Sony Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

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.

Tonight’s the night — finally.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a script commitment to Elfquest, a one-hour animated drama series based on the epic fantasy adventure comic series created by Wendy and Richard Pini. The project hails from Bento Box Entertainment and Modern Magic. Susan Hurwitz Arneson (The Last Amazon) will pen the series adaptation and serve as showrunner and executive producer.

News Corp today announced that veteran communications executive Arthur Bochner is set to become chief communications officer and EVP at News Corp. when Jim Kennedy retires later this year.

The Good Doctor is coming to an end at ABC this year, the network just announced.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “The Good Doctor” will end its run at ABC with its upcoming Season 7. “Playing Dr. Shaun Murphy has been an immense privilege and one of the most remarkable and rewarding experiences of my life,” said series stars Freddie Highmore.

Sony has moved Wayfarer Studios’ feature take of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, It Ends With Us from Feb. 9 to June 21.

EXCLUSIVE: The Crown‘s success has helped bestow gifts upon the employees of Left Bank Pictures.

K.J. Yossman William Astor, who co-founded kids TV juggernaut Silvergate Media, has stepped down as the company’s chair. Silvergate, which was acquired by Sony Pictures Television in 2019, quietly re-branded as Sony Pictures Television – Kids in 2022.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures International Productions is ramping up two sequels to 2023 German box office hit The Three Investigators – Legacy of the Dragon (Die Drei ??? – Erbe des Drachen). Both adventure mysteries are co-productions from Wiedemann & Berg Film and Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion in cooperation with Kosmos Verlag.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television has taken a £39.7M ($50.5M) hit on Silvergate Media, the Peter Rabbit producer it acquired for $195M in 2019.

EXCLUSIVE: Great American Media, the faith and family-focused company that launched in 2021 under Bill Abbott, is the latest to get hit with layoffs.

After a 28-year run at Sony Pictures, the studio’s SEVP & General Counsel Leah Weil is departing the studio.

Sony Motion Picture Group Chairman has a few things to celebrate this weekend: Between the studio’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the studio’s R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, the studio counts four Golden Globe noms. But then there’s Sony movie, Anyone But You, which reps a return for romantic comedies to the big screen; that Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell title saw a 9% jump in its third weekend at the B.O. which is unprecedented for any title in the post-holiday season.

As previously announced, the juried winners included HBO and Max’s “We’re Here,” Disney Plus’ “Ms. Marvel” and ABC’s “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration.” Here is a running list of winners from Night 1 of the 2023 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

2024 will mostly be a mean and lean year for superhero movies. Sure, Sony has three (“Venom 3,” “Kraven The Hunter,” and “Madame Web”), but the heavyweights of Marvel and DC only have one each (DC’s being “Joker: Folie a Deux”).

Michaela Zee Nigel Lythgoe has become the subject of an investigation led by Sony Pictures Television’s 19 Entertainment, which co-produces “So You Think You Can Dance” with Dick Clark Productions, an insider tells Variety. Sony declined to comment on the investigation. The executive producer of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “American Idol” was recently hit by two sexual assault lawsuits, including one filed by Paula Abdul on Dec.

S**t is really hitting the fan for Nigel Lythgoe.

Selome Hailu Sony Pictures Television Studios has named Dylan Massin as executive vice president of production, while senior vice president of production Adam Moos has been promoted to add head of production operations to his title. Both began their new roles on Wednesday.

Veteran producer Dylan Massin (The West Wing) has been named EVP of Production for Sony Pictures Television Studios. Massin, who reports to SPTS President Katherine Pope, assumes the Head of Production role from Ed Lammi, who retired in December after a 36-year career at the studio. Massin will oversee all physical production for the U.S. scripted studio, including pre-production/budgeting, production, and post-production teams.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has unveiled a slate of more than 20 new and returning shows for 2024 and is expanding its content focus. 2023 saw several hits bow on the service including “Scam 2003,” “Chamak,” Agatha Christie adaptation “Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley” and “Fauda” remake “Tanaav,” which has been renewed for a second season, besides Season 2 of Emmy-nominated series “Rocket Boys.” 2024 will see shows in the Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi and Marathi languages, in addition to Hindi.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Thanks to Mario, J. Robert Oppenheimer and M3GAN, Universal Pictures ranked as the highest-grossing studio at the 2023 box office. The company’s slate — a range of 24 films that included “The Super Mario Bros.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Despite the box office success of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Elizabeth Banks’ “Cocaine Bear,” female directors are not getting the same opportunities in Hollywood as their male counterparts. At the same time, major studios, which pledged to reexamine their employment practices in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, fail to produce many films from people of color. That’s the stark findings of a new report by USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative, which calls the entertainment industry’s pledges to support inclusion “performative acts” and “not real steps towards fostering change.” It’s the second report in as many days to find that despite some important box office milestones for female filmmakers — “Barbie” was both the year’s most successful film and the highest-grossing movie ever directed by a woman — studios still give their highest-profile gigs to male directors.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Powered by “Barbenheimer,” 2023 box office in Spain surged 31% to €487.5 ($541.1 million), still 18.2% below a pre-pandemic average of €596 million ($661.6 million) over 2015-19. At 74.9 million tickets sold, admissions rose 26%, 24% down on pre-COVID cinemagoing, according to Comscore Movies Spain, which announced 2023 results through Dec. 29 on Friday.

