Sony Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

The Jackson family feud is heating up…

Austin Butler is taking on a new role.

Katcy Stephan Sony Pictures has acquired Darren Aronofsky’s crime thriller “Caught Stealing,” which will star Austin Butler. The film follows Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ‘90s NYC. “I am excited to be teaming up with my old friends at Sony Pictures to bring Charlie’s adrenaline-soaked roller coaster ride to life.

EXCLUSIVE: After strong start to 2024 with Masters of the Air and Dune Part 2, Oscar-nominee Austin Butler is looking to build on that success and is teaming up with another Oscar-nominated director. Sources tell Deadline Butler is set to star in Academy Award nominee Darren Aronofsky’s (The Whale, Black Swan) crime thriller Caught Stealing for Sony Pictures. The studio recently landed the package which is based on the book by Charlie Huston. The script will be written by Huston with Protozoa producing.

Amazon shoppers are hailing a portable Bluetooth speaker they say is 'well worth the money' - so much so a shopper bought three.

Netflix has slotted Friday, April 12 for the premiere of Good Times, the animated series reboot of the late Norman Lear‘s groundbreaking TV sitcom. We’re also getting a first look in the trailer above.

The new trailer for Bad Boys 4 is out now!

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UTA announced Eric Iverson as chief technology officer, where he will lead information-technology strategy — joining the company as artificial intelligence and other tech developments are threatening to disrupt the industry. Most recently, Iverson served as director of product strategy Amazon MGM Studios, where he led product, user experience and AI efforts, and before that was chief technologist for media and entertainment in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) division.

Ghostbusters movie, has said that the all-female reboot was “disappointing”.Hudson, who has reprised his role as Winston Zeddemore in the new Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, shared his opinion on the 2016 film in a recent interview.Speaking with The Independent, Hudson praised the film’s director and the cast, which featured Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, for their “brilliantly funny” performance. However, he did have some criticisms of the movie.“Fans were really invested in the story and the characters and I think it was disappointing.

Jaden Thompson Sony Pictures has just released the trailer for “Bad Boys 4,” starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The film’s official title is “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” This is the fourth film in the popular action-comedy franchise that debuted in 1995, when Smith and Lawrence first teamed up as Miami PD detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, who investigate illegal drug trading in Miami.

EXCLUSIVE: In the wake of the $216M-plus global grossing success of Anyone But You, Sony is going to keep this romcom train going. We hear that TriStar Pictures has preemptively acquired Brenda Hsueh’s high concept romantic comedy Man’s Best Friend.

EXCLUSIVE: Following a competitive auction, Sony Pictures has landed the highly-coveted spec How To Save A Marriage from Ross Evans with Robert Pattinson on board to produce. Evans penned the script and Pattinson’s producing partner Brighton McCloskey via their Icki Eneo Arlo banner will join as producer along with Geoff Shaevitz and Evan Silverberg via Entertainment 360.

Michael Jackson’s son, Bigi, has taken his grandmother to court in an attempt to prevent her from using funds from his father’s estate as part of a legal battle.Bigi – whose legal name is Prince Michael Jackson III, and is also known as Blanket – has requested that Katherine Jackson be prevented from using the funds to finance her legal battle against executors.Attorneys have said that Katherine’s legal services requests do not benefit the estate, so a judge should not approve them (per USA Today).It comes after reports emerged last week that the late pop legend’s son was filing a legal injunction against his grandmother.The filing was thought to be in response to Katherine’s opposition of the recent landmark deal the estate made with Sony to sell half of Michael’s music catalogue for $600million (£475million).The deal is expected to be the biggest-ever valuation of an artist’s music assets, with sources valuing it at between $1.2billion and $1.5billion in total (£950million – £1.19billion).Bigi previously claimed that he and Katherine presented their arguments against the deal, but ultimately the court ruled against them – which seemingly brought the legal issue to a close.However, a filing states that “despite the expense and long odds, Katherine decided to pursue an appeal.”The court filing said the Sony deal was “of paramount significance to Bigi, both financially and personally”, who has decided to move on from the court dispute.Katherine had previously told the court that Michael never wanted his music catalogue to be sold.Last week, Billboard reported that Katherine Jackson has received more than $55million (£43.5million) since the singer’s death in June 2009, according to claims from Michael Jackson’s estate

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is on top!

Jordan Moreau Ghostbusting is back at the box office! “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the fifth and latest movie in the frightening franchise, has made $4.7 million at the box office in Thursday previews. Sony and Columbia Pictures’ new movie, which reunites the original stars of the ’80s classic and the cast from the 2021 “Afterlife” sequel, is expected to top the box office this weekend with an opening between $43 million and $45 million. That launch is in line with the previous film that revived the franchise, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which had a $45 million opening amid the pandemic.

Two members of the Jackson family are in a bitter legal battle over Michael Jackson’s estate!

Mark Sutherland The IFPI Global Music Report has long been viewed as the definitive snapshot of the international music industry’s health (or otherwise). After all, the global recorded music industry trade body’s report has chronicled both the industry’s long, painful period of physical decline and celebrated its streaming-led return to growth.But the publication of its 2024 report — launched Thursday at a press conference in London — felt like one of those years when the numbers are slightly lagging behind the real story of what’s happening in the industry.The statistics, certainly, paint an almost across-the-board picture of a business in good health.

