“Wonka” director Paul King has been open about what drew him to cast Timothée Chalamet as a young version of the whimsical chocolatier: his YouTube videos from when he was in high school. Any Chalamet fan knows that several videos exist online of the actor singing and dancing pre-fame, including a rap song devoted to
50 Cent has been relentlessly roasting Diddy amid his legal settlement with former girlfriend Cassie and now wants to make him an offer we’re sure Puff will refuse … to buy his Revolt TV empire. On Tuesday, 50 gleefully took to IG and told Diddy he’d take Revolt off his hands but needed to cut
Elizabeth Chan continues to be the most prolific recording artist in the Christmas music space, and certainly the only singer of any notoriety doing a new release each year, having just released her 13th consecutive holiday album, “Songs From Noelle.” Variety is already on record as calling the singer-songwriter “Christmas’ one-woman Brill Building.” But if
Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News anchor David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of
Hulu has acquired rights to “The Contestant,” a documentary about an aspiring comedian who unknowingly becomes the most famous TV star in Japan. Clair Titley directed the movie, which premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. “The Contestant” will launch on Hulu in 2024. The documentary tells the stranger-than-fiction story of
Whether it’s a soundtrack, a score or a song placement, there are countless wrong ways to do music for film and so few ways to make it feel right. There’s very little leeway, which is why it can be so challenging for even the most successful hitmakers to make the transition to film music —
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis squaring off against California Governor Gavin Newsom in a debate moderated by Sean Hannity? Sounds like an opportunity for another round of cable-news professional wrestling. The host hopes to keep the figure-four leg locks and piledrivers to a minimum. “It’s not going to be PBS. I don’t want it to be
Who censored Robert De Niro? The “Killers of the Flower Moon” actor was gearing up to slam Donald Trump at Monday’s Gotham Awards, but when he took the stage he discovered that the speech he planned to give had been altered at the behest of Apple, the film’s producer. The company was responding to feedback
“If you look at the history of Hollywood, 50%, 60%, maybe 70% of the stories are based on books or IP or games. There’s a big gap between how Europe thinks about developing television and the Hollywood system,” producer Erik Barmack reflected a few months back. “There’s just tremendous opportunities now as the market’s tightening
BUENOS AIRES — Paris-based sales agency MPM Premium has has closed its second major territory deal on “On the Go,” toplining “Elite” star Omar Ayuso in an Andalusia-set road movie with lashings of sun, sex and sensuality. Directed by Maria Gisèle Royo and Julia de Castro, and one of Spain’s most memorable feature debuts, “On
Reports of Maren Morris leaving country music have been greatly exaggerated. “You don’t fight for what you don’t love,” says Morris over Zoom during a chat from her Nashville home, squeezed in while her son Hayes is taking a nap. “I do all of this because I want it to be better for everybody, not
Featuring a women screenwriters pitching session sponsored by Netflix, the biggest fiction series commissioner in Latin America, Ventana Sur has added this year a big spread from Chile’s TV agency Consejo National de Televisión, which could be a reaction to global platforms pulling out of Chile. In terms of original titles there’s good word on
Somewhat mysterious and fearless, Oscar-winning British actor Jeremy Irons has played a host of different characters during his decades-long career, from Adrian Veidt in Damon Lindelof’s TV series “Watchmen,” to Rodolfo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in “Munich: The Edge of War” and Alfred Pennyworth in the DC Extended
Robert Eggers‘ long-in-the-works remake of “Nosferatu” will haunt theaters next Christmas. Focus Features has scheduled the movie for Dec. 25, 2024. On its current release date, “Nosferatu” will land on the big screen a few days after Disney’s “Lion King” prequel “Mufasa” and Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” both of which open on Dec. 20.
