MusicBird acquires Midge Ure catalogue

EXCLUSIVE: Grant Feely (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Connor DeWolfe (The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) and Mykel Shannon Jenkins (Double Jeopardy) have been tapped for roles alongside Luke Hemsworth, Morgan Freeman and Joseph Baena in the upcoming actioner, Gunner.

caused a stir in the U.K. when a reputed sixth episode was not shown.

EXCLUSIVE: AMC Networks’ genre-focused streamer Shudder has snapped up rights to the survival thriller Quicksand in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, slating it for a June 23rd streaming debut.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Cops Reloaded” is headed to Dan Abrams’ Law&Crime Network, Variety has learned exclusively. Consisting of 158 episodes, “Cops Reloaded” features some of the most memorable suspects, car chases and action-packed moments from the long-running series “Cops.” The show will be available to stream across Law&Crime’s platforms and clips from all episodes will be available on the network’s YouTube channel. “’Cops Reloaded’ is the perfect addition to our content library,” Law&Crime president Rachel Stockman said. “We have a robust and rapidly growing fanbase that’s highly interested in content surrounding law enforcement so we are eager to continue to deliver them more of what they want to see.”

Midge Ure has sold his catalogue of music rights to investment company MusicBird.The company announced on Tuesday (March 28) that they had acquired the writer’s share, master recording and neighbouring rights income on more than 300 songs across Ure’s solo career and his work with Ultravox, Visage, the Rich Kids, Slik and more.“It is a significant moment for me as an artist and songwriter to see my songs find a new home at MusicBird with people who are genuinely passionate about music,” said Ure. “I think this team will take the songs to new audiences and I am excited to be working with them on that.”It is not known how much the catalogue was sold for.Ure was a member in bands such as Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, Visage and was the lead singer of Ultravox. He produced, co-wrote and performed on several synth-pop and new wave classics such as ‘Fade to Grey’ by Visage, the Ultravox hits ‘Vienna’ and ‘Dancing with Tears in My Eyes’ and his UK Number One hit ‘If I Was’, taken from his top 10 album ‘The Gift’.He also co-wrote and produced the 1984 Band Aid charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ – which was not part of the MusicBird acquisition.Back in 2019, the singer and his charity single co-writer and producer Bob Geldof angrily denied rumours that they took any of the proceeds from Band Aid.The song was that year’s Christmas Number One and went on to be the best-selling single of all-time in Britain at one point.

Legendary Entertainment has secured an exclusive license to the live-action film and television rights for the iconic Capcom video game franchise “Street Fighter,” the studio announced on Monday.All projects will be co-developed and produced in conjunction with Capcom, including the feature film in development.The first “Street Fighter” game was released in arcades in 1987 and has sold over 49 million units worldwide, becoming one of the most well-known and highest-grossing video game franchises of all time. It featured two playable characters, Ryu and Ken, who traveled the world fighting other martial artists in a tournament.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has secured U.S. rights to The Melt Goes On Forever: The Life and Times of David Hammons, a new documentary from directors Judd Tully and Harold Crooks. Pic is set to open at the Film Forum in New York City on May 5th.

EXCLUSIVE: VMI Releasing has picked up North American rights to the fantastical WWII drama Freaks vs. the Reich (formerly Freaks Out), which won eight awards at the Venice Film Festival in 2021, including the Grafetta d’Oro for Best Film, and went on to land six David di Donatello Awards from the Academy of Italian Cinema the following year. The second feature from director Gabriele Mainetti (They Call Me Jeeg) will bow in theaters and on digital on April 28th.

J. Kim Murphy World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) is nearing a deal to be acquired by Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. Bloomberg was first to report on the ongoing acquisition deal. The report states that “no final decision has been made” and that negotiations could potentially fall through. The talks coincide as WrestleMania 39, one of the organization’s premier annual events, continues to unfold. The two-day pay-per-view and streaming extravaganza concludes Sunday evening, with more than 80,000 fans in attendance in Los Angeles. The WWE has been actively exploring an acquisition deal for some time now. Vince McMahon, the longtime public face and majority owner of the professional wrestling organization, returned to the company as executive chairman in January. McMahon had exited his WWE leadership role last year amid investigations into sexual misconduct allegations, leaving his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, to take on offices as chairman and co-CEO alongside Nick Khan, who previously served as the company’s president.

