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Vivendi Unveils Proposal for Three-Way Split, Confirms Canal+ Group London Listing Plan
Media conglomerate Vivendi is moving forward with its proposal to split into three separate entities, the company revealed on Monday. Vivendi Reportedly Eyeing London Listing for Canal+ Group The plan, first revealed in December 2023, aims to address Vivendi’s conglomerate discount and unlock value for its subsidiaries. Under the proposed split, Canal+ would list on the London Stock Exchange, reflecting its international reach. The pay-TV group, which may pursue a secondary listing in Johannesburg pending its MultiChoice tender offer, would remain a French tax resident. Advertising giant Havas would list as a Dutch public limited company on Euronext Amsterdam. The move is designed...
Edinburgh TV Festival Unveils Frontiers Strand Lineup Joining Headliner Will.I.Am (EXCLUSIVE)
Will.I.am will be joined by a range of speakers including The Sidemen manager Jordan Schwarzenberger at the new “future-gazing” Frontiers strand of the Edinburgh TV Festival, Variety can confirm. Also speaking are HaZ Dulull, Yammy, ShxtsNGigs, Ben Zand, Fitwaffle, Ash Holme, Elz the Witch, Wimbledom digital products lead Chris Clements and Cowshed Collective’s head of creative strategy Danny Lorimer. The Frontiers strand, which is supported by Screen Scotland, aims to look at the future of the television industry as well as take inspiration from related industries including digital, games and brands. Sessions will include panels such as “The Rise of the Telly-Verse: Where...
Bollywood Star Triptii Dimri Talks Comedy Challenges, Franchise Roles and Global Ambitions (EXCLUSIVE)
Rising Indian actor Triptii Dimri is expanding her repertoire with a slate of diverse projects, including her first major comedic role and one of Bollywood’s biggest franchises.'Wonka' Debuts Atop U.K., Ireland Box Office Dimri discussed her transition to comedy in the newly released film “Bad Newz,” which is on its way to becoming a major hit, after earlier establishing herself in dramatic roles. “I personally gravitate towards drama a lot, because it’s my favorite genre. And I think somewhere I had found my comfort there,” Dimri told Variety. “But then there came a point where I was like, now I need...
Venice Critics’ Week: Vietnam Voodoo Film ‘Don’t Cry Butterfly’ Reveals First Look (EXCLUSIVE)
Venice Critics' Week Unveils Lineup, Including 'Homegrown' Doc About Group of White Supremacist Donald Trump Supporters After years of project markets and multiple rounds of Asian grant funding applications, Vietnamese horror-comedy “Don’t Cry Butterfly,” is confirmed to have its world premiere in competition at the Venice Critics Week. Its backers have unveiled a first poster image. Written and directed by Duong Dieu Linh, the Hanoi-set film follows a housewife who uses voodoo to try and get her cheating husband fall back into love with her, but instead invites a mysterious presence into the house. The film marks the feature film directorial debut of...
Amazon Prime Video Buys U.K.’s Historic Bray Studios, Where ‘Rings of Power’ Season 2 Was Filmed
Amazon Prime Video is acquiring the U.K.’s Bray Film Studios, the historic site it recently set up as a production hub for the second season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”Amazon MGM Studios Developing YA Sci-Fi Thriller 'The Loneliest Girl in the Universe' (EXCLUSIVE) The deal marks Amazon’s first acquisition of a physical studio in the U.K., with Bray set to be used for new and continuing TV series and feature films. In early 2022, Prime Video signed a multimillion dollar long-term lease at Shepperton Studios. In the U.S., Amazon owns The Culver Studios in Culver City,...
Venice Critics’ Week Unveils Lineup, Including ‘Homegrown’ Doc About Group of Supremacist Donald Trump Supporters
U.S. journalist and filmmaker Michael Premo’s doc “Homegrown,” which follows a group of supremacist Donald Trump supporters from the 2020 campaign trail all the way to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, is among titles set to world premiere at the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week.Mark Hamill, Kathy Griffin, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and More Hollywood Reactions to President Biden's Decision to Drop Out: 'He Restored Honesty' Brooklyn-born Premo played a significant role in Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Sandy’s hurricane response effort. The out-of-competition opener of the section dedicated to first works is French director Aude Léa Rapin’s “Planet B,” a cyberpunk sci-fi film...
