MagazinAisle

Category: Entertainment

  • Jennifer Lawrence to Star in Zach Cregger’s Sci-Fi Thriller ‘The Flood’

    Jennifer Lawrence to Star in Zach Cregger’s Sci-Fi Thriller ‘The Flood’

    Jennifer Lawrence will star in Zach Cregger’s sci-fi thriller The Flood.

    Warner Bros.’ New Line division is behind the movie, having picked up the project out of turnaround from Netflix earlier this year. New Line was the studio that made Cregger’s breakout Oscar-winning horror movie Weapons.

    Cregger wrote the script and will direct and produce the new thriller, which is based on his original idea and is set for theatrical release on August 11, 2028.

    With Cregger’s Resident Evil movie now out and a hit, this is the filmmaker’s next movie to go. Production is due to begin in Europe in the first months of 2027.

    Amblin Entertainment is producing alongside Cregger’s frequent collaborators, Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment.

    Lawrence’s casting is a coup – for any studio, really – as the actress is known for being quite choosy. Most recently, she earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in post-partum drama Die My Love and will next be seen with Leonardo DiCaprio in drama What Happens at Night, directed by Martin Scorsese.

  • Music Industry Moves: Universal Music Names Libby Bush President of Global Brands and Commercial Partnerships; Avex Acquires 85% of Brandon Silverstein’s S10 Entertainment

    Universal Music Group has named Libby Bush to the newly created role of President, Global Brands and Commercial Partnerships, starting in November. According to the announcement, she will “lead a new global function that brings together UMG’s brands, media, and commercial partnership businesses, including Universal Music Group for Brands … Spanning digital platforms, physical products and live experiences, these collaborations will be rooted in artists’ originality and authentic connections with fans.” Based in Los Angeles, Bush will report to UMG’s Chief Operating Officer Boyd Muir.

    She joins from Creative Artists Agency, where she served as Global Head of Entertainment Partnerships and was a member of the Agency Board. Previously, Bush founded Tandem Entertainment, an entertainment partnerships agency acquired by CAA in 2020, and held roles at Marvel Entertainment, ABC Entertainment, the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and the National Basketball Association.

    Muir said, “As the ways fans experience music evolve, the opportunities for our artists multiply. Bringing our brand, media, and commercial partnerships together under Libby’s leadership will help extend our artists’ reach and grow their revenues, while giving our partners new ways to build relationships with fans and collaborate with the world’s most influential voices. Libby brings exceptional creative and commercial expertise to the world’s leading music company. She’ll work with our talent, teams, and partners to create memorable experiences for fans, lasting value for brands, and new possibilities for artists.”

    + Avex Inc. has increased its ownership of Brandon Silverstein’s S10 Entertainment, acquiring 85% of the company from Silverstein and his partners. The transaction further integrates S10 into Avex Music Group. Silverstein continues as CEO of S10 and Avex Music Group, a board member and equity partner in Avex Music Group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    The transaction follows Avex’s March 2025 acquisition of the S10 Music Publishing catalog, which includes shares of hits by Justin Bieber, Drake, Tate McRae, Kehlani, Doja Cat, Post Malone and Rihanna, among others. In the transaction Silverstein was represented by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

    “S10 is an exceptional management company that is playing a key role in realizing our global ambitions,” said Katsumi Kuroiwa, CEO of Avex Inc. “Bringing S10 into Avex reflects our confidence in Brandon’s leadership and our commitment to growing Avex’s global music business. Together, we will bring the full breadth of Avex’s capabilities to artists and creators around the world.”

    + Warner Music Group has named Sonny Takhar as Chairman and CEO of Warner Music U.K. & Ireland, effective January 2027. Takhar will oversee creative direction, artist development, and strategic operations across WMG’s recorded music footprint in the U.K., the world’s third-largest music market, and Ireland.

    Takhar will report to Val Blavatnik, Managing Director of Warner Music North America, U.K. & Corporate Development. Takhar’s remit will also include operational oversight of WMG’s independent distribution arm, ADA, in the U.K. and Ireland, and he’ll work in close partnership with Elliot Grainge, CEO and Chairman of Atlantic Music Group and Chairman of ADA in the U.S., as well as Aaron Bay-Schuck, Chairman and CEO of Warner Records Group.

    A founding partner of Syco Entertainment, Takhar played a key role in the careers of One Direction, Labrinth, Leona Lewis, Little Mix, James Arthur and Fifth Harmony, alongside the launch of global TV franchises “The X Factor” and “Got Talent.” More recently, Takhar co-founded Los Angeles-based KYN Entertainment in a joint venture with Live Nation, and worked with Westlife and songwriter-producer Steve Mac.

    Blavatnik said, “Sonny is one of the most visionary executives in music and his track record of discovering, nurturing, and breaking global superstars speaks for itself. His instinct for talent, deep understanding of the wider music ecosystem and strategic global perspective make him the perfect leader to power Warner Music UK & Ireland forward.”

    + Amra, the global digital collection society, today announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Tomas Ericsson, will transition from his role as CEO after 13 years, effective January 1, 2027. He will assume the role of Chairman of the Board. Robin Davies, Amra’s Chief Operating Officer for the last four years, has been named Chief Executive Officer of the company beginning on January 1st.

    Ericsson launched Amra in partnership with Kobalt Music Group in 2013, ultimately licensing digital rights directly across more than 200 territories, 45 publishers and growing into nine figures gross by 2026.

