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Netflix will fully finance the economic drama “Hillbilly Elegy,” with Ron Howard directing and producing through Imagine Entertainment.

The streamer has committed to spend $45 million on the film after winning an auction conducted by CAA.

Imagine began developing “Hillbilly Elegy” after winning the movie rights in 2017. The company signed Oscar nominee Vanessa Taylor, who co-wrote “The Shape of Water” with Guillermo del Toro, to adapt the script last year from J.D. Vance’s bestselling memoir of the same name. Imagine partner Brian Grazer and the company’s Karen Lunder will also produce. Julie Oh is the exec producer.

Vance’s book recaps growing up in the Rust Belt and the everyday struggles of America’s white working class as they navigate through drug addiction, and social and economic challenges. Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Ky. After enlisting in the Marine Corps and serving in Iraq,

Anyone worried that Robert Redford’s fleeting appearance at the Sundance opening press conference on Thursday morning signaled he was stepping away from the film festival he founded, breathe easy. The Hollywood legend proved the opposite at the opening night screening of Bart Freundlich’s “After the Wedding” at Park City’s Eccles Theater.

Redford gave an impromptu history of the 34-year-old festival, just before Freundlich teed up his latest film starring his wife Julianne Moore, as well as Michelle Williams and Billy Crudup. The familial drama landed laughs for Moore’s crisp portrayal of a female CEO losing control, and tears for Williams’ turn as an isolated woman running from an old mistake.

But first, Redford.

“I didn’t have the space at my place,” Redford said of his Utah ranch, when he conceived the festival in 1985. “It’s further, deeper in the mountains. Not enough space and the closest was Park City.

The Princess of Genovia is back!

In Thursday’s episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Anne Hathaway revealed that there is a script for a new The Princess Diaries film. It would follow the original movie from 2001, and 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement — and it may include Julie Andrews, now 83, who famously played Queen Clarisse Renaldi, Hathaway’s character’s grandmother.

“There is a script for the third movie,” the 36-year-old actress confirmed. “I want to do it. Julie wants to do it. Debra Martin Chase, our producer, wants to do it. We all really want it to happen.

A few weeks into the new year and January 2019 is currently pacing ~13% behind last year and this weekend's new releases aren't likely to have much of an impact. Aviron's Serenity is looking for a mid-to-high single digit debut and Fox's The Kid Who Would be King hoping to inch into double digits. Meanwhile Universal's Glass will take advantage of the lack of competition and finish #1 again while a crop of this year's newly announced Oscar nominees expand back into theaters. The weekend's top spot will once again go to Universal's Glass, which enters its second weekend with an eye for a $16.5 million sophomore session, signaling a drop around -59% following its $40.3 million three-day debut over the holiday weekend last week. Should our forecast hold the film will be looking to finish around $70 million by end of day Sunday. STXFilms's The Upside is expected to continue its strong

Matt Smith is in final talks to join Jared Leto in “Morbius,” a film based on the Spider-Man villain of the same name.

“Safe House” director Daniel Espinosa will helm the movie. Exact details of who Smith would play are unknown at this time, other than it being a major role in the film.

Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, who co-created the Netflix series “Lost in Space,” penned the script. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing “Morbius” with Lucas Foster. Palak Patel will oversee the pic for Sony.

Writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane created Morbius in 1971 for “The Amazing Spider-Man #101.” The character was a scientist who tried to cure himself of a blood disease, with tragic results. He became afflicted with vampiric traits such as fangs and a thirst for blood — and wound up battling Spider-Man.

Morbius appeared sporadically in Marvel Comics in the subsequent years and

Producer Seth Rogan took to social media to share a new teaser trailer for the upcoming superhero series The Boys, Amazon Studios’ small screen adaptation of Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic book series of the same name; watch it here…

Based on one of my favorite comics of all time, I’m proud to have helped bring #TheBoys to life. Here’s a taste of our new show, coming to Amazon this year: pic.twitter.com/oACd1KL2pu

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 24, 2019

In a world where superheroes embrace the darker side of their massive celebrity and fame, The Boys centers on a group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys,” who set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than their blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty. The Boys is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes – who are as popular as celebrities,

Only two of this year’s five Oscar-nominated songs may be performed live on the Academy Awards show Feb. 24, Variety has learned.

