Czech poet and former political activist František Klišík, one of the main protagonists in documentary “Better Go Mad in the Wild,” died on Sunday, hours after the film won the Grand Prix at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. He was 62 years old. Klišík, who lost his right arm in a
Civil Jornal, based in Colombia’s Barranquilla, is teaming with Bogota’s Innoctum Media and Barranquilla’s Estuario Cine to produce “Wood” (“Madera”), a hybrid doc fiction on the cutting-edge of current Colombian film-making in its bold genre mix and approach to Colombian
“Ted Lasso” star Hannah Waddingham says she’s been thinking a lot about what her character Rebecca Welton has been up to since the Apple TV+ Series finished its third and, as many involved thought, seemingly final season. Well, she’s about to find out. A fourth season will soon
Fifteen visual effects workers at “Saturday Night Live” have unanimously ratified theirfirst union contract. All 15 eligible voters voted “Yes,” marking a significant milestone for VFX artists and leads at the legendary sketch comedy show, which just celebrated its 50th season.
Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack — performed by a fictional girl group called Huntrix in the animated feature — claims the No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart this week. The film and its soundtrack have been surprise hits, with
Even before tasting Cloud23, a new hot sauce brand from Brooklyn Beckham launched last year, the elegantly designed bottle is what immediately ignites the senses — tall and elegant with sculpted vertical ridges at the base and a rounded wooden stopper that evoke a luxury
Bellamy Young appear in a recurring guest star role in the second season of “Brilliant Minds,” which is set to premiere this September. Young will play Dr. Amelia Frederick, the clinical director for a long-term mental healthcare facility named Hudson Oaks. Dr. Frederick is
While the oeuvre of Toronto director David Cronenberg, the maestro of body horror, has inspired generations of Canadian filmmakers (including his progeny) and continues to do, Montreal’s Fantasia Festival and its Frontières Market event put them face-to-face with the global
Official social media accounts for the show returning July 16 has encouraged viewers to "keep the conversation kind this summer" and avoid bullying, doxxing, and hate speech in online discussions
Blake Lively won a judge’s ruling on Monday setting her deposition on her home turf, after her attorneys raised concerns that Justin Baldoni’s lawyers were trying to turn it into a media spectacle. Lively is set to be deposed on Thursday in her sexual harassment and retaliation
Welcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month’s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I’m William Earl, the editor of Variety.com and the publication’s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com
Alex Edelman, Chris Fleming, the Basement Yard duo and a “Strangers With Candy” reunion are among the highlights of the New York Comedy Festival lineup that will unfold across the five boroughs in November. Margaret Cho, Louis C.K., Hannah Berner, Pete Holmes, Nurse John,
Anouk Whissell’s “Holi Womb,” Talal Selhami’s “The Shelter” and Hannes Baumgartner’s “Insect World” bid fair to prove standouts at Fantasia’s 2025 Frontières Co-Production Market, one of the world’s biggest, widest-ranging and highest caliber genre project platforms. “Holi
Reed Hastings, co-founder, chairman and former CEO of Netflix, has signed on as an executive producer of Costa Rica-set crime thriller “52nd State” — his first official credit as a producer on a film or TV show. However, “52nd State” is not a Netflix production. The indie film
The longtime agent began her career at ICM in 2003 as an intern and amassed an enviable list of big-name screenwriters over a 20-plus year career.
Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” was released in 1946 and has become a classic, often cited on “best of” lists and considered one of the greatest films ever made. “American Pie” cinematographer Richard Crudo led a conversation as part of the Variety 120 Screening Series
Tom Holland recently spoke to “Flip Your Wig” (via IGN) at his first-ever Bero Padel Classic tournament and teased that “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is going to lean into an “old school filmmaking” style, a huge change of pace from “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The film is being
Mekhi Phifer has joined “High Potential” Season 2 at ABC in a recurring guest star role, Variety has learned exclusively. Exact character details are being kept under wraps, aside from the fact that Phifer will play a character who becomes involved in major crimes. Phifer will
The superstar — who is a longtime superfan — voices Smurfette in the animated film, while also serving as producer and recording original music.
Break out your “fancy dress” because “The Drowsy Chaperone” is returning to the New York stage. Laverne Cox, Jonathan Van Ness, Betty Who and Alex Newell are among the bold-face names who will star in a one-night-only benefit concert of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” featuring an
When “Selling Sunset” and “Selling the OC” premiere on Netflix later this year, there will be some new faces at the Oppenheim Group, including Sandra Vergara, Sofía Vergara’s sister, who will join the Los Angeles-based cast of “Selling Sunset” for Season 9. Kaylee Riccardi,
The 2025 class of Variety‘s 10 Animators to Watch, presented by Nickelodeon, and “Smurfs” director Chris Miller gathered at Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Los Angeles on July 9 for a “Smurfs”-themed awards reception. Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and
Fox’s upcoming game show “99 to Beat” has given its contestants one more surprise: The show’s prize pot, originally set at $100,000, has been bumped up to $1 million. Fox revealed the news of the windfall while sharing a first look at the new gamer, hosted by Erin Andrews and
The 29th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is set to launch on July 16, and there is plenty to love for genre fans. The Montreal-set fest is an annual hotspot for early premieres of big-ticket films (an opening night screening of “Eddington,” “Together”),
Eva Longoria has found her next directorial effort, signing on to helm the film adaptation of “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” for Searchlight Pictures. Xochitl Gonzalez will pen the screenplay based on her bestselling novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers
Xochitl Gonzalez will adapt her novel about a first-generation Ivy League art student who uncovered a forgotten artist from the 1980s who had a suspicious death.
