James Marsden likes playing the jackass. Especially when that jackass is the entitled version of himself he’s playing in Amazon Freevee’s breakout comedy “Jury Duty.” The improvised docu-style series follows Ronald Gladden, a real person unaware the increasingly chaotic jury he’s found himself on is completely fake. Everyone around him — including Marsden’s
On any given episode of Paramount Network’s “Bar Rescue,” the establishments featured are in a catastrophic state of disrepair: awash in grime, bugs, rotted food and/or mysterious stains. The surroundings are matched by the decay of their owners, who have no idea how to run a business. Enter the show’s tough-talking but big-hearted host, Jon Taffer,
Whether it’s a collision in an office elevator or a case of mistaken identities, fans of romantic comedies have a love-hate relationship with meet-cutes: The central couple must meet somehow and, since this is a love story, preferably they should do so in a cute way. But how many more white shirts must be killed
The first season of AMC’s “Interview With the Vampire” builds a textured, vibrant world, only to watchit burn and bleed. Anne Rice’s beloved story of long-dead vampire Lestat (Sam Reid) and his latest creation, Louis (Jacob Anderson), chronicles a relationship baptized in blood, fueled by passion and gutted by betrayal. Thanks to the series’ crafts
Molto bene! Food Network has renewed its new Italian cooking competition “Ciao House,” hosted by Alex Guarnaschelli and Gabriele Bertaccini, for a second season. “Shot on-location in Italy, the series takes ten rising culinary stars on the journey of a lifetime to live in a breathtaking Italian villa and compete against each other as individuals
The Irish animation industry has become increasingly robust over the last 10 years, despite the pandemic and other challenges thrown at the entertainment business. It reflects an overall passion in the country for animation and storytelling as well as a commitment by the Irish government to support the business through economic incentives. Much of those
“Forest,” an Italian eco-themed animation film about deforestation, has scored some strong pre-sales for Rome-based True Colours at the Cannes Marché du film. The still-in-production 3-D animation feature – the protagonist of which is a young mushroom named Fey – has been picked up for roughly 20 territories by Top Film Distribution which will distribute
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. After setting a franchise record with a huge $58 million debut at the box office, “Creed 3” is finally available to stream on Prime Video. In the third installment of the sports drama series,
Vivendi, the parent company of Canal+ Group, has received the green light from the European Commission to proceed with the full acquisition of Lagardère, the French media, publishing and travel retail conglomerate. Vivendi previously held a 57.35% stake in Lagardere following a public tender offer held last year. This European Commission has given its approval
Composer Daniel Pemberton pushed a few boundaries and “made something really creative and different” when he scored 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” When he returned to score the sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” he knew he would have to “push it as far as we can go.” Pemberton says he had to build the score
Kieran Culkin and Claire Danes worked together on Burr Steers’ 2002 indie “Igby Goes Down,” in which Culkin played the angst-ridden 17-year-old title character to Danes’ slightly older Manhattan socialite Sookie Sapperstein. All these years later, Danes is visibly pregnant, and they chat like old pals about the difficulty of naming her third child with
SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “With Open Eyes,” the series finale of HBO’s “Succession,” now streaming on Max. During their cover story for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Claire Danes — who’s starred in a number of TV shows, including “Homeland” and FX’s recent limited series “Fleishman Is in Trouble” — asked Kieran Culkin whether he’d ever done
Netflix has picked up a sex-advice talk show from “E!’s Nightly Pop” host Zach Noe Towers as its latest addition to its SiriusXM channel Netflix Is a Joke Radio. Airing biweekly on Thursdays on channel 93 beginning June 15 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, “After Hours with Zach Noe Towers” is described as “a
Leslie Grace has a very personal reason for deciding to become what she calls an “ambassador” for “Translators,” a new documentary short about bilingual Latino children in the U.S. who become translators for their Spanish-speaking parents. “I’m first generation Dominican American,” the “In the Heights” star tells me. “My grandmother relied on her kids —
Machine Gun Kelly and 2 Chainz are among the artists to cameo in upcoming documentary “Life & Basketball: The Rise of Lethal Shooter” about iconic coach Chris Matthews. Directed by Mandon Lovett (“Boys In Blue”), the doc tells the story of Matthews’ inspirational journey from underprivileged childhood to professional athlete to homelessness to one of
