More than a fifth of Fox News Channel viewers are less trusting of the cable network in the wake of publicly disclosed text messages and emails from Fox executives and on-air personalities, according to a new survey. But only 9% of Fox News viewers say they aren’t watching the network as much as they used
You can’t tie these anchors down. MSNBC’s Symone Sanders and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins have both moved to WME for representation after previously being signed to UTA, according to three people familiar with the matter. Sanders launched a new Sunday program in May of last year, and her contract with MSNBC ends in early 2024, according
Not too long ago, Jen Psaki spent her days trying to explain the inner machinations of Washington to a crowd of skeptical journalists. On Sunday, she will become part of that horde. But if the former White House press secretary has her way, her new MSNBC program, “Inside With Jen Psaki,” won’t be as grizzled
ABS-CBN, once The Philippines largest broadcast group, said Thursday that it would sell its internet and broadband division Sky Cable to PLDT, the country’s biggest telecoms company. The transaction is valued at $123 million and means that ABS-CBN will focus even more on content production and distribution. “The proceeds from the sale of the shares
Bleak atmosphere and a David Fincher-inspired aesthetic are the first things that audiences will notice when watching “Boston Strangler.” Writer-director Matt Ruskin pulls us into this true-crime tale, centered on the dedicated reporters determined to solve Boston’s serial killings in the early 1960s, using similarly desaturated color, frame composition and camera movements. A distant cousin
London-based Spring Films, producers of Oscar nominated and BAFTA-winning 2012 documentary “The Act of Killing,” has signed a joint venture and partnership agreement with U.S.-Europe media fund APX Group. The new venture, via which APX and Spring will invest in new productions over the next five years, will be based in London and owned equally.
New York-based investment firm MEP Capital, which previously acquired the library of Lotus Entertainment, is launching West Side Pictures, a new independent rights management banner. Along with Lotus Entertainment, MEP also recently acquired the distribution rights to over 500 films and TV shows previously owned by Kew Media, including “Line of Duty,” “Thank You For
Confirming the increasingly strong interest by international buyers in Spanish animated features, Pink Parrot Media has scored a bevy of key European pre-sales on upcoming Spanish family adventure toon film “4 Days Before Christmas,” led by deals with Splendid in Germany and Kaleidoscope in the U.K. Produced by Spain’s 3Doubles Producciones and Capitán Araña with
Just a skosh more than a decade after Fede Alvarez’s carnage-crammed “Evil Dead” reboot jump-started the horror franchise spawned by Sam Raimi’s low-budget 1981 cult favorite, writer-director Lee Cronin has delivered his own imaginatively scary take on the “Book of the Dead” mythos with “Evil Dead Rise.” A kinda-sorta sequel, it offers incontrovertible evidence that
The Mediapro Studio is teaming with Spanish director Jorge Dorado and author Cuca Canals on detective thriller “The Young Poe” in a bid to build a second English-language international franchise on the heels and of the scale of “The Head,” sold to 90-plus territories and TMS’ biggest breakout hit to date. Enrolling one of the
“Luther” star Idris Elba and media mogul Mo Abudu are joining forces to empower talent from Africa and the diaspora through their respective production companies, Green Door Pictures and EbonyLife Media. The new partnership aims to provide opportunities through capacity building as well as large-scale global productions. New education and mentoring initiatives will launch through
Hollywood producer Scott M. Rosenfelt has joined Filipino TV crime-action series, “Sellblock,” as U.S.-based Blue Fox Entertainment joins as the show’s sales and distribution representative. Planned as a three-season series, “Sellblock” chronicles the activities of one of Asia’s biggest drug empires which is operating from inside a Philippines maximum-security prison. Production is scheduled to start
Cannes acclaimed filmmaker Marie Amachoukeli and leading French studio Miyu Productions will pair on “Happy End,” a macabre comedy Amachoukeli will co-direct with Vladimir Mavounia Kouka. Set for production in 2024, the project has already received backing from Bac Films and MK2, with the latter handling international sales. Variety has scored a first look at
Sky Crime, pay TV operator Sky’s premium crime content channel, has acquired “The Torso Killer Confessions” from Cineflix Productions. The show delves into the decades-long journey to bring justice to the victims of the notorious ‘Torso Killer,’ also known as Richard Cottingham – one of America’s most prolific serial killers. Working in tandem with the
Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based RTL Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, climbed 9% to a record €7.2 billion ($7.6 billion) for the financial year 2022. However, the company’s EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortization) slid 6% to €1.08 billion, down from €1.15 billion in 2021. RTL attributes this to higher streaming start-up losses and lower
