Tag: Entertainment – Variety

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Some of the best summer athletes in the world are heading to Scotland for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

A quadrennial event dating back to 1930, the Commonwealth Games unites thousands of athletes from more than 70 nations across the British Commonwealth — I.e. countries that are currently or were formerly part of the British Empire. So while countries like Canada, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and Jamaica will all be participating, there will not be a U.S. contingent at the Games.

How to Watch the 2026 Commonwealth Games

This year’s Commonwealth Games run from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow, Scotland, with events airing live and as nightly highlights on channels like 7Plus in Australia and Channel 5 in the UK.

North American viewers can watch the Games for free on CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster, via a virtual private network like ExpressVPN or NordVPN (NordVPN excludes a 30-day money back guarantee). Your VPN lets you set your location to Canada to stream the CBC’s coverage of the 2026 Commonwealth Games online from anywhere in the world.

Or set your location to Australia or the United Kingdom to stream the 7Plus and Channel 5 Commonwealth Games feed online.

How to Watch the 2026 Commonwealth Games From the U.S.

You can also watch the Commonwealth Games in the U.S. through beIN SPORTS, the Qatar-based sports media group that is now available in America on streaming services like Fubo and Sling.

Fubo offers beIN SPORTS on its own for just $5.99/month, or as part of the Fubo Core package, which gets you 200 live TV channels to stream online for $63.99/month (regularly $88.99 monthly).

Don’t have Fubo? Test drive the service with a five-day free trial here and use it to stream the Commonwealth Games in the U.S. for free. Fubo’s plans include free DVR so you can record the events to watch back on-demand whenever you want.

The cheapest way to get beIN SPORTS on Sling, meantime, is to sign up for the streamer’s Sling Orange base plan (from $45.99/month) and then add the Sports Extra package for an additional $11 a month. You’ll get more than 40 live TV channels in total that you can stream online.

Sling Orange includes 50 hours of free cloud DVR in addition to an on-demand library of free TV shows and movies that you can stream online.

Commonwealth Games 2026 Sports

Unlike previous Commonwealth Games, which have featured more than 30 different summer sports, this year’s event will include just 10 sports, the lowest number of events offered at the Games since 1994. Organizers say rising costs, lack of venues and viewership decline have led to the removal of sports like field hockey, diving, rugby sevens and cricket.

Still, there’s plenty of big names to watch for in the remaining sports, which include athletics, swimming, artistic gymnastics, boxing and cycling. Paris 2024 Olympic swimming champions Kaylee McKeown from Australia and Adam Peaty from England, are expected to compete, as is Canada’s gold-medal winning 4×100 meter men’s relay team in track and field.

The track event will also see Scottish middle-distance runner Josh Kerr, who just broke the 27-year world record in the mile, and Jamaican superstar Shericka Jackson, a two-time World Champion who holds the second-fastest time ever recorded in the women’s 200m events.

Reigning Olympic pommel horse champion Rhys McClenaghan from Northern Ireland will compete in the men’s gymnastics event, where he’ll face off against Cyprus’ Marios Georgiou, who is a former European All-Around champion and a three-time Olympian.

This year’s Commonwealth Games kicks off with an Opening Ceremony featuring British singer-songwriter Tom Walker (of “Leave the Light On” fame), along with Scottish singer-songwriter, KT Tunstall and other local artists. The last edition of the Commonwealth Games was held in 2022 in Birmingham, where rockers Duran Duran performed at the Opening Ceremony.

There’s no question that seeing Christopher Nolan’s epic “The Odyssey” in 70mm and Imax – or both – is an expansive and breathtaking experience. But for cinephiles who have already checked off those formats on their list, what’s it like to watch the Matt Damon-starring, three-hour blockbuster in 4DX?

The seat-rumbling, water-spritzing technology, available in nearly 800 movie theaters around the world, promises a “fully immersive cinematic experience that makes you feel like you’re in the movie.” But does it really? Three intrepid Variety writers – two who had seen the movie before and one first-timer – set out on an odyssey to find out. The three sailed into Regal’s L.A. Live cinemas and were fortunately better-provisioned than Damon and his exhausted crew. Tanya stockpiled mozzarella sticks and Gatorade, while Pat smuggled in a peanut butter protein bar and a bottle of water for the three-hour tour.

