Brian Grazer Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: The Washington Post and Imagine Entertainment have entered into a strategic partnership to create scripted and non-scripted film and television properties culled from The Post’s vast archives, current reporting, and ongoing investigations. The multi-year deal gives Imagine an exclusive first-look to develop and produce all projects through the venture. Creative Artists Agency, which represents both entities, brokered the deal and will harness its resources and expertise to help expand The Post’s storytelling opportunities with Imagine across multiple formats. Washington Post Publisher and CEO Fred Ryan will oversee the deal with Imagine Entertainment Executive Chairman Brian Grazer and Chief Strategy Officer Justin Wilkes.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterLatin American jazz fusion icon Carlos Santana will be the subject of an expansive documentary directed by Emmy winner Rudy Valdez.Imagine Documentaries is collaborating with Sony Music Entertainment on the project, who is co-financing and handling distribution. It will follow Santana’s journey from 14-year-old street musician to a 10-time Grammy winning global sensation, and feature unseen archival footage and tracks.Valdez is the director of the Sundance documentary audience award winner “The Sentence,” about the corrosive effect of mandatory minimum sentencing on convicts and their families.

EXCLUSIVE: The single-camera teen comedy Wild Life from Imagine Kids+Family has received a pilot order at HBO Max with rising star Izabella Alvarez (Euphoria, The Casagrandes) set as the show’s lead.

Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s Julia Child documentary JULIA is to be given a linear TV showing on CNN later this month.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are teaming up with Disney Original Documentary for what is promised as the “definitive portrait” of Jim Henson, the legendary creator of the Muppets.

Ron Howard said he wasn’t in the room when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday, but shared that he found the situation “very upsetting.”

Clayton Davis “Tick, Tick … Boom!” star Alexandra Shipp has joined the live-action “Barbie” film from Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig, starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.Though plot details are being kept under wraps, the film is written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach and based on the popular Mattel toy. Shipp’s role is currently unknown, along with other co-stars America Ferrera and Kate McKinnon, along with Simu Liu and Ariana Greenblatt. Warner Bros.

Storied Media Group has promoted four executives across its Content and Client Partnership and Operations divisions. Kevin Fernandes, in charge of day-to-day operations of the company, has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Operations, along with Shayna Lyga to Vice President, Content and Client Partnerships; Jonny Harris to Director, Content and Client Partnerships and Ben Rosen to Senior Editor, StoryScout.

Hulu has set an April premiere date for FX limited series Under the Banner of Heaven, from Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. Inspired by Jon Krakauer’s true crime bestseller, Under the Banner of Heaven, starring Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield and Daisy Edgar-Jones, will launch April 28 exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. It will follow on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories. The premiere will feature the first two episodes, with a new episode available weekly for the next five weeks. FX also released a first-look photo above.

EXCLUSIVE: Cinco Paul is set to make his feature animation directorial debut on Winter Wonderland, the live action/stop motion animation film built around the classic holiday song. Pic is a collaboration between Imagine Kids+Family and Warner Music Group. Deadline previously reported that Paul would be writing original songs for the live action/stop motion picture.

J. Kim Murphy “The Dynasty,” a documentary series about the professional football team the New England Patriots, has been ordered by Apple, the company announced on Tuesday. The event series comes from Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentariess, in association with NFL Films.The series focuses on the decadent two-decade period when the Patriots were successfully led by quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichik and owner Robert Kraft.

Sam Pollard, the Peabody winning director of “Mr. Soul!” and “Sammy Davis, Jr.: I Gotta Be Me,” has set another documentary feature called “The Sound of Philadelphia” about music icons Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell and the musical genre they helped proliferate, Philly Soul.

EXCLUSIVE: The story of Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell, who created the sound of Philly Soul, is to be chronicled in a new feature documentary.

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol is not moving forward.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterPeacock has canceled “Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol” after just one season of the drama.“We were so proud to bring this action-packed mystery thriller to our members and enjoyed watching this compelling series unfold with a satisfying, complete story,” Peacock said in a statement to Variety. “We’re grateful to Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie, Dan Brown, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard along with CBS Studios, Imagine Television and UTV for bringing this international bestselling novel to life.”Based on Dan Brown’s international bestselling thriller “The Lost Symbol,” the series follows the early adventures of young Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save his kidnapped mentor and thwart a chilling global conspiracy.

EXCLUSIVE: Peacock has opted not to renew Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, an adaptation of The Da Vinci Code author’s 2009 novel, for a second season.

EXCLUSIVE: After notching, what I hear, is the best test scores in MGM history, Ron Howard’s Thai cave rescue movie Thirteen Lives is moving from Easter weekend this year, April 15-17 to Friday, Nov. 18 into the aorta of awards season.

