The world, in perspective.

Acclaimed Asian filmmaker Peter Chan Ho-sun, director of “Comrades: Almost a Love Story” and “The Warlords,” said he will probably use AI in his filmmaking but “definitely not AIGC,” or AI-generated content, and that the two-hour feature will hold its ground against short-form and vertical dramas, at least in his lifetime. Speaking at an In […]

The surly miser Ebenezer Scrooge is no longer just a fictional character haunting the holidays — he’s on Venmo. To promote Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of the notorious character in the film “Ebenezer,” starring Johnny Depp in the titular role, the Paramount promotional team created a Venmo account for Ebenezer Scrooge. The official account for […]

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety chief awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect pe

Michael Gray, the star of the 1970s “Shazam!” television series, died on Friday in Palm Desert from natural causes. He was 75. Gray first got his break in television in 1972 when he was cast in NBC’s “The Little People” alongside Brian Keith and Shelly Fabares. Early in his career, he held several supporting roles […]

CBS kicked off its fall 2026 TV season the week of Oct. 4 with a strong performance for its new and returning series, according to Nielsen live+7 multiplatform data. Per that data, CBS’ premiere week averaged 8.63 million viewers — up 14% from its premiere week in 2025 (the week of Oct. 12). Leading the […]

Singer-songwriter and Variety Hitmakers 2024 honoree Raye has won the 2026 Mercury prize for her epic second studio album, “This Music May Contain Hope,” beating out Olivia Dean, Paul McCartney and others for the prize. The Mercury Prize has no real equivalent in the U.S., and is intended to recognize music from the U.K. and […]

The MPA gave “Wildwood” a PG-13 for “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity and language,” which is a mouthful for any movie and an especially wild one for a stop-motion picture about a girl hunting for her kidnapped baby brother. It’s the first PG-13 in Laika’s 17 years as a […]

Chaka Khan will receive the Classic Soul Honor at the 2026 Soul Train Awards, celebrating the singer-songwriter’s influence on R&B. Across her career, which spans more than five decades, Khan helped shape the sound of soul, funk and R&B with her music, including hits like “Tell Me Something Good,” “Sweet Thing,” “Ain’t Nobody,” “I’m Every […]

“Line of Fire” has been given a full 18-episode season order at NBC. The freshman action thriller series is one of the fall season’s breakout hits, with NBC’s best delayed-viewing lift in more than three years. Initially slated for 13 episodes, NBC gave a back order to five additional scripts with the hope of extending […]

Art the Clown is back for another round of big-screen terror. The “Terrifier” trilogy is headed back to theaters, just in time for spooky season. 2016’s “Terrifier,” 2022’s “Terrifier 2″ and 2024’s “Terrifier 3″ will have showtimes at Regal theaters nationwide on Halloween weekend, from Oct. 29-31. The re-release is presented by the video game […]

Jenna Ortega opened up to Vogue magazine as part of a new cover story about her nonexistent relationship to how the public receives her movies. In other words, the “Wednesday” star does not watch her own movies or read reviews (because “that would send me into a psychosis of some sort’) or check the box […]

I asked Ellen Burstyn where a Grammy would go, if she ever won one. She stands up to show me. “I wonder if I took my iPad off the stand and walked you into my office, where they all are,” she says, immediately reaching for it over a video Zoom. Her assistant, Caitlin, gets the […]

Mexico’s Santiago Maza, whose fourth feature-length doc “State of Silence,” (“Estado de Silencio”), a passion project of Diego Luna, snagged the best feature award at Chile’s 2024 Santiago Film Festival (Sanfic), has premiered his latest work, “Black Shine” (“El brillo negro”) at the Morelia Film Festival where it competes for the top prize among the […]

A new study claims that the pages of the Voynich Manuscript, thought to be written by several different scribes in 16th-century Europe, alternate irregularly. It may change the way codebreakers approach the text

Charli xcx and Martin Scorsese’s collaboration is extending beyond the cover for her new album “Music, Fashion, Film.” Sources tell Variety that the pop star has a cameo in the Oscar-winning director’s upcoming movie “What Happens at Night” alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. Described as a Gothic psychological horror film, the Apple and Studi