Hope there’s enough Milky Ways and “dry-ass Cinnamon Toast Crunch” to go around next time. Danny McBride isn’t ruling out a sequel to 2013’s This Is the End if co-creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg write a script.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Warner Chappell Music has renewed its global publishing deal with producer Marco “MAG” Borrero. A frequent Bad Bunny collaborator, MAG produced 15 of the 23 tracks on the blockbuster album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which led to his 2022 Variety Hitmakers honor and his No. 1 position on Billboard’s Year-End Hot Latin Song Producers chart. “Un Verano Sin Ti” became the first all-Spanish album to top the year-end Billboard 200 chart as well as earn a nomination for Album of the Year Grammy award. The Brooklyn-born, Puerto Rican-Dominican producer was mentored by Max Martin — the most successful songwriter-producer of the past 25 years — and over the course of his career has also collaborated with Rauw Alejandro, Arcángel, Bebe Rexha, Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato.

Danny McBride “for sure” felt pressure to deliver on the latest Halloween trilogy and was ultimately proud of what he, Scott Teems and director David Gordon Green created.

Outer Banks took over Nielsen’s U.S. streaming chart for the week of February 20 to 26. Following the release of Season 3 on February 23, the Netflix series drew nearly 3.2B viewing minutes during that measurement interval.

EXCLUSIVE: We can tell you first that TriStar Pictures has acquired Jim and Brian Kehoe’s original action comedy, Joel in Accounting Must Die, which Entertainment 360 is producing.

Fremantle Acquires Majority Stake In Belguim’s A Team ProductionsFremantle has acquired a majority stake in A Team Productions (ATP). Based in Belgium, A Team Productions was founded in 2009 and is led by Kobe van Steenberghe and Hendrik Verthé. The company is behind the 2011 short film Land of the Heroes, which won the International Jury Prize at Berlin in 2011. A Team also produced the short Baghdad Messi, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2014. Other credits from the outfit include Patser (Gangsta) by filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Later this year, A Team will release the feature-length film Baghdad Messi and the high-end fiction series Alter Ego. “I have long admired Kobe, Hendrik, and the whole ATP team’s work,” said Dave Heuten, CEO Fremantle Belgium. “I am excited to be going on this journey with them, finding synergies and developing new content together – I can’t wait to work with this brilliant team and achieve great things together.”

Row8 offers rentals of new and back catalog films via distribution deals with the major studios. The service allows customers to cancel rentals within the first 30 minutes of watching and exchange for another title, and offers “scene alert,” which alerts parents to potentially inappropriate scenes before they display.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor The newly launched independent music publishing, rights management, and catalog marketing company AMR Songs has acquired by catalogs of former Lovin’ Spoonful frontmany John Sebastian — including such songs as “Daydream,” “Summer in the City,” “Do You Believe in Magic” and “Wecome Back” — as well as Grammy-winning reggae group Soja. Founded by industry veteran/ CEO Tamara Conniff and private equity professional/ CFO Steve Reinstadlter, the Los Angeles and New York-based company has acquired an undisclosed interest in Sebastian’s entire catalog, including his publishing and artist royalties from the Lovin’ Spoonful, which also include “Younger Girl,” “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice,” and “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?,” among others.

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has acquired worldwide rights to the drama On Our Way, the feature directorial debut by Sophie Lane Curtis, toplined by Micheál Richardson, Keith Powers, James Badge Dale and Jordana Brewster. Vanessa Redgrave, Paul Ben-Victor, Ruby Modine and Franco Nero also star. Gravitas will release the film in theaters and on demand on Friday, May 19.

EXCLUSIVE: Kino Lorber and Zeitgeist Films have picked up North American rights to Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy — a new documentary on the making of the iconic John Schlesinger film, from acclaimed documentarian Nancy Buirski (The Loving Story).

EXCLUSIVE: 1091 Pictures has acquired the U.S. rights to the new romantic drama Under My Skin. The film marks the feature debut of Australian writer-director David O’Donnell and is produced by Raynen O’Keefe and Alex Russell. 1091 Pictures is planning a June 6 on-demand release.