Will stranger things

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Hello Sunshine is shuttering its kids and animation business as part of a strategic decision to focus Candle Media ’s kids and animation efforts under Moonbug , the family production studio the corp snapped up for a near $3 billion in November 2021. Hello Sunshine will collaborate with Moonbug on future kids and animation projects. As a result, a few individuals will be departing Hello Sunshine over the coming weeks. The Blackstone-backed Candle Media, which is also co-run and co-founded by Tom Staggs, acquired Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine in August 2021 for $900M. At last April’s MIP TV , Candle Media co-founder Kevin Mayer spoke about synergies between both Hello Sunshine and Moonbug. The latter is the production company behind popular kids shows like CoComelon. CoComelon was one of the top three streaming programs in 2022 with 37.8 billion minutes viewed on Netflix per Nielsen, behind Stranger Things (52B) on … [Read more...] about Hello Sunshine Shuts Down Kids & Animation Division

Two years ago to this very day, Seth Rudetsky , the Broadway composer, musician, podcaster, host of a show on SiriusXM radio, fundraiser , musical cruise host, conveyer of pop culture trivia and, now, “source music consultant,” received a text from Craig Mazin, the screenwriter, director and producer. Mazin was friends with Ted Griffin, who is married to Sutton Foster, who knows, as does seemingly everybody else in musical theater, Rudetsky. “I get this text,” Sudetsky remembers, “in all capital letters, saying IT’S EMMY AND GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNING CRAIG MAZIN. STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I NEED YOUR HELP.” Specifically, Mazin needed a song for a TV episode he was working on, a show tune along the lines of “I Miss The Music” from the 2006 Kander & Ebb musical Curtains , only older. If you’ve seen the third episode of HBO’s The Last Of U s, the post-apocalyptic drama created by Mazin and Neil Druckmann (based on a 2013 video game), you’ll know where this is … [Read more...] about ‘The Last Of Us’ Has Made A New Hit Of Linda Ronstadt’s 53-Year-Old Song ’Long Long Time’ – All Because Seth Rudetsky Knows Everything

There was a moment last November when Channel 4 ’s senior executives breathed a sigh of relief. Sat at the top table of Channel 4’s 40th birthday party, Chief Executive Alex Mahon was flanked by her friend Elisabeth Murdoch and doyens of UK broadcasting, including BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Carolyn McCall, ITV’s Chief Executive. They were raising a glass to a British success story in a rare public display of unity. On the same table was Thérèse Coffey, a senior government minister who had survived three prime ministers in the space of little more than three months. Her presence at the V&A Museum event bemused others, who believed the government only had hostile intentions for Channel 4 after sanctioning a sale of the broadcaster against its wishes. Things soon got weirder. Coffey turned to Mahon and asked if she could raise a glass to Channel 4. She then proceeded to surprise the room full of TV luminaries by serenading her hosts with a rendition of happy … [Read more...] about Channel 4: Inside The Doomed Sale Of A Crown Jewel Of British Television

Ashim Ahluwalia, known as a director of edgy films such as John & Jane and Miss Lovely that have premiered at Toronto and Cannes film festivals, is not an obvious choice to direct a young adult drama series for Netflix . But when local production house Bodhitree Multimedia approached him with a proposal for a Hindi remake of Spanish show Elite , he jumped at the chance. “I’ve always been interested in making something on teenagers, especially wealthy urban teenagers, because that’s a world that I know,” says Ahluwalia, who grew up in the tony neighborhoods of south Mumbai. “I went to a school that was very different to the school in Elite , or in this series, but had the same elements of class conflict. So while I’d never thought about doing a series before, I thought this would be an interesting project to do.” Created by Carlos Montero and Dario Madrona, Elite follows three scholarship kids from a modest socioeconomic background who get placed in an … [Read more...] about Ashim Ahluwalia On Portraying The Extremes Of India’s Wealth Gap In Netflix Young Adult Drama ‘Class’

UPDATED with content spend stats from annual report: Giant Amazon said its total expenses for video and music came to $16.6 billion last year, up from $13 billion in 2021. Video and music expense includes licensing and production costs associated with content offered within Amazon Prime memberships, and costs associated with digital subscriptions and sold or rented content, according to the company’s latest annual report that followed fourth quarter financials yesterday. On an earnings call Thursday, CFO Brian Olsavsky noted that Amazon spent $7 billion on originals, live sports and licensed content in 2022, up from $5 billion the year before. It’s unclear if those figures include all worldwide video content, which is increasingly central to Amazon’s strategy in driving membership for Prime, the biggest loyalty program in the world and the beating heart of the company. Amazon (which acquired MGM last year for $8.5 billion in cash) carefully evaluates its return on … [Read more...] about Amazon Praises Video As Key Driver Of Prime; 2022 Content Spend, Including Music, Hit $16.6 Billion

Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne , Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, French filmmaker Alice Diop and Romanian director Cristian Mungiu have demanded that Iran ’s Fajr International Film Festival remove their films from the line-up of its current edition, running from February 1 to 11. The filmmakers said in separate statements that they discovered by chance that their respective films Tori And Lokita , Saint Omer , Rebel and R.M.N. had been included in Fajr’s selection without their personal permission. The issue only came to light as the festival kicked off because it had kept its line-up under wraps in a bid to head off boycotts by directors and producers, due to the brutal crackdown of ongoing protests related to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September. Paris-based sales agent Wild Bunch International which handles the titles said their inclusion in the Fajr line-up was also a surprise to them. Two other … [Read more...] about Dardennes, Alice Diop, Cristian Mungiu, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah Demand Iran’s Fajr Film Fest Remove Titles From Line-Up

Leave it to a sitcom vet like Melissa Rauch to remind the industry that everything old can be new again. After persuading Warner Bros. TV to dust off the Night Court IP and revive it for NBC, multi-cams are suddenly hot again, with every broadcast network — and even a few streamers like Netflix (home to new hit That ’90s Show , which just got renewed ) are putting studio audience comedies in development. While no one is straight-up abandoning single-cams — the success of CBS’ Ghosts and ABC’s Abbott Elementary have certainly made sure of that — there’s no beating the cost-effectiveness of one of TV’s most tried and true genres. “Everybody had a hunch they should probably be doing more of them,” says one high-powered comedy agent. “Night Court is a good sign there is an appetite for that. Everything I’m hearing out of CBS, for example, is that they have pretty hard caps they are trying to hit on these multi-camera shows. The Conners is an exception because … [Read more...] about Thanks, ‘Night Court’! How Multi-Cams Are Having A Moment … Again

Courtesy of NFL Saquon Barkley can pull off nasty juke moves against linebackers on the football field, but when it comes to dodgeball and Demario Davis ... ehhh, not so much. The New York Giants star proved he ain't exactly elite at the children's game during the 2023 Epic Pro Bowl Dodgeball tournament ... taking a huge shot right to the face!! Here's what happened ... Barkley and Davis, a New Orleans Saints linebacker, were the only ones left in the NFC offense vs. NFC defense competition on Thursday in Las Vegas -- and had to take each other out in a one-on-one showdown to win it all. Barkley showed off some impressive defensive moves by bobbing and weaving at first ... but that ended quickly after Davis threw a heater right at the guy's face. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. To his credit, Saquon shook it off -- and it actually helped his NFC team win ... because headshots aren't allowed, and Davis was DQ'ed for it. "Got … [Read more...] about Saquon Barkley Drilled In Face During Pro Bowl Dodgeball Game

Netflix has released a first look teaser for Unstable , starring Rob and John Owen Lowe , and announced a March 30 release date for the father-son comedy. Unstable follows an introverted son (John Owen Lowe) who goes to work for his very successful, wildly eccentric father ( Rob Lowe ) in order to save him and his successful biotech company from disaster. It is inspired by Rob and John Owen Lowe’s social media relationship, in which John Owen often humorously trolls his dad. Rob Lowe’s Ellis Dragon is a universally admired, eccentric, narcissist-adjacent biotech entrepreneur working to make the world a better place. He’s also in emotional free-fall. His son Jackson Dragon (John Owen Lowe) is… none of those things. So the question is: Can Jackson save Ellis and his company and salvage their estranged relationship while also doing what may actually be impossible: escaping the shadow of his larger-than-life father? The series is co-created and executive produced … [Read more...] about ‘Unstable’: Rob Lowe & John Owen Lowe Netflix Comedy Gets Premiere Date – Watch The Teaser

Boris Johnson has revealed his weirdly specific new hobby: mastering the form of a cow. The former UK Prime Minister has told TalkTV , the Rupert Murdoch-backed British television channel, that he spends his days drawing cattle after resigning in scandal last year. In his first major TV interview since leaving office, Johnson sat down with his friend and colleague Nadine Dorries , the former UK Culture Secretary. “At the moment I’ve got a project, which is to master the form of the cow,” he told Friday Night with Nadine in an exchange that bordered on bizarre. Johnson continued: “Cows are actually far more difficult to draw than you think. How many toes on the front does a cow have? It’s two, and they’ve got a little thing on the heel. And what do you call that bit of the cow? I think it’s called the withers. What do you call the back of the knee of the cow? The hock. “They repay a lot of study. So, I’m filling a book now with cow. Pictures of parts of cows, … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson Says He Spends His Days Drawing Cows After Scandal Forced Him From Office