Imagine Kids & Family, the family-focused division of Imagine Entertainment, has won the rights to develop James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein’s “Max Einstein” books as an animated series, Variety has learned exclusively. The series follows heroine Maxine Einstein (Max for short), a 12-year-old orphan genius living on the streets in New York City. While she doesn’t
May 31, 2019 9:59AM PT Laura Ingraham brought a new swirl of controversy around her Fox News Channel program Thursday night after a graphic on her show, “The Ingraham Angle,” highlighted a range of controversial figures she described as “prominent voices censored on social media.” Among the people featured in the graphic were digital provocateur
Military adviser Dale Dye may have done more to help Hollywood deliver an accurate portrayal of war than anyone else in the business. From “Platoon” and “Saving Private Ryan” to “The Thin Red Line” and his most recent work, 2019’s “The Last Full Measure,” his attention to detail — along with his boot camp methods for
Anthony Joshua Will Get His Ass Beat Mexican Style … Says Andy Ruiz 5/31/2019 9:44 AM PDT EXCLUSIVE Anthony Joshua is in for a south of the border surprise come Saturday night … because his opponent Andy Ruiz says he’s gonna put DEM FREAKIN’ HANDS ON AJ, all for the pride of Mexico. Ruiz was
FX Networks has named Eric Schrier president of FX Entertainment, a newly created role, and elevated Gina Balian to the position of president of original programming at FX Entertainment, as part of a reorganization of its original programming executive team. Additionally, Nick Grad has signed a new deal as president of original programming at FX
In this week’s International TV Newswire: the logic of an Mediapro IPO; TVE’s ‘Monteperdido’s’ renewed. MEDIAPRO IPO: DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH The big TV news from Spain this week, at least according to financial newspaper “El Confidencial,” is that Mediapro, the Barcelona based multinational is preparing to seek an initial stock market listing. Potential investors
May 31, 2019 9:16AM PT China has set a June 28 launch for Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” five days ahead of the film’s North American launch. China was by far the top international market for 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” with $116 million. The Tom Holland vehicle launched there two months after nearly every other territory.
After 25 years with the studio, Warner Bros. Television executive vice president of current programming Melinda Hage is retiring. She has managed programming for scripted series from “The Jamie Foxx Show” to “Murphy Brown” to “The Leftovers” to “Riverdale” over the course of her career, with her team currently overseeing about 45 drama and comedy
May 31, 2019 9:05AM PT Guitar slinging flyers rejoice! American Airlines passengers can now check their musical equipment as standard baggage without the previous oversized bag fees. The airline said in a statement that the new policy, “will be music to the ears of musicians who fly on American.” Sporty passengers too have cause to
When mulling over who could do justice to the voice of Satan on “Good Omens,” the only name that popped up in Neil Gaiman’s mind was Benedict Cumberbatch — but not for the reason you might think. “It was from the point of view of going, ‘OK you’re in a show in which Frances McDormand
May 31, 2019 8:43AM PT Game 1 of the 2019 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors delivered the lowest ratings for a finals opener in 10 years. The game, which yielded a shock victory for Toronto over the defending champions, scored a 10.1 rating in metered market households. That’s down
Greg Gutfeld says he doesn’t have much time to watch Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert. But he spends his Saturday-night hour on Fox News Channel offering stuff that’s similar to what they do: quips, jokes, even sketches. “People say they are interested in a different perspective in terms of popular culture, coming from
The “Schitt’s Creek” team has officially closed up shop at the Rosebud Motel. At Thursday’s FYC event, held at the TV Academy’s Saban Media Center, star and executive producer Dan Levy recalled the cast’s tearful goodbyes to its favorite interior sets. “It’s been strangely — I guess not so strangely — emotional, but it’s definitely been
Something unusual happened at the Cannes premiere of “The Best Years of a Life,” Claude Lelouch’s syrupy second sequel to his trend-setting 1966 global smash “A Man and a Woman.” Not the endless, roaring standing ovation that happened when the lights came up: That’s expected, even required, of the tuxed-up crowd at Grand Théâtre Lumière,
May 31, 2019 8:14AM PT What’s with the giant cardboard cut-outs of Drake’s face hoisted in the air at Raptors games and outside Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, where thousands of fans gather in the so-called “Jurassic Park”? Well, it just might have something to do with the rapper’s swelled head when his beloved team wins a
Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, is selling Placed — a provider of user-location data it bought two years ago — to Foursquare, which was a competitor to Placed. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Snap bought Placed two years ago for $132.5 million in cash, per a company regulatory filing. Foursquare also announced Friday
May 31, 2019 8:03AM PT Robert Pattinson is officially the new Batman. Warner Bros. has closed a deal for the “Twilight” actor to play the Caped Crusader in “The Batman.” Matt Reeves’ upcoming superhero tentpole hits theaters on June 25, 2021. Variety first reported on May 16 that Pattinson was in negotiations for the part.
