With sports dominating the most-watched telecasts on broadcast TV in 2018, its value to TV networks in guaranteeing a live audience is unparalleled. People are still watching sports despite the decline in overall live viewing. But an exclusive study conducted for Variety by Prodege, a leading market research panel, found that being able to gamble
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton Put away the neutrals, everyone, because summer’s here, and that means it’s time to break out the bold and bright colors. And Louis Vuitton’s latest vibrant offering is just what you need to shield yourself from the heat in style. The luxury fashion house debuted a collab with multimedia artist and
“Midsommar” isn’t your typical summer thriller. “It’s a horror movie, among other things” says Jack Reynor, who stars in “Hereditary” director Ari Aster’s sophomore feature. “Midsommar” follows a group of friends who travel from New York City to the Swedish countryside for a once-in-every-90-years celebration that involves drugs, sex and ritual killings. Reynor plays Christian,
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” is off to a heroic start, generating $39.2 million from 4,634 North American locations on opening day. That haul sets a new benchmark for Tuesday ticket sales, surpassing the record previously held by another web-slinger, 2012’s Andrew Garfield-led “The Amazing Spider-Man,” with $35 million. The latest superhero adventure, from Sony’s Marvel
July 3, 2019 7:18AM PT Rapper A$AP Rocky was arrested in Sweden late Tuesday night under suspicion of aggravated assault in the wake of an incident with fans that took place on Sunday, according to CBS News. A Swedish Prosecution Office spokesman told the outlet that the rapper (real name: Rakim Myers) was arrested for
Here we go again: Instagram users across the globe reported problems logging in, sharing or otherwise accessing the Facebook-owned photo and video service on mobile apps and the web on Wednesday. Instagram began having issues since 8:45 a.m. ET, with most of the user reports concentrated in the Northeast U.S. and Western Europe, according to
Summer is finally here, so that means, not only are BBQs and beach days in your future, but also amazing 4th of July sales. This year, stores and brands are going all out to bring you the very best deals on everything from TVs to mattresses. In fact, some amazing promotions have already started. That’s
TMZ Blueface wants to get his side of the story out as to why he kicked his mom and sister out of his house — so he’s posted more footage of the altercation with an explanation. The “Thotiana” rapper threw up multiple clips of what appears to be surveillance video from inside his home, which
Like many YouTubers, Lauren Riihimaki — better known to millions of fans as LaurDIY — began her creator career unintentionally: She started posting crafty, do-it-yourself videos as a hobby in 2011. Fast-forward to today, and her popular how-to tutorials and vlogs have been viewed more than 1.1 billion times on YouTube. LaurDIY has blossomed into
Following his departure from The Walt Disney Company, Jean-François Camilleri has joined the French production company Echo Studio as president. The Paris-based independent company was launched two years ago and is dedicated to producing internationally-driven content with political, social and environmental themes in a similar vein as Participant Media. One of France’s most respected industry
Netflix has created a new production hub in the U.K., with a 14-stage studio space close to London. The first Netflix show to use the new facilities will be Charlize Theron’s upcoming film for the streamer and Skydance, “The Old Guard.” The new hub will be situated at the iconic Shepperton Studios, which is in
July 3, 2019 4:01AM PT The Spice Girls’ Geri Horner and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall will be guest judges on the upcoming U.K. version of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for the BBC. The pop pair will join “Game of Thrones” star Maisie Williams who has already been announced as a guest judge. Mama Ru, Michelle Visage,
Kino Lorber has scooped North American rights to the Cannes Film Festival’s jury prize winner “Bacurau,” a Brazilian western thriller directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles. Mendonca Filho’s follow up to “Aquarius,” another Cannes competition title, “Bacurau” is set in the near future, in a small imaginary Brazilian village that becomes a target
July 3, 2019 3:54AM PT Pop star Kylie Minogue and indie rockers The Vaccines have formed an unlikely pairing on an original track for Aardman and Studiocanal’s “Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.” Kylie and The Vaccines have both just appeared at the Glastonbury music festival in the U.K. Their new collaboration, “Lazy,” was announced Wednesday,
BARCELONA – Paris-based production house La Fabrica Nocturna, a co-producer on Marcelo Martinessi’s Berlin prize winner “The Heiresses,” has boarded Spaniard Chema García Ibarra’s awaited feature debut “Sacred Spirit,” Variety learnt during the closing events at top Spanish development program The Incubator, run by the Madrid ECAM Madrid Film School. Produced by San Sebastian’s Apellániz
Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past, last week wrapped its 33rd edition with a record-breaking turnout. Long a summer fixture for vintage film geeks and distributors it also draws prominent contemporary cinema personalities. This year these included Academy president John Bailey, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jane
Sports drama “Three Seconds” has become the highest grossing Russian film of all time in China, with an 85 million yuan ($12.3 million) gross. Previous Russian hits in China include “The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice” (74.2 million yuan), “Stalingrad” (71.9 million yuan) and “Dragon” (60 million yuan). Anton Megerdichev’s film tells the story
July 2, 2019 11:02PM PT Lee Cheuk-pan’s debut feature is a striking essay about moral decay in contemporary Hong Kong. “The darker the underbelly, the prettier the top layer,” says one of the main characters in “G Affairs,” a striking, metaphor-heavy excursion into corruption and moral decay in contemporary Hong Kong. This knockout debut by
After 38 days of filming, the final clapperboard has been snapped shut on “Charlatan,” Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s latest film, and it’s a wrap. The film will premiere on Feb. 20, 2020, which offers the possibility of a launch at the Berlin Film Festival (Feb. 20-March 1). “Charlatan” was shot in several locations in
July 2, 2019 10:43PM PT This juicy Oz horror offers an engaging female twist on the trusty “Most Dangerous Game” formula. An above-average riff on the reliable “hunting humans for sport” scenario that’s been around at least as far as 1932’s RKO thriller “The Most Dangerous Game,” “The Furies” marks a solid feature debut for
There’s a feeling I always have when I’m watching Greg Kinnear in a movie. He can be a terrific actor (as the ’60s TV star and sex addict Bob Crane in “Auto Focus,” as the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper in “Flash of Genius,” doing his what-the-hell-let’s-let-it-rip dance to “Super Freak” at the end
July 2, 2019 10:14PM PT Not even fond memories of ‘Léon: The Professional’ can put a charge in Jean Reno’s latest, instantly forgettable hitman thriller. As the minutes slowly tick by in the lifeless thriller “Cold Blood,” it’s easy to mourn for what might have been. Jean Reno stars as Henry, a veteran hitman seeking
Composer-arranger Sid Ramin, a longtime associate of Leonard Bernstein who won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Grammy for his work in film, TV and theater, died of natural causes Monday (July 1) at his home in New York City. He was 100. Ramin won a 1961 Academy Award for adapting the music of “West
July 2, 2019 9:30PM 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, Columbia Pictures claims the top spot in spending with “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Ads placed for the superhero film had an estimated media value of $5.23 million through Sunday
The Writers Guild of America has spurned an offer by Abrams Artists Agency to accept WGA’s key requirements in order to return to representing WGA members again. The agency had proposed that it would stop taking packaging fees and engaging in affiliate production if it could represent WGA members. The offer was conditional, in that
In today’s film news roundup, Andre Caraco and Paul Noble receive promotions at Sony, Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war drama “Paths of Glory” gets restored, Drafthouse Films gets launched and “The Chainsaw Artist” wraps. EXEC PROMOTIONS Sony Pictures has promoted veteran executives Andre Caraco and Paul Noble to the posts of co-presidents of global marketing. Sony Pictures
An epic, magnificently shot chronicle of a tiny Chinese hamlet enduring one of its final yearly cycles of harvest and hardship, Liu Feifang’s delicate but mighty debut documentary feature “The Fading Village” is loosely organized around the last member of the newer generation to still live in the Shanxi Province village of Heishuigetuo. Goat farmer
Milton Quon, an animator who worked on “Fantasia” and “Dumbo,” died of natural causes at his home in Torrance, Ca., on June 18. He was 105. His son, artist Mike Quon, told Variety that his father was drawing up until his last days. He also acted in movies including “Speed,” “Chill Factor,” “Sweet Jane,” “The
July 2, 2019 5:09PM PT A gay Sao Paolo teen struggles to avoid homelessness in Alex Moratto’s vigorous, prize-winning debut feature. “Socrates” is the kind of downward-spiral narrative bound to sound relentlessly bleak in description. But small wonder Alex Moratto’s first feature won him the Independent Spirit “Someone to Watch” Award in January, along with
July 2, 2019 4:36PM PT Dani Shapiro’s New York Times-bestselling memoir “Inheritance” is getting a movie adaptation at Killer Films with Cami Delavigne on board to write the script, Variety has learned exclusively. The memoir, titled “Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love,” centers on Shapiro’s discovery, after taking a commercial DNA test on