Rotterdam Winner Cyrielle Raingou Finds French Backing for Fiction Debut ‘I’m Coming for You’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Rotterdam Film Festival winner Cyrielle Raingou (“Le Spectre de Boko Haram”) has secured French backing for “Pour toi je reviendrai” (I’m Coming for You), which tells the story of a single mother in northern Cameroon who joins forces with a radical group of women after being cast out of her community. Raingou is pitching the project this week at the Durban FilmMart.African Noir Series 'Acts of Man,' Inspired by Real-Life Occult Crime Unit, Attracts Canadian, U.K. Partners (EXCLUSIVE) The film will be produced by Raingou and Alice Abah for the director’s Cameroon-based shingle Je Capture Ma Réalité, along with French producer...
Aparna Sen’s ‘Her Indian Summer’ in Development as Indo-U.K. Co-Production (EXCLUSIVE)
Veteran Indian director and actor Aparna Sen’s new project “Her Indian Summer” is set to be developed as an Indo-U.K. co-production, it was revealed during a recent London retrospective of her work. Aparna Sen Talks Suman Ghosh's Rotterdam Documentary 'Parama,' Prepares Film of Satyajit Ray Stories (EXCLUSIVE) The film, a mixed-race love story set against the backdrop of the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, is being produced by Kolkata-based Indian producer-director Aritra Sen and Los Angeles-based British writer-director Alex Harvey’s Big Bazaar Films. Sen came to notice as an actor with the “Samapti” segment in Oscar winner...
China Box Office: ‘Twisters’ Is Blown Away as ‘Successor’ Enjoys $89 Million Weekend
Korea Box Office: 'Escape' Rises to Weekend Market Leader at Third Attempt “Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escape from poverty, dominated a big weekend at the Mainland China box office. The session also saw an impressive re-release for Japanese animation “Your Name” and Hollywood action film “Twisters” blown into instant irrelevance. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed “Successor” earning RMB633 million ($89.1 million) between Friday and Sunday in China. While this represented the film’s official first weekend, “Successor” finished Sunday with a cumulative total of RMB1.55 billion or $219 million. That is due to two days of wide screenings a weekend...
Hunter Biden Drops Lawsuit Against Fox News
The same day his father, Joe Biden, announced that he would drop out of the 2024 presidential race, Hunter Biden voluntarily dropped his lawsuit against Fox News that had alleged the network’s inclusion of sexually graphic photos of Hunter Biden in a fictionalized “mock trial” miniseries about him violated revenge porn laws.Trump Attack Sends TV News Anchors Scrambling to Cover RNC, Preparing for 'Animosity Toward the Press' According to the notice filed with the court Sunday (July 21), Hunter Biden, “by and through his undersigned counsel, hereby gives notice that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed, without prejudice, against the defendants...
‘House of the Dragon’ Star Ewan Mitchell on ‘Terminator’ Aemond, Torturing Aegon and Idolizing Matt Smith: ‘He’s Daemon’s Biggest Stan’
SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for HBO’s “House of the Dragon” Season 2, Episode 6, titled “Smallfolk,” now streaming on Max.'House of the Dragon': Emma D'Arcy and Sonoya Mizuno Break Down Rhaenyra and Mysaria's [SPOILER] in Episode 6 King’s Landing is far from the City of Brotherly Love. The rule of Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) as prince regent has begun, and things aren’t looking great for Westeros or its broken king, Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney). Aemond takes the lead at the Greens’ small council, and immediately makes some big moves by dismissing his mother Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) as the...
Korea Box Office: ‘Escape’ Rises to Weekend Market Leader at Third Attempt
China Box Office: 'Successor' Makes $50 Million Debut as 'Despicable Me 4' Opens Third “Escape,” a Korean-made action drama that has been on release for most of the month, took the lead at the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. The film recounts the story of a North Korean soldier who dreams of defecting and the South Korean officer who pursues him. It is directed by Lee Jong-pil, who previously made surprise 2020 hit “Samjin Company English Class.” It stars Lee Je-hoon and Koo Kyo-hwan in the lead roles. “Escape” earned $2.61 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from...
Bruin Theatre’s Future Uncertain as Regency’s Lease of Two Historic Westwood Movie Palaces Ends This Week
UPDATED: Westwood Village’s Bruin Theatre and Fox Village Theatre will screen their last films — for now — on Thursday as Regency Theatres’ lease comes to an end at the two historic Los Angeles venues. Jason Reitman Acquires Fox Village Westwood Theater With Filmmakers Including Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams, Chloé Zhao Opened in 1937, the streamline-moderne style Bruin is being represented by commercial real estate firm Newmark, which repped the sale of the Fox Village. Steven Salas, managing director of Newmark, said the property is not formally on the market yet, so it hasn’t been decided whether it would...