The water was not as bad as I had feared – I had prepared by bringing a hoodie in case of a full Sea World-esque splash zone, but the light spritzing was fairly refreshing. Nonetheless, midway through the film I took advantage of the “turn water off” button to enjoy Nolan’s ambitious filmmaking with fewer distractions. The shaking was particularly effective as the boat was being thrashed around by the whirlpool of Charybdis, one of several moments when it really matched the action onscreen. But did we really need to heave up and down every time a soldier marched into a castle? Just because you CAN shake the seats doesn’t mean you SHOULD every time there’s movement in the frame.

Overall, I enjoyed my first 4DX experience though perhaps a different and simpler film would have been a better choice. I might have liked a few more effects – the smell of pigs, or ripening cheese, perhaps. “We were all praying for forgiveness,” Damon intones in his climactic speech. In the case of 4DX filmgoers, it could be said that after three hours we were all praying mostly for our seats to hold still.

Matt

I will kick off my thoughts with a caveat — I couldn’t make it through the entire 4DX experience. I can handle pretty much any roller coaster, but three hours of movement… I’m no Odysseus!

I began getting nauseous about halfway through, and my stomach couldn’t handle the thought of experiencing the crazy water scenes that I knew were coming closer to the end of the film. But from what I was able to witness for myself, the 4DX experience was a fun, unpredictable mixture of movement happening in your seat and things happening elsewhere in the room, mainly some mist that helped set the scene when Odysseus and his men are out at sea. The audience also gets a necessary break from the constant movement during the more dialogue-heavy scenes, to be fair!

I don’t know if I would do 4DX again, especially considering the price tag compared to my beloved AMC A-List getting me into Imax and Dolby screenings at no extra cost, which both enhance the film with better sound. For “The Odyssey,” though, it was worth taking the journey, although I wouldn’t have shelled out the $36 for any other film this summer. If you’re looking to check off as many premium formats for Christopher Nolan’s epic as possible, I’d recommend watching the film once before you try out 4DX so you don’t spend your first viewing trying to parse through the very dense plot while trying not to get knocked out of your seat.

Tanya

As a frequent 4DX filmgoer (and someone who had already seen Nolan’s epic), I was fully prepared for an Odyssey-esque journey of my own. I stocked up on snacks to fuel my nearly three-hour voyage, but, much like Odysseus’ experience, eating proved to be a challenge. I attempted to dip my mozzarella stick in its accompanying sauce during what I had perceived to be a scene that did not require any motion, but our chairs suddenly jolted forward, sending my over-priced mozzarella stick to the floor. Sure, there were plenty of calmer moments to come throughout the film, but my fear of the upcoming action was enough for me to opt to stay hungry.

When I first saw “The Odyssey” in Imax 70mm, I thought to myself “This couldn’t get any better.” Seeing it in 4DX immediately proved me wrong. You’re not just immersed in the film — you’re living in it. You are battling with Odysseus’ men, dodging strikes from the Laestrygonians, breathing in actual smoke during the Battle of Troy, getting hit in the back in the same spots soldiers were pierced with arrows. You’re experiencing everything they went through — both the men of Greek legend and the actors themselves, which gives a newfound appreciation of the work that went into the film.

Above all, the best part of this experience is the energy it created in the theater. We had lived through the film together. There were subtle frightened gasps (and even shrieks of terror) during action-packed moments, and we collectively let out sighs of relief when those moments were over. I locked eyes with strangers, sharing laughs while we attempted to not fall out of our seats. We were actively in the film, and when Odysseus finally revealed he had returned to Ithaca, the entire theater erupted into applause. It felt like we had made it home too. Moments like these are hard to replicate.

Yeon Sang-ho is returning to the “Parasyte” universe with “Parasyte: Tamiya,” a new live-action series starring Shioli Kutsuna for Netflix, set to stream in 2027.

The series marks another collaboration between Netflix and Yeon (“Hellbound,” “Parasyte: The Grey”), who developed “Parasyte: Tamiya” and co-wrote the script with Ryu Yong-jae. Wowpoint, the production company behind Yeon’s “Human Vapor” and “Parasyte: The Grey,” is producing. Kakimoto Kensaku (“Glass Heart”) and Nakagawa Kazuhiro (“Double,” “Bullet Train Explosion”) are directing.

