Global Digital Releasing Shifts Focus to Documentaries and Live TV Events (Exclusive)

Brent Lang Executive Editor Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane are starring in “Between the Temples,” a new film from writer and director Nathan Silver that’s being described as “an anxious comedy.” It’s the story of a cantor who is locked in a crisis of faith and finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student. The supporting cast for this humorous exercise in neurosis boasts Dolly De Leon, who was just nominated for her scene-stealing work in “Triangle of Sadness.” Other ensemble members include Screen Actors Guild award-winner Caroline Aaron (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), longtime funnyman Robert Smigel (SNL’s “TV Funhouse”), stage and screen actress Madeline Weinstein (“Beach Rats”) and indie film regular Matthew Shear (“Mistress America”).

Motörhead‘s rare 1998 cover of Metallica‘s ‘Enter Sandman’ has finally been released on all major streaming platforms.First recorded in 1998 as part of a compilation album for wrestling company ECW Wrestling, the track was only available via CD – and illegal rips posted online – until now. In celebration of Motörhead Day (May 8), the Grammy-nominated cover track has now been made available on all platforms.The newly released track also comes with an animated music video, in which a child is plagued by nightmares of an evil sandman, and is saved by Motörhead’s Warpig mascot.Beside the rare track’s digital release, a limited-edition 7″ vinyl edition of Motörhead’s ‘Enter Sandman’ cover – featuring an B-side etching of the Motörhead Warpig – is available via the band’s website.In January this year, drummer Mikkey Dee said that the band will “never, ever, ever tour” under the Motörhead name again.

Well, this is a big bummer and perhaps an unfortunate sign that Universal has lost faith in the project, at least on the theatrical level. “Please Don’t Destroy,” the new upcoming comedy from the “Saturday Night Live” trio Please Don’t Destroy, produced by Judd Apatow, is no longer going to be released theatrically by Universal.

Naman Ramachandran Indian studio Excel Entertainment has promoted business head Vishal Ramchandani to the newly created position of CEO. An MBA by qualification, Ramchandani joined Excel in 2008, in the marketing division. In 2013, he was entrusted with the duties of heading the division, where he spearheaded award-winning marketing campaigns for films such as “Fukrey,” “Baar Baar Dekho,” “Gold” and “Gully Boy.” In 2018, Ramchandani was elevated to the position of business head. In this role, he played a pivotal role in transforming Excel Entertainment from a creative production house to a studio that self-funds, markets and distributes its films. Under his leadership, the company’s distribution business diversified with the K.G.F. franchise, which became a nationwide blockbuster. He was also instrumental in Excel expanding into different verticals such as a talent division and co-production deals, as well as facilitating new media ventures.

Former Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has been in the headlines this week after reports surfaced he was ready to leave Al-Nassr.

There’s a new update about the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards, which are set for this weekend.

Add MTV Movie & TV Awards to the list as the latest to be affected by the WGA strike.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Digital media and entertainment company NGLmitú, the result of a merger last year between NGL Collective and mitú, have launched the new Latino-focused streaming platform mitúTV. Targeting bilingual and English dominant U.S. Latinos, the service also announced three new shows: “Three Gs in a Pod,” hosted by Erik Rivera, Sasha Merci and Jesus Sepulveda; “Girl, Let Me Tell You,” hosted by Jessica Flores, Ivana Rojas and Glorelys Mora; and the game show “Spill the Chisme.” “We were more of a business-to-business type of organization,” said NGL Collective founder and CEO David Chitel, “which is why it made so much sense for us to merge with mitú, because they were the leading business-to-consumer entity connecting with we call ‘new generation Latinos.’ So the marriage of our two companies is sort of a big deal in our space.”

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The excitement and buzz continues to build for “The Little Mermaid.” A source tells me that director Rob Marshall and husband, producer John DeLuca, hosted a private screening of Disney’s live adaptation of the 1989 animated classic on Sunday night at New York’s Whitby Hotel. The guest list of about 80 people included Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Matt Damon and his family, Emily Mortimer, Ben Platt and his “Parade” co-star Micaela Diamond, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Bob Balaban and Lynn Grossman, Diane and Brian Sutherland, and Scott Ellis. The film’s composer Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who co-wrote three new songs for the movie, were also there.

Netflix is gearing up to release its next instalment in the Bridgerton series. The hotly anticipated Queen Charlotte – a spin-off from the hit period drama – will drop later this month.

Taylor Swift paid tribute to The National by playing ‘coney island’, on which they guested, for the first time on the latest stop of her ‘Eras’ tour.The song, taken from her 2020 album ‘evermore’ was played along with ‘The Other Side Of The Door’ from ‘Fearless’ as part of the “surprise song” segment of the show, which made a stop last night (April 28) in Atlanta, Georgia. Swift is set to play two further shows there tonight and tomorrow (April 29-30).Before playing the song, Swift took a moment to shout out the Aaron Dessner-fronted band on the day that their new album, ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’, was released.“This band has influenced me beyond my ability to verbalize how much they’ve influenced me — just lyrically, their ability to set a scene, their ability to tell a story,” Swift said.

