Variety

Former CW Bosses Dawn Ostroff and Mark Pedowitz Look Back at the Network’s First 20 Years

When Warner Bros. and CBS announced the merger of the WB and UPN on the morning of Jan. 24, 2006, the industry was shocked. There had been no rumblings that it might happen, as the two sides behind th...

6 days ago

Billy Joel Gives Health Update After Brain Surgery: ‘I’m OK — It Sounds a Lot Worse Than It Actually Is’

Billy Joel gave a health update during a call-in with fans on his SiriusXM channel this week, noting that he’s doing well after revealing earlier in September that he’d undergone brain surgery to reli...

6 days ago

‘Wednesday’ Season 3 Wraps Production, Drops New Look at Jenna Ortega at Typewriter

Netflix has dropped a first look at Jenna Ortega in “Wednesday” Season 3 as the streamer announced that production has officially wrapped. Ortega stars as Wednesday Addams in the Tim Burton-directed s...

6 days ago

Globoplay Greenlights Adaptation of Raphael Montes’ ‘Uma Mulher no Escuro,’ From Banijay Entertainment’s A Fábrica Brazilian Banner (EXCLUSIVE)

Media and entertainment group Banijay Entertainment has greenlit an adaptation of Raphael Montes’s “Uma Mulher No Escuro” (“A Woman in the Dark”) for Globoplay. The project will be led by Banijay’s Br...

6 days ago

LCD Soundsystem Announces 2026 NYC Residency — Including 100th Residency Show

LCD Soundsystem continue their nearly ten-year tradition of NYC year-ending residencies with 12 shows over three weekends, beginning with November 19-22 at Knockdown Center in Queens, continuing with ...

6 days ago

HBO Max Unveils Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi Drama Series, Created by ‘Anatomy’ Writer Fran Araújo and ‘Querer’ Scribe Eduard Sola (EXCLUSIVE)

“La Bola Negra” writer-director-producers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi are set to exec produce an ambitious, new HBO Max drama series now in development in Spain and created by preeminent Spanish ...

6 days ago

New ‘X-Men’ Actor Christopher Abbott Says Professor X Casting Reveal Was a ‘Bit of a Nightmare’ Because ‘A Lot of People Didn’t Know Who I Was’

Christopher Abbott felt a bit humbled by his reveal as Professor X at D23 last month. The “Girls” and “East of Eden” star will take on the iconic role in Marvel’s upcoming “X-Men” reboot, which is set...

6 days ago

Lukas Dhont, Valentin Hadjadj Discuss ‘Coward’ Score, and Edward Berger, Volker Bertelmann Talk About Music for ‘The Riders,’ Starring Brad Pitt

Partnership is the guiding motif of the World Soundtrack Awards’ Film Music Days, where live performances will give cult films bold new scores and industry mixers encourage emerging composers and film...

6 days ago

CNN’s Pamela Brown Launches New Streaming Series, ‘Body Language’

CNN’s Pamela Brown is turning her investigative skills on women’s health. The co-anchor of “The Situation Room” will on Thursday, October 8, launch “Body Language by CNN,” a new series for CNN’s “All ...

6 days ago

‘Verity’ Review: Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway Drift Through Another Listless Colleen Hoover Adaptation

Whenever Hollywood latches obsessively onto the oeuvre of a pop novelist du jour, the law of averages dictates that the ensuing spate of films can’t be all bad: More than a couple of those ’90s John G...

6 days ago

Mattel Hires Condé Nast’s Roger Lynch as CEO, Ynon Kreiz to Exit for New Job

Mattel is getting a new CEO: The toymaker and media company announced that Roger Lynch, who’s been chief exec of Condé Nast for more than seven years, will become its next CEO. Lynch will become chair...

6 days ago

M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Remain’ Earns Strong First Reactions: Jake Gyllenhaal Is ‘Incredible’ in ‘Scary as Hell’ and ‘Heartbreaking’ Thriller

M. Night Shyamalan surprised fans at Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest on Tuesday night with the world premiere of his latest thriller, “Remain,” and reactions on social media are praising lead Jake Gyllenhaal...