The Directors Guild of America’s Women’s Steering Committee has announced its seventh class of mentors and mentees. The mentorship program pairs mid-career women and nonbinary directors with established mentors to help them navigate the early days of their careers. Lucia Aniello (“Hacks,” “Broad City”), Mike Flanagan (“Carrie,” upcoming “The Exorcist: Martyr

Sacha Baron Cohen opened up about his experience signing on to play the demon Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe during a live “Happy Sad Confused” conversation at New York’s 92nd Street Y. The actor, currently on tour promoting “Ali G: Who Iz I?,” recalled how the creative team working on last year’s Disney+ series […]

Disney is in early development on a fifth film in its popular “Halloweentown” series. While plot details are not yet known, the new movie is being written by Lily Houghton and Ryan Koehn based on characters by Paul Bernbaum, who wrote the first “Halloweentown” film in 1998. Casting is not confirmed either, though multiple cast […]

AGC Intl., the sales arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, has added “Gods Don’t Give Gifts” to its slate and will introduce the animated sci-fi epic to buyers at the American Film Market. Creator Zack London (aka Gossip Goblin) makes his feature directorial debut with the film. London’s Gossip Goblin YouTube channel has 1.4 million […]

In partnership with Variety, U.S. Bank and Visa will host An Evening With Jessica Alba on Oc. 29 in Los Angeles. The intimate, invite-only event will celebrate the launch of U.S. Bank’s Business Essentials product suite, including two new credit cards in collaboration with Visa. A recently launched brand campaign features Alba as U.S. Bank’s […]

Tom Skerritt, who starred in the TV series “Picket Fences” and appeared in movies ranging from “MASH” to “Alien,” “Top Gun,” “A River Runs Through It” and “Ted,” died on Wednesday of natural causes, Variety has confirmed with his publicist. He was 93. The lean, rugged, mustachioed actor won an Emmy in 1993 and was also […]

Sony Pictures Television has sealed a multiyear, first-look deal with content creator Thea Von Engelbrechten, who’s behind the popular “Moletown Drama” social platforms — which boast 2.5 million TikTok followers and 1 million Instagram followers. As part of the deal, Sony has the first-look rights to develop and produce original series from Von Engelbrechten

Outside experts warn that more research is needed before "circadian depression" can be classified as a subtype

It’s hard to single out any one song as the “secret weapon” of Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”; as the best pop debut of the 2020s, the entire album was pretty weaponized. But the ballad “Coffee” certainly counts as a sleeper — and Roan was not sleeping on it when […]

Disney’s ABC might be on the lookout for an incursion Fox Nation. Promos for the new “The Vow,” an original dating series led by Chris Harrison, former host of the ABC mainstay “The Bachelor,” are slated to air in local ad inventory on several ABC stations in roughly a dozen markets, according to a person […]

President Donald Trump must sit for a deposition in his defamation lawsuit filed against the BBC, the judge overseeing the case ruled. “Engaging in discovery is burdensome, but is a burden we undertake, especially if we file a lawsuit,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Aytch Lett said at a hearing in the case Thursday, as reported […]

Tom Hanks will star in the play “This World of Tomorrow,” marking his return to Broadway for the first time in 14 years. Hanks was last on Broadway in Nora Ephron’s 2013 play “Lucky Guy,” which earned him a Tony nomination. This time, the celebrated actor will be joined by theater veteran Kelli O’Hara, who […]

“Saturday Night Live” has set its next round of Season 52 hosts. As previously reported, Druski will headline the Nov. 7 episode — the first-ever digital content creator to headline the late-night sketch series. His episode comes ahead of the December release of his scripted Netflix series “Collect and Praise.” “SNL” has newly announced that […]

A musical based on Amy Winehouse is officially in development, Variety has exclusively learned. The project is in early days although legendary Broadway producer Catherine Schreiber, who has produced shows including “Cabaret,” “Rent” and the stage adaptation of “High School Musical,” is understood to be involved and casting is said to be underway. One source

When Christopher Nolan gathered his team of artisans for his adaptation of Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” he first told production designer Ruth De Jong of his plans. But the process was shrouded in secrecy because working with Nolan is an in-person process. De Jong explained, “There are no scripts emailed, sent or discussed on […]

