Sony Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Following a thorough search to find its new Karate Kid, Sony Pictures has tapped Ben Wang to star in the next installment in the franchise, Deadline has confirmed.

Katcy Stephan Ben Wang is the next Karate Kid. Wang, who previously starred opposite Michelle Yeoh in the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese,” landed the sought-after role after a worldwide search that saw thousands of young actors from around the globe vie for the title role in Sony’s new “Karate Kid” movie, which unites Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio. Per studio insiders, Wang delivered a standout audition performance that demonstrated his deep connection to the character.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The CGI animated sequel to “Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness,” the hit adventure film based on the Dark Horse comics which sold around the world, has lured buyers ahead of the European Film Market. Titled “Chickenhare and the Very Very (Very) Old Groundhog,” the movie is budgeted at $23 million (a large budget by European production standards) and brings back the creative team behind the first film.

Deadpool & Wolverine, the third film in the series of movies led by Ryan Reynolds.Hugh Jackman will reprise the role of Wolverine in the upcoming film and he can be briefly seen in this first look footage.Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni and Matthew Macfadyen are also among thwe cast.Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D’Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey, Simon Kinberg and Jonathon Komack Martin serving as executive producers.

Meredith Woerner Deputy Editor, Variety.com Welcoming nominees and guests to the 76th DGA Awards, director, producer and writer Judd Apatow greeted the audience joking, “I’m your host Bradley Cooper in an even more beguiling Jewish nose.” Apatow opened up with a zinger drafting off the DGA’s history of never striking against the studios. He noted that his agents told him to hold out for more money for his fifth time as host of the ceremony: “But in the spirit of the DGA I accepted their first offer.” Taking aim at the current political landscape, Apatow addressed the crowd stating, “I swear to god if this is the only time you vote this year, you can all go fuck yourselves.” He noted the age of the likely nominees for the presidential election, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Why end The Good Doctor? Was it ABC’s decision? Did the show run its course after seven seasons?

Selome Hailu Though Mayim Bialik was fired from the “Jeopardy!” flagship syndicated series in December, the door is still open to bring her back for other versions, according to executive producer Michael Davies. On a panel about unscripted television during ABC’s presentation at the Television Critics Assn. winter 2024 press tour, Davies said the decision to remove Bialik and keep Ken Jennings as solo host came from a pursuit of “more consistency.” “When I took over the show, we were forced into that situation,” said Davies, referring to the two-host setup.

Selome Hailu ABC has renewed “Jeopardy! Masters” for Season 2 and “Celebrity Family Feud” for Season 10. “Jeopardy! Masters” debuted in May of 2023 with Ken Jennings as host.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Goosebumps” has been renewed for a second season at Disney+. The announcement was made during the Disney Branded Television presentation at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. As part of the announcement, it was also revealed that the second season would be eight episodes compared to the 10-episode first season, and that the show is going the anthology route.

Celebrity Family Feud and Jeopardy! Masters have been renewed by ABC.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music After a long series of fakeouts that have become standard operating procedure for Kanye West releases, the embattled artist and Ty Dolla $ign have finally dropped their “Vultures 1” album. The release, which occurred sometime in the wee hours of Saturday morning, is curiously not available on Spotify, although it can be found on most other major streaming services.

Michael Jackson‘s catalogue in a landmark deal.According to Billboard, the company will fork out at least $600million (£475million) for its stake in the late star’s publishing and recorded masters catalogue, with sources valuing it at between $1.2billion and $1.5billion in total. However, no exact figure is known currently.Should these numbers be accurate, the deal is expected to be the biggest-ever valuation of an artist’s music assets.It is said that Sony’s deal with the Michael Jackson estate does not include royalties from Broadway’s MJ The Musical and other theatrical productions featuring the King Of Pop’s material.But it reportedly includes songs by other acts from Jackson’s Mijac publishing catalogue such as Sly & The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield and Ray Charles.The deal, which Billboard said closed in late 2023, trumps the $1.2billion that Queen are currently seeking for their recorded music, publishing and other income streams like royalties from the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic.Almost exactly one year ago, it was reported that the Michael Jackson estate was nearing a huge deal to sell half of its ownership in his catalogue.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music In what is apparently the conclusion of a deal that Variety tipped a year ago, Sony Music Group has completed a transaction to acquire half of Michael Jackson’s publishing and recorded masters in a transaction that values the total catalog at around $1.2 billion, and possibly more, sources confirm to Variety. Billboard reports that Sony will pay at least $600 million for the stake. If accurate, the deal is the biggest for a single music artist’s assets to date.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights worldwide to Nathan Silver’s Between The Temples starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane, following its buzzy world premiere at Sundance and ahead of its upcoming international debut at the Berlinale.

Vampire Weekend have officially announced a new album called Only God Was Above Us. The fifth full-length project from the New York rock band arrives on April 5 via Sony.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is receiving a new game plus mode next month, after developer Insomniac Games previously confirmed the mode would be coming to the game after launch.The news was officially announced on Insomniac Games X (formerly Twitter) account, and confirmed that a full list of what to expect from the update will be released just before the update arrives on March 7.

