Tag: Entertainment – Variety

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St. Lucia, Porto Santo, Praslin and Syros are the among the top island escapes to travel to this year, according to Expedia‘s 2026 Island Hot List, an annual ranking of the most popular island destinations based on searches and bookings.

Released July 21, this year’s Island Hot List highlights ten under-the-radar islands that offer an “alternative to traditional hotspots,” per Expedia, with the locations lauded for “combining natural beauty, cultural depth, and sometimes better value.”

St. Lucia tops the list for 2026, with Expedia reporting searches for the Eastern Caribbean island up 125% over 2025. Travelers say the lush getaway in the Lesser Antilles is best for “romantic escapes,” citing its intimate vibe and host of luxury resorts. Of course there’s plenty for adventure seekers to do as well, with long stretches of beaches, tropical rainforests and dramatic volcanoes in the distance.

Porto Santo Island, in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, ranked second on Expedia’s 2026 Island Hot List, with searches for the destination up 85% from this time last year. Expedia says the so-called “golden” island ranks best for “wellness and relaxation,” with travelers seeking out spa treatments and tranquil moments along stretches of sand that are said to hold calming “geotherapeutic” properties. Porto Santo also offers an airy and quieter sun-soaked getaway, compared to the busy resorts and mountainous landscapes of its sister island, Madeira.

Praslin, an island in the Seychelles, comes in third on this year’s list, as a destination for “nature lovers.” Located in the Indian Ocean, Praslin is home to the Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve (“May Valley”), a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that offers an expansive palm forest promising sightings of rare birds and plants (like the Coco de Mer palms). You can also hit the open water to snorkel for giant turtles and coral reefs, or swim along Anse Lazio beach, renowned for its white sand and dramatic granite boulders in the distance.

This year’s Expedia roundup also includes Syros Greece, which the booking site says is best for foodies looking for both authentic and inventive Greek cuisine; Lofoten Islands in Norway for arctic adventures; Phu Quoc, Vietnam for “affordable luxury;” and Sanibel Island over in Florida, which Expedia says is “best for family escapes.” Other islands on the Hot List are Palawan, Philippines; Culebra, Puerto Rico; and Fiji, along with Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, which was named Expedia’s “Best Private Island for Cruises.” Great Stirrup Cay is a private island that is exclusive to Norwegian Cruise Line guests.

Of course, this year’s Island Hot Lists reflects what people are buzzing about and Expedia says searches for Cape Verde have shot up a whopping 805% on the heels of the country’s cinderella World Cup run. The travel site says the archipelagic country off the coast of West Africa saw interest boom after “a summer of soccer, where team Cape Verde melted soccer fans’ hearts and drove a new wave of travel demand.”

Cape Verde was ranked 67th in the FIFA rankings prior to the World Cup but finished second in Group H with three draws (including tying now-World Cup champions Spain). The team then went on to narrowly lose to Argentina in a Round of 32 knockout stage match, earning the respect of Lionel Messi and soccer fans from around the world. Expedia, meantime, calls it the “Best Ultimate Soccer-inspired Island.”

“Islands don’t just satisfy the urge to get away; they can also be one of the smartest vacation values, thanks to all-inclusive resorts and bundle savings on Expedia,” says Melanie Fish, VP of Public Relations, Expedia Group Brands, who adds that “The list was finalized until two destinations generated so much buzz from cruise travelers and soccer fans that we had to give them awards of their own.”

The 2026 Expedia Island Hot List was based on global flight searches made on all Expedia points of sale from September 22, 2025 to March 22, 2026, for travel any date in 2026. See the full list here.

Pixar Animation Studios, despite riding high on the success of summer blockbuster “Toy Story 5,” was hit particularly hard in a wave of companywide layoffs Tuesday at Disney.

A Disney spokesperson confirmed that the media conglomerate is cutting several hundred jobs across certain corporate functions. Those include job cuts at ESPN, many related to the integration of NFL Network; Disney Entertainment Television; and Disney’s studios. The majority of the layoffs on the studios side are within Pixar and majority of impacts in the TV group are at National Geographic.

