Company Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Aylo, parent company of Pornhub and other sex sites, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors to settle a charge it profited from deals with porn producers who were involved in sex trafficking. Under the settlement announced Thursday, Canada-based Aylo agreed to pay a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $1.845 million to the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Really, a company that creates augmented reality content for theatrical release movies has hired veteran media executive Peter Gaida as its chief commercial officer in Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of a wider expansion into Asia by the AR company. Founded by media entrepreneur James Andrew Felts in 2017, Really creates “highly functional, large-scale AR content” that it delivers weekly.

Old habits die hard. So Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav just sat down with Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish to talk about merging, and the media business yet again confronted the possibility of a spasm of mega-deals reshaping the landscape.

Dead & Company could be playing a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere next summer, according to reports.The New York Post reports the supergroup – consisting of Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti – are in talks for a potential residency that would take place “next summer”. However, it stressed that negotiations are “still in the works and not 100%.”The Sphere opened in September with a residency featuring U2 playing ‘Achtung Baby’ in full, which was recently extended into March.

EasyGroup, the U.K.-based company behind the popular low-cost airline easyJet, has launched an infringement lawsuit against Finn Keane, a producer and DJ who has released music as EasyFun. PC Music, the soon-to-be-dormant label EasyFun released music on, is named as a co-defendant in the suit alongside label founder A.G.

EXCLUSIVE: Kingdom Story Company, the production shingle behind Lionsgate‘s cash cow Jesus Revolution among other hits, has appointed Kevin Downes as CEO and Andrew Erwin as Chief Creative Officer ahead of its 2024 theatrical film slate with the studio.

EXCLUSIVE: Judy Greer (White House Plumbers) and Pete Holmes (Crashing) have entered production in Winnipeg on The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, an inspirational comedy that The Chosen’s Dallas Jenkins is helming for Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company.

Matt Roe has been named head of unscripted for production company Dirty Robber, The Unreasnble, led by Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe, and Mickey Meyer.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with action franchise smash John Wick: Chapter 4. The fourth installment in the Chad Stahelski-directed series was penned by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch (based on characters created by Derek Kolstad) in their first turn with Baba Yaga — even if the titular revenge artist, played by Keanu Reeves, speaks only 380 words of dialogue.

With The Morning Show named today as one of the AFI Awards’ 2023 honorees for television program of the year, the question arises, how will the Apple TV+ show possibly up the ante for Season 4?

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery cable warrior Kathleen Finch is heading into her Super Bowl: the holiday season at Food Network.

Caroline Brew editor Director and choreographer Adam Shankman has been named chief creative officer of DanceOne, a new brand from TZP Group. DanceOne will serve as the world’s largest dance holding company, featuring the nation’s leading dance education and competitions. “The whole team is beyond excited to make DanceOne the biggest global dance brand available to everyone in all markets.

EXCLUSIVE: Aislinn Clarke is set to direct Hellish Nell, the genre thriller for Studiocanal and The Picture Company.  

December is merely days away, and if you haven’t already cracked out the Christmas decorations then now is the perfect time to start getting your home feeling a little more festive. Amongst the tinsel and garlands, no home is truly Christmas-ready without a fabulous candle of two, and for years The White Company’s Winter Indulgence Botanical candle, £95 here, has been considered the ultimate centrepiece for your table setting.

Former Universal Pictures executive Paul Chesney has announced the creation of Riyadh-based production company Red Palm Pictures on the eve of Saudi Arabia’s third Red Sea International Film Festival.

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” TV series has become an obsession of TV fans across the country. The show, which is based on the book series by author Jenny Han, has taken the world by storm. Recently, it was revealed that spin-offs of the series are in the works, and fans are freaking out about the possibilities.As previously reported by Hollywood News Daily, “The Summer I Turned Pretty” fans may be getting more stories about the characters in the near future.

Spun Gold, the producer of the BAFTA Film and TV Awards, has restructured under a newly-formed umbrella company.

Frankie Bridge's favourite candle, which 'lasts ages', is now 20% off for Black Friday. It's the perfect time to get cosy with a good book, a lit candle and your cosiest blanket. The White Company, known for its cosy products, is offering a 20% discount this Black Friday.

French VFX firm The Yard, whose credits include Indiana Jones 5, Ford v Ferrari, Enola Holmes 2, Wanda Vision, John Wick 4 and upcoming spin-off A Quiet Place: Day One, has appointed Tom Fonvillars as head of its CG department.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chen Shaojie, the chairman and CEO of leading Chinese gaming live-streaming platform Douyu, has been arrested. The NASDAQ-listed company confirmed the previously-reported news in a regulatory filing late on Tuesday. DouYu said that it was informed that Chen was arrested by police in Chengdu “on or about Nov. 16.” Reputable Chinese and international media previously reported that he had been missing for at least three weeks and had been away from public view since August. In China, suspects in criminal cases are often detained for weeks or months prior to their formal arrest.

Home care company Home Instead Perthshire has won two awards at the British Recruitment Awards.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Japanese indie film company Gaga Corporation has seen a controlling share stake sold to Genda Inc., a fast-moving entertainment conglomerate with its roots in arcade gaming. Genda is buying the 78% share holding owned by Gaga chairman Tom Yoda’s T.Y. Limited company.

OpenAI is the parent company of ChatGPT and Sam Altman has been part of the company since its inception in 2015, but now he has been fired.

EXCLUSIVE: Prison Break fans have had quite a month.

EXCLUSIVE: Mohamed Diab is set to direct Leap, a high concept action thriller script by Source Code writer Ben Ripley and produced by The Picture Company.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Everyday it seems a new dewy-skinned celebrity is pushing a product onto their followers, one that they believe, or are paid to believe, will “brighten,” “de-puff,” “lift” and “tone” — and generally save you from nature’s most unfortunate truth: gravity. But as the lifestyle and wellness industries become increasingly more saturated, it’s become harder to sift through the noise and find products that actually work, especially when every doctor will tell you that different health routines will interact differently with every type of body.

EXCLUSIVE: Futureverse, an artificial intelligence and metaverse technology and content company, has signed with Creative Artists Agency.

EXCLUSIVE: The North Road Company’s investment drive continues.

Simon Webbe has become the latest member of Blue to be hit with financial difficulties. Back in 2017 Simon's bandmate Duncan James filed for bankruptcy after the group's company Blueworld went into administration, and then in 2021 Lee Ryan claimed he was left with "no money" during the pandemic after he was fined by a magistrates' court.

EXCLUSIVE: Management and production company The Cartel has signed John Pogue, Michael Alaimo, Rebecca Ewing & Danney Mackey and Lisa France.

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, your host Mike DeAngelo and Playlist Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez, jump on the mic to talk with Joanna Robinson, one of the writers on the new book “MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios” co-written by Dave Gonzales and, Gavin Edwards. READ MORE: ‘The Marvels’ Box Office Flops At $47 Million, Marvel’s Lowest Grossing Opening Film Ever Given everything that’s happened/happening to Marvel this year, this fall and this weekend—the flop of “The Marvels,” the studio’s lowest-grossing opening ever and their first major failure in, well, forever—the book and the conversation, is timely.

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company have nabbed The Best Christmas Pageant ever which The Chosen creator/producer/director Dallas Jenkins will direct and adapt from Barbara Robinson’s comedic family book and play. Cameras roll next month in Canada for a 2024 holiday theatrical release.

Robert De Niro's production company has been ordered to pay $1.26 million (£1,020,395) to his former assistant who sued over gender discrimination while the actor himself was found to be not personally liable.The Hollywood star's production company has been battling out a civil case against Graham Chase Robinson, but while a judge ruled that he was not personally liable, his production company Canal Productions has been ordered to pay out. Chase had worked her way up from being the Raging Bull star's personal assistant to a senior role as vice president of production and finance at Canal Productions before resigning, but had accused her former employers of alleged workplace and sexual harassment and sexism.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran talent agent Chuck James is leaving CAA. He will be launching Ascend Artist Representation, a talent management and production company. Partnership details about the new company will be announced at a later date.

Writers Guild of America East members are reacting to today’s news of the shuttering of G/O Media‘s Jezebel after an unsuccesful attempt to sell the site. The closure came amid word that parent company G/O Media was laying off 23 staffers, including Jezebel’s team.

A verdict has been reached in Robert De Niro‘s gender discrimination civil trial.