‘Lullaby’ Producer Buenapinta Media Sets New Slate

A whole new set of singles are ready to find love.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Prominent Arab journalist Nakhle Elhage, who ran the Al Arabiya news network for 16 years, is launching a digital startup called Blinx to produce news and short form storytelling content targeting Gen Z and millennials in the Middle East and beyond. Headquartered in a high-tech Dubai Media City studio, Blinx is being dubbed as the first digital native storytelling hub in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It “will soon launch on multiple platforms,” according to a statement. The digital startup, which is financed by unspecified UAE-based investors, is offering a “more story, less noise approach,” the statement said, with content made by young people “delivering relatable content to a young audience in a way the MENA region has yet to see,” it added.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Marc Guggenheim has been a staple of DC Entertainment on television for over a decade as the co-creator of The CW’s Arrowverse, which launched in 2012 with “Arrow” (Guggenheim developed the series with Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg) and continued through “The Flash,” “Supergirl” and more. In a February 2023 blog post that’s now circulating online (via Entertainment Weekly), Guggenheim lamented over not being included in the new DC Universe that’s taking shape at Warner Bros. under DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran. Guggenheim admitted in his blog post that friends had told him Hollywood would come calling after he pulled off The CW’s ambitious “Crisis On Infinite Earths” storyline. That crossover event, which aired in December 2019 and January 2020, brought together six different superhero series for a story that ran through five hours of television. It was no easy feat, and Guggenheim said he even put up thousands of dollars of his own money to pull it off.

Katie Reul editor Jay Weston, producer of films like “Lady Sings the Blues” and “Buddy Buddy,” died of natural causes Feb. 28 at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 93. Weston first met Billie Holiday at the Newport Jazz Festival — a chance encounter that would ultimately lead to Weston producing a biopic about her starring Diana Ross in 1972. “Lady Sings the Blues” marked Ross’ feature debut and went on to score five Academy Award nominations, including best actress for Ross and original screenplay. “I read the book and I said to [Holiday’s] agent, ‘I want to make a movie out of it,’” Weston said in a 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Business Journal, referring to the jazz singer’s autobiography. “He said, ‘Give me $5,000, and I’ll think about it.’ So I gave him $5,000, and it took 13 years and many $5,000 payments to keep the rights because everybody wanted it.”

Jay Weston, a veteran producer of Hollywood films including 1972’s “Lady Sings the Blues” starring Diana Ross and 1968’s “For Love of Ivy” starring Sidney Poitier, has died at the age or 93.Weston, who also built a respected career as a restaurant critic, died at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, California.Weston’s most notable producing efforts likely came on “Lady Sings the Blues,” which was nominated for five Academy Awards. Other features included “Buddy Buddy” (notable for being Billy Wilder’s final film), “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash” and “W.C.

is back. And the latest sequel in the meta slasher franchise promises to be the scariest and most brutal yet, especially now that the story is set in New York City and there's a whole new group of people to deal with in addition to the «core four.» Ahead of its increasingly anticipated release in theaters, the cast and crew of are opening up about the move across the country, Hayden Panettiere's return as Kirby Reed and what makes Ghostface more frightening than ever.    «They just keep elevating it… They amped it up in every way,» Courteney Cox says of directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who returned to helm their second installment after the success of.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Lawrence Pitkethly, who produced and directed multiple documentary series shown on PBS and other broadcasters, died Feb. 24 at Albany Medical Center near his home in Hudson, N.Y., of cardiopulmonary arrest linked to complications from Parkinson’s. He was 79. Pitkethly is best known for “American Cinema” (1995), a 10-part, $7 million series for PBS, BBC and Canal Plus covering U.S. filmmaking that he produced, co-wrote and co-directed. It examined film genres, the rise and fall of the studio system, the creation of stars and other aspects of American movies through interviews with Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Sydney Pollack, George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Joel Coen and other major players. John Lithgow served as host; Matthew Modine, Kathleen Turner and Cliff Robertson narrated.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios is developing Assume Nothing, a limited series based on Tanya Selvaratnam’s memoir of the same name, from Joanna Coles, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ Purple Pebble Pictures, with Chopra Jonas also in talks to star, and ABC Signature.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Riley Keough may be Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, but she didn’t let the pressure of trying to live up to the family name get to her while shooting “Daisy Jones & The Six,” Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel. She stars as the lead singer of a Fleetwood Mac-like band in the 1970s. “I have a quality where I don’t really care if I mess up, if I do something stupid or if I do a bad performance,” she told me Thursday night at the series premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. “I kind of just brush it off and I also have a sense of humor about it.” Keough also recalled her late mom Lisa Marie Presley didn’t flinch when she told her she was playing a singer: “She’s always supportive of everything I do.”

