Specialty Streamer DocuBay Reveals Six Original Commissions

In a rare weekend with fewer new studio wide releases, IFC Films had a one-two punch at the box office with Matt Johnson’s film BlackBerry grossing $473k nationwide in 450 theaters, for a U.S. per theater average of $1.05k and cracking the top ten on Friday. It will gross an estimated $740k in North America this weekend, with Elevation Pictures handling Canada.

Nikki Sixx has given fans an update on new Mötley Crüe music saying songs for their next album are “officially done”.Back in April, the founding member and bassist of the metal icons shared a picture of himself, drummer Tommy Lee and new guitarist John 5 in a songwriting session, confirming that the band were back in the studio. Sixx also said the band were working with producer Barry Pointer.He took to his Twitter page last month to confirm the news.

Miley Cyrus had to step back from her role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A beloved ballplayer and an iconic consumer device join a Hollywood satire by Charlie Day, an Emanuele Crialese film with Penelope Cruz and debuts from Sundance and Venice in a potentially strong specialty weekend that will test the appetite for indie film with no new franchise wide releases.

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian actor Anil Kapoor will star in “Subedar” for Vikram Malhotra’s Abundantia Entertainment. The film will be directed by Suresh Triveni, who previously directed T-Series’ comedy-drama “Tumhari Sulu” (2017) and T-Series and Abundantia’s Prime Video original thriller “Jalsa” (2022), both headlined by Vidya Balan. “I have done a lot of action films, but this is a pure action film, a dramatic action film,” Kapoor told Variety. “I’m excited about it.” The plot is under wraps at the moment. Principal photography will commence Sept. 15. Kapoor also confirmed that he is on board and will play the lead in the Hindi-language adaptation of 2019 Malayalam-language hit “Android Kunjappan Ver 5.25,” where a father-son relationship gets an endearing twist when an AI humanoid enters their lives.

shared a preview of her “Fast X” cameo Thursday on Instagram.Walker appears to play a flight attendant dressed in a signature blue uniform on an airplane, and she is turning her head back toward the camera in the shot.A post shared by Meadow Walker Thornton-Allan (@meadowwalker)“The first fast was released when I was one year old! I grew up on set watching my father, Vin, Jordana, Michelle, Chris and more on the monitors,” she wrote. “Thanks to my dad, I was born into the fast family.

Prince Harry made a very quick trip to the UK this past weekend to attend his father King Charles’ Coronation.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Dolly Parton has revealed all the pertinent details about her long-promised “rock album,” titled “Rockstar,” including a 30-song track list, Nov. 17 release date and literally dozens of celebrity guests — including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joining her for a cover of the Beatles’ “Let It Be.” The vast majority of the 30 tracks on the fall release will include at least one feature from a big-name artist, and in some cases two. Brandi Carlile and Pink will be joining Parton on the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” while Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow will be her guests on a song most popularized by Linda Ronstadt, “You’re No Good.” The force of metal will be strong on the song “Bygones,” where Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and Motley Crue members Nikki Sixx and John 5 will join her crew. Lizzo and Sasha Flute will put some wind into her sails on Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” even as Steven Tyler and Warren Haynes put their heads together with the Jackson 5 cover “I Want You Back.” And the aforementioned “Let It Be” won’t just include the two surviving Beatles; it’ll also feature turns from Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood.

Indian films are a box office mainstay and one, Jodi, from Rhythm Boyz Entertainment, hit big this weekend Stateside, grossing $734,000 on just 125 screens. In April, the film set a record as the most viewed Punjabi trailer in 24 hours (over 12 million views on YouTube).

A sleek theater from Look Dine-In Cinemas opened this weekend in NYC (or reopened at the former Landmark) on West 57th Street. Wood, windows and well-stocked bar, it’s the face of exhibition that wants to grab moviegoers and keep them.

Naman Ramachandran The Indian media and entertainment industry grew 20% to reach INR2.1 trillion ($26 billion) in 2022, 10% above pre-pandemic 2019, according to the annual EY report released during the ongoing Frames conference in Mumbai, organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The report collates data from television, digital media, film, animation and VFX, out of home media, live events, music, radio, online gaming and print. Overall, the M&E sector is projected to grow 12% to reach $28.6 billion in 2023, the report says. While television remained the single largest component of the M&E sector in 2022 with a valuation of $8.6 billion, it shrank 1.5% from 2021 levels, despite advertising revenues growing 2% to reach levels just behind 2019. The reason for the shrinkage is that subscription revenue continued to fall for the third year in a row, reducing 4% due to a reduction of five million pay-TV homes and stagnant average revenues per user. Linear TV viewership declined 7% over 2021. Television is projected to grow slightly to $8.8 billion this year.

Naman Ramachandran Indian media and entertainment company IN10 Media Network has launched its film division, MovieVerse Studios. The film studio aims to “produce fresh and engaging content in Hindi and regional languages that connect with theatre-going audiences and those on streaming platforms,” the studio said in a statement. The studio has revealed a diverse slate across genres. These include an action survival rescue drama based on a true story in partnership with Bake My Cake Films, helmed by Sandeep Leyzell and Shobhna Yadav, which has hit films like “Batla House,” “Dasvi” and the upcoming “Tehran” to its credit. It will be directed by Umang Vyas (“Ventilator,” “Dear Father”).

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The new regime at Peacock has spent the past nine months preparing to take its baby bird to new heights. The number of big moves made by the NBCUniversal-owned streamer — from amping up its original content slate to livestream deals with Hallmark, Reelz and Big 10 college football to bringing NBC shows back into the fold for next-day viewing and eliminating its free tier for new users — is setting the stage for what executives hope will be a growth spurt in 2023. Peacock, which launched three years ago last month, will show of its brighter plumage Tuesday with its New Fronts presentation to advertisers. “It’s all coming together,” says Peacock president Kelly Campbell, who signed on in October 2021 after serving as president of Hulu. “We’re just seeing an increasing interest overall when it comes to inflow and engagement, and people are stickier than they were in the past.”

Sideshow/Janus Films is estimating a $36k gross or $18k per theater average for The Eight Mountains on two NYC screens, the strongest opening weekend to date for the team behind Drive My Car and EO.

Hank Azaria has previously expressed his regret for playing the character Apu in The Simpsons, with a stereotypical Indian accent. 

Focus Features’ Sundance-premiering Polite Society opens on 927 screens, the feature debut of writer/director Nida Manzoor, creator of We Are Lady Parts, the Peacock comedy about the eponymous British punk rock band.

Viacom18 have revealed a multi-year agreement making JioCinema India’s new streaming home for HBO, Max Original and Warner Bros. content from May. The WBD content had previously been carried on the Disney-owned Star TV platform. But the deal with Star expired at the end of March. WBD sources have confirmed that, except for a handful of shows licensed to third parties, HBO content has been absent from Indian airwaves since the beginning of the month. The new deal is another major victory for Mukesh Ambani, one of India’s richest and most politically influential businessmen. His Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is behind Viacom18 and the JioCinema streaming platform, as well as India’s dominant cellular phone and broadband internet providers.

Naman Ramachandran Gaurav Banerjee, head of content at Disney+ Hotstar, India, has revealed the streamer’s growth strategy in the country. Banerjee was speaking at Indiantelevision.com’s annual industry event, The Content Hub, in Mumbai on Tuesday, in conversation with the organization’s founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. The thrust is to expand original programming in languages beyond Hindi, Banerjee said. “We recognized early on that massive growth in India is going to come by thinking about our content strategy and multiple languages, and not just in Hindi,” Banerjee said. The streamer currently commissions in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages and also programs in the Malayalam language.

hiding from his parents that he's engaged to Jen. In this shocking clip from Sunday's new episode of, Jen and her friends meet with Rishi and his parents, and with the help of a translator, they spill Rishi's big secret.Jen and her friends have been upset that Rishi continues to hide from his parents that he's dating Jen and that they've actually been engaged for three years — all while his parents attempt to find him a bride in India since they're unaware of his relationship with Jen.

Naman Ramachandran The south Indian media and entertainment industry grew 33% in 2022 to record revenues of $3.57 billion in 2022, a new report has revealed. The report, titled South India: Setting Benchmarks for the Nation in Media & Entertainment, was prepared by Team MCube Insights for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), southern region, and was released during the recently-concluded Dakshin conference. It covers in detail the region’s key sectors – film, television, streaming/digital, radio and print – across the four language vectors of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam spread across the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and union territory Puducherry.