    “We are so grateful for Tomas’ vision and leadership as he and his team have built amra into one of the industry’s most innovative and transformational organizations,” said Laurent Hubert, CEO of Kobalt. “We are also looking forward to Tomas continuing to contribute to the business as Chairman. amra will be in good hands with Tomas’ ongoing guidance and with Robin, who has been with amra and the Kobalt organization for a decade, at the helm.”

    + Danny Goldberg has promoted Jesse Bauer to the position of Senior Vice-President and Gabriel Barreto to Vice President of Gold Village Entertainment, the New York based artist management company that Goldberg launched in 2007. Bauer has been with the company since its inception; Barreto joined in 2021. Gold Village represents Steve Earle, the Waterboys, and others.

    + ASCAP President and Chairman of the Board Paul Williams has announced that Jim Selby has been elected as a publisher member to the ASCAP Board of Directors. Jim Selby is President, Global Music Publishing at BMG, leading the company’s worldwide music publishing, and played a key role in its recent merger with Concord.

    Williams commented: “The ASCAP Board cares deeply about making decisions that are in the best interests of the membership as a whole. As a global publishing leader, Jim has the expertise to tackle the complex issues facing music creators and publishers in today’s market, from both the challenges and opportunities of AI to licensees who want to pay songwriters less. He will be an invaluable voice on the ASCAP Board in our mission to advocate for and protect our more than one million members.”

    + Universal Music Group has named Òscar Celma as Senior Vice President, Applied AI and Machine Learning, effective immediately. Celma will help lead the development and application of AI and machine learning across UMG’s global operations, supporting UMG’s labels, divisions and businesses. He will report to Hannah Poferl, UMG’s Chief Data Officer.

    In his previous role at Spotify, Celma helped lead the development of AI-powered personalized listening experiences including AI DJ, Jam and Daylist, as well as personalization and discovery. He also held roles at Conde Nast, Pandora/SiriusXM and BMAT Music Innovators.

    Poferl said, “Òscar brings a unique blend of quantitative and product experience, deep expertise in AI, and a love of music. He’s built teams that have delivered and knows how to turn data at scale into useful insights. With the breadth and depth of UMG’s data, there’s enormous potential for him to help our teams do more for our artists.”

    + Chrysalis Records, part of the Reservoir group of companies, and associated artist management & music publishing company Blue Raincoat Music announced that broadcaster-journalist Steve Lamacq has joined the company as Curator, New Music & Talent Development. The newly created consultancy role focused on helping both companies identify, champion and nurture the next generation of breakthrough artists.

    Working alongside Chrysalis’ and Blue Raincoat’s existing A&R, management and creative teams in a consultancy capacity, Lamacq, a veteran of the BBC and NME, will help discover, champion and develop emerging talent, drawing on more than four decades of experience at the forefront of alternative and independent music culture. Lamacq was appointed an MBE in 2025 for services to broadcasting and to music venues.

    Jeremy Lascelles, CEO of Chrysalis Records & Blue Raincoat Music said: “Steve has an extraordinary ability to spot great artists early. Time and again he’s identified talent long before the wider industry catches on. When I asked him if he fancied working alongside us in this capacity, I was over the proverbial moon when he agreed. It’s pretty much a dream scenario for us. Alongside his deep knowledge of music, he has built a level of trust with artists and audiences alike, that makes him uniquely qualified for this curating role. I’m thrilled with the association and think we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

  • Perez Hilton Reunites With Mother and Three Kids for Supervised Visits: “A Lot of Emotions”

    Perez Hilton Reunites With Mother and Three Kids for Supervised Visits: “A Lot of Emotions”

    Perez Hilton remains in a residential treatment facility where he’s receiving care following an August suicide attempt, but the veteran celebrity media personality has reunited with his mother and three children for brief meetings at the facility.

    “We’re very happy to share that over the past few weeks, Perez has been able to reconnect with his children and his mom. They were first able to spend time together through a few video calls, and since then, Perez has also been able to see his children and his mom a few times for short, supervised visits at the facility,” per a status update posted on Hilton’s blog Tuesday afternoon, credited to his team and family. “Seeing his children in person has meant an enormous amount to Perez. There have definitely been a lot of emotions for everyone, but being able to spend that time together has been incredibly meaningful and healing.”

    The update goes on to say that while communication is limited as he receives mental health treatment, the focus is on his care and continued progress as Hilton and professionals assess “what led to his mental health crisis” so they can recognize warning signs, learn better ways to cope and parse “everything that brought him to this point.” There is no timeline for his release as those closest to him don’t want to rush anything: “For now, we’re all taking things one day at a time.”

    On Aug. 4, Hilton took to TikTok Live to live-stream a horrific self-harm and suicide attempt from his home in the Miami area. His children were home at the start of the event, though his sister removed them from the home and called authorities, which later transported him via ambulance to a local hospital where he was treated for mental health issues, a drug overdose, blood loss, lacerations and broken bones sustained during the nightmarish scene. Days later, his mother, Teresita Lavandeira, filed for temporary custody of Mario, 13; Mia, 11; and Mayte, 8. The single father welcomed his children via surrogacy.

    Perez Hilton and his children at the grand opening event for Netflix’s Stranger Things: The Official Store at the Showcase Mall in Las Vegas on June 8, 2023.

    (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Netflix)

    See the full update below.