A 17-person crew traveled to a remote atoll in the South Pacific to investigate the so-called Taraia Object. After surveying the site, the team announced that the anomaly was not a fragment of the long-lost Lockheed Electra aircraft

“Tangles” won the Grand Jury Prize at the 9th annual Animation Is Film Festival. Directed by Leah Nelson, the 2-D animated film follows a family impacted by their mother’s battle with dementia. “We loved the fluid 2D animation which uses a stark monochrome framing to bring to life the personal story of a family impacted […]

The crowning of the next James Bond is upon us. Final screen tests for Amazon MGM Studios’ new 007 are set to happen in the next week, sources tell Variety, beginning as early as Friday. Though who exactly will test is up in the air, Callum Turner and Jack Lowden appear to be in the […]

“Outlander” star Sam Heughan has been cast to star opposite Viola Davis in Paramount+’s upcoming thriller “Ascent,” set in the world of global corporate crisis and damage control. In the series, which Davis also executive produces, Heughan will play “Conal,” described as “one of Ascent Ventures top agents. A lethally charming and natural chameleon, Conal […]

The Gotham Film & Media Institute will recognize Focus Features’ “Elsinore” with a Gotham Legacy Tribute at the Gotham Film Awards on Nov. 30, honoring the film’s subject, actor Ian Charleson. The tribute, which takes place at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, will honor the film and its star Andrew Scott, screenwriter Stephen Beresford […]

Home to the world’s largest public collection of his artworks, a new pavilion at Quebec's Musée National des Beaux-Arts showcases the more than 50-year career of Riopelle, who was a key member of the avant-garde Automatistes movement

Kacey Musgraves will release a 16-song album of all-new material titled “Middle of Nowhere Vol. 2: Tex Mex Tapes” on January 15, 2027 via Lost Highway Records — just eight months after the release of Vol. 1. According to the announcement, the album picks up where Vol. 1 left off, “expanding on themes of solitude, […]

It’s been one year since indie game developer AdHoc Studio launched its now-hit episodic narrative superhero adventure game “Dispatch” — and in that time the game has attracted more than 5 million players. Now, the team behind the title (which has doubled in size since last October) has decided to celebrate its digital win in […]

President Donald Trump, who has already renamed two bodies of water after America, said he would like to redub the Atlantic Ocean as well — but that the CEO of Google pushed back on the idea. At a rally at Clemson University in South Carolina Tuesday evening, Trump told the crowd, “So we have a […]

When “The Gilded Age” premiered in 2022, the reception was warm enough. The HBO costume drama marked creator Julian Fellowes’ highly anticipated follow-up to “Downton Abbey,” bringing his eye for aristocratic quirks across the Atlantic and delivering the requisite dose of upstairs-downstairs intrigue. But the low-stakes pleasures of selecting silverware and

New achievement! “Dungeon Crawler Carl” is getting a comic series! The popular fantasy, LitRPG books by author Matt Dinniman will receive an ongoing comic book series from Vault Comics. The double-sized, 48-page first issue will launch in comic book stores beginning in January 2027. The following issues will be released monthly. The new comic will […]

“Carrie,” Amazon Prime Video’s series adaptation of Stephen King’s famous 1974 novel of the same name, has been renewed for a second season that will go beyond the events of the book. Per the official series description, “Misfit high-schooler Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her […]

Multiplatinum rapper Wiz Khalifa has signed with 10K Projects and will release his new single “The Calm,” via the label this evening. The deal sees Khalifa returning to the Warner Music Group family and reunite with his close friend and former project manager, Marsha St. Hubert, who is now co-president of 10K Projects. The rapper […]

“Obsession” breakout Inde Navarrette appeared on “The Kyle Buchanan Show” and offered up her advice to Hollywood on how to keep Gen Z audiences interested in going to movie theaters. It’s not just about original storytelling, Navarrette argued, but also assuring young moviegoers that corporate slop won’t be force fed to them on the big […]

Aamir Khan broke down onstage at the Singapore International Film Festival on Thursday as he recalled realizing, during the COVID-19 lockdown, that three decades of nonstop work had cost him years with his family. The Bollywood superstar, who was handed the festival’s Screen Icon Award by Hong Kong director Peter Chan Ho-sun, also shed light […]

