Google and public radio distributor PRX have teamed up for a 10-part educational series meant to teach budding podcasters how to perfect their craft. “Podcasting 101,” which is scheduled to launch on 10/31, will show podcasters how to record professional-sounding audio, how to write scripts, how to monetize their shows and more. The video series
On the face of it, making a sequel to “The Shining” does not sound like a promising idea. Stephen King’s original novel, which was published in 1977, remains one of his greatest (it’s not a tale that needs to be messed with). And in the 40 years since Stanley Kubrick’s spooky cerebral film version came
Sony Music saw another robust quarter, as its global streaming revenues climbed to $622 million — 21.4% over the same period last year — and its total recorded music revenues jumped 10.5% to $1.04 billion, according to a report for the quarter released early Wednesday, according to Music Business Worldwide. The report, part of Sony’s
Here are the top trailers for movies coming out in November 2019! What will you go see? Watch All the Best New Trailers from October 2019: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLScC8g4bqD45_wHn8kJqrIxaB705SXO98?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc 00:00 Harriet 02:26 Terminator: Dark Fate 04:55 Motherless Brooklyn 07:29 Arctic Dogs 09:24 Playing with Fire 11:37 Last Christmas 14:35 Midway 16:59 Doctor Sleep 19:24 Honey Boy 21:34
Great Point Media has boarded sales on “Gwledd,” Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh horror movie. The film stars Annes Elwy (“Little Women”), Nia Roberts (“Under Milk Wood”) and Julian Lewis Jones (“Justice League”), alongside Steffan Cennydd (“Last Summer”) and Sion Alun Davies (“The Left Behind”). Filmed in Welsh, the picture follows a young woman serving privileged
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” director Quentin Tarantino and his DP Robert Richardson will receive the Cinematographer-Director Duo Award at the Camerimage International Film Festival. The prize goes annually to a helmer-DP combo whose collaboration has shaped the look and feel of a major motion picture. The Camerimage fest focuses mainly on the art
Disney’s “Frozen II” is set to hit theaters in China on Nov. 22, day and date with the US. The first installment, “Frozen,” grossed $48.2 million in China in 2014, at a time when the country had fewer screens and lower expectations for animated fare. Animation hasn’t always been a huge hit at the Chinese
As the calendar changes from October to November, Mexican horror fans will ascend for the twelfth year on Morbido Fest, a Mexico City-based festival dedicated to all things macabre, organized and executed by Morbido Group CEO and founder Pablo Guisa Koestinger. This year’s festival will kick off Oct. 30 with a spectacle grander in its
Longtime advertising and media exec Scott Donaton is departing his gig at Digitas to join Hulu as the Disney-controlled streaming company’s head of creative. In the newly created role, Donaton will lead Hulu’s in-house creative teams that produce brand marketing campaigns spanning all channels, including TV, digital, social media and in-product assets. In addition, he
China’s Tencent and India’s Times Internet have participated in a $110 million funding round for rapidly growing Indian streamer MX Player, the companies announced on Wednesday. MX is now valued at $500 million, sources familiar with the matter at the Mumbai bourse told Variety. The streamer is also investing in 20 new originals, which will
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded “Dead & Beautiful,” a stylish Taiwan-set vampire film written and directed by David Verbeek, the Dutch filmmaker whose last movie, “Full Contact,” competed at Toronto. Verbeek’s seventh feature, “Dead & Beautiful” follows a group of young and spoiled teenagers in Taiwan who turn into vampires after a night of partying.
As the Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival celebrates its 60th edition, what began as a small-scale celebration called Greek Cinema Week has evolved into a vital platform for filmmakers from Greece and around the region, finding a natural home in this historical crossroads that has at various points been under Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman rule. “We
Spotify is trying to sell more multi-account family-plan subscriptions — by setting up a special “playground of sound” just for kids. The new Spotify Kids app brings together a hand-picked selection of age-appropriate music, singalongs, soundtracks, and stories for kids as young as 3 years old. The app is available in a beta test period
When it comes to showing their dedication to a role, actors have been known to gain weight, hit the gym, shave their heads and even have a tooth pulled. But those are all signs of physical commitment. Far more challenging is going out of your way to learn a foreign language — or faking it
Armando Iannucci’s take on the Charles Dickens classic “David Copperfield” is a strong front-runner in the British Independent Film Awards, scoring 11 nominations. Dev Patel is up for best actor for his starring role in “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” and his co-stars, Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie, compete in their respective supporting categories.
