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Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
A circuitous and protracted copyright infringement case first brought by German electronic-music pioneers Kraftwerk in 2004 has finally been settled — and not in the pioneering electronic group’s favor.
The European Court of Justice, the principal judicial authority of the E.U., decided on April 14 that an unapproved, two-second sample of Kraftwerk’s 1977 song “Metall auf Metall” used by producer Moses Pelham in the 1997 single “Nur mir” was legal.
The ECJ found that the producers’ use of Kraftwerk’s percussion was within the provisions of “pastiche,” which, due to a 2022 ruling, allows for the unauthorized use of creative work if that use is noticeably different from the original and is in artistic dialogue with the original. (The U.S. has similar, but roomier, laws around “fair use” that allow for, among other things, creators to use copyrighted works without permission if they’re engaging with it critically or comedically.)
“The European Court of Justice has helped to clarify the urgently needed definition of the concept of pastiche, thereby seeking to strike a balance between artistic freedom and the protection of intellectual property,” says René Houareau, Managing Director Legal & Political Affairs for Germany’s music industry association BVMI, in a statement to Variety. “This is also significant because the exception introduced in Germany in 2021 has so far been associated with considerable legal uncertainty.”
The path to the decision has been a long and complex one, with 22 years spent circumnavigating the European justice system across appeals and remandments that ping-ponged between two regional German courts, the German Federal Court of Justice, the German Federal Constitutional Court and, now, the ECJ.
The pastiche provision “does not have a catch-all nature,” the Court wrote in its decision, “but covers creations which evoke one or more existing works, while being noticeably different from them, and which use, including by means of sampling, some of those works’ characteristic elements protected by copyright, in order to engage with those works in an artistic or creative dialogue that is recognisable as such and that can take different forms, in particular the form of an overt stylistic imitation of those works, of a tribute to them or of humorous or critical engagement with them.”
In other words, the ECJ has carved out a comfortable, but not infinite, legal space for sampling and other creative interpolations in such contexts.
“The fact remains that sampling is only possible within narrow limits,” Kraftwerk representative Hermann Lindhorst told Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The case will now head to the German Federal Court of Justice for final reassessment under the new ECJ guidelines.
On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, breaks down the Warner Bros. Discovery sale saga as the company’s shareholders prepare to vote on the sale to Paramount Skydance.
Gordon, who studies mergers and acquisitions and has used Warner Bros. Discovery as a case study in one of his classes, says that the process has been “unusual” for both WBD and Paramount Skydance. WBD shareholders will get the chance to vote April 23 on whether to support the deal. It’s been a long road for the company since sale rumors picked up steam last summer. WBD at first tried to hold off its aggressive suitor, which was one of many unconventional aspects of the transaction.
“It’s unusual for the target to just say, ‘We’re not going to talk to you, take a hike. We don’t want to listen.’ It’s sort of like, putting their hands over their ears and going, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. That’s pretty unusual,” Gordon says. “It finally got to the point where some legal duties took over. It’s also unusual for the pursuer, the acquirer Paramount Skydance, to be so persistent. I mean, you’ve got to give David Ellison credit for. He’s the guy who gets turned down by a girl 23 times. And he asks the 24th time and she says, ‘OK, I’ll go out with you.’ ”
The jockeying around WBD, the tug of war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance over the deal reflects so many crosscurrents that are roiling the traditional entertainment business. But fundamentally, a company endowed with sui generis assets such as Warner Bros. and HBO offers a rare opportunity to grab significant showbiz real estate.
“This deal, even though it didn’t create the big changes in the industry, this deal will probably come to symbolize all of those big changes,” Gordon says.
Listen to Daily Variety on iHeartPodcasts, Apple Podcasts, Variety’s YouTube Podcast channel, Amazon Music, Spotify and other podcast platforms.
