Former Electus CEO Chris Grant Launches Osmosis Global, Reveals Mipcom Sales Slate (EXCLUSIVE)

Here’s something to provide a spark to an AFM hindered by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA guild strike. Deadline reports that Lionsgate will launch sales for their reboot of the “Highlander” franchise at the LA event, looking for a budget of over $100 million.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Kylie Jenner got up and worked: The mogul is a guest voice on this year’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode of “The Simpsons,” and Variety has a first look below. In the Season 35 edition, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” Bart is turned into an NFT — and Marge travels through the blockchain to save her son. In the segment, Kylie Jenner is one of a handful of celebrities — also including Jimmy Fallon and Rob Gronskowski — who are the “illuminati of the crypto universe” and help Marge find Bart.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 6 of “The Masked Singer,” “Harry Potter Night,” which aired Oct. 25 on Fox. The timing couldn’t have been better: With Halloween approaching, it was a spooky “Harry Potter”-themed episode of “The Masked Singer” this week, so it was only appropriate that “Teen Wolf” star Tyler Posey would be the next celebrity to be unmasked in Season 10. Posey was revealed to be Hawk, after this week performing “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” by The Police.

EXCLUSIVE: A surprise project has emerged to whet the appetites of hungry international buyers at next week’s American Film Market: Kevin Costner‘s big-budget Warner Bros Western Horizon: An American Saga.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Masked Singer” goes whole Hogwarts on this week’s episode with a “Harry Potter” theme, and Variety has a first look. On the “Harry Potter Night,” tied to Halloween (of course), a new costumed Wildcard celebrity joins the competition: The Sea Queen.

Following Disney’s delay of Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3 due to the actors strike, Paramount has made changes to next year’s schedule and beyond.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix on Monday morning unveiled Verified Stand-Up, a new series featuring short sets from 10 comedians that’s set to premiere globally on November 28. Rising comedians that perform in the two-parter, filmed at Webster Hall in New York City, include Asif Ali, Dulcé Sloan, Gianmarco Soresi, Isiah Kelly, Leslie Liao, Nimesh Patel, Robby Hoffman, Rosebud Baker, Sabrina Wu, and Vanessa Gonzalez.

might not be coming back for the final episodes of “Yellowstone” Season 5, but he’s back on stage singing and strumming. The Academy Award-winning actor, who has played John Dutton on the Paramount Network drama series since 2018, recently performed an intimate set at Wyoming’s Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.Costner, 68, was there with his country rock band Kevin Costner & Modern West, which was formed in 2007, and has released four studio albums and toured around the world.“Excited for tonight! Let’s go,” Costner wrote on an Instagram post of a photo of a sign that read, “Kevin Costner & Modern West Sold Out.”In an Instagram video, Costner and Modern West rehearsed their song “Let Me Be The One” for the two-day stint.Costner has more time on his hands for music due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and waving goodbye to his popular TV show.Last month, the actor revealed during a child support hearing with ex Christine Baumgartner that he decided to walk away from Taylor Sheridan’s series “Yellowstone” partly because it conflicted with Costner’s four-part Civil War film series, “Horizon: An American Saga.” He also said there was a “long, hard-fought negotiation” about splitting Season 5 into two parts, according to People.

Nancy Chemtob and Brett Ward, two celebrity divorce lawyers, were asked about the number of high profile splits these days, and they are sharing their opinions.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 5 of “The Masked Singer,” “A Celebration of Elton John,” which aired Oct. 18 on Fox. Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote the track “Philadelphia Freedom” in 1975 at the behest of tennis icon Billie Jean King (whose team was the Philadelphia Freedoms). So, it was wildly appropriate that King performed the song on Wednesday during “A Celebration of Elton John” on Fox’s “The Masked Singer.” King performed “Philadelphia Freedom” as the Royal Hen — and the fact that we know she was on the show means that, alas, she was also the next celebrity to be unmasked on “Singer.” “A true trail blazer, she is famous for championing equal opportunities for all, and has made it her royal mission to be a voice for the voiceless,” a “Masked Singer” voiceover shared in giving the hints to whom the Royal Hen might be.

