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Tag: Entertainment-HollywoodReporter

  • Designer Sandy Liang Signs with Lighthouse Management & Media

    Designer Sandy Liang Signs with Lighthouse Management & Media

    Sandy Liang and her eponymous fashion label has signed with Lighthouse Management + Media for representation.

    Lighthouse will handle all areas of representation, including brand strategy, partnerships, media, and long-term business development.

    “Known for blending nostalgic femininity with downtown New York sensibility, Liang has cultivated a fiercely loyal global following through collections that fuse romance, playfulness, and cultural authenticity,” read the signing announcement.

    In addition to her own bow-laden label, the New York-based fashion designer has had numerous collaborations with brands that include Gap, Target, Baggu and Beats by Dre. These partnerships, like ones with Vans and Solomons, sell out quickly and become fodder for social media, as well as breathless coverage at legacy publications, including Vogue and the New York Times.

    “One of Sandy Liang’s most valuable traits as a designer is her ability to create not just clothes, but also a fantasy,” reads the Vogue coverage of Liang’s Spring 2026 ready-to-wear show.

    Started in 2014 after Liang graduated from Parsons School of Design, the Sandy Liang label broke out in the early 2020s, becoming synonymous with subversive ultrafeminine attire. The brand, with a flagship store of the Lower East Side, has been recognized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and regularly shows during New York Fashion Week to both critical and commercial success.

  • HBO Max Inks First-Look Deal With ‘Sirât’ Producer Domingo Corral

    HBO Max Inks First-Look Deal With ‘Sirât’ Producer Domingo Corral


    HBO Max has signed an overall first-look deal with acclaimed Spanish TV executive Domingo Corral, one of the producers on Oliver Laxe’s Oscar-nominated drama Sirât.

    Sarah Aubrey, Head of Original Content at HBO Max, unveiled the pact with Corral on Tuesday at television festival Series Mania in Lille, France. Calling the Spanish indie producer “a champion of bold, distinctive voices and a trusted collaborator across the creative community,” Aubrey said the deal would give the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer “exclusive television services in Spain” from one of the country’s most acclaimed producers.

    As the head of content at Spanish pay-TV company Moviestar Plus+, and previously as head of content at Telefónica’s TV division, Corral have overseen the production of some of Spain’s most critically acclaimed and commercial successful film and television. His TV work includes Riot Police (2020), The Messiah (2023), and The Anatomy of a Moment, a new period drama screening at Series Mania this week.

    When Corral left Movistar Plus+ last year, 144 members of the Spanish creative community, including Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar, signed an open letter in support of the producer, warning of the damage his exit could have on the Spanish industry.

    Speaking of the pact with HBO Max, Corral said: “I am delighted to have found a partner with whom I can continue producing the series I have always believed in. HBO’s commitment to quality, boldness, and originality has always inspired my approach to the art of storytelling.”

    Aubrey revealed Corral’s first project under the HBO Max deal, a series set in the 1980s and based on the notorious case of Santiago Corella, alias ‘El Nani’. A petty criminal from the Spanish slums, El Nani was wrongly arrested by a police unit staffed by former officers from Franco’s fascist regime and “disappeared.” The case became a cause célèbre when, in 1988, the police officers involved were put on trial, turning it into a test of the country’s transition from Fascism to democracy.

    El Nani, which is currently in development, will be written and directed by Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos., the team behind period drama The Anatomy of a Moment, which screened at Series Mania this week.

  • Disney and Nickelodeon Child Stars: Where Are They Now?

    Disney and Nickelodeon Child Stars: Where Are They Now?

    Miley Cyrus, Zendaya, Zac Efron, Ariana Grande, Keke Palmer, Selena Gomez and Kenan Thompson are among those who rose to fame as teens for their roles on the kids’ television networks.

    'Hannah Montana,' 'True Jackson, VP,' 'High School Musical' and 'Wizards of Waverly Place.'

    ‘Hannah Montana,’ ‘True Jackson, VP,’ ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Wizards of Waverly Place.’

