Sting sells publishing catalogue to Universal

Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, the dynamic duo of writer/producers behind Immortals and hit Netflix animated series Blood of Zeus, have tapped Oscar-nominated screenwriter Dan Gordon (The Hurricane) and New York Times bestselling writer and artist John Stanisci (Batman Beyond) to develop a new property based on the bloody gladiator battles of 5th century Rome with Gladiatrix, in simultaneous development as an original graphic novel and television series!

Superhero sweeties! These Marvel Universe members all have little ones at home.

Companies representing the estates of Jimi Hendrix Experience members Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell have requested that legal action filed with the courts in New York by the Hendrix estate and Sony Music be dismissed on jurisdiction grounds. That legal action seeks court confirmation that agreements reached between the Hendrix estate and Mitchell and Redding back in the early 1970s are still in force.The UK-based companies representing the Redding and Mitchell estates have filed their own litigation in the English courts, specifically against Sony Music UK.

NEW YORK -- Woody Allen has a collection of humor essays coming out in June, his first book since his controversial memoir “Apropos of Nothing” was released two years ago.Arcade Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, announced Wednesday that “Zero Gravity” will be published June 7. It includes essays that have appeared in The New Yorker and some written just for the new book.

Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley, Don’t Look Up) has been named as the latest recipient of Film At Lincoln Center’s Chaplin Award.

LONDON -- Artworks by Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol and other modern masters are going up for auction in a sale ordered by a U.S. court as part of a billionaire couple’s acrimonious divorce.Sotheby’s auction house announced Friday that it will offer 30 works from the Macklowe Collection on May 16 in New York.The works belonged to property developer Harry Macklowe and his wife Linda, who spent 40 years assembling a collection by some of the 20th century’s greatest artists, displaying many of them in their grand apartment in New York’s Plaza building.After they split in 2016, a judge ordered the collection sold as part of the divorce settlement.

NEW YORK -- One of the world's greatest big-wave surfers, Brazil's Maya Gabeira, has embarked on a kid-friendly adventure.The seven-time winner of the World Surf League Big Wave Award has a deal with Abrams Children’s Books for two picture stories and a young adult memoir. The first picture book, a fairy tale of “big waves and even bigger courage," titled “Maya and the Beast” and illustrated by Ramona Kaulitzki, comes out Aug.

Jenna Bush Hager, co-host of Today with Hoda & Jenna, the third hour of NBC’s Today, has signed a first-look deal with Universal Studio Group. Under the pact. Hager will develop and produce projects with Universal Content Productions, Universal Television, Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios for multiple platforms.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBCUniversal wants to add an interesting new story to Jenna Bush Hager’s “Today” book club.For nearly four years, the co-host of the 10 a.m. hour of “Today” has chosen a book each month for members of her “Read with Jenna” club to peruse and discuss.

Sting has sold his entire songwriting to Universal Music Publishing Group in a deal rumoured to be worth over $250 million (£184 million).The agreement covers all Sting’s solo songs, including the likes of ‘Shape Of My Heart’, ‘Fields Of Gold’ and ‘Englishman In New York. The deal also extends to the songs Sting wrote for The Police, such as ‘Roxanne’, ‘Every Breath You Take’ and ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’.“I am delighted to have Jody (Gerson, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group) and the team curate and manage my song catalogue,” said Sting.“It is absolutely essential to me that my career’s body of work have a home where it is valued and respected – not only to connect with longtime fans in new ways but also to introduce my songs to new audiences, musicians and generations.“Throughout my career, I have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with UMG as my label partner, so it felt natural to unite everything in one trusted home, as I return to the studio, ready for the next chapter.”Gerson added: “So many memories from my youth are tied to the great songs written by Sting — whether it was first seeing the Police perform in Philadelphia or hearing his music on the radio or playing those albums until I wore them out.“I could never have imagined that someday I would get to lead a company that will be the guardian of Sting’s remarkable songwriting legacy.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs long expected, Universal Music Publishing has acquired 17-time Grammy Award winner Sting’s career catalog of music. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but in recent months the artist was said to be seeking around $350 million.

The estates of Jimi Hendrix’s one-time collaborators have sued Sony Music UK accusing the major – as the licensee of the Hendrix catalogue – of copyright infringement, while also seeking allegedly unpaid royalties.We knew this dispute was brewing, because last month the Hendrix estate and Sony went to court in New York seeking a declaratory judgement that agreements reached in the 1970s with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell – the other two members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience – were still valid and enforceable.Those agreements were negotiated in the years after Hendrix’s death in 1970. In them, Redding and Mitchell basically gave up any copyright or royalty claims in relation to recordings made by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in return for “significant monetary consideration”.

PBS was the top winner in the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards on Tuesday, with four honors for outstanding broadcast and digital reporting in the public interest.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe widow of Ol’ Dirty Bastard sued Wu-Tang Clan Productions on Tuesday, alleging that the late rapper’s estate is owed at least $1 million in unpaid royalties.ODB, whose legal name was Russell Tyrone Jones, was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, the rap group that catapulted to stardom in the early 1990s. He died of a drug overdose in 2004 at the age of 35.His widow, Icelene Jones, alleges in the lawsuit that Wu-Tang Clan Productions did not pay royalties to the estate from 2011 until July 2021, when it sent a check for $130,000.

Us Weekly has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services.

Fewer than 100 students have graduated from a New York satellite of a Scots university since it was launched nearly eight years ago.

New York University has officially launched a new course focused on Taylor Swift, just in time for spring semester.As part of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the course will run from January 26 to March 9, and students can expect to learn more about the singer’s career and her cultural influence.

Taylor Swift.The course began at the Davis Institute, which is part of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, on January 26 and will run through to March 9.Set to be taught by Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos, the course will cover “Swift’s evolution as a creative music entrepreneur, the legacy of pop and country songwriters, discourses of youth and girlhood, and the politics of race in contemporary popular music” (via Variety).“This course proposes to deconstruct both the appeal and aversions to Taylor Swift through close readings of her music and public discourse as it relates to her own growth as an artist and a celebrity,” a description adds.“Through readings, lectures and more, the class delves into analyses of the culture and politics of teen girlhood in pop music, fandom, media studies, whiteness and power as it relates to her image and the images of those who have both preceded and succeeded her. We’ll also consider topics like copyright and ownership, American nationalism and the ongoing impact of social media on the pop music industry.”The Swift course already has a long waiting list of students, a representative for the course told Variety.