AMC Ent. To Install Laser Projectors At 3,500 U.S. Auditoriums In Major Upgrade; Deal With Cinionic Rolls Out Through 2026

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU), the UK production powerhouse behind Planet Earth and The Green Planet, has hired BAFTA-winning Mike Davis to lead a major push into CGI.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will experience a different type of horsepower before NBC's coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series season revs up next month.The retired NASCAR star will be at the Kentucky Derby for the second time on Saturday before contributing to the network's Indianapolis 500 coverage on May 29.Earnhardt said having a role in different events beyond NASCAR was a big reason why he decided to sign with NBC after retiring from driving in 2017.“I've really enjoyed NBC pushing me and getting me out of my comfort zone.

Gracie McGraw got half of Hollywood talking when she rang in her 25th birthday in some serious style on Thursday. The daughter of country music stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw delighted fans with a video clip from her sun-soaked vacation and everything from her outfit to her moves were perfect. MORE: Faith Hill leaves fans speechless as she shares bathtub photo with Tim McGraw for special occasionIn the Instagram post, fun-loving Gracie - who has pursued a career in acting and singing - confidently strut her stuff on the beach, wearing a white bikini, green cover-up and a birthday crown!WATCH: Faith Hill and Tim McGraw's love story She danced and clicked her fingers and Gracie couldn't have looked happier. A number of stars wished her happy birthday and many of her social media followers flooded her with kind messages, telling her how much they adored her energy. Earlier in the day, her dad paid tribute to his firstborn with an emotional message too.  MORE: Faith Hill shares iconic pregnancy photo as she marks special milestoneMORE: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's daughter Audrey showcases her impressive talent in unseen video"Happy 25th birthday to our oldest girl Gracie! So smart, so sweet, so, so talented.… And such a crazy, big heart," he wrote alongside a showreel of her acting and singing for the camera.

Tim McGraw left fans aww-ing as he took to social media to celebrate his oldest daughter Gracie on her milestone 25th birthday.MORE: Faith Hill leaves fans speechless as she shares bathtub photo with Tim McGraw for special occasionThe actor shared a snapshot of himself embracing his daughter, who looked strikingly like mother Faith Hill, along with an incredible clip.VIDEO: Faith Hill shares throwback of daughter Audrey in celebration of her 18th birthdayHe added a video of his daughter from what looked like a showreel, displaying her acting and phenomenal singing chops for the camera."Happy 25th birthday to our oldest girl Gracie! So smart, so sweet, so, so talented..… And such a crazy, big heart," he wrote.MORE: Faith Hill shares iconic pregnancy photo as she marks special milestone"You inspire me everyday.

Sheryl Crow discussed her incredible career in a tell-all interview with “The Howard Stern Show”.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAMC Networks ended its first quarter of 2022 with 9.5 million streaming subscribers.The new figure, revealed along with the rest of the company’s Q1 financial results on Thursday, is in line with the projection CFO Christina Spade gave in February. At that time, Spade said she expected AMC Networks add 400-500,000 streaming subscribers by the end of March, after reaching more than 9 million subs at the end of 2021.

Naman Ramachandran Stage Fifty‘s Wycombe Film Studios, a new eight-stage 295,000 sq ft boutique studio, will kick off with a major Hollywood feature film that will start shooting in 2022. Temporary planning applications have been submitted to Buckinghamshire Council to support the as-yet-unnamed feature film, and approval to build one stage and workshops has been granted. An application for a permanent studio will follow later this year, transforming a 26-acre site located just off the highway to the southwest of High Wycombe, 34 miles from London, into a sustainable film studio.