    Everett Collection (4)

    Before they were winning awards, selling out stadiums, leading blockbuster films and TV shows or even working outside of entertainment entirely, celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Zendaya, Hilary Duff, Zac Efron, Keke Palmer, Ariana Grande, Kenan Thompson and Selena Gomez, among many others, actually had one thing in common: They all found child stardom on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon.

    The kids’ networks are widely known for launching the careers of now-global actors and singers, as well as giving young talent helpful training for the entertainment industry. Some have gone on to build massive careers, such as Cyrus, a multi-Grammy winner, who is now celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hannah Montana, the Disney series that launched her career, with a new special.

    Below, The Hollywood Reporter is highlighting some of the biggest Disney and Nickelodeon child stars and where they are now.

  • Khloé Kardashian Says E! Series ‘Khloé & Lamar’ Was All Lamar Odom’s Idea

    Khloé Kardashian Says E! Series ‘Khloé & Lamar’ Was All Lamar Odom’s Idea

    When a Kardashian thinks there are too many cameras around you, it might be time to reevaluate your thirst for fame.

    On Tuesday, March 31, Volume 4 of sports documentary series Untold, created by Wild, Wild Country brothers Chapman and Maclain Way, premieres on Netflix with The Death & Life of Lamar Odom.

    The Death & Life of Lamar Odom, directed Ryan Duffy, brings viewers back to 2015, when the recently retired NBA star and the husband of Khloé Kardashian was found unresponsive at the Love Ranch, a brothel outside Las Vegas. The doc features (separate) interviews with Khloé & Lamar, partially in which the now-divorced couple discuss, well, Khloé & Lamar.

    Kardashian says the 2011-12 E! reality show was completely Odom’s doing.

    “Khloé & Lamar was not my idea. Khloé & Lamar was led very much by Lamar. I was spread really thin,” Khloé says. “I also didn’t really  want it to jeopardize the family brand, which was [Keeping Up with the Kardashians] at the time. I thought there were so many Kardashian shows.”

    Odom, meanwhile, wanted (at least) one Odom show.

    “This is how I wanna live,” Odom says in the doc of witnessing the Kardashian celebrity and lifestyle up close. At the time, Odom was well known in Hollywood as a two-time NBA Champion with the Los Angeles Lakers (2009, 2010) and the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year (2011) — but he wasn’t Kardashian-famous. Not yet.

    Odom had a plan, one he relayed to childhood buddy Shannon “Pumpkin” Brown, who occasionally appeared on Khloé & Lamar, at his actual wedding to Kardashian.

    “He was explaining the moves he was doing,” Brown says in the doc, recalling a conversation he and Odom had at the very-Hollywood affair. “He was doing it to better his future.”

    “Part of the deal was that, if I marry you, fuck it, I want in on it too,” Odom says of his and Khloé’s very public high-speed romance.

    Who says romance is a lost art?

    “Lamar loves a camera,” Khloé says.

    OK, so maybe her — and probably you when you watch The Death & Life of Lamar Odom.

    The Death & Life of Lamar Odom is executive produced by the Ways, Duffy, Ben Silverman, Howard Owens, Isabel San Vargas, Jeff Jenkins and Shondrella Avery. Jake Graham-Felsen and Carolyn Craddock are co-executive producers of the film, which hails from Propagate and Stardust Frames Productions.

    Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom premieres one week from today on Netflix. Untold: Vol. 4 continues the following week with the excellent Chess Mates (April 7), ahead of Untold: Jail Blazers (April 14) and season finale Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill (April 21).

  • Epic Games Slashes 1,000 Jobs, Citing “Downturn in ‘Fortnite’ Engagement”

    Epic Games Slashes 1,000 Jobs, Citing “Downturn in ‘Fortnite’ Engagement”

    Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, is slashing more than 1,000 jobs as it deals with a “downturn” in engagement with its flagship game.

    Epic CEO Tim Sweeney announced the cuts to staff Tuesday.

    “The downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025 means we’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded. This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place,” Sweeney wrote. “Some of the challenges we’re facing are industry-wide challenges: slower growth, weaker spending, and tougher cost economics; current consoles selling less than last generation’s; and games competing for time against other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment.”

