BBC Studios Profits Hit Record $310M As Aggressive Commercial Push Continues

How’s this for random AF: Craig Conover once spent Easter Sunday with Sofia Vergara — because his Southern Charm costar Whitney Sudler-Smith is related to her ex-fiancé Nick Loeb.

Jeremy Allen White is staying fit amid his divorce. On Friday, the 32-year-old star of was photographed showing off his muscles in Studio City, California.White went shirtless post-workout, wearing only shorts that hit him mid-thigh and a baseball cap, as he put his toned abs, arms and legs on fully display.White's latest outing came two months after his wife, Addison Timlin, filed for divorce. At the time, a source told ET that Timlin and White attempted to work things out before deciding to split.«Jeremy Allen White and Addison were having trust issues during their relationship, that ultimately led to their divorce,» the source said.

Vanna White has signed a new deal to return as host of ABC’s Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, which involves a significant salary increase, we hear.

J. Kim Murphy Bron Studios, the Canadian finance and production company that emerged as a media force in 2017 and has backed awards favorites like “Joker,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Licorice Pizza” and commercial plays like “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “The Mule” and “65,” has filed for bankruptcy. Co-founder and CEO Aaron L. Gilbert disclosed the news in a statement on Wednesday, penning a letter to the banner’s “friends, partners, team members and backers.” “Having explored many options for many months, BRON had no choice but to take this step in light of its financial circumstances. The last few years have been incredibly difficult for BRON, and things have only gotten more complicated over these past months,” Gilbert shared, citing the COVID pandemic and both the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes as insurmountable headwinds for the company’s continued operations. The exec also stated that the company would not be doing press.

It’s Day 5 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and Day 79 of the WGA strike. 

The Boy And The Heron have landed – and critics have hailed the latest Studio Ghibli outing a masterpiece.Touted as the Studio Ghibli co-founder and animator Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, The Boy And The Heron (titled How Do You Live? in Japan) tells the story of a teenage boy who enters a magical world with a talking heron after discovering an abandoned tower in his new town.The film is named after the 1937 novel of the same name by Genzaburo Yoshino, although it isn’t connected to the book. It was released in Japan on Friday (July 14) and is set for a US theatrical release later this year (no date currently set).Miyazaki, 82, who is recognised as the father of Japanese anime, has said that the film is his last.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios will produce adaptations of All3Media scripted dramas “Shameless” and “Strangers” for the Indian market. Comedy drama “Shameless,” created originally by Paul Abbot and Company Pictures for Channel 4, is set in a dilapidated housing estate and revolves around an unemployed and perpetually drunken father who is consistently expanding his lineage amidst the challenges of adolescence and the allure of first love. Two Brothers Pictures’ crime drama “Strangers” AKA “White Dragon,” originally created for ITV in the U.K. and written by Mark Denton, Jonny Stockwood, Marston Bloom and Harry & Jack Williams, follows professor Jonah Mulray, whose wife dies in a car accident in Hong Kong, where she frequently visited for work. He decides to visit the city, where he stumbles upon a startling revelation about his wife, plunging him into a labyrinth of conspiracy.

Acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film, The Boy And The Heron (aka How Do You Live?), hit Japanese theatres on Friday, July 14 with no advance publicity apart from a title and a poster. 

Grace Van Patten and Jackson White are going strong and looking as chic as ever.

Shaun White and Nina Dobrev are enjoying a sunny day out together.

Meghan Markle has been tipped to land a leading role in a legendary Hollywood movie sequel but the suggestion has now been dubbed "ludicrous" by royal commentators.

A campaign has been launched to save Elstree Studios, the renowned film studios where production for the first Star Wars film took place. The studio in Herfordshire was chosen by George Lucas to shoot the first film in the franchise but faces a significant repair bill due to aging infrastructure, including asbestos and 'dangerous roofs'.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC, has passed £2 billion ($2.7 billion) in sales and nudged up profits to £240 million, but an advertising downturn is hitting its channels and streaming business. The corporation unveiled its annual report for 2022/2023 on Tuesday amid an ongoing presenter scandal that’s kept the BBC in national headlines since July 6. A planned virtual briefing with top brass was largely taken up by questions about the BBC’s handling of a complaint against one of its presenters, who remains unnamed due to privacy concerns. While BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell was meant to brief select press about the annual report, this was canceled due to the wider scandal, which saw director general Tim Davie take the brunt of questions from journalists.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International BBC Studios has taken a minority stake in Sarah Tyekiff’s unscripted production outfit Mettlemouse Entertainment. The production and distribution powerhouse, which announces its annual earnings on Tuesday, has taken a 25% stake in the company, which was set up by the former Lime Pictures unscripted boss. Tyekiff’s credits include “The Only Way Is Essex,” “Geordie Shore” and “Celebs Go Dating.” She also developed and produced a number of new formats including “Dance Monsters” (Netflix), “Stand Up and Deliver” (Channel 4) and “Who Do You Believe” (ABC).

BBC Studios has taken 25% of The Only Way is Essex and Geordie Shore exec Sarah Tyekiff’s new indie, Mettlemouse Entertainment.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Sound of Freedom,” a religious thriller led by “The Passion of the Christ” star Jim Caviezel, is becoming an unlikely box office savior. The faith-based movie about child sex trafficking has collected an impressive $40 million after six days of release. Angel Studios opened “Sound of Freedom” last Tuesday, generating a mighty $14.2 million on Independence Day. The film picked up another $18.2 million between Friday and Sunday, enough to place third on domestic box office charts behind “Insidious: The Red Door” ($32.6 million) and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” ($26.5 million). It’s also playing in 2,850 North American theaters — a smaller footprint than those two studio films (playing in 3,188 theaters and 4,600 theaters, respectively).

Come one, come all, Insiders. Jesse Whittock back again this week to take you through the past week in international film and TV. Let’s get started. If you’re not already subscribed, click here and make that right.

The sisters are still getting their claws out.

Ascendant Fox, one of the producers behind hit Stephen Graham indie pic Boiling Point, which is being made into a BBC TV series, has struck a development deal with BBC Studios and signed the commissioner of Netflix’s Bank of Dave.

homoerotic ad indirectly criticizing the former president’s past statements claiming to support LGBTQ rights.Much of the ad, shared by the “DeSantis War Room” account on Twitter, highlights moments from the 2016 presidential campaign when Trump was either trying to distinguish himself from other Republican candidates or trying to peel away some LGBTQ support from Hillary Clinton after clinching his party’s nomination. Whether DeSantis’s campaign made the ad or simply shared it online is unclear.The ad shows a snippet of Trump’s speech from the 2016 Republican Convention vowing to “do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens,” a reference to Trump’s willingness to defend LGBTQ people from terrorism in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting, in which 49 people were killed.The gunman, who was killed in the shooting, had pledged allegiance to ISIS, reawakening concerns about national security and the threat of Islamic radicals carrying out attacks against Americans.It also shows Trump’s campaign selling LGBTQ-themed merchandise, photos of Trump with Caitlyn Jenner, a clip of Trump affirming that Jenner could use whatever gendered restroom she wanted if she came to visit him at Trump Tower, and a clip of Trump, at the time the owner of the Miss Universe pageant, telling the late Barbara Walters that transgender contestants would be able to compete in Miss Universe.The ad splices those video clips with screenshots of tweets and headlines showing Trump supporting — or at least purporting to support — LGBTQ rights, often while pandering to LGBTQ conservatives.