Embracer Group Paid $396M For ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Rights

After nearly 50 years on the road and thousands of performances throughout the world, Elton John has reached the end of his Farewell Yellow Brick Tour, playing the final date on his last-ever tour in Stockholm, Sweden on Saturday night.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Unlike in the U.K., Spain and Sweden — where kings and queens are still formally heads of state — Italy’s royal family, the House of Savoy, no longer rules. The last heir to the Italian throne, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy and his family were forced into exile in 1946, when the prince was 9. That year, the Italian people voted in a referendum about whether the monarchy should continue. They chose to create a republic and punished the royals for failing to save their country from Mussolini’s fascist regime. The Savoys were allowed to return in 2003 after 57 years of exile. In 1978, Vittorio Emanuele – the king who never was – got into trouble while he and his wife and kids were living on the island of Cavallo, on the south coast of Corsica, France. As reconstructed from eyewitness interviews in a new Netflix documentary, on a hot August night he became enraged when some loud “shitty Italians” “borrowed” the dinghy off his yacht and tied it to another nearby boat. Fuming, he took a rifle, went to one of their boats and, after shots from his rifle rang out – that were just meant to scare – someone got hurt. Dirk Hamer, a 19-year-old sleeping on another boat nearby, died of gunshot injuries in early December. Though it was never legally proven that Vittorio Emanuele killed Hamer, this incident had a big impact on the prince’s life.

Beyoncé's Pittsburgh stop on her Renaissance World Tour might be feeling a little heated right now.On Wednesday, Acrisure Stadium's official Twitter account announced that the Aug. 3 stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been pulled from the singer's schedule due to «production logistics and scheduling issues.»«Unfortunately the Aug. 3rd Pittsburgh stop of the RENAISSANCEWORLD TOUR will not be taking place.

Jessica Kiang There are certain moviegoers who can face onscreen murders, maimings and the grisliest of mutilations and scarcely bat an eyelid, but who feel every cell in their body die a little whenever a character is rude in a restaurant. If you happen to suffer from this condition, consider yourself warned about Swedish director Ernst De Geer’s feature debut “The Hypnosis” — a witty, incisive satire on the modern obsession with self-actualization, which is also, to those of us with heightened sensitivity to social awkwardness, 98 masochistic minutes of second-hand squirm. Many’s the film offered up as evidence for Roger Ebert’s often quoted assertion that cinema is “a machine for creating empathy”; fewer are the titles, like this one, that make one question if that’s necessarily a good thing. 

Karim Ainouz film “Firebrand,” in which she stars as the 16th-century British queen Catherine Parr opposite Jude Law’s King Henry VIII. For Vikander, it marked a return to the Czech Republic, where she made her first international movie, 2012’s “A Royal Affair,” starring as another queen, Denmark’s controversial 16th-century monarch Caroline Matilda.In between those two royal dramas, Vikander has starred in movies that include “Anna Karenina,” “Ex Machina,” “Jason Bourne,” “The Green Knight” and “The Danish Girl,” for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.During her trip to Karlovy Vary, Vikander sat down with TheWrap for a discussion of “Firebrand,” the importance of depicting honest, unapologetic women onscreen and just how disgusting it was to smell the special perfume Jude Law commissioned to capture the scent of a dying Henry VIII.

Will Tizard Contributor Alicia Vikander, the Swedish actor who won an Oscar for her role in “The Danish Girl” in 2015, has taken on a remarkable range of characters in recent years – but is still stretching her boundaries, she says. Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where she presented the historical drama “Firebrand” on opening night, Vikander says she’s now prepping for films that offer distinctly different challenges than her turn as Catherine Parr, the only one of Henry VIII’s six wives to outlive the marriage. One character she admits she’s still deciphering is the central figure in the upcoming sci-fi feature “The Assessment,” a feature project with Paris-based writer/director Fleur Fortuné.