    Epic, of course, is a close partner of The Walt Disney Co., which invested $1.5 billion in the company two years ago, with plans to create a Fortnite-connected universe filled with Disney IP and characters. Disney characters have also made frequent appearances in limited edition Fortnite seasons.

    Sweeney is also close to new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro, who championed the Epic Games deal. Sources close to D’Amaro said that interactivity will be a centerpiece of his strategy for the company.

    Sweeney told The Hollywood Reporter after D’Amaro got the job that the exec understood how gaming and entertainment can work together harmoniously.

    “Josh and Disney really get it and have a crisp understanding of how the future of their film and TV IP, Disney+ and games fit together into a digital ecosystem and tie into parks and other things,” he says.

    In his memo, Sweeney compared the current moment to the 1990s, when technological disruption similarly changed the course of the gaming industry. Epic was a player then thanks to its Unreal Engine.

    “Market conditions today are the most extreme we’ve seen since those early days, with massive upheaval in the industry accompanied by massive opportunity for the companies that come out as winners on the other side,” Sweeney wrote.

    He also took pain to note that “since it’s a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren’t related to AI. To the extent it improves productivity, we want to have as many awesome developers developing great content and tech as we can.”

  • Live-Action ‘Mr Benn’ Film on the Way From ‘I Swear’ Writer-Director Kirk Jones

    Live-Action ‘Mr Benn’ Film on the Way From ‘I Swear’ Writer-Director Kirk Jones

    Kirk Jones, the writer-director of the BAFTA-winning I Swear, is working on a live-action adaptation of beloved British children’s animated series, Mr Benn.

    From 48 Films, BeaglePug Ltd, Jackpot Productions, and One Story High, Mr Benn — based on David McKee’s bowler hat-wearing character — is currently in development. The books, first published in 1967, follow an ordinary man who embarks on magical adventures whenever he visits a local costume shop. McKee’s stories became the basis of an animated series broadcast on the BBC from 1971 to 1972.

    Casting for the lead role of Mr Benn, plus supporting roles, is due to commence later this year, with production expected to begin next year, The Hollywood Reporter understands.

    Jones, also the director of Nanny McPhee and Waking Ned, most recently helmed I Swear, inspired by the life of Scottish Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson.

    Jones said about his next project: “I adored Mr Benn as a child and immediately saw the importance of introducing him to a new generation, in a live action adventure. Mr Benn finds a unique way to travel through time and space, visiting historical and futuristic worlds to solve apparently monumental problems, with kindness, compassion, and common sense.”

    “Following on from I Swear,” he continued, “I am keen to work on a project that is humorous and entertaining, whilst at the same time, in a world full of distractions, help focus on what is important. If all goes to plan, Mr Benn might even save the world.”

    The McKee family added that the late author — whose other notable work includes Elmer the Patchwork Elephant — “was keen to see” the movie happen: “The Mr Benn film project has been close to our hearts for many years. It was something our father would often talk about… It has picked up momentum over time and the pieces have gradually come together. We’re absolutely thrilled to now have Kirk Jones on board to help guide it in the right direction, and we are really excited about going back to Festive Road, where we grew up.”

    Mr Benn is produced by Branwen Prestwood Smith (The Mauritanian) and Mike Prestwood Smith for 48 Films, David Barron (the Harry Potter franchise) for BeaglePug Ltd, Jack Whitehall (Bad Education) for Jackpot Productions, and Kirk Jones for One Story High.

  • Hot Docs Fest to Open With ‘Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions’

    Hot Docs Fest to Open With ‘Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions’

    The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is set to open with Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions, about the 1980s and 1990s Canadian queer trailblazer, organizers said Tuesday.

    The doc feature from director Michelle Mama centers on “High School Confidential” singer Carole Pope, who broke barriers for gay musicians on Canadian radio in the 1980s as co-lead of the Rough Trade rock band.

    “Carole Pope arrived on the music scene like a meteor, writing about love and lust and queerness in ways nobody had ever seen. A film about her life is long overdue and it was my honor to be the one to bring it to the screen,” Mama said in a statement about the film with appearances by k.d. lang, Peaches, Jann Arden and Rufus Wainwright.