The new NCAA Name, Image, Likeness rule (NIL) that allows college athletes to monetize themselves could be at a crossroads. Top college receiver Jordan Addison is reportedly mulling a transfer from Pittsburgh amid rumors of massive booster blandishments from top football programs.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterFormer AMC Networks chief Josh Sapan’s compensation for 2021, his final year as CEO of the company, rose 30% over the previous year to $15.3 million.According to a proxy statement filed with the SEC Friday, Sapan’s total pay from the company for 2021 was $15.3 million compared to the $11.8 million he received in 2020 and the $20.2 million he was paid in 2019.Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.Sapan’s successor, AMC Networks interim CEO Matthew Blank, was paid $6.97 million for the year. Blank joined AMC Networks in his new role in August just as Sapan stepped down.Blank’s base salary for 2021 was $630,136, while Sapan’s was $2 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSouth Korean cinema technology firm CJ 4DPlex has struck a deal with Thailand’s Major Cineplex, to open a ScreenX Premium Large Format auditorium at Major’s multiplex at Siam Paragon in Bangkok.ScreenX is a multi-projection cinema with an immersive 270-degree field of view, created by using the side walls of the theater. Some 363 ScreenX auditoriums have been installed at cinemas in 38 countries.

The AMC+ streaming service will be host to new movies every Friday. Films on the service will feature an array of titles from distributors IFC Films, IFC Midnight, RLJE Films and Shudder, serving as the streaming home following the theatrical releases of films from these distributors, AMC Networks announced on Tuesday.Films will be streaming on AMC+ 90 days after they first hit theaters thanks to a new agreement with AMC Networks Film Group (IFC Films, IFC Midnight and RLJE Films) through which AMC+ is the exclusive streaming home of the company’s full slate of films following their theatrical and digital distribution.While most titles will be streaming 90 days after their theatrical release, select titles will be premiering day-and-date in theaters and on AMC+.The first film to kick off this new agreement is the IFC Films feature “Clean,” starring Adrien Brody, which will be streaming on AMC+ on Friday, May 6.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefImax and Major Cineplex, Thailand’s biggest cinema operator, have struck a deal for three Imax With Laser installations in capital city Bangkok. The agreement will expand the Imax screen total in Thailand to seven.Two of the three installations are upgrades in central Bangkok locations.

AMC Theatres is upgrading its digital projectors to laser projectors across 3,500 of its auditoriums nationwide by 2026. It’s the theater chain’s first major upgrade of its equipment since the company converted to digital, and the theater chain says the new installations will bring a value of roughly a quarter of a billion dollars.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOLER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Matryoshka,” the Season 2 finale episode of “Russian Doll.”In Season 2, “Russian Doll” broke out of its first season’s “Groundhog Day”-style time-loop format with a “Quantum Leap”-like time-travel device that allowed Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan (Charlie Barnett) to jump into the bodies of their deceased loved ones by taking a trip on the New York City subway. Nadia becomes her mother, Lenora “Nora” (Chloë Sevigny), in the East Village in 1982, and grandmother Vera (Irén Bordán, younger version Ilona McCrea), in World War II-era Budapest, while Alan is inhabiting his grandmother Agnes (Carolyn Michelle Smith) in Germany during the Cold War in 1944.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMunich-based sales agency Beta Cinema has closed sales to several major territories for stylish comic-book adaptation “Diabolik,” which is among the leaders in the race for Italy’s top film awards – the David di Donatello Awards – with 11 nominations. Beta Cinema will kick off presales on the film’s sequels in Cannes.“Diabolik” has been acquired by buyers in France (Metropolitan), Spain (Flins & Piniculas), and Latin America and Portugal (Sun Distribution Group).

AMC made a deal to secure the rights to 18 of the Anne Rice novels in “The Vampire Chronicles” and “Lives of Mayfair Witches” series. This means there is plenty of source material for multiple horror shows if the network wants to keep them going for years to come.

Missouri State Representative Ian Mackey, a Democrat, has gone viral for his defence of transgender young people during the debate on whether to allow transgender girls to compete on all-girls sports teams.Talking to the amendment’s sponsor, Representative Chuck Bayse, a Republican, Mackey even brought up Bayse’s own gay brother to make his point. “Your brother wanted to tell you he was gay, didn’t he?” Mackey asked.Bringing up the fact that Bayse’s brother was afraid to come out to him, Mackey said “If I were your brother, I would have been afraid to tell you too. I would have been afraid to tell you too because of stuff like this – because this is what you’re focused on.“This is the legislation you want to put forward.