Amazon Studios Wins ‘The Pick Up’ Package; Eddie Murphy Eyeing Star Role, Tim Story To Direct Kevin Burrows-Matt Mider Spec In 7-Figure Deal

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Lena Khan (“Flora and Ulysses”) is set to direct the Bollywood comedy “Best of the Best.” The project, formerly titled “For the Culture,” chronicles the highly competitive world of collegiate Bollywood dance competitions. Comedian Hasan Minhaj, best known for his Peabody Award-winning Netflix series “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” wrote the project with Prashanth Venkataramanujam to launch their production company, 186K Films. Minhaj will also play a role in the film.  Dan Lin’s Rideback is also producing. Additionally, Khan is attached to direct an adaptation of the classic children’s book “The Cricket in Times Square” — about a cricket from New Jersey named Chester who lands in Manhattan after accidentally getting trapped in a picnic basket — for Spyglass. That project remains in development.

EXCLUSIVE: Blockers actress Geraldine Viswanathan and Joy Ride‘sMeredith Hagner are joining Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in Nick Stoller’s wedding comedy You’re Cordially Invited, from Amazon Studios.

Sure, Benedict Cumberbatch is an incredible actor who feels like he’s been doing this line of work for more than a century already. However, he’s a normal man of 46 years and not some immortal.

$8.45 billion acquisition of MGM that the company plans to develop TV or film projects around, including “Robocop,” “Stargate” “Legally Blonde,” “Fame,” Barbershop,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “Pink Panther” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.”A source familiar with the matter confirmed to TheWrap that the company is in active early conversations for a “Legally Blonde” movie and potential TV series. Additionally, Amazon has similar plans for “Stargate” under consideration, with a movie expected to go first.

EXCLUSIVE: Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu will direct a new film version of the famed Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Amazon Studios.

Add Kim Kardashian to the cast of… American Horror Story?!

Kim Kardashian is sharing some exciting news! The reality star announced her participation in the upcoming season of American Horror Story. The surprising announcement comes after it was revealed by Ryan Murphy that this will be “one of the biggest shows.”A new teaser for the highly anticipated 12th season, which is set to be released this summer, details some of the big names that will be involved in the project, including the return of Emma Roberts.

Chris Meledandri prepares to launch Mario onto movie screens, the Illumination founder and CEO is simultaneously juggling several new movies and sequels in his ever-expanding animation empire. These range from follow-ups to his “Sing,” “Despicable Me” and “Secret Life of Pets” franchises, as well as original movies like this fall’s “Migration,” the story of a family of ducks who live in a pond in New England and no longer have to migrate because the winters are milder. But before all that, there’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which is expected to achieve box office domination when it opens on April 5. Beyond running Illumination, Meledandri, who sat down with Variety with Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto for this week’s cover story on the making of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” also serves as a creative partner to DreamWorks Animation as it looks to reboot the “Shrek” franchise. In that capacity, he’s pushed to bring back the film’s original voice cast which includes Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy for “Shrek 5.”

Tiger King star Carole Baskin is closing down her Big Cat Rescue sanctuary and transporting its wildlife to Arkansas.The closure was announced in a memo, written by Carole’s husband Howard Baskin and posted on the sanctuary’s website last week (March 27). The couple have also vowed to donate funds to the new sanctuary named Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, in which the wildlife are now headed.“Big Cat Rescue has entered into an agreement with Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, an accredited sanctuary in Arkansas, to move most of Big Cat Rescue’s cats to Turpentine Creek where we will continue to fund their care for the rest of their lives,” read the statement.“[Once the cats are moved,] we will sell the sanctuary property and use the proceeds to fund these species-saving projects in the wild.”Baskin further explained the closure by referencing the Big Cat Public Safety Act, or BCPSA – a federal law signed last year that prohibits private ownership of big cats including lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs, leopards or any hybrid breeds.According to the statement, it was the high costs of maintaining the enclosure that led the couple to sell.

Carole Baskin is closing down her Big Cat Rescue sanctuary that was featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, her husband Howard Baskin revealed in a memo.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has closed an exclusive multiyear first-look film deal with Imagine Entertainment. In making Amazon its new movie home, co-founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will give Amazon first look on narrative features and documentaries Imagine intends to produce.

Uhh, this sounds a LOT shadier than just a midlife crisis!

K.J. Yossman Former Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown has revealed her first industry role since leaving the streamer last year. She is set to chair a skills task force for the U.K. screen industry with the intention of focusing on critical labor shortages in the production sector. Joining her on the task force will be senior representatives from major U.K. broadcasters BBC, ITV and Channel 4 as well as international studios and streamers including Prime Video, Netflix, Disney and NBCUniversal, key orgs such as ScreenSkills, PACT and the British Film Commission and national screen agencies. The British Film Institute (BFI) have convened the task force following a skills review commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport showing crew shortfalls will soon reach breaking point. Its remit is to produce and support a plan of action that will result in growth, training and increased retention in the screen sector as well as improvements in equity, diversity and inclusion and mental health. Where appropriate, the task force will make recommendations to the U.K. government.

Former Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown is to chair the BFI’s Skills Task Force, which has been assembled to address major skills shortages in the UK film and TV sector over the next five years.

Kanye West‘s first Instagram post in 2023 is turning heads, after sharing that watching Jonah Hill‘s performance in 21 Jump Street “made me like Jewish people again.” The post caught a lot of people’s attention, including the film’s director, Christopher Miller.

Kanye West's first Instagram post in 2023 is turning heads, after sharing that watching Jonah Hill's performance in «made me like Jewish people again.» The post caught a lot of people's attention, including the film's director, Christopher Miller.The controversial rapper took to Instagram on Friday night and posted a photo of the film's poster, and it was in the caption where West disclosed that «watching Jonah Hill in  made me like Jewish people again.»West added in the caption, «No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people. No Christian can be labeled antisemite knowing Jesus is Jew. Thank you Jonah Hill I love you.»No word yet on how Hill feels about being roped into West's mea culpa some five months after spewing antisemitic hate speech and praising Nazis and Adolf Hitler while on an alt-right show, as well as writing several posts, in which he declared his plan to go «death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.» But Miller, who alongside Phil Lord made his live action directorial debut with, took to Twitter and reacted to West's post by sharing a screenshot of West's IG post and tweeting, «Um... thanks for watching?»A post shared by Ye (@kanyewest)Um… thanks for watching? pic.twitter.com/BvcFMmQfMfFollowing his bizarre and troubling rants, brands swiftly moved to distance themselves from West, who lost his billionaire status after Adidas cut ties with him. Balenciaga and fashion magazine  also cut ties with him and he was dropped from Def Jam Records. CAA has also dropped Ye as a client.Subsequently, Foot Locker also removed his popular Yeezy shoes off its shelves, with a Foot Locker Inc.

Y2K.The film is set to be helmed by Saturday Night Live alumnus Kyle Mooney in his directorial debut.

My guest this week is Sian Clifford.

Captain of the England women’s football team Leah Williamson is set to become the first female footballer to read a CBeebies Bedtime Story. The 25-year-old Arsenal captain led the Lionesses to victory in the Euro 2022 final against Germany last summer. Williamson will read Remarkably You by Pat Zietlow Miller, an uplifting story that reassures children that being different and unique is something to be celebrated.

Robert Downey Jr. might have found his next big role.