The weekly print edition of Soap Opera Digest — the newsstand chronicler of daytime drama — is ending after nearly five decades. Staffers were informed of the decision Friday, according to sources. A spokesperson for a360Media, the company that owns the brand, confirmed that the weekly edition is being discontinued. The company plans to continue
A late-release awards contender can move through Oscar season like a cat. It crouches low, waiting patiently for the right moment to pounce. With the deployment of a skillful campaign, yet-unscreened films waiting in the wings — notably “The Color Purple,” “The Iron Claw” and “Napoleon” — might execute the perfect strike, catching established front-runners
Before Sam Raimi landed the directing gig on Sony’s 2002 comic book tentpole “Spider-Man,” it was David Fincher who met with the studio to try and get his own spin on the web-slinger to the big screen. In a new interview with The Guardian to mark the release of his latest movie, “The Killer,” the
The masterminds behind memorable marketing moments from “Barbie,” “Call of Duty,” “Pokerface” and even that creepy “Smile” campaign that placed grinning actors at various Major League Baseball games gathered Thursday at the Variety + Spotify Advertising’s Visionaries dinner to toast leaders in the field. West Hollywoods’ Sunset Tower Hotel welcomed the industry’s leading innovators selected
Nielsen appears to be trying to move forward with a new audience-measurement technology that many TV networks think still isn’t ready for primetime. The measurement giant in September backed off an effort to incorporate first-party data from Amazon in its study of the audience for the company’s streamcast of “.” The move would have marked
Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted on a new episode of “The Graham Norton Show” (via NME) that his rivalry with Sylvester Stallone “got out of control” during the 1980s and ’90s. The two actors emerged as action movie icons around the same time film projects like Schwarzenegger’s “The Terminator” and Stallone’s “Rambo.” “We were movie rivals, but
“No Me Sigas,” the directorial debut of “Anything’s Possible” writer Ximena García Lecuona, and “Malamuerte,” from Caye Casas, a rising star of pitch black Spanish comedy, both feature in a rich and far-ranging 2023 Blood Window Lab, the project platform of Ventana Sur’s genre forum, which unspools Nov. 27-Dec. 1. The projects are joined by
Peter Chernin’s North Road Company has hired Amy Israel in the role of president of television. Israel was most recently the head of scripted for Showtime, though it was announced in September she would be stepping down from that role by year’s end. In her new role, Israel will oversee all of North Road’s scripted
Walt Disney Studios has removed “Magazine Dreams,” a dark drama starring Jonathan Majors, off of the release calendar. The film, which Disney’s subsidiary Searchlight Pictures purchased out of Sundance, was slated to premiere on Dec. 8. However, Majors has become embroiled in legal issues involving assault and aggravated harassment allegations stemming from a domestic dispute
Disney has unveiled a first look at the upcoming live-action remake of “Snow White.” In a new image, Rachel Zegler is transformed into the iconic Disney Princess, surrounded by her Seven Dwarfs. As of today, the film, which was originally set to open on March 22, 2024, has been delayed to March 21, 2025. Zegler
Kylie Jenner got up and worked: The mogul is a guest voice on this year’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode of “The Simpsons,” and Variety has a first look below. In the Season 35 edition, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” Bart is turned into an NFT — and Marge travels through the blockchain to save her son.
