A number of CBS Studios productions — including “NCIS,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Seal Team,” “Why Women Kill” and “Diary of a Future President” — are extending their holiday hiatus by one week amid the spiking COVID-19 surge in Los Angeles County, Variety has learned. Those productions will resume on Jan. 11. Other CBS Studios shows are scheduled […]
Read more
Channing Tatum is in final negotiations to star opposite Sandra Bullock in the Paramount Pictures film “The Lost City of D,” multiple sources tell Variety. Bullock is producing the project through her company Fortis Films, along with Liza Chasin and her 3dot Productions. To be directed by Adam and Aaron Nee, the pic stars Bullock as a reclusive romance novelist who […]
Read more
Wonder Woman 1984 opened to an estimated $16.7 million over Christmas weekend, the best three-day debut at the distressed domestic box office since the novel coronavirus began, according to Warner Bros. Any sign of moviegoing is welcome news for Hollywood even if WW84 scored the lowest number in decades for a yuletide winner. The film unfurled in 2,150 […]
Read more
One good turn deserves another. Ten months after Donnie Wahlberg left an obscenely generous $2,020 tip at an Illinois restaurant, “Blue Bloods” star Tom Selleck repeated the feat at a New York eatery. “I am honoring my friend Donnie Wahlberg’s ‘tip challenge’ with my sincere hope for a better 2020,” wrote the 75-year-old star who […]
Read more
Reshet’s “The X Factor Israel” will return to screens across Israel next year with a brand new but familiar face on the judging panel: Simon Cowell. The veteran producer and reality TV judge will be joining the fourth season of the show, which last aired in Israel in January 2018. Cowell created the original version of “The […]
Read more
On this Christmas Eve, we hear that a deal is coming together for Hulu to acquire Lee Daniels’ The United States vs. Billie Holiday. The movie, which stars Andra Day as the legendary jazz singer, is currently scheduled for a theatrical release by Paramount on February 26, 2021, in time for this year’s Oscar season eligibility. However, sources say that deal […]
Read more
Christmas just got a lot less festive for Fox News Channel, Newsmax and Rudy Giuliani because of a threatened big bucks defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. “This disinformation campaign against Dominion has caused the company permanent and irreparable damages which are exacerbated by your ongoing refusal to retract,” says a letter sent today to the trio on behalf of the […]
Read more
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) is reportedly looking to introduce a bill that would throw a lifeline to struggling journalists hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the Columbia Journalism Review reported today. The possible legislation would be modeled after the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal-era government program that employed writers and journalists to write stories about America – and Americans – […]
Read more
Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Malkovich are starring in pandemic thriller The Survivalist for Yale Productions, with the project having recently wrapped in the Tri-state area. Jon Keeyes directed the movie from an original script by Matthew Rogers. It takes place a year and a half after the fall of civilization from a virus outbreak. A former FBI agent (Rhys […]
Read more
Oprah Winfrey has taken a stake of $35 million-plus in Discovery Inc. as part of a deal that boosts the factual content giant’s holding in OWN, a joint venture with Winfrey’s Harpo, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Discovery and Harpo’s original deal to form OWN in 2008 included options for Harpo to sell its stake to […]
Read more
John Krasinski is ready to spread “some good news” ahead of the holidays. After concluding an eight-episode run of his DIY web series Some Good News earlier this year, the actor took on hosting duties once again with a holiday episode of Some Good News on Sunday. Krasinski kicked off his show by sharing some questionable fan art of […]
Read more
Disney this morning has named Alan Bergman as Chairman, Disney Studios Content, with Alan Horn continuing to serve as the division’s Chief Creative Officer. The two previously served as Co-Chairmen since May 2019. News was swirling heading into Disney Investor Day on Dec. 10 that Horn might possibly retire, but that’s not the case for the motion picture industry vet […]
Read more
The nation has a president-elect. But who will play him on “Saturday Night Live” as he prepares to be sworn into office? The question is open anew after actor Jim Carrey took to Twitter Saturday to tell fans he was leaving behind the impression of Joe Biden he has offered over the course of the first six episodes of […]