    It’s been about two weeks since our last update on Perez, and we wanted to share a little bit about where things stand.

    First, we want to thank Perez’s longtime friend Tom D’Angora again for setting up the GoFundMe to help Perez’s mom continue to care for his three children during this time. We also want to thank everyone who has donated, sent messages, and continued to send well wishes. Perez’s mom has been incredibly touched and honestly overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. It’s meant so much to her and to the kids.

    As for Perez, he remains in residential treatment, where the focus continues to be on his mental health and recovery.

    We’re very happy to share that over the past few weeks, Perez has been able to reconnect with his children and his mom.

    They were first able to spend time together through a few video calls, and since then, Perez has also been able to see his children and his mom a few times for short, supervised visits at the facility.

    Seeing his children in person has meant an enormous amount to Perez. There have definitely been a lot of emotions for everyone, but being able to spend that time together has been incredibly meaningful and healing.

    Communication with Perez is still limited, and we’re not able to talk to him daily. While that’s hard for us and for him, we understand that right now the priority isn’t constant communication with family, but rather giving him the time and space to focus on his care and continue making progress.

    He’s continuing to work with his care team on understanding what led to his mental health crisis, recognizing warning signs, learning better ways to cope, and working through everything that brought him to this point.

    At the moment, we still don’t have a timeline for when Perez will leave residential treatment or when he’ll be able to return home.

    This is all still very new to us. We’re listening to the doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, and everyone involved in his care, and trusting their guidance on what Perez needs and when he’s ready for each next step. Nobody wants to rush anything. For now, we’re all taking things one day at a time.

    We’re grateful for the progress Perez has made so far, and especially grateful that he and his children have been able to spend some time together again.

    Thank you to everyone who’s continued to check in, send kind messages, and keep Perez and his kids in your thoughts and prayers.

    The Perez Hilton Team & Family

    For resources on mental health, visit here.

    If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or visit here.

  • ‘The Little Prince’ Live-Action Movie Set With ‘The Imitation Game’ Director Morten Tyldum and Simon Beaufoy (EXCLUSIVE)

    “The Little Prince” is getting a new big-screen treatment with “The Imitation Game” director Morten Tyldum set to helm an ambitious live-action feature inspired by the life of French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

    Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Slumdog Millionaire,” is writing the script for the film which is being developed with Le Petit Prince Groupe, guardian of the Saint-Exupéry estate.

    The big-scale family adventure project hails from Aton Soumache, the well-known French producer behind Mark Osborne’s 2015 animated feature “The Little Prince.” The latter world premiered at Cannes and grossed close to $100 million worldwide, as well as won the César for best animated film and the BAFTA Children’s Award for best feature film.

    This new project will pull elements from French comic book artist and filmmaker Joann Sfar’s acclaimed graphic adaptation of “The Little Prince,” portraying the bond between the Little Prince and the Aviator.

    The film will blend Saint-Exupéry’s real-life story as a pioneering aviator and writer with the fantastical world of “The Little Prince.” Saint-Exupéry’s story will unfold in live action, while the Little Prince will be created using visual effects.

    “I see it as a very cinematic and epic story, one that gives us a wonderful opportunity to ask big questions,” Tyldum said. “This is a story about love, grief and loss. It’s about hope, following your heart’s desire and seeing life as a big adventure.”

    First published in 1943, “The Little Prince” has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide and has been translated into some 600 languages and dialects.

    Beaufoy, whose credits also include “The Full Monty” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” described adapting the book as both daunting and exhilarating.

    “‘The Little Prince’ is the most extraordinary text because it never goes out of fashion. It talks to the child in every human being,” Beaufoy said. “Everybody relates to that small child, who is the voice of truth that you sometimes don’t even want to hear.” He added that turning such a revered work into a broader cinematic canvas was “a thrilling responsibility.”

    Sfar, who worked with the Saint-Exupéry family on his graphic adaptation roughly 15 years ago, said the new film grew out of that longstanding relationship.

    “I am grateful for the trust placed in me by the Saint Exupéry family, alongside whom I created ‘The Little Prince’ comic book 15 years ago, to develop the concept of this unique film,” Sfar said. “With Simon Beaufoy writing it and Morten Tyldum directing it, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better team to bring this wonderful universe to life.”

    Soumache, who is producing the film with Paul Trijbits via their company Magical Society, said, “This film is not simply an adaptation, but a celebration of ‘The Little Prince,’ of its timeless story and its enduring spirit.” “Combining ‘The Little Prince,’ which has touched people young and old, with the adventurous, genius, passionate explorer and pilot Saint Exupéry is a magical mix,” he continued.

    Trijbits, who runs Magical Society’s London office, previously executive produced Netflix family series “The Letter for the King” and Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” along with films including Paul Greengrass’ “Bloody Sunday,” Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” and Cary Fukunaga’s “Jane Eyre.”

    Sophie Kopaczynski, CEO of Le Petit Prince Groupe, said the aim was to honor Saint-Exupéry’s legacy while creating a film with broad international appeal.

    “Through his extraordinary life and writings, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry gave us a deeply humanist vision of the world that continues to resonate across generations and cultures,” said Kopaczynski, who previously held a senior position at Studiocanal and worked on several family entertainment franchises. “Our ambition is to honor his remarkable legacy through a spectacular cinematic adventure infused with the poetry and magic of ‘The Little Prince.’”

