John Kirby, an actor and acting coach, died Wednesday, three years after being diagnosed with ALS. He was 75. The news was confirmed on Instagram by Nathan Nesbitt, Kirby’s acting studio manager and assistant of 22 years. “I am here to officially, with a broken heart, announce
It started with a text: “He said, ‘It’s time,’ so that’s all I needed to hear,” says Adam Blackstone, Jay-Z’s bassist and longtime collaborator. He’s discussing the first word he received about the string of shows the legendary rapper would be staging throughout the year,
A temporary restraining order was granted, setting up a battle over a more concrete injunction as the states pursue their antitrust case
Variety’s Interview Studio will return to San Diego on July 24-25 in partnership with Google TV featuring a lineup of in-depth interviews and conversations with leading talent and creators. “This event has become a defining fixture of the entertainment industry, uniting the
Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze are surfing back to the big screen in celebration of “Point Break’s” 35th anniversary. A new 4k restoration will be released by Resurgence Media Group, Saga Arts and Fathom Entertainment. The film will hit theaters on Aug. 16 and 19. Surfer Matt
The year’s biggest hit single, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” has racked up its 14th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — and has tied a record held by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Langley’s song, which first topped the Hot 100 chart in February, ties Mariah Carey’s
Longtime Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain believes rockers should keep their politics off-stage — but in interviews, he continues to be proud to trumpet his conservative beliefs. He used a podcast interview to blast a fellow 76-year-old, Bruce Springsteen, as an “annoying,
“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” takes place in a comic book shop, so it’s only natural that the new HBO Max series would get its own, actual comic book. As “The Big Bang Theory” spinoff hits San Diego Comic-Con this week, the comic book — featuring cover art by DC Comics
Chloe Fineman has already found her first post-“SNL” gig, with a series regular role in the “Myron Bolitar” series currently in the works at Netflix. Fineman is one of three actors joining the show as a series regular, alongside both Jabari Banks (“Bel Air”) and Jamie McShane
“The broader theme of the movie is actually very much in line with many things that conservatives think," the right-wing influencer said in his review. "If you let Elliot Page kill that for you, I think you’re missing out on an incredible moviegoing experience."
Mallory Morehead Pritzl has joined bi-coastal communications firm Kovert Creative on their entertainment PR team, Variety has learned. In her new role, Morehead Pritzl will oversee communications for programming-focused Kovert Creative clients like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Amy
The final 35-day multi-platform ratings for the 2025-2026 TV season are finally in, now that we’re more than a month beyond the official end of the TV season. According to Nielsen’s multiplatform 35-day linear and streaming ratings, Netflix’s “Stranger Things” was still the TV
A federal judge ordered a temporary halt to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger on Monday, as a state coalition argues it would violate federal antitrust law, leading to higher prices and fewer movies and TV shows. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin granted a 14-day restraining order
Variety’s annual Faith & Media Impact Report returns Dec. 2. The list recognizes a thriving segment of the entertainment industry that includes storytellers across the religious spectrum who are offering up compelling and creative experiences featuring faith and spirituality
Grupo Mórbido founder/CEO Pablo Guisa has boarded two projects at the Costa Rica Media Market (CRMM) as a producer, a strong endorsement to the revived market’s growing status as a genre hub. Both projects, “Greetings from Maryland” (“Saludos desde Maryland”) by Ricardo B’atz’
Jalen Brunson isn’t sure yet if his New York Knicks will visit the Trump White House after winning the NBA championship and thought it was “really cool” that Taylor Swift was cheering on the team courtside at Madison Square Garden during Game 4 of the NBA Finals. As for Swift’s
Horror fans better get ready to stay on pitch … or else! “Bad Karaoke,” a new comedy-horror from directors Chris Lightbody and Robert J. Steinmiller Jr., is set to have its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest, the London-based genre film festival, on Aug. 30 at the ODEON Luxe
Disney+ has ordered the series version of the “Afterlife With Archie” comics, Variety has learned. The show was originally reported to be in development at the streamer in 2025 with a script-to-series commitment. Disney is slating the series for a potential launch around
Lewis Pullman is set to star opposite Julia Garner in the upcoming Apple TV series “Guilty Creatures,” Variety has learned. The show, with Garner as a lead and executive producer, was announced on July 6. It is an adaptation of the Mikita Brottman true crime book “Guilty
“The Odyssey” defied the gods odds in its opening weekend, delivering a sensational $124.5 million domestically and $264.1 million globally. After all, it’s highly unusual for a centuries-old poem that everyone was forced to read in school to be the basis of a popcorn movie.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup once again demonstrated the value of home-team interest to broadcasters, with television audiences across Europe skyrocketing when national teams were still alive in the tournament before declining after their elimination. Yet, fans still turned up in
Streetball star Grayson “The Professor” Boucher’s story is getting the feature film treatment. Hidden Empire Film Group and its sports division, Hidden Empire Sports Collective, will produce the movie, directed by award-winning filmmaker Deon Taylor (“Traffik,” “Black and
Netflix has released first-look images from their followup to “A Different World.” As previously announced, the series will premiere on Sept. 24. As with the original show, it will take place at the fictional HBCU Hillman College. Check out the pictures below. The show was
Bong Joon-Ho’s first animated feature has proved a hit with international buyers, securing multiple deals for Pathé. “Ally,” which launched at the Marche du Film, had already been acquired by Neon for the U.S. prior to Cannes, reuniting the Oscar-winning director with the
