Courtenay Valenti Lands Expansive Film Role at MGM and Amazon Studios, Overseeing Theatrical and Streaming

EXCLUSIVE: Jharrel Jerome, the Emmy winner, Moonlight actor and EP/star of the upcoming Prime Video series, I’m a Virgo, which just premiered at SXSW, has signed on to star in Artists Equity’s tentatively titled Unstoppable, the Jennifer Lopez starring, Billy Goldenberg directing project we first told you about yesterday.

EXCLUSIVE: As Amazon Studios is set to debut Artists Equity’s first movie, Air, at SXSW’s closing night, the Ben Affleck-Matt Damon production company is in final talks to make their second feature, currently titled Unstoppable, starring Jennifer Lopez.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Quentin Tarantino is about to shop his 10th film project, which the director has long said will mark his final feature film. The “Pulp Fiction” mastermind is preparing to invite multiple buyers to read his latest screenplay in the coming days, one source familiar with the pending auction said. The Oscar winner is seeking a deal similar to the one he brokered for his last film “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” the source added. This means a robust theatrical release commitment and ownership of the film’s copyright (in the case of Sony Pictures and “Once Upon a Time,” the deal said the movie copyright would revert to Tarantino after 20 years).

EastEnders star Ricky Champ has landed a new exciting role on upcoming Netflix show The Decameron.The actor, 42, who played Stuart Highway on the BBC One soap, left Albert Square last year after first joining in 2018. And now Ricky has landed a role in Netflix show The Decameron, starring alongside Derry Girls' Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Arrested Development’s Tony Hale and his former EastEnders co-star Jessica Plummer.

reported that Isaac is in talks to play Vonnegut alongside his duties as executive producer.Hailing from Team Downey, Mad Gene and Amazon Studios, “Severance” co-executive producer Mohamad El Masri will serve as creator, showrunner and writer alongside executive producers Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Casey Sherman, Amanda Burrell, who executive produces for Team Downey and Oscar Isaac and Gena Konstantinakos, who executive produce for Mad Gene.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The blockbuster French cast of Amazon Prime Video’s third season of “LOL: Qui rit, qui sort” speaks volumes about the Japanese variety format’s tremendous popularity in France. The Amazon Original series, adapted from the format “LOL: Last One Laughing,” scored its biggest launch to date on Prime Video in France since bowing on March 10. The show is one of the streamer’s first unscripted originals in France and has been a major coup as a brand exercise that’s succeeded with limited resources — certainly in comparison to scripted comedy. Adaptations of “LOL” have also thrived in Italy and Germany where they have ranked as the most watched local titles on the service, respectively. Local versions are also available in Spain, Canada, Mexico and Australia (hosted by Rebel Wilson).

Roberto Stabile, head of special projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Ministry of Culture at Cinecittà, told Variety. “This support will increase the presence of Italian audiovisual content not only in cinemas, but also on streaming platforms, online distribution, television, everything,” he added.

Amazon Studios & MGM Boss Jennifer Salke and Citadel star Priyanka Chopra Jonas sat down today in what is one of few entertainment business discussions here at SXSW and interviewed each other on an array of topics including pay parity for lead actresses and launching a tentpole series for a global audience. Spy series Citadel, produced by AGBO’s Russo Brothers, drops its first two episodes on Prime on April 28.

Mae Muller has been unveiled as the UK’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.The 25 year old musician will be performing her own track, a catchy revenge tune called I Wrote a Song in Liverpool later this year, where the UK will be hosting on behalf of 2022 winners, Ukraine.The London-born singer is hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s runner-up, Sam Ryder, whose placement gave the UK its highest position in the competition in decades. But for those who have only just heard of the up-and-coming songstress, here’s everything you need to know about Mae Muller, from her connection with Mika to her TikTok success… She’s from a creative family The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in terms of Mae’s creative streak, as she comes from a family involved in the entertainment industry.

