Lionel Messi is kicking off a new foray into Hollywood. The global soccer superstar, who currently plays for Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF and the Argentina national team, has formed 525 Rosario, a content company that will develop and produce premium TV, film, live sports and community events. It also will produce branded content […]

Netflix saw a British invasion in the first six months of the year — with four of its 10 biggest shows globally in the first half of 2024 coming from the U.K.: “Fool Me Once,” the Emmy-winning “Baby Reindeer,” “The Gentlemen” and “One Day.” In addition, Shonda Rhimes’ U.K.-set “Bridgerton” Season 3 was the No. […]

“Palworld,” a survival-strategy game known colloquially as “Pokémon With Guns,” is the target of a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by Nintendo and the Pokémon Co. Nintendo said the lawsuit against Pocketpair, the company behind “Palworld,” was filed Sept. 18 in Tokyo District Court. The lawsuit seeks an injunction against the alleged infringement and compensation for damages […]

Lionsgate is aiming to save a boatload of cash using generative AI technology as an assistive creative tool for filmmakers. Lionsgate, the film and TV studio behind film franchises including “John Wick” and “The Hunger Games,” announced a deal with applied AI research company Runway, whose investors include Google and AI hardware vendor Nvidia. Touted […]

Sahar Elhabashi, VP and head of the podcast business at Spotify, will leave the streaming giant at the end of 2024 after six years at the company. Elhabashi and her boss, Alex Norström, co-president and chief business officer, shared news of Elhabashi’s exit in memos to Spotify’s podcast organization Wednesday. Currently, she has no plans […]

A class-action lawsuit against YouTube star MrBeast and Amazon has been filed on behalf of five unnamed contestants in the “Beast Games” reality competition show alleging they were subjected to “chronic mistreatment,” sexual harassment and more. The complaint was filed Monday (Sept. 16) in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges multiple causes of action […]

Paramount Global’s advertising group conducted a round of layoffs Tuesday, which are part of the media conglomerate’s efforts to slash $500 million in annual costs, Variety has confirmed. Paramount Advertising is the centralized team that manages domestic multiplatform ad sales across CBS, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount+, Pluto TV and other properties. The number […]

David Beckham and his pals will provide commentary on UEFA Champions League play on Paramount+ under a two-year deal for an alternate telecast on the streamer. Under the partnership, the “Beckham & Friends” altcast for CBS Sports’ UEFA Champions League coverage will be available as a new viewing option to Paramount+ subscribers. The Beckham-led versions […]

One-time GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley struck a deal with SiriusXM for an exclusive live weekly show in which she will “analyze and simplify the week’s most significant headlines,” the company announced. The one-hour “Nikki Haley Live” will premiere Sept. 25 and air every Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET through the presidential inauguration in January […]

Sony’s Crunchyroll is gearing up to launch a role-playing game based on the popular “Overlord” anime series and film franchise — which centers on a guy who gets trapped in a massively multiplayer online RPG. Crunchyroll teamed with Tokyo-based mobile game publisher A Plus Japan for the global English-language release of “Lord of Nazarick,” a […]

Amazon is going fully back to the office. Andy Jassy, the technology giant’s CEO, informed employees that starting next year, they will be expected to report to the office five days per week — as they generally did before the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. That’s so that Amazon will be “better set […]

Elon Musk, the pro-Trump tech mogul who is the world’s richest individual, on Sunday posted a comment on X — the social media network he owns — saying “no one is even trying to assassinate” VP Kamala Harris or President Biden, followed by a thinking-face emoji. Musk subsequently deleted the post after a backlash. Musk’s […]

Donald Trump unleashed new invective at superstar Taylor Swift after she endorsed VP Kamala Harris for president. “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Trump posted Sunday morning on Truth Social in his trademark all-caps style, without context or elaboration. Responding to Trump in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Liz Cheney — the Republican former congressional representative […]

Reggaetón singer Nicky Jam is backing Donald Trump for president — but Trump was apparently under the mistaken impression that he was a “hot” woman. At Trump’s campaign rally Friday in Las Vegas, the GOP presidential candidate announced the endorsement of “Latin music superstar Nicky Jam”: “Do you know Nicky? She’s hot!” Trump, peering into […]

After a bruising fight for both sides, Disney and DirecTV have called a truce: The companies announced a preliminary agreement on a new deal that will restore ESPN, ABC, FX, Disney Channel and other Disney networks to the DirecTV lineup after a nearly two-week blackout. Under the new deal, announced Saturday, Sept. 14, DirecTV will […]

Latinos are avid gamers — and are more likely than other demographic groups to identify video games as their primary source of entertainment — but they’re dramatically underrepresented in the industry in terms of content and developers, according to a new advocacy group. The newly formed Latino Representation in Gaming Coalition was announced this week […]

The Emmys, the biggest awards in the TV biz, aren’t a popularity contest. But a new analysis of the most-watched shows and stars nominated this year provides an interesting look at the relative commercial success of the contenders. The top-ranking nominees, as measured by Nielsen, include video game adaptation “Fallout,” a massive hit for Prime […]

The staff of Annapurna Interactive, the games division of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna, has resigned en masse after a deal to spin off the group fell through, Bloomberg reports. Founded in 2016, Annapurna Interactive has partnered with boutique game studios for several critically acclaimed titles, including “Stray” (pictured above), described as a “third-person cat adventure game […]

Taylor Swift, the most famous childless cat lady in the world, drove a huge spike in traffic to the U.S. government’s Vote.gov information site following her endorsement of VP Kamala Harris for president. On Tuesday, Sept. 10, Swift said in an Instagram post that she will be voting for Harris in the November U.S. presidential […]