“Parasyte: The Grey” spent four weeks on Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English TV list and reached No. 1 in 34 countries following its 2024 release.

In the original manga, Ryoko Tamiya is a parasite who takes over the body of a high school teacher, initially violent and indiscriminate before gradually learning from her human surroundings. Witnessing a parasite and human sharing a single body leads her to wonder whether coexistence might offer her species a better chance of survival than conflict. “Parasyte: Tamiya” tells the story from her perspective, tracking the original human, the parasite who inhabits her and the creature caught between both worlds.

Kutsuna (“Sanctuary,” “Deadpool 2,” “Gundam”) plays Ryoko Tamiya across three registers: the original human, the parasite after it takes over and the parasite as it struggles to interact with humanity.

Yeon said, “Her struggles over the nature of her own existence are what elevate the original ‘Parasyte’ from a simple hero-based manga aimed at kids to something deeper. I think the anguish she experiences is the essence of ‘Parasyte.’”

Yeon was also asked about his choice of lead. “I’m sure that was a big challenge for Kutsuna as an actor,” he said. “I think she did a wonderful job of portraying the process of a non-human creature coming to understand both humanity and its own existence.”

On the choice of directors, Yeon said, “I chose these two directors precisely because they have such different styles, and I had high hopes for a collaboration between them.”

Kutsuna said, “Ryoko Tamiya is the most challenging role I have ever played in my acting career. This series was brought to life through the dedication of the entire cast and crew, who supported one another through every challenge along the way.”

Netflix Japan’s Sato Yoshihiro, manager of live action creative, added, “‘What makes a human?’ ‘Can we coexist with beings that are different from us?’ These questions posed by ‘Parasyte’ more than 30 years ago feel much more pressing for our modern society that has placed non-sentient AI at all of our fingertips.”

The “Parasyte” manga, created by Hitoshi Iwaaki and published by Kodansha, has previously been adapted into a film series, an anime and the Korean drama “Parasyte: The Grey.”

On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, country music superstar Reba McEntire discusses celebrating her golden anniversary in music this year with a series of EP releases that pair a newly recorded song with several vintage tunes. McEntire also weighs in on how she’s navigated a turbulent TV marketplace to get her NBC comedy “Happy’s Place” to a third season.

McEntire credits her manager, Justin McIntosh, with the concept behind the EP releases, which began in April and will continue through December via her longtime label, MCA. Next up is “Ring, Ring,” which bows on July 24. As part of the release plan, McEntire has assembled special playlists for fans that dive deeper into her vast catalog.

“It’s genius to be able to bring a new song to the fans along with five songs that are in the catalog,” McEntire says. “I think it’s a genius idea because even when you are at a concert, you say, ‘OK, I’m gonna play you a new song. Everybody goes, oh yeah, but they want to hear familiarity. They want to hear songs where they can sing along and they know the words and it takes them back to a place the first time they heard it, or with their best friend or someone they love. So to prepare a brand new song with older songs that they already are familiar with and they love is genius. And I’m so glad to be a part of this project.”

McEntire has pulled off a rare feat these days with a multi-camera comedy that has found traction with a broadcast TV audience. Her NBC sitcom “Happy’s Place” returns for Season 3 on Oct. 23. The show reunited McEntire with the team that produced her previous WB Network series, “Reba,” from 2001-2007. This time around, she co-stars with her husband, actor Rex Linn.

“There is something about a four-camera TV show. It’s nostalgic. It takes you back. It takes me back to my childhood when I was watching four camera television shows and absolutely loving it. It’s funny. It’s family entertainment. It’s great writing, great actors. Rex and I love to be on the show together for one thing. And then getting to work again with [co-star[ Melissa Peterman and then my showrunners Kevin Abbott and our producers Mindy [Schultheis] and Michael [Hanel] — everybody on that whole team. They are family. And we treat them like family. And, everybody knows that when you walk on ‘Happy’s Place’ set, we’re going to have a good time and you’re going to be treated well.”