The Disney employees who are losing their jobs were informed Tuesday morning.

Disney in April cut about 1,000 employees in marketing functions across Disney’s studios, TV networks, ESPN, product and technology, and corporate groups. At the time, newly appointed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro said in a memo to employees, “Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney. Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”

The job cuts at Pixar are concentrated in production and operations. A source familiar with the layoffs said the changes reflect Pixar’s evolving needs as it relates to production volume and the projects that are in process at the studio. More broadly, Walt Disney Studios has evolved its production strategy over the past three years — reducing overall volume and prioritizing quality with a focus on theatrical releases that fuel the company’s broader entertainment ecosystem (including streaming), with less produced directly for streaming.

Pixar has released two movies in 2026: this spring’s original adventure “Hoppers,” which had a strong opening but failed to match the box office heights of prior Pixar greats, and this summer’s “Toy Story 5,” which is imminently crossing the billion-dollar mark and will end up as the highest-grossing of the franchise.

Though animated sequels, including 2024’s “Inside Out 2,” have electrified the box office, Pixar has struggled since the pandemic to launch new properties. During COVID, several movies including “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red” were sent directly to Disney+ and executives felt that inadvertently trained audiences to watch Pixar’s films at home.

Rebecca Rubin contributed to this article.

Amazon Prime Video has officially picked up a series version of “Robocop,” Variety has learned.

Prime Video has given the show an eight-episode order. The project has been in development since Amazon acquired MGM in 2022, with Amazon looking to capitalize on their access to MGM’s deep IP library for both film and television projects.

Per the official logline, “A giant tech conglomerate convinces the city to place a powerful robot on its police force – a robot implanted with the consciousness of a beloved, fallen officer.”

As previously reported, Peter Ocko serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett executive produce via Blumhouse Atomic Monster. Ed Neumeier, co-creator and co-writer of the original “Robocop” film, will also serve as an executive producer. Danielle Bozzone of Blumhouse Atomic Monster will co-executive produce and oversee the project for the company. Amazon MGM Studios will produce.

“I’ve been a massive fan of ‘Robocop’ forever, so getting to help bring this world to television is a dream,” said Wan. “What Paul Verhoeven created in 1987 was decades ahead of its time, and its questions about technology, identity, and who corporations really serve have only grown more urgent. With Peter’s distinctive vision and bold approach to storytelling, and alongside Ed and our partners at Amazon MGM Studios, we’re working to honor what made the original iconic and highlight its relevancy in this modern, tech-driven world, while building something unmistakably new for a global audience.”

The “Robocop” franchise kicked off in 1987 with the first film starring Peter Weller as the titular half man, half machine law enforcement officer. Weller returned for the sequel in 1990, with Robert Burke taking over the role for “Robocop 3” in 1993. Nancy Allen starred in all three films as Officer Anne Lewis. A reboot starring Joel Kinnaman was released in 2014. There have also been multiple “Robocop” TV shows to date, including two animated and two live-action shows, as well as video games and comic books.

“’Robocop’ is a franchise that has meant something to audiences for nearly four decades — not just as an action spectacle, but as a sharp, provocative mirror of our relationship with technology and power,” said Peter Friedlander, head of global television for Amazon MGM Studios. “Peter Ocko has crafted a vision that honors the soul of what made the original so enduring while building something entirely fresh and urgent for today. Paired with the cinematic sensibility of James Wan and the team at Blumhouse Atomic Monster, we believe this series will captivate a whole new generation of fans on Prime Video.”

Alejo Igoa, a top Latin digital creator who has 120 million YouTube subscribers, has signed with WME for worldwide representation in all areas.

WME will work with Igoa — who is from Argentina — to expand his touring, media and digital content businesses, while building out his brand partnerships, books, ventures and licensing verticals. He did not previously have representation.

