A record 92 animated short films have qualified for the 92nd Academy Awards, a list that will be winnowed to 10 contenders when shortlist is announced Dec. 16. Alongside entries such as Sony’s “Hair Love” and Magic Light Pictures’ “Zog,” challengers include lauded films from animators such as Tomek Popakul’s “Acid Rain,” Siqi Song’s “Sister”
Exclusive Getty Composite Chris Brown is now banned from monkey business — like, real monkeys — for the next 6 months … after making a deal with the D.A. in his illegal pet case. Chris’ attorney was in court Wednesday morning, as the judge placed him into a diversion program for the case of the
December 4, 2019 2:54PM PT On “Truth Be Told,” Apple TV Plus’s new drama about a true-crime reporter reinvestigating a case she may have gotten wrong, there’s a moment of confrontation in an early episode. Face to face with a man she believes may be hiding information from her, Octavia Spencer stares him down until
December 4, 2019 2:41PM PT You may have noticed on your Twitter feeds Sunday nights that “Watchmen” appears to be popular. Yet the innovative, critically praised HBO drama series is an actual hit, not merely a zeitgeist talker. Through its seven episodes so far, the show, created and executive produced by Damon Lindelof, is drawing
Jane Lynch has had a wonderful experience on “Hollywood Game Night,” the celebrity game show she’s hosted for six seasons on NBC. But in light of Gabrielle Union’s exit on “America’s Got Talent,” another hit alternative show on NBC, Lynch says the network has a problem. “I don’t know so much about it, but what
Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are teaming up for an HBO limited series about the Watergate scandal, Variety has learned. The five-episode series is titled “The White House Plumbers.” It tells the true story of how Nixon’s own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt (Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Theroux), accidentally toppled the Presidency
As previously reported, Def Leppard will undertake a stadium tour this summer with Motley Crue and Poison, and special guest Joan Jett & the Blackhearts have been added to the bill as well. Full dates for the tour, which is produced by Live Nation, appear below. Def Leppard were inducted into the Rock and Roll
A Cook County, Ill., judge today set a Sept. 14 trial date for R. Kelly, who is charged in four sexual abuse cases in the area, according to the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. Prosectors did not immediately reveal which of the four indictments they plan to pursue first. Kelly, who remains in federal
December 4, 2019 1:48PM PT Ousted “America’s Got Talent” judge Gabrielle Union returned to her former workplace this week to resurface complaints of toxicity on the set of the reality competition show, she said Wednesday. “We had a lengthy 5-hour, and what I thought to be, productive meeting yesterday,” Union tweeted. “I was able to,
CBS Corp. and Viacom are united once again. The merger of the two halves of the Redstone family media empire into ViacomCBS was completed Wednesday, just four months after the boards of CBS and Viacom reached an agreement on an all stock-swap transaction. The combined company’s shares will begin trading Thursday on the NASDAQ index
In 91 years of Academy Awards, there have only been three occasions when a producer had two best picture nominees simultaneously: Francis Coppola and Fred Roos, with 1974’s “The Godfather Part II” and “The Conversation”; Scott Rudin, with 2010’s “The Social Network” and “True Grit”; and Megan Ellison, with 2013’s “American Hustle” and “Her.” That
Over a long career that stretches back 25 years, stuntman and stunt coordinator-turned-second-unit-director and actor Darrin Prescott has choreographed many a spectacular car chase and race in such testosterone-fueled movies as “Drive,” “Deadpool 2,” “Baby Driver” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” which won him a Screen Actors Guild award as part of the stunt ensemble. But
December 4, 2019 1:21PM PT With Taylor Swift’s Netflix documentary “Miss Americana” set to open the Sundance Film Festival in Jan. 2020 comes word that all of her older material has been cleared for use in the film. The documentary was a flashpoint in the latest public flare-up over Scooter Braun’s acquisition of Big Machine
U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION The 16 films in this section are all world premieres. The 40-Year-Old Version (Director and screenwriter: Radha Blank, Producers: Lena Waithe, Radha Blank, Inuka Bacote-Capiga, Jennifer Semler, Rishi Rijani) —A down-on-her-luck New York playwright decides to reinvent herself and salvage her artistic voice the only way she knows how: by becoming a
The shake-out in media and entertainment after a few years of mergers, cost-cutting initiatives and massive restructurings has thrust many experienced executives back onto the job market — but they’re not all landing at mainstream Hollywood companies. A growing number of them are making their way into new roles as partners, advisers or entrepreneurs-in-residence at private
