Amazon Prime has picked up Spanish and Latin American streaming rights to “Hernan,” the much-anticipated Spanish conquistador series produced by Spain’s Onza Entertainment and Mexico’s Dopamine, a Salinas Group company. The OTT giant plans to bow the eight-episode series later this year, in time to mark the 500th anniversary of the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes’
Elton John came out on top in Pollstar’s 2019 mid-year touring charts with a $82.6 million gross, based on box-office earnings from a segment of his global “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. The veteran rocker sold 608,766 tickets for the 42 shows he played between November 2018 and March 2019, a period that encompassed the
In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix drops the trailer for fourth season of “Queer Eye” and Amazon announces the premiere date for its first ever original stand-up special. CASTING Ryan Destiny, best known for playing one of the leads on Fox’s “Star,” will join the cast of “Grown-ish” for the upcoming third season in a recurring
“Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” returns for its sixth season on August 5 and today, VH1, Monami Entertainment and MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment confirmed the cast members, which include Ray J and Princess Love, K Michelle, Lyrica Anderson, Fizz from B2K, Yo-Yo, Marques Houston and more. The VH1 reality show launched in September 2014 and
Peter Shapiro, founder of Dayglo Ventures, which operates music venues Brooklyn Bowl and the Capitol Theatre as well as the Lockn’ Music Festival, Relix Magazine, The Rock & Roll Playhouse and Garcia’s, has been named Chair of the Board of Directors of HeadCount, a non-profit which facilitates voter registration at thousands of live music events each
At first glance, Zhai Yixiang’s “Mosaic Portrait” looks like it pursues the same semi-journalistic agenda as so much social-issue cinema: Xu Ying (Zhang Tongxi), a 14-year-old girl from a rural Chinese village, is discovered to be pregnant, and names one of her schoolteachers as the father. Ying’s father, Xu Guangjun (Wang Yanhui) — a frequently
The producer of Netflix’s “The Crown” is making “Sitting in Limbo” for the BBC, a feature-length drama about a recent real-life immigration scandal in the U.K. Novelist Stephen S. Thompson is writing, and it is his first TV script. The Windrush scandal concerns immigrants to Britain, mostly those who came to the country from the
Netflix has taken over Dwayne Johnson’s action movie “Red Notice” from Universal Pictures and added Ryan Reynolds to the cast. “Red Notice” had been in the works at Universal, but the studio announced Monday that it’s vacating the previously announced Nov. 13, 2020, release date in favor of an untitled event film. Johnson reteams with
HBO’s documentary “I Love You, Now Die,” about a young woman who went on trial for allegedly coercing her boyfriend to kill himself over text message, is clear-eyed and thoughtful, and, in two brisk installments, manages not to overstay its welcome. It tells a story that will startle the unfamiliar and, too, provide new angles
Exclusive Getty NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is deadly serious about defending his nickname — and now he’s suing an artist for selling “Greek Freak” shirts without his permission. The Milwaukee Bucks stud is going scorched earth on Pennsylvania-based artist Jinder Bhogal — who sells NBA player-inspired clothing on his website. In fact, Bhogal featured various
When we think of public battles between major recording artists and their current or former label heads, we think… well, as of late June 2019, we’ve thought Taylor Swift and Big Machine. But for more than four decades prior to that, everyone’s first go-to was John Fogerty versus Fantasy Records chief Saul Zaentz. There’s plenty
Gandja Monteiro, who has gained recognition for her work on Starz’s series “Vida,” will direct Universal Pictures’ “Talent Show,” based on an idea by Duane Adler from the “Step Up” franchise. Lena Waithe wrote the latest version of the script, with an earlier version by Adler. “The Hate U Give” producers George Tillman Jr. and
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), created by U.S. music publishers and songwriters and designated last week by the U.S. Copyright Office to handle licensing and administering rights under the Music Modernization Act (MMA), boasts an impressive industry lineup. The MLC’s tasks, which are expected to begin imminently, will include the negotiation of a budget with
Nelson Mandela’s family is partnering with Michael Sugar’s Sugar23 and ad agency DMA United to launch Mandela Media, in honor of the late South African leader. Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary who spent 27 years in prison before becoming president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 as the country’s first black head of state, during
July 8, 2019 1:00PM PT “The Farewell” filmmaker Lulu Wang will direct the science fiction movie “Children of the New World.” Plot details are being kept under wraps, though it will be adapted from Alexander Weinstein’s collection of short stories of the same name. Big Beach and Votiv are distributing “Children of the New World,”
The 31st annual ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop got underway today with 12 composers from eight countries around the world. (Participants are listed below.) Supported by The ASCAP Foundation, the comprehensive four-week program takes place in Los Angeles and is designed to equip the selected composers with the knowledge and connections they need to succeed in
July 8, 2019 12:23PM PT Newcomers Celeste O’Connor and Logan Kim have signed on to join the ensemble cast of “Ghostbusters 2020,” sources tell Variety. The pair joins Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, “Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard, and “Gifted” star Mckenna Grace. Jason Reitman, whose father Ivan Reitman directed the original “Ghostbusters,” will helm “Ghostbusters
July 8, 2019 12:05PM PT Jessica Chastain shared a behind-the-scenes look of working with director Simon Kinberg and stars Diane Kruger, Fan Bingbing, Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o on the upcoming female-led spy thriller “355” on her Instagram. In the footage, Chastain meets Kinberg on a Parisian street with the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.
