Former DreamWorks Animation Boss Chris deFaria Consulting For Netflix Animation – The Dish

EXCLUSIVE: Story Kitchen & DreamWorks Animation have formed a strategic partnership with Story Kitchen cementing an animated film first-look. Story Kitchen’s focus will be in securing exciting, iconic, Videogame IP for DWA to adapt for global animated audiences. Story Kitchen is currently in a TV first-look with Amazon.

EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s Kung Fu Panda 4 crossed the $500M mark globally this past weekend, reaching the milestone on a staggered release pattern that has worked well for the partners in the past (think Puss in Boots: The Last Wish). Through Wednesday, it’s at $324M international box office and $509M worldwide.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Chris Hemsworth is quite happy about not playing the hero in George Miller’s upcoming “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel movie “Furiosa.” The action tentpole casts Hemsworth as the villainous Dementus, a sociopathic warlord who steals the title character from her home as a child. It’s a far cry from his Marvel superhero Thor, who Hemsworth has played in four standalone movies and several more “Avengers” films. That’s precisely why the actor was hungry for the part.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Francis Ford Coppola revealed in a preview of “Megalopolis” in Vanity Fair that he rewrote the script around 300 times before self-financing the passion project for $120 million by selling part of his winery estate in Northern California. The epic is set to world premiere in competition at the Cannes FIlm Festival in May. A first look photo from “Megalopolis” has debuted featuring Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel in their leading roles.

Tilda Swinton is joiningColin Farrell in Edward Berger and Netflix‘s The Ballad of a Small Player, we can reveal.

It’s been five years since Chris Evans suited up as Captain America for what was seemingly the last time in Avengers: Endgame, but we still have a hard time picturing anyone but him bringing Steve Rogers to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Universal Pictures will release DreamWorks Animation‘s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie for Sept. 26, 2025. The studio already had the release date on hold for an untitled DWA movie. Late September is a prime time to launch family animated pics, going back to Open Season and Cloudy With a Chance for Meatballs, among others including DreamWorks Animation’s own Abominable.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix just boarded a buzzy one. The streamer has joined The Thursday Murder Club, the Chris Columbus-directed feature adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestselling novel.

DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot will now go on Sept. 27 instead of Sept. 20.

Michael Douglas is opening up about his experience as an older dad!

This week’s release of Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” (read our review) puts many of Netflix’s problems into sharp focus. Reportedly costing around $166 million to make for both films, arguably much less expensive than some big Marvel and “Star Wars” that cost around $200 million each, it’s still a significant figure for movies that have been met with massive critical derision.

I never liked Tom Ripley but I keep meeting him.

With Aladdin producer Dan Lin taking over film leadership at Netflix from Scott Stuber, there will still be a commitment to a robust feature slate.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter As Netflix‘s new film chief, Dan Lin’s mandate is to focus on quality — and quantity. Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos shed light on Lin’s strategy as the producer takes over film duties from Scott Stuber, who announced in January he was leaving the streamer.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Pine, who famously played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek reboot, is set to narrate Space: The New Frontier, a documentary made for IMAX, Giant Screen and specialty theatres by Definition Studios Australia in association with K2 Studios. 

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Barbra Streisand has recorded a new song, “Love Will Survive,” to serve as the end-title theme for “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” a six-part, Holocaust-themedseries that premieres on Peacock in the U.S. and Sky in other territories on May 2. The song will come out globally via her longtime label, Columbia Records, on April 25.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is finally resurrecting its outdoor concert stage, starting on Wednesday, April 17, with musical guest Chris Stapleton. The singer-songwriter will appear on the show to relaunch the space and perform his song ““It Takes A Woman.” Up until the pandemic, the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” outdoor stage, located in the parking lot behind the show’s Hollywood studio, was a staple for the late-night talker. But it hasn’t been in use since February 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tamara Lawrance & Sharon D. Clarke Board BBC‘s ‘Mr Loverman’

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles inked a deal to lead IAC’s The Daily Beast, under which the media veterans have been granted a minority stake in the news and opinion site. Effective immediately, Sherwood — one-time president of the Disney ABC Television Group — will serve as The Daily Beast’s publisher and CEO. Coles, previously Hearst Magazines’ chief content officer, is the site’s chief creative and content officer.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Last week, Amazon Studios/Prime Video senior VP announced that Chris Brearton was leaving Amazon “to pursue a new opportunity outside the company.” Now we know what that opportunity is: Brearton, who had most recently served as vice president of Prime Video Studios Corporate Strategy at MGM+ and MGM Alternative Television, has joined indie media company AGBO as a partner. At AGBO, he will join company leaders Anthony and Joe Russo (the directors who co-founded the company in 2017) and partner Donald Mustard.