Top Indian actor Alia Bhatt is having one of the best years of her life, starring in three of the biggest hits of the year, “RRR,” “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva” and “Gangubai Kathiawadi.” Her first production, Netflix’s “Darlings,” was a smash hit for the service. And the star also became a mother recently. “Gangubai
Lizzo was the Queen of TikTok this year, as millions of users learned the choreography for “About Damn Time” and engaged with her other songs and videos. TikTok users also pushed “Jiggle Jiggle” and the “It’s corn!” kid to the top viral trends on the app in the U.S. Lizzo, who has 26 million TikTok
It’s a long journey from a school in Beirut in the early 90s to a screening room at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But two school friends, director Samah El Kadi and writer Rani Nasr, have teamed up with producer Michelle Ayoub to bring their story of childhood innocence clashing with
HBO Max is back on Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. Under a new deal between Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon that extends at least through the end of 2024, customers who subscribe to HBO Max through Prime Video Channels in the U.S. will automatically be upgraded to the forthcoming consolidated HBO Max/Discovery+ service next spring. HBO
Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky, whose first film “Yomeddine” – about a man raised in a leper colony, who embarks with a young sidekick and a donkey on a journey across Egypt – had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes, is back behind the camera on the ambitious Saudi-set travel movie
German-Turkish director Fatih Akin is attending the Red Sea Film Festival for the screening of “Rhinegold,” about young Iranian-Kurdish immigrant Giwar Hajabi, also known as Xatar, who is one of Germany’s most successful rap stars. The pic was released in Germany on Oct. 27 and has grossed over $10 million, becoming Akin’s biggest hit to
The families of historical figures including Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr. are taking part in a new docuseries from “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy” outfit Cineflix Productions. Titled “The Descendants,” the new series has exclusive access to the families of Gandhi, Roosevelt, Churchill and
Tarik Saleh’s “Cairo Conspiracy,” which is representing Sweden in the Oscar race, has become France’s biggest (non-English) foreign-language hit since Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.” The thought-provoking movie – Saleh’s follow up to “The Nile Hilton Incident” — competed at Cannes and won the screenplay award. A thriller in Arabic revolving around religion, “Cairo Conspiracy” wasn’t
The decision-making behavior of cinema audiences has been altered by the more-than two-year COVID era – and not just by streaming – executives at this week’s CineAsia convention said. It remains to be seen whether exhibitors and distributors can keep pace with a pickier and more easily distracted clientele. “People have no hesitation going back
Hybe Corp., the Korean firm behind BTS, is launching an original cartoon series “Dark Moon: The Grey City.” It tells the story of nine werewolves who join forces to protect one another against a hostile world. The concept was created in collaboration with Hybe’s Japanese boy band &Team and will launch as a webtoon (a
MORE TALENT JOINS ‘AGENCY’ Indonesia’s Miles Films and SK Global Entertainment have revealed more of the talent participating in their “The Talent Agency” (aka “Harbungi Agen Guei”) the local version of the hit French series, “Call My Agent!.” Other recurring roles go to Sheryl Sheinafia, Chicco Kurniawan, Dea Panendra, and Agni Pratistha. Guest stars in
Limited series “George & Tammy” delivered a solid opening for Showtime and two other Paramount outlets in its Sunday debut. In total, the premiere airing across three nets — Showtime, Paramount Network and CMT — brought in 3.3 million viewers. The series, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, stars Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain as married
Kirstie Alley was a godsend to “Cheers” when she joined the storied NBC sitcom in 1987, famed director- producer James Burrows recalled Monday as he paid tribute to the comedic star. “She was funny and she was gorgeous. You don’t find those two things together too often,” Burrows told Variety of Alley, who died Dec.
