Fox Audio Network Inks Advertising, Distribution Deal With Spotify’s Megaphone

Wilson Chapman editorSkydance Animation announced Tuesday that it has finalized a multi-year partnership with children’s entertainment company Spin Master to develop toys and merchandise based on their properties.“We are thrilled to be partnering with a company like Spin Master that is as committed to quality and attention to detail as we are,” Luis Fernández, head of consumer products at Skydance, said in a statement. “As we ramp up production on our slate of animated features, we could not imagine a better partner to bring our visually stunning and epic animated worlds to life.”The first Skydance Animation film included in the deal will be the upcoming Apple TV Plus original film “Spellbound,” which will receive a product line from Spin Master encompassing fashion dolls, mini-dolls and vehicles.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSatellite-distributor DirecTV, which weeks ago unveiled plans to drop conservative outlet OAN, still wants to offer viewers right-leaning content.The company said it had already begun to offer Fox Nation, the subscription-video service that acts as a companion service to Fox News Channel. Fox Nation is being made available as a “premium add-on” for DirecTV subscribers, the company said.

K.J. Yossman Film Mode Entertainment has inked a multi-project distribution deal with Australian director/producer Luke Sparke’s company Sparke Films.Among the titles Film Mode will represent worldwide are Sparke’s upcoming projects “Weapons of Choice,” a television adaptation of John Birmingham’s World War Two trilogy “Axis of Time” and “Primitive War,” a horror feature franchise based on Ethan Pettus’ book series.Film Mode will also handle worldwide sales rights for “Occupation: Rainfall 2” and “Occupation: Rainfall 3” – the third and fourth films in Sparke’s franchise – as well as a number of other projects still in development.

Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly will be merging their families once they tie the knot. The Transformers actress, 35, is a proud mom to her three sons Noah, 9, Bodhi, 8, and Journey, 5, while the rapper, 31, is also dad to daughter Casie, 12. A source close to the couple told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that Megan and MGK — who got engaged in January after over one year of dating — plan to have all four kids be involved in their upcoming wedding.

Michael J. Fox, 60, was seen on a rare public outing Saturday, March 12 in Santa Monica, California. The actor, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, went to dinner at Giorgio Baldi with friends. He was photographed using his cane to walk out of the celebrity hot-spot restaurant. One of Michael’s friends grabbed onto his arm to help him leave and get into his car.

EXCLUSIVE: Redbox Entertainment has signed North American rights to Verdi Productions’ action-crime film Johnny & Clyde, starring Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap), Ajani Russell (Betty), Tyson Ritter (Preacher) and Megan Fox (The Expendables 4).

Naman Ramachandran New York-based film and television studio and streaming network FilmRise has struck a production and distribution deal with Los Angeles-based Nicely Entertainment.Under the terms of the deal, FilmRise will co-produce and exclusively distribute in the U.S. holiday-themed films “Sappy Holiday,” starring Vanessa Sears (“The Last Man”) and John McLaren (“Heartland”) and “Snowball Effect” along with two newly completed productions from Nicely – “Adeline,” starring John Schneider (“Dukes of Hazard”) and “Snapshot to Love,” starring Lexi Giovagnoli (“Christmas Lovers Anonymous”) and Benedict Mazurek (“Danger! Danger!”).

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch sees “a gap in the market for football” that the USFL can exploit when the professional league kicks off its inaugural season on April 16.

Sharna Burgess is not accepting any negativity when it comes to comparisons between her and Megan Fox, the ex-wife of Burgess' boyfriend, Brian Austin Green. Fox filed for divorce from Green in November 2020 after 10 years of marriage. The exes finalized their divorce last month, and Fox is now engaged to Machine Gun Kelly, while Green and Burgess are currently expecting their first child together in July. During a fan Q&A on her Instagram Stories this week, Burgess was asked how she handles «following in Megan Fox's footsteps.» «Normally I wouldn't answer these types of questions but I think many women struggle with comparing themselves to a partners x,» the pro wrote.

While heading to lunch with a friend on Monday (Mar. 7), Sharna Burgess realized that “so much has happened since the last time we did a Q&A,” and the Dancing With the Stars pro opened up her Instagram Story to her fans. It didn’t take long for things to get shady with Brian Austin Green’s pregnant girlfriend, with one fan asking, “How do you deal with following in Megan Fox’s footsteps?” Sharna, 36, shut things down right away. “Normally, I wouldn’t answer these types of questions, but I think many women struggle with comparing themselves to a partners x (sic). Or to other women in general,” she wrote.

Underwood and CBS Studios, which produces The Talk, have also entered into new two-year first look deal.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios has inked its first major factual multi-year content deal in Italy with Mediaset, the country’s top private generalist TV network. The BBC’s long-term agreement with Mediaset covers first-window exclusive pre-sales in Italy of its natural history shows including its upcoming “Frozen Planet II,” “Dynasties II” and “Planet Earth III.” The Mediaset package deal also comprises providing an additional annual 25 hours of content for Mediaset’s Focus Channel, for an unspecified number of years.

Lacey Chabert is sticking with Hallmark Channel.

EXCLUSIVE: Amblin Partners has entered into an overall deal with SRO Productions, the label founded by director Bartlett Sher (Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird), writer JT Rogers (Tokyo Vice) and producer Cambra Overend (Oslo). Under the two-year deal, Amblin will have first-look rights on SRO’s film projects.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorActor Kevin Costner will host and narrate a four-part documentary series for the Fox Nation streaming-video outlet commemorating the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park in 2022.“Yellowstone: One-Fifty” will launch in the fourth quarter of this year and will, over the course of four one-hour episodes, examine the history and wildlife of Yellowstone National Park. The series is developed by Costner’s Territory Films along with Warm Springs Productions.

Wilson Chapman editorMark Gage Stroman, the entertainment advertising strategist who was an early hire at the fledging Fox Broadcasting Co., died Feb. 22 due to complications from COVID. He was 58.Stroman, who most recently served as chief marketing officer of Spin Media, had a long career in advertising and marketing.

Mark Stroman, the veteran Fox and Endeavor marketing executive who helped launch memorable global campaigns including “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the “Nobody Better Lay a Finger On My Butterfinger!” campaign featuring The Simpsons‘ Bart Simpson, has died.