Another project close to McEntire’s heart in recent years has been her investment in a retail and entertainment center in Atoka, Oklahoma, near her hometown of Chockie. It’s housed in a refurbished, 15,000 square foot building from 1907, and the complex includes a diner dubbed Reba’s Place. It’s infused with memories for McEntire and her siblings and a tribute to their mother, Jacqueline McEntire, who died in 2020 at age 93.

“Reba’s Place is a restaurant that serves great family food. And then we also have a stage where we have live music. My brother and sister, Pake and Susie, have performed on the stage as I have also,” she says. “On the second floor is more dining and with a cutout of the floor where you can look down and see the stage. The third floor is the little store where you can buy all kind of goodies, t shirts to wooden spoons. And then we’ve got a little speakeasy in the back and then we’ve got a library. When Mama passed away March of 2020, she had so many books in her house, we didn’t know what to do with them. We all took a bunch, but then we decided to put them in the restaurant there in Atoka. And so that’s Jackie’s Library.”

Listen to Daily Variety on iHeartPodcasts, Apple Podcasts, Variety’s YouTube Podcast channel, Amazon Music, Spotify and other podcast platforms.

TLC in the U.K. has ordered a Top Trumps-themed panel show set to be hosted by comedian Katherine Ryan.

Based on the card game and tentatively titled “Top Trumps: The Comedy Pack,” it will see Ryan in charge of proceedings as team captains Joel Dommett and Jon Richardson battle it out with classic card face-offs, live studio challenges and bluffing games. It is produced by TalkbackThames with Naked and set to launch early next year.

“Everyone knows Top Trumps, but no one has ever played it quite like this,” said Ryan. “We’re taking this iconic game and supersizing it into something bigger, louder and much funnier. And with Jon and Joel captaining rival teams, chaos is pretty much guaranteed.”

The news comes as part of a bumper comedy slate for the newly free-to-air channel, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. & Ireland.

It includes a three-season order of “Mock the Week,” which will take the series up to Season 5 in 2027. The long-running panel show, which went on hiatus in 2022 after two decades at the BBC, was revived for the network earlier this year and has already broadcast Season 1 plus a summer special (Season 2 is set to air on Sept 13). It is hosted by Dara Ó Briain and produced by Angst productions.

The network has made a concerted effort to invest in comedy since re-launching at the beginning of this year. As well as “Mock the Week,” TLC debuted another new format, “Unacceptable,” hosted by Ed Gamble which launched last month and has already been renewed for a second season.

“Six months on from TLC’s successful launch as a free-to-air, broad entertainment channel, it’s hugely exciting to bring another brand-new original format to the schedule in ‘Top Trumps: The Comedy Pack’ (w/t),” said Graham Lafferty, WBD’s SVP for content strategy and networks in the U.K. and Ireland.

“We are thrilled to have the brilliantly funny Katherine Ryan at the helm, no stranger to TLC after appearances on ‘Mock the Week’ and ‘Unacceptable,’ along with an exceptional comedy pairing in Joel Dommett and Jon Richardson. Our take on Top Trumps is perfectly placed for TLC’s growing U.K. comedy line-up, alongside ‘Mock the Week’ – which we are delighted to secure for a further three series with Dara Ó Briain satirically steering us through the 2027 news agenda – and a second series of ‘Unacceptable’ hosted by the hilarious Ed Gamble.”

WBD is also investing in its motoring content with “The Race Mechanic,” “Richard Hammond’s Workshop” and “Wheeler Dealers World Tour,” among other titles set to land on TLC’s sister network Quest.

Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvát’s first English-language feature, “My Notes on Mars,” starring Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend, will open the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori.

The section has unveiled a richly assorted lineup featuring works by female directors and exploring the female universe, regardless of who is behind the camera.

This years’s selection of the Giornate – which is also known as Venice Days – comprises 25 world premieres across several sections, 14 of which are directed by women.

The hotly anticipated “My Notes on Mars” by Horvát — whose last film “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” debuted at Venice and Toronto in 2020 — centers on an astrophysicist with a troubled marriage named Margot who vanishes while hiking with her husband, Sam. Weeks later, she suddenly reappears on the day of her own memorial service. Margot remembers nothing about her life — except her Mars research.