Multiple sources tell Variety that the two biggest chart hits — Kendrick Lamar and Sza’s “All the Stars” from “Black Panther” and Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” — are the two chosen by Academy execs and show producers for performance on the telecast.

The other three — “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns,” “I’ll Fight” from “Rbg” and “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” — would likely be acknowledged only during the announcement of the song nominees. Rumors of their exclusion is already causing consternation among members of the music branch as well as among those nominees’ respective camps.

The Academy declined specific comment except to say that no decision on song performances has been made yet.

James Frawley, a veteran Hollywood director of film and TV projects like The Monkees and The Muppet Movie, has died. He was 82.

Frawley died on Jan. 22 at his home in Indian Wells, Calif., the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported on Wednesday. His wife, Cynthia Frawley, told the newspaper that Frawley had fallen and had a heart attack after for years facing a lung condition.

Born on Sept. 29, 1936 in Houston, Frawley was the youngest son of actor William Frawley, and followed his father to performing in front of the camera, initially in New York City and on Broadway....

Netflix has ordered a fourth season of animated comedy “F Is for Family.”

The series was created by Bill Burr and Michael Price and follows the Murphy family, an Irish-American clan living in the 1970’s, a time when political correctness was the last thing on people’s minds. Burr voices family patriarch Frank, while Laura Dern, Justin Long, Debi Derryberry, Haley Reinhart, and Sam Rockwell also provide voices on the series. The third season launched on Netflix in November.

Burr also executive produces along with Vince Vaughn, Peter Billingsley and Price, who also serves as showrunner. Michael Lagnese and Victoria Vaughn

The 2019 Sundance Film Festival brings more questions than usual.

Sellers believe they have brought the goods, but with few new buyers on the horizon, several more wavering, questions of whether Netflix and Amazon will be aggressive as they make their own content, and the influx of streaming services another year or two away, will there be enough of an appetite to fuel the all-nighter auctions that have made this festival exciting and exhausting?

Will Bruce Springsteen come to Park City for the premiere of Blinded By The Light, the coming of age of a Muslim teen directed by Bend it Like Beckham’s Gurinder Chada, with 16 Springsteen songs providing the narrative backbeat? And for that matter, what about Wu-Tang Clan for the debut of the four episodes of the limited series Of Mics and Men, about that storied band’s history, or the David Crosby docu Remember My Name that premieres in competition this weekend?

Alessia Cara is known for her hit singles: She emerged with the triple-platinum breakout “Here” and followed that with another triple-platinum track, “Wild Things.” More recently, she contributed to the quintuple-platinum Logic and Khalid collaboration “1-800-273-8255.” All that commercial success appears relatively effortless.

But it wasn’t always that way: The first time Cara performed in public was a minor catastrophe. “I went to guitar school for about ten seconds,” she recalled recently during an interview for Rolling Stone‘s video series “The First Time.” “I went onstage

In a strategic decision, Paramount Pictures has moved the release date of “The Rhythm Section,” the studio’s action-franchise hopeful starring Blake Lively, from February to Nov. 22.

Insiders familiar with the studio’s thinking said the new date is attractive for several reasons, including the holiday box office boon. The gritty spy tale, adapted from Mark Burnell’s novels surrounding character Stephanie Patrick, is thought by Paramount insiders to be ideal counter-programming to Disney’s “Frozen 2,” which is opening at the same time.

James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are mounting the project through their Eon banner. Given their track record in the genre, the film could be a game-changer for Lively, hot off the success of her noir comedy “A Simple Favor.” Reed Morano is directing the pic.

Lively’s Drake is a heroine who adopts the identity of an assassin to get to the

Alan Alda is set to receive the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award during the 25th Annual SAG Awards on Jan. 27 from Tom Hanks: a canny tribute to career excellence passing between one generation’s most beloved actor and the next. But unlike Hanks, whose off-screen goodness is repeatedly and almost without exception reinforced in the roles he chooses, Alda insists that he devoted considerable professional effort throughout his career to testing audience’s sympathies, even if the effort proved unsuccessful in challenging the likability that’s become synonymous with his name.

“I’ve played people who were either villains or they weren’t totally nice guys at least half the time through my life, and every time I play one somebody says, ‘boy, you’ve never done that before,’” Alda says. “So I must have covered America with the slime of my amiability a little more than I thought I would.