Mary Parent, the producer of “Dune” with Legendary Entertainment, will receive this year’s David. O Selznick Achievement Award from the Producers Guild of America.

J. Kim Murphy Mary Parent will be honored with the David O. Selznick achievement award at the upcoming Producers Guild Awards.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorImagine Entertainment has expanded the purview of Imagine Documentaries chief Justin Wilkes to overseeing new business development as chief strategy officer for the independent content powerhouse.The move for Wilkes comes as Imagine Entertainment is actively seeking an influx of capital to fund its ambitious growth plans. The company headed by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer since 1986 is looking to bring in a new financial investor that will allow Imagine to continue operating status quo with its current management team.At present, Imagine is in talks with U.K.-based Centricus Asset Management about a sale that would value the company at around $700 million.

Apple Original Films has landed the rights to “The Beanie Bubble,” a movie about the ’90s craze surrounding the lovable plush Beanie Babies toys that will star Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan. “The Beanie Bubble” is co-directed by Kristin Gore, an Emmy nominee known for “SNL” and “Futurama” and Damian Kulash, best known as the front man of the rock band OK Go.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterImagine Entertainment is launching a new audio division tied to an exclusive deal with iHeartMedia.The film and TV company’s chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard announced Tuesday that Imagine will co-produce a slate of unscripted podcasts for the digital giant.

EXCLUSIVE: Imagine Entertainment chairman Brian Grazer has entered into a pod producing deal with Noor Alfallah and Remi Alfallah. They will work across Imagine’s mediums and divisions to find fresh voices.

Investors and potential buyers are taking interest in Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, Deadline has confirmed.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterImagine Entertainment, the production banner run by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, has been the subject of renewed acquisition talks in recent weeks, multiple sources told Variety.Investors and potential buyers include an undisclosed sovereign wealth fund from the Middle East, which has been quietly exploring American media investments of late.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterImax has partnered with Imagine Documentaries, the non-fiction division of the entertainment company founded by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, to produce and distribute its next five films.The upcoming slate deal covers topics including space, exploration, natural sciences and more.

Apple Original Films has green lit its Louis Armstrong documentary feature, Black & Blues: The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong with Imagine Documentaries producing the documentary. The documentary, which is produced under Apple’s first-look agreement with Imagine Documentaries, will be directed by Emmy-nominated Sacha Jenkins , and produced by Jenkins, Julie Anderson, Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off a starring role in Coming to 2 America, Jermaine Fowler is in talks to lead The U.S.P.S., a spy action-comedy which is being developed by Amazon Studios, Imagine Entertainment, and Chronology. Imagine’s Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and Karen Lunder are producing the film with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer and Carmen Lewis of Chronology.

The spark for Genius: Aretha was a result of a confluence of events, according to Brian Grazer, who serves as executive producer on the Nat Geo series. During the SXSW panel for Genius: Aretha, Grazer said that they had a long list people for the next installment of the series that spotlighted cultural icons like Einstein and Picasso.

Apple Studios has made a multi-year first look film deal with Imagine Entertainment founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard to produce a slate of scripted movies exclusively for Apple Original Films.

Jordan Moreau Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment has signed a multi-year, first-look deal to create scripted features exclusively for Apple.Imagine Entertainment’s previous films include 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind,” which won best picture at the Oscars; “Hillbilly Elegy,” which earned Glenn Close a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress; “Rush”; “J.

Also Read: Natalie Portman, Lupita Nyong'o to Star in Apple's 'Lady in the Lake' Limited Series From Alma Har'elApple and Imagine have previously partnered on the documentary “Dads” from director Bryce Dallas Howard and “Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10,” directed by Morgan Neville.

Showtime has just released a trailer for their upcoming documentary series ‘Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine‘ that will focus on the controversial rapper.

Naman Ramachandran Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives,” based on the 2018 Thai caves rescue mission, will start filming in March in Queensland, Australia.Australia will provide A$13 million ($9.6 million) to MGM and Imagine Entertainment towards the production, with Queenland’s Gold Coast hinterland doubling up for Thailand.Produced by Oscar-winner Brian Grazer, P.J.

What will the film industry look like in 10 years? Hell, what will it look like next year? No one really has any idea what to expect after everything settles down and the pandemic is in our rearview mirror. However, according to Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, one thing is for sure, there will be lasting effects, particularly with how feature films are released.

Ellise Shafer editorCBS is in advanced discussions with Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Simon Cowell to produce the next big music competition series, Variety has confirmed.The show will be called “50 States to Stardom” and will mix a music competition with a unique documentary format in order to discover America’s next greatest talent. The docuseries will profile all 50 states in the U.S.