Paul Greengrass has been hired to adapt the big-screen version of T.J. Newman’s novel “Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421.” Greengrass will write, direct and produce the film, which is set at Warner Bros. The studio emerged victorious earlier this year in a bidding war, one that drew interest from the likes of Nicole Kidman,
In Olivia Rodrigo’s new song for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” the 20-year-old singer-songwriter exclaims, “I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere, but you can’t catch me now.” Though the lines of “Can’t Catch Me Now” were written for Lucy Gray Baird — the protagonist of the “Hunger Games” prequel — Rodrigo
Guy Fieri has signed a new three-year deal with Food Network, which sources tell Variety is valued at more than $100 million. This fresh pact means that Fieri retains his title as the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel’s highest-paid talent and bests his most recent multiyear deal, which closed in 2021 for $80 million. Food
Kal Penn and Charlamagne Tha God will each take another stab behind the desk of Comedy Central‘s venerable “Daily Show” as the Paramount Global network keeps looking for a new permanent host. Charlamagne Tha God will lead the show during the week of December 4 while Penn will orchestrate things during the week of December
In the wake of three lawsuits alleging sexual assault, Sean “Diddy” Combs has temporarily stepped aside as chairman of Revolt, the music-oriented television network he co-founded in 2013. Representatives for Combs confirmed the news to Variety. A statement posted to Revolt’s Instagram page reads, in part: “Sean Combs has stepped down from his position as
Cuba’s Jorge Perugorría, best known for his career-launching perf in the Oscar-nominated “Strawberry & Chocolate,” “Slumdog Millionaire” line producer Tabrez Noorani and ‘The Iceman’ helmer Ariel Vromen have boarded Havana-set “Malecón” as executive producers. Its producer, Flavio Florencio, director-writer of the multi-winning documentary “Made in Bangkok,” is attending Ventana Sur. The debut feature of Madrid-born
Kino Lorber has acquired from Best Friend Forever all North American distribution rights to Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s directorial debut “Banel & Adama,” a beautifully haunting story of young love and Senegal’s official entry for the 96th Academy Awards. Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release in 2024, followed by a home video, educational and digital release
Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform Max caused a bit of stir on Monday when it sent out its list of films and television series being added to and leaving the service in December. Included on the list of shows being taken off Max was “Looney Tunes,” one of the studio’s most cherished properties. The news
Nikki Semin Han, a leading figure in the Korean pop music (K-pop) industry, has teamed up with several of his former colleagues from SM Entertainment to launch Titan Content. The U.S.-based company styles itself as “the world’s first premier multinational K-pop powerhouse music company.” With studio facilities in Seoul and Los Angeles, the company aims to
After dominating the charts, touring the world and launching her own concert film, Taylor Swift has been named Apple Music‘s Artist of the Year. The platform unveiled its year-end charts ranking 2023’s top songs, top Shazams, and, for the first time, the songs music fans sang along to the most using Apple Music Sing. Swift was the
Steven Wolfe Pereira, a veteran of the advertising and technology sectors, has been named chief client officer at TelevisaUnivision‘s U.S. ad sales unit, part of a bid to accelerate the company’s outreach to advertisers who may not invest heavily in Spanish-language media. Wolfe Pereira will be tasked with helping advertisers create new partnerships that utilize
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”) and James Norton (“Happy Valley”) will lead the cast of CBS Studios‘ period drama series “King and Conqueror.” Norton will play Harold, Earl of Wessex and Coster-Waldau William, Duke of Normandy, the two 11th century men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 – two allies with
Streamer ZEE5 Global is taking a leaf out of the Prime Video Channels playbook by aggregating six South Asian streaming services within its platform in the U.S. Branded as Add-ons, the streamers are Simply South, which offers content in the South Indian languages Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, Oho Gujarati in the Gujarati language, Chaupal
Cineflix’s Rights’ Leonard Cohen series starring Alex Wolff as the iconic singer-songwriter has revealed presales in the U.K., Greece and Cyprus, with ARD’s Fabfiction in Germany joining as a co-producer. Titled “So Long, Marianne,” the drama has sold to ITVX in the U.K., Cosmote TV and Star Channel in Greece and Movies Best HD in
Every year around Christmas, Phoenix Theatres puts all of its chips on one major tentpole, gambling on a movie so big, so broadly appealing, it’ll keep auditoriums stocked into the new year. In the recent past, the Midwest-based chain has gone all in on 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home”
BUENOS AIRES — Mr. Miyagi Films co-founder David Matamoros, firmly established as one of Barcelona’s leading specialists in international film finance, is now in post-production on his solo feature directorial debut, “Astronaut” (“Astronauta”) as Matamoros explores novel movie financing sources as a producer while building co-productions across Europe and Latin America. Produced by Mr. Miyagi, Sombra