Microsoft’s Activision has launched a new internal, standalone studio with one mission: creating a new narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise. Title Elsewhere Entertainment, the studio will be headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, with additional staff in the United States. Employees’ credits include work on “The Last of Us, “Uncharted,” “The Witcher,” “Cyberpunk,” “Destiny,” “Tom Clancy’s The […]

Red Water Entertainment has snapped up North American distribution rights to the single take thriller “Failure!” led by Ted Raimi (“The Quarry”). This Mexico-U.S. co-production, shot in an unbroken 87-minute take, follows business tycoon James (Raimi) as he faces a crushing bank debt deadline. With time running out, he contends with treacherous associates, deceitful friends […]

Dimpy Agrawal’s Gubbara Entertainment has unveiled a $1 million script development fund aimed at empowering Indian feature filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival’s market. Agrawal previously served as a producer at Netflix India and her credits include some of the streamer’s top titles from the territory such as Zoya Akhtar’s “The Archies,” Vishal Bharwaj’s “Khufiya,” […]

Spanish sales agents are on some kind of roll. The European Film Market during the Berlinale proved robust, and Malaga Film Festival better still. “Malaga was great for our movies,” Latido Films’ Antonio Saura reported at its conclusion. “We have one of the best lineups in our history covering all genres and all very marketable.” […]

Shares of Paramount Global slid Tuesday following a CNBC report that Sony was “rethinking” its bid to acquire Paramount in conjunction with private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. Earlier this month, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo sent a nonbinding offer to Paramount Global’s board offering to take Paramount private for $26 billion in cash, a price […]

Bill Murray has joined the cast of “Riff Raff,” the upcoming crime comedy from director Dito Montiel set to feature Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”), Ed Harris (“Love Lies Bleeding”) Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”), Lewis Pullman (“Top Gun: Maverick”), Emanuela Postacchini (“Robots”), Miles J. Harvey (“American Vandal”) and Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island”). […]

Sony Group Corporation and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), the company behind PlayStation, have announced their new leadership structure following the departure of CEO Jim Ryan. Effective June 1, 2024, Hideaki Nishino will be appointed CEO of SIE’s Platform Business Group, and Hermen Hulst will be appointed CEO of SIE’s Studio Business Group. Hiroki Totoki, who […]

The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment has selected its latest class for its New Writers Fellowship, which trains emerging writers to succeed in Hollywood. The fellowship entails in-person and virtual masterclasses, panels, workshops, and table reads. The 2024 class of television writers were paired up with high-level writing mentors to revise their scripts and […]

On the eve of Cannes, film financing and sales outfit Mister Smith Entertainment has made several key promotions as well as adding a new hire to its team. Shane Kelly, who has been with the company since 2019, is being promoted to senior vice president, international sales and acquisitions. In this new role, he will […]

Tencent Music Entertainment, China’s largest online music corporation, got smaller but more profitable in the first quarter of 2024. That continued a trend seen previously in the company’s 2023 accounts. Revenues in the January to March quarter weighed in at $937 million (RMB6.77 billion), a 3% decrease compared with the same quarter last year. But […]

Uncork’d Entertainment has pre-bought multi-territory rights to upcoming Argentinian-produced action-horror film “Eyes of the Abyss” ahead of its showcase in Cannes next week. Uncork’d has picked up the film, which is currently in post-production, for North America, the U.K. and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is planning a release in the final quarter of […]

Skybound Entertainment has tapped Activision Blizzard vet Kaleb Ruel as vice president of marketing for its in-house video game studio. During his tenure at Activision Blizzard, Ruel was a key part of the record-breaking launch of “Diablo IV,” which marked the fastest-selling game in Blizzard’s history at $666 million in sales within its first five […]

Three-time Emmy nominee Melanie Lynskey has been confirmed as starring in “Pike River,” the upcoming dramatic thriller set and shot in New Zealand and centered around one of the country’s worst disasters in modern history. Signature Entertainment has unveiled a first look of Lynskey alongside co-star Robyn Malcolm (“Top of the Lake,” “Blackbird”), both of […]

Lionsgate will handle U.S. distribution of eagerly awaited “Greenland” sequel “Greenland: Migration,” Variety can confirm. STX, which has a distribution partnership with Lionsgate, is handling international distribution. Directed by Ric Roman Waugh (“Greenland,” “Angel Has Fallen”) from a screenplay by Chris Sparling and Mitchell LaFortune, “Greenland: Migration” sees Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin return as […]

“Wait, didn’t the Emmys already happen this year?” Sigh. Get ready to hear that a lot from civilian friends and family — if you haven’t already — as we get deeper into this Emmy season. And of course, they’re not wrong. There was indeed an Emmys this year — it just wasn’t this year’s Emmys. […]

Paris-based international film sales company Pulsar Content has formed a strategic partnership with Digital District Entertainment, a leading post-production, VFX and production facilities company, with offices in France, Belgium and India. The partnership will create “a streamlined and cost-effective production process for international film projects,” according to a statement. Pulsar Content’s Cannes lineup includes Un […]

Hassie Harrison (“Yellowstone”), Jai Courtney (“Terminator Genisys”) and “Heartbreak High’s” Josh Heuston, soon to be seen in “Dune: Prophecy,” will star in the horror thriller “Dangerous Animals.” Adding edge to the package, Australia’s genre auteur Sean Byrne (“The Loved Ones,” “The Devil’s Candy”), one of the highest rated horror directors of all time on Rotten […]

Raven Banner Entertainment will launch international sales at the Cannes Film Market for Steven Kostanski’s latest feature “Frankie Freako.” Kostanski’s previous feature “Psycho Goreman” premiered at SXSW in 2020 and gathered a cult following worldwide. Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman described the film as “‘The Toxic Avenger’ remade by the Robert Rodriguez […]

After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all — for now. Insiders tell Variety that the expectation at the company is that neither of the two offers in play — Skydance Media-RedBird Capital Partners and Sony Pictures Entertainment-Apollo Global Management — will come to […]