Tracy Oliver has set up her second TV series. The “Girls Trip” scribe has landed a ten episode order at Amazon for a half-hour single-cam comedy series following the lives of four black women – friends from their college days at NYU – as they navigate sex, relationships and chasing their dreams. Oliver is the
SideCar, Fox Entertainment’s new content development accelerator led by Gail Berman, has filled out its executive team with Hend Baghdady, Susan Lierle, Jeff Nemon, Alana Romoff, Matthew Chadwick and Eduardo Lopez-Mendez. The company is set to develop scripted and unscripted projects alike for both the Fox network and third-party platforms. “This truly is an amazing
July 8, 2019 11:43AM PT All Def Digital, the hip-hop and urban youth culture media company founded by Russell Simmons, has gone through a major restructuring but is not folding, according to president and CEO Chris Blackwell. Last week, citing anonymous sources, internet-video publication Tubefilter reported that All Def Digital was shutting down after broad
Do not expect to see much, if any, of Sarah Paulson in the new season of “American Horror Story.” Variety has learned from sources that Paulson will not appear in a significant role in the FX anthology series’ upcoming ninth season, which is titled “American Horror Story: 1984.” Paulson has appeared in all eight of
Snap keeps building toward its vision of Snapchat becoming the TV habit for the mobile generation. The company is launching “BTW,” BuzzFeed’s first original show for Snapchat, promising snack-size celebrity and entertainment news dispatches every weekday afternoon. The show premieres July 8 and will run Monday-Friday, with episodes 3-5 minutes in length going live every
Thrillist hired Meghan Kirsch, most recently Vice Media’s SVP of marketing and creative, as chief content officer. In the new role, Kirsch will oversee all editorial content and brand identity for Thrillist, heading written, video, production and design teams for the lifestyle media publisher that focuses on food, drink, travel and entertainment. Founded in 2004,
I’m forever on the hunt for the next best jumpsuit. As someone who errs on the side of classic, casual dressing, a jumpsuit is the ideal piece to say “I care about my outfits, but not so much that it takes up an insane amount of time.” Enter Alex Mill. Launched in 2012 by Alex
July 8, 2019 10:36AM PT John Turturro’s “Big Lebowski” spinoff, “The Jesus Rolls,” which follows his “Lebowski” character Jesus Quintana, is scheduled to hit theaters in early 2020. Screen Media purchased the rights to the film, which Turturro directed from his own script. “Jesus Rolls” also stars Bobby Cannavale and Audrey Tautou and features Jon
July 8, 2019 10:29AM PT Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Sony Innovation Studios has acquired Nurulize, a startup whose software lets users edit, color and enhance volumetrically captured images in a real-time collaborative environment. Terms of the acquisition aren’t being disclosed. Under the deal, Nurulize’s 12 employees are joining Sony Innovation Studios, which the company launched last
Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV. Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. This week, “Love Island” premieres on CBS and Aziz Ansari returns to Netflix. “Aziz Ansari:
Michael Engleman, most recently the chief marketing officer at TBS and TNT, has been named CMO of Showtime Networks, succeeding Don Buckley. He will oversee Showtime’s marketing, creative advertising and digital media divisions, which includes consumer and distribution marketing, promotions and media. He will also be responsibly for managing daily operations of Showtime’s digital platform
Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren are set to return for “Fast & Furious 9,” Vin Diesel has announced. The actresses will be joining Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, and John Cena. “Fast & Furious 9” is scheduled to be released on May 22, 2020 by Universal Pictures. Theron