Amopix, a ‘Mars Express’ Studio-Producer, To Launch Amopix Annecy

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Adding to its bullish line-up of primetime dramas, Spain’s Atresmedia TV is set to adapt “Angela Black,” its second ITV drama makeover from “The Missing” creators, Harry and Jack Williams, after the Spanish commercial broadcaster’s reversion of “Liar.” Currently casting and set to go into production this fall in Bizkaia’s Bilbao, “Angela,” as the Spanish redo is known, is produced by Buendía Estudios Vizcaya with the participation of Atresmedia TV. An original idea of the Williams’ Two Brothers Pictures, “Angela Black’s” international distribution is handled by All3Media International.

star Edwin Hodge is on cloud nine after getting engaged to his love, actress Skye P. Marshall, in May. The 38-year-old actor joined ET's Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner at Baha Mar Resort on Tuesday, where Entertainment Tonight is broadcasting from the Bahamas all week, to celebrate his recent engagement to the actress and dish on the Dick Wolf drama.Hodge, who joined as FBI Special Agent Ray Cannon last season, opened up about his romantic New York City bayside proposal to Marshall, with whom he co-starred in the short-lived medical drama .

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large MANILA — Anyone who lived in Hawai’i in the early 1990s remember the story of the pint-sized Elvis impersonator in a Waikiki revue named Bruno Hernandez. He wasn’t even in grade school yet when he appeared on the cover of the local Midweek newspaper (which we all still remember), dressed fully as the King, and it soon landed him a role as an Elvis impersonator in the film “Honeymoon in Vegas.” In Hawaii, local fame is a big deal. And before he even hit 10, Bruno was a bit of local celebrity. The cute kid already had the kind of style, performing chops and showmanship that some spend a lifetime trying to attain. Definitely not the kind of thing that even crossed my mind when I was in elementary school, living in the Philippines. Coincidentally, that’s where I was on Sunday night, watching Bruno Mars perform so effortlessly on stage at the Philippine Arena (in Santa Maria, Bulacan, about 30 km north of Manila, and about 75 km away where I once lived).

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Marking its first corporate step in international expansion outside Spain, Madrid-based Zeta Studios, producer of “Elite” and “García!” has named Marcelo Tamburri, one of Latin America’s preeminent TV execs, to the newly-created position of director of international content. Spun off from the sale of publishing house Grupo Zeta to Prensa Ibérica in 2019, and rebranded from Zeta Audiovisual, when it comes to individual titles., Zeta Studios boasts one of the biggest international reaches of any production house in Spain.   The appointment comes as Netflix preps the bow of “Elite” Season 7 on Oct. 20, making “Elite” one of the longest-running of streamer series and one of the most successful from outside the U.S., its Seasons 3 and 4 ranking in Netflix’s Top 10 of most-viewed non-English series ever on the OTT service with 334.8 million and 302.2 million hours viewed.   

It's often one of the biggest triggers for drama in any season of Love Island, and fans of the show are calling for the return of Movie Night ASAP so that Jess Harding can see exactly what type of person Sammy Root is. Movie Night sees clips of private conversations played back to the islanders on a big screen which inevitably stirs up trouble and arguments.This summer, viewers are expecting Sammy to be cast in the Movie Night villain role thanks to his insulting comments about partner Jess behind her back, and his flirting with other girls.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Since the dawn of radio, the United States has been and remains the only major country in the world where terrestrial radio pays no royalties to performers or recorded-music copyright owners of the songs it plays. While the more than 8,300 AM and FM stations across the country pay royalties to songwriters and publishers, they have never paid performers or copyright holders, although streaming services and satellite radio do. The bipartisan American Music Fairness Act,which aims to address that situation, was introduced into the House of Representatives in 2021 and the Senate last year, by Senators Alex Padilla (D.-Calif.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY — Bathed by gorgeous sun, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and MIFA market came of age as a major industry and artistic event last week at the fairy-tale looking town nestling in the laps of the French Alps.  Takeaways from this year’s extraordinary edition, which ran June 11-17: Annecy Blasts Attendance Records The Annecy Festival and MIFA market smashed prior attendance figures to smithereens, recording 15,820 accreditations, 20% up on last year’s then all-time record of 13,200. That reflects “the extraordinary dynamism of the animation industry; more and more countries producing: our support of a lot of talents in emerging countries who want to come, of course; the [year-round outreach] in terms of meetings, and the official selection,” Mickaël Marin, CEO of the Festival and MIFA organizer CITIA, told Variety. “The festival was a great success, in its record numbers of attendance, exhibition booths and companies and dynamism and sensation of an extraordinary energy,” agrees Olivier Lelardoux, Blue Spirit Studio.  

Kym Marsh has unveiled a poignant new tattoo in tribute to her beloved dad, Dave, on Father's Day. The Coronation Street star and TV presenter celebrated her 47th birthday on 13 June and treated herself to a striking new tattoo, but chose Father's Day as the perfect moment to show it to her dad.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY — London-based Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe is set to initiate production next week on “Beast Boy: Lone Wolf,” the first time than a DC title that will be made out of the U.K. The announcement was made at a studio focus for Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, whose fan favourites had a student/exec audience hollering in approval.  Introduced by Sam Register, president of all three companies, the focus must rate at the fastest-paced of all big studio unveils at Annecy, packed by never-seen-before footage of multiple shows. Register didn’t talk strategy: The audience wanted to see shows, and studio execs were excited to show them. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Netflix, the world’s preeminent animation producer by production volume, outlay and awards, has set out a roadmap at Annecy for how it is looking to invest in the future of animation. Sketched by John Derderian and Karen Toliver, Netflix animation heads of series and film respectively, the gameplan takes in building on Netflix’s strengths, in adult animation, and genre and anime in series; maintaining a vast diversity of shows and movies; and looking in every project for a creator’s vision which Netflix will seek to connect with the right audience, at the right price. Derderian and Toliver talked to Variety at France’s Annecy Animation Festival whose Netflix’s panel this Wednesday June 14, From Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget to Blue Eye Samurai – See What’s Next @ Netflix, promises to be one of Annecy’s most talked-about highlights.