    News of the festival opener on April 23 came as a scaled-down Hot Docs released its full film lineup of 80 features for its 33rd edition in Toronto after a chaotic 2024 edition and a leadership and boardroom overhaul.

    For its 2026 edition, the festival booked world premieres for Oscar-nominated War Witch director Kim Nguyen’s Vietnam War memory doc Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, from the National Film Board of Canada; Shalini Kantayya’s Love Apptually, about dating app algorithms; Raha Shirazi’s A War on Women, about 40 years of feminist resistance by Iranian women against the Islamic Republic; The 49th Year, about an imprisoned anarchist and directed by Heidrun Holzfeind; and Andrea Suwito’s A Distant Call, about local tradition and modern faith in a remote Indonesian community.

    Ceremony

    Hot Docs Festival

    There’s also world premieres for Faraz Fadaian’s LandStone, about an elderly man and his wife living in a handmade cave in Iran; Parasisi, directed by Zaïde Bil and Sébastien Segers; Stories for Sandro, director Giacomo Boeri’s portrait of his father after he is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; Hamed Zolfaghari’s Vanishing Tracks, about a family in Iran’s remote nomadic landscape; and Vegapolis, from director Micha Barban Dangerfield.

    Hot Docs will also screen around 30 Canadian features, including the SXSW documentary spotlight audience award winner Ceremony from filmmaker Banchi Hanuse; and world premieres for Sébastien Trahan’s Code of Misconduct, about five Canadian pro hockey players on trial for sexual assault; Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson’s Concrete Turned to Sand; Ree Wright and Meaghan Wright’s The Last Days of April, about a disabled advocate living with a tethered spinal cord and chronic pain; director Rico King’s Nekai Walks; and Evan Adams and Eileen Francis’s təm kʷaθ nan Namesake, where a request from the Tla’amin Nation to change the name of Powell River, British Columbia ignites a heated local debate.

    The latest additions to Hot Docs join earlier announced world premieres for Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart, directed by Tony-winning Broadway producer Dori Berinstein; and Mark Myers’ The Tower That Built a City, about Toronto’s skyline-defining CN Tower and its surroundings.

    Hot Docs, to run April 23 to May 3, will also include industry events and programs.

    LandStone

    Hot Docs Festival

  • ‘For All Mankind’ Renewed for Sixth and Final Season at Apple TV

    Apple TV is looking to the heavens one last time.

    The streamer has renewed its drama series For All Mankind for a sixth and final season. The pickup comes three days before season five of the show premieres on March 27; season six will debut in 2027.

    With the renewal, For All Mankind (produced by Sony Pictures Television) will become one of the longest-running series in Apple TV’s six-plus years of offering original programming. Among shows aimed at adults, only Slow Horses — which has been renewed through a seventh season — will have gone longer.

    “Getting to explore the For All Mankind universe over six seasons has been an amazing privilege, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to finish the story the way we’ve always hoped,” said showrunners Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, who also co-created the series with Ronald D. Moore. “We’re incredibly proud of what this series has become, and grateful to Apple TV and Sony Pictures Television for helping us see it through to its final chapter.”

    Added Apple TV head of programming Matt Cherniss, “From being one of the first Apple originals to launch on Apple TV in 2019, For All Mankind has remained an innovative, epic sci-fi series that has enthralled fans season after season. As one of Apple TV’s most enduring and celebrated series, it has delivered time and again because of the extraordinary artistry of visionary storytellers Ron, Matt, and Ben, along with our partners at Sony, and we can’t wait for people to experience how this story comes to its exhilarating conclusion when the final season debuts next year.”

    Season five of the series, set in an alternate history where the Soviet Union was the first to land people on the moon, is set in the 2010s and will delve into the friction between residents of a colonized Mars and those who remain on Earth. Joel Kinnaman, Toby Kebbell, Edi Gathegi, Cynthy Wu, Coral Peña and Wrenn Schmidt reprise their roles alongside new series regulars Mireille Enos, Costa Ronin, Sean Kaufman, Ruby Cruz and Ines Asserson.

    Wolpert and Nedivi serve as showrunners and executive produce with Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, Kira Snyder, David Weddle, Bradley Thompson and Seth Edelstein.

