Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video and Germany’s Leonine Studios are expanding their existing partnership with a multi-year license agreement.Under the deal, Prime Video gets exclusive second window SVOD-rights for a six-month period to upcoming theatrical feature films and home entertainment titles from Leonine’s slate and also includes non-exclusive SVOD rights to titles from Leonine’s content library.Titles include Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick 4” and its spin-off “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas; Channing Tatum’s directorial debut “Dog”; Roland Emmerich’s “Moonfall,” starring Halle Berry; Nicolas Cage action-comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”; Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” with Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and soccer star Zlatan Imbrahimović; Jennifer Lopez starrer “Shotgun Wedding”; and Leonine Studios co-production “The School of Magical Animals 2,” the sequel to Germany’s most successful theatrical release of 2021. Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel said: “It’s fantastic that we can expand our long-standing partnership with Prime Video by this agreement and achieve another important milestone for our licensing business with premium content.
Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy Says He’s Suing Insider Over Articles About Sex-Video Allegations
03.02.2022 - 19:33 / variety.com
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorDave Portnoy, founder and president of Barstool Sports, said he is suing business publication Insider over articles alleging he engaged in “violent and humiliating” sexual encounters with several women and that he took videos of them without their consent.Portnoy, in a post Wednesday on Barstool Sports, said he is also suing Julia Black, the writer who penned the Insider stories.“Somebody has to be the guy who says enough is enough. A guy who is willing to burn to make sure his enemies burn with him,” Portnoy said.
“The reason Business Insider gets away with the shit they do is because they bank on guys like me who are not willing to go through the hassle of a lawsuit.”Portnoy did not specify what monetary damages he intends to seek with a lawsuit, or when he plans to file it. A rep for Insider Inc.
said in a statement to Variety, “If we are sued, we will defend the case vigorously. News organizations regularly get sued; it’s the cost of doing business.
We took extreme care to be fair and accurate in our reporting.” Insider is owned by German media conglomerate Axel Springer.In an Insider story published in November 2021, three women said they had sex with Portnoy and that the encounters “turned into frightening and humiliating experiences that have taken a toll on their mental health.” Two of the women said Portnoy both choked and filmed them without permission, per the report.A follow-up story this week published by Insider alleged that three more women have come forward to accuse Portnoy of taking videos of them during sex without their knowledge. Both stories about Portnoy are available to subscribers only.In a nearly 5,200-word post Wednesday evening, Portnoy said he never took videos
.
Germany’s Leonine & Amazon Prime Video Ink Multi-Year Licensing Deal
Amazon Prime Video has signed an expanded multi-year licensing deal for Germany and Austria with Leonine Studios.
Amazon Prime Video Rolls Out On-Set Counsellors To Multiple Productions After Success Of Measure On Barry Jenkins’ ‘Underground Railroad’
Amazon Prime Video is rolling out on-set counsellors to a number of its productions following the success of the measure on Barry Jenkins’ Underground Railroad.
Inside ‘Inventing Anna’: Julia Garner Performed Delvey’s Accent to Her, and Anna Chlumsky Learned How Easy It Is to Scam
Angelique Jackson When a story about a faux-heiress called “Anna Delvey” first appeared in New York Magazine in May 2018, actor Julia Garner was among the voracious readers who pored over journalist Jessica Pressler’s account of how Anna Sorokin, a twentysomething Russian-born German woman, had scammed her way into the top branches of New York business and society by pretending to have a $60 million fortune.“I had the same reaction that the whole world had,” Garner recalls, telling Variety she read the piece, titled “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It,” the week it published. “Then two months later, when I heard that it was going to be a series, I was not surprised about it at all.
Jennifer Aniston Posts Funny Video of Her Dogs Sabotaging Her Workout
Jennifer Aniston's pups are causing trouble. The 52-year-old actress took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a hilarious video of her dogs interrupting her workout.Lord Chesterfield, a large white pup, and Clyde, a Schnauzer mix, fought for Aniston's attention in the clip, with one pup walking over the star as she laid on a yoga mat, and both dogs playing tug of war as she tried to do crunches.Aniston moved to weight lifting next, and the dogs stood right in front of her as she tried to get on with her workout.
Top German court throws out comic's case over Erdogan poem
BERLIN -- Germany's highest court said Thursday that it has dismissed a television comedian's complaint against rulings that prohibited him from repeating parts of a crude poem he wrote about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.The legal battle goes back to 2016, when comic Jan Boehmermann recited the poem on public television to illustrate something he said wouldn’t be allowed even in democratic Germany. The poem described Erdogan as “stupid, cowardly and uptight” before descending into sexual references.Then Chancellor Angela Merkel granted a Turkish request to allow possible prosecution for insulting a foreign head of state.
Concerns raised over cost of Brexit
A year after leaving the EU, the real costs of Brexit are becoming clear to many West Lothian businesses.
Sky Executive Jane Millichip, Distribution Leader and Key Architect of Sustainability Drive, to Step Down After 9 Years
Manori Ravindran International EditorSky executive Jane Millichip, a distribution leader and a driving force behind the company’s sustainability drive, is leaving the company after almost 10 years.News of the executive’s departure was revealed to staff in a memo from Sky Studios CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz on Tuesday morning. Millichip, who currently serves as chief content officer for Sky Studios, is leaving the company after nine years.
‘Moonfall’ Director Roland Emmerich Says Marvel Superhero Movies And ‘Star Wars’ Are ‘Ruining’ Originality In Cinema
Director Roland Emmerich says it’s a lot harder for filmmakers to develop and release original ideas thanks to the prevalence of Marvel movies and “Star Wars” spin-offs.
Gucci Family Saga Gets a TV Show, Documentary From Sky Studios (EXCLUSIVE)
Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Gucci family saga isn’t quite over.Just months after the release of Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” — a film that could see Lady Gaga nominated for her second Oscar — a TV drama and documentary focusing on the Gucci family is in the works from Comcast-backed Sky Studios.The company is in early stages of development on a high-end TV series, and is in pre-production on a documentary series, both of which will tell “the story of a great family and a great brand,” says producer Nils Hartmann, senior VP for Sky Studios Germany and Italy.Both projects were brought to Sky by Leone Film Group, which has an agreement with several members of the Gucci family, including Alessandro Gucci, Guccio Gucci Jr. and Giorgio Gucci.
Whoopi Goldberg suspended from The View over 'dangerous' Holocaust comments
Sister Act star Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from The View for two weeks over her 'dangerous' Holocaust comments.
Whoopi Goldberg suspended from ABC's The View over Holocaust comments
ABC has suspended Whoopi Goldberg from talkshow The View for two weeks over her "wrong and hurtful" Holocaust comments.The 66 year old Ghost actress said that the horrific genocide of European Jewish people during World War II was "not about race". Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered six million Jews – around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. While she's since apologised for the remarks, ABC News president Kim Godwin has decided to ban her from The View for the next two weeks.