DirecTV Stream Sets Distribution Deal With Telly, A Startup Giving Away 55-Inch Smart TVs

Former TOWIE star Frankie Essex gave birth to her twins, whom she shares with boyfriend Luke Love, last May and has since shared updates while settling into life with babies Logan and Luella. In her exclusive column for OK! , Frankie has discussed a range of topics related to motherhood – from her first social outing with the twins and a blackout at her home when they were just a few days old, to “feeling more human again” as the babies dropped their dreaded 2am feed. This week, Frankie talks about how the twins are becoming jealous of one another, how Logan and has taken his first steps, and how she's hoping to soon take them to the beach for the first time.

Nearly a year after his Disney ouster, Peter Rice has reemerged.

EXCLUSIVE: The Season 2 finale of Yellowjackets was a buzzy one for Showtime.

signed a contract with Netflix to produce projects and now his brother, 40, has his own transaction in the works. The Prince of Wales’ environmental charity, the Earthshot Prize, has partnered with YouTube for campaigns, events and creator collabs that will bring more awareness to the global climate crisis.The two-year partnership will unite the Earthshot Prize and the video platform to create content to inspire users to take action against climate change.The alliance will also help grow the Earthshot Prize YouTube channel.Types of content that will be featured on the website include mini-documentaries, Q&As and YouTube Shorts, as well as collaborations with influencers.“At the Earthshot Prize we want to incentivize innovation and change to help repair our planet and partnering with YouTube, one of the world’s biggest platforms, allows us to do that on a truly global scale,” the organization’s CEO Hannah Jones said in a statement.

Gal Gadot is a huge star, but revealed she deals with impostor syndrome as her career continues to grow. Gadot, 38, opened up about her insecurities in the Hollywood industry and the surprising person who helped her better understand them, in an interview with L'Officiel magazine.  "It’s funny, I always feel like I have this impostor syndrome, because I feel so lucky and I’m so happy that I get to do what I really, really, really love," Gadot explained. "I always feel like, ‘I hope they’re gonna like it.’ There’s never a moment when I’m like, ‘They’re gonna love this.'"  Impostor syndrome refers to someone who believes they are undeserving of their high achievements, according to Psychology Today.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Kore-eda Hirokazu’s film “Monster” which world premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and and won best screenplay (for Yuji Sakamoto). A critically acclaimed Japanese master, Kore-eda previously won Cannes’ Palme d’Or with “Shoplifters” in 2018 and returned to the competition last year with “Broker” which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. Well Go USA Entertainment plans to release “Monster” in North American theaters in late 2023 or early 2024. Scored by late Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (“The Last Emperor”) and lensed by Ryoto Kondo (“Shoplifters”), “Monster” tells the story of a widowed mother (Ando Sakura, “Shoplifters) who notices that her young son (Kurokawa Soya) has begun exhibiting strange behaviors. When she brings her concerns to the staff at his school, she discovers that a teacher (Nagayama Eita, “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai”) is responsible and demands an explanation. Told through the multilayered perspectives of mother, teacher and child, the film gradually unveils the truth which proves much more complex than anyone expects.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Aniplex, a Sony business unit best known as a major producer and distributor of anime films and series including the hit “Demon Slayer,” is to acquire Japanese IP development and talent management firm Origamix Partners. The firm will be expanded into live-action production. The deal was announced Wednesday and will become effective from June 1. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed other than Aniplex obtaining “a full share” of the company. Sony said that Origamix, which has previously been behind the “Kingdom” film franchise and the “Alice in Borderland” series, now in its second season at Netflix,” will be renamed Myragion Studio.

EXCLUSIVE: Taost Entertainment, a London-based media production startup, has picked up Chinese distribution rights to the star-studded animated feature 10 Lives.

“Not sure if this has happened to anyone else, but when we were at Woolies today, a staff member chased us down and stuck this sticker over the barcode of some steak we had in our trolley,” the woman explained. 

Callum McLennan Top Argentina’s free-to-air channel Pakapaka has inked a deal with Paris-based animation house Dandelooo on award-winning series “Jasmine & Jambo,” to be broadcast on the Argentine government funded channel dedicated to children’s content.  Melissa Vega, international sales manager at Dandelooo told Variety, “Jasmine and Jambo is an amazing series that is doing great internationally. Pakapaka is the perfect home for the series.” “Jasmine & Jambo,” a 26-part series spangled with humour and musical notes, is designed to engage both upper preschoolers and their parents. It is the brainchild of Barcelona-based company Teidees and Catalan broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya. At the helm of the show is Silvia Cortés, co-founder of Teidees. “Jasmine & Jambo” bagged the best international series at the Festival Ecran Jeunesse and secured a nomination for the Quality in Children’s TV Worldwide award at the prestigious Prix Jeunesse International. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief NBCUniversal (NBCU) and JioCinema, Viacom18’s streaming service, have entered into a multi-year partnership bringing thousands of hours of NBCU films and TV series to India. Content is sourced from the Universal Television, UCP, Universal International Studios, Universal Television Alternative Studio, Sky Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Bravo brands. NBCU’s programming will live in a Peacock branded hub starting next month on JioCinema’s newly announced “JioCinema Premium” SVOD tier. While JioCinema has been making an audience impact with free-of-charge screenings of the ongoing IPL cricket tournament, the first content announced on the subscription tier hailed from another recent deal with Warner Bros Discovery.

Sia is continuing her tradition of giving away her own money to her favorite Survivor contestants!

EXCLUSIVE: Neon is nearing a deal for North American rights to Cannes competition entry Perfect Days from The Match Factory in a deal pegged in the mid-to-high six figures.

Elizabeth Olsen is opening up about Love & Death, and what lies ahead.

The second trailer for the Barbie movie just debuted and this time, the plot is becoming more and more clear.

Mansa, a free, ad-supported streaming service centered on Black culture, has struck a distribution deal with AMC Theatres to have its original features and series exhibited in theaters nationwide.

The arthouse box office hasn’t recovered quickly post-Covid, but one of the oases for the sector, even by pre-pandemic benchmarks, has always been a Wes Anderson movie.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” star Ismael Cruz Córdova is opening up about the cast and crew’s mental health while shooting the Amazon Prime Video series. During an appearance on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast, the actor tells me that an on-set therapist was on hand to offer help after the show received racist backlash against its inclusive and diverse casting. “You need support when this happens because the voices are so loud and they’re coming at you from so many places,” Córdova says. Córdova, who was shooting Season 2 in the U.K. when we spoke, says the therapist’s presence alone was beneficial. “I loved seeing her there, even if we didn’t speak,” he said. “I knew there was someone there seeing me completely. It wasn’t just as an actor.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor With cord-cutting at an all-time high, Comcast is introducing a new streaming subscription option to keep broadband customers in the video fold. On Tuesday, Comcast announced Now TV, a new streaming offering that includes more than 40 live cable entertainment channels from A+E Networks, AMC, Hallmark and Warner Bros. Discovery — but no local broadcast TV or sports channels — plus 20-plus integrated free, ad-supported television (FAST) channels from NBC, Sky and Xumo Play. In addition. Now TV includes a bundled subscription to Peacock Premium with ads. Now TV will be available to Comcast’s Xfinity Internet customers within the next few weeks, priced at $20 per month. Now TV does not require an additional set-top box and lets customers sign up or cancel at any time.

wrote TheWrap in its review of the film. Check out TheWrap’s Cannes magazine here and all of our Cannes 2023 coverage here.