On his YouTube channel, Igoa focuses on highly energetic, family-friendly content centered around “24-hour” survival challenges, pranks — and extravagant experiments. Igoa’s most YouTube popular video to date is “Underwater 100 Mystery Buttons.. Only 1 Will Let you ESCAPE the Box!!” with more than 136 million views. In his videos, he’s backed by an ensemble cast of recurring friends, family members and other creators. Igoa also counts 15 million Instagram followers and 6.9 million on TikTok.

In April 2026, Igoa made his live show debut with “El Show de Alejo Igoa,” in which he performed before than 70,000 people across seven sold-out shows at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Igoa became the first Latin creator to receive the YouTube Red Diamond Creator Award for surpassing 100 million subscribers. In addition, Igoa this year was awarded a pair of Guinness World Records: one for “most subscribers for a Spanish-language channel on YouTube” and another for “most subscribers for a Spanish-language entertainment channel on YouTube.”

WME touts itself as the leading global talent agency for Latin talent, whith a roster of clients that includes Ana de Armas, Anitta, Becky G, Bizarrap, Camila Cabello, Carín León, Carlos Alcaraz, Eva Longoria, Guillermo del Toro, Ivan Cornejo, J Balvin, Juanes, Julieta Venegas, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Maluma, Natanael Cano, Oscar Isaac, Pitbull, Selena Gomez, Shakira and Tainy.

“Ancestral Beasts,” in which a young Métis woman, Elyse, is stalked by a grotesque creature after returning to her ancestral home to focus on her mental health, prowled Cannes’ Marché du Film in 2025 as a Proof of Concept project at Fantasia’s Frontières Platform and became the first acquisition for Cercamon’s new genre sales label Vorteks.

This week, the project emerges as a fully formed psychological horror film ready to connect with audiences, kindle buyer conversations, and make you look under the bed just one more time.

Ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 22, Métis writer-director Tim Riedel has shared the trailer exclusively with Variety and offered new insights into his work.

Riedel is hosting the Fantasia premiere screening with stars Morgan Holmstrom (“Outlander”), who plays Elyse, and Asivak Koostachin (“Duster”), who plays Cody, along with key producers and crew.

“Ancestral Beasts,” which was lensed in Manitoba in late 2025 and boasts a nearly all-Indigenous cast and crew, has a second screening (a rarity for Fantasia) on July 28. Mongrel Media has boarded the film for Canadian distribution; a release date has yet to be set.

“The theme of the film is the idea of curses,” Riedel tells Variety before the festival, just a few days after a closed screening of the film to a group of elders and survivors of the Sixties Scoop. Many of those elders wanted to express their personal connection to the film’s story, something Riedel regards as a part of his reconnection to his community.

“What we inherit is not our fault, but we often allow those things to become our responsibility,” he says, referring to mental health struggles of family members.

Riedel spent more than a decade documenting underrepresented global issues and communities for NGOs before shifting his focus to his own backyard, so to speak. The process of reconnecting with and learning about his Métis community sparked his feature debut.

“An elder challenged me: ‘You seem to be traveling all over the world telling other people’s stories. Why don’t you ever tell our stories?’

“You’re not supposed to disagree with an elder; you’re supposed to take time to listen and contemplate,” Riedel continues. “So, I did.”

Indigenous filmmakers and screen storytellers often feel pressure to burn sage and show feathers, Riedel says. “Though that’s part of our tradition, it’s not necessarily everyday life. I didn’t want any of that in my film.

“My attitude was: This is the story, this is the journey that the character is on, this is the obstacle in her way, this is who or what is putting obstacles in her way, and this is how she’s trying to overcome those obstacles, and this is what she needs to sacrifice.”

The creature in “Ancestral Beasts” does not relate to specific Métis stories or Indigenous mythologies. “I don’t like putting our folklore out there,” Riedel says. “As far as I know, there are no creatures from our mythologies that look like a giant centipede, with gnarled old hands for a head.