Naman Ramachandran Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri was presented with the Annecy International Film Festival’s lifetime accreditation Golden Ticket on Wednesday. In a surprise appearance, two-time Oscar nominee and Grammy-winning global superstar Pharrell Williams presented Meledandri with the festival’s honor. Meledandri is the creative producer behind “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” the Despicable Me, Minions, Sing and The Secret Life of Pets franchises, and the upcoming action comedy, “Migration.” Williams, a longtime creative partner with Illumination, earned his first Academy Award nomination for his blockbuster song “Happy” from the studio’s “Despicable Me 2.”

William Earl Variety will return to the Riviera for three days of programmed interviews with leaders in the industry at the Variety Cannes Lions Interview Studio presented by Canva. The studio will take place from June 20-22 with all conversations moderated by a Variety editor. Kevin Hart, Will.i.am., Keke Palmer and Amanda Gorman are among the slate of speakers who will take part in the studio, as well as Kelly Campbell, president, Peacock; Claudine Cheever, VP of global brand and marketing, Amazon; Jeremy Zimmer, CEO, United Talent Agency; Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer, Mastercard; and Julia Goldin, chief product and marketing officer, LEGO.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY —  In major news for Mexican animation as it comes under the spotlight at Annecy, director Sofia Carrillo (“The Sad House,” “Cerulia”) is teaming with “Roma” producer Nicolas Celis and  ‘Dance of the 41’ writer Monika Revilla to make “Insectario,” which bids fair to become one of the first stop motion features from Mexico. Targeting family audiences, and written by Revilla, “Insectario” is set up at Celis’ Pimienta Films.  Carrillo, who worked on the Mexican second unit on “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” based out of Guadalajara’s El Taller del Chucho, told Variety that “Insectario” will build on the same aesthetic universe of “Cerulia” using the same puppets and sometimes the same sets. 

Ben Croll Playing in competition in Annecy after premiering in Cannes, Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi thriller “Mars Express” offers an uncommon spin on modern anxieties — particularly when it comes to AI. “We so often imagine that if robots became sentient, they’ll kill us,” Périn tells Variety. “Or we see many sci-fi films where robots want to become human. In short, humans are always the point of reference – so mysterious and strange and interesting, such an amazing species. We’re a bit pretentious, and I didn’t want to play on that.” Written by Périn and Laurent Sarfati, “Mars Express” serves a heady pop-culture cocktail, mixing hard-boiled fiction with science-fantasy comix, riffing on Philip Marlow and Philip K. Dick (with winks to “Watchmen” and “Robocop” and oh so many more) with a mystery yarn that places humans and cyborgs on equal footing.“The film says robots and human are different, so we have to accept those differences. There’s no need for fear, no need for opposition. I feel like I’m singing ‘We Are The World,’” the director laughs.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.  Animation is flowering in India and Africa.  Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:  

Tribeca Film Festival, is about a man who shaped the historical stories of the recent past: news anchor Dan Rather. “I like telling stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations,” Marshall told TheWrap. “It’s so interesting to see how these people who are inspired and then passionate about what they want to do, how they achieve that success.” In this case, Marshall wanted to track Rather’s 60-year career in news and how he’s become just as embraced by the TikTok generation as he was when he did “60 Minutes.”“I go in completely open-minded,” Marshall said when discussing whether he approached Rather’s story with any preconceived notions.

It’s officially Filipino Heritage Month and we’re highlighting Filipino celebrities who have shattered boundaries and left an indelible mark in the entertainment industry.

Bruno Mars is doing New England in style this weekend.On June 10-11, the “Uptown Funk” crooner will bring the “24K Magic” at back-to-back shows at Springfield, MA’s MassMutual Center.And if you haven’t picked up last-minute tickets to see the 15-time Grammy winner live yet, that’s not a problem.At the time of publication, inventory is available for both shows.According to our findings, some seats were going for as low as $110 before fees on Vivid Seats.For fans that are hoping to get closer to Mars, we found floor seats for just $165 before fees for the Sunday show.Want to hear “Locked Out Of Heaven,” “Just The Way You Are,” “When I Was Your Man” and countless other Bruno Mars hits live?We’ve got everything you need to know and more below.All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete calendar including all of Bruno Mars’ MassMutual Center dates, start times and links to the cheapest tickets available can be found below.(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. They offer a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and your tickets will be delivered prior to the event.Later this summer, Bruno Mars will headline at Louisville, KY’s Bourbon and Beyond Festival.Taking place Sept.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran TV executive and producer Michael McDonald (American Crime) is finalizing a deal to join Amazon Studios’ executive ranks as Head of the Comedy and Drama Development team in the US SVOD TV Development and Series – Wholly Owned division led by Nick Pepper, I hear. He will oversee development of all wholly owned comedy and drama series. Amazon Studios declined comment.

Jodie Marsh has revealed she will never forgive Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield after her 'car crash' interview on This Morning.