Paramount+ Sets Premiere Date for ‘Players’ Esports Comedy Docuseries (Trailer)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefArtist and Hong Kong-based experimental filmmaker Scud is to retire from filmmaking leave the city after completing his two final features. These have been licensed for North American distribution by Breaking Glass Pictures.A license deal for rights to “Apostles” and “Bodyshop” was struck by Breaking Glass Pictures and Artwalker, the production company through which the auteur’s entire movie career has been channeled.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeBET+’s “Martin: The Reunion” has been given a premiere date: The special, which reunites the cast of the iconic 1990s Fox sitcom, will debut June 16 on the streamer.That’s one of several summer premiere dates BET+ is set to announce on Wednesday, Variety has learned exclusively. According to BET+, the 90-minute reunion brings back original stars Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold and Carl Anthony Payne II to reminisce about the show’s five seasons.The show even takes place on the iconic “Martin” living room set and is hosted by Affion Crockett.

EXCLUSIVE: Stranger Things actor Gaten Matarazzo will return to Broadway this summer in the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen. Beginning July 19, Matarazzo will play the role of Jared Kleinman in the long-running musical.

Jenna Bush Hager is departing on an adventure unlike any other! The star revealed on the Today Show that she would be "setting sail," quite literally, in honor of the return of New York's iconic Fleet Week.ALSO: HELLO! launches Jubilee T-shirt collection to celebrate Queen Elizabeth in styleFleet Week is a legendary event that takes place in New York City at the beginning of every summer, which honors the US Navy and armed forces.The morning show host is celebrating its return to in-person festivities by boarding the historic USS Bataan, which has a special meaning to New York City, having served the nation during the 9/11 attacks in lower Manhattan. WATCH: Jenna shares an emotional message about her time on TodayMORE: Beloved star makes cheeky comment about Jenna Bush Hager replacing Kathie Lee Gifford"I'm so excited to get onboard and meet the brave men and women who serve on the USS Bataan," Jenna announced.The naval adventure holds extra special meaning to her heart, since her grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush served in the Navy.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Mode Entertainment has picked up international rights for All My Friends Are Dead, the latest horror from Saw 3D and Saw VI director Kevin Greutert.

The Duttons will be back in the fall.

Bass Reeves, a previously announced limited series produced by Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan, will now be an offshoot of Yellowstone prequel 1883 at Paramount+. The news was revealed as part of MTV Entertainment Studios’ upfront on Wednesday.

Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and producer Denis Ivanov are teaming up again after their last collaboration, the ‘90s-set crime drama “Rhino,” premiered in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar last year.The new feature, “Shining World,” centers on a mother and her young son living in a small American town in the 1960s. Described by Ivanov as a “fairy tale” with echoes of Wes Anderson’s whimsical tone, it unspools in both the real world and in the imagination of its young protagonist after he learns an amusement park is being built nearby.“Shining World” was written by Sentsov while imprisoned on what his supporters insist were trumped-up charges after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Jeff Bridges as a CIA agent forced out of retirement, premieres with its first two episodes Thursday, June 16, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.All eight episodes of new comedy “The Bear,” starring Jeremy Allen White as a fine-dining chef who comes home to run his family sandwich shop in Chicago after a death in the family, will begin streaming on Thursday, June 23, on Hulu.“What We Do in the Shadows” returns for its fourth season with two episodes on Tuesday, July 12, at 10 p.m.

Beloved doll and book line American Girl is getting two new live-action specials. Mattel, Inc.

The Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum-led comedy The Lost City is set to premiere on May 10 via Paramount+ in the United States and Canada. It’ll be available in Australia, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy later this year.

The third season of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever will premiere on August 12, and the streamer released first look photos on Sunday teasing what’s ahead.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, will drop its 10-episode third season on Friday, Aug. 12, the streaming service announced Sunday as part Netflix Is a Joke.

The Upshaws are back in June for an eight-episode second season on Netflix, as audiences take yet another visit with a working-class African American family in Indiana struggling to make it work and make it right without the blueprints to do it.

It’s Friday again, readers. Jesse Whittock here (for the first time, be gentle), taking you through the week’s top headlines.

Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon – you can check it out below.Set 200 years before events in the flagship HBO series, House Of The Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood and follows the Targaryen family during the Dance of the Dragons – a civil war among House Targaryen for the Iron Throne.This latest trailer sets the stage for the conflict, as various houses swear allegiance to King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) and his named successor, his firstborn child Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne,” Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) tells the young heiress in the trailer.Elsewhere, we see Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), another contender for the throne, encounter a fire-breathing dragon.Along with the trailer, HBO has released a selection of character posters.

African filmmaker Toyin Ibrahim Adekeye’s first feature documentary film, Bigger Than Africa, is scheduled to premiere on global streaming platform, Netflix.

Cristela Alonzo is returning to Netflix for her second comedy special. Middle Classy, a follow-up to her 2016 comedy special, Lower Classy, will premiere globally on Netflix on June 28.