Oscar winner Sean Baker has found an unexpected way to inspire future generations of independent filmmakers — at the bank. The auteur has secured the first big payday of his career for his follow-up to best picture winner “Anora,” the sex-worker dramedy that made history in
“Michael” director Antoine Fuqua opened up for the first time about the movie’s dramatic reshoots in a new interview with The New Yorker. As Variety reported ahead of the biopic’s theatrical release, “Michael” was forced to spend up to $15 million on additional photography in
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has installed new leadership with veteran business and policy executive Ron Frierson signing on as president and CEO. The chamber has also tapped Dan Halden to serve as chief operating officer and legislative director for the organization that
In "Everyone Is Lying to You for Money," McKenzie cuts through reams of misinformation and conducts unshowy but confrontational interviews with finance players who are famous and powerful. (He also talks to a lot of people who are not.) He chases the story of cryptocurrency and
Andy Park, Marvel’s director of visual development, has left the studio after 16 years as part of Disney’s layoffs. Park took to social media to announce his departure. He wrote, “Marvel Studios Visual Development: 2010–2026. End of an era. I was there at the start of a team
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes AI is a good thing for Hollywood and will not hurt the industry as much as critics of the technology may be worried about. “I think people really care about other people,” Altman told me at the Breakthrough Prize Ceremony on Saturday when I asked
MCA Records has announced that three-time Grammy winner Miranda Lambert will release future music with the label, which was formerly known as Universal Music Nashville. “Throughout my life and career, I have found that the common thread in every chapter is finding the right
Ryan Phillippe has joined the cast of “9-1-1: Nashville” for the show’s upcoming second season, Variety has confirmed. Season 1 of the “9-1-1” spinoff is currently airing, with the season finale set to air in May. It was renewed for Season 2 back in March. Phillippe will appear
Disney+ Japan has struck a multi-year co-development agreement with The Seven, Inc. to produce Japanese-language live-action series exclusively for the platform, with titles destined for audiences in Japan and worldwide. The deal – Disney’s first ongoing content development
Tim Cook is set to exit as Apple’s CEO after 15 years. John Ternus, senior VP of hardware engineering, will become Apple’s next chief executive officer, the company announced. Cook will become executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors and Ternus will become its next CEO
Searchlight Pictures has released the first trailer for “Super Troopers 3,” the latest installment of the cult classic “Super Troopers” franchise. The film is set to hit theaters on August 7. The entirety of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe — Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan,
“Wednesday” is going global. Netflix released a first look image from Season 3 of the Jenna Ortega-led series on Monday. In a photo posted on social media, Wednesday is shown standing next to a motorcycle under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Thing (Victor Dorobantu), the sentient
Madonna has posted that the 20-year-old stage outfit she wore while performing Friday night at Coachella with Sabrina Carpenter has gone missing, and she is asking for fans’ help in finding the MIA wardrobe. The pop superstar had noted while performing with Carpenter that she
Billy Strings has been forced to postpone immediately upcoming tour dates after breaking his leg, mid-show, during a gig Saturday night in Charlottesville, Va. The accident did not happen on-stage, but rather in the break between the show’s main set and his usual epic encore,
The Season 2 finale of “The Pitt” was the series’ most-watched episode to date. The 15th and final episode of the medical drama’s second season reached 9.7 million viewers through its opening weekend, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. Additionally, Season 2 is averaging 15.4
Amazon is putting out some “Bait” to hook Emmy voters. The streamer’s British six-part miniseries “Bait,” starring Riz Ahmed, is making a push for the Emmy season, with plans to submit in 21 categories, including outstanding limited or anthology series, Variety has learned
On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Variety’s Brent Lang breaks down the weekend box office, and Lang gives us his takeaways and impressions about the state of the film industry from his time at CinemaCon last week. The weekend was dominated by two high-wattage
“I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough,” actress says
It’s still an open question whether an AI performer can actually “act,” but awards bodies will soon have to confront whether such a performance could ever be eligible for a major award. It seems like a storyline plucked out of some Hollywood dystopian satire. Still, with the
Satire site the Onion says that it has — after 17 months legal wrangling — successfully landed a deal allowing it take over Infowars, the right-wing conspiracy-fueled site run by Alex Jones. Ben Collins, CEO of the Onion, confirmed to Variety details of the company’s new plan
When explaining why they chose British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. as the international guest of honor at this year’s Projeto Paradiso National Talent Network gathering in Recife, the initiative’s executive director Josephine Bourgois said it was because Davies Jr’s
J.M. Harper’s documentary “Soul Patrol” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 28th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the first all-Black special forces unit in the Vietnam War, the doc premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. “We are so honored to receive this
Lauded Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho would love to repeat his partnership with Neon on his next film after a “truly great” year working on “The Secret Agent.” The director praised the major American distributor at length while speaking alongside producing partner
Christina Applegate says she’s “getting stronger and better every day” after her recent hospitalization. “Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” she wrote in Instagram caption on Monday. “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m
“Union County,” a recovery-focused drama starring Will Poulter and Noah Centineo, has been acquired by Oscilloscope Laboratories. The film, directed by Adam Meeks, casts Poulter and Centineo as two fictional characters (brothers grappling with opioid addiction) amid the
It’s more moonlit mischief than evil spells in Susanne Bier’s sequel to the 1998 film about the Owens family and their dark past.