The match fixing scandal that shook the world of cricket in the late 1990s is the subject of Supriya Sobti Gupta’s Netflix documentary “Caught Out: Crime. Corruption. Cricket.” The film is produced by Passion Pictures, which has credits including Oscar winners “One Day in September,” “Searching for Sugar Man” and “The Lost Thing,” and Gupta’s
After sitting through an hour and a half-long movie and 10 minutes of a post-screening Q&A, one spectator at the world premiere of “Evil Dead Rise” decided he had finally had enough. The man was approached by South by Southwest venue staff after falling asleep with his legs propped up and yelled something unintelligible in
Series “Rocket Boys” was a hit for SonyLIV when it began streaming in 2022 and the streamer is expecting to replicate its success with season 2, which streams from March 16. The series is created by Nikkhil Advani and directed by Abhay Pannu, and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani for
The world premiere of “Tetris” gave the crowd at South by Southwest a whole new look at Taron Egerton. From Egerton’s first appearance on screen, the Austin audience couldn’t keep quiet, cheering and applauding for his impassioned speeches, dad jokes and 1970s porn-stache. The film, which reveals a political thriller hidden within the history of
Jacob Elordi is scared … he says a male fan with a criminal history keeps showing up at his home with unwanted gifts, and even though he’s told the guy to scram, the dude is professing his love for him. The “Euphoria” star beelined it to court Monday to get a restraining order against 61-year-old
At last, a video game movie that’s more than just a video game movie. In theory, “Tetris” — that primitive and highly addictive block-stacking strategy game — doesn’t lend itself to the big-screen treatment any more than Rubik’s Cube or Tic-Tac-Toe might. But Noah Pink has found an ingenious solution to a classic puzzle. The
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 9, episode 5 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired March 15 on Fox. Two more celebrities were unmasked on Wednesday’s edition of “The Masked Singer”: Actor/comedian Malin Akerman and social media star Lele Pons were revealed to be Squirrel and Jackalope, respectively.
Hilarie Burton is detailing her traumatizing experience on “One Tree Hill.” During the latest episode of the “Drama Queens” podcast, Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz and Sophia Bush recap “It Gets Worse at Night,” the Season 4 episode in which the Tree Hill gang goes to Honey Grove to rescue Mouth (Lee Norris) from jail. Burton,
At some point over the course of every South by Southwest, most attendees ask themselves some version of this question: “Who can I see tonight in a club that will likely be playing an arena in a year?” Judging from the line to get in (and the floor packed in anticipation) for many Gen Zers
“Bupkis,” Peacock’s new 8-episode series starring Pete Davidson, Joe Pesci and Edie Falco, will premiere May 4, the streamer announced Wednesday. As part of the reveal, Peacock also shared first-look photos from the series. Davidson serves as writer and executive producer and stars in the fictionalized version of his life. Falco portrays his mom and
It’s déjà vu all over again: The Biden White House has told TikTok that Chinese parent company ByteDance must sell its ownership position in the popular video app or face a ban in the U.S., TikTok said on Wednesday. The U.S. government is demanding the divestiture on the basis of national security concerns. The news
The so-called “crackberry” is back. IFC Films has released the first official trailer for the upcoming comedy-drama film, “BlackBerry,” which provides a peek into exactly how the handheld device revolutionized the cell phone industry. Director Matt Johnson, along with co-screenwriter Matthew Miller, adapted Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s book “Losing the Signal: The Untold Story
The ReelAbilities Film Festival returns for its 15th year, as the largest film festival in the U.S. dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation for the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. The festival announced Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur as the 2023 Spotlight Award recipient, as well as listed the festival’s lineup,
Jim Gordon, a top drummer for Eric Clapton, George Harrison and countless others who was diagnosed with schizophrenia after murdering his mother in 1983, has died. According to the announcement, he died Monday from natural causes at California Medical Facility in Vacavillle, Calif., after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness. He was
A series adaptation of “Gattaca” is in development at Showtime, Variety has learned from sources. Exact plot details on the series are still under wraps, but sources say that Alex Gansa is attached to serve as showrunner and executive producer, with Gansa’s partner Howard Gordon also executive producing. They co-created the show with Craig Borten,