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon has crossed the $200M mark globally, getting to the milestone with Tuesday’s numbers included. The worldwide tally for the biographical epic is $200.7M, of which $141.1M is from the international box office. Through yesterday, the domestic cume is $59.6M.

Warner Bros. comedy “Barbie” capping off 2023 as the highest-grossing movie ($1.44 billion) and Universal‘s historical biopic “Oppenheimer” as the third-biggest hit (a staggering $951 million). Studios were (finally!) rewarded for bucking the overly familiar and embracing the new and novel.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Hollywood had a rough year in many areas — but the stock market largely was not one of them. Wall Street is poised to finish out 2023 up double digits: As of Dec. 27, the S&P 500 index has climbed 25% year to date and is nearing an all-time high record close.

Ken Jennings is sharing his thoughts on Mayim Bialik‘s exit as host of Jeopardy!. The two had been sharing hosting duties on the syndicated show and its primetime specials.

Patrick John Flueger turned 40 this week and he celebrated his birthday by bringing some Chicago PD cast members to a cool VR experience!

Jordan Moreau Aquaman is slowly swimming his way back to theaters, but he may get washed up at the box office. The latest DC Universe movie, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” has made $4.5 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office. The superhero sequel, which marks the final installment of the DCEU before it gets rebooted by DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran, is shaping up to be the latest misfire this year, after “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” disappointed during their box office runs.

Jordan Moreau The video game industry has been rocked by hackers this month, first with the early leak of Rockstar Games’ trailer for “Grand Theft Auto 6” and this week’s hack of Insomniac, the developer behind “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” and the upcoming “Wolverine” game. Hackers stole private data from Insomniac Games employees and released early gameplay footage from the highly anticipated game “Marvel’s Wolverine.” All that had been previously shown of the “Wolverine” game was a short teaser in 2021, but now a stolen, early build of the game has been floating around online. In a statement released Friday morning, Insomniac called the leak “extremely distressing.” “We’re both saddened and angered about the recent criminal cyberattack on our studio and the emotional toll it’s taken on our dev team.

Spy x Family arrives in cinemas in Japan this year.Based on the manga by Tatsuya Endo, Spy x Family is an anime action-comedy series which follows master spy Twilight, who has to disguise himself and build a mock family in order to investigate political leader Donovan Desmond.The show’s first season debuted in April 2022, with the second season set to conclude on December 23, 2023.At the time of season two’s announcement in December 2022, a feature film titled Spy x Family Code: White was also revealed.At the time of writing (December 19), there is no announced UK release date for Spy x Family Code: White.The film hits cinemas in Japan on December 22, 2023. As announced in November, Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment is set to bring Spy x Family Code: White to theatres worldwide at some point in 2024, with confirmed territories being North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Sony has dated an untitled Apple Original Films production starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum for July 12. Formerly known as “Project Artemis,” it’s set to screen in premium large formats with Columbia Pictures distributing. Meanwhile, the George Clooney-Brad Pitt starrer “Wolfs,” also from Apple Original Films, will open Sept.

We told you first that Sony won the theatrical distribution deal to handle Apple Original Films Jon Watts’ directed George Clooney and Brad Pitt thriller Wolfs, as well as the Greg Berlanti directed Scarlett Johansson-Channing Tatum movie Project Artemis (title forthcoming). We heard they were getting 2024 release dates and well, here they are: the latter will bow in theaters on July 12 next year while Wolfs hits theaters on Sept. 20.

Mike Fazioli If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. If you took the evolution drawing showing the progress from ape to man and replaced it with televisions, it would be a long line of large, heavy monkeys for about 60 years, and then a very rapid transformation to the slim, upright human that is today’s Smart TV. Even that plasma TV you owned a mere dozen years ago would be a hairy knuckledragger.