Keira Knightley said she felt “caged,” “constrained” and “very stuck” after being in blockbuster film series Pirates Of The Caribbean. The 37-year-old British actress, who has been twice nominated for Oscars, starred in the first film Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl in 2003 – alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom – as Elizabeth Swann, along with three sequels.

Amazon Studios has ordered “Twin Love,” a new reality dating competition show from ITV Entertainment, to series. Premiering this summer on Prime Video and the free, ad-supported Freevee, the show will be hosted by WWE Hall of Famers and TV personalities Brie and Nikki Bella.Billed as a “social dating experiment,” “Twin Love” explores the love lives of identical twins.

In the very near future, the Grand Lottery has been established in economically challenged California. The only catch? Kill the winner before sundown and you can legally claim their prize. New LA transplant Katie (Awkwafina) accidentally finds herself with the winning ticket and must join forces with amateur jackpot protector Noel (Cena) to make it to sundown in order to claim her multi-billion dollar prize, all while dealing with Noel’s protection rival Louis Lewis (Liu), who also wants to get her to sundown in order to claim his rich protection commission.The Amazon Original Movie will be available to stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

DGA Award winner and 5x Emmy nominee Paul Feig has found a stellar trio to lead his new action-comedy Grand Death Lotto for Amazon Studios in John Cena (Peacemaker), Awkwafina (Renfield) and Simu Liu (Barbie).

K.J. Yossman The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) has announced a host of new appointments, including seven trustees. The new trustees include Miranda Wayland, head of U.K. and Europe creative EDI for Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Labour politician and member of the House of Lords Judith Blake, Oxford University Shakespeare professor Judith Buchanan, Coutts media finance exec Judith Chan, PZ Cussons finance exec Helen Selwood, former CFO Shona Spence and business consultant Caroline Spicer. They join current RADA Council members Lolita Chakrabarti, Chipo Chung, Tim Clark, Paul Clay, Martin Donnelly, Buster Dover, Tanya Moodie, Maxine Peake, John Romeo, Tanya Rose, Tamar Thomas and chair Marcus Ryder.

Hi team,It’s been nearly a year since Amazon acquired MGM, and through that time I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the MGM team and their work. I’ve been so impressed by the creativity and innovation and by the quality of the MGM slate, including Orion Pictures.

Amazon Studios Boss Jen Salke has finally named former Warner Bros President of Production Courtenay Valenti as Head of Film, Streaming and Theatrical for Amazon Studios and MGM. She will report directly to Salke.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye will have his first starring role in a feature film that he wrote and is also producing. The picture, which is currently untitled and has been kept shrouded in mystery regarding its plot, genre and the like is being directed by Trey Edward Shults, the filmmaker behind “Waves” and “It Comes at Night.” Shults also co-wrote the movie and is executive producing it. We do know that it is shooting in Los Angeles, but aside from that the “logline is being kept under wraps.” Whether comedy or tragedy, action adventure or musical extravaganza, this impressively vague feature has lined up a top shelf cast. Beyond The Weeknd, a Grammy-winning recording juggernaut, the film also stars Jenna Ortega, the star of “Wednesday” and “Scream VI,” as well as Barry Keoghan, the Oscar-nominated actor from “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”

If you dig down into it, it’s pretty complicated to discuss the rights situation surrounding “The Lord of the Rings” IP. Warner Bros.

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke feels about Warner Bros. making competing projects based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Salke, who has held the top content job at Amazon since 2018, walked a Monday red carpet for the premiere of Michael B. Jordan’s “Creed III” where she spoke with Variety about last week’s news that Warner Bros. had secured film rights to some of Tolkien’s books. One of Salke’s defining moves at Amazon was to secure television rights to the same literary works, which she achieved at great expense. The first season of Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” premiered in 2022 with a big global marketing push and critical acclaim — as well as a reported budget north of $450 million for the first batch of episodes. Previously, Warner Bros. pushed out two massively successful film franchises with auteur Peter Jackson beginning in 2001. Those films grossed over $5 billion at the worldwide box office and brought home a best picture Oscar for one of the entries.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon restructured MGM’s television business at the end of November but it seems that there’s more movement in that department.