  • Penn Badgley Swore Off Sex Scenes. His Wife Says It Was Not Her Idea: ‘He Decided to Do This for Mental Health Reasons’

    Penn Badgley infamously swore off sex scenes before the production of “You” Season 4, revealing on a viral episode of his “Podcrushed” podcast in Feb. 2013 that he told showrunner Sera Gamble he was no longer interested in filming intimate scenes on camera. The actor then told Variety later that same month that “it’s important to me in my real life to not have” sex scenes, clarifying: “My fidelity in my relationship. It’s important to me.”

    Cut to more than three years later and Badgley’s wife, Domino Kirke-Badgley, is speaking out after spending all this time being accused online of blocking her husband from doing sex scenes. When Badgley cited his marriage as a reason he did not want to act in sex scenes anymore, social media was quick to come for Kirke-Badgley, even though Penn had cited her as the reason he even accepted the lusty lead role in “You” in the first place.

    “A few years ago, the internet decided I’d asked my husband to stop doing sex scenes. The truth is, my husband decided to do this for mental health reasons,” Kirke-Badgley wrote on Instagram. “After working in the industry since he was just 12 years old, believe me, it was time. In the entertainment world, they call actors ‘puppets’ behind their backs, and it’s even more disturbing when they start out as child actors… after years of trying, Penn decided to take a stand and let the world see him. And guess what, he hasn’t lost fans and he’s still getting hired!”

    “The characters that my husband has played over the years, people have come to expect that he will continue to play that guy,” she added in the video post. “I was super happy for him and very proud of him because I understood how major it was, and yeah … it’s just relational hygiene.”

    Badgley has been married since 2017 to Kirke-Badgley, who “encouraged” him to play Joe on “You” even though the part required him to film various sex scenes.

    “There’s almost nothing I could say with more consecration. That aspect of Hollywood has always been very disturbing to me — and that aspect of the job, that mercurial boundary — has always been something that I actually don’t want to play with at all,” Badgely told Variety in 2023. “I told [Sara Gamble before Season 4] kind of my desire, and she immediately was accepting and responsive. I’m always very practical. I said I know it can’t be none, because there’s something coded into the DNA of the show, and I signed the contract, and so it is what it is but as little as possible would be my preference.”

    There were fewer sex scenes in “You” Season 4, and all of them were performed fully clothed as a result of Badgley speaking up. The actor’s initial comments earned a polarizing response online, with his detractors criticizing him for equating sex scenes with real sex. Many of Badgley’s critics pointed out that intimacy coordinators are now a staple in Hollywood so that sex scenes remain safe during filming. He later told GQ magazine that his comments got “blown out of proportion.”

    “What I was speaking about wasn’t actually the final product,” Badgley said. “It was sort of like the culture inherent to the production of all movies, but particularly those scenes. It’s like, look, we know that Hollywood has had a history of flagrant exploitation and abuse.”

    Badgley said he was “nervous to even have that conversation” with “You” showrunner Sera Gamble, adding, “It was not easy. It was easy because of Sera’s response, and I felt relieved. But technically speaking, if I thought I’d had the ability to set that boundary earlier, I would have. We shall see if setting that boundary, of course, has any ramifications. Just simply, it does limit the number of projects you can be a part of.”

    Next up for Badgley is the romantic comedy “You Deserve Each Other,” co-starring Meghann Fahy.

  • Mr. Belding Was Everyone’s Principal

    Mr. Belding Was Everyone’s Principal

    My daughters have an amazing elementary school principal named Mr. G. He’s warm and fuzzy, silly and friendly and sincerely attentive to the needs of both his students and their parents. That was not how principals rolled in the 1980s and 1990s — with one prominent exception.

    Richard Belding (Dennis Haskins) ruled Good Morning, Miss Bliss‘ John F. Kennedy Junior High School in Indianapolis with more of a warm high five than an iron fist. The principal then applied the same principle to Saved by the Bell‘s Bayside High School in Los Angeles when he, Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) and Samuel “Screech” Powers (Dustin Diamond) all inexplicably relocated from Indy to L.A. for the (classic) continuation series.

    Now, I recognize that K-5 school administrators (Mr. G) have fewer serious problems to deal with than junior high (Good Morning Miss Bliss) and high school (Saved by the Bell and Saved by the Bell: The New Class) authority figures. That is not to say the job is easier, but there are more costumes involved. My own elementary school principal and vice principal did not receive the message about not terrifying the kids, and, if you are old enough to bother reading this, I’m willing to bet that yours did not either. While Mr. Belding often wanted to know “Hey, hey, hey, hey! What is going on here?,” half the time it was just because he felt left out. And every time he had a life lesson to impart.

    Dennis Haskins, who played Mr. Belding on Good Morning Miss Bliss (the Disney Channel show with Hayley Mills playing Miss Bliss that aired in the late ’80s), its NBC continuation series Saved by the Bell (1989-1993) and its spinoff Saved by the Bell: The New Class (1993-2000), died Saturday at 75. Haskins was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018, though he tried to keep that private.

    “It’s a tragic loss. Everyone loved Mr. Belding, and those of us who got to know Dennis loved him even more,” Haskins’ longtime agent Jay Schachter said in a statement. “He was a great person, and he loved, I mean absolutely LOVED, his fans. He always had time for them, no matter what. He was my client and dear friend for over 20 years, and I will miss him terribly.”

