The bucket bag climbed the ranks of handbag fame four years ago, due in part to minimalist accessories label Mansur Gavriel. It. Was. Everywhere. It’s omniscient presence has caused some to denounce the bag in 2018, but we’re hesitant to give up on the roomy style just yet. Designers are reworking it in oversized beads,
Amazon worldwide consumer CEO Jeff Wilke gave attendees of the company’s Re:Mars conference a look behind the curtain of content recommendation for Prime Video Wednesday, explaining how the company improved its recommendation algorithms to become twice as good in recommending movies, TV shows and more. “Product discovery was heavily based on human curation and bestsellers
Chris Spadaccini, a veteran HBO executive who has devised promotions for everything from “The Sopranos” to the launch of the HBO Now streaming service, will have a lot more to talk about in days ahead. He has been named chief marketing officer of WarnerMedia Entertainment, making him the chief pitchman for not only HBO, but
The Tony Awards: Now with more mud wrestling! Nominations for the theater world’s biggest night can always make things awkwardly competitive between co-workers, as industry colleagues vie against each other in categories that will have only one winner each. Things got even trickier this year when an unusually high number of nominees found themselves competing
The recent, and long-deferred, backlash to prosecutor Linda Fairstein’s role in wrongfully convicting the so-called “Central Park Five” has been fascinating to watch unfold — not least because Fairstein’s most significant failing has been understood as such for quite so long, to no apparent effect. The conviction Fairstein obtained was overturned in 2002; since then,
June 5, 2019 9:45AM PT “Transparent” is going out with a big song and dance. Amazon has released the trailer for the show’s 2-hour musical feature finale, which will close out the series in place of a traditional final season. In the finale, the Pfeffermans will confront the life-changing loss of Maura Pfefferman and “come together
June 5, 2019 9:42AM PT “Duck Dynasty” producers Deirdre and Scott Gurney have reached a settlement with ITV Studios after a years-long conflict. ITV, which had acquired a majority interest in Gurney Productions in 2012, fired the Gurneys in late 2016 and sued the pair, alleging fraud and misuse of company funds. The couple then
Nicolas Schmerkin’s Paris-based Autour de Minuit has boarded Alfredo Soderguit and Alejo Schettini’s “Two Little Birds” (“Dos pajaritos”), the first winner of La Liga contest, an award created by Argentina’s Animation!, Spain’s Quirino Awards and Mexico’s Pixelatl Festival, three major events in Ibero-American animation. The project will be pitched at the upcoming Annecy Intl. Animation
UCI Cinemas inaugurated Rome’s first Imax theater with the local premiere Wednesday of “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” in Imax 3D, filling an exhibition gap that had seen the Italian capital lag behind Milan, Florence and Naples and also other major European cities. Cosplayers impersonating the film’s characters such as Mystique, Cyclops, Beast and Storm strutted down
YouTube, after years of criticism, has finally decided to specifically ban videos that promote the idea that one group is superior to others. The new policy, announced Wednesday, includes a complete prohibition on neo-Nazi content, as well as conspiracy theories denying that certain violent events took place, like the Holocaust and the Sandy Hook school
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched the fifth season of “Black Mirror,” streaming now on Netflix. The fifth season of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” features three new tales of modern life affected by the future technology — but the worlds depicted aren’t as bleak as in past seasons. “We sometimes get frustrated
Suggesting once more that audiences are underserved by high-quality independent animation, Studiocanal has closed multiple major territories to “Samsam,” the latest movie from Folivari, headed by Didier Brunner whose producer credits include the Academy Award nominated “The Old Lady and the Pidgeons,” “The Triplets of Belleville,” “The Secret of Kells” and “Ernest & Celestine.” A
June 5, 2019 8:31AM PT [embedded content] Brad Pitt is launching into the stratosphere in the first trailer for “Ad Astra.” The dazzling sci-fi drama stars Pitt as an astronaut who travels on an interstellar mission to search for his missing father. The new footage begins with Pitt’s character, Roy McBride, praising his father, who
China has started putting the brakes on the entry of some U.S. content in apparent retaliation against Washington’s escalation of its trade war with Beijing, multiple sources tell Variety. Chinese film officials have told some local buyers to steer clear of U.S. movies. One Chinese distributor says he was advised by various platforms not to submit
Tanya Tucker, the country star known for her streak of hits in the 1970s and ’80s, has released the first single and video from “While I’m Livin’,” her first album of new material in 17 years, now set for release Aug. 17. Like much of the rest of the album, “The Wheels of Laredo” was
