Cardi B. will drop a new single on Friday called “Press,” presumably the first song from the follow-up to her debut full-length album “Invasion of Privacy,” which won Best Rap Album at the Grammy Awards in February. “PRESS SINGLE AND OFFICIAL ART WORK DROPS THIS WEEK ON 5/31!!!” she posted on Instagram Monday night, with
May 28, 2019 6:31AM PT Chinese entertainment tech firm VSOCloud has set up a joint venture company in Malaysia, with Prodigital Lab, part of leading local production and services firm KRU. The new VSOCloud Southeast Asia will use the Suzhou-based Chinese parent’s rendering and crowd-sourcing platform to provide rendering services to film, animation and other
In this week’s issue of Variety, Chris Hemsworth talks about the evolution of his character Thor in “Avengers: Endgame.” The latest and 22nd Marvel superhero movie, which has grossed a staggering $2.7 billion worldwide, surprised audiences with a different Thor. As an Avenger in exile, the Norse God of Thunder sports a scraggly beard and
While most athletes favor high-performing and comfortable garments for competition, Serena Williams also dresses with political intention. The tennis champion returned to the French Open in Paris Monday in a custom outfit decorated with inspiring words to silence her detractors and remind the world exactly who she is. “Queen,” “Champion,” “Mother,” and “Goddess” were the
Many of Hollywood’s most powerful content companies have maintained a deafening silence on the raging abortion legislation debate that’s sweeping the country as their star talent and producers go off script to speak out about threats to women’s reproductive rights and boycott states like Georgia that have signed the bills. Protests are erupting on the
Reddit has appointed Personal Capital chief marketing officer Porter Gale to its board of directors, the company announced Tuesday. Gale is Reddit’s first female board member, and her appointment coincides with the departure of longtime board member and Founders Fund general partner Keith Rabois. “Porter has extensive experience building bold, fast-growing companies that put their
Like everyone else, Chris Hemsworth recently bought tickets to see “Avengers: Endgame.” This was actually his second time watching the Marvel blockbuster, in which he stars as Thor. The first time Hemsworth saw the film was in mid-April alongside co-stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson and thousands of teary-eyed fans at the premiere
Confirming a previous Variety report, a new company called Meta View announced Tuesday that it has acquired the intellectual property assets of failed augmented reality (AR) startup Meta. Meta View won’t be selling Meta’s AR headset anymore, but said that it would continue to support existing users of the device. Meta View is being led
Discovery wants to tout “Shark Week” during TV’s Upfront Week. Discovery will elbow its way next year into TV’s annual May showcase, the mid-month series of presentations the nation’s big media companies give to Madison Avenue in an effort to woo billions of ad dollars for their coming programming schedules. Discovery is betting that its
May 28, 2019 6:00AM PT Toonz Media Group has acquired a minority stake in the Emmy-winning kids’-content producer Telegael in Ireland. India-based Toonz further enlarges its international footprint with the deal, having already acquired Spanish animation studio Imira. Toonz is based in Trivandrum, southern India, and is part of Geneva-based Comcraft Group. The deal means
Classic rock has played a prominent role in Showtime’s “Billions,” not just in songs synched on the show — tracks by Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Sly & the Family Stone, AC/DC and Van Halen can be heard — but in the T-shirts worn by lead character Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) bearing the logos of
CANNES – A 2017 Cinéfondation First Jury Prize winner, Costa Rica’s Valentina Maurel returned to the Cannes Festival with a new short, the Critics’ Week entry “Lucía en el limbo,” as she prepares her first feature, “El jardin en llamas” (The Garden on Fire). Given that debut features of top Cinéfondation winners are offered a
The Eurovision Song Contest, which featured a controversial appearance by Madonna, was watched by 182 million viewers across 40 markets, the European Broadcasting Union said Tuesday. This year’s May 18 final, held in Tel Aviv and lasting nearly four hours, drew a 36.7% audience share, up a percentage point from last year, the EBU said.
