China’s state broadcaster blacked out the first two days of the NBA’s new season and Tencent did not stream the majority of the games live, as the league continues to face off with the Communist government over free speech. The NBA has been at odds with Chinese sponsors, networks and fans in its most critical
The BBC needs to come up with an integrated strategy to win young viewers, deliver original British programming, and be more open about how it operates, British media regulator Ofcom said in its second annual report scrutinizing the world’s biggest pubcaster. Ofcom said the BBC is “broadly delivering” on its mission, has upped program spending
October 24, 2019 5:06AM PT Coldplay unveiled the track list of its highly anticipated new double album, “Everyday Life,” in classified advertisements Wednesday in newspapers on opposite sides of the world, one in Wales and two in Australia. The ads in the North Wales Daily Post, Sydney Morning Herald and The West Australian are the
Entertainment One has reshaped its EMEA distribution team under Dan Gopal with a new structure, new hires, and two sales execs exiting. Gopal is one of three regional distribution EVPs and oversees Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for eOne, which is being acquired by Hasbro in a $4 billion deal. He told Variety that
October 24, 2019 4:22AM PT Anne-Marie Duff and Rafe Spall will star in “Salisbury,” the fact-based BBC drama about the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the southwestern English city. Duff (“Shameless”) and Spall (“The War of the Worlds”) will star alongside Mark Addy (“Game of Thrones”), Annabel
Twitter posted third-quarter 2019 results that fell below targets, blaming snafus in its advertising products for part of the sales shortfall, sending the social network company’s stock plunging as much as 20% in pre-market trading. Revenue totaled $824 million, up 9%, under the $874 million Wall Street analysts anticipated on average. Twitter said sales were
Comcast matched Wall Street’s expectations for its third quarter revenue and beat on earnings per share despite tough year-over-year comparisons for NBCUniversal. Comcast delivered $26.8 billion in revenue, up 21.2% from the year-ago quarter, and adjusted earnings per share of 79 cents, up 16.2% from Q3 2018. The consensus among analysts had adjusted EPS coming
October 24, 2019 4:00AM PT [embedded content] YouTube has teamed up with the remaining Queen members to produce new music videos for 3 of the band’s classic hits compiled entirely out of fan submissions. The collaborative videos for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “A Kind of Magic” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” were published on Queen’s official YouTube
Robert Redford will receive a career tribute during the 18th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival. The Marrakech festival will take place Nov. 29 to Dec. 7. As previously announced, Tilda Swinton to preside over the jury. Redford, one of the leading figures of contemporary cinema, said it was “a great honor to be
“Nina Wu,” a dark drama about the Asian film industry, sexual harassment, and one woman’s paranoia, will get a release in North American theaters in 2020. Rights to the Taiwanese-produced picture, which premiered at the Cannes festival in the Un Certain Regard section, were acquired by New York-based distributor Film Movement. The film was directed
Newen, the Paris-based production and sales company owned by TF1 Group, has signed a strategic deal with Anton, a producer and financier of global content. Under the pact, Anton will be co-investing in Newen’s distribution rights for both in-house productions and third-party programs across fiction, documentary and animation, up to €35 million ($39 million). This
Fans of Kanye West know a lot about patience. Having persevered through multiple release date rumors for the rapper’s ninth studio album, “Jesus Is King” finally made it to their ears as a one-night only preview event held at the Forum in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 23. The listening session for 17,000 took place
China blocks local access to almost a quarter of the foreign news outlets accredited to report from the country with its “Great Firewall” of strict online censorship, according to a new analysis. The more than 850 million internet users in the Middle Kingdom are barred from viewing the publicly available websites of 23% of 215
Japanese prosecutors in the rape case against Hirofumi Arai have asked for a five-year prison sentence for the actor. They made the request was made at a public hearing Wednesday in the Tokyo District Court. Arai has pleaded innocent to charges that he sexually assaulted a woman sent to his residence from a massage service
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Episode 100,” the sixth episode of “American Horror Story: 1984.” One hundred episodes is a big milestone in television these days, so kudos to “American Horror Story” for getting there. Also kudos for pulling out all the stops for this big episode — it definitely