Following the first weekend of Bad Bunny’s historic 30-date residency in Puerto Rico, the Grammy-winning artist has delivered his first new music release since January’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” A single dubbed “Alambre Púa” landed Monday morning after he performed it for three
They’re here! Montreal’s ravenous cinema fans begin their annual midsummer genre feast this week, as the Fantasia International Film Festival opens its 29th edition on July 16 with Ari Aster’s paranoia-fuelled ripsnorter “Eddington.” Over the next 18 days, Fantasia unspools a
Prime Video has released the first-look images and teaser trailer for the highly anticipated drama series The Girlfriend, starring Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke. The six-episode series is based on Michelle Frances’ novel of the same name, and will be available to stream on
Festival director and head of public programming Eugene Hernandez outlined some early plans for next year’s festival, including special screenings, “legacy talks” and other events to mark the occasion.
Writer-director Jeremy Rudd's 1980s-set slasher feature expands upon his viral short film.
Love Island USA ended with heartfelt romantic declarations, a breakup anyone could have seen coming from a thousand miles away, and relief (for the viewers) that Season Seven is finally over
Nicholas Hoult plays the perfect megalomaniac, Lex Luthor, in James Gunn’s “Superman.” As Superman’s arch-nemesis, the powerful owner of LutherCorp, he can’t stand that people look up to the Man of Steel and not him. With billions of dollars at his disposal and tech masterminds
Andrew Garfield has officially signed on for Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming feature “Artificial” at Amazon MGM. Garfield joins “Anora” breakout and recent Oscar nominee Yura Borisov in the feature, which is described as a “comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence.”
Hogwarts has reopened for a new term. HBO’s “Harry Potter” TV series — the long-awaited and much-hyped return to J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world — has officially started production at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the U.K., almost 14 years to the day that “Harry Potter and
By now, Justin Bieber is a pop music legend. Over nearly two decades, the world has watched as he’s evolved from a doe-eyed teen into a creative titan, consistently reinventing himself while pushing his sound forward. And out of nowhere last week, he returned with “Swag,”
Moonvalley, an AI research company that says it is developing “ethical” foundational AI video models trained exclusively on licensed content, announced $84 million in additional funding led by existing investor General Catalyst. The round includes strategic investments from CAA
Rihanna walked the “Smurfs” blue carpet at the movie’s Los Angeles premiere on Sunday with her and A$AP Rocky’s sons RZA and Riot in tow. It was quite the fashion affair for the trio. Rihanna, who is pregnant with her and A$AP’s third child, wore a Saint Laurent by Anthony
The planned episode was meant to add some levity to the series and take Donny away from his stalker, Martha
Thierry Ardisson, a staple of the French television landscape for nearly four decades who ruffled feathers as an iconoclastic journalist, host and producer of often explosive talk shows, died on Tuesday from liver cancer. He was 76. His wife, Audrey Crespo Mara, who is also a
If President Donald Trump, like Richard Nixon, kept an enemies list, one seemingly unlikely name would be right at the top — not a lawmaker or one of his predecessors, but the funny lady who tossed Koosh balls into the audience, and who speaks in frank and unadorned language
A spokesperson for “Sesame Street” confirmed to Variety that Elmo’s official X account was “compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts.” The tweets, a vile departure from Elmo’s often inspiring and motivational social
Psychological horror project “Holi Womb,” from Montreal writer-director Anouk Whissell, famed for her part in collective RKSS (“Turbo Kid”), has been picked up by Mongrel Media for Canadian distribution. The acquisition comes ahead of the project’s bow at the opening pitch
MarketCast promoted Amy Fenton from co-president to CEO of the market research and analytics firm. Fenton, who joined the company in December 2022, takes over the top job after former MarketCast CEO John Batter exited in May to head up advertising workflow software vendor XR
Stellan Skarsgård accepted a lower salary and became an executive producer on Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” — winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes this year — because he wanted to give the crew good lunches. “I wasn’t supposed to be [an executive producer] at first, but I
The often superb Hiam Abbass, a star in ‘Succession,” “Lemon Tree” and “The State,” is set to play lead Leila in on-the-rise Moroccan genre pioneer Talal Selhami’s “The Shelter” (“Le Refuge”), which is set up at Morocco’s La Prod, headed by Lamia Chraibi, doyenne of Moroccan
The Venice Film Festival has set as its pre-opening event the launch of a freshly restored — and re-imagined — version of Erich von Stroheim’s controversial 1929 silent movie “Queen Kelly.” The legendary unfinished film, starring Gloria Swanson (“Sunset Boulevard”) as an
The first season of the Love Island spin-off series, which brings back former contestants to compete in couples challenges, was helmed by Love Island UK host Maya Jama
Launched at Cannes 2024 as the global sales arm of pan-Arab entertainment powerhouse MAD Solutions, MAD World has swooped on worldwide sales rights to highly regarded Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Hmili’s revenge drama “Exile” ahead of its world premiere at August’s Locarno Film
The newest show on Disney+ is likely to have more surprising plot twists than any Marvel movie and more oddball characters than the latest series from “Star Wars.” What is it? The news. In its first original daily program designed specifically for the streaming service, ABC
