Comcast Names Former Hallmark Media CEO Wonya Lucas to Board

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details about Challengers.

Lucas Paqueta is happy at West Ham despite yet more interest from Manchester City. Having been high on the list of targets for Pep Guardiola last year it is expected that City are keeping tabs on him once again.

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan believes the club will struggle to keep Michael Olise amid claims he would consider a move to Manchester United.

A central scene in director Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers wasn’t in Justin Kuritzkes’ original script.

As an actress and executive producer, Zendaya is already a multi-hyphenate, but she’s not quite ready to climb into a director’s chair.  IndieWire reports (via The New York Times) that the “Challengers” star needs more time before she directs her first project. But when that day comes, Luca Guadagnino will say, “I told you so.” READ MORE: ‘Challengers’ Review: Zendaya Rules This Love Triangle “I’m overly conscious of everything else around me,” Zendaya told the publication in an interview for Guada’s new tennis drama, in theaters today.

Comcast said chairman and chief executive Brian Roberts‘ pay package for 2023 totaled $35.47 million, up from $32 million the year before. It included a $2.5 million base salary, stock awards valued at about $15 million, $9.2 million in option awards and $8.55 million in what’s called non-equity incentive plan compensation – like a cash bonus.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Challengers, starring Zendaya and directed by Luca Guadagnino, made $1.9M in previews, a figure $100K shy of what Universal’s Cocaine Bear did. The tennis sexy romcom is hoping to open to $15M for the weekend.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The Onion has a new owner: a company