    At some point in time, he would take on other roles — including Seth MacFarlane’s A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014), Mad Men, Hot in Cleveland, New Girl, I’m Dying Up Here, Robot Chicken and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But the line between Belding and Haskins completely blurred in the eyes of fans (and, it seems, in the eyes of Haskins and his agent). In this Saved by the Bell superfan’s mind, that was not a sad thing.

    For years following their smash-hit Saturday morning show, most of the (other) stars of Saved by the Bell desperately tried to shed their characters from their public personas. Elizabeth Berkley, who played the brainiac do-gooder Jessie Spano (just keep her away from those caffeine pills!), would almost immediately strip down for Showgirls. Diamond, who played Screech in every iteration of the franchise, literally did with homemade, amateur porn and attempted to become a fighter. Tiffani Thiessen cut her hair a bit and joined the much more grown-up Beverly Hills, 90210. (She’s next starring in Disney+ series Coven Academy.)

    As for Gosselaar, who was undeniably Saved by the Bell‘s breakout star, he just pretty much didn’t want to talk about it. (Gosselaar later came around on his iconic role a bit, donning a blonde wig and acid-washed jeans on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.) But Haskins never really ditched Belding like that. Perhaps it was because he was the show’s oldest primary castmember, or maybe Dennis just loved being loved, which is not so different than Belding himself.

    Mr. Belding just wanted to hang out with the Bayside gang, and he often did — even outside of school. Belding was a regular at The Max diner — which appeared to serve zero other adults — and he took the Tigers on elaborate class trips like skiing and white-water rafting. In one episode, when Belding’s wife kicks him out of the house, did he go crash on the couch of a fellow middle-aged pal? Nope, he bros out with Zack and AC Slater (Mario Lopez) instead. Yes, by today’s lens it’s all pretty inappropriate, but that is not how it played in the late ’80s and ’90s. Belding was a cool principal who the cool kids didn’t realize was cool.

    None of that, by the way, was even Belding’s strangest storyline. In one episode, it is revealed that childhood friends Belding and (real-life NBC president at the time) Brandon Tartikoff once battled over a woman who would become the aforementioned Mrs. Belding. Tartikoff’s bizarre consolation prize was the NBC presidency (and that marijuana-smoking phony Johnny Dakota would never work again). Belding’s eventual exit from the Saved by the Bell franchise was meta as well. The character left Bayside High to become dean of the University of Chattanooga in Tennessee: Haskins was born in Chattanooga and played basketball for that same school. In 2000, he was named its “Distinguished Alumni.”

    Saved by the Bell season two (left to right): Mario Lopez as Alabert Clifford “A.C.” Slater, Dennis Haskins as Mr. Richard Belding, Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle, Tiffani Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski, Elizabeth Berkley as Jessie Spano, Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zachary ‘Zach’ Morris, Dustin Diamond as Screech Powers.

    NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

    Belding was a good guy and, by all accounts, so way Haskins. How chill was the Big Bopper? Belding used to tell Morris, his frenemy (before that term was coined) who spent years antagonizing the man, that the student was like “the son I never had.” When the Belding character had a son, he named him Zack. (Haskins’ own son was possibly named after Dustin Diamond: Dustin Haskins was born in 1990, about two years after dad and Diamond began working together.)

    Though Haskins left the Saved by the Bell universe, Belding never, ever left Haskins. Also a musician, Haskins released an album of cover songs in 2009 titled Karaoke With Your Favorite Principal Dennis. If that sentence was not weird enough for you, this one will be: Karaoke With Your Favorite Principal Dennis included a “Mustang Sally” duet with Hulk Hogan’s daughter, Brooke Hogan.

    Rest in peace, Big Bopper.

  • Tom Cruise ‘Digger’ Reviews Are Brutally Split: From “Insufferable” to “Terrific”

    Tom Cruise ‘Digger’ Reviews Are Brutally Split: From “Insufferable” to “Terrific”

    The Digger reviews do not hold back.

    The positive reviews contain strong superlatives praising Alejandro G. Iñárritu‘s bold new film starring Tom Cruise, and the negative reviews are utterly scathing.

    Is Digger a 5-out-of-5 “audacious, risky, terrific fun” — like The London Evening Standard says?

    Or is Digger a one-half-of-a-point out of 5, “a film full of mostly talented people doing the worst work of their careers” — as Slant says?

    Right out of the gate on Rotten Tomatoes, the Warner Bros. film is hovering around a dead even 50 percent split.

    In Digger, a nearly unrecognizable Tom Cruise plays an oblivious oil tycoon whose drilling in Greenland dislodges an ice shelf from a glacier that’s going to cause a global disaster. He must race to prove that he’s humanity’s savior before the ecological accident wreaks havoc on the planet. The film also stars Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons.

    Here are some of the official reviews of Digger from top critics:

    The Hollywood Reporter: “A climate crisis satire so smug and bombastic it makes Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up seem almost innocuous. Digger is basically what happens when you put two outsize egos together with nobody holding the reins to keep their most self-indulgent impulses in check … so meta that you watch in excruciating weariness as [the film] disappears up its own ass and then realize to your dismay that there’s another eardrum-shattering hour left to endure …It’s difficult to imagine mainstream audiences ever wanting to be a part of this bludgeoning ordeal.”