  • The Freelance Platform Fiverr Wants to Sell You AI Video

    The Freelance Platform Fiverr Wants to Sell You AI Video

    Can a gig economy stalwart crack Hollywood? Fiverr thinks it figured out the model… by going all-in on generative artificial intelligence.

    The freelance marketplace, which connects users to workers in all sorts of categories (think website development, resume guidance, etc) on Tuesday launched an “AI Video Hub,” which will offer services from a handful of established AI directors at “a fraction of the cost” of traditional production, Fiverr CMO Matti Yahav says.

    That includes Billy Bioman, the Stockholm-based director who has created AI brand videos for Google, Universal Music Group and Klarna, among others. In a marketing stunt connected to the launch, Fiverr constructed a 30-foot tall, 230-foot wide billboard of Boman’s name overlooking the 101 Freeway, meant to evoke the Hollywood sign.

    It also includes The Dor Brothers, who created Snoop Dogg’s first AI-generated music video, and other directors with experience using AI tools for commercial work.

    Indeed, commercials, especially for smaller businesses, seem to be the logical market for Fiverr’s marketplace. Big brands, after all, can pick and choose who they work with on a project by project basis, and have no problem leveraging the human creativity of big agencies (many of which are also embracing AI tools).

    And while Fiverr is framing its marketplace as a disruption of the Hollywood studio system, it seems to be more disruptive to Madison Ave, which has never quite been able to crack advertising for small and mid-size businesses, given the obvious economic constraints.

    Car companies have massive marketing budgets. Car dealers do not.

    The AI directors will create brand films, social media content and even commercials that can run on TV or streaming platforms.

    “For decades, brand video has been at the mercy of the Hollywood production playbook: big crews, big agencies, big budgets, and months of lead time,” said Yahav in a statement. “That model is breaking. The directors in this hub are producing work that stands next to anything coming out of a traditional studio, and they’re doing it faster, leaner, and for a fraction of the cost. We put a 30-foot sign on a hillside in LA because this is where the entertainment industry has always announced what comes next. This is what comes next.”

    “A year ago, I was constrained by what was technically possible. Now I’m constrained only by what I can imagine, and that changes everything about how a brand can tell its story,” added Boman. “My name on that hillside next to one of the most famous landmarks in entertainment history says something about where this industry is heading. The old gatekeepers built incredible things. But the gates are open now, and the directors walking through them don’t need a studio lot or a seven-figure budget to deliver at that level.”

  • Joey Fatone Is Producing an ID Doc Series About the Dark Side of Boy Bands

    NSYNC‘s Joey Fatone is serving as executive producer on an upcoming documentary series that will chronicle the dark side of the boy band boom of the 1990s, ID announced on Tuesday.

    Boy Band Confidential is set to premiere on April 13 and 14, and it will feature interviews from the likes of NSYNC’s Lance Bass, Backstreet Boys‘ AJ McLean,  and Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman, among others.

    “Being in a boy band was one of the greatest experiences of my life — but it also came with challenges we didn’t always understand at the time,” Fatone said in a statement of the upcoming series. “This project gave all of us a chance to reflect, to be honest and to share what really happened behind the spotlight.”

    In a press release, ID said the upcoming series “exposes the secret machinery of manufactured superstardom and the devastating human cost of the era’s glossy perfection.” In a statement, ID president Jason Sarlanis called Boy Band Confidential  “an honest, unfiltered look at a cultural phenomenon that shaped an entire generation.”

    “With Joey Fatone bringing together a who’s who of artists from the era’s most iconic boy bands, we’re illuminating the pressures, vulnerabilities and surprising realities of life at the height of pop stardom with a level of access rarely achieved in music documentaries,” Sarlanis said.

    Boy Band Confidential comes ahead of ID’s second season of Hollywood Demons. The series isn’t the network’s first time taking a deeper look at the exploitation and abuse stars face in Hollywood; ID had a hit in Quiet on Set back in 2024, exploring allegations of a toxic environment on classic Dan Schneider television shows.

    Watch the trailer for Boy Band Confidential below.