Not even the dynamic duos of Joy and Anxiety, Deadpool and Wolverine, Gru and his minions or Paul Atreides and those massive sandworms could push the 2024 box office to pre-pandemic heights. Domestic ticket sales have wound up at $8.7 billion for the year, down than 3.3% from 2023 (when revenues hit $9.04 billion) and […]

Netflix was the breakaway winner among media stocks in 2024, with the streaming powerhouse’s shares up more than 90% over the course of the year. That easily outpaced other media companies, many of which continued to wrestle with the industry shift toward streaming and the decline of traditional linear TV. Netflix currently has a market […]

Mark O’Meara, a Virginia-based movie theater owner, wonders and worries constantly about what exactly his customers will buy tickets to see on any given weekend. It’s not that people have fallen out of love with the big screen, he says, they’ve just gotten out of practice. In fact, in the 30-plus years O’Meara has worked in […]

A Disney exec has revealed why “The Acolyte” was canceled after just one season. In an interview with Vulture, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman said while the House of Mouse was pleased with how “The Acolyte” performed in its single season Disney+ debut, it wasn’t enough to justify a follow-up considering the price tag. “We […]

When it came to the movies that popped in multiplexes, 2024 was all about the sequels. Whether audiences were returning for more Deadpool, Gru or Godzilla, recognizable properties were the big attraction at cinemas. Sequels — such as “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” — […]

“Win or Lose,” the first-ever long-form series from Pixar, was originally set to feature a transgender storyline that ended up being cut by Disney, Variety has learned. Debuting in 2025, “Win or Lose” will follow the members of a co-ed middle school softball team as they gear up for their championship game. Each episode follows […]

Indian media veteran Ronnie Screwvala is saddling up for a diverse slate at his production company RSVP. Director Abhishek Kapoor’s equine drama “Aazad”; an untitled Punjab-set period piece from director Honey Trehan that was voluntarily withdrawn from Toronto last year amid sensitive Indo-Canadian relations; and new seasons of Netflix hits “Mismatched” and “Lust Stories” all […]

Carol Goldwasser, a casting director known for her work shaping young talent on shows like “Hannah Montana,” died Dec. 5 at her home in Palm Springs after surgery. She was 67. Goldwasser’s death was confirmed to Variety by her friend, manager Theodore Gekis. Goldwasser worked in Los Angeles and New York for over two decades, […]

“Tangled” is the latest Disney movie to get the live-action treatment. The studio is developing a reimagining of the 2010 animated movie, a musical take on the Brothers Grimm story about the magically long-haired princess Rapunzel. “The Greatest Showman” filmmaker Michael Gracey is in talks to direct the film from a script by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, […]

The first reactions to Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” have started pouring in on social media, and members of the press are roaring with excitement over the prequel to the 2019 photorealistic remake of “The Lion King.” “‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ is the perfect prequel,” wrote Variety‘s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay. “So beautifully crafted. […]