“I wanted something unique, and this was the image I had in mind.

“The centipede is representative of the homeland but also gives that creepy feeling. The hand represents intergenerational trauma handed down from generation to generation.”

Riedel says major U.S. distributors have expressed interest in “Ancestral Beasts.” Riedel and Vorteks’ David Kwok are eager to accelerate those conversations at Fantasia, as well as chat up Riedel’s next genre feature project, “Nine Dying,” which deals with the way humans inflict inhumane acts on other humans by hiding behind systems, corporations and government procedures.

“The focus of my next film is a community that comes together to solve the greater issue. It’s sort of ‘Saw’ meets ‘Squid Game,’” Riedel says. “But those films and shows make you feel dirty and hopeless, whereas I’ve designed this one to make you feel closer to your neighbors by the time you leave.”

“Ancestral Beasts” screens at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 22, its premiere, and July 28.

Zoom has since the days of the coronavirus pandemic been known for its expertise in video. Now the company wants to demonstrate its talent for putting on a show.

Starting this week, Zoom is launching a partnership with podcaster and independent journalist Nayeema Raza, creator of the program “Smart Girl Dumb Questions,” where she seeks out seeks out leaders in business, science, and culture to respond to seemingly disarming queries. Raza on Tuesday debuts a new interview series designed for social media in which she puts a spotlight on “solopreneurs,” or people who launch their own independent operations. She will also conduct a six-part series on her own program, set to debut in August, in which she explores how technology is reshaping work and leadership. In October, Raza will participate in Zoomtopia, Zoom’s annual user conference, and bring her content to the main stage of the event.

The alliance may just be a harbinger of some of the new ways so-called “creators” work with major marketers in an era when independent editors and reporters are increasing their allure in the marketplace of ideas. According to data from Pew Research, younger adults are “especially likely” to get news from influencers. Approximately 38% of those between the ages 18 to 29 regularly do so, a figure more than four times greater than 8% of those 65 or older who do the same.

With creators holding more sway among the consumer crowd most likely to be open to experimenting with the products and services they buy, “it is important for us to be a brand that people like Nayeema and other creators want to work with,” says Kimberly Storin, the chief marketing and communications officer of Zoom, during a recent interview. “We want to be a preferred partner.”

Raza broke into journalism with a background in documentary filmmaking, producing work that was featured at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. She launched “Smart Girl Dumb Questions” in February of last year, after logging stints as a senior staff editor with The New York Times’ opinion section, and as the on-air executive producer of “On With Kara Swisher.”

Such an alliance requires new ways of thinking, says Storin, to which some advertisers may not be accustomed. Raza’s efforts with Zoom won’t be authentic if she isn’t left alone to pursue programming as she sees fit.

“I need my audience to trust me,” says Raza, during an interview. “I need to do what I do with a lot of editorial integrity.”

Conversations about the future of work are a regular part of Raza’s program and having them with the backing of Zoom doesn’t represent anything jarring, she says. On “Smart Girl Dumb Questions,” Raza regularly examines “ how we live, how we work, how we lead, how we have family or partnership in a world that is really changing technologically and culturally.”

The only change people should notice in the way Raza handles her work with Zoom is none. “The editorial is shaped by me. I’m asking questions I would organically ask. I’m speaking to people that I would speak with and what the partnership with Zoom allows me to do is to expand the possibilities of my content,” she says.

If Zoom wants to be a place creators trust, says Storin, then it needs to be willing to cede ground to the creators with whom it works. Zoom has had to “get comfortable with having creators be our advocates and to share their stories. We like to write five-page-long briefs with guardrails and North Stars, and we have to really teach ourselves. We gave our influencers one-sentence briefs. And that was a big shift,” she says. “And we had to really let go of the control that a brand typically likes to have.”

