‘Creepshow’ TV Series to Be Developed Into Video Game by DreadXP and DarkStone Digital (EXCLUSIVE)

Ramona Singer isn’t holding back with her thoughts about the Real Housewives of New York City.

Jon Burlingame editor The Grammys’ new video game score category appears to be a success in its first year, as more than 70 original scores have been entered. First-round voting is underway now, and Recording Academy members have plenty to choose from. But will they vote based on popularity of the game or on quality of the music? Grammy voters tell Variety the ballot includes currently popular games such as the dark fantasy “Elden Ring” (music by Yuka Kitamura, Yoshimi Kudo, Shoi Miyazawa, Tsukasa Saitoh and Tai Tomisawa), the action-adventure “Tunic” (music by Janice Kwan and Terence Lee), the post-apocalyptic “Horizon Forbidden West” (music by “various artists,” the only game on the ballot that doesn’t specify a composer) and the horror-filled “The Quarry” (music by Ian Livingstone).

Jon Burlingame February 2023 will be the first time a composer will walk away with a Grammy for scoring a video game. And many in the creative community are saying “it’s about time.” Game scores have, over the past two decades, become a huge part of the media music landscape. Yet, despite being eligible for music’s highest honor since 1999 (in the film and TV music category), only one game has ever been nominated: Austin Wintory’s landmark score for “Journey,” in 2012. After years of lobbying by game executives and composers alike, in June the Recording Academy announced a new category, the tongue-twister score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media to “recognize excellence in score soundtrack albums comprised predominantly of original scores and created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current video game or other interactive media.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series at Disney+ has added three new actors to its cast, Variety has learned exclusively. Adam Copeland, Suzanne Cryer, and Jessica Parker Kennedy are the latest additions to the cast of the series based on Rick Riordan Percy Jackson novels. The trio join previously announced series lead Walker Scobell and series regulars Aryan Simhadri and Leah Sava Jeffries. Copeland will appear in a recurring guest star role as Ares, the god of War. Ares is described as “handsome in a wicked way and arrogant, despite not always being the sharpest tool in the shed. He loves conflict and acts as an agent of chaos wherever he goes.”

Before Emily Blunt hits the big screen again next year in Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer,” she heads out West in “The English,” a new limited series for Prime Video. But this isn’t a typical Western drama, but instead, one that gives the genre’s chase narrative and revenge themes a macabre twist.

Michaela Zee editor Neo Studios has partnered with New World Distribution for the upcoming docuseries “Life After,” set to premiere Oct. 18 on Prime Video. Directed by Nick Ruff, the eight-part docuseries follows 12 retired NFL players as they face a new chapter of their lives following their professional football careers. Each episode of “Life After” spotlights a former NFL player, including DeMarcus Ware, Spice Adams, Thomas Q. Jones, Bear Pascoe, Al Baker, Justin Forsett, Jeff Allen, Andrew Hawkins, Domenik Hixon, Sherrod Martin, Daniel Wilcox and Myron Rolle. The series features intimate interviews with the NFL veterans, along with their family members and friends.

Angelique Jackson Ella Rubin has been cast opposite Anne Hathaway in the Prime Video movie “The Idea of You,” about a mom who embarks on a romance with the lead singer of the world’s hottest boy band. Rubin will play the Academy Award-winner’s daughter in the movie, based on Robinne Lee’s bestselling contemporary love story of the same name. “The Idea of You” centers on Sophie (Hathaway), a 40-year-old divorced mother. First, Sophie’s husband Dan left her for a younger woman, and now he has canceled his Coachella trip with their 16-year-old daughter (Rubin). Sophie steps in to save the day, braving the crowds and desert temperatures, but things really heat up when she meets 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of boy band August Moon (Jaiden Anthony, Raymond Cham, Vik White, and Dakota Adan round out the group).

Carole Horst From “The Shrink Next Door” to “We Crashed” to “Slow Burn,” the stock of podcasts as IP have soared over the past several years, with the most popular making the transition from audio stories to on-screen smash hits. But where podcast source material can and does serve as creative inspiration for successful TV and film adaptations —Amanda Seyfried nabbed an Emmy for her lead turn as Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s “The Dropout,” which was based on a podcast — there remains intrinsic educational, artistic and pop-cultural value in podcasts for podcasts’ sake.  At Boston-based audio-first media company Double Elvis, run by chairman and CCO Jake Brennan and co-founder and CEO Brady Sadler, chairman and CCO and co-founder and CEO, respectively, of Double Elvis — “Disgraceland,” “Blood on the Tracks” and “Badlands” are among its popular podcasts centered on the bad behavior of rock stars and Hollywood denizens — podcasts are not just a means to an end, but a vessel through which to relay compelling, nuanced, entertaining tales about humanity. 

according to Kotaku, the character — who creator Blizzard praised for “her nimble reflexes and quick thinking to pilot a state-of-the-art mech in defense of her homeland” — temporarily outranked adult film stars like Valerie Kay or Nina Kayy.To be clear, the trending search is actually spelled out as “overwatch dva,” as users were seemingly too eager to include the period in her name. The searches lead to pornographic videos of either live actresses dressed up like the character or of manipulated CGI clips of the character having sex, made by third parties.

