Warner Records scraps unrecouped debts for heritage artists

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment tweeted a Black History Month tribute today “spotlighting some of our favorite DC characters” including Will Smith’s Deadshot, Jurnee Smollett’s Black Canary and Idris Elba’s Bloodsport. Fans began responding with photos of Ray Fisher as Cyborg in Warner Bros. Justice League and sent #IStandWithRayFisher trending on Twitter.

Travis Engel, a former agent who co-founded the talent management firm Trinity Artists International, died Monday of cardiac arrest in Culver City. He was 37.

EXCLUSIVE: A Christmas Story Christmas, Warner Bros. and Legendary’s sequel to A Christmas Story for HBO Max, continues to ramp up its cast, adding four actors from the original 1983 film: Ian Petrella (Randy), Zack Ward (Scut Farkus), Scott Schwartz (Flick) and R.D. Robb (Schwartz).

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is sick and tired of having streaming sand kicked in its face.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBill Lawrence is staying put at Warner Bros. Television, with the TV writer and producer inking a massive five-year deal sources value at nine figures, Variety has confirmed.WBTV would not comment on the financial terms of the deal.

With The Batman’s release swiftly approaching, Warner Bros. has unveiled new footage from its other upcoming DC superhero films, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Black Adam and The Flash.

Ethan Shanfeld New footage of DC’s “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” “Black Adam” and “The Flash” has been revealed in a new clip posted to social media.While the video teases only a brief look at Jason Momoa standing above a valley and sitting on Aquaman’s throne, it serves as the first official footage from the long-awaited sequel. Also starring Amber Heard as Mera and Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” premieres in theaters on Dec. 16.

Mike Wass Jenna Raine, who went viral on TikTok in 2021 with wide-eyed ballad “See You Later (10 Years),” has inked a deal with Warner Records and signed on with SB Projects. The 17-year-old’s major-label debut EP, also called “see you later (10 years),” arrives today. It includes a new version of the titular hit featuring JVKE and an equally optimistic new song “2%,” which references the percentage of high school sweethearts that end up getting married.“After hearing ‘See You Later (10 Years),’ I wanted to immediately know more about the young artist,” Warner Records co-chairman and CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck tells Variety.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros. International Television Production has revealed the lineup for its annual WBITVP Formats Showcase, taking place March 3 at the BAFTA headquarters in London, featuring in-person and live streamed interviews with creatives, broadcasters and talent.

EXCLUSIVE: America Ferrera is set to co-star opposite Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Warner Bros. Barbie, the studio’s new movie centered on the classic doll line. Greta Gerwig is directing the pic, with Robbie playing the titular role and Gosling playing Ken. It is unknown who Ferrera will play in the new film. Gerwig also co-wrote script with Noah Baumbach.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKevin Liles is a name that people in the music industry have been hearing for more than 30 years, for an impressive variety of reasons. He was a top executive at Def Jam and Warner Music, he managed Mariah Carey, D’Angelo and Trey Songz, and he was even a recording artist who had one of his songs covered by Milli Vanilli, of all people, on their multi-multi-platinum 1990 debut album.But he got his biggest look yet in January, when the company he co-founded, 300 Entertainment, was acquired by Warner Music for a reported $400 million.

Island Of Love – you can hear the four-piece’s new single ‘Songs Of Love’ below.The Jack White-owned label expanded their operations to London last summer and opened a record store in Soho in September.Third Man London have announced this afternoon (February 9) that their first signing is the London band Island Of Love.The quartet will release the ‘Songs Of Love’ EP via Third Man on March 18 digitally, with a physical release – a limited edition 7″ – set to follow on July 1. Pre-order is available now from here.You can hear the EP’s title track below.Third Man co-founder Ben Swank, who is said to have offered Island Of Love a deal 30 seconds after they got off stage following a gig at Third Man London, said in a statement: “I grew up a working class kid in Ohio, coming of age in the early 90s… did Island Of Love’s songs immediately strike a note of familiarity to the heart strings of this former teenaged lo-fi obsessed anglophile? Yes they did.

The Matrix Resurrections‘ production company Village Roadshow is suing Warner Bros. over the hybrid release of the film.Lana Wachowski’s long-awaited sequel was released in both cinemas and on streaming service HBO Max, as with all of Warner Bros’ other 2021 titles.However, Village Roadshow have now claimed the decision “destroyed any box office chances”, according to The Guardian.“WB’s strategy not only ensured that The Matrix Resurrections would be a bust at the box office, but it also inflicted serious harm to the entire Matrix franchise,” the Village Roadshow lawsuit claims.“There can be no doubt that the abysmal theatrical box office sales figures from The Matrix Resurrections dilute the value of this tent pole franchise as a film’s lack of profitability generally prevents studios from investing in additional sequels and derivative films in the near term.”The film made $37million at the US box office and $153million worldwide, though the budget was around $190million.

reported was filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court Monday. In fact, Warner Media ordered its entire 2021 roster to be released on their sister platform HBO Max, while moving up the release date for “The Matrix Resurrections” from its originally scheduled 2022 premiere to December 2021, attorneys for Village Roadshow claimed in the filing.“WB’s sole purpose in moving the release date of ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ forward was to create a desperately needed wave of year-end HBO Max premium subscriptions from what it knew would be a blockbuster film, despite knowing full well that it would decimate the film’s box office revenue and deprive Village Roadshow of any economic upside that WB and its affiliates would enjoy,” the suit stated.Village Roadshow also claims to be the victim of “rampant piracy” facilitated by the streaming release, adding that Warner Bros.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs Spotify awkwardly attempts to defend its stance on Joe Rogan — first over the Covid-19 misinformation on his show, and then over his frequent use of the N-word on that same show — the controversies have revived musicians’ longest-standing problem with the platform: The royalty rates it and other streaming platforms pay, which most musicians and many rights-holders feel are far too low.This is particularly true in publishing: In January of 2018 the Copyright Royalty Board ruled to increase songwriter rates for interactive streaming by nearly 50% over the following five years, to 15.1%. However, in March of 2019, Spotify, Google, Amazon and Pandora then appealed to keep the previous rate of 10.5% — and are gearing up to argue for that rate for the next five-year period (2023-2027) as well.

Warner Records UK has signed Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock to a solo record deal. This follows the group’s announcement that they are “taking a break” in December.Pinnock’s first solo material emerged just before Little Mix announced their hiatus, as part of the film ‘Boxing Day’, in which she played a pop star.

Congratulations are in order for Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock, who's signed a solo deal with Warner Records.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Janine Sherman Barrois remembers being one of the only Black people in the writers’ room — or on set — when she began in television more than 20 years ago. At the time, she was grateful to get a seat at the table, given how few opportunities there were for Black women in Hollywood.Fast-forward to 2022, and Sherman Barrois acknowledges there are more powerful Black women on camera and off (like her idols Shonda Rhimes and Oprah Winfrey).