Troubled Redbox Parent Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment Is Nearly A Week Late Paying Employees; Medical Benefits Also Cut

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday hosted a group of LGBTQ activists and politicians from around the world at the State Department.

Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Baby,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week where it won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for joint acting lead Ricardo Teodoro, has closed further sales. Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal have sold the distribution rights to Ama Films for Greece, Mezipatra z.s for Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Falcon for Indonesia.

Naman Ramachandran The 32nd Raindance Film Festival (June 19-28) has revealed its jury award winners, reflecting a renewed focus on emerging filmmakers. Korean thriller “Sleep,” directed by Jason Yu and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi, took home the Discovery Award for best debut feature. The film marks Lee’s final role before his passing.

Erik ten Hag has been sent a clear message regarding two Manchester United transfer targets. Following an internal review that decided he would remain as manager, United have started to formalise their summer plans with Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite one priority target.

K.J. Yossman Canada’s Sphere Media is set to acquire distributor Abacus Media Rights from Amcomri Entertainment Inc. The deal, which is valued at $24.6 million, is expected to close in mid-August.

Canada’s Sphere Media has acquired Abacus Media Rights, the UK-based distributor that sells Leaving Neverland and Scrublands.

EXCLUSIVE: Synchronicity Films is adapting Hanif Kureishi’s The Body as a series with the novelist and screenwriter on board as an exec producer and Emmy-nominated director Paul McGuigan attached. There are scripts from crime writer Robert Murphy and the producers will relocate the action from the UK to the U.S. for the series.

Lexi Carson Ian Karmel, comedian and Emmy-winning former co-head writer for “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” describes his journey from childhood to working through internal struggles that led him to drop 200 pounds in his recent memoir “T-Shirt Swim Club: Stories from Being Fat in a World of Thin People.” The cover of the book echoes the title, portraying a kid at the beach. Karmel says he was inspired to use that image because he “thought that anyone who was a fat kid would know that feeling.” He explains, “When you go to the pool, and all of a sudden your big fat body is hanging out there and you’re like, ‘OK, I know how I’ll fix that. I’ll put on a T-shirt,’ which immediately gets wet, and clings to every curve of your torso.

Life By You, its The Sims competitor, had been cancelled, and following that news, the internal devlopment team, Paradox Tectonic, has been shuttered.The news of the game’s cancellation came as a shock to many. It had been delayed several times, including an indefinite delay anounced back in May, but outright cancelling a project that seemed to be so close to the finish line is drastic.In a statement delivered via the company’s Paradox Forum, deputy CEO Mattias Lilja wrote that the decision to cancel the game was made due to “a clear failure on Paradox’s part to meet both our own and the community’s expectations.” The game was ambitious and promised a fully simulated town with no loading screens.The game was due to launch in early access, sopmething that gives developers time to iron out kinks, take more time to create feaatures, and get lots of free community testing and feedback.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Now on its 8th edition, the international TV forum Conecta Fiction & Entertainment (CF&E), held in the ancient Spanish city of Toledo from June 18 to 21, is turning its focus to Brazil and Portugal. The South American country is haltingly reactivating its audiovisual industry under President Lula de Silva’s new government, which earmarked nearly $1 billion for the sector last year.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s search for a new comms chief is over with the media giant expected to name Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary for former president Barack Obama, to the job, Deadline has learned.

EXCLUSIVE: Israeli romcom drama series The Baker and the Beauty is being remade for France’s TF1, with French singer-songwriter Amir Haddad playing the lead in his debut TV role.

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has been omitted from the England squad for the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany following a hugely disappointing season.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor At the Monte-Carlo TV Festival Saturday, Lee Jung-Jae, one of the stars of new Disney+ series “Star Wars: The Acolyte,” spoke with Variety about how he prepared for his role as Jedi Master Sol, the strengths of Leslye Headland, the show’s creator, as a showrunner, and the relationship between Sol and Amandla Stenberg’s characters.Lee, who won a Primetime Emmy for “Squid Game,” says that for 50% of “The Acolyte” role he drew inspiration from previous depictions of the Jedi Masters, and “for the remaining 50% I tried to find something that was appropriate to Sol – something that would only incarnate him.” He also consulted with an expert in “Star Wars” lore at Lucasfilm.In “The Acolyte,” the Jedi Masters are shown to be flawed. How does the show present this? “In ‘The Acolyte,’ what it tries to say is that anyone can make mistakes, but you have to accept the mistakes that you make, and put effort into correcting them or developing yourself, because any human being has some unstable thinking,” Lee says.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based international film agency has picked up international sales duties on animated children and family feature “Out of the Nest.” The film had its world premiere this week at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In the Kingdom of Castilia, days from the coronation of the new Emperor and Empress, their seven royal fledglings are taken and it’s up to one hero to return them safely; a teenage delivery boy, Arthur the Goat. His dreams of becoming a world-class barber are put on hold when he becomes the unwitting guardian of the royal heirs.

Cadbury is set to delight chocolate lovers by bringing back the beloved Cadbury Top Deck for a limited time.

It's a rarity for England to enter any major international tournament as the outright favourites, but this year could mark the end of 58 years of disappointment and see football finally come home.

Crunchyroll Senior Vice President of Global Commerce Mitchel Berger was in ebullient mood as he gave a talk on the growing global reach of anime at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week.

Manchester City are reportedly eyeing a move for Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa this summer.