Atlus has announced that Persona 3 Reload is the fastest-selling game in the history of the company.Atlus West posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Persona 3 Reload has sold over a million copies in the first week of release, making it the fastest-selling game that the company has ever published.The game was launched on February 2 across all platforms. The game was originally revealed by Xbox in June of last year, along with the reveal that the game would be launching on Xbox Game Pass at no additional price to existing subscribers.As reported by Persona Central back in 2021, the Persona series had hit fifteen million sales by the end of Fiscal Year 2021, meaning that Persona 3 Reload has already sold roughly a fifteenth of what the entire series had sold in by the end of its 25th anniversary year.NME reviewed Persona 3 Reload, with our reviewer calling the game a “must-play marvel”.“As the sums of its parts, Reload is phenomenal as both a remake and a standalone game.

Thanks to “Oppenheimer,” all of Hollywood wants a piece of Cillian Murphy. So is it any surprise that Sony shelled out a ton for the latest in the “28 Days Later” franchise? THR reports that the studio won the bidding war for a new sequel in the zombie franchise, which comes with an additional sequel if all goes well.

Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) is set to star in Long Bright River, a limited series for Peacock based on Liz Moore’s New York Times bestselling novel of the same name.

Madame Web is headed East. Sony said today that its stand-alone origin tale from Marvel will hit China on March 1, two weeks after its North American bow.

Naman Ramachandran India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) is not proceeding with a $1.4 billion cricket rights deal it had struck with Disney Star in 2022, according to a report from Reuters. Cricket is the most popular sport in India, the world’s most populous nation. In August 2022, Disney Star had won Indian TV and digital rights to both men’s and women’s global events conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 2024 through 2027.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran animation producer Rick Mischel has formed a studio in Canada after acquiring Yeti Farm Creative Animation Studio.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony, which kicked off CinemaCon last year, is skipping this year’s exhibitor-studio conference in Las Vegas, NV which runs April 8-11 at Caesar’s Palace.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Songwriter Jenna Andrews, whose hits include songs performed by BTS, Drake, David Guetta and more, has sold her catalog to Warner Chappell Music, her management company Milk & Honey Music + Sports has announced. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Spain’s fast-growing Secuoya Studios has tapped seasoned Sony Pictures Television International exec Brendan Fitzgerald for the newly-created position of CEO. His most recent position as SPTI’s senior VP of international English-language co-productions makes him the perfect fit for the company’s lofty ambitions.

Sony has terminated plans for its long-in-the-works merger of its television and streaming operations in India with local giant Zee Entertainment Enterprises, saying that closing conditions were not satisfied.

Sony Group Corporation has ended its more than two-year attempt to merge its TV and streaming businesses in India with local giant Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. In a statement, issued Monday, Sony Group said: “The merger did not close by the end date as, among other things, the closing conditions to the merger were not satisfied by then.

Dakota Johnson has said that acting on the set of Madame Web, with a high volume of CGI effects, was “absolutely psychotic”.The film is marketed as the fourth instalment in the Sony Spider-Man Universe, and in November, the first trailer for the film was released. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the movie also stars The White Lotus’ Sydney Sweeney, as well as Emma Roberts and Adam Scott.

Diego Ramos Bechara editor The Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, in which participants write and produce short films that promote disability inclusion, returns for its 11th consecutive year and will run from April 2-7. This year, in addition to the traditional awards of cash, computers and other technology, subscriptions, mentorships and screening opportunities, the EDFC will award ten $15,000 grants for the winners of the best film, best director, best writer, best actor and best editor categories to develop their projects further.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. While the year is still very young, there has yet to be a big game released in 2024.

The Good Doctor is coming to an end.

EXCLUSIVE: The Book of Clarence, the Legendary and Jay Z-produced adventure-comedy, won’t be released in UK cinemas this week as planned. 

Caroline Brew editor David F. Sandberg, known for “Annabelle: Creation,” “Shazam!” and “Lights Out,” will direct the film adaptation of the PlayStation horror video game “Until Dawn” by Screen Gems and PlayStation Productions. “It: Chapter Two” and “The Nun” screenwriter Gary Dauberman is doing the most recent pass on a script from “The Invitation” writer Blair Butler.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Sharon Stone has revealed that she once attempted to pitch a “Barbie” movie to a Hollywood studio during the 1990s and was laughed out of the room. What a difference a couple of decades makes, as Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” opened last year and earned a staggering $1.4 billion to become the top-grossing film of 2023 and the biggest earner in Warner Bros.’ studio history.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has revealed a lineup of nine titles as part of its licensed Tamil-language film slate for 2024. Ajith Kumar headlines Lyca Productions’ “VidaaMuyarchi,” directed by Magizh Thirumeni. Lyca is also the company behind S.

EXCLUSIVE: Isabela Ferrer and Alex Neustaedter have joined the cast of Wayfarer Studios and Sony Pictures’ film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel It Ends With Us. They will play Young Lily and Young Atlas, respectively.