Zoom isn’t backing away from traditional commercials, says Storin, but sees a need to shift to new tactics as digitally-savvy consumers discover services, products and brands in different ways. The “buying journey” is shifting, and becoming “driven by a discovery process that starts in ChatGPT or Claude,” she says, referring to popular new A.I. interfaces. “We have to focus on being found, being present, being believed and being preferred, which is a new level of marketing.”

Should the new partnership work well, other combinations of creators and marketers could become quite common.

FAST channel provider wedotv has struck its first distribution deal in India, bringing four channels to Samsung TV Plus and reaching millions of Samsung Smart TV users across the country.

The agreement adds wedotv Big Stories, wedotv Cars, wedotv Movies and wedotv Sports to the platform. wedotv Big Stories is produced in partnership with Big Media, while wedotv Cars is created with Motorvision. The lineup spans factual entertainment, automotive programming, film and sports content.

The deal extends wedotv’s push into Asia and follows the company’s broader international expansion since 2023. It also marks wedotv’s 13th territory for Samsung TV Plus channel launches, following recent rollouts in the Middle East and North Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

“The launch of our FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus in India marks an important step in wedotv’s international expansion and our continued investment in high-growth markets,” said Iza Piotrowska, senior VP of global business development, wedotv. “India represents a dynamic and rapidly evolving streaming market, and this partnership allows us to bring curated, globally relevant content to a highly engaged audience.”

Samsung TV Plus counts more than 100 million monthly active users worldwide and comes pre-installed on Samsung Smart TVs and select devices without requiring a subscription. The service carries more than 4,300 ad-supported linear channels across 30 countries.

“India is an important growth market for Samsung TV Plus, and we’re committed to building a compelling TV viewing experience by partnering with leading content providers,” said Kunal Mehta, general manager, head of business development, Samsung TV Plus India. “Adding wedotv’s portfolio broadens the range of premium international channels available on the service and reinforces our strategy of delivering high-quality, free streaming content to Samsung TV users across the country.”

Wedotv is the advertising-supported streaming arm of Video Solutions AG, a Swiss media company, and operates channels available via its own website and apps as well as on partner platforms including LG Channels, VIDAA/Hisense, Zattoo and Freeview, among others. The company’s channels currently reach viewers across the U.K., Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.

Indian auteur Anurag Kashyap, whose latest directorial feature “Bandar” marks his return behind the camera, is at this year’s Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) as jury president while also leading a masterclass titled “Unfiltered Realism.” But rather than having all the answers, the veteran filmmaker is hoping to discover something new.

“As jury president, what I’m really looking for is a new cinematic language,” Kashyap tells Variety. “I’m interested in seeing how younger filmmakers tell stories in ways my generation couldn’t.”

Kashyap believes today’s filmmakers are entering an entirely different creative landscape. AI tools, social media and an overwhelming abundance of information have transformed not only how films are made but also how audiences receive them.

Looking back on more than two decades of filmmaking, Kashyap pushed back on a common assumption. “Staying real isn’t a choice,” he added. “Whether I’m directing, producing or acting, you have to stay real. Only then can you fully play out reality and truly engage your audience.”

He acknowledges that earlier in his career, limited budgets and available technology naturally pushed his films toward grounded storytelling. But he argues that authenticity has never been about visual style.

Rather than seeing authenticity as a branding strategy, Kashyap believes local stories resonate globally precisely because they remain deeply rooted in their own cultures.

Across Asia, Kashyap sees filmmakers share many of the same challenges despite working in different industries. “South Korea, Japan, China and India all have mature film industries,” he says. “But we’re all facing the same problem – audiences have shorter attention spans, and streaming platforms have created endless choices.”

Those concerns echo comments Kashyap made earlier this year about the pressures facing contemporary cinema, particularly independent filmmaking in an increasingly fragmented viewing environment.

Rather than offering a blueprint for filmmaking, Kashyap hopes the masterclass will become a conversation – one where he’s as eager to learn as he is to share his own experiences.

“I have many questions myself as well,” he says. “I’m hoping to find some answers, have meaningful conversations during the festival and maybe discover another clue about the future of cinema.”