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is making a video game.In a recent job listing, production company Blinklink announced that it is “looking to take our first steps into the games industry with our new initiative, Blink Games”.The listing states that the company has several game concepts in the works and is now looking for a producer to “guide us through the different parts of the journey towards the launch of our first game”.No further details about the project have been announced, with its development still in the very early stages.Blinklink is a London-based studio specialising in animation and mixed-media filmmaking. Previously, the company developed an episode of the Netflix anthology series Love, Death & Robots, as well as music videos for artists such as Dua Lipa and Iron Maiden.Its breakout success, however, came in the form of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, a psychological horror show featuring puppets and other colourful characters that seemingly belong in a children’s TV programme.The show debuted on YouTube over a decade ago and has since racked up more than 200 million views.

Michaela Coel is planning to build a house in Ghana. The 'I Will Destroy You' actress was born in London but both of her parents hail from the West African nation and she now hopes to erect a property in her the village where her father grew up after falling in love with the country on her first visit and feeling an instant connection to her heritage. She told Vogue magazine: "I'd been to Africa before - Kenya and Uganda - but when I came here I was really seeing people who looked like me.

Coachella and its organisers Goldenvoice have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Ghana-based festival Afrochella.According to the suit, which was filed in a California federal court on October 5, Goldenvoice claim that Afrochella (via Pitchfork) is “intentionally trading on the goodwill of well-known Coachella and Chella festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark Afrochella”The suit continued: “Not simply content to imitate and attempt to trade on the goodwill of Coachella, Defendants even went so far as to apply in Ghana to register Coachella as their own trademarks.”“Despite repeated requests from Plaintiffs, Defendants have refused to adopt their own distinctive event name, and as a result, instances of actual confusion have already appeared on social media.”The lawsuit “seeks injunctive relief and damages for Defendants willful infringement in the United States and to protect the public here from confusion”Back in 2017, former Afrochella boss Edward “Deezy” Elohim took to Twitter to call the festival a “Coachella themed event”.Coachella first warned Afrochella in 2016. In the 30 page lawsuit filed against the festival organizers in Ghana, they add a screenshot of one of the organizers @deezydothis describing Afrochella as a "Coachella themed event" pic.twitter.com/EyAZCBiJK8— Ebenezer Donkoh (NY DJ) (@nydjlive) October 7, 2022Afrochella 2022 is scheduled to take place on December 28 and 29 at El Wak Stadium in Accra, Ghana.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “Goosebumps” live-action series at Disney+ has added three more cast members. Variety has learned exclusively that Ana Yi Puig, Miles McKenna, and Will Price have joined the show as series regulars alongside previously announced cast member Justin Long. Per the official logline, “The series follows a group of five high schoolers who unleash supernatural forces upon their town and must all work together — thanks to and in spite of their friendships, rivalries and pasts with each other — in order to save it, learning much about their own parents’ teenage secrets in the process.” According to Disney Branded Television, the series is influenced by five of the most popular “Goosebumps” books.

Five Nights at Freddy’s” video game franchise is in the works for Blumhouse in collaboration with the game’s creator Scott Cawthon.The studio has tapped Emma Tammi (“The Wind,” “Blood Moon”) to direct the “Five Night’s at Freddy’s” film, which according to an official synopsis follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.And bringing the terrifying animatronic characters to life for the film is none other than Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, which will work alongside Blumhouse on the film.

After a three-year struggle, Google has decided to wind down the operations of Stadia, its video game streaming service.

LeAnn Rimes stripped down literally and emotionally for her latest music video. ET's Denny Directo spoke with the 40-year-old singer about baring all for the music video of her track, «Spaceship,» which was directed by her husband, Eddie Cibrian.The music video features a makeup-free Rimes nude and wrapped in a blanket, up until the closing shot when she drops the fabric and walks away from the camera completely sans cover.«Nothing new to be seen here,» Rimes tells ET of the shooting the moment in front of her husband of more than a decade. "… Especially on this record, everything feels exposed.

Jordan Moreau HBO’s highly anticipated “The Last of Us” TV series has released its first official trailer on Monday, giving fans their first look at the adaptation of the popular, post-apocalyptic video game. The show premieres in 2023. Just like the PlayStation video game, “The Last of Us” series follows a hardened survivor named Joel, played by “The Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal, as he journeys across a United States decimated by a deadly disease called the cordyceps fungus. Along the way, he travels with a young girl named Ellie, played by “Game of Thrones” alum Bella Ramsey, who plays a crucial part is finding a cure for the zombie-like plague that has destroyed society.

“The Last of Us,” the highly anticipated drama series adaptation of the critically acclaimed video game of the same name.Set 20 years after the fall of civilization, the story follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a survivor who is hired to smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) out of an oppressive quarantine zone. But while the job begins small, it soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey across the U.S.

Whether it’s Netflix‘s “The Witcher” or Paramount+‘s “Halo,” it’s safe to say there’s a renaissance going on for videogame adaptations on TV and streaming. If two doesn’t cut it, well, another one is on the way soon: HBO‘s take on the hit game “The Last Of Us.”  READ MORE: HBO First Look: Teaser Footage Of ‘The Last Of Us,’ ‘Succession’ S4, ‘White Lotus’ Season 2 & Many More Based on Naughty Dog‘s 2013 videogame of the same name, the new series follows Pedro Pascal as Joel, a survivor in the post-apocalyptic US tasked with smuggling a young girl across the country.