The United Talent Agency has appointed six men and two women as new partners, the agency’s board of directors announced Friday.

Jacob Fenton, Ken Fermaglich, Susie Fox, Ben Jacobson, Ophir Lupu, John Sacks, Bec Smith and Mark Subias have been appointed from across UTA’s businesses, accounting for a 13 percent expansion of the company’s partnership. The agents come from the world of theatre, music, TV, movies, video games and more. Between them they have nearly 70 years of experience at the agency.

“These eight individuals from across our business have been a critical part of UTA’s growth over the past years,” the UTA Board of Directors said in a statement. “Their appointments reflect not just the longstanding contributions each has made, but their leadership, innovation and commitment to creating unique opportunities for our clients. We are proud to have them join our partnership.”

Also Read: Veteran Agent David Lubliner

It’s not easy being computer animated, especially if you want to look more like the puppets on which you’re based. The team behind Disney Junior’s “Muppet Babies” worked countless hours to create a technique that makes today’s animated versions of Kermit, Piggy, Animal and the rest of the gang appear like the puppets used in 1984’s “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” where they were first featured.

“One of the things that we wanted to solve was tying the animated Muppet Babies to the adult puppets in a way that a kid could see baby Kermit and then see adult Kermit and go,

X Ambassadors count down to blowing up an unhealthy relationship on their new song “Boom.” “My feet go ‘boom, boom, boom’/ High speed go ‘zoom zoom zoom,'” frontman Sam Harris sings over a lightly funky bass riff and ragged guitar stabs. “Walking away from you — that’s what I’m gonna do.” Ricky Reed (Twenty One Pilots, Leon Bridges) produced the track, which will be featured in upcoming NBA prime-time games on ABC.

In a statement, Harris described the song’s lyrical theme of nixing toxic relationships. “I’ve

Much has been said about Kane Brown’s stylistic malleability and natural ease with a variety of pop modes, traits he emphasized all over 2018’s Experiment. Brown hasn’t always shown the same level of comfort performing that music in a live setting, not having had years to work out his stage moves before being thrust in front of audiences. But at the Huntsville, Alabama stop of his Live Forever Tour on Thursday, the Georgia native appeared to be relaxing into his new role as an arena headliner and eager

Variety is not just nominated for one particular story for a GLAAD Media Award. Instead, the magazine has snagged a nom for overall magazine coverage of Lgbtq issues.

In addition to Variety‘s almost daily coverage of Lgbtq stories across its online and digital platforms, the magazine published its first transgender issue in August featuring a cover photo of Hollywood trailblazers Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox (“Orange Is the New Black”), and Alexandra Billings (“Transparent”). The three participated in a roundtable discussion along with Trace Lysette, Jen Richards and Brian Michal that was moderated by Ramin Setoodeh.

The issue’s 20 trans and non-binary actors to watch list included “Pose’s” Mj Rodriguez, Asia Kate Dillon of “Billions,” “Sense8” star Jamie Clayton as well as Alexandra Grey, Ian Harvie, Hari Nef, Alex Blue Davis and Scott Turner Schofield.

Most recently, the current issue of Variety includes “Broad City” star Abbi Jacobson talking

Variety is not just nominated for one particular story for a GLAAD Media Award. Instead, the magazine has snagged a nom for overall magazine coverage of Lgbtq issues.

In addition to Variety‘s almost daily coverage of Lgbtq stories across its online and digital platforms, the magazine published its first transgender issue in August featuring a cover photo of Hollywood trailblazers Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox (“Orange Is the New Black”), and Alexandra Billings (“Transparent”). The three participated in a roundtable discussion along with Trace Lysette, Jen Richards and Brian Michal that was moderated by Ramin Setoodeh.

The issue’s 20 trans

For more than five decades, global entertainment icon Dolly Parton has been nearly as renowned for her dazzling fashions as she has for her songwriting and performing talents. In a showcase of the eight-time Grammy winner’s personal style through the years, next month the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles will present “Diamond in a Rhinestone World: The Costumes of Dolly Parton,” featuring outfits and other pieces from her extensive personal collection. Opening to the public on February 5th, the exhibit runs through March 1st.

Parton will be on hand