6 days ago

Composers of ‘The Chronology of Water,’ ‘Sirat’ Among World Soundtrack Awards’ Discovery Nominees

The World Soundtrack Awards’ Discovery of the Year prize has a knack for spotting emerging talent. Gustavo Santaolalla (“21 Grams”), Michael Giacchino (“The Incredibles”) and Nicholas Britell (“Moonli...

6 days ago

Composers, Filmmakers Sync Up at World Soundtrack Awards’ Film Music Days

Now nearing its 26th edition, the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent have made the Belgian city film scoring’s home base. That story began in the 1980s, when Film Fest Ghent adopted screen music as its ...

6 days ago

‘NAZA’ Beats ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ to Top Italian Box Office

“NAZA,” the hot-button documentary about the war in Gaza which recently won a special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, beat “Avengers: Endgame Encore” to debut at No. 1 at the Italian box offic...

6 days ago

Danny Boyle Says ‘28 Years Later Part 3’ Will ‘Have a Lot of Cillian Murphy in It’ and Backs Jack O’Connell as the Next James Bond

Danny Boyle is adamant: “28 Years Later” part 3 will happen. “‘28 Years 3,’ or whatever it ends up being called, will get made because people keep asking about it. Quite when I’m not sure, but there’s...

6 days ago

Ajay Devgn Says ‘Drishyam 3: The Conclusion’ Surpasses Predecessors, Ends Franchise for Good (EXCLUSIVE)

Top Bollywood star Ajay Devgn tells Variety he is confident “Drishyam 3: The Conclusion” clears the bar set by its predecessors, calling the psychological thriller’s twists unpredictable even for genr...

6 days ago

Beta Film Takes ‘Rex – Vienna Calling’ Worldwide as Season 2 Goes Into Production (EXCLUSIVE)

Beta Film has unveiled a broad international sales footprint for “Rex – Vienna Calling,” the latest incarnation of the three-decade-old “Rex – A Cop’s Best Friend” franchise, as production gets underw...

6 days ago

Mubi Takes Global on Los Javis ‘La Mesías’ and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ‘Riot Police’ as Movistar Plus Rolls Out Iconic Hits Around the World (EXCLUSIVE)

Mubi has taken worldwide rights to two iconic series from Movistar Plus International, the overseas distributor of the biggest Spanish pay TV and SVOD operator: “La Mesias,” from “La Bola Negra” direc...

6 days ago

Zygi Kamasa’s U.K. Film Distributor True Brit Entertainment Files for Administration

True Brit Entertainment, the U.K. theatrical distributor that launched less than three years ago, has filed for administration, a British legal process similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company, w...

6 days ago

Amazon MGM Execs Javiera Balmaceda, Nicole Morganti Talk Big Spanish-Language Action Swings, the Push for Scale at Iberseries & Platino Industria

Speaking at the Iberseries & Platino Industria conference in Madrid, Amazon MGM execs Javiera Balmaceda and Nicole Morganti offered a candid look at how the streamer decides which non-English lang...

6 days ago

Karan Johar to End ‘Koffee With Karan’ After 22 Years With Final Season on JioHotstar: ‘The Decision Is Emotional and Personal’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Indian media personality Karan Johar will end “Koffee With Karan” after 22 years. His celebrity chat show returns for a ninth and final season, streaming on JioHotstar from Oct. 14. Since its 2004 deb...

6 days ago

Greta Thunberg Makes Surprise Appearance at Zurich Premiere of ‘My Home of Wind and Sand,’ Denounces Occupation of Western Sahara

Greta Thunberg made a surprise appearance on Tuesday at Zurich Film Festival, where she joined the screening of a new documentary “My Home of Wind and Sand,” which looks at the occupation of Western S...

6 days ago

Anton Studios Joins The Creatives as Partner and Investor as Producer-Led European Company Enters Jointly Owned Holding Structure (EXCLUSIVE)

Fast-growing European studio Anton Studios is taking a minority position as a partner and investor in The Creatives. The group, first founded as a long-term strategic partnership in 2021, is moving in...

6 days ago

Florence Pugh Credits Tom Holland for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Role: ‘This All Happened Because of Tom’

Florence Pugh appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Monday night and revealed that fans of her Marvel character, Yelena Belova, really have Tom Holland to thank for her appearance in “Spider-...