    IndieWire: “Digger is a mega-budget Dr. Strangelove riff so detached from human truth that its most believable character is a one-eyed animatronic cat named Maggie — a VistaVision satire so high-concept that it would be more accurate to measure its running time in altitude than minutes …Digger is a hat on a hat on a hat on a hat, with Iñárritu frantically hoping to pile them tall enough that they stand on their own without tipping over … If Digger bombs as hard as I fear it will, it may prove to be a more damning portrait of self-delusion than Iñárritu ever intended.”

    New York Post: “[Cruise’] first real stinker in nearly 10 years … Audiences will urgently want to leave after the first five minutes … this is not simply a case of poor Tom being trapped in a lousy movie. He’s just not very good, even as a cartoony caricature with no depth. Cruise did this kind of thing vastly better when he played Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. I would’ve rather seen Nicholas Cage or Woody Harrelson as Digger.”

    Empire: “This is the film’s chief problem — that it appears more concerned with itself than with the audience. Its apparent message — that the planet’s dying and we’re complicit, as much as we crave villains to blame — is delivered in almost hectoring terms, often in loud monologues …If the whole isn’t successful, elements are. Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography and Dennis Gassner’s production design achieve the Kubrickian grandeur Iñárritu clearly intends. Cruise emerges with a win, reminding us how riveting he can be as an actor, not just as a movie star.”

    Deadline: “For me it is like a return to the kind of adventurous films in cinema’s groundbreaking era of the 70’s, but it isn’t easily defined … [Cruise’s] range is undeniable but here it is off the charts, especially in a stunning 10 minute monologue Digger delivers that admits guilt but seeks to place the blame collectively on all of us… Iñárritu again proves he is one of the most original and fascinating filmmakers working today. Digger is the kind of movie we don’t see often on this scale, an ambitious satire that entertains, takes chances, sparks arguments, but is thrillingly alive as cinema designed to make us look at ourselves, hopefully wake up before it is too late, and ask the question: ‘what the hell are we doing?”

    BBC: “Most people won’t go to see it – and some people who do will walk out halfway through. But that doesn’t mean that Digger is a failure …Personally, I loved it. Some of its excesses are, well, a bit too excessive, and most viewers will wish it was shorter. After about 90 minutes, you get tired of close-ups of Goodman yelling while snake-sized veins bulge out of his forehead. But when Cruise is clambering all over the set, delivering thunderous lectures on the oil industry, I couldn’t help grinning at the gargantuan scale of his performance, the conviction of the script’s grim environmental message, and Iñárritu’s antic style.”

    The Wrap: “Digger is what happens when you give the week’s worst Saturday Night Live sketch an inexplicably large budget and delusions of grandeur … In Digger, Tom Cruise also plays a villainous Foghorn Leghorn, but his version is a seductive, intriguing enigma that takes center stage. It’s the kind of movie about evil billionaires that evil billionaires would enjoy, which makes it the worst kind of movie about evil billionaires.”

    The Los Angeles Times: “Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger is a bizarre stunt made on a big studio budget, a climate change satire that’s a self-conscious hybrid of Stanley Kubrick and Bertolt Brecht … But the horrible hijinks in Digger are so close to reality that, exiting the film, I was less sure than ever that humanity will still be around. There’s no hope in Digger, only a seductive, mischievous malevolence that, by design, feels empty as soon as the end credits… while I don’t entirely love this strange comedy, I’m giddy that it’s lurched into existence.”

    USA Today: “Digger crafts an unorthodox, complicated narrative with colorful archetypes that reflect the power players in our own world, so their goofy semi-villainy leans amusing and a little depressing. It might also prove divisive for audiences, which could keep a deserving Cruise out of an ultra-competitive Oscar race … Iñárritu does give the movie heart, however, and with his star really going for it in a fashion he hasn’t in quite a while, one can at least appreciate its earnest aims.”

    The Guardian: “As with Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, there may be a tacit consensus, understandable at some level, that at least we have a big mainstream movie which is talking about the biggest issue of our time, and we have a duty to suspend critical objection. Digger certainly resonates with Donald Trump’s greedy urge to despoil the Arctic and everywhere else. Yet there is something glib and overblown here. This film finds itself in a postmodern hole. And what do you do when you’re in a hole?”

    The London Evening Standard: “Tom Cruise is back with a bang in the Oscars ring in his best performance since 1999’s Magnolia … There are beautiful aftershocks to Iñárritu’s cinematic coup as this gallops towards a heartbreaking warning about where the real world is right now with fossil fuels and climate change … Audacious, risky, terrific fun and — for at least half the planet — the wildest ride you’ll get this year.”

    The Austin Chronicle: “Ever heard that old saying, this meeting could have been an email? Similarly, rather than being a film, Digger could have been a burning bag of dog poop delivered to Adam McKay’s doorstep … A seeming broadside at heavy-handed Hollywood advocacy flops like Don’t Look Up, it’s a scathing pastiche of everything that makes such movies insufferably sanctimonious. Yet Birdman director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s obvious technical genius as a filmmaker cannot overcome the plain fact that Digger is both insufferable and sanctimonious.”

    The Globe and Mail: “All these preening, obnoxiously self-satisfied moments, and so many more, add up to a movie so convinced of its own brilliance that it cannot see it is in fact the most banal variety of idiot: loud, ugly and forever oblivious to its own shortcomings …There is no overarching strategy to Digger, just endless scheming from a cinematic charlatan who should have been buried by Hollywood two or three movies ago.”