Odysseus has stolen Luke Skywalker’s crown. Christopher Nolan’s big-screen epic “The Odyssey” has beaten “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” to take first place as the highest-ever three-day gross at the BFI Imax theater in central London, clocking in at £219,867 ($300,000). The BFI
“We’re going to need a miracle,” Chris Hemsworth proclaims in the new clip for the highly anticipated superhero flick
The online trolls couldn’t have been more wrong about “The Odyssey,” Christopher Nolan’s $250 million adaptation of Homer’s tale about Odysseus’ decade-long journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War. It’s only fitting that it strays from the source material, since the
The supernatural thriller “Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal” is being turned into a TV show. The 2017 novel, by “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola and Thomas E. Sniegoski (“The Fallen”), is being developed into a series by Echoverse, a sci-fi and fantasy audio content
In an era where AI can help make films about anything and everything, Utopai Studios has landed on farts. The AI production company will produce an animated feature-film adaptation of “The Most Serious Fart,” a 2023 children’s book written by “Not Another Teen Movie”
Ever since Michael Urie’s stint in “Oh, Mary!” on Broadway last year, he’s been wanting to return. The actor, known for his TV roles in “Ugly Betty” and “Shrinking” in addition to a plethora of theater work, starred as Mary’s Teacher alongside Jinkx Monsoon as the title
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is expressing disappointment over the failed “Blade” reboot that was supposed to star Mahershala Ali as the legendary vampire slayer. Speaking on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Feige said bluntly: “I am feeling like a gigantic loser and
On Monday, the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival announced its hotly anticipated Gala and Special Presentations programs, showcasing feature films from close to 30 countries along with celebrated directors such as Danny Boyle, Pedro Almodóvar, Cristian Mungiu, Chris
Beta Cinema has come on board as the world sales agent for Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland’s “Growth of the Soil,” which will have its world premiere in the Special Presentation section of Toronto Film Festival. “Growth of the Soil” is an epic love story set against the
Directed by John Madden ('Shakespeare in Love') based on a script by Paul Mayhew-Archer, the "emotional and surprisingly funny" film also features Monica Dolan and Rory Kinnear.
TIFF also booked the latest films by Wayne Wang, Danny Boyle, Pedro Almodovar, Mike Leigh and Jesse Eisenberg as it laid out upcoming Gala and Special Presentation titles.
Henry James’ classic novel “The Portrait of a Lady” is set to be adapted for Masterpiece on PBS and the BBC, starring Bill Nighy, Gemma Arterton and Nell Tiger Free. “Game of Thrones” star Free will lead the six-episode limited series as James’ New World ingénue Isabel Archer,
Emily (Zola Grimmer) can’t help but be forthcoming when, in a juvenile game of truth or dare at a party, she’s asked to confess her biggest regret. She first opts for a harmless revelation, but when probed, she admits to having taken someone’s life by accident. The night will
“Masters of the Universe” will be available to stream on Prime Video starting July 22. The movie had a disappointing run at the summer box office with just $113 million worldwide. The film is based on the universe created by Mattel in 1982 and marks the franchise’s second
Oscar-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore‘s docufilm “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” — about Brunello Cucinelli, the fashion designer known as Italy’s “King of Cashmere” — has been sold to a slew of territories, expanding the film’s global footprint. Sales company
Ahead of the superhero feature hitting theaters later this year, Disney helped to iron out some details about the sequel with the new footage released online.
The first trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday” is finally here. After being shown to CinemaCon attendees in April, the full “Doomsday” trailer is now public and brings together nearly every hero in the MCU. “Doomsday” is the culmination of the MCU’s multiverse-crossing storytelling
Megan Rapinoe, soccer champion, activist and entrepreneur, is entering a new chapter with the forthcoming launch of weekly interview show “Why Are You Like This?” The show, produced and distributed by Vox Media, will feature Rapinoe’s conversations with artists, athletes,
What’s yellow, fluffy and has a name that’s likely to get stuck in your head? The insurance sector’s newest TV star. Liberty Mutual worked its way into consumers’ brains over the past decade with a series of ads that feature a hard-to-forget slogan (Just repeat the first name
Fox Corp.’s Red Seat Ventures is the latest entity to strike up a partnership with Amazon in a bid to give advertisers broader reach in programmatic venues. Amazon will give advertisers the chance to buy up programmatic advertising inventory from Red Seat via its demand-side
Tisha Thompson in 2024 broke news about one of the biggest and most surprising scandals in sports — the transfer of large sums of money from baseball great Shohei Otani’s bank account to illegal bookmakers. Two years later, she just might have more to say on the subject.
The boss of Israel’s Jerusalem Film Festival, Roni Mahadav-Levin, has written an open letter urging Palestinian filmmakers to take part in next year’s edition. “To artists around the world, and specifically to Palestinian filmmakers, my call to you is this: grab the opportunity
Honey Trehan’s “Satluj” — about a Sikh activist in the 1990s investigating extrajudicial killings — conjures heavy emotions despite its hagiographic hues. Just as intriguing as its provocations are the controversies surrounding its release, starting with its unexplained removal
The U.K.'s largest screen has become the number one Imax venue internationally thanks to Christopher Nolan's latest epic.
Andy Burnham became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday, taking over from Keir Starmer in a handover choreographed around a visit to Buckingham Palace, where Starmer formally resigned and King Charles III then invited Burnham to form a government. Before heading to
Holly Willoughby, best known until recently as the host of ITV’s daytime show “This Morning,” is set to make a comeback. Rather than return to ITV, however, she has opted to launch her new lifestyle series “Holly Willoughby Together” on YouTube. Premiering July 28, the show is