6 days ago

Aaron Sorkin Says ‘Social Reckoning’ Reshoots Had Nothing to Do With Trailer Backlash, Explains Why Trump Isn’t Named: It’s ‘Not a Red-Blue Thing’

Ahead of the release of “The Social Reckoning” on Oct. 9, director Aaron Sorkin is telling all on the film’s much-discussed reshoots, limited test screenings and why Trump is never named explicitly, d...

6 days ago

Fiona Lowe, Daughter of Chad Lowe and Kim Painter, Dies at 13

Fiona Hepler Lowe, the daughter of actor Chad Lowe and Kim Painter, has died. She was 13. Fiona’s death was confirmed to People on Tuesday by the Lowe family, who wrote “We are deeply heartbroken by t...

6 days ago

‘Final Payment,’ ‘Zoom In, Zoom Out’ Win Big at Pingyao; ‘Congo Boy’ Takes Rossellini Prize

Niu Niu’s “Final Payment” and Dong Jie’s “Zoom In, Zoom Out” each won two prizes at the 10th Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival in China. “Final Payment,” from Shanxi-bo...

6 days ago

Christy Carlson Romano Says She and ‘Even Stevens’ Co-Star Shia LaBeouf Were ‘Like Oil and Water’ While Filming the Disney Channel Show

Christy Carlson Romano, who first broke out on the Disney Channel sitcom “Even Stevens,” is opening up about her experience working alongside co-star Shia LaBeouf. Speaking with Amanda Hirsch of the N...

6 days ago

Tom Cruise Pulls Out ‘Risky Business’ Dance Moves for ‘Jennifer Hudson Show’ Spirit Tunnel

Tom Cruise pulled out his “Risky Business” dance moves (and those black Ray-Ban sunglasses) for his much-anticipated walk down “The Jennifer Hudson Show’s” Spirit Tunnel. The talk show appearance is C...

6 days ago

‘Making Marie Antoinette’: A Mother’s Love Letter to Sofia Coppola’s Genius Charms NYFF

“I enjoyed it, but I’m never doing this again.” Sofia Coppola utters those words toward the end of “Making Marie Antoinette,” a feature documentary about the making of her 2006 film “Marie Antoinette”...

6 days ago

‘What Remains’ Review: A Pensive but Stirring Drama Finds Poetry in the Landscapes of Rural Turkey

If you love something, let it go, the adage advises, and maybe it will come back to you. Maybe, however, it will go and go and go and never come back, and that, so Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s increasingly lyrica...

6 days ago

What’s New on Netflix in October 2026

Halloween has arrived on Netflix! The streaming service is kicking off All Hallows’ Eve with a fresh slate of horror favorites, including classics such as “Dracula,” “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” “Fr...

6 days ago

What to Watch on Disney+ in October 2026

Spooky season is officially here and Disney+ just made your Halloween streaming selections that much easier. For the month of October, Disney+ will offer a Halloween collection featuring a curated ass...

6 days ago

Lady A’s Charles Kelley Shares Blood Cancer Diagnosis: ‘I’m Confident That We’re Going to Get Through It’

Charles Kelley, the co-lead vocalist and founding member of the country band Lady A, has been diagnosed with the rare blood cancer multiple myeloma. The singer shared the news on his Instagram on Tues...

6 days ago

Casey Bloys Poised to Run HBO and Paramount+ as Cindy Holland Confirms Her Exit From Studio on Eve of Merger Closing

HBO chief Casey Bloys is poised to take the reins of all of Paramount and Warner Bros. streaming operations once the two companies merge. On Tuesday, Cindy Holland announced she was stepping down from...

6 days ago

Penn Badgley Swore Off Sex Scenes. His Wife Says It Was Not Her Idea: ‘He Decided to Do This for Mental Health Reasons’

Penn Badgley infamously swore off sex scenes before the production of “You” Season 4, revealing on a viral episode of his “Podcrushed” podcast in Feb. 2013 that he told showrunner Sera Gamble he was n...