At least initially, Netflix’s broad password crackdown appears to be producing the streamer’s desired results in converting freeloaders into paying customers in the U.S., according to early data from research company Antenna. On May 23, Netflix began notifying U.S. customers that users on their accounts who live outside their households would need to be added
Long before Margot Robbie boarded the “Barbie” movie and got Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach to write the screenplay, it was Amy Schumer who was set to headline the project. Back in 2016, Sony Pictures had the rights to “Barbie” and cast Schumer to star in a movie based on an original idea and screenplay
The Autobots are rolling out once again at the box office. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” picked up $8.8 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews. It’s revving up to battle last week’s No. 1 movie, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” in its opening weekend. Paramount’s “Rise of the Beasts” is looking to bring
Country star Jimmie Allen is being sued for sexual assault by a new accuser, who claims she filed a police report after Allen secretly filmed her during sex. This is the second woman to come forward publicly with sexual assault allegations against the Grammy-nominated country singer. The new lawsuit, filed Friday in Tennessee federal court,
Destry Allyn Spielberg’s directorial feature debut “Don’t Feed the Children,” which stars “Downton Abbey’s” Michelle Dockery, has added three new, young actors to its central cast. Joshuah Melnick, Emma Meisel and Dean Scott Vazquez are set to join Dockery in the upcoming film, which was written by Paul Bertino, about a viral outbreak that affects
Ming-Na Wen, who voiced Mulan in Disney’s animated feature of the same name, is set to narrate a new documentary titled “Pencils Vs Pixels.” Co-directed by Bay Dariz (“Hypochondriac”) and Phil Earnest, “Pencils Vs Pixels” is a celebration of 2D hand-drawn animation. The documentary, which will have its world premiere at Annecy International Animation Film
French CGI studio TeamTO, one of the biggest animation studios in Europe, has initiated development on “Jade Armor” Season Two. The move comes as TeamTO has produced on a service basis third party IPs ranging from “Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes” to Netflix hit “The Creature Cases.” Progress on “Jade Armor” TeamTO is made in
This year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival looks to break records with a wider international reach and greater studio participation than ever before. Already set to overtake last year’s attendance, the French lakeside fest, runs June 11-17 and had run up 13,300 guests by late May — among them a U.S. delegation more than 700
When we meet Ben Grady (Grant Rosenmeyer), he can barely lift himself out of the living room chair. By the end of this lo-fi indie drama, he’s soaring among the clouds like some kind of schlubby superhero — or one of those kids from “Chronicle” — having mastered what “The Secret Art of Human Flight”
At Annecy with four features, including buzzy main competition entry “Mars Express,” Strasbourg-based Amopix will create a second studio, Amopix Annecy, located in the Route des Creuses to the west of Annecy. The move comes as Amopix, the animation studio behind Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight title “Margarethe 89,” produced by Eddy, is embarking on some 10
The Taormina Film Festival, one of Italy’s oldest movie celebrations, has undergone many makeovers through the years. Held since the mid-1950s in the Sicilian resort that recently got a promotional boost as the location of “The White Lotus” Season Two, this storied summer fest boasts an 8,000-seat open-air ancient Greek amphitheater in the shadow of
Disney in India has announced that the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup tournaments being held later this year, will be made available free-to-view to all mobile phone users accessing its Disney+ Hotstar streaming platform. “The move to lift the paywall for mobile-only viewers […] is aimed at further democratizing the game of
HEARTFELT OBSESSION Netflix this week announced six new Korean romance titles slated for the rest of 2023. They are: “See You in my 19th Life,” “King the Land,” “Behind Your Touch,” “Destined With You,” “A Time Called You,” and “Doona!” The titles were unveiled at an in-person event called “K-romance obsession” in Seoul. Guests were
Although it was rumored and teased for weeks before it was officially confirmed, it’s really not a surprise to see Madonna collaborating with Sam Smith: “Unholy,” the British singer’s hit with Kim Petras, was not only the most provocative song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 since Cardi B and Megan Thee
How people perceive gender and react to it lies at the heart of “Transition,” Monica Villamizar and Jordan Bryon’s documentary premiering in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows Bryon, an Australian journalist, transitioning at the same time that he’s reporting from within Afghanistan as the country falls back under Taliban rule in