Ex-‘Love & Hip Hop’ Star Benzino Racists Gunning for Me in Drug Case … I’ll Be Exonerated!!! 12/13/2018 12:50 AM PST EXCLUSIVE Ex-‘Love & Hip Hop‘ star Benzino is not mincing words … he’s adamant racists are behind the serious drug charges he’s facing but vows to fight back. Benzino wanted to address the story we broke
December 12, 2018 11:59PM PT Himesh Patel and Ewen Leslie have joined “The Luminaries,” with production now underway on the highly anticipated series adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel. The pair join Eve Hewson (“The Knick”), Eva Green (“Penny Dreadful”) and Marton Csokas (“Into the Badlands”) in the period piece. The high-end drama
Ryan Kadro, the executive producer of “CBS This Morning” and one of the architects of the A.M. program, is currently in contract discussions that could lead to his exit from the show, according to three people familiar with the matter. Kadro’s contract is slated to run out at the end of the year, and he
China’s Bona Film Group is co-financing Brad Pitt space adventure “Ad Astra,” one of several films in a strong slate of international movies the company plans to release in the Middle Kingdom over the next year. Bona has also acquired Roland Emmerich’s war spectacular “Midway” and is investing in “A Dog’s Way Home,” the sequel
December 12, 2018 5:08PM PT NBC’s three California O&Os are set to launch a live daily lifestyle series dubbed “California Live.” The series will air at 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday across KNBC-TV Los Angeles, KNTV-TV San Francisco and KNSD San Diego. The show will have some modular segments that will be customized for each
In today’s film news roundup, “Aquaman” sets a pre-sales record, “Bohemian Rhapsody” hits a milestone, and SAG-AFTRA promotes four executives. PRE-SALES RECORD “Aquaman” has set a pre-sales record for Atom Tickets, topping “Deadpool 2,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Black Panther.” “Clearly, ‘Aquaman’ has captured the attention of movie fans with its larger-than-life adventure that must
In Wednesday’s roundup, Netflix reveals the premiere date for “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” and Steven Yeun joins Jordan Peele’s “Twilight Zone” reboot. FIRST LOOKS Variety has an exclusive behind-the-scenes first look at Season 2 of Showtime’s “SMILF,” featuring creator and star, Frankie Shaw. The new season, which premieres Sunday, Jan. 20 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, finds Bridgette trying to move
A former county official in rural Idaho sued Endeavor on Wednesday, alleging she is owed more than $190,000 in unpaid loans arising from a troubled country music festival. According to her complaint, Bonnie Layton was the economic development director for Elmore County, Idaho, when she came in contact with the organizers of the Mountain Home
December 12, 2018 2:21PM PT CBS News settled a lawsuit filed by three women who alleged they were harassed by former “CBS This Morning” co-anchor Charlie Rose, and claimed CBS did not act despite being aware of the situation. The amount awarded to the women was not disclosed at their request, according to a CBS
Spain’s Quirino Awards, Argentina’s Animation! and Mexico’s Pixelatl Festival, three key events in Ibero-American animation, will join forces to create La Liga (The League), as announced Wednesday at an Animation! round table hosted by the Quirino Awards, titled “Iberoamerican Alliance Models.” Speakers included Quirino Awards promoter José Luis Farias, Mexico’s Pixelatl director José Iñesta, Gonzalo
Roar Uthaug’s 2015 “The Wave” revived the pleasures of the 1970s disaster-movie cycle in a form that seemed purer than the never-quite-dead genre’s recent Stateside incarnations — most of which seem to involve Dwayne Johnson in a generic pileup of CGI perils. “The Wave” wasn’t high art, but it was entertainment that delivered some standard
Fans of the Marvel Television series recently canceled by Netflix who hope to see the shows revived on Disney+ may be out of luck. Sources tell Variety that the deal for the original four Marvel shows includes a clause that prevents the characters from appearing in any non-Netflix series or film for at least two years after
Getty ImagesThe Washington Post “Don’t characterize the strength that I bring.” That’s a sentence uttered yesterday by likely Democratic House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi during a bizarre televised meeting with President Donald Trump and her Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer. During a tense discussion about funding for a border wall, Pelosi also insisted Trump have “evidence-based
“One Dollar” has the ignominious distinction of being the first CBS All Access original series to be canceled. Variety has confirmed that the streaming service will not be bringing the drama series back for a second season. The series was set in a small rust belt town in post-recession America, where a one-dollar bill changing
December 12, 2018 1:06PM PT “’Crazy Rich Asians’ and ‘Black Panther’ are the two biggest movies of the year,” says Laverne Cox. “This is also the year of ‘Pose.’” Cox believes Hollywood is doing a better job at supporting and promoting diversity, but the “Orange Is the New Black” star also says, “We can always
