LYON — The 11th Lumière Festival in Lyon, France, opened on Saturday with a celebration of its 10-year anniversary, a tribute to past Lumière Award recipients, and rousing standing ovations for Frances McDormand and Donald Sutherland, who are among the high-profile actors and filmmakers being feted this year. Dedicated to heritage cinema, the festival was
“Sky Blue Academy,” an animated series set inside the training academy of reigning English Premier League champions Manchester City, is in the works, Variety has learned. The Pep Guardiola-managed team has enjoyed numerous successes in recent years and broken into world soccer’s elite, becoming a global brand in the process. The show will follow a
October 13, 2019 2:55AM PT The Netherlands-based company Dutch Features has acquired a pair of action-packed series, “Rogue Justice” and “The Columnist,” in the run up to Mipcom. “Rogue Justice,” produced by leading Dutch company Pupkin Film, is mainly set on the tropical island of Bonaire and revolves around two elite cops Willem (Dennis van
Paul Rudd is such a naturally ebullient actor that it can be startling to see him ground down. A gifted physical performer who, at 50, looks so youthful that his appearance tends to precede all other attributes when he’s discussed, Rudd also still has the verve and energy of a rising star — a quality
October 12, 2019 11:56PM PT SAG-AFTRA has signed a cooperative agreement that could include joint bargaining with the Asociación Nacional de Actores (ANDA), the labor union that represents performers in Mexico. The pact was announced Saturday during the third day of the SAG-AFTRA biannual convention at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Ca. The
CANNES — AGC Television, the TV production-distribution division of Stuart Ford’s still fast expanding independent content studio AGC Studios, has landed worldwide rights to another high-profile doc-series which it describes as “probing” and “explosive”: Oliver Stone’s “JFK: Destiny Betrayed.” The acquisition was announced early Monday by AGC Television president Lourdes Diaz. The acquisition continues AGC
CANNES — Marco Frazier, former AMC Networks SVP of international distribution for digital & new platforms, has joined U.K.-based entertainment company Pantomimus Media as head of corporate development Frazier will work directly with Pantomimus managing director Roberto Ricci to expand epic fantasy drama “The Red Harlequin” franchise across multiple platforms worldwide. Doing so, he will
A drill-down on high profile Latin American titles at Mipcom: “Amarres” Early fruit of Turner Latin America’s production alliance with Mexico’s Dopamine, a romantic drama about a woman entangled in a world of love magic and custody battles. Bows 1Q 2020. S: Turner Latin America. “Argentina, Land of Passion and Revenge” Pol-ka long-format big canvas smash primetime
Bob Geldof and the re-formed Boomtown Rats will talk about their legendary punk band in a new feature doc, “Boomtown.” It is one of the first two films from a new music producer-distributor that has been formed by Beyond Entertainment and TNC Media – BeyondTNC. BeyondTNC will be launching “Boomtown” to international buyers in Cannes,
CANNES — If Germany’s ProSiebenSat1 and Discovery had launched Joyn, their new streaming service, 10 years ago, they might have chosen as their first production a big action series, set in Germany, but with U.S. stars. This September, in a sign of new times, the partners announced that their first original drama series commission is “Dignity,”
As Mipcom kicks off, Variety looks back at just a few very recent stories you – and Variety – may have missed in the buildup to the world’s biggest TV market. The BBC picks up a trio of Nordic series, Netflix backs its first Original in Iceland, exciting startup Toon2Tango announces its first IP, African animation makes a impact
October 12, 2019 10:07PM PT India’s Amara Raja Group is getting into TV. It is launching a new content division with thriller series “Curse of the Kohinoor,” which will be directed by Colin Teague, whose credits include “Dr Who” and its spin-off “Torchwood.” Amara Raja is an India-based industrial corporation that works across sectors including
October 12, 2019 10:01PM PT Ultra high definition and 4K broadcaster, producer, and distributor Insight TV is expanding its program-making activities into the U.S. for the first time. Insight makes content for its own channels and licenses that internationally, and will now start producing out of the U.S., with an eye on millennial viewers. Natalie
The global import-export strategies of the U.S. majors are in flux as the world’s major content companies gather this week in Cannes for the annual Mipcom market and conference. Disney, WarnerMedia and the other handful of media conglomerates that control the vast majority of the U.S. market are in the midst of a radical transition
October 12, 2019 4:41PM PT SAG-AFTRA has honored President Gabrielle Catereis, Executive Vice President Rebecca Damon and Chief Operating Officer Duncan Crabtree-Ireland with George Heller Memorial Award gold cards. The award is presented every two years at convention and bestowed based on contributions and years of service to SAG-AFTRA or its predecessor unions. Recipients are
Set in post-World War II Japan, “An Artist of the Floating World” is Japanese pubcaster NHK’s adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same title. It stars Ken Watanabe in the lead role of Masuji Ono, a renowned artist looking back on, and coming to terms with, his life against the backdrop of a
October 12, 2019 1:39PM PT Zedd has been “permanently banned” from China after the German DJ liked a tweet from the “South Park” Twitter account. Zedd, whose real name is Anton Zaslavski, announced the news via his own Twitter account: “I just got permanently banned from China because I liked a @SouthPark tweet,” he wrote.
