Director Arun Karthick (Rotterdam selection “Sivapuranam,” Rotterdam winner “Nasir”) returns to Film Bazaar with “Aanaikatti Blues,” a story of young love set against the backdrop of rural gang culture in an Indian mountain village. The film follows Gopi, 22, and Vishnupriya, 20, as they navigate a controversial live-in relationship while Gopi becomes increasingly entangled with […]

Acclaimed actor-filmmaker Anupam Kher has announced his next directorial venture “The Return,” a co-production between Australia and India, at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. The project emerges as Anupam Kher Studio wraps production on “Tanvi The Great,” directed by Kher, slated for international release in late 2025. “The Return” will be produced […]

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has agreed a cricket rights broadcast deal stretching eight years with the Asian Cricket Council. The deal encompasses all editions of the Men’s and Women’s Asia Cups, Men’s and Women’s Under-19 Asia Cups, and the Men’s and Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cups. The agreement was sealed after a bidding process […]

During an extensive masterclass at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, veteran Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam engaged in conversation with actor-director Gautham Vasudev Menon about adapting literature to screen, his approach to period filmmaking, and his creative process. Discussing his recent two-part historical epic “Ponniyin Selvan,” based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1950s Tamil […]

Indian actor Konkona Sen Sharma (“Killer Soup,” “Wake Up Sid”) has been cast as the lead female protagonist opposite Carlos Bardem (“El Cid”) in the comedy feature “Mis(s)chief,” it was revealed at the Film Bazaar in Goa. The project hails from U.K. and India-based production outfit Avani Films and is currently in development. It has […]

During a panel at India’s Film Bazaar, Prime Video India’s content licensing head Manish Menghani and filmmaker Nikkhil Advani (“Freedom at Midnight”) discussed the evolving landscape of streaming content development in India, with “Delhi Crime” creator Richie Mehta moderating. Menghani traced how the Indian streaming space has transformed since Prime Video’s 2016 launch, identifying COVID-19 […]

Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett might seem like portraits in courage, for anyone who has followed their individual and collective musical trail-blazing, but at the moment, they’re studies in Coward-ice. They portray their long-time alter-egos, Henry and Howard Coward, in the new scripted Audible Original series “The True Story of the Coward Brothers,” which […]

Washington Spirt owner Michele Kang won’t be suiting up to play in the National Women’s Soccer League championship game on Saturday, but she has surely helped her team score some goals as the league’s 12th season comes to a close. Kang is the founder and CEO of health care technology firm Cognosante and an active […]

You’ve heard this story before. In 1984, a kid from New Jersey and a California karate champion met on a beach in the San Fernando Valley. They fought. They challenged each other. And, eventually, the infamous crane kick happened. “The Karate Kid” galvanized audiences when it first came out. Three decades later, “Cobra Kai” subverted […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Wicked,” now playing in theaters. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have found their way back to Oz. Broadway’s original witches make a surprise appearance in director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” but not as Elphaba and Glinda. The duo, who originated the leading roles in 2003, sing a new […]

Three months after Apple inked a deal with director Jon Watts to develop a follow-up to his crime caper “Wolfs,” starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, plans for the sequel have now been halted, Variety has learned. The confirmation comes after Collider published an interview with Watts Friday morning. Promoting his new Disney+ “Star Wars” […]

Doha, Qatar’s capital city and main financial hub, saw serious star traffic this week from Hollywood players and world leaders.  Heads of state including President Barack Obama, former British prime ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, “Deadpool and Wolverine” star Ryan Reynolds, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and host of other big names hit the Arabian […]

Manuel Turizo is in Los Angeles after weeks of international travel to promote his fourth studio album, “201.” Despite being thousands of miles from his hometown of Montería in Colombia, he’s managed to take a bit of his native country everywhere he goes.  “This album is my home,” the 24-year-old tells Variety in Spanish. Titled […]

“Everyone wants to know how the world ended. This is the story of how it began,” says the narrator in the trailer for “Homestead,” an inspirational survivalist thriller out Dec. 20 from Angel Studios. As the story starts, newscasters announce “America’s just been attacked!” After a nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, the nation […]

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” is full of a memorable action scenes, from a bloody showdown featuring CGI baboons to Paul Mescal outsmarting a charging rhino in the Roman Colosseum. But one sequence that is sure to leave audiences with the most questions is a rather insane set piece in which the Colosseum is filled with […]

Bob Iger, chief executive of Disney, cashed out a chunk of his stock options worth $42.7 million, according to a regulatory filing. Iger sold 372,412 shares of Disney on Nov. 22, with an aggregate market value of $42,667,125.16, according to an SEC filing. Those shares were vested stock options Iger was granted in 2014 that […]

A+E Networks has settled its “Live PD” dispute with Amazon-owned Big Fish Entertainment and Reelz. As part of the settlement, A+E and Amazon have struck a new multi-year licensing deal on A+E programming. “A+E Networks and Amazon have agreed to significantly expand their commercial relationship in a multi-year agreement that will amplify the reach of […]

Josh Brolin appeared on the “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” podcast to promote his new memoir, “From Under the Truck,” and remembered a tense moment on the set of Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster” in which he nearly fought co-star Denzel Washington. Brolin played a detective in the 2007 crime drama, while Washington headlined the movie […]

Bonnie Hammer, a legendary TV executive who has had a hand in popular programs ranging from “This Old House” and “Zoom” to “Monk” and “Mr. Robot,” plans to leave her role as vice chairman of NBCUniversal at the end of the year, according to two people familiar with the matter, exiting after the expiration of […]