Jason Owen’s Sandbox Lands Film and TV Deal With Sony Music; June Carter Cash Documentary on Deck (EXCLUSIVE)

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

Filmmaker Judd Apatow has hammered a multi-year production film and TV pact across NBCUniversal including Universal Pictures and Universal Studio Group. The parties’ working relationship began with the 2005 $177M-plus grossing comedy blockbuster The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Apatow’s movies have grossed close to $3 billion around the world, the studio’s most successful original comedies.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music Entertainment Latin-Iberia has struck a new partnership with WK Records, the record label founded by WK Entertainment CEO-founder Walter Kolm.WKR artists include reggaeton star Alex Rose, Grammy-nominated/ Latin Grammy-winning producer-artist Foreign Teck, singer-songwriter Emilia, Argentine trap artist Seven Kayne, and Colombian artist Cheo Gallego, with more signings to be announced in the coming weeks.WKR is led by CEO and WKE head of music Horacio Rodriguez (who joined last year after 15 years at Universal Music Latin), with a pop and urban division led by WKR GM/co-founder Oscar Guitián, and a regional Mexican division led by producer-composer-executive Alberto De León, who previously held roles at Universal, Capitol Latin, Machete Music and  Fonovisa/Disa. “We have an incredible relationship with the entire WK family,” said Sony Latin-Iberia chairman-CEO Afo Verde.

EXCLUSIVE: The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath is extending his relationship with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the long-running NBC drama. He has signed a new three-year overall deal with Sony TV through 2025.

writing a statement on their website that said: “Sony Music Group calls for peace in Ukraine and an end to the violence. We have suspended operations in Russia and will continue our support of global humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims in need.”Earlier this week (March 9), Universal Music Group also announced they were cutting ties with Russia.“Effective immediately, we are suspending all operations in Russia and closing our offices there.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSony Music has suspended all of its operations in Russia, the company has confirmed to Variety. “Sony Music Group calls for peace in Ukraine and an end to the violence. We have suspended operations in Russia and will continue our support of global humanitarian relief efforts to aid victims in need.,” the company said in a statement.Sources tells Variety that the company’s staffers will continue to receive their salaries for an undetermined time; the artists’ situation is still being worked out.Universal Music Group announced that it is suspending its operations in the country on Tuesday.

“John Carter” is often thought of as one of the biggest blockbuster failures in the history of Hollywood. Though in more recent years, thanks to streaming, sentiment has changed and the sci-fi fantasy film has gone on to earn a healthy cult following.

our complete and untold history of the development, production and release of “John Carter,” Stanton revealed the planned story for the follow-up that he was working on with co-writer Mark Andrews.“It was going to be that every movie had a different character saying the prologue,” Stanton said. “The first one is Willem [Dafoe], as Tars. The second one’s prologue narration was going to be Dejah.

Entertainment Weekly), and “a giant, suffocating doughy feast of boredom” (The Guardian), and was met with indifference by general audiences, who simply didn’t show up. (It opened in second place, behind forgotten animated Dr. Seuss adaptation “The Lorax”).

Universal Music Group has become one of the latest media companies to suspend operations in Russia amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The music publishing giant on Tuesday said it was closing its offices in Russia, effective immediately. Meanwhile, major Western food and beverage companies Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Starbucks are also pulling out.

One of the planet's biggest celebrities will play a woman desperately craving fame when Pamela Anderson makes her Broadway debut next month in the musical "Chicago," The Associated Press has learned. Anderson will play Roxie Hart from April 12-June 5 at the Ambassador Theatre, a remarkable union of one of the most recognizable sex icons of the last few decades with a show that skewers fame. "From ‘Baywatch’ to Broadway.

Pamela Anderson is set to make her Broadway debut in just a few weeks!

Pamela Anderson will make her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the long-running musical Chicago this spring, producers announced today.

Refresh for updates and winners Shifting from its traditional immediate pre-Oscars perch, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are back today with a live and in-person ceremony from Santa Monica.

Jim Owens, who was in the forefront of bringing country music into a new era of entertainment television programming, died today with wife Lorianne Crook by his side.

Catherine McEvoy has been promoted to Co-President at Adam Goodman’s e-commerce company Invisible Narratives, with entertainment exec Greg Siegel joining as President and Head of Programming, and finance expert Mike Weetman coming aboard as CFO.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucifer exec producer Sheri Elwood has struck a first-look deal with Blink49 Studios, the Endeavor Content-backed studio founded by John Morayniss.

Wu Jing, the highest-grossing male actor of all time in China, will join British action star Jason Statham in Warner Bros.’s “Meg 2: The Trench,” sources close to the production have confirmed to Variety.The giant shark actioner, however, will be without Li Bingbing (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”). The Chinese actor, who played a female oceanographer, embodying both brains and beauty in Jon Turteltaub’s testosterone-fueled 2018 “The Meg,” is not returning to the franchise at this point.With Ben Wheatley in the directing chair, production on “Meg 2: The Trench” began at the end of January at the Warner-owned Leavesden Studios outside London.

A mere three days before the Steam Deck is officially launching, Valve has announced a host of games that fit the “Deck Verified” list, but also a way for people to check ahead of time how many of the games they already own are compatible with the forthcoming hybrid handheld PC.