Top Entertainment News provided by Variety©
- Netflix’s U.K. Unscripted Chief Warns of Dangers of Using AI in Reality Shows: ‘It’s Hard Now to Tell What Is Fake and What Is Real’Syeda Irtizaali, Netflix’s recently appointed U.K. director of unscripted, told an audience at SXSW London on Tuesday she doesn’t want to use AI in unscripted television. Describing Netflix as a “tech-forward company,” she said that she was “very relaxed about people using AI as a tool to bring ideas in,” describing AI as a “really […]
- Tribeca Boss Jane Rosenthal Defends Premiering AI-Made Film About Iran Protests: ‘It Should Be Seen Right Now at This Time’Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal is defending the fest’s decision to premiere “Dreams of Violets,” a fully AI-generated film about the Iranian civilian resistance. “I think people need to read the director’s [Ash Koosha’s] statement,” Rosenthal told Variety at the festival’s 25th anniversary cocktail reception in lower Manhattan Monday night. “The director is Iranian […]
- Tom Holland Called Sony Pictures Boss to Delay ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Filming So He Could Star in ‘The Odyssey’: ‘A Tough Pill to Swallow’ at FirstTom Holland revealed to GQ magazine as part of the publication’s summer cover story for “The Odyssey” that he had an “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman about delaying the production of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” so that he could film Christopher Nolan’s epic instead. When Nolan first offered him the role of […]
- Sakanishi Miiku Makes His Tribeca Debut With a Film About What We Forget, Clip Unveiled (EXCLUSIVE)Sakanishi Miiku has been thinking about forgetting for most of his life. His debut feature, “Memorizu,” world premiering in competition at the Tribeca Festival on June 6 before a theatrical release in Japan later in June, follows Yuta, a man who travels to a rural Kyushu town to help his ailing photographer father-in-law while staying […]
- Mediawan, BYD Unveil Special ‘Miraculous Chibi’ Episode (EXCLUSIVE)Mediawan and BYD, which recently partnered to develop and finance international premium content, have unveiled the first project out of their pact: a special episode of the “Miraculous Chibi” series featuring BYD’s new electric vehicle, the BYD Dolphin Surf. The episode, titled “Watt a Dream Date!,” launches worldwide on YouTube on Tuesday. It marks the […]
- Why YouTubers Are Turning Hollywood Upside DownThis past weekend marked a tectonic shift in Hollywood that’s sent shock waves across the industry. “Backrooms,” a horror film born out of a 4chan creepypasta and produced for around $10 million, opened to an extraordinary $81 million, smashing records for distributor A24; and “Obsession,” a horror film made on a budget of $750,000, grossed […]
- Motion Picture Association Awards to Honor ‘Hunger Games’ Director Francis Lawrence (EXCLUSIVE)The Motion Picture Association will honor Francis Lawrence with its 2026 MPA Creator Award. Lawrence is best known for directing five films in the “Hunger Games” franchise, as well as “The Long Walk,” an adaptation of a Stephen King novel that was a hit when it opened last fall. His credits also include “I Am […]
- Rotterdam Tiger Award Winner Paz Fábrega Sets ‘To the Future’ With Spain’s Edna Cinema and Uruguay’s La Mayor Cine Ahead of ECAM Forum (EXCLUSIVE)Paz Fábrega, the first Costa Rican filmmaker to scoop a VPRO Tiger Award in Rotterdam, for her debut “Cold Water of the Sea (“Agua fria de mar”) in 2010, has secure further funding for her fourth feature “To the Future” (“Al Futuro”) from PUA-the Uruguayan Audiovisual Program, via co-producer Federico Moreira of La Mayor Cine […]
- ‘Twin Peaks’ Actor Owain Rhys Davies Dies at 44; Family Says It Was Sudden and ‘There Are Still Questions That Remain Unanswered’Owain Rhys Davies, a Welsh actor who appeared in “Twin Peaks: The Return” and “The OA,” died suddenly over the weekend, according to the BBC. He was 44. Davies was best known for playing FBI Agent Wilson in the 2017 revival of David Lynch’s iconic series “Twin Peaks,” appearing in three episodes alongside Lynch himself […]
- ‘Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)’: How Two Brits Turned a Love Letter to the Big Apple Into an Unlikely Broadway HitJim Barne and Kit Buchan were terrified of being outed as frauds. After all, they were two very British writers creating a very New York musical. And they’d only ever been to the Big Apple as tourists. Turns out, they needn’t worry about appearing as outsiders. Their deep admiration of and fascination with the city […]
Syeda Irtizaali, Netflix’s recently appointed U.K. director of unscripted, told an audience at SXSW London on Tuesday she doesn’t want to use AI in unscripted television. Describing Netflix as a “tech-forward company,” she said that she was “very relaxed about people using AI as a tool to bring ideas in,” describing AI as a “really […]
Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal is defending the fest’s decision to premiere “Dreams of Violets,” a fully AI-generated film about the Iranian civilian resistance. “I think people need to read the director’s [Ash Koosha’s] statement,” Rosenthal told Variety at the festival’s 25th anniversary cocktail reception in lower Manhattan Monday night. “The director is Iranian […]
Tom Holland revealed to GQ magazine as part of the publication’s summer cover story for “The Odyssey” that he had an “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman about delaying the production of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” so that he could film Christopher Nolan’s epic instead. When Nolan first offered him the role of […]
Sakanishi Miiku has been thinking about forgetting for most of his life. His debut feature, “Memorizu,” world premiering in competition at the Tribeca Festival on June 6 before a theatrical release in Japan later in June, follows Yuta, a man who travels to a rural Kyushu town to help his ailing photographer father-in-law while staying […]
Mediawan and BYD, which recently partnered to develop and finance international premium content, have unveiled the first project out of their pact: a special episode of the “Miraculous Chibi” series featuring BYD’s new electric vehicle, the BYD Dolphin Surf. The episode, titled “Watt a Dream Date!,” launches worldwide on YouTube on Tuesday. It marks the […]
This past weekend marked a tectonic shift in Hollywood that’s sent shock waves across the industry. “Backrooms,” a horror film born out of a 4chan creepypasta and produced for around $10 million, opened to an extraordinary $81 million, smashing records for distributor A24; and “Obsession,” a horror film made on a budget of $750,000, grossed […]
The Motion Picture Association will honor Francis Lawrence with its 2026 MPA Creator Award. Lawrence is best known for directing five films in the “Hunger Games” franchise, as well as “The Long Walk,” an adaptation of a Stephen King novel that was a hit when it opened last fall. His credits also include “I Am […]
Paz Fábrega, the first Costa Rican filmmaker to scoop a VPRO Tiger Award in Rotterdam, for her debut “Cold Water of the Sea (“Agua fria de mar”) in 2010, has secure further funding for her fourth feature “To the Future” (“Al Futuro”) from PUA-the Uruguayan Audiovisual Program, via co-producer Federico Moreira of La Mayor Cine […]
Owain Rhys Davies, a Welsh actor who appeared in “Twin Peaks: The Return” and “The OA,” died suddenly over the weekend, according to the BBC. He was 44. Davies was best known for playing FBI Agent Wilson in the 2017 revival of David Lynch’s iconic series “Twin Peaks,” appearing in three episodes alongside Lynch himself […]
Jim Barne and Kit Buchan were terrified of being outed as frauds. After all, they were two very British writers creating a very New York musical. And they’d only ever been to the Big Apple as tourists. Turns out, they needn’t worry about appearing as outsiders. Their deep admiration of and fascination with the city […]
Tuesday 