Kesha has officially released her two singles ‘Eat The Acid’ and ‘Fine Line’ from her forthcoming album ‘Gag Order’.The two tracks were previously shared on SoundCloud last month, before being revmoed. Both songs allude to the singer’s difficult and public struggles, including her legal battle with producer Dr Luke, as well as featuring candid lyrics that share the 36-year-old’s emotional past few years.The haunting lyrics: “You said don’t ever eat the acid/ If you don’t want to be changed like you changed me/ You said all the edges got so jagged/ Now everything you saw then can’t be unseen,” on ‘Eat the Acid’ and the pre-chorus on ‘Fine Line’ paint a clear picture of what the singer has been going through.Both songs are from her upcoming album ‘Gag Order’.

Kenan Thompson is ready to have Pete Davidson back on . ET spoke to the comedian at the premiere of in New York City on Thursday, and he expressed excitement about his buddy's upcoming return to the sketch series.«It's like a week off for us because they know how to do the show,» Thompson told ET of having a former cast member return to host the show.

Elizabeth Olsen makes her chilling debut as Candy Montgomery, a woman accused of killing her friend with an axe, in the HBO Max true-crime drama,, written by David E. Kelley and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. While this is the first time Olsen has portrayed the infamous housewife, it's actually the second time in one year that audiences will get to explore the lives and events leading up to the 1980 murder of Betty Gore.

Lise Pedersen Toronto-based outfit Syndicado has acquired world rights for Daniel Kötter’s “Landshaft,” which is competing in the Burning Lights sidebar of Swiss international documentary film festival Visions du Réel. In Germany, the film will be distributed by Arsenal Filmverleih. Shot in the form of a road movie as the director travels across Eastern Armenia in an old Lada, the film offers a striking contrast between the region’s peaceful-looking mountains and the voice of his passengers, its inhabitants, who live in the shadow of the threat of war. They speak about the six-week conflict waged in 2020 by neighbouring Azerbaijan over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Although this disputed region is located further to the south, the conflict has now moved further up the border, and runs through the Sotk gold mine, whose concession has been granted to a Russian company by the Armenians.

Dream Wife have released their new single ‘Orbit’ from their forthcoming third album ‘Social Lubrication’ – as well as announcing details of a UK and US tour.‘Orbit’, produced by Dream Wife guitarist Alice Go and mixed by Alan Moulder, is a defiant song which they say was “written through the joy of jamming together and locking into the groove like a multi-limbed space-age organism.”They continued: “‘Orbit’ has a dance rock edge from the early ’00s of bands like New Young Pony Club and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Lyrically, it was inspired by post-lockdown London coming back to life and sharing a space through friendship, community and how each day you never know what’s in store for you or how a stranger can become someone close to you – for a day, a heartbeat, a phase, or a lifetime.” The new single follows their previous releases ‘Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)’ and ‘Leech’, all from the trio’s upcoming third album ‘Social Lubrication’ which is set for release on June 9 via Lucky Number.‘Social Lubrication’ is an entirely self-written and self-produced album by the trio.

Wrexham host Boreham Wood at the Racecourse Ground this weekend and need just one more win to secure promotion back to the Football League after 15 seasons away.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The inside story behind the ascent of Finland’s outgoing prime minister, Sanna Marin, is the subject of a new three-part docuseries from HBO Max. The streamer has unveiled the Finnish original “First Five,” which is billed as an “intimate” portrait of Marin and her headline-grabbing female cabinet. The project comes just weeks after Marin and her centre-left Social Democratic Party was defeated by the conservative National Coalition Party. Marin was sworn in as prime minister in December 2019. At just 34 years old, she was the country’s youngest PM, and formed a cabinet with four other women — a number of whom were also under 35. Mere months later, the group was thrown into an unprecedented challenge when the COVID crisis hit Finland.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor When it comes to entertainment marketing, TikTok is the new “ground zero.” That was among the views expressed by a panel of five top film and TV marketing executives held Wednesday as part of Variety’s Entertainment Marketing Summit at the One Hotel in West Hollywood. The lively conversation, moderated by Claudia Eller, Variety’s chief production officer, touched on the challenge of working with shrinking marketing budgets, the need to create bespoke content for an array of platforms and the thrill of scoring big with earned media and word of mouth. But the discussion became the most animated when the group discussed the outsized role that TikTok now plays in spreading the word on entertainment content.

Interpol have shared a new documentary about the making of their acclaimed 2022 album ‘The Other Side Of Make-Believe‘ to launch new record ‘Interpolations’ – which “reimagines” tracks from the LP.The “reworked” songs from ‘The Other Side Of Make Believe’ that feature on ‘Interpolations’ will be released in the coming months, and come from Daniel Avery, Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker, Jesu and Water From Your Eyes.