Meta Executive Anna Higgs Joins U.K. Talent Agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates as Managing Director

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A team of United Nations inspectors has said it is “deeply alarmed” by the allegations of sexual abuse that may have taken place at leading Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. Abuses may have involved “several hundred” talents, according to the org. The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights began its first official visit to Japan last month and concluded 12 days of meetings and interviews last week.

As Barbie breaks the box office, grossing over $1 billion globally, director Greta Gerwig has made history as the first solo female director to reach this impressive feat. Only 53 films have hit the billion-dollar category, with Barbie joining the likes of Titanic, Jurassic Park, and Avatar.The only other female-directed films on this list are Frozen, Frozen 2, and Captain Marvel.

Greta Gerwig should be feeling closer to fine these days. In just three weeks in theaters, “Barbie” is set to sail past $1 billion in global ticket sales, breaking a record for female directors that was previously held by Patty Jenkins, who helmed “Wonder Woman.”“Barbie,” which Gerwig directed and co-wrote, added another $53 million from 4,178 North American locations this weekend according to studio estimates on Sunday.

This Barbie is a billionaire! Greta Gerwig‘s doll comedy starring Margot Robbie has officially earned over $1 billion at the box office.

Royal Zara Tindall's daughter Mia, nine, was seen playing with her cousin Savannah Phillips, 12, as the pair accompanied Princess Anne's daughter to a horse event. Zara, who has taken part in Equestrian Olympic events, was competing at the The 40th Anniversary of The Magic Millions Festival of Eventing at Gatcombe Park.

Naman Ramachandran Marjorie Kaplan, who previously spent 20 years as a senior executive at Discovery, is joining the board of U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV. Kaplan will join as an independent non-executive director from Sept.

Editor’s note: Marcus Ryder is a veteran UK and international news journalist and editor, academic and executive. He is among the most-respected figures working in British media diversity and his campaigning work as the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity has been influential throughout British entertainment circles. Yesterday, he was named CEO of the Film and TV Charity. Like our recent guest columnist John Ridley, Ryder harbors concerns companies are turning their backs on anti-racism and diversity pledges made since the death of George Floyd but here he argues the issues date back much further than that.

Julie Chrisley’s prison has some reptilian inmates according to her children, Savannah and Chase Chrisley.

William “Bill” Cunningham, who more than 50 years ago founded the company that became CESD Talent Agency, has died at 96. The agency said he died July 15 at his West Hollywood home but gave no other details.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta turned in a healthy 11% uptick in revenue for the second quarter of 2023, topping Wall Street expectations and signaling the social giant’s ad business is recovering after last year’s doldrums. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram posted revenue of $32.0 billion and net profit of $7.79 billion ($2.98 per share), up 16%. On average, analysts expected revenue of $31.12 billion and earnings per share of $2.91, according to Refinitiv data.

Meta’s revenue beat estimates in the second quarter, rising by 11% to $32 billion, as the company also touted investments in its Twitter rival, Threads, as well as in new AI products.

There may not be as many big movie stars walking the red carpets at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, but there will be a bountiful selection of anticipated films to discover. TIFF revealed the 60 galas and special presentations that will have their world premieres or screen in the Great White North this September including Craig Gillespie’s “Dumb Money,” George C.

The Toronto International Film Festival is back for another big year.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Two labor strikes may be upending Hollywood’s awards season and the film festivals that serve as launching pads for many Oscar contenders, but the Toronto International Film Festival signaled Monday that it still plans to showcase the best in cinema, unveiling its 2023 slate of movies. Alexander Payne, Richard Linklater, Kore-eda Hirokazu and Justine Triet are among the auteurs who will be screening their latest works at the festival. Payne will be on hand with “The Holdovers,” a comedy set in a boarding school that reunites him with “Sideways” star PaulGiamatti, while Linklater is showing “Hitman,” an action-comedy with Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. Kore-eda and Triet will screen “Monster” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” both of which premiered at Cannes, where the latter won the Palme d’Or.

The runaway box office success of “Barbie” has set a new record that finds director Greta Gerwig making Hollywood history.

EXCLUSIVE: Anna Delvey, best known as the inspiration for Shonda Rhimes’ Inventing Anna, has dropped her debut single.

UK agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates has named former Meta and Film4 exec Anna Higgs as Managing Director.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) celebrates its 19th edition with a vibrant lineup packed with works from first-time Chilean filmmakers, with six debut features out of nine contenders in the fully in-person festival running August 20-27.  “It was tough. We had at least 30 submissions to the Chilean film selection, which we narrowed down to these nine,” said artistic director Carlos Nuñez, who added that three of them are world premieres.  The selection touts five documentaries – a reflection of the boom in non-fiction filmmaking in recent years. Among them is the poetic “A Brief Space in Time” (“Breve espacio de un tiempo”), which world premieres at Sanfic and turns on a Mapuche couple living off their ancestral Wallmapu land. 

Salma Hayek‘s husband Francois-Henri Pinault is reportedly in talks to make a big purchase.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sony Music Middle East has appointed veteran regional music exec Rami Mohsen, formerly with Spotify, as its new managing director.  Prior to joining Sony Music Middle East, Mohsen was the head of music at the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia unit of Spotify. He was instrumental, in this capacity, to spearheading Spotify’s music and content strategies, as well as elevating the company’s profile in the MENA region. Mohsen began his career at Nogoum FM, a prominent radio station in Egypt and across Middle East, where he rose through the ranks to become network director of both its Nogoum FM and Nogoum FMTV units. In that role, he successfully managed radio programming and music production while overseeing the company’s overall operations.