“Disclosure” has become a cult word. It shouldn’t be, since all it means, technically, is to reveal something. But the new wave of alien conspiracy theorists have made “disclosure” into a teasingly passive-aggressive code word. They will say: We’re awaiting disclosure — which means the day the U.S. government bows down and releases all its […]

Wanda Sykes says Bill Maher confronted her after she dissed him on the Golden Globes stage in January. Presenting the award for best performance in stand-up comedy, Sykes joked, “There’s some people pissed off that a queer Black woman is up here doing the job of two mediocre white guys … but first I want […]

As audiences search for an escape from the never-ending doomsday headlines, television creatives are looking at what brings people together instead: namely, love. “It seems so hard to open your phone and not see something that is really upsetting,” says “Nobody Wants This” creator Erin Foster. “It makes sense that there would be this draw […]

The 28th Shanghai International Film Festival launched Saturday at the city’s Grand Theatre, drawing a constellation of Chinese-language stars to its opening red carpet and centering its ceremony on cinema’s human core rather than the geopolitical flash that has marked other festivals this year. Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who serves as jury president of the Golden […]

Russell Crowe proudly recalled “sticking to his guns” about not having sex scenes with Connie Nielsen in Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator.” Speaking at the Taormina Film Festival, the New Zealand-born actor was asked about a “certain attitude” he showed about the 2024 sequel to his 2000 Oscar-winning epic.  Crowe dodged speaking directly about “Gladiator II,” but […]

This interview is part of Variety and CNN’s Actors on Actors series. Watch the full video interview now at CNN.com/Watch (or on the CNN app) and on Variety’s YouTube channel starting at 11:59 pm ET. Claire Danes and Richard Gadd both flirted with madness in high-profile acting duets this season. On “The Beast in Me,” veteran actress Danes played […]

The best and brightest driving teams from around the world, such as Ferrari AF Corse, Cadillac Hertz Team Jota, Toyota Gazoo Racing, BMW M Team WRT and others, travel to France to compete during the 94th running of 24 Hours of Le Mans. It takes place at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the city […]

Prince Albert II of Monaco opened the 65th edition of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival on Friday and presented the Crystal Nymph Award to Kristin Scott Thomas, in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to television and screen storytelling.” The evening culminated in the international premiere of the first two episodes of Season 3 of AMC Studios’ […]

“The Decisive Moment,” a sci-fi feature directed by Zhang Disha and produced by Huang Jianxin, will world premiere as the closing film of the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival on June 21, screening at Shanghai Film Art Center following the Golden Goblet Awards Ceremony on the evening of June 20. The film, scripted by Hu […]

While the premise of “The Furious” is simple — a father named Wang Wei (Xie Miao) must find his daughter after she is kidnapped by a child trafficking ring — it’s the springboard for a nonstop flurry of action. Kenji Tanigaki’s Hong Kong epic, which opens in American theaters today via Lionsgate Films, stars some of the world’s […]

“Lilo & Stitch” co-creator Chris Sanders, who also voices Stitch, will take the reins and direct the forthcoming live-action sequel. Last year, Disney’s live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch” delivered the biggest Memorial Day weekend opening in box office history and became Hollywood’s first billion-dollar movie of the year. The studio announced that a sequel […]

Arise Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton, but very slowly, just a little bit at a time. The founders of Aardman Animations, the legendary stop-motion pioneers behind “Wallace and Gromit,” “Shaun the Sheep” and “Chicken Run,” have been knighted in King Charles’ birthday honors, issued annually to celebrate outstanding achievements and contributions to British […]

It is oddly encouraging that a film like Ryuya Suzuki’s “Jinsei” — not that there are many films like Ryuya Suzuki’s “Jinsei” — should be released within weeks of “The Odyssey” and “Disclosure Day.” Those two 2026 tentpoles are unalike in most ways, except that each will be the product of hundreds of people moving […]

Shares of Roku hit a 52-week high Friday on a report that the streaming platform company is in talks to sell itself. Roku’s stock closed at $143.66/share Friday, up 20% for the day, pushing its market cap up to about $21.3 billion. That came after Bloomberg reported that Roku has been “in discussions with at […]

Jason Bateman is living dangerously. The actor-director enters this Emmy cycle with a problem most performers would envy: two acclaimed limited series, two wildly different roles and a directing-producing resume that keeps expanding even as he approaches the age when peers start thinking about slowing down. “Our tolerance for taking on more actually grows even […]