December 4, 2019 12:58PM PT Parker Young has been cast to star opposite Adhir Kalyan in Chuck Lorre’s “United States of Al” comedy pilot, which is in the works in CBS. The show is a multi-camera comedy about the friendship between Riley (Young), a Marine combat veteran struggling to readjust to civilian life in Ohio,
Instagram will finally begin enforcing its policy to allow only users 13 or older to sign up for the service in most countries — or, at any rate, people who claim they’re at least 13. Starting Wednesday (Dec. 4), the Facebook-owned photo and video platform will ask for date of birth when someone creates an
December 4, 2019 12:52PM PT One of the four planned Marvel animated series at Hulu is experiencing a major behind the scenes shakeup, Variety has confirmed. “Tigra & Dazzler” has parted ways with showrunner Erica Rivinoja and the show’s entire writing staff. According to sources, Marvel and the writing team differed on the creative direction of
Nicolas Celis’ TV series “Perfect Monsters” has found its home. The “Roma” producer and his Mexico City-based production company Pimienta Films have inked an exclusive first-look deal with Exile and Endeavour Content, which announced a scripted television partnership in the spring. “Perfect Monsters,” an epic western created by Celis, Marion d’Ornano and Enrique M. Rizo,
AEG Presents announced today that Debra Rathwell has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Global Touring and Talent. The appointment was made by Gary Gersh, President of Global Touring and Talent for AEG Presents. She will continue to be based in New York. “Debra continues to bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and deep relationships
The American Film Institute has announced the recipients of the AFI Awards for 2019, the top ten films and TV shows “deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.” Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” was honored with an AFI Special Award along with “Fleabag,” both works
From mega-smash “Big Bank” featuring 2 Chainz, Big Sean and Nicki Minaj to TikTok favorite “Go Loko” with Tyga and Jon Z, 2019 belonged to YG who, in his team-up with producer and fellow West Coaster Mustard, was the soundtrack of the streets. And a multicultural one at that: “Go Loko” features Spanish guitar (played
“Anything Could Happen” was the title of Ellie Goulding’s seventh single, released in 2012, but those three words could double as a mantra for the British singer-songwriter’s entire career. In fact, Goulding was back in her hometown of Hereford, England, the previous year, and she had just finished writing that song (the first single from
Kaia Gerber, Selena Gomez, and Naomi Campbell are all sources of fashion inspiration. [Side note: Kaia Gerber has no business dressing so well for an eighteen-year-old. At that age, especially if you grew up in the 2000s, we all struggled though waist-slung belts and statement necklaces like sad extras on Gossip Girl. End rant.] And
The Image Direct Chrishell Stause is making the next big move in her divorce from “This Is Us” star Justin Hartley … by packing up her stuff and leaving their home. The “Selling Sunset” star was seen talking to movers at her L.A. residence Wednesday, and it looks like she’s staying positive through the rough
Tiffany Haddish rang in her 40th birthday Tuesday night by celebrating her black and Jewish heritage with a star-studded “Black Mitzvah” party. One of Haddish’s famous friends, Barbra Streisand, was noticeably absent from the festivities, but sent the comedian a special memento for the occasion. “She got me this beautiful Star of David,” Haddish told
Megan Thee Stallion needs a moment. “I’m going from coast to coast, and it’s cold some places and hot some places,” she says after letting loose a wracking cough. “It’s really messing with me.” She’s calling from Indianapolis but soon will head to her hometown of Houston to perform at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival. “We’re
Pete Townshend, guitarist and main songwriter of The Who, revealed he’s always regretted not staying to mourn after a stampede at one of the band’s concerts. The stampede, which left 11 people dead and 23 injured in Cincinnati, occurred 40 years ago at the Riverfront Coliseum on Dec. 3, 1979. Instead of staying around, the
Oh my my my! From the giant stages of a sold-out stadium tour — including two nights at London’s 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium — to the intimacy of a “Saturday Night Live” performance, BTS was everywhere in 2019. Consistently reaching the top of the U.S. charts singing in their native Korean, band members RM, Jin, Suga,
Gender is a construct but red carpets are very real. That’s the lesson from today’s Dior Homme show in Miami, where Kim Jones showed a range of surf-waxed suiting ostensibly for men… but also (and maybe more so?) for Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid, and more women who took the runway clothes and leveled-up their own