    Slant: “…a film of ideas, a rambunctious gathering of mostly talented people doing the worst work of their careers … Digger is González Iñárritu’s purported cri de coeur against our wealth-and-resources-hoovering overlords, but somehow it still manages to be a shameless Tom Cruise ego stroke. The actor shrieks, preens, and postures. He spits bilious remarks at anyone in his line of sight, particularly during a gaseous monologue about mankind’s reliance on fossil fuels. And, of course, true to both Digger and the man playing him, everyone but himself is the problem … Digger’s teeth are about as sharp as a decades-old pair of dentures.”

    Digger opens in theaters Oct. 2.

  • Variety and Outfront Announce Experience and Culture Summit: The IRL Advantage, Featuring Questlove, Charlamagne tha God and Ice-T

    Variety and Outfront today announced the first-ever Variety Experience and Culture Summit: The IRL Advantage presented by Outfront, taking place Oct. 7 in New York at The Penn District by Skylight. The invite-only event will bring together artists, brand CMOs, sports leaders and media executives for candid conversations on how live, real-world experiences build fandom, fuel creativity and move audiences to act, with appearances by Questlove, Charlamagne tha God and Ice-T.

    As attention fragments across endless feeds and screens, the moments people choose to show up for in person have become some of the most valuable in media. Brands, sports organizations and entertainment companies are looking beyond the screen to reach audiences where they gather — at games, concerts, festivals and premieres, and on the streets of the cities they live in. The summit will explore what that shift means for marketers and how to put it to work.

    “Partnering with Outfront on this first-ever summit reflects exactly the conversation the industry needs to be having right now,” said Michelle Fine-Smith, SVP, Global B2B Partnerships, Variety. “The leaders joining us, from CMOs rethinking brand experience to entertainers and sports icons building lifelong fandom, will explore why the IRL advantage, real-world connection, has become something that can’t be automated. There’s no better place to have that conversation than New York, a city that just celebrated a historic Knicks championship.”

    “There’s a lot of talk about what in real-life (IRL) media means, but there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for breaking through to the audiences that matter most,” said Julie Massoni, Head of Enterprise Sales, West Coast, Outfront. “For an entertainment industry changing this quickly, IRL media is how you meet that disruption head-on — whether you’re driving attention to a series, a theatrical release, a concert, a festival or a sporting event, or you’re a brand trying to reach fans through them. This summit is about real examples of real-world campaigns that delivered real results.”

    Programming highlights include:

    • Questlove, Grammy-winning musician, Academy Award-winning filmmaker and New York Times best-selling author, on how the energy of a live audience shapes his work with The Roots, from their role as house band for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to the group’s expansion in an annual festival with the acclaimed Roots Picnic.
    • Charlamagne tha God, multimedia mogul and co-host of The Breakfast Club, will discuss his approach to building unique experiences for his passionate fan base, including the Black Effect Podcast Festival, and how live experiences fuel his creativity across platforms, including top-rated radio program “The Breakfast Club.”
    • Ice-T, who stars in “Law & Order: SVU” as Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola; Mark Marshall, Chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal; Rachael Zaluzec, Chief Marketing Officer and SVP, Customer Experience, Volkswagen of America; and Julie Scelzo, Chief Creative Officer of Xfinity, Comcast will discuss how NBCUniversal drives fandom across must-see experiences, live studio audiences and more, as well as explore how brands can authentically participate in these cultural driving moments. The conversation – marking NBC’s 100th anniversary – will be moderated by Savannah Sellers, Anchor, NBC News NOW; NBC News Correspondent.
    • Outfront CEO Nick Brien in a keynote conversation on why experience is becoming central to the next generation of marketing.
    • Rafael Espinal, Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, on how New York continues to serve as a massive IRL stage and a catalyst for community, culture and large-scale experiences.
    • Ulta Beauty CMO Kelly Mahoney, Dick’s Sporting Goods CMO Emily Silver, Snap CMO Grace Kao, Land O’Lakes CMO Heather Malenshek and Instacart Head of Commercial Marketing Stephanie Paturzo-Swingle on the experience economy: why brands are making real-world engagement a core part of their consumer strategies, and how innovation is reshaping the events landscape.
    • “IRL Advantage: Building Trust in an Agentic World,” a panel with Kantar CEO, Americas Jeff Greenspoon, Snap Head of Research, Consumer Insights and Strategy Aarti Bhaskaran and Outfront Chief Marketing and Experience Officer Stacy Minero, will dive into what data reveals about the positive business impact of real-world audience interaction.
    • NFL CMO Tim Ellis, Major League Soccer CMO Radhika Duggal, New York Giants SVP, Marketing and Brand Strategy Nilay Shah and Women’s Tennis Association Chief Brand Officer Sarah Swanson on what it takes to turn fans into lifelong followers, and how brands can tap into the cultural power of sports.
    • A look at the future of experiential entertainment, including emerging technologies, AI and new approaches to event design, with Paul Caine, President, On Location, TKO Group Holdings (UFC, WWE); Christine Cassis, CMO, Twitch; Bess Spaeth, EVP, Global Brand Management & Experiences, American Express; Josephine Vaccarello, EVP, Live, Madison Square Garden; and Benoit Vatere, Chief Media and Digital Commerce Officer, Liquid Death.

    The Variety Experience and Culture Summit: The IRL Advantage presented by Outfront is invite-only. To request an invitation, visit variety.com/outfrontexperience.