Israel’s TV writers are fighting back against disinformation with comedy. Earlier this week satirical show “Eretz Nehederet,” the Israeli version of “Saturday Night Live,” broadcast a special featuring a sketch about the BBC’s reporting of a rocket attack on a Gaza hospital. It follows a number of controversies surrounding the BBC‘s reporting on the Israel-Hamas
Warner Bros. has given its upcoming theatrical slate a small shake-up. “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” the final installment in the current continuation of DC Comics adaptations before an imminent reboot, has been bumped from Dec. 20 to Dec. 22. The shift from the Wednesday to the Friday release date gives the superhero film a
When he first began imagining his one-man show “The Movement You Need,” Brendan Hunt had a few challenges. He wanted to tell the story of his complicated relationship with his late mother and how they were united by the legendary rock band the Beatles. He wanted the show to have a universal appeal, even if
“Barbarian,” Zach Cregger’s 2022 horror hit, is getting the video game treatment, with a single-player “all-new narrative experience” being developed for consoles and PC. Diversion3 Entertainment, the studio behind horror video game adaptations for “Friday the 13th” and “Evil Dead,” is leading development on the “Barbarian” game, in association with New Regency Pictures. The game
Horror Film School is a feature in which talent in front of and behind the camera share the ins and outs of creating the biggest onscreen scares. “Suitable Flesh,” the newest film from “Mayhem” and “Point Blank” director Joe Lynch, is an unconventional tale. The movie, a modern spin on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “The
The “Black Phone” is ringing again. Universal and Blumhouse have announced a sequel to the 2022 horror film, “The Black Phone,” set for June 27, 2025. The companies say “The Black Phone 2” is the “launch of a sinister new franchise.” The original movie starred Ethan Hawke, as a child abductor and murderer called the
Legendary singer and songwriter Barry Manilow is set to star in a Christmas special at NBC, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “Barry Manilow’s A Very Barry Christmas,” the one-hour special will air on NBC Dec. 11 at 10 pm ET/PT and will be available to stream the next day on Peacock. It will be filmed
Paramount+ has released a first-look clip of the event special “South Park: Joining the Panderverse.” The opening of the clip (which can be seen below) sees Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny being played by a group of diverse women. As it turns out, the whole sequence is a nightmare of Cartman’s. His mother tries to
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Episode 7 of “Gen V,” titled “Sick” now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. One week until the Season 1 finale of “Gen V” and Amazon’s college spinoff of “The Boys” has revealed just how tight the ties that bind it to its parent series are. In Episode 7,
We all keep things to ourselves, secrets that, if brought to light, could harm — or even shatter — us or those we love most. While many people have only a few personal confidences tucked away in their hearts, others envelop themselves in a lifetime of lies to survive. Based on Charmaine Wilkerson’s New York Times
During a National Civics Day event in Philadelphia on Oct. 27, First Lady of the United States Jill Biden announced “Well-Versed,” a new animated series that teaches children civics in short-form music videos. The series is jointly produced by Nickelodeon and ATTN. In the First Lady’s introduction of the series, she described “Well-Versed” as helping
Writer, actor, filmmaker, studio head and media mogul Tyler Perry is the latest celebrity to be the subject of a documentary, “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story.” The title nods to Perry’s late mother, Willie Maxine Perry, who died in 2009. Directed by Armani Ortiz, the documentary is a revealing look at the entertainment behemoth’s
If there’s one four-letter word guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of a superstar musician, it’s LEAK. Unauthorized, pre-release leaks of high-profile albums are the scourge of the digital-music age. Back in the day, there was relatively little threat from people copying the advance cassettes or vinyl test pressings that were sent to executives
Watch out, Mario, there’s another video game character hitting the big screen. “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the popular survival horror video game from 2014, is coming to theaters (and Peacock) just in time for Halloween. The movie picked up $10.3 million at the box office in Thursday previews. The original video game spawned multiple sequels
Taylor Swift is feeling the gold rush. As the pop star releases her latest re-recorded album, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Bloomberg reports that she has achieved billionaire status. According to a Bloomberg News analysis, Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour catapulted her net worth to $1.1 billion. “Swift Inc. is essentially a multinational conglomerate with the world’s most
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is joining controversial network GB News as an anchor and producer. Johnson, who is set to start his role in the new year, will play “a key role in the channel’s coverage of both the U.K. general election and the U.S. elections next year,” the network said in a
Taylor Swift gave a shoutout to Kendrick Lamar on Friday morning for re-recording his “Bad Blood” remix verse for the deluxe edition of “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” which is out now. “Watching @kendricklamar create and record his verses on the ‘Bad Blood’ remix was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life,” Swift wrote in
Remember Twitter? That was Elon Musk‘s favorite social-networking service. He was such a fan that he made a $44 billion bid for the company, then tried to renege on the deal when tech stocks swooned in 2022 before he was forced to consummate the pact after Twitter sued him. The tech mogul closed the debt-burdened
Australia’s Rialto and the U.K’s Vertigo Releasing have joined forces to launch Galaxy Pictures, a new film distribution company in Australia and New Zealand. The company will focus on “broad-appeal, star-driven commercial pictures that cater to consumers attuned to an increasingly digital landscape.” The two companies have already been cooperating for the past three years