Biden’s Exit and the 2024 Election Are Outdoing the Drama of ‘Veep’ and ‘Scandal’
A decade or so ago, the hottest trend in television was imagining what it might look like if politics became unfathomably chaotic. From the murderous hijinks surrounding the Fitzgerald Grant administration on “Scandal” to the skullduggery that allowed Frank Underwood to climb the federal government like a ladder on “House of Cards” to the whipsawing reversals of fortune that befell Selina Meyer on “Veep,” TV was the staging-ground for a feverish national imagination. Writers dreamed of a world that looked different from our own, in which the competent and technocratic Obama administration found itself, after the first midterms, grinding through...
Marvel’s ‘Blade’ Reboot: Kevin Feige Says the ‘Most Important Thing Is Not Rushing It’ After ‘Two Years’ of ‘Trying to Crack That Movie,’ Teases R-Rating
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke to BlackTree TV on his press tour for “Deadpool & Wolverine” and briefly touched upon the company’s long-in-the-works “Blade” reboot, which still has two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali set to star. Marvel announced its “Blade” reboot in July 2019, but development has been rocky as several writers and directors have come and gone from the project over the years. Feige said not rushing the film has been of utmost importance for the studio.Kevin Feige on Hugh Jackman's Yellow Wolverine Suit and the MCU Going R-Rated With Cocaine and Sex Jokes in 'Deadpool and Wolverine' Feige...
Aaron Sorkin Takes Back Divisive Op-Ed Urging Democratic Party to Select Mitt Romney: Kamala ‘Harris for America!’
Aaron Sorkin no longer believes the Democratic Party should select Republican Senator Mitt Romney as its candidate in the 2024 presidential race. Kamala Harris Launches Presidential Bid: 'My Intention Is to Earn and Win This Nomination' Earlier on Sunday, an op-ed by Sorkin was published in the New York Times, in which the “West Wing” creator suggested that the Democratic Party should select a Republican candidate to defeat former President Donald Trump this November. “At their convention next month, the Democrats should nominate Mitt Romney,” Sorkin wrote. However, after President Joe Biden announced hours later that he was dropping out of...
‘Twisters’ Cut a Kiss Between Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones Due to Steven Spielberg’s Advice; Powell Explains Why ‘It’s a Good Spielberg Note’
“Twisters” blasted off at the domestic box office with a huge $80.5 million, but one of the biggest talking points from film on social media is for something that didn’t actually make it into the movie. Set footage depicting stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell filming a climactic scene in which their characters share a passionate kiss went viral in the days leading up to the “Twisters” release, but fans were soon left devastated by the kiss not making it into the theatrical cut. Box Office: 'Twisters' Hits $123 Million Globally, 'Despicable Me 4' Surpasses $500 Million Mark “I think it’s...
Kamala Harris Launches Presidential Bid: ‘My Intention Is to Earn and Win This Nomination’
Kamala Harris has launched her campaign for the White House, after President Joe Biden stepped aside Sunday under pressure from party leaders.Mark Hamill, Kathy Griffin, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and More Hollywood Reactions to President Biden's Decision to Drop Out: 'He Restored Honesty' The vice president has Biden’s endorsement, and is unchallenged as yet for the Democratic nomination, which will be formally decided at the Aug. 19 convention in Chicago. “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic...
Jack White’s ‘No Name’ Is Full of the Fiery Rock and Roll His Fans Have Been Lusting for: Album Review
With no disrespect to the five fine solo albums Jack White has created in the last dozen years, it’s safe to say that “No Name” — the vinyl-only set he stealth-released on Friday, packaged in a plain white sleeve and given away for free at his Third Man Records stores — is the one fans have been lusting for: a fiery, straight-ahead, just-plug-in-and-let-rip rock and roll album in the vein of his dearly beloved and dearly departed White Stripes, but without seeming retro or leaning too heavily on nostalgia.Jack White Surprise-Releases New Solo Album, Available Only at Third Man Record Stores We can...
Mark Hamill, Kathy Griffin, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and More Hollywood Reactions to President Biden’s Decision to Drop Out: ‘He Restored Honesty’
President Biden’s decision to step down from the 2024 presidential campaign has elicited a wave of support from Hollywood. Familiar faces from Biden’s campaign trail resurfaced to show their agreement with the President’s decision and reinforce their support of the Democratic party. Joe Scarborough Says Donald Trump and Republicans Are 'Freaking Out' Over Joe Biden's Withdrawal: 'Suddenly, He's the Oldest Guy in the Race by a Long Shot' Many were exceedingly vocal about their desire for him to step aside and let a younger candidate take over, including the host of “Pod Save America,” Jon Favreau, who recently called out Biden’s...
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