Leading Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (“Shoplifters,” “The Truth”) has criticized the decision by the little-known Kawasaki Shinyuri Film Festival to cancel a screening of “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue.” He argues that it is a freedom of speech issue. The film is a year-old U.S.-Japanese documentary about the foreign women who
BAFTA and Netflix have raised the curtain on the 2019 class of Breakthrough Brits. The 20-strong cohort, spanning talent from film, TV and games, includes “Sex Education” writer Laurie Nunn, “The Virtues” actress Niamh Algar, “Chernobyl” production designer Luke Hull, and “Saint Maud” director Rose Glass. The Breakthrough scheme has been run by BAFTA since
“Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word Is Power,” a documentary about the author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” has scored a raft of international deals. The doc was produced by Canada-based White Pine Pictures with pubcaster the CBC. Sky has acquired it for its Sky Arts channel in the U.K. and Arte
Sky has secured its pipeline of HBO content and will work on new shows with the U.S. cable network and its upcoming streaming service under the terms of a new deal announced Wednesday. The deal had been widely expected and is believed to run for five years. Besides HBO shows, the new agreement also gives
John Witherspoon, the veteran actor and comedian best known for his roles in “Friday,” “House Party” and “Boomerang,” died on Tuesday. He was 77. “It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away,” his family announced on Twitter. “He was a Legend in the
“The Morning Show” is sometimes about people leaning fully into their most base impulses. Other times it’s about harnessing those impulses for their benefit. For actor and executive producer Reese Witherspoon, anger was one of her best motivators when playing the part of up-and-coming news anchor Bradley Jackson in the Apple TV Plus original drama.
WarnerMedia has spent the last year or so building a library of licensed and original content for its forthcoming streaming platform HBO Max, launching in May 2020 at the price point of $14.99 per month. Plenty of new additions to HBO Max’s shelves were announced at the media conglomerate’s presentation on Tuesday, including a “Game
Among the many speakers and panelists at Variety’s 2019 Music for Screens Summit, the composer for “Joker” spoke about how her score inspired Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, Robbie Robertson talked up Martin Scorsese, Cameron Crowe talked stage musicals, branding experts spoke about how synchs and Shazam increasingly work in synch, and music supervisors fought for their
In the streaming wars to come, WarnerMedia will rely on sheer tonnage of heavy artillery. That much was clear Tuesday as the AT&T media arm unveiled to investors its plans for HBO Max, the direct-to-consumer service that is the fruit of the telecom giant’s acquisition last year of the former TimeWarner. On a soundstage at
October 29, 2019 5:49PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Paramount Pictures claims the top spot in spending for the second week in a row with “Terminator: Dark Fate.” Ads placed for the sci-fi action film had an estimated
In today’s film news roundup, Patrick Schwarzenegger will star in high school drama “Moxie” for Netflix with Amy Poehler directing; Blake DeLong boards a Billie Holiday movie; “Bombshell” moves up a week; and UTA topper Jeremy Zimmer heads a veterans group. CASTING Patrick Schwarzenegger has joined the cast of Amy Poehler’s high-school drama “Moxie” for
For music supervisors, 2019 was arguably the field’s best year yet. Finally accepted to the Television Academy as members four years ago, they received further validation in 2017 in the form of their own Emmy category. A decade after the Guild of Music Supervisors [GMS] was established, it seems now, at long last, the music
October 29, 2019 5:06PM PT In today’s TV news roundup, Ovation announces its “Twelve Days of Christmas” programming lineup and Sony Pictures Television announced “The Good Dish.” DATES Ovation announced its “Twelve Days of Christmas” programming lineup will start Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. with “Eve’s Christmas.” The 13 nights of programming will feature modern classic
October 29, 2019 4:58PM PT The world of “Game of Thrones” will live on at HBO. A prequel series based on the “Game of Thrones” companion book “Fire & Blood” has been ordered straight-to-series at the premium cabler. The series will be titled “House of the Dragon.” Set 300 years before the events of “Game
October 29, 2019 4:58PM PT WarnerMedia is taking a lot of cues from other mobile app experiences for the launch of its upcoming HBO Max service: The service’s apps will allow users to listen to podcasts on the go, follow actors similar to the way one would follow influencers on social networks and find content