John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis and more are sharing their memories of Kirstie Alley after the “Cheers” and “Look Who’s Talking” star died on Monday at the age of 71. Alley’s death was announced on her official social media accounts by her children, True and Lillie Parker, who wrote: “We are sad to inform you
Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy-winning actor who rose to fame with her role as Rebecca Howe in the NBC comedy series “Cheers,” has died of cancer. She was 71. Alley’s death was confirmed through her official social media presence, which shared a statement from her children. “To all our friends, far and wide around the
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for the ending and mid-credits scene in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” currently playing in theaters. Angela Bassett, who is generating Oscar buzz for her performance as Ramonda in Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” is sharing her feelings about her character’s death. Her tone was good-natured during the discussion, but
Heather Hust Rivera, the senior vice president of communications at Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED), is exiting the company after nearly two decades, Variety has learned exclusively. “I’m grateful for the incredible opportunities I have had in the past 17 years at Disney, working across multiple businesses with some of the industry’s hardest working,
A federal judge issued an injunction last month that blocks a Texas prosecutor from bringing child pornography charges against Netflix for distributing the French film “Cuties.” But the prosecutor, Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin, is not giving up. In a notice filed on Monday, Babin indicated that he will appeal the ruling to the
In the early days of the Academy’s animated feature Oscar, there were questions as to whether enough films would qualify each year for the award to be given. Not anymore! This year sees a record number of contenders across a wide variety of genres, styles and audiences, from serious, adult-targeted films (like “Charlotte” and “Eternal
When Jonathan Majors was a student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, he taped a photocopied black and white headshot of Oscar-winning actor, director and activist Sidney Poitier on his wall. “That’s the thing about Sidney, a lot of people know him from all his beautiful film work, but this is
Order has finally been restored in 50 Cent‘s ‘Power’ universe … now that Joseph Sikora and Gianni Paolo have officially squashed their beef!!! Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. The two actors, along with Michael Rainey Jr., are set to appear on The Crew Has It Podcast where they’ll clear the air
Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel are typically on the same page, but now they’re publicly disagreeing about what Bobby calls a “miscommunication” with NBA YoungBoy‘s camp. Bobby recently visited Math Hoffa‘s “My Expert Opinion” show where he was attempting to clear up his pal Rowdy’s previous comments, on that same show, about King Von‘s murder.
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers up through Episode 6 of “The White Lotus,” airing Sundays on HBO and streaming on HBO Max. “The White Lotus” is set up for an explosive Season 2 finale on Sunday, but before fans wave goodbye to Sicily, there are a lot of loose ends to be tied up in
Baz Luhrmann recalls watching the 2001 film “Lantana,” which featured work by cinematographer Mandy Walker. It was around the time he was going to shoot a commercial for Chanel No. 5 and he thought, “it was a great opportunity for me to explore a photographic collaborator who is different from anyone I’ve ever worked with,”
Several times each year, Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” casting list gets reposted to social media and goes viral all over again. The list showcases Tarantino’s desired casting for each main role, from first choices to back-ups and so on. Johnny Depp appears on the list as the second choice for Pumpkin, a role Tarantino wrote
HBO Max has canceled “FBoy Island” — the reality dating series ran for two seasons. Hosted by Nikki Glaser, the series followed three women as they chose a potential boyfriend from a pool of 24 men by trying to identify which contestants were “f-boys,” who were there only to have a good time, and which were
The CW announced the ninth and final season of “The Flash” will premiere on Wednesday, February 8. The show’s final season will consist of 13 episodes. According to the network, the ninth season of “The Flash” picks up one week after Barry Allen’s battle with Reverse Flash, with Allen and Iris West-Allen reconnecting and growing
The board of directors of AMC Networks has named James L. Dolan the company’s interim executive chairman effective immediately. Dolan was previously the chairman of AMC Networks. His appointment comes after AMC Networks CEO Christina Spade abruptly departed the company last week after less than three months in the role. “AMC Networks has a seasoned
As calls for diversity and gender parity in entertainment are reshaping the industry, animation continues to promote and represent women in game-changing roles, for executives and creative leaders. Jennifer Lee leads Walt Disney Animation Studios. Kristine Belson runs Sony Animation. Karen Toliver heads Netflix’s toon arm. Ramsey Naito oversees Nickelodeon. Margie Cohn tops DreamWorks. And
“Black Adam” has hardly been given a hero’s welcome in its box office run, generating just $387 million globally after seven weeks on the big screen. That may seem like a lot of coinage, especially in COVID times when movies of all shapes and sizes are struggling to reach pre-pandemic grosses at the box office.