Common to Launch Podcast Interview Series With Artists, Activists Exclusively on Audible Plus

Universal Music Group will launch in IPO in 2022, the conglomerate’s parent company, Vivendi, announced on Tuesday.UMG becomes the second major music company to announce its intentions to go public this year, following Warner Music Group, which launched its IPO in June. UMG sold a 10% stake to China’s Tencent Holdings earlier this year.

Manori Ravindran International EditorDeepa Mehta’s latest film, an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s Sri Lanka-set coming-of-age novel “Funny Boy,” has been picked up by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing, and will land worldwide on Netflix this December, Variety can reveal.The Oscar-nominated “Earth” and “Midnight’s Children” director wrote the screenplay for the film alongside Selvadurai, whose debut 1994 novel is set in Sri Lanka during the 1970s and 1980s and was ground-breaking in its

Nellie Andreeva Co-Editor-in-Chief, TVThe Grease spinoff series is on the move. The musical series, inspired by the 1978 film, originally was sold to HBO Max where it received a straight-to-series order a year ago.As part of a reevaluation of the streamer’s slate under its new leadership, I hear the project, produced by Paramount TV Studios, was released and put in turnaround.

Will Thorne Staff WriterThe “Grease” spinoff series is go, go, going somewhere else.Paramount Plus, the recently announced ViacomCBS streaming platform, has nabbed the show from HBO Max and rebranded it as “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies,” Variety has learned exclusively from sources.

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: MTV Documentary Films has acquired North American rights to 76 Days, a raw and emotional look at the struggles of the people of Wuhan, China, in the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak. Directed by New York filmmaker Hao Wu (People’s Republic of Desire) and China-based journalists, Weixi Chen and “Anonymous,” 76 DAYS made its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNetherlands-based sales agent Dutch Features has boarded the animated series “Storytime With Sound Effects” (“Cuentazos con efectazos”) in the run-up to Mipcom and its dedicated program dedicated to youth program, MipJunior.“Storytime With Sound Effects” is a hit Colombian series which has been airing since last year on its public broadcaster Señal Colombia and has garnered several awards, including the Prix Jeunesse Iberoamericano and the Award for Best

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorApple is expected to unveil the iPhone 12 next week but details supposedly spilling the beans on the tech giant’s forthcoming first-ever 5G phones have emerged on social media.A user on China’s Weibo with the handle “Kang” on Friday posted info allegedly revealing pricing and specifications for four new Apple smartphones — the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 mini — as well as a new cheaper HomePod mini smart speaker, as spotted by

Kat Von D is speaking out about her time in the same institutional facility Paris Hilton attended.

Kat Von D posted a lengthy video on Monday detailing alleged abuse that she suffered at the same boarding school as Paris Hilton. “The Simple Life” star, 39, opened up in detail about her experience at Provo Canyon School in Utah in the YouTube documentary “This Is Paris,” which Von D, 38, said inspired her to come forward with her story.

Will Thorne Staff WriterLeslie Jordan is reaching for his sponge and rubber gloves.The legendary TV actor has signed on to host “Squeaky Clean,” a cleaning competition series in the pipeline at Quibi, Variety has learned exclusively.“Squeaky Clean” will pit three cleaning-obsessed contestants against each other in two competitive rounds – “Quick Scrub” and “The Big Clean” – from shiniest floor in studio competition history.

Ubisoft has released a new documentary podcast series for Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla ahead of its launch next month.The five-episode series is currently available to steam on Spotify in its entirety and takes listeners through the dramatised history of Valhalla.

As North America's box office crumples, China's theatrical film business is back in an enormous way. A collection of high-profile local films released in China over the past week to coincide with the country's National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period, which lasts eight days.

Jamie Lang Zodiac Kids, a Banijay company based in London and Paris, is teaming with Finnish animation studio Gigglebug Entertainment on an all new series “The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti,” commissioned by Disney Channel Europe, Middle East and Africa and Nordic broadcasters YLE in Finland, DR in Denmark, NKR in Norway, and SVT in Sweden.The show was originally created by Gigglebug Entertainment creative director Joonas Utti and CEO Anttu Harlin.

Paris Hilton has revealed that she developed post-traumatic stress disorder after attending a boarding school as a teenager.Michael Jackson's daughter shared her story while supporting Paris Hilton amid the heiress' claims that she was abused while attending Provo Canyon School in Utah."I stand with @ParisHilton & all the survivors. #BreakingCodeSilence," Jackson, 22, wrote.

Chris Willman Music WriterCountry superstar Keith Urban talks about his just-released duet with Pink, “One Too Many,” in a clip from a full-length video interview he did with Variety that will be the kickoff episode of new music video series, “Soundboard.”“One Too Many” is fast-rising at country radio, but Urban admits that it’s hardly the most genre-specific single he’s ever released, saying, “I can’t label what the song is. It’s not country.

Rebecca Davis editorWith U.S. studio tentpoles dropping out of the theatrical calendar, Chinese blockbusters may find a rare opportunity to gain some traction abroad.

Also Read: 'The Crown' Season 4 Reveals First Look at Emma Corrin's Princess Diana, Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher (Photos)Deadline first reported the news about the TV series.More to come…

Nellie Andreeva Co-Editor-in-Chief, TVEXCLUSIVE: Netflix has put in development an epic live-action series based on Conan, the iconic sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Robert E. Howard, I have learned.I hear the project, from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media, is the first in a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment.