President Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

AMC Networks International has installed Antonio Ruiz, Warner Bros. Discovery’s former UK and Ireland General Manager, as its boss in Spain and Portugal.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent CANNES — 3CAT, the newly reset Barcelona-based Catalan public broadcaster, and one of the driving forces behind Canneseries highlight “This Is Not Sweden,” is bringing onto the market a new docuseries “Aitana” as the Catalan-language service seeks to cut through the crowd with some of the biggest IPs a territory has: Its soccer stars. Sold as both a 90-minute movie and also a three-part 40-minute episode mini, “Aitana” is an inside-track on Barcelona soccer club’s Aitana Bonmatí, winner of the 2023 Women’s Ballon d’Or for best female soccer player in the world.

Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial is still due to start picking a jury on April 15.

More of former TKO Group Executive Chairman Vince McMahon‘s large stake in the company is changing hands, with Endeavor and TKO agreeing to buy a combined $311.2 million of his stock.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney‘s games group has bulked up executive ranks with new hires and promotions after the announcement of its $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games and partnership to create a virtual world featuring the Mouse House’s brands and characters. Ray Gresko, formerly chief development officer at Blizzard Entertainment (who left prior to its the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard), joins the Disney Games team as senior VP, product and development.

EXCLUSIVE: Aliyah Mastin (Honeygirls) and Percy Daggs IV (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey) are set as series regulars opposite Sterling K. Brown in Dan Fogelman‘s new Hulu drama, joining previously announced James Marsden, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi and Nicole Brydon Bloom. Additionally Michelle Meredith (The Morning Show) and Cassidy Freeman (The Righteous Gemstones) have been tapped to recur in the series from 20th Television.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CBS is forecasting that viewer interest in the ins and outs of national weather is about to gain new wind. Wendy Fisher, a longtime senior executive at ABC News who ran its newsgathering operations, has been named to lead a newly formed national weather-news operation that will work with both national and local news programs across CBS’ news-and-stations unit. “This is a significant team effort, as Weather coverage plays a role in virtually every program produced by CBS News and Stations,” said Adrienne Roark, president of content development and integration for the Paramount Global division, in a memo sent to staffers Monday.

Michaela Zee Stephanie McMahon opened the second night of WrestleMania 40 during a surprise appearance Sunday in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. “Every WrestleMania is special for its own reason,” Stephanie McMahon told the crowd at the WWE event. “But I think Wrestlemania 40 might be the one I am most proud of, because this is the first WrestleMania of the Paul Levesque era.” Her husband Levesque, also known by his ring name Triple H, is the chief content officer and head of creative at WWE.

Michaela Zee Rev. Dr. Cecil L.

There wasn’t a case of dry eye to be found at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, as the cast of The Good Doctor said goodbye for the last time.

Harry Daniels has become a viral sensation on TikTok thanks to his videos where he sings to celebrities during random run-ins on the street.

Actors’ Equity President Kate Shindle has announced that she will not seek re-election when her nine-year tenure ends May 23.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will not be voicing support for either of the candidates in the 2024 presidential election.

Brian Teta, the executive producer of The View, has signed a new contract for the show that will keep him at the often buzzy daytime talker for the next four years.

Another IATSE local has a tentative deal with the studios.

Aevitas Creative Management literary agency is linking with Rubin Pfeffer Content, a literary agency for authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. The latter agency’s Rubin Pfeffer and Amy Flynn will join ACM as Executive Agent at Large and Senior Agent, respectively.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Dwayne Johnson will not endorse any presidential candidate this year, he confirmed during an interview with Fox News. It’s a change of pace for the celebrity, who publicly endorsed Joe Biden for president during the 2020 election. “The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was one I thought was the best decision for me at that time,” Johnson said.

The Matrix fans have vowed not to watch the franchise’s forthcoming movie, after it was announced that the fifth instalment would not be directed by creators Lana and Lily Wachowski.Earlier this week, Warner Bros. confirmed that a new movie is in development, with The Martian‘s Drew Goddard set to direct.The upcoming sequel will be the first film in the series not to be directed by Lana or Lily Wachowski, although the former is attached as an executive producer.“If it ain’t Wachowski I will not watchski,” posted one fan on X (formerly Twitter), while as another added: “I was fine with a new Star Wars without George Lucas, but a new Matrix without either of the Wachowski sisters feels deeply sacrilegious.”if it ain’t wachowski I will not watchskihttps://t.co/wC2AIHXMHX— Joshua Rivera (@jmrivera02) April 3, 2024I was fine with a new Star Wars without George Lucas, but a new Matrix without either of the Wachowski sisters feels deeply sacrilegious.

Jack Dunn In association with Washington D.C. nonprofit the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, the Mexican American golf drama “The Long Game” will screen at the White House April 9, just ahead of its April 12 release date.

Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, best known for his 2023 feature The Beasts, has been announced as jury president for this year’s edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Critics Week section of the Cannes film festival has set Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen as the president of the jury for its 63rd edition. Sorogoyen is known for films including “Stockholm” in 2013, “The Candidate” in 2018, and “The Beasts” from 2022.

Production is currently underway on season four of Power Book III: Raising Kanan!

Katie Lowes and Guillermo Diaz are back to re-watch Scandal!

President Joe Biden told Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an immediate ceasefire was needed in Gaza “to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians,” the White House said today.

Katcy Stephan Halle Bailey is set to join Universal Pictures’ untitled Pharrell Williams and Michel Gondry project. Bailey will co-star opposite Kelvin Harrison Jr. and joins newly-minted Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph in this coming-of-age musical set in the summer of 1977 Virginia Beach inspired by Atlantis Apartments, Williams’ childhood neighborhood.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Ari Wallach has made his living as a professional futurist for more than 20 years. What does that mean? “I work with really large organizations, mostly helping them think about tomorrow — the far-off tomorrows,” Wallach explains on the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” Wallach’s forward-looking intellect is on display in the new PBS docu series “A Brief History of the Future,” which premiered April 3 on PBS in the U.S. He hosts the series and is an executive producer with Kathryn Murdoch, Wendy Schmidt and DreamCrew, the production banner headed by hip hop superstar Drake.

Kate Aurthur administrator Gladiators, suit up: The “Scandal” rewatch podcast, “Unpacking the Toolbox,” is set to return with new episodes on April 11. “Unpacking the Toolbox” is hosted by former “Scandal” stars Katie Lowes (who played Quinn) and Guillermo Diaz (who played Huck) — their IRL friendship was forged on set, and fans nicknamed their twisted on-screen partnership Huckleberry Quinn. Part of the iHeartPodcasts network, the Shondaland Audio series “Unpacking the Toolbox” — a reference to Huck’s torture kit — hit pause during the SAG-AFTRA strike, having covered the first two seasons of Shonda Rhimes’ ABC drama, which ran for seven seasons from 2012 through 2018.

Jonathan Greenberger is departing ABC News, where he has been Washington, D.C. bureau chief, for a new job as executive vice president of Politico.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify announced the appointment of Christian Luiga, a senior executive at European defense and security company Saab AB, as its next CFO. Luiga is expected to start in the third quarter of 2024. Ben Kung, Spotify’s VP of financial planning and analysis, will serve as interim CFO until Luiga’s start date.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer When the Writers Guild of America went on strike last May, union leaders argued that artificial intelligence posed an existential threat to writers, painting a picture of a dystopian future in which TV shows might be crafted by one writer and a machine. Ten months later, the tone in Hollywood labor circles has shifted significantly. At a March 3 rally in Los Angeles, Matthew Loeb, international president of IATSE, argued that AI has the potential to make union members’ jobs easier.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Warner Bros. is going back to the Matrix. The studio announced that a fifth “Matrix” movie is in development.

Donald Trump had plans for The Apprentice.

William Earl When Donald Trump left his seat in the boardroom as the star of his long-running NBC reality series “The Apprentice” in 2015, in order to run for president of the United States, he had a clear successor in mind. “I said, ‘The best person to hire would be Ivanka Trump,’” Donald Trump says.

Civil War,’ two publicists working on the dystopian thriller assured me that it isn’t a political film. In the movie, Kirsten Dunst plays a dogged photojournalist muscling her way through a smoldering Washington D.C., trying to document the bitter conflict between two heavily armed factions tearing America apart.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A group backed by many of the entertainment sector’s biggest traditional TV companies said it would back audience-measurement tools from Comscore and VideoAmp for use in national ad deals, the latest effort by media giants to create an alternative to Nielsen for tabulating viewership. Whether or not the new ad currencies will gain traction will depend on Madison Avenue.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Warner Bros. Television Group chairman/CEO Channing Dungey is returning to the Banff World Media Festival this June to serve as one of its keynote speakers, the event announced on Wednesday. Dungey joins a lineup that also includes Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade as a summit series keynote.