H&M's Market Street store has temporarily closed its doors ahead of a major refurbishment. The retailer has confirmed that the Manchester store will be closed for five months while it undergoes an 'amazing rebuild and transformation', enhancing the existing offer for Manchester shoppers.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Viaplay Group has unveiled its new operating model and executive management team for the Nordics as it anticipates an economic downturn. Earlier this month, Viaplay issued a warning over its second-quarter results and told employees that it would merge the Swedish and Norwegian units of its production arm into a new entity named Viaplay Studios. The listed banner also has new leadership — Anders Jensen stepped down and was replaced by Jorgen Madsen Lindemann as Viaplay’s CEO and president. Under the new operating model, which will be effective on July 1, the daily operation and strategic development of the businesses will be spearheaded by country management teams. Madsen Lindemann will be interim CEO of the Swedish and Finnish operations; Lars Bo Jeppesen has been appointed as EVP and CEO of the Danish and Icelandic operations and will join on Aug. 1.; and Kenneth Andresen has been appointed as interim CEO of the Norwegian operation.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Prime Video has unveiled 12 new unscripted reality and entertainment series coming to the Nordics, including an adaptation of the hit format “LOL: Last One Laughing” for Denmark and Norway. The streamer has also renewed the Swedish version of “LOL: Last One Laughing” for a second season. All Nordic versions of “LOL: Last One Laughing” are filmed and produced in Sweden by Jarowskij in Sweden, Metronome in Denmark and Nordisk Banijay in Norway. New Prime Video shows also include the Norwegian docu-reality series “Girls of Oslo,” a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of of well-known influencers Sophie Elise, Isabel Raad, Nora Haukland and Anniken Englund Jørgensen. “Girls of Oslo” is produced by Salto Film and will launch this Fall on Prime Video in Norway.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Eye Eye Pictures, the banner recently launched by the producers of Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” has started filming “Armand,” a feature film starring Cannes prizewinning actor Renate Reinsve. Charades has come on board to handle international sales on the film. “Armand” marks the feature debut of Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, whose short film “Fanny” was nominated for an Amanda Award, Norway’s equivalent to the Oscars, in 2017. The story follows a 6-year-old boy, Armand, who is accused of crossing boundaries against his best friend at elementary school. While no one knows what actually happened between the two boys, the incident triggers a series of events, forcing parents and school staff into a captivating battle of redemption where madness, desire and obsession arise.

Five-year-olds in Britain are, on average, up to seven centimetres shorter than children in other wealthy nations, new data has revealed.

The Hives played an early set on The Other Stage at Glastonbury 2023 today (Friday June 23), pulling in the first massive crowd of the weekend.The Swedish indie icons were first on the stage, which will later see performances from the likes of Krept & Konan, Chvrches, Fred Again.., and headliner Wizkid.After opening with recent single ‘Bogus Operandi’ from upcoming album ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’, frontman Pelle Almqvist told the packed out field: “Put your hands up for The Hives. Looking good, Glastonbury.”Introducing ‘Walk Idiot Walk’, he said: “Ladies and gentlemen, it sure is a pleasure and privilege to be playing for you wonderful people tonight… or is it this morning?” After a brief pause, he continued: “Did you guys just wake up? We’d like to thank all the bands who warmed Glastonbury up for The Hives, and all the bands who will cool you down offer.”Noting the huge audience gathered, the frontman joked that there were “900,000 people attending The Hives concert. Never before has this happened in the history of man”.Best.

Manchester City captain and former England Lioness skipper Steph Houghton continues to voice her unwavering support for her international teammates ahead of this Summer’s World Cup - despite her own squad snub.

BBC Studios has bought STV, the Copenhagen-based producer of a local Scandinavian remake of The Office. The Scandi company will be rebranded under a BBC Studios moniker.

K.J. Yossman Embracer Group, the Swedish gaming conglomerate that snapped up the rights to “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” in a surprise deal last summer, has finally revealed how much it paid – and it seems like they got a bargain. The Karlstad-headquartered company has confirmed it spent SEK 4.2 billion – $395 million at today’s conversion rates – to acquire Middle-Earth Enterprises from the Saul Zaentz Company last August. At the time the deal was announced, Embracer and Saul Zaentz declined to say how much the “Lord of the Rings” holding company had sold for. But estimates at the time projected the rights – which include worldwide rights to films, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions – were worth up to $2 billion.

You can own a piece of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s old home.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent SF Studios and REinvent have dropped the first trailer for Lukas Moodysson’s comedy “Together 99,” the Swedish director’s sequel to his 2000 hit movie “Together.” SF Studios will release the film in Sweden on Oct. 13, while REinvent will represent it in international markets. “Together 99” follows a group of very different people who lived in a Swedish community called Together in 1975. The story picks up 24 years later, in 1999, with Göran and Klasse who are the last two members of the community. Feeling a bit lonely, they start thinking of a reunion with old friends and Klasse sets off to surprise Göran on his birthday.

EXCLUSIVE: Zimzon Zion has joined the cast of ALLBLK’s Double Cross as a series regular for Season 5. He will portray Detective Tate, a noble man with a strong sense of morals and ethics.

Arctic Monkeys are set to kick off their three sold-out shows in London this weekend, check out the support acts, stage times and expected weather below.The shows are the latest on the Sheffield rocker’s ongoing UK stadium tour, and follow their previous stops in Bristol, Coventry, Manchester, Norwich and Swansea — as well as two of their mammoth homecoming shows at Hillsborough Park.Now, Alex Turner and co. are set to perform three back-to-back gigs in London’s Emirates Stadium, with the first show kicking off tonight (June 16).

The Weeknd is finally ready to bring his After Hours Til Dawn Tour to UK shores, having wowed crowds across the US with the show last year.