Comcast is gearing up for significant job cuts in its cable and telecom business in the coming weeks, as the media conglomerate restructures ahead the expected spin-off of NBCUniversal in 2027. On the company’s third-quarter 2026 earning call, CFO Jason Armstrong said Comcast expects to take a restructuring charge of more than $1 billion in […]

On the evening of October 16, more than five million birds are estimated to have flown through Cook County, which includes Chicago. They were propelled by favorable winds brought by a cold front

Fans of both Daft Punk and Lego are about to get lucky. The electronic music duo and the toy brick brand have partnered for a new multi-platform collaboration spanning product, content and brand experiences. The partnership includes a Lego set based on the stage design from Daft Punk’s 2007 “Alive” tour, submitted on the toy […]

Seasoned Egyptian screenwriter and producer Mariam Naoum sees no shortage of creative talent in Arab television. The harder question is how to give that talent the time, development and routes to market it needs to thrive and build lasting careers. As head of the newly launched CineGouna Series, El Gouna Film Festival’s first development program […]

The TV Festival, previously known as Edinburgh TV Festival, has unveiled the first details of its inaugural event in Manchester. Set to be held for the first time in the northern city next year, the festival will keep its four-day schedule but will take place later in the month than usual. Previously the festival, which […]

Ahead of her emotional “Dancing With the Stars” tribute, Julia Stiles reached out to Heath Ledger’s former partner Michelle Williams. Speaking to Extra after the performance — which saw Stiles dance to Frankie Valli’s “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” in a sweet homage to her and Ledger’s 1999 classic “10 Things I […]

Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is now Chiricahua National Park, the 64th national park in the United States. Its striking geologic landscape and biodiversity have drawn humans for thousands of years

Jane Krakowski is heading across the pond to reprise the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in “Oh, Mary!” The Tony and Olivier winner will be back in Mary’s petticoats starting Dec. 7 at London’s Trafalgar Theatre, with her six-week run ending Jan. 16. Krakowski previously played the role on Broadway for a total of 12 […]

Some Americans lauded the 30-year-old bank robber as a Robin Hood-esque folk hero. Others castigated him as a violent criminal whose misdeeds were emblematic of the troubled era

At the “Back to Black” 20th anniversary concert in London on Wednesday night, Amy Winehouse’s essence was everywhere. The eager crowd lined up outside was full of winged eyeliner, leopard print, big hair and cigarette smoke; nary a vape in sight. Even the venue itself — the Roundhouse in Winehouse’s beloved Camden, the last place […]

While the year-long celebrations for “Star Trek’s” 60th anniversary continue to roll on, arriving in the Eternal City this week for Rome’s MIA Market, the iconic science-fiction franchise is at an inflection point, according to Trevor Roth, COO and president of development at Roddenberry Entertainment. “Right now, ‘Star Trek’ is at a bit of a […]

Fandango Sales has taken all international rights to “Galileo,” a new film from Italo-Brit director Roan Johnson (“Rider”), toplining Italian A-list actor Elio Germano as pioneering scientist Galileo Galilei, who famously stood trial before the Roman inquisition. Fandango is introducing the €8 million ($9 million) movie to international buyers during Rome’s

Spotify hit the mark on all its key targets in the third quarter of 2026, as the streaming-audio giant packed on 6 million subscribers in the period — to reach 306 million — and saw healthier growth in ad revenue. On the free, ad-supported side, Spotify added a net 11 million monthly active users to […]

Amanda Jiang, Joey Phillips (“Outlander”), Richard Brake (“Game of Thrones,” “The Mandalorian,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “Barbarian”) and Shayne Ward (“The Good Ship Murder,” “Coronation Street”) will lead the cast of gothic romance and supernatural thriller “Dracula: The Crimson Code,” which has started filming. The contemporary female-led Dracula re

Sales company The Playmaker Munich has closed further territory deals on animated family adventure film “Pirate Mo and the Legend of the Red Ruby” ahead of the American Film Market, where it will have its market premiere. The film has now sold to more than 50 countries. Variety is debuting the teaser (below). The latest […]