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Television-backed Eleventh Hour Films (“Alex Rider,” “The Magpie Murders”) have revealed two more projects in development and made a senior creative hire. “The Man In The Back Seat” (working title) a series development from novelist David Peace (“Red Riding”) and actor-writer, Ted Reilly, is the company’s first foray into the original true-crime genre. Based on events documented in the book “The Long Silence” by Paul Stickler, who serves as a consultant, the series will follow the 1962 criminal case, where after the longest trial in British legal history, James Hanratty was executed for the murder of Michael Gregsten, and the rape and attempted murder of Valerie Storie.

While Amazon is basking in the success of their “The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power” Middle-Earth streaming series, another big announcement was made today about the future of live-action J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations and specifically about feature films.

Anthony Mackie picked up Steve Rodger’s iconic shield and became Captain America in the final episodes of his Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. However, is his character Sam Wilson going to follow in Chris Evans‘ footsteps and lead the rest of the Avengers?

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Coming of age thriller “The Gymnasts,” one of the most recent titles from Europe’s public broadcaster partnership The Alliance, has been licensed to over 30 territories, London-based super indie All3Media International confirmed on Monday at the Berlinale Series Market.     Based on Ilaria Bernardini’s bestselling novel “Corpo Libero” (“The Girls Are Good”), the six-part series is produced by the Oscar-winning team at Indigo Film, behind “The Great Beauty,” in co-production with ZDF Neo’s German company Network Movie.  The series has been made in collaboration with Rai Fiction and Paramount+, and in association with All3Media International.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Matt Damon revealed he was in the “early stages” on a project about Ukraine during the press conference for “Kiss the Future” at the Berlin Film Festival. Damon is a producer on the documentary which chronicles the struggle of Sarajevo citizens during the Bosnian War. World premiering in the Berlinale Special section, the politically minded documentary is directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and based on “Fools Rush in: A Memoir” the memoir of Bill Carter, an aid worker. It shows how his determination resulted in the enlistment of the world’s largest rock band, U2, to help shine a light. Fifth Season and WME handling worldwide sales. Asked if he was considering following the footsteps of Sean Penn with “Superpower” with a film on the war in Ukraine, he said he’s “watched as everyone has with horror that unfolded there in the last year,” and although they “don’t have anything on it right now there isn’t any doubt that we’ll be doing.”

EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has wrapped in New York state on COUP!, a period satire starring Peter Sarsgaard and directed by Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman.

In today’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo sits down to talk about con man movies with director Benjamin Caron (“The Crown,” “Andor,” “Wallander”). The director is currently promoting his film, “Sharper,” which follows multiple con men and women in New York City who are all searching for the perfect mark and the biggest take.

Sony Pictures Classics said it’s planning to release Sean Mullin’s documentary on baseball superstar Yogi Berra, It Ain’t Over, in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 12, expanding over following weeks.

Brent Lang Executive Editor CAA has signed Jonathan Rockefeller. The American-Australian producer, director, and writer, is the founder and owner of Rockefeller Productions. The production company has become a leader in family entertainment having partnered with the likes of Disney, Pixar, Lego, Colorado Rockies, Sesame Street, Eric Carle, Peanuts, and Paddington Bear to create large-scale puppetry stage adaptations and events across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Rockefeller Productions is currently working on a number of shows, including “Disney’s Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation, which has a U.S. national tour, as well as a UK/Ireland tour, as well as “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show,” which is based on the beloved children’s book by Eric Carle. Their recent productions include “Sesame Street: The Musical,” “Paddington Gets in a Jame,” and “The Golden Girls Show!: A Puppet Parody.”

First-Look Image From Kiah Roache-Turner’s ‘Sting,’ Cornerstone Inks DealsProduction has wrapped in Sydney, Australia, on Kiah Roache-Turner’s Sting. Cornerstone is handling worldwide sales and distribution on the pic. Studiocanal has inked a deal to release in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Benelux. Additional deals include Lucky Red (Italy), Diamond Films (Latin America, Spain, Portugal), Nordisk (Scandinavia), Kinoswiat (Poland), Pasatiempo Pictures (Baltics, CIS), Karantanija (Ex-Yogoslavia), Italia (Middle East), Filmfinity (South Africa) and Terry Steiner International (airlines). The film synopsis reads: One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider… Check out the first image from the pic above.

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