LG has announced the pricing and availability of its Micro RGB evo, the company’s first take on a TV display trend that kicked off in earnest at CES 2026. The LG Micro RGB evo is available to pre-order today starting at $5,000, and follows the recent release of the ultra-thin LG Wallpaper.
The Micro RGB evo represents the top of the line of a new class of display at LG that directly builds on the company’s work with Mini LED technology. The new TV features LG’s Micro RGB panel and its Alpha A11 AI processor, which runs the TV’s webOS software, and perhaps more importantly, powers the “Micro RGB Engine” that controls the TVs individual LEDs. LG says the Micro RGB evo offers full gamut coverage across DCI-P3, BT.2020 and Adobe RGB, along with “enhanced contrast and refined detail” from the TV’s over a thousand dimming zones.
While Micro RGB should offer better color representation than OLED, LG’s OLED TVs still have their share of benefits, especially in things like contrast and dimming. Micro RGB panels are similar to the company’s Mini LED ones, but rather than using all blue or white LEDs, the Micro RGB evo has individually controlled red, green and blue LEDs. The new style of display is also being explored by companies like TCL and Samsung, and at least for now, it’s not as affordable as some QD-OLED or OLED TVs can be.
The LG Micro RGB evo is available to pre-order today from LG’s website in 75, 86 and 100-inch screen sizes. The TV starts at $5,000 for the smallest 75-inch model and goes up from there.
The Clayface teaser trailer has arrived.
The first footage (below) from the high curiosity project from DC Studios follows an up-and-coming actor (Tom Rhys Harries) whose face is disfigured by a gangster. As a last resort, he turns to a scientist (Naomi Ackie) who transforms his body into clay.
The body horror film from director James Watkins (Speak No Evil) is based on a script by Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan along with Hossein Amini. In February, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn told reporters that the studio, “had no plans [to make] a Clayface movie,” but then Flanagan “turned in a script and it’s one of the best scripts that we’ve read.”
Like Todd Phillips’ 2019 hit Joker, the project will serve as an origin story for a Batman villain and is likewise expected to carry an R rating. Unlike Joker, and its 2024 sequel, the project is considered part of the DC Universe rather than its own self-contained world.
“Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those,” DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran has said, with Gunn adding the film will feel “totally real” and will be “true and psychological and body horror and gross.”
Clayface is slated to take advantage of spooky season at the box office, hitting theaters on Oct. 23. First up for DC, however, is Supergirl, which takes flight on June 26. The duo are seen as the second wave of theatrical projects for Gunn and Safran since last year’s hit, Superman.
Paramount is doubling down on Heart Eyes. The studio has has set a Valentine’s Day weekend release date of Feb. 11, 2028.
Paramount will co-produce and co-finance Heart Eyes 2 along with Spyglass Media Group and handle global distribution. (Sony had domestic on the first film, while Paramount handled international for the for the romantic slasher sequel.)
Mason Gooding and Olivia Hoult starred in the first movie as co-workers mistaken for a couple by a killer who targets romantic partners on Valentine’s day. It earned $33.1 million globally after opening Valentine Day Weekend last year.
Josh Ruben directed the first Heart Eyes and will return to direct and co-write the sequel script with Darcy Fowler, from a story by Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. (Landon and Kennedy wrote the script for the first movie with Phillip Murphy.) Landon and Divide/Conquer will produce the feature.
At this stage, it’s too early to say if if Gooding or Hoult will return for the sequel. Ruben made the original film in near record time, pitching it on Valentine’s Day weekend in 2024, with the film arriving in theaters a year later. “We really hustled, and it’s truly a nine-month baby,” he told THR upon release. This time, there will be a little bit more breathing room to hit that 2028 date.
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Annecy Animation Film Festival is rolling out a slate of events to mark its 2026 edition and the opening of its sprawling new institute, including a showcase for Laika, the studio behind “Coraline” and “The Boxtrolls,” and an exhibition dedicated to Ankama (“Krosmoz”).