October 23, 2019 7:25PM PT BoxOfficeMojo.com has been transformed into an IMDbPro site, losing some of its free features. The Amazon-owned site, which had previously operated free of charge, was given a new look with its header reading “Box Office Mojo by IMDb Pro.” Information such as breakdowns by genre is now only available behind
October 23, 2019 6:35PM PT Disney Plus has launched development of a sequel to 1993’s fantasy comedy “Hocus Pocus” with “Workaholics” writer and co-producer Jen D’Angelo on board to script. The original “Hocus Pocus” starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as a trio of witch sisters who have been cursed since 1693
October 23, 2019 6:26PM PT Variety has won two Eppy Awards from Editor & Publisher, including Best Digital Magazine and Best Collaborative Investigative/Enterprise Feature for “American (In)Justice” — a collaboration with fellow PMC property Rolling Stone. “American (In)Justice” also tied with USA Today’s “Copy, Paste, Legislate” collaboration with The Arizona Republic and the Center for
Hollywood stars are partnering with men’s health charity, Movember, to support the moustache and raise awareness about the org’s fundraising campaign. Comedians Stephen Fry, Stephen Merchant, actor David Oyewelo and survival expert Bear Grylls join former Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger in a new public service announcement explaining why the ‘stache is so important. Watch
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix announced the premiere date for “Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby” and Epix released a trailer for “Belgravia.” CASTING AMC announced that “Succession” actor Sarah Snook, David Costabile (“Breaking Bad”) and Sonya Cassidy (“Lodge 49”) have been cast in its upcoming anthology series from Will Bridges and Brett Goldstein. The still-to-be-titled series is set 15 years into the
October 23, 2019 3:43PM PT Newcomer Jake Austin Walker is set to join Luke Wilson in the sports drama “12 Mighty Orphans.” The film from director Ty Roberts also stars Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall. Lane Garrison is adapting the script, which is based on the book by Jim Dent. Walker will play one of
Since her time as chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group (January will mark her five-year anniversary), Jody Gerson has both been given and gifted her share of honors. On Tuesday, Oct. 22, she received recognition by her hometown of Philadelphia: a plaque on the Avenue of the Arts Walk of Fame presented by
Despite three new nationwide releases, domestic box office charts look to be dominated by holdovers — Warner Bros.’ “Joker” and Disney’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” — during the last weekend in October. “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” debuted last weekend with $36 million in North America, enough to dethrone “Joker” after the super-villain origin story’s back-to-back
Clouds on the global economic horizon and disruption to the scheduling of the event, have done little to dampen the interest of foreign visitors to TIFFCOM, Japan’s biggest film and TV market. Especially those from China, says market head, Yasushi Shiina. The market is again running at the Sunshine City shopping, entertainment and business complex
Chuck D, founder and frontman of the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy, will receive the 2019 Woody Guthrie Prize. The hip-hop icon, author and social activist will be honored for his career-long dedication to shining light on social issues, specifically Black issues, through his music and writing. Named for American folk singer Woody Guthrie, the
October 23, 2019 2:29PM PT Four women will moderate the next Democratic debate, slated for broadcast on MSNBC. Rachel Maddow, the primetime host; Andrea Mitchell, the veteran foreign correspondent; Kristen Welker, the NBC News White House correspondent; and Ashley Parker, a Washington Post White House reporter, will moderate the event, MSNBC said Wednesday. The broadcast
October 23, 2019 2:05PM PT Japan’s biggest film company, which produces, distributes and exhibits its own product in partnership with leading media companies, Toho has brought a line-up to TIFFCOM full of present and future hits. The biggest is “Weathering with You,” the love story animation by Makoto Shinkai that surpassed the $100 million mark
October 23, 2019 2:01PM PT One of Japan’s five major broadcast networks, Fuji TV has also been a pioneer and leader among the networks in feature film production. This year at TIFFCOM long-time partner Pony Canyon is representing Fuji TV films that have recently hit number one at the Japanese box office. Among the hottest,
If you want to shoot holes in the comments that Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola made recently about Marvel movies (Scorsese: “That’s not cinema”; Coppola: “Martin was being kind when he said it wasn’t cinema. He didn’t say it was despicable, which is what I say”), then go right ahead, because they’ve practically handed
Megan Clarken, a Nielsen executive who has been instrumental in the company’s quest to keep tabs on consumers in the many new ways they have to watch TV, is leaving the measurement giant. “After 15 years at Nielsen, Megan Clarken will be leaving at the end of the month to take on a new position