Read more
Connie Chung — the former ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN anchor — has dished in a revealing new interview on behind-the-scenes tensions with colleagues including Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and Dan Rather, as well as her seemingly flirtatious relationship with David Letterman, and how she ruffled Hugh Grant’s feathers during her cameo in the recent […]
Read more
Jim Carrey shifted away from his typically negative political cartooning this week to offer his congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The actor also celebrated “democracy, decency and truth” in his colorful, joyful drawing. “The war between fact and fantasy continues in America, but for now… a sigh of relief,” Carrey captioned the […]
Read more
A Lizzie McGuire revival at Disney+ isn’t going forward, star Hilary Duff said Wednesday. Duff announced the project’s end in an Instagram post, writing that “the stars just didn’t align” for the project. “I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make a reboot work but, sadly and despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going […]
Read more
Tom Cruise expressed his frustration with crew members on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” after he saw them breaking COVID-19 guidelines, two sources close to the production confirm to Variety. As first reported by The Sun, after Cruise saw two crew members standing too close to one another in front of a computer screen, he told the crew: […]
Read more
Joe Biden’s team announced new details for its plans for the presidential inauguration, which the president-elect already indicated would bear some similarities to the nearly all-virtual Democratic National Convention, reimagined because of Covid-19. Stephanie Cutter and Ricky Kirshner, who spearheaded the convention plans, will serve as executive producers of the inaugural, with Rod O’Connor as senior adviser. […]
Read more
CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta fired off a final question as White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany left her briefing Tuesday, asking her about the “disinformation” he accused her of spreading “every day.” McEnany was attacking the media just before halting her briefing, accusing reporters of not paying enough attention to stories involving […]
Read more
Upcoming NBC series “Mr. Mayor,” starring Ted Danson and Holly Hunter, is pausing production this week after half a dozen COVID-19 cases occurred on set, Variety has learned. Six positive cases were recorded with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health at 100 Universal City Plz, Bldg. 5225, in Universal City, Calif. Four of those results came in between Friday and Monday […]
Read more
Kelly Clarkson’s daytime talk show is sticking around for a while. NBCUniversal Syndication Studios has renewed The Kelly Clarkson Show for two more years, which will take it through its fourth season in 2022-23. The show has been cleared in 75 percent of the country, including on NBC-owned stations, for seasons three and four. “One ray of […]
Read more
Showtime is giving Shameless a royal sendoff. The premium cable network announced Monday it has picked up Shameless Hall of Shame, a companion series designed to celebrate John Wells’ departing dramedy with six hourlong retrospective episodes. Set to launch Sunday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m., the six-episode series will feature new and original Shameless scenes juxtaposed with a retrospective look at each […]
Read more
Ilana Glazer’s “False Positive” is popping up at Hulu. The A24 film, co-written and produced by Glazer and John Lee is set to debut as a Hulu original in 2021. “False Positive” marks Glazer and Lee’s feature film co-writing debut, after working together on “Broad City.” Glazer stars in the film as Lucy, who after several attempts at […]
Read more
Chris Pine is negotiating a deal to star in Dungeons & Dragons, the live action film based on Hasbro’s massively popular role-playing game from Wizards of the Coast. Hasbro/eOne and Paramount are jointly producing and financing, with eOne distributing in the UK and Canada, and Paramount the rest of the world. Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley will […]
Read more
Tony Award winner Ann Reinking, an actor, dancer and choreographer, died on Saturday night in Washington, her sister-in-law Dahrla Reinking told Variety. She was 71. News of the actor’s death was first announced Monday on Facebook by dancer and choreographer Christopher Dean, who teaches Reinking’s niece. “The lights on Broadway are forever more dim this morning and […]
Read more