Lauren Faust, the executive producer of Warner Bros. Animation’s rebooted “DC Super Hero Girls,” is on a mission: to right the wrongs committed by past series for girls. “Too many shows for girls are less about inspiring them, less about entertaining them, less about reflecting their experiences back to them, and too often almost come
TMZ.com Casanova and other NYC rappers appear to have been effectively blackballed from performing in their own town by the NYPD, getting nixed from Rolling Loud after a mere request. A letter that’s purported to have been written by the City of New York and signed off by Asst. Police Chief Martin Morales surfaced over
“Monos,” an unsettling thriller about teenage soldiers that one critic described as “like ‘Lord of the Flies’ in hell,” has won the award for best film at the BFI London Film Festival. Mati Diop’s “Atlantics,” which premiered in Cannes, took home the prize for best debut feature, while “White Riot,” about a 1970s reggae protest
After its acquisition by RAI for primetime in Italy, the North American series “Hudson & Rex,” starring John Reardon, has struck further major territory deals in Europe, including sales to Germany and France, distributor Beta Film revealed Saturday as content market Mipcom prepared to roll. The show has been acquired by TNT Serie in Germany,
On Friday, ELLE and Ferragamo joined forces for the first annual Hollywood Rising party to honor breakout actors and actresses taking film and television by storm. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia and Ferragamo creative director Paul Andrew, the event toasted the outstanding work of Lucy Boynton, Ben Platt, Zoey Deutch, Rahne Jones, Anthony Ramos, Kristine
The line between art and artifice is one that Kim Gordon has explored throughout her four-decade career, first as cofounder of Sonic Youth and more recently as a visual artist, memoirist, fashion designer, actress, and one-half of the experimental duo Body/Head. When we’re perusing a corporately designed bauble or experience, are we genuinely imagining the
It’s still all smiles for “Joker,” which grossed another $17 million on its second Friday at the domestic box office. If estimates hold, the Warner Bros. villain flick could score another $60 million come Sunday, down just 37% from its $96 million box office debut. That’s above earlier predictions, which saw the film landing somewhere
Journalists from across the TV-news sector will miss Shepard Smith at Fox News. The bean counters at the cable-news outlet’s parent, Fox Corp., will not. Smith sent media circles teetering off their centers Friday by announcing in the final minutes of his mid-afternoon show that he was leaving the network as soon as he finished
“Money Heist” is the most-watched non-English series in Netflix history. “The Plague” played on the BBC. “Side Games” was a big hit for DirecTV Latin America. Success can take many shapes. Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile figure as the regular top markets for Spanish TV fiction, though now, standout performances have extended across the U.S.
The explosion of global streaming services has prompted a golden age of Spanish drama series. Led by new seasons of Netflix phenomena “La casa de papel” (“Money Heist”) and “Elite,” global demand for the top 20 Spanish-produced TV fiction titles grew 30.2% this year compared to 2018, according to Parrot Analytics. “The quality of Spanish
New streaming services are coming to Latin America, and with them come both huge opportunities and huge competition. Apple TV Plus launches in Latin America on Nov. 1; HBO Max sometime around or after spring 2020; and Disney Plus in October 2020. “There won’t be money in the world for platforms to 100% finance all
October 12, 2019 7:59AM PT SVOD outfit Cirkus is expanding with Kritic, a new service programmed with premium non-English-language drama. The first launch will be in Sweden in December and feature big-ticket shows such as “Babylon Berlin” from Germany and “Gomorrah” from Italy. Cirkus has established itself in the Nordics and German-speaking territories. Kritic will
BARCELONA — Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s debut feature “The Platform” was awarded best film and best music at the 52nd Sitges’ Intl. Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia. Gaztelu-Urrutia also snagged the Citizen Kane Award for an up-and-coming director. The prizes come off the back of the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s Midnight Madness. Produced by Carlos