Last year’s Emmy Awards opened with a number by “Saturday Night Live’s” Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson, who sang — very tongue-in-cheek — that Hollywood had “solved” its diversity problem. Early in the song, Thompson pointed out that Sandra Oh was the first Asian woman to be nominated for a lead actress Emmy ever. “Thank
Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” roared to $6.3 million during Thursday night previews in North America. Its earnings were lower than “Godzilla’s” previews of $9.3 million in 2014 and higher than 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island” ($3.7 million). The sequel to 2014’s “Godzilla” (and the 35th feature about the titular beast) is expected to
Claus von Bulow, the socialite whose conviction and then sensational acquittal of the attempted murder of his wealthy wife was portrayed in the award-winning film “Reversal of Fortune,” has died. He was 92. The Danish-born von Bulow died Saturday at his home in London, news reports said. Von Bulow was found guilty in 1982 of
Amazon reportedly has its eyes on snapping up Sprint’s Boost Mobile — which would give it direct wireless connections with customers to let them instantly buy more products and stream Prime Video and Amazon Music anywhere in the U.S. The e-commerce giant is mulling a bid for Boost Mobile, the Sprint-owned prepaid virtual mobile operator,
North American streaming and aggregation firm Digital Media Rights has licensed a slate of nine Chinese-language movies from distributor China Lion. The films which have already enjoyed specialty theatrical releases in North America range from 2016 titles to 2018 hits. They include recent mainland Chinese hit “A Cool Fish,” to 2017 Taiwanese drama “A Gangster’s
May 31, 2019 5:48AM PT As promised, Cardi B dropped her new song “Press” in the wee hours of Friday morning. While the social media posts teasing the song had a courtroom theme referencing serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a former sex worker who was sentenced to death after being convicted for the murders of seven
May 31, 2019 5:34AM PT Japan’s iconic Studio Ghibli animation house has joined forces with local partners to build its first theme park. Together with the government of Aichi Prefecture and the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper, the company will develop a park within Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park. The venue, not far from Nagoya in central
Producer Ada Solomon, whose credits include Cãlin Peter Netzer’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Child’s Pose,” Radu Jude’s Berlin Silver Bear winner “Aferim!” and Maren Ade’s Oscar-nominated “Toni Erdmann,” has announced new projects from Jude and Ivana Mladenovic, whose debut feature “Soldiers. Story from Ferentari” premiered in Toronto in 2017. Jude’s “Uppercase Print” (pictured) is an adaptation of a
May 31, 2019 4:57AM PT Prakash Javadekar has been appointed India’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet that was announced Friday. He has also been allocated the portfolio of Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Javadekar previously held the Information & Broadcasting post for a few months in 2014,
May 31, 2019 4:02AM PT “The Masked Singer” is coming to Britain. ITV, the U.K.’s biggest commercial broadcaster, has ordered up a local version of the wacky competition show, which originated in South Korea and has been a ratings hit for Fox in the U.S. The format involves celebrities concealing their identities behind bizarre costumes
Dana and Arthur are a married couple in their forties whose relationship is at a crossroads. Facing pressure from a society and family that seems to love them together, they’re also driven by desires that are pushing them apart. On one fateful day, the two have to decide if the biggest proof of their love
Draymond Green Blasts Post-Game Drake Question … It Wasn’t A Scuffle! 5/31/2019 6:35 AM PDT Breaking News Draymond Green says there was NO “scuffle” with Drake after the Warriors lost to the Raptors on Thursday … blasting a reporter for even asking about the altercation in the post-game presser. “You got a question about basketball?”
David Young, longtime executive director of the Writers Guild of America West, has blasted news media coverage of negotiating committee co-chair Christopher Keyser. Young, in a message to members Thursday, unleashed a pointed attack on the coverage by accusing publications of lying and being “histrionic” and “biased” in stories about Keyser shopping a new series