6 days ago

‘The Little Prince’ Live-Action Movie Set With ‘The Imitation Game’ Director Morten Tyldum and Simon Beaufoy (EXCLUSIVE)

“The Little Prince” is getting a new big-screen treatment with “The Imitation Game” director Morten Tyldum set to helm an ambitious live-action feature inspired by the life of French aviator Antoine d...

6 days ago

Music Industry Moves: Universal Music Names Libby Bush President of Global Brands and Commercial Partnerships; Avex Acquires 85% of Brandon Silverstei...

Universal Music Group has named Libby Bush to the newly created role of President, Global Brands and Commercial Partnerships, starting in November. According to the announcement, she will “lead a new ...

6 days ago

Jennifer Lawrence to Star in Zach Cregger’s ‘The Flood’

Jennifer Lawrence will star in Zach Cregger’s buzzy sci-fi thriller “The Flood” from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. Cregger is set to write, produce, and direct the film, which is set for release o...

6 days ago

Ex-‘American Idol’ Contestant Caleb Flynn Found Guilty of Murdering Wife

Caleb Flynn, a former contestant on “American Idol,” was found guilty of murdering his wife in their Ohio home. A jury deliberated for around two hours on Tuesday and convicted him on all nine counts ...

1 week ago

Ringo Starr, David Byrne, Joan Baez Donate Unqiue Items for Housing Works Auction

Ringo Starr, David Byrne, Joan Baez, and more have donated items to be auction in Housing Works’ second annual Turn It Up! auction, which is open through Oct. 1. The National frontman Matt Berninger, ...

1 week ago

Curry Barker’s ‘Obsession’ Follow-Up ‘Anything But Ghosts’ Sets May 2027 Release Date From Focus Features, Blumhouse

Focus Features and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster have slated Curry Barker’s upcoming horror-comedy “Anything But Ghosts” for release on May 7, 2027. Focus has worldwide rights for the film, while Universal...

1 week ago

Prime ‘Big Deal Days’ 2026: What to Know About Amazon’s October Prime Day Sale

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days (a.k.a. “Fall Prime Day) is back for another season of savings, with 48 hours of Prime member-exclusive deals ahead of the holidays. This year’s Prime Big Deal Days run fr...

1 week ago

‘Digger’ Confronts Negative Buzz: New Ad Tells Moviegoers to ‘Decide for Yourself’ After Tom Cruise Movie Called ‘Unpleasant’ and ‘Baffling’

Warner Bros. is asking moviegoers to “decide for yourself” with a new ad for Tom Cruise’s “Digger” that touts both negative and positive reactions. “Masterpiece” and “Unpleasant” are quoted in the sam...

1 week ago

Iliza Shlesinger Sets 2027 Tour (EXCLUSIVE)

Iliza Shlesinger is hitting the road in 2027. The comedian, actor and writer has announced the “Free Nights & Weekends Tour,” which kicks off on Jan. 22 at Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis and will ...

1 week ago

Variety’s ‘Pixels and Pencils’ Animation Panel Returns to SCAD Savannah Film Festival With Directors of ‘Wildwood,’ ‘Ray Gunn’ and More

Variety’s “Pixels and Pencils” panel returns to the SCAD Savannah Film Festival for a fifth year, spotlighting the directors behind the year’s standout animated features. Six filmmakers will join this...

1 week ago

‘God of War Laufey’ Sets Release Date, Preorders Open (Gaming News Roundup)

“God of War Laufey” will release Feb. 16, 2027 from Sony’s Santa Monica Studios. Pre-orders go live on Sept. 29. The prequel game in the action-adventure franchise centers on Laufey, also known as Fay...

1 week ago

Pedro Pina, YouTube VP at Iberseries & Platino Industria: ‘YouTube is a Greenhouse of the Future of Creativity’

Speaking at the Iberseries & Platino Industria conference, Pedro Pina, YouTube VP for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, regaled a full house with a striking presentation that traced the evolutio...

1 week ago

Paul McCartney and Judd Apatow Have a Free-Wheeling and Revealing Conversation About the Beatles and Wings in ‘Man on the Run’ Post-Screening Q&A

Paul McCartney met up with Judd Apatow for a 45-minute conversation following a screening of “Man on the Run” in Los Angeles Monday night, and it was very much a case of banter on the run. With Apatow...

1 week ago