Shaboozey has announced his new concept album, “The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales,” releasing on July 31 via his imprint American Dogwood in partnership with Empire. The country singer’s fourth album is described as a “cinematic outlaw revenge story with a tragic love
Finally, an answer to one of life’s great questions: can $45 million fit in the waistband of a man’s G-string? That would be a yes, as Channing Tatum’s experiential business Free Association Live has pulled off a significant capital raise to fund the global expansion of “Magic
D4vd has been charged with murder following his arrest last Thursday for the death of a teen girl whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla. At a press conference on Monday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that the singer, whose real name is David Burke,
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman — plus your favorite aunts Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing — will return this September
Elizabeth Moss is in the Emmy race, praise be. The Emmy-winning star of “The Handmaid’s Tale” will be submitted in the guest drama actress category for her reprisal of June Osborne in Hulu’s spinoff “The Testaments,” Variety has exclusively learned. Moss will submit Episode
Charlotte MacInnes claims Wilson shared Instagram posts suggesting she was sexually harassed by Amanda Ghost, a producer on The Deb whom Wilson previously sued for breach of contract
It’s “Up, Up and Away!” for “Superman: Man of Tomorrow.” James Gunn has revealed the comic book sequel has started production, with the director sharing a photo from set of a chess board and Van Kull Prison badge for inmate A. Luthor (a.k.a. the villainous Lex Luthor), as well
Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock are back for more magic. Warner Bros. has released the trailer for “Practical Magic 2” after it was debuted last week to attendees at CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theater owners in Las Vegas. It will arrive in theaters this fall on
Fox One isn’t just about streaming Fox TV programs. The subscription-based streamer, originally touted as a venue where fans could tune in to Fox’s broader sports offerings, said Monday that it would expand its portfolio of podcasts, adding selections from Fox News and Red Seat
The Critics Choice Awards has set the date for its 32nd annual ceremony for Sunday, Jan. 3, 2027, and has secured a two-year renewal agreement with Versant, extending the broadcast partnership through 2028. The ceremony will return to the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica for the
International entertainment studio MFF & CO has optioned the rights to William Ury’s book “Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict.” The company is set to develop a fictional universe inspired by the negotiator’s vast experience in mediating high-pressure
When it comes to TV news, winning viewers’ trust is out, and making them passionate about what they watch is in. A media consultancy that had a hand in creating the format that ultimately became “Good Morning America” is warning TV-news organizations that they need to blow up
Swiss-Kenyan director Damien Hauser’s dystopian fable “Memory of Princess Mumbi,” set during 2093 in an imaginary Africa created with the use of artificial intelligence, scooped the Golden Tulip Award at the Istanbul Film Festival on Sunday. Set in the futuristic African
Alex Wagner has returned to primetime hours on MS NOW — but not in the way viewers might expect. Wagner is among a bevy of hosts from progressive outlet Crooked Media who can be seen on MS NOW every Saturday night at 9 in clips from the collective’s sundry podcasts. When Wagner
Jacob Tierney is keeping the “Heated Rivalry” fandom fed until its second season. The “Heated Rivalry” creator, in partnership with Brendan Brady and Accent Aigu, has announced a new book about the making of the hit show’s first season. Titled “I’ll Believe in Anything,” the
Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic over a story alleging that he “has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.” Patel’s suit seeks $250 million in damages. In a statement Monday, the Atlantic said:
The Vatican will screen the film, featuring Pope Francis' last on-screen interview, on April 21, the one-year anniversary of his death.
According to prolific director and producer Frank Marshall, ESPN pulled his new documentary “Rachel, Breathe” an hour before it was set to premiere due to a rights disagreement. “I’m sad to report that RACHEL, BREATHE, will not premiere on ESPN2 today,” he wrote on X on Sunday
A new Martin Scorsese film titled “Aldeas, the Final Dream of Pope Francis” is set to launch with a private screening at the Vatican on Tuesday, which marks one year since the pontiff’s death. Scholas Occurrentes, a global Catholic educational movement founded by the late Pope
Catherine O’Hara didn’t just have notes for the writers of “Schitt’s Creek” — she would rewrite entire scenes “from top to tail,” according to Dan Levy. O’Hara died on Jan. 30 in her Los Angeles home after a brief illness. She was 71. On Monday’s episode of podcast “Conan
Madonna’s most die-hard fans are hopeful that the Material Girl will tour again. The anticipation has been intensifying following the announcement of her new album “Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II” and her surprise performance with Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella on Friday
Ryan Reynolds confirmed in a “Sunday Today” interview that he’s got some stuff already written when asked about Deadpool’s return in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While there’s no information on what the actor is cooking up for his foul-mouthed superhero, it appears it will
If you grew up during the ’90s, then there’s a very good chance that you saw and played “WWE WrestleFest” when you went to an arcade, pizza shop, or movie theater. The cabinet was even spotted at some gas stations too. But now, with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes winning big at
It was one of the most anticipated events of the 41st Guadalajara Film Festival (FICG) where Chile is the country guest of honor. On April 19, director Pablo Larraín and his producing partner brother Juan de Dios Larraín, founding partners behind Chile’s most successful
