Pictures Division Decreases Weigh on Sony Group’s Quarterly Results

EXCLUSIVE: Elevate Entertainment, a management firm whose clients include Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan, is adding a podcast division.

Visual effects workers at Walt Disney Pictures are seeking to unionize with IATSE, which says that a supermajority of the 18 in-house VFX crewmembers employed there have signed cards with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to be represented by the union. Walt Disney Pictures is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Visual effects crews at Walt Disney Studios have taken a significant step to unionize after filing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election to unionize. A supermajority (over 80%) of the 18 in-house VFX crew members at Walt Disney Pictures signed authorization cards signaling their desire to unionize. The historical move is the second time in history that VFX professionals have joined together to demand the same protections and rights as their colleagues.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran talent agent Brad Lefler has left Gersh to join Brave Artists Management. Lefler, who started his career in talent management/production with stints at Industry Entertainment and Entertainment 360, spent the last 16 years at Gersh.

Salford City College Group is delighted to celebrate another year of supporting students to achieve excellent results.

Naman Ramachandran Zee Studios blockbuster “Gadar 2,” headlined by Sunny Deol, could get a third part and a spinoff, provided the story is right. The film is already amongst the highest Indian grossers of the year with $45 million globally in just seven days of release. Written by Shaktimaan Singh and directed by Anil Sharma, “Gadar 2” is a sequel to 2001 smash hit “Gadar,” which was set in the period after the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in the 1947-54.

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg is no stranger to close encounters of the third kind.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Ten documentary projects from eight countries have been selected as grantees of Project: Hatched, a Chicken & Egg Pictures program designed to support directors as they develop and launch strategic impact campaigns. Many of the selected projects had prestigious premieres at film festivals, including Sundance and IDFA.

Sony Picture Classics and Trafalgar Releasing have firmed up worldwide release plans for Carlos, their feature documentary on 10-time Grammy-winning musical icon, Carlos Santana.

Barbie star Margot Robbie has been offered £250,000 by a company wanting to sell pictures of her feet.In a letter to the Australian actor, the creator of Fun with Feet proposed the idea of creating Barbie-themed foot content, offering Robbie a quarter of a million pounds as a starting bonus.The platform owner, a woman named Liz, wrote in the letter (via Perth Now): “My name is Liz and I make thousands selling feet pics on Fun With Feet… I also look a lot like you.“Barbie is all women, but we really are Barbie – Stereotypical Barbie, anyway.“I would love to collaborate with you on some Barbie-inspired content that’ll earn us both millions. Plus, Fun with Feet is offering to pay you £250K as a starting bonus.

Hasbro has set its leadership team for its “asset-lite” entertainment division.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Hasbro is launching a new division called Hasbro Entertainment, which will unify the company’s film, television, animation, and digital media businesses. Olivier Dumont will serve as president of Hasbro Entertainment, while Zev Foreman and Gabriel Marano will serve as the head of film and head of television, respectively.

EXCLUSIVE: Adding to its roster of local-language remakes, Sony Pictures International Productions is teaming with Biônica Filmes on a Brazilian redo of 2011 romantic comedy, Friends with Benefits which starred Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. The Brazilian version, Amizade Colorida, is directed by Rafael Gomes and stars Maria Bopp and Ícaro Silva.

Portishead‘s Beth Gibbons has teamed up with Afghan girl band the Miraculous Love Kids for a cover of Joy Division‘s ‘Atmosphere’ and David Bowie‘s ‘Heroes’.The release entitled ‘Atmosphere/Heroes’, blends the two songs together and sees Gibbons fronting the track with the group. You can view footage below.Gibbons said in a press release (via Pitchfork): “I was so honoured to guest on the Miraculous Love Kids’ reconstructed cover track ‘Atmosphere/Heroes,’ and to be a voice next to these brave and beautiful girls of Afghanistan.”The release marks two years since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan and women’s rights and freedoms were limited.The women in Miraculous Love Kids fled Kabul in Afghanistan, for Pakistan with their families and formed the band alongside American musician and activist Lanny Cordola.Cordola said he first met Gibbons in Islamabad, “just days after the Taliban takeover.”He added: “She confirmed her support and extended a generosity of spirit to the girls that was invaluable as she is truly one of the great voices in the world today.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Sony’s Indian TV businesses has been nearly two years in the making, but finally cleared a key regulatory hurdle on Thursday. The combined companies have the potential to create a giant in broadcast TV — a sector that is still paramount in India — and are valued at $10 billion. Last week’s other tremblor was news from Burbank that Disney+ Hotstar, India’s streaming market leader, had lost 12.5 million subscribers, following the loss of key sports rights to a competitor.

CBS Media Ventures President Steve LoCascio is retiring after 34 years at the company and its previous iterations as the division will become part of the portfolio of Wendy McMahon, named this morning as President and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures.

Sony Pictures Entertainment posted $115 million in operating income for the three months ending June 30, down 71% on a dollar basis from last year’s comparable first quarter despite a stronger theatrical slate. 

The Bee Gees, The Go-Go’s, David Bowie, the Grateful Dead, Louis Armstrong, the Velvet Underground, and Tina Turner have something more in common than just musical greatness. They’ll all been the subject of recent documentaries, part of an explosion in popularity of the nonfiction genre.

Chloe Goodman feels like “a different woman” after undergoing corrective surgery to fix a round of botched liposuction in 2017.The former Ex On The Beach star spoke to OK! back in June about the skin mottling and fibrosis she had been left with after having Vaser liposuction abroad six years ago. Here, she unveils the latest results of her surgery, saying it’s “the best decision I’ve made” after her confidence hit rock bottom. “I’m so happy with the results,” she says.

The Miracle Club will move back into 200-300 movie theaters nationwide August 18 for the rest of the summer due to an “overwhelmingly positive response” from audiences that the distributor said translated into a demand for additional playdates.