathe. But no. Instead, she keeps her foot on my neck by showing up to the airport wearing THIS. What is
No matter who wins at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, it will be a surprise. That’s because there aren’t many obvious frontrunners in either the TV or film categories at this year’s competition. Around 160,000 members from across the country vote for the SAG Awards, and with such a large voting body, members
One person who was not surprised that “The Farewell” bid goodbye to any chance of an Oscar earlier this week was actor Tzi Ma, who played Awkwafina’s father in the film. “I didn’t expect it. There were exactly zero dollars promoting the film in any way,” Ma tells Variety. “Awards are a beauty pageant. People
Joe Biden, who is campaigning for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, believes internet companies like Facebook should not have legal protections covering speech posted to their platforms by individual users — a change to existing U.S. law that would have sweeping implications. The former vice president under President Obama, in an interview with the New
Overall on-location filming in Los Angeles dropped 5% from October through December, according to a report released by permitting agency FilmLA on Friday. Officials said the decline in overall shoot days to 9,839 was due partly to record activity levels in 2018, which generated the highest level of local production activity of any quarter in
January 17, 2020 11:41AM PT The Advanced Imaging Society will honor Walt Disney Imagineering at the 11th Annual Lumiere Awards on Jan. 22 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. Walt Disney Imagineering will be honored with the 2020 Advanced Imaging Society’s Lumiere Award for Best Location Based Entertainment for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, which features
Bustle Digital Group tapped Karen Hibbert, most recently senior art director at Amazon Fashion, as VP of creative for the lifestyle group — and her first big task is overseeing the redesign of the company’s flagship Bustle site. At BDG, where Hibbert started on Jan. 6, she is responsible for creative art direction and design
Have you ever met an accessory that peaked in high school, felt so purposeless that it had an existential crisis, took out a loan for grad school, and now the only time you think about it is when it resurfaces in a questionable Facebook meme? That was the life and death of of the wide
January 17, 2020 11:05AM PT Exactly two weeks before “Bombshell” was set to begin shooting, Annapurna backed out of the $35 million production. Producer Charlize Theron, who also stars in the film, was on a location scout with production department heads when she heard the bad news. “We had [cast] Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie
Netflix has acquired U.S. rights and several other territories for Olivier Assayas’ “Wasp Network,” the Cuban spy thriller headlined by Penelope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez which world premiered at Venice last year, Variety has learned. The streaming giant is believed to have bought international rights to the film outside of China, Eastern Europe, Greece, Portugal,