EXCLUSIVE: Global sales agent Palisades Park Pictures has signed an agreement with VIP Medienfonds to represent all available media rights to its catalog, including the Media 8 film library. 

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Fox will utilize its NFL doubleheader on Sunday, January 7, to help launch the network’s latest animated comedy, “Grimsburg.” The show, starring Jon Hamm (who also executive produces), will air immediately following the second game in all time zones. The scheduling strategy was set to be announced on Saturday at the New York Comic-Con, where Fox is holding panels for both “Grimsburg” and its most recent new animated comedy, the Dan Harmon-created “Krapopolis.” At the event, “Grimsburg” showrunner Chadd Gindin planned to discuss his new series and introduce an early screening of the show’s first episode. Both “Grimsburg” and “Krapopolis” are produced by Bento Box and are wholly owned by Fox.

Kevin Nealon is on tour and that’s news to us.The former “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update anchor has 17 gigs lined up from October through April 2024.That includes not one, not two, not three, not four but five (!) stand-up comedy shows at Rochester, NY’s Comedy at the Carlson from Nov. 9-11.And if you’re wondering if the 69-year-old comic and “Weeds” star still has chops, this Instagram clip where he riffs on “what one can do in Springfield, MO” proves that, yeah, he does.Want to go to a show?As of now, tickets are available for all upcoming headlining spots on Nealon’s 2023-24 calendar.Some are quite cheap too.At the time of publication, we spotted seats going for as low as $22 before fees on Vivid Seats.To be fair, that price is a bit of an outlier.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 4 of “The Masked Singer,” “2000s Night,” which aired Oct. 11 on Fox. Michael Rapaport had never sung in public until “The Masked Singer.” Now, he can’t stop. Rapaport was unmasked on Wednesday as the Pickle, the latest costumed celebrity to go home on the hit Fox unscripted series.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a fan of Conan O’Brien’s work. In an appearance on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” Schwarzenegger encouraged O’Brien to star in a scrapped movie about two bodybuilder brothers that was first featured on Saturday Night Live. Arnold Schwarzenegger says Trump’s self-reported weight is a lie; shares some fitness tipsArnold Schwarzenegger discusses Maria Shriver and their continued supportO’Brien read lines from the unproduced screenplay in a previous episode of his podcast.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief EST N8, a recently-established finance, production and rights sales company, has added a Hong Kong remake of classic film “Tape” and the LGBT comedy-drama “ASOG” to its bulging sales slate at the AFCM market that accompanies the Busan Intenational Film Festival. “Tape” tells the story of three best friends who, following an event at a graduation party that transforms their lives, reunite 15 years later where a case of blackmail forces them to confront a terrible secret from their past. The original film starred Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Robert Sean Leonard and played at the Sundance, Toronto and Rotterdam festivals.In the Cantonese-language remake directed by Bizhan Tong, Selena Lee, Kenny Kwan, and Adam Pak play the contemporary characters while Mason Fung, Summer Chan, and Angus Yeung portray the characters’ younger versions. The script is written by Stephen Belber, Tong, Lee and Bonnie Lo, and is an adaptation of Belber’s own scripts from both the original film and stage play. The writers and director have significantly modernized the script to reflect advances in technology. Producers on the film include Tong, Lee and Belber.

also in the midst of a divorce after spending 18 years with estranged wife Christine Baumgartner, 49, has previously stated that he’s wanted to make “Horizon” for decades, and he made a personal investment to finance it. “I’ve mortgaged 10 acres on the water in Santa Barbara where I was going to build my last house,” he told Deadline in May.

EXCLUSIVE: Atlas Literary, part of Oppenheimer producer Atlas Entertainment is headed to Mipcom Cannes next month to launch a docuseries about ordinary people living through extraordinary circumstances.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Korean content firm Showbox Corp. has added “The Killers,” an unusual anthology film, to its Busan rights sales line up. The film takes its title and themes from Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story of the same name.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Encouraged by the generous tax breaks on offer in Spain, Mexican producer Christopher Hool of Bazooka Films has launched new company Studio 33 Films, with outposts in both Mexico City and Madrid. His Spanish producing partner Pablo Gonzalez, with extensive experience in providing production services, will run Studio 33 Films Spain, Hool said at Iberseries & Platino Industria on Thursday.