June 5, 2019 8:06AM PT Netflix has begun to test a new feed in its mobile app that aggregates trailers, photos and alerts for upcoming shows in an Instagram-like fashion. The feed, dubbed Extras, is being tested with a subset of Netflix’s audience, confirmed a spokesperson via email: “We are testing a feed of video
Japan may not appear to be a particularly surprising choice for the spotlight nation at the 2019 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. But since 1999, when Annecy last so honored Japan, much has changed, and 2019 finds Japanese animation bursting with creative and commercial potential and sitting on the verge of a global breakout. “The
Like the art form it celebrates, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival has been growing creatively and commercially by leaps and bounds — increasingly attracting attention from Hollywood’s expanding roster of animation studios. Annecy artistic director Marcel Jean says the number of festival goers has nearly doubled since 2013 to 11,700 in 2018. The number of projects has
The X-Men are hoping that even after “Avengers: Endgame” steamrolled the box office in April, comic-book fever is alive and well when “Dark Phoenix” opens this weekend. But some furry friends could prevent the band of mutant superheroes from claiming victory in North America. Universal and Illumination’s “The Secret Life of Pets 2” and “Dark
June 5, 2019 7:27AM PT The Rolling Stones have unveiled a list of all the opening acts for their rescheduled American tour, which opens June 21 in Chicago and runs through August 31 in Miami. The list of 17 dates includes different support acts at 15 of those shows, with only Lukas Nelson & Promise
The BTS Army will soon get the chance to virtually become managers to the world’s biggest K-pop group. The free game, BTS World, will be released June 26 worldwide (June 25 in the U.S.). It will feature an all-new, original soundtrack from BTS, including a sub-unit song by group members Jin, Jimin, and Jung Kook.
Even in the current golden age of innovative television, the popular British crime drama “Peaky Blinders” has set a daring standard for its use of music, with original songs by Nick Cave, Laura Marling, Johnny Cash, the White Stripes and many more. Composer, music director, producer and artist Antony Genn, whose sprawling career has included
Donald Trump No Hard Feelings, Harry??? ‘Nasty’ Meghan Remark Was Really About … 6/5/2019 7:06 AM PDT President Trump wants to make it perfectly clear — he didn’t say Meghan Markle IS nasty … he said she WAS nasty when she spoke negatively about him. The Prez was interviewed by Piers Morgan on “Good Morning
The Dave Matthews Band has been chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Environment Programme for their environmental advocacy and fan engagement to take care of the planet. Since 2005, the rock band has partnered with the nonprofit organization Reverb on the BamaGreen Project, an ambitious set of environmental efforts taken on the
Benicio Del Toro and Michael Douglas sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Michael Douglas made a return to television with Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method” — a comedy about aging in Hollywood that’s his first series-regular work since ’70s drama “The Streets of San Francisco.” His fellow acting
Ellen Pompeo and Taraji P. Henson sat down for a chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors. For more, click here. Taraji P. Henson and Ellen Pompeo are two of the most powerful women on television, sitting at the center of major broadcast hits. On Fox’s “Empire,” Henson’s Cookie Lyon has proved to be a fan favorite, while Pompeo’s Meredith Grey has
While money, fame and power are the methods that have enabled R. Kelly to allegedly abuse dozens of women over nearly 30 years, there’s little question that his music has provided the strongest protection of all. Most of the women accusing him of sexual impropriety were either attracted by his talent and fame or had
June 5, 2019 5:35AM PT The struggle for the Iron Throne generated record viewing figures for Sky in the U.K. The final episode of “Game of Thrones” was the biggest season-closer ever for a drama on Sky with 5.8 million viewers. That was a 12% uptick on the previous season finale. The show averaged over
In “Palm Beach,” a Murderer’s Row of vintage yet durably sparkling Australian acting talent, combined with recent Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant, makes for a bright and eventful weekend in the sun at the eponymous northern Sydney enclave. The second feature-length directorial credit from actress-turned-director Rachel Ward following the resonant and well-received 2009 drama “Beautiful
June 5, 2019 3:52AM PT “House” and “The Night Manager” star Hugh Laurie will receive the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Outstanding Achievement Award later this year. The Festival will also hold a retrospective ‘In Conversation With…” session with Laurie ahead of him collecting the honor. Laurie’s long list of TV and film credits span several decades