“The Great Skull,” a Shanghai dialect tragicomedy, opened the main competition showcase of the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival on June 12. Director Liu Xiaoyang, screenwriter Zhang Xiaoying and lead cast members Wen Qi, Ni Hongjie and Yu Entai attended the press conference. Set in Shanghai, the film is a tragicomedy about a mother and […]

Ashley Padilla was shopping with her mom at Glendale’s Americana at Brand outdoor mall in September 2024 when the news was announced: She had just been added to “Saturday Night Live” as a featured player. Padilla had just collaborated with her old boss, Diane Keaton, on a new book, “Fashion First,” and was purchasing copies […]

Families looking for a new way to enjoy game night may want to clear a spot on the shelf. Tonies has teamed up with Hasbro Games to launch the new Tonieplay Hasbro Collection, a screen-free gaming experience that reimagines three beloved classics: ‘Monopoly’, ‘Guess Who’ and ‘The Game of Life’. Designed for use with the […]

On today’s episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast, Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, gives a wide-ranging interview on the evolution of Amazon’s media strategy, how the MGM acquisition has changed the game, why the streamer is investing heavily in sports — and why Amazon has no regrets about the Melania […]

Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, who is presiding over the jury at this year’s Taormina Film Festival, dedicated a great part of her time in Sicily to revisiting her 1993 seminal drama “The Piano.” Accompanied in the jury by the film’s star, Holly Hunter, the New Zealand director spoke to journalists about her memories of making […]

2026 might very well be the year of Colman Domingo. He’s in the hit Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” and has recently wrapped up his role as Ali on HBO’s “Euphoria.” He also stars in Netflix’s “The Four Seasons,” in addition to directing one episode. This weekend, audiences will see him as Hugo in Steven Spielberg‘s […]

Tyra Banks sued Netflix on Saturday for defamation, claiming her testimony was manipulated for the streamer’s recent “America’s Next Top Model” docuseries. Banks is suing Netflix, 89 Blocks Holdings, EverWonder Studio, Netflix Music and co-directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan for false light, defamation by implication, breach of contract and false endorsement. According to the […]

How far would you go for a woman who claims with a straight face to be “endeavoring to bring about a change in consciousness through our art?” Not that far, probably: Confronted with that statement, most people would likely make a polite excuse and back away slowly. But most people are not actors, or even […]

The best boxers in the world travel to England, where British fighter Tommy Fury (11-0-0) takes on fellow-Brit boxer Eddie Hall (0-1-0) in the main event on Saturday, June 13. The Beauty vs. The Beast: Fury vs. Hall pay-per-view event takes place at AO Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom. Coverage and free-to-watch prelims begin at […]

Claire Danes got some very valuable advice from a future Oscar winner. In her Variety Actors on Actors conversation with “Half Man” star Richard Gadd, the “The Beast in Me” performer reminisced about shooting 1996’s “Romeo + Juliet” with Leonardo DiCaprio. While the shoot — like the film — was emotionally intense, Danes, at 17, […]

American director Gore Verbinski, who is at the Taormina Film Festival in competition with “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” spoke about the challenges of labelling the use of AI in films as the technology continues to grow exponentially.  Verbinski’s latest, a genre-bending sci-fi that sees Sam Rockwell as a time-travelling madman recruiting help to […]

Argentine-Swiss writer-director Milagros Mumenthaler is preparing a new project that will mark a notable shift in her filmography: for the first time, it will center on a young male protagonist. Speaking to Variety on Thursday afternoon, June 11, after her ECAM Forum masterclass in Madrid, Mumenthaler said the film is still at a very early […]

Toho International, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s Toho Co., Ltd., will return to Anime Expo 2026 in Los Angeles this July with an immersive booth and a slate of franchise panels headlined by “My Hero Academia” and “Jujutsu Kaisen.” The Toho animation booth will mark the 10-year anniversary of “My Hero Academia” and the five-year […]

The Directors Guild of America has secured a provision in its new contract that limits actors on TV series from directing episodes, as it seeks to preserve jobs for career TV directors. The provision is meant to address the 40% downturn in production jobs over the last four years, which has left a great many […]

Longtime WABC-TV/ABC7 news anchor Bill Ritter is stepping down from the “Eyewitness News” chair after being diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s. Ritter announced on Friday’s 6 p.m. newscast that it would be his last. Ritter has anchored the station’s 6 p.m. “Eyewitness News” broadcast since 2001. “After a series of tests, my doctors have told […]