  • Charlie and Martin Sheen Will Star in AMC’s First Multi-Camera Comedy

    Charlie and Martin Sheen Will Star in AMC’s First Multi-Camera Comedy

    Charlie Sheen is heading back to TV, and he’s bringing his dad along for the ride.

    Charlie and Martin Sheen will star together in a comedy series called Happy Jack that has scored a green light from AMC Global Media. The multi-camera show is slated to premiere on AMC and AMC+ in 2027, with production starting early next year on the Warner Bros. lot.

    “I’ve always heard the moments that truly matter happen when they’re supposed to,” Charlie Sheen said in a statement. “The good folks at AMC have played a huge hand in deciding that moment is now. It’s no secret that it’s been a minute, and I’m thrilled to be going back on television in such a meaningful way in an equally wonderful show. The crew has reassembled — suffice it to say, it’s time to give the people what they want.”

    The Sheens will play father and son in Happy Jack. The show centers on Jack (Charlie Sheen), a “bit of a lifelong ne’er-do-well” with two adult daughters whom his dad (Martin Sheen) had a big hand in raising. One of them, Kate, keeps Jack’s company running and Jack functioning, while the other, Sam, is a “wild child” who returns home with a new boyfriend … who is her dad’s age.

    Jim Patterson and Matt Ross are writers and co-showrunners on Happy Jack, which comes from AMC Studios. They worked together on Two and a Half Men (though Ross joined the series after Sheen’s 2011 departure) and Netflix’s The Ranch. Patterson and Ross executive produce with Charlie Sheen, Todd Christopher, The Tannenbaum Company’s Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum and Jason Wang, and 20th Television. Eric and Kim Tannenbaum were also EPs of Two and a Half Men.

    “What a thrill to welcome Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen to AMC and AMC+,” said Dan McDermott, chief content officer of AMC Global Media and president of AMC Studios. “I worked with Charlie years ago on Spin City, and he is a singular talent who has owned the screen in some of the most unforgettable films and television series ever made. We love this show from a great creative team, led by Jim Patterson and Matt Ross and the Tannenbaums. This is definitely something new for AMC, and we can’t wait to bring it to viewers next year.”

    The show will be AMC’s first multi-camera comedy and one of only a handful of comedies/dramedies it has ever aired. The most recent was Lucky Hank, starring Bob Odenkirk, in 2023.

    Martin and Charlie Sheen have appeared together a few times in the past, in the feature films Wall Street and Cadence (which Martin Sheen also directed) and on the mid-2010s FX/syndicated comedy Anger Management. Martin also guest-starred on Two and a Half Men and Spin City when Charlie starred on the two shows.

  • ITV Boss, Sky’s Content Chief Set Out Vision for Acquisition, Try to Calm Nerves: ‘The Competition is Ferocious’

    With Comcast-owned Sky’s $2.1 billion acquisition of ITV currently winding its way through the regulatory process in the U.K., both parties are limited in how much they can say. Yet Sky’s content chief Cecile Frot-Coutaz and ITV CEO Carolyn McCall, both speaking in separate keynote speeches at the Royal Television Society convention in London, managed to say quite a lot about what the deal means for the U.K.

    Read on for their comments on key aspects of the deal including content and news…

    How the deal happened…

    Frot-Cotaz and McCall both acknowledged the television landscape has shifted immeasurably over the past decade. McCall said the Sky/ITV acquisition “wouldn’t have gone through” even six years ago, with the Competition and Markets Authority taking a much more bullish approach to consolidation in the past.

    “The transaction is very much a response to what’s happened in the marketplace,” Frot-Cotaz said. But she added, Sky are not just acquiring ITV to create a “robust” media company: “we think there’s a lot of opportunity in it as well.”

    Five years ago there was 200,000 hours of streaming content available to audiences – that has now more than doubled to 900,000, a figure that doesn’t include YouTube, said the ITV boss. “That’s what we’re up against.”

    Content is still king…

    Both Frot-Coutaz and McCall said Sky was committed to ITV content, not least because the deal terms include a content supply agreement with ITV Studios.

    “One of the most important things to Sky was our content,” McCall said in an attempt to allay fears amongst indie produces that cost savings will result in less money going into content. “There’ll be more content because the sum of the two.”

    In her keynote Frot-Coutaz agreed: “The goal ultimately is to maintain the scale of the content offering.”

    Investment in tech…

    “The competition is ferocious,” McCall said. “It’s not just [being] bigger; it’s also the investment. So you have to invest in technology. You’ve got to continue to invest in AI. You’ve got to continue to invest in efficiency, and most importantly, you’ve got to have to enough money to constantly invest in content, because content is where it’s at. That’s what makes you all your money.”

    Frot-Coutaz echoed that. “Content is super important, but you also need the technology that goes with it.”

    But technology costs money and for money you need scale. Hence the deal.

    Commitment to news…

    A key concern around the acquisition is whether Sky will seek to consolidate its newsroom with ITV’s. While ITV’s public service broadcasting commitments — which includes nations, regional and national news — are protected until 2034, there is a large question mark over what will happen after that day.

    McCall said that ITN, which makes ITV’s news (it operates under a shared-ownership scheme comprised of four stakeholders, one of which is ITV) is a “strong news organization” so asked “why would you duplicate?”

    Frot-Coutaz maintained that Sky has made a “very public commitment to maintain Sky News and to maintain ITN news” but refused to say whether that commitment would extend past 2034, when ITV’s public service broadcast license expires.

    Whether that will allay fears remains to be seen. Watch this space.