Netflix LGBTQ Comedy Doc ‘Outstanding,’ Featuring Rosie O’Donnell, Billy Eichner and Wanda Sykes, Unveils Trailer, Premiere Date (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Distribution has acquired French rights for Argentinian director Federico Luis’s first feature Simon of the Mountain ahead of its world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week in May.

Julie Seabaugh Comedy constantly shifts and changes, and tenets that might have applied years ago are also on the move. Variety spoke to some comics about everything from social media to cancel culture to figure out the new rules of the comedy scene. Live wherever. New York too expensive? Los Angeles too soul-crushing? Austin … too Texas? Touring headliners now regularly hail from more efficient hubs in Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota or anywhere else with Wi-Fi.

Disney has dropped a teaser for Mufasa: The Lion King, a prequel for the studio’s 2019 photorealistic version of the animated 1994 classic The Lion King.

Filmmaker Barry Jenkins has made celebrated indies (“Medicine for Melancholy”), Academy Award-winning dramas (“Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”), and an epic ten-part historical period series (“The Underground Railroad”), but his latest film, “Mufasa: The Lion King,” is easily his biggest and most ambitious leap to date. A live-action-styled photorealistic animated prequel to the 1994 film “The Lion King,” and the similar-looking 2019 remake from director Jon Favreau, Disney has released the first look trailer for the film that comes out in December.

Alex Ritman A documentary about Kevin Spacey that was first announced prior to him being acquitted of multiple sexual offenses in the U.K. last year is now complete, with Variety able to reveal details, a first-look trailer, release dates and a multi-territory deal — including for the U.S. — with Warner Bros.

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and his family have said they are “thrilled” to announce a new reality TV show about his wrestling career.The singer has been the president of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) since 2017, and in February the company shared details of a new streaming deal with The CW.It was confirmed at the time that the partnership would see several of NWA’s programmes streaming for free on the US network, and also include a new “unscripted untitled series about Corgan’s life, family, role as president of NWA and his ‘day job’.”Now, the title and premiere date for the show have been revealed. Billy Corgan‘s Adventures In Carnyland is due to land on Tuesday May 14, as Deadline reports.The eight-episode series was directed by Volk-Weis and Ian Roumain.

While the world awaits the imminent Coen Brothers reunion (reportedly a horror film!), Ethan Coen is busy at work with partner Tricia Cooke on their second film together, “Honey Don’t!.” The film’s in production now, and Deadline reports that Coen & Cooke had added a slew of new names to their cast list.

In the late 1990s Joker writer-director Todd Phillips, then applying his trade as an underground documentary filmmaker shot a non-fiction project titled Frat House, which nabbed the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance before being promptly acquired by HBO Films. 

Taylor Swift has officially dropped her first music video off of her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”The 34-year-old musician released her new music overnight Friday, with a second batch of songs at 2 a.m., making it a surprise double album.The track features Post Malone and is rumored to be about Matty Healy, as “Fortnight” means a two-week span. She briefly dated the 1975 frontman following her split from Joe Alwyn after six years.“I was supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get me/I was a functioning alcoholic ‘til nobody noticed my new aesthetic,” she sings.“All of this to say I hope you’re OK, but you’re the reason/And no one here’s to blame but what about your quiet treason,” she goes on.

EXCLUSIVE: Ethan Coen has rounded out the cast for his comedy Honey Don’t! for Focus Features and Working Title, on which we were first to report. Newcomers include Charlie Day (Fool’s Paradise), Billy Eichner (Bros), Lera Abova (Anna), Jacnier (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory National Tour), Gabby Beans (Presumed Innocent), Talia Ryder (Dumb Money), Kristin Connolly (The Cabin in the Woods), Lena Hall (Your Friends & Neighbors), Don Swayze (All Saints Day), Josh Pafchek (Marvel’s Runaways), Kale Brown (Mike), Alexander Carstoiu (Magnolia Flowers) and Christin Antidormi (Netflix’s Lincoln Lawyer).

Selena Kuznikov “Roots of Comedy with Jesus Trejo,” a new comedy-documentary series hailing from PBS SoCal, is slated to start streaming for free on the PBS app and PBS.org on May 24. The series follows Mexican American comedian and host Jesus Trejo as he embarks on a journey to tell the “stories behind the laughs,” revealing how comedy traces back to the roots of community. Trejo visits six U.S.

Works from Perry Como to The Cars were added to the Library of Congress‘ National Recording Registry, which designates recordings worthy of preservation “based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The 30th anniversary of the original animated film version of “The Lion King” will be celebrated at the Hollywood Bowl next month with a live-to-film concert/screening that will include cast members from both the movie and theatrical versions — and beyond — including Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, Billy Eichner, Ernie Sabella, Jason Weaver and Bradley GIbson. The shows will take place at the Bowl May 24-25 and be produced by Disney Concerts, Fulwell 73 Productions, AMP Worldwide and Live Nation-Hewitt Silva.

Scoop, the Netflix film chronicling Prince Andrew‘s humbling interview on the BBC, has enjoyed a relatively regal reception from British audiences.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Disney is welcoming the king of the Pride Lands back to Las Vegas. The studio unveiled a stirring, all-new trailer of “Mufasa: The Lion King” on Thursday at CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theater owners. “Mufasa: The Lion King” is expected to focus on the early years of the eventual ruler of the animals, as well as his menacing younger brother Scar.

The 10-episode second season of the Max Original adult animated series Velma from Warner Bros. Animation debuts Thursday, April 25.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Velma” Season 2 has set its premiere date at Max. The 10-episode second season of the animated series centered on the titular “Scooby-Doo” character will debut on April 25. The official logline for the season states: “When an even spookier mystery grips Crystal Cove, Velma (Mindy Kaling) must find a way to balance her detective work with the demands of her newfound popularity before it’s too late.

Tom Cruise’s famous friends are blessed with a coconut cake. It’s been dubbed by many as the “best,” and it seems like anyone he hits it off with can make the list. He’s kept the tradition for around a decade, and Kristen Dunst, who he worked with in the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, still receives it.Now known as the “Cruise Cake” the Mission Impossible star chose a $126 white chocolate coconut bundt cake made by Doan’s Bakery in Woodland Hills, California.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Federation Studios has acquired distribution rights to “The Morning After,” an eight-part comedy series headlined by up-and-coming British actor Amara Okereke (“In the Lost Lands”). It filmed on location in Cape Town in South Africa. The show is produced by Paris-based company Paradoxal and Cape Town-based outfit Both Worlds, which previously partnered on “Recipes for Love and Murder.” The series is co-produced by SWR, ARD FabFiction and Prime Video Africa.

drama “Scoop” hit Netflix on Friday.The film is a fictionalized portrayal of BBC reporter Emily Maitlis (played by Gillian Anderson), who interviewed Andrew for a “Nightsnight” segment in 2019 about his friendship with dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.Andrew was seen out and about at Windsor Castle riding his horse during his outing. He wore a helmet, gloves, a sweater and an olive jacket to brave the cold weather.Rufus Sewell plays Andrew in “Scoop,” while Keeley Hawes was cast as the royal’s private secretary Amanda Thirsk and Billie Piper as TV producer Sam McAlister.The movie also reveals how Maitlis booked the disastrous interview, which showed Andrew sweating as he denied that he had sexual relations with Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts when she was a teenager in the early 2000s.In 2022, Andrew was stripped of his royal and military titles by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, after Roberts brought forward a lawsuit against him and claimed he sexually abused her.