Annecy is already considered the world’s leading animation festival. The new hub, called Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation, will now expand Annecy’s reach beyond its annual festival and reinforce its status as a global animation platform.
The site will open on June 19 with an inaugural exhibition, “Ankama: From Sketch to Epic — 25 Years of Creation.” The immersive showcase – running through January 2027 — will explore the studio’s “Krosmoz” universe across animation, video games and publishing, tracing its creative journey from early sketches to finished works.
The exhibition around Laika, meanwhile, will bring its CEO, filmmaker Travis Knight, on the ground in Annecy where he will present early footage from “Wildwood,” one of the most anticipated animated films in the pipeline. .
A year-round cultural and educational hub, the Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation boasts a vast screening room, an artists’ residency, special areas for training courses and cultural action, alongside exhibition spaces, a bookstore and a gift shop. It’s located in a 19th century landmark called Haras, which spreads over 2.6 acres of lush gardens and buildings listed as French historic monuments.
Mickaël Marin, the director of Annecy festival and its industry market MIFA, previously told Variety that the idea behind the venue was to “create a cultural hub like the French Cinematheque in Paris or the Lumiere Institute in Lyon, which will bring together animation lovers and artists from all around the world.”
As Gaëtan Bruel, the president of the National Film Board, pointed it, “The Annecy Festival is not only the world’s leading animation event, but also the third-largest event of its kind across all genres.”
“Together with the Cité internationale du cinéma d’animation, our goal is to build on these achievements and take things even further by making Annecy and its region the year-round global capital of animation,” he added.
Dominique Puthod, president of CITIA, the festival’s organizing body, said, “The Cité is a place for today — and above all for tomorrow. It’s a place for young people, where animation becomes a living heritage shared by all.” He added, “Animation is not a minor form of cinema, but an art in its own right — a universal language that connects generations.”
Education will be a core pillar at the Cité Internationale du Cinema d’Animation, with spaces such as the “Grenier à images” offering workshops and programs designed to help younger audiences understand how images are made and how to engage with them.
“With the opening of the Cité, Annecy fully asserts its status as the world capital of animation,” said Antoine Armand, describing the project as a “major milestone” that strengthens a “unique ecosystem” and boosts the city’s international reach.
Heart Eyes Killer, the deranged murderer who strikes on Valentine’s Day, has staked a big-screen return.
Paramount Pictures will co-produce and co-finance “Heart Eyes 2,” with a release date set for Feb. 11, 2028. Sony Pictures had distributed the first film, which earned $33 million at the global box office against an $18 million budget in 2025.
Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding starred in “Heart Eyes” as two co-workers who are mistaken for lovers by a serial killer whose modus operandi is slaying couples on the most romantic holiday of the year. Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa, and Jordana Brewster rounded out the cast. It’s unclear who from that group is returning for the sequel. Plot details haven’t been revealed, either.
Josh Ruben is back to direct “Heart Eyes 2.” He will also co-write the script with Darcy Fowler from a story by Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy. Spyglass Media co-produced and co-financed “Heart Eyes” and the sequel. Landon and Divide/Conquer will also serve as producers.
“Heart Eyes” wasn’t exactly a box office smash, but reviews were solid for the horror genre. Variety’s Courtney Howard praised the film as a a breezy rom-com slasher that slices and dices with charm,” adding that “‘Heart Eyes’ makes us swoon and squirm in equal measure.”
Last year, Ruben suggested the”Heart Eyes” franchise has the “potential for a long life.”
“I’ll put it this way: You could replicate the structure of any great rom-com, from ‘His Girl Friday’ to ‘Defending Your Life,’ and you could drop Heart Eyes into the center of that story, and have him flash and slash about,” he said. “That’s what’s exciting about this: There’s an opportunity that we could have whoever the filmmaker was — certainly, I’d be interested — genuinely trying to create or replicate that rom-com, or the feeling of a “Bridget Jones” or “Love Actually” or what have you, but actually have those people terrified by this psychopathic killer.”