Rumored to be playing the next James Bond (by the same U.K. tabloid that said Cillian Murphy was the favorite last week and that Paul Mescal was a lock before that, insert eye roll here), Aaron Taylor Johnson is railing against Hollywood in a new Rolling Stone UK interview.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Sony will release a new animated short titled “The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story” on Sony Pictures Animation’s YouTube channel at 6 a.m. PT on March 27.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music If there’s a top jack-of-all-trades in the music industry, there’s a good chance it’s Ryan Tedder. He’s a hugely successful recording artist (as leader of OneRepublic), one of the top songwriter-producers of the past 15 years (Beyoncé’s “Halo,” U2, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5, Ariana Grande and many more) and is also a more savvy music publisher than many full-time music publishers.

Michael Jackson‘s youngest son Blanket has filed a legal injunction against his grandmother, Katherine.As TMZ reports, the 22-year-old – real name Bigi Jackson – is attempting to prevent the late singer’s mother, 93, from using money from Michael’s estate to fight in an ongoing legal battle.In documents filed this week, Blanket asked the court not to allow Katherine to use Michael’s estate money to fund an appeal of a previous ruling.It is reported that Blanket and his grandmother were recently working together to stop the executors of Michael’s estate from going through with a large business transaction that they were both opposed to.The documents do not disclose the specific details of the transaction. However, it could be related to the landmark deal the estate reportedly made with Sony recently to sell half of Michael’s music catalogue for $600million (£475million).Blanket claimed that he and Katherine presented their arguments against the deal, but ultimately the court ruled against them – which seemingly brought the legal issue to a close.It is said that Katherine has decided to appeal the ruling, though Blanket doesn’t want to be involved any further.

Director Nicholas Hytner and writer Alan Bennett are collaborating again, with The Lady in the Van, The History Boys and The Madness of King George duo set to team on The Choral, which will star Ralph Fiennes, Jim Broadbent and Simon Russell Beale. Production begins in May in Yorkshire, according to Sony Pictures Classics, which said Wednesday that it has acquired all worldwide rights to the pic.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson opened up about his new superhero project Kraven the Hunter.

Friends alum David Schwimmer is set to lead Season 2 of the Disney+ anthology series Goosebumps.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter David Schwimmer is set to star in “Goosebumps” Season 2 at Disney+, Variety has learned. The show, based on the Scholastic book series of the same name by R.L. Stine, aired its first season on the streamer in October 2023.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Amazon is churning out unbeatable deals on their site this week as part of their first-ever “Big Spring Sale.” One of the best deals we’ve scoped out this week? The Beats Studio 3 Wireless Headphones, which are more than half off right now. The deluxe headphones, which normally retail for $350 are down to $169 on Amazon — a massive 52% discount and the lowest price we’ve ever seen for these top-rated cans.

Sydney Sweeney has opened up more about starring in Sony Pictures‘ Madame Web, which she has described as a “strategic business decision”.Speaking to GQ UK recently, Sweeney responded to the film’s negative reception and co-star Dakota Johnson‘s comments about the film’s production and flop at the box office. While Johnson said she “probably will never do anything like it again”, Sweeney’s open to taking another crack at the film: “I think that if the story is right and you have the right team, I would love to.”However, Sweeney also revealed that her decision to act in Madame Web was more of a business move than anything else: “To me that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” continued its sway atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for a third consecutive weekend with £4 million ($5.1 million), according to numbers from Comscore. Denis Villeneuve’s anticipated sequel has an all-star cast including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem reprising their roles from the first film, with Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux joining them.

Prime Video has unveiled first-look images of its The Narrow Road to The Deep North adaptation starring Jacob Elordi, which has wrapped production in Australia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Five months of production has been completed on Jacob Elordi-starring drama series “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” which is set in the “Euphoria” and “Saltburn” star’s native Australia. An adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel by Richard Flanaghan, the five-part series is love-story set against the backdrop of World War II. Elordi portrays Lieutenant-Colonel Dorrigo Evans and co-stars with Odessa Young (“Mothering Sunday,” “Shirley”).

Sony Pictures Classics announced on Tuesday that it will release its indie drama Daddio, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn, in theaters nationwide on June 28.

The Good Doctor is sadly coming to an end, but there’s a bunch of surprises heading into the final season!

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Sydney Sweeney said in a recent interview with GQ UK that starring in Sony’s “Madame Web” was a “strategic business decision” that more or less paid off despite the film being one of the year’s most infamous box office flops. In Sweeney’s eyes, “Madame Web” got her in the door at Sony Pictures and that’s where she was able to have a massive box office success with the romantic comedy “Anyone but You.” “To me, that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony,” Sweeney told the publication. “Without doing ‘Madame Web’ I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there.

Sony is reportedly pausing production of its PSVR2 headsets, an accessory for the PS5, due to a backlog of unsold units.As reported by Bloomberg, people familiar with Sony’s plans have claimed that the company has paused production of the PSVR2 until it manages to sell the backlog that has accrued. Sony has apparently produced “well over 2 million units” of the PSVR2, but has sold just 1.3 million since launch.According to Macquarie analyst Yijia Zhai, interviewed by Bloomberg, “The high price of VR hardware acts as the main hurdle for its expansion.” This is compounded by the relatively small amount of VR titles available for players, which is in turn caused by “the development cost for VR games [being] substantially higher than normal titles.”The PSVR2 accessory retails at £529.99, while a new PS5 slim costs £409.99, more than £100 cheaper than the headset.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Only one month following its theatrical release in February, “Madame Web” is now available to rent/purchase digitally online. The Blu-ray/DVD versions will become available on Apr.

EXCLUSIVE: Karolina Wydra (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has landed a lead role opposite Rhea Seehorn in the upcoming Apple TV+ series from Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan, Deadline has learned. The untitled project, described as a blended, grounded genre drama, has a two-season straight-to-series order.