From Dirty Harry to … dirty grandpa, Clint Eastwood certainly has a type of character that he’s comfortable playing, and “The Mule” finds him squarely in his comfort zone, appearing as a surly old horticulturalist who, at age 90, has become perhaps the most reliable drug runner for the Sinaloa cartel, evading detection for nearly
244 animated works coming from Ibero-American countries will compete at the 2nd edition of the Quirino Awards – as was announced Wednesday at Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur, in an event hosted by Animation! and the Quirino Awards. The event will take place on April 5 and 6, in Tenerife, the capital of Spain’s Canary Islands. 60
MADRID — Spain’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the nominees for the 33rdedition of the Goya Awards, to be held at the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones in Sevilla on Feb. 2, 2019. Leading the pack with 13 nominations is Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ultra-current political thriller “The Realm,” which impressed in San
NPR unveiled a new open source podcast measurement project Wednesday that aims to bring more transparency and granularity to podcast metrics. The project, dubbed Remote Audio Data (RAD), has been developed in partnership with a number of podcast app developers, ad tech companies as well as tech and media heavyweights including ESPN, Google and iHeartMedia.
December 12, 2018 12:05PM PT “The Mandalorian” cast has taken shape. The upcoming live-action “Star Wars” streaming series has revealed that the cast now includes Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Carl Weathers, Omid Abtahi, and Werner Herzog. They join previously announced cast members Pedro Pascal, Nick Nolte, and Gina Carano. As with all things “Star Wars,” the
In a break from his Spanish distributor of past years, Warner Bros., Pedro Almodovar has opted to release his latest film “Pain & Glory” in Spain via Sony Pictures Releasing International on March 22, 2019. “We are delighted and excited that we are releasing “Pain & Glory” in Spain with a whole new team: Sony Pictures in
With three SAG Award noms adding to the momentum of kudos recognition for Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method,” the show has quickly become the most well-received series in Chuck Lorre’s long career in television. It’s also among the most personal. “I wanted to write about getting older and all that that entails,” Lorre told Variety. “I wanted to
December 12, 2018 11:38AM PT “Will & Grace” actress Megan Mullally has been selected as the host the 25th edition of the SAG Awards on Jan. 27 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Kristen Bell performed the emcee duties this year as the first-ever host of the ceremonies. Mullally won two Primetime Emmy Awards
December 12, 2018 11:37AM PT After getting close to pushing the long-in-development project into production, Amblin Entertainment is shutting down pre-production on Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” sources tell Variety. Sources say Sorkin is focusing on his play “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which opens Thursday, while the studio figures out how to
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors said National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media, admitted that it made a $150,000 payment to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal “to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations” about Donald Trump in advance of the 2016 presidential election. AMI’s admission could bolster any case prosecutors make against Trump for violating
With approximately 500 scripted series premiering new seasons in 2018, sometimes it feels like the television landscape is like a bubble. If it keeps getting inflated larger and larger, eventually something will have to give and it will pop, right? Well, maybe not for the platforms on which these shows are released — after all,
December 12, 2018 11:06AM PT Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Octavia Spencer are leading the voice cast for “Onward,” Pixar’s next original movie. Pixar had previously referred to the film as an untitled suburban fantasy. Dan Scanlon, who helmed 2013’s “Monsters University” for Pixar, is directing “Onward.” He’s re-teamed with producer Kori Rae,
WASHINGTON — The FCC will review whether to modify or even eliminate a series of media ownership proposals, including a current ban on mergers among the four major broadcast networks. The review, mandated by Congress every four years, includes no specific policy proposals, but will take public comment on whether changes are warranted. The FCC will
In 2000, Mark Hogancamp was nearly beaten to death by five men outside of a bar. Left with brain damage and little money to afford therapy, Hogancamp began creating miniature doll versions of himself, his friends, and his attackers as a way to cope. This true story inspired the 2010 documentary “Marwencol” and the upcoming
The nominations for the 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were revealed on Wednesday morning, and “A Star Is Born” commanded the list with four noms alongside TV series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Ozark.” The awards recognize acting and ensemble performances across television and film, and this year, plenty of performers will be competing