Shalit, the bushy-haired mustachioed television personality who reviewed books and movies on “The Today Show” for 40 years, died Friday. His family told NBC News he “passed away peacefully today after 100 years of an amazing life.” Shalit appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” from 1970 until his retirement in 2010, sporting his signature bow […]

Amazon MGM Studios and Warner Bros. veteran Adam Keen has founded Agenda Collective, a new full-service entertainment PR firm, designed to support across film, TV, corporate and awards campaigns. Agenda Collective officially enters the market after a strategic buildout period, working with clients including A24, Artists Equity, Amazon MGM Studios, CBS, Focus Features, IFC, Lionsgate, […]

What do Buzz Lightyear, Steven Spielberg and the New York Knicks have in common? The answer is Taylor Swift. The pop star has been everywhere this week: On Monday, she made a surprise appearance at the “Toy Story 5” premiere, performing her new song “I Knew It, I Knew You” — as well as a […]

Ronnie Schell, the versatile actor known for his comedic work in “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” and “That Girl,” died Friday in Los Angeles of natural causes, his publicist confirmed to Variety. He was 94. Known for his work in film, TV and on stage as a comedian, the San Francisco native amassed over 140 credits over […]

Jeremy Strong’s take on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg officially debuted with the launch of the first trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” a follow-up to 2010’s “The Social Network.” Sorkin won an Oscar for his screenplay of the first movie and returns to write and replace David Fincher as the director of the new […]

Joe Negri, the musician best known for his work as the guitar-playing handyman on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” died May 30 in Pittsburgh. He was 99. Negri’s death was announced by his family. Negri and Fred Rogers first worked together in the early 1960s on a local Pittsburgh children’s TV show. From 1968 through 2001, Negri […]

Singer-songwriter Michael Stipe has known Elton John for more than 35 years. In all that time, he had never once given Stipe’s personal phone number to anyone, especially a musician. Then he decided to break the rules. “He gave my number to Andrew Watt, who texted me and said, ‘I have an idea,’” Stipe recalls. […]

Tom Cruise had an all-star Steven Spielberg reunion to support the director’s new alien thriller, “Disclosure Day.” He was joined by his “Minority Report” co-star Colin Farrell and “War of the Worlds” daughter Dakota Fanning for a screening of “Disclosure Day,” which opens in theaters Friday. “Nothing better than a summer Spielberg movie night in […]

Jacob Soboroff says he was doing creator media before creator media became cool. In some views, the 43-year-old MS NOW correspondent has finally made it. After years of doing what can sometimes be intense in-the-field coverage of the treatment of people crossing the southern U.S. border or the wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles region, […]

Michele Fazekas has known Mariska Hargitay and the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” team for 25 years. While she didn’t join the drama as showrunner until this year’s 27th season, she was in the writers’ room for Seasons 3 through 7 and kept a friendship with the show’s leading women. So, at the end […]

After premiering at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios and Lincoln Center in New York, Oscar winner Giuseppe Tornatore’s docudrama, “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” – about Brunello Cucinelli, the fashion designer known as Italy’s “King of Cashmere” —  is set to kick off its world tour, the next stop being the upcoming Shanghai Intl. Film Festival.   The […]

There is a quiet truth about the Emmy race for outstanding television movie, and it runs directly counter to everything the Oscars have trained pundits to expect. At the Academy Awards, the safest path to a best picture nomination is the prestige drama. At the Emmys, the movie category can be where comedies and other […]

Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller “Disclosure Day” made first contact with theaters on Friday and landed at No. 1 on the box office charts. “Disclosure Day” made $19 million on opening day from 3,824 North American theaters. It’s expected to gross $44 million by the end of the weekend. Universal spent $115 million on the sci-fi […]

“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” says Anna Faris. The celebrated actress and comedian is on top of the box office once more, as “Scary Movie,” the sixth installment in the popular horror-spoof series, opened to a franchise-best $55 million last weekend. It all came to fruition thanks to Marlon Wayans, whose family was callously […]

Beware: AMC’s “The Walking Dead: Dead City” Season 3 is coming. And it might be the best one yet.  “This is our best season – by far. This is such a different relationship now,” said Jeffrey Dean Morgan at Monte-Carlo Television Festival on Saturday, following the premiere of the first two episodes at the festival […]