May 28, 2019 2:48AM PT Leading Indian director-presenter-producer Karan Johar will host a dating reality show that will bow on Netflix. BBC Studios India will produce. Titled “What’s The Love? With Karan Johar,” the show will have Johar expressing his thoughts on love and relationships. But with a twist. A flamboyant talk show host, Johar’s
To the list of TV revivals and revisits, add Britain’s beloved and widely traveled “Gavin & Stacey.” The BBC announced Tuesday that it would catch up with the doings of the eponymous couple and their friends and family this Christmas after a nearly 10-year hiatus. The hourlong special is written by James Corden and Ruth
Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, the leading movie event in Central and Eastern Europe, unveiled its competition lineup Tuesday with a geographically diverse selection, which includes 10 world and two international premieres. Cambodia-born British filmmaker Hong Khaou brings the follow-up to his critically acclaimed Sundance debut “Lilting” with a moving drama about a young man
CANNES — Programmed by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema, Cannes’ ACID section turned its spotlight this year on Argentine cinema. As access to talent – creative and crews – becomes a predominant challenge for producers worldwide, given the huge production demand driven by global platforms, the radar can hardly be spread
May 27, 2019 7:18PM PT South Korean film director Bong Joon-ho touched down to a hero’s welcome at Seoul’s Incheon Airport on Monday afternoon, after winning the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday with his black drama “Parasite’. He also received the news that the film is off to a flying start
Sports Illustrated over the decades has chronicled stellar match-ups, blow-outs, squeakers, sudden deaths and photo finishes. Now it’s getting ready to take on a whole new kind of game. Publisher Meredith Corp. has sold for $110 million the intellectual property around the venerable sports-news outlet to Authentic Brands Group, the brand-development company that manages Juicy
For anyone who is not furry-avoidant, and who has a funny bone for this sort of thing, picking a favorite moment from the new music video by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber single may be difficult — especially since so many of the gags in “I Don’t Care” fly by in nearly subliminal edits. Is
Leading Italian sales company True Colors has closed a slew of sales at the Cannes Market and landed North American deals on horror pic “In The Trap” and gay-themed comedy “An Almost Ordinary Summer,” acquired respectively by MPI Media Group and Wolfe Releasing. The English-language “In The Trap” (pictured) directed by Italy’s Alessio Liguori as
Kid Ink Home Burglarized … Over $200k in Stuff Gone 5/27/2019 11:00 AM PDT EXCLUSIVE Kid Ink came home to a broken-into house last week — and, quite likely, a big SMH moment followed thereafter. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Ink arrived at his L.A.-area home Thursday evening and found a bunch of luggage
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, “Good Omens” premieres on Amazon and Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” drops
Disney’s live-action “Aladdin” soared far above the competition in North America, with an estimated $112.7 million at 4,476 sites over four days. It’s the fifth-highest Memorial Day weekend total ever, topping “X-Men: Days of Future Past’s” 2014 mark of $110.4 million. Disney holds the record for the holiday, with 2007’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At
Roland Emmerich’s action-packed disaster movie “Moonfall” has been acquired by the joint venture between KKR and Fred Kogel. The unnamed new company, which will emerge from Tele München Group (TMG), Universum Film, i&u TV and Wiedemann & Berg Film, will handle the theatrical release of “Moonfall” in Germany. “Moonfall,” which was written by Emmerich, Spenser
Nispey Hussle’s Family Believes Emani’s Mom … Too Unstable for Custody 5/27/2019 1:00 AM PDT EXCLUSIVE Nipsey Hussle‘s family is laying out their reasons that his 10-year-old daughter should remain in their custody … saying her biological mother needs to get her life in order. Sources close to the slain Crenshaw rapper tell TMZ … Nipsey’s
The Match Factory has closed-out deals on Marco Bellocchio’s ‘The Traitor’ for most of the world following the Mafia drama’s Cannes competition premiere which has propelled the pic to the number two spot on Italy’s box office chart. Besides Sony Pictures Classic’s previously announced acquisition of “The Traitor” for North and Latin America, Scandinavia, Australia
Topher Grace believes we may take “Saturday Night Live” for granted. After nearly 45 years, the late-night sketch series has become such an institution that it’s easy to forget the program’s unique place in TV history. “There’s something special about ‘SNL’ and how it’s been in the same place the whole time,” Grace told Variety‘s
Netflix is stepping up production in the Middle East with its third and most ambitious Arabic original, titled “Paranormal,” with young Egyptian director Amr Salama (“Sheikh Jackson”) on board as director and showrunner. “Paranormal,” which is based on bestselling Arabic horror books by late Egyptian author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, is being jointly produced by Salama
May 27, 2019 2:14AM PT Disney’s “Aladdin” opened on top of the Chinese box office with a less than magical $18.7 million debut weekend. According to data from Artisan Gateway, the film beat previous chart winner “Detective Pikachu” which earned $7.5 million in its third weekend. That score advances the cumulative China total for “Pikachu”