“Notes on Mars” is among 10 Venice Days competition entries that will be judged by an all-female jury headed by Spanish director Carla Simón (“Alcarràs,” “Romeria”). The other jurors are Hania Mroue, founder and director of Beirut’s beloved Metropolis Cinema, and Italian director and producer Sara Fgaier.

Polish-born director Kuba Dorabialski’s “Agata the Writerm” starring Mia Wasikowska as a Polish-Australian satirical novelist who travels from Sydney to Sarajevo to write a novel about the Bosnian war only to be challenged by locals, is also ensconced in a competition berth.

Other standout Venice Days competition titles include Italian director Nicola Sorcinelli’s “Balcanica,” about Afghan musicians traveling along the Balcan route after music has been banned in their country, starring Matilda De Angelis (“Citadel: Diana”) who is also a co-producer on the film; Nigerian director Damilola Orimogunje’s “Dear Ajayi,” about two estranged Nigerian sisters who reunite at the wake of a tragedy; and French filmmaker Robert Guèdiguian’s “A Woman Today,” about a young woman named Juliette who holds a top job in finance and whose world collapses when she is assaulted by a colleague at a company event.

Special events include Italian director Francesca Archibugi’s doc “Carla Lonzi, dentro e fuori dal mondo,” about radical feminist activist and art critic Carla Lonzi; Dutch-Egyptian director Ashgan El-Hamus’ debut “Al Baraneya,” about a young, pregnant, woman in an Egyptian village who is mulling the prospect of a promising future in the city if their family land is sold; and the closing film, which is French director Lèa Domenach’s queer and feminist musical comedy “A Man’s Skin,” which is set in the Italian Renaissance and re-teams the director with Catherine Deneuve after their collaboration on Bernadette Chirac comedy “The President’s Wife.”

Shorts by Mona Fastvold and Claire Denis will unspool as part of the Prada-commissioned Miu Miu Women’s Tales, a series of short films directed by women.

In a statement, the section’s artistic director Gaia Furrer pointed out the variety of narrative forms on display. She described them as: “sentimental science fiction, experimental documentaries, history films, family melodramas, anti-hero westerns, musical comedies and other works that freely cross the borders between documentary film and fiction, autobiography and invention.”

“It’s a patchwork of genres that reflects the vibrancy of contemporary cinema and its ability to evolve along with the world itself,” Furrer said.

This edition of Venice Days is dedicated to the memory of Italian film critic Giorgio Gosetti, who in 2004 founded the Venice Days section – which is modeled on Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and supported by Italian film directors’ associations ANAC and 100autori. Gosetti died in March in Rome at 70 years old.

“For 23 years, without interruption, he was its [Venice Days’] guiding spirit, the lifeblood of the organization, motivating and uniting the professionals that turned it into a festival that is known and respected the world over,” a statement noted.

The 23nd edition of Venice Days will run Sept. 2-12, in tandem with the official Venice Film Festival selection. See the full lineup below.

IN COMPETITION

“Sadness Sometimes, Other Times Revolt,” Maria Aparicio

“Agata the Writer,” Kuba Dorabialski

“Balcanica,” Nicola Sorcinelli

“Camouflage,” Mykyta Gibalenko 

“Dear Ajayi,” Damilola Orimogunje

“I Plant My Hand in the Garden,” Boris Hadžija and Hoda Taheri 

“Les Indes,” Pauline Julier, Nicolas Chapoulier 

“My Notes on Mars,” Lili Horvàt – Opening Film

“Salón De Bellezza” Nathalia Acevedo

“A Woman Today,” Robert Guédiguian

OUT OF COMPETITION

“Man’s Skin,” Léa Domenach 

SPECIAL EVENTS

“Al Baraneya,” Ashgan El-Hamus  

“Carla Lonzi, A Feminist Story,” Francesca Archibugi 

“The Phantom,” Ignacio Masilorens, David Lamelas

“The Massacre,” Cosimo Messeri

“Even if Hell Came,” Samuele Rossi 

WOMEN’S TALES PROJECT (shorts), in collaboration with Prada’s Miu Miu Label

“Discipline,” Mona Fastvold 

“Avec Kim,” Claire Denis