J.J. Abrams is gearing up to produce new ‘Cloverfield’ sequel

EXCLUSIVE: Eternals and American Animals star Barry Keoghan is set to lead new UK drama-thriller Sapphire, from writer-directors Daniel and Matthew Wolfe, and Small Axe and Benediction producer Mike Elliott.

Preparing for the worst…

Freddy Syborn, a writer and co-exec producer on Disney+’s upcoming Ms. Marvel series and co-creator of Jack Whitehall comedy drama Bounty Hunters, is adapting Daniel Cole’s Ragdoll for AMC and UKTV network Alibi.

Andy Cohen is to front and executive produce a provocative new format for Peacock, in which singletons brave unfiltered feedback from their exes. The NBCUniversal streamer also confirmed that he is involved in a reboot of The Real Housewives Of Miami.

EXCLUSIVE: British soccer star David Beckham is lacing up his boots to produce a documentary mini-series about the feud between sports brands Adidas and Puma.

Asacha Media Group, the Paris-based production group founded last year by three former Endemol Shine and Zodiak executives, has acquired a majority stake in British production and distribution company WAG Entertainment for an undisclosed amount.

British dance music pioneers The Prodigy are getting the documentary treatment. Pulse Films —the studio behind Gangs of London, Riz Ahmed's recent film Mogul Mowgli and Spike Jonze's Beastie Boys Story —is producing the project, which will mark the first feature-length music documentary about the band.

‘Toto’ Animated Musical Prepping At Animal Logic Studio

EXCLUSIVE: New Regency has secured the film and television rights to Meg Mason’s novel, Sorrow and Bliss, in what was said to be a competitive situation.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures won a brisk auction to acquire the Gabrielle Zevin novel Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow for $2 million. Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner will produce w, and the author will write the script.

Manori Ravindran International EditorFounded by Oscar-winning “Man on Wire” producer Simon Chinn and Emmy winner Jonathan Chinn, high-end documentary producer Lightbox is navigating the next phase of its evolution, and exiting one of the key initiatives that helped the transatlantic company set up shop.Variety can reveal that the London- and Los Angeles-based outfit is buying back its shares and leaving U.K.

Annika Pham Icelandic production powerhouse Sagafilm and Germany’s Splendid Film are teaming on the major feature project “Operation Napoleon,” to be lensed mostly in English.Budgeted at around €6 million ($7.2 million), the thriller is based on the eponymous best-selling novel by Iceland’s crime master Arnaldur Indriðason, whose earlier novel “Jar City” was successfully filmed by Baltasar Kormákur.Published locally in 2009 and translated into English in 2011, “Operation Napoleon” was awarded a

Amazon Signs Channel 4 Commissioner Channel 4 documentaries commissioner Fozia Khan has joined Amazon Prime Video unscripted team in the UK. She will report to head of unscripted Dan Grabiner, who is responsible for shows including All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur. Khan will join Amazon in the summer and news of her departure follows a commissioning restructure at Channel 4. Her appointment was first reported by UK trade Broadcast.

Groundbreaking pop producer Sophie has tragically passed away at the age of 34. The Scottish hitmaker, who was born and raised in Glasgow, made a name for herself with her avant-pop tracks which pushed the boundaries of the genre. She sadly died on January 30 at her home in Athens “following a sudden accident.” Here are 5 things to know about her.

Groundbreaking pop producer Sophie has tragically passed away at the age of 34. The Scottish hitmaker, who was born and raised in Glasgow, made a name for herself with her avant-pop tracks which pushed the boundaries of the genre. She sadly died on January 30 at her home in Athens “following a sudden accident.” Here are 5 things to know about her.

direct to your inboxHe arrived from his scarred homeland a lonely, traumatised boy.He left behind the olive groves of Idlib, his parents, and three of his brothers.Soon the Syrian city he fled would be devastated by air strikes as it became a final frontier in a civil war which in March will be a decade old.He reached England by first travelling by boat to Greece and then a flight to the UK.Since the age of five Mohammad Kak has had a dream.As a refugee he found a new 'family' at Manchester

Steve McQueen is to executive produce two documentaries for the BBC that were conceived while shooting Small Axe. One will examine Black power in Britain, while the second film investigates how Black children in the 1960s and 1970s were disproportionately sent to schools for the so-called “educationally subnormal.”

Tehran co-producer Julien Leroux has launched Paper Entertainment, a London-based TV producer and financier. Paper Entertainment is aboard Tehran, the Israeli spy thriller, on the heels of the series being renewed by AppleTV+ for a second season.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar and Emmy-winning British production company Rise Films is developing the first major television drama series on the phone-hacking scandal that shook the very foundations of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in the early noughties.

EXCLUSIVE: Global lit and talent agency Curtis Brown Group has inked a deal to represent its first podcast company, Message Heard.