Workers began the process of prying “Donald J. Trump” off the facade of Kennedy Center in the early morning hours on Saturday, after a court found the president’s renaming of the Washington, D.C., landmark was illegal. After crews set up scaffolding Friday in front of the Kennedy Center, they started pulling off the letters from […]

Kristin Scott Thomas Talks Playing ‘The Ultimate Ice Queen’ Diana Taverner in ‘Slow Horses’: ‘I’d love to see her laugh’ People still can’t get enough of Kristin Scott Thomas and Gary Oldman in “Slow Horses.” “We’ve worked together before. We’ve got very good acting chemistry. And it’s really fun. These two characters are so brilliantly […]

The 28th Shanghai International Film Festival opened on June 12 with the launch of a new Technology Creation and Fabrication Unit and a parallel press conference for the Shanghai High-Tech Films and Televisions City, held in the city’s Songjiang district. The event drew senior officials and industry figures to mark what organizers billed as a […]

“Open Door,” Kevin Cate’s viral sci-fi short with nearly 15 million views across YouTube shorts, TikTok and Instagram, will be adapted into a feature-length film through a six-figure development deal. The news follows the success of breakout horror films “Obsession and “Backrooms” as the industry invests in YouTube creators and younger filmmakers with established audiences. […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains significant details about “Blue Film,” now available on VOD. Kieron Moore hopes that people don’t know much about “Blue Film” before they watch the movie. “I think it’s really good to go in as blind as you can,” the actor tells me. “That’s getting harder to do but I think […]

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the sixth episode of “Dutton Ranch,” “A Cowboy Saint,” which is now streaming on Paramount+. Last week’s “Dutton Ranch” was a big one, as Rip (Cole Hauser) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) both now work at the 10 Petal Ranch for Beulah (Annette Bening). But things won’t be easy, since […]

This weekend, the “Drag Race” universe is expanding and getting ready to slay moviegoers with “Stop That Train.” The disaster movie parody comes via Bleecker Street Films and World of Wonder, delivering 92 minutes of absurd silliness. Helmed by Adam Shankman and produced by World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the film stars RuPaul as […]

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has reportedly cleared a big regulatory hurdle in advancing toward completing its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has approved the deal, as first reported by Politico. The agency is giving the green light to the Paramount-WBD tie-up without requiring “any divestitures, behavioral remedies or […]

When Katherine LaNasa set out to build the voice of Dana Evans, the unflappable charge nurse on HBO Max’s hit medical drama “The Pitt,” she didn’t consult a dialect coach first. She started in the bathtub. The reigning Emmy winner for supporting actress in a drama series immersed herself in prestige television while studying Dana’s […]

Ariana Grande is expanding her philanthropic efforts with the launch of the Brighter Days Ahead Foundation, focusing on youth mental health, arts education and community support causes. The Brighter Days Ahead Foundation is being launched with four different funds that partner with existing organizations including Lambda Legal, Trans Lifeline and Humanity Crew, among many others. […]

Spencer Pratt conceded defeat in the race for Los Angeles mayor on Friday, painting a bleak picture of the city’s future under either of his opponents and vowing to continue to “expose this corrupt machine.” Pratt, a Republican and former star of “The Hills,” finished third in the June 2 primary behind two Democrats, incumbent […]

Jimmi Simpson has joined the upcoming Hulu drama series “Conviction,” Variety has learned exclusively. Simpson will star alongside previously announced lead Elisabeth Moss and fellow cast members Sebastian De Souza and Adam Godley. The show is based on the Jack Jordan novel of the same name and was greenlit at the streamer in February. The […]

Olivia Rodrigo’s third studio album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” is one of the year’s most anticipated releases. Available worldwide now, the singer has partnered with Target on an exclusive collection of merchandise, all themed to the album. Among items available are three exclusive vinyls: “pretty sad” pink, “hope like […]

Kathryn Newton will star opposite Cooper Hoffman in the Hulu drama pilot “Durango.” The project follows Mikey (Hoffman), a ski bum townie chasing a buzz, who meets Bunny (Newton), a homeschooled runaway working as a diner waitress. “Together they’re riding an avalanche of bad decisions and falling in love while running from cops, criminals, and […]

Wanda Sykes abstained from Netflix’s high-profile Kevin Hart roast in May, and the comedian is quite pleased with her decision. Asked by Vulture if she was asked to participate in the live telecast, Sykes said, “I was. Kevin called me before it was announced, and I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Come on, Wanda. Come […]