Filmmaker Pablo Pérez Lombardini cut his teeth working with leading Latin American directors, including Alonso Ruizpalacios (“A Cop Movie”), Rodrigo Plá and Laura Santullo (“The Other Tom”). Now, Pérez is making his solo directing debut with the environmental thriller “The Reserve,” participating at this year’s Copia Final section of Ventana Sur. Based on real testimonies […]

Variety hosted a panel for the short film “The Writer,” with directors Austin Glasser and Luke Maddenwald on Dec. 3 This conversation, moderated by Variety‘s chief film critic Peter DeBruge, was part of FYC Streaming Room, presented by Red Dresser Productions. “Self-isolated, a writer navigates the pressure of the film industry, family, and the looming […]

Misfits Entertainment has signed with CAA. Founded in 2016 by Andee (Dee) Ryder and Ian Bonhôte, Misfits Entertainment most recently produced “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” alongside Passion Pictures and Words + Pictures. Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, the film premiered to rave reviews at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and sold to […]

In what amounts to a milestone for the Middle East, Imax has announced plans to release its first-ever Arabic-language feature film. It’s a comedy titled “Ambulance” led by Saudi star Ibrahim Hajjaj, whose 2023 wrestling movie “Sattar”is Saudi Arabia’s highest grossing local title. The announcement was made by Imax CEO Richard Gelfond during the grand […]

When Bob Iger returned to the Disney CEO throne at the end of 2022, his first order of business was to dismantle a structure that saw the studio’s distribution and creative divisions operating separately. Instead, he put distribution and marketing under the control of Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman. One year later, Iger made clear […]

A new, retooled “CBS Evening News” won’t launch until early next year, but it already has a sequel. CBS News unveiled plans Wednesday to launch “CBS Evening News Plus,” a 30-minute continuation of its overhauled flagship newscast that will stream online and air on certain CBS-owned stations. Already, the new half-hour program, which will be […]

Growing up in Mill Valley, Monica Barbaro played piano, flute, violin, guitar and ukulele. But not for very long — and not particularly well. “I started piano five times and tried to teach myself some guitar and some ukulele,” says Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown.” “I always wanted to play cello, […]

The Palm Springs International Film Awards has selected Ariana Grande as the winner of the Rising Star Award for her performance in “Wicked.” The awards ceremony will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Jan. 3, 2025. The festival will take place from Jan. 2-13, with Silvercrest presenting and Entertainment Tonight sponsoring the […]

Marlon Wayans is set to guest star on the CBS comedy “Poppa’s House” alongside his brother Damon Wayans and his nephew Damon Wayans Jr. The Wayans family has a long history of appearing in each other’s projects in addition to working on numerous films and television shows together. The role also reunites Marlon with “Poppa’s […]

Ubisoft will be shutting down its free-to-play first-person shooter game “XDefiant” in the new year. On Tuesday, the game publisher announced that new downloads and player registrations would no longer be available for “XDefiant,” though the game would still be releasing its Season 3 content “in the near future” and the game’s servers will be […]

Dori Media Group’s hit series “In Treatment” is poised to return for a sixth season on Brazil’s leading platform, Globoplay. With this new season set to start production in late 2025, Brazil will hold the record for producing the most seasons of the show worldwide. Produced locally by Moonshot and known as “Sessão de Terapia,” […]

Kendrick Lamar, Olivia Wilde, Kelly Rowland, Ali Wong and Demi Lovato were among the celebrities who helped 500 underserved Los Angeles students celebrate the holidays Tuesday at BMO Stadium. Hosted by Baby2Baby and sponsored by Nordstrom, FRAME and LAFC, the event saw children in first through third grades pick out new toys and clothing. A […]

The difference between being laughed at and having others laugh with you is perfectly exemplified in how the overweight young protagonist in stop-motion filmmaker Kristina Dufková’s coming-of-age story “Living Large” is treated by those around him. Bespectacled Ben Pipetka (Tyler Joseph Gay in the English-language dub) has an affinity for cooking elaborate meals and is […]

Los Angeles is getting more production infrastructure. Sylmar Studios, a new 300,000 sq. ft. production facility, is set to open next month in Sylmar, Calif. The complex will include six 16,000 sq. ft. soundstages, a lighting and grip department, make-up / hair space, dressing rooms, wardrobe, green rooms and production offices. A 600-space parking structure is […]

In 2024, a hit song is more like something you can’t escape than something you can measure. There are countless charts and services and data dumps that measure streams and memes and airplay and anything else you can count. But none of them can fully explain “Brat Summer” — the cultural phenomenon surrounding British singer-songwriter […]

Sam Altman, CEO of artificial-intelligence power player OpenAI, believes that the next major developments in the AI sector will be more disruptive than people expect. Altman, speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York City on Wednesday, predicted that as soon as 2025 the industry will begin to see the first examples […]

Cara Donatto has been named executive vice president of media strategy for Atlantic Music Group, the record company announced Wednesday. Donatto will work out of Los Angeles and oversee the company’s publicity and communications strategy and execution, working closely with artists across AMG’s roster and label brands. Donatto previously served as senior VP of publicity […]

If some people don’t feel they need to go to ESPN, Disney is working to bring ESPN to them. The entertainment giant on Wednesday made ESPN content available to Disney+ customers — even if they aren’t direct subscribers to the ESPN+ broadband hub or the ESPN linear cable networks. Under the plan, Disney will make […]

Television biologist and wildlife conservationist Jeff Corwin will host a new show on CBS and Paramount+ titled “Extraordinary World,” which premieres on Jan. 4 and will air weekly. The 30-minute series, from Hearst Media Production Group, will follow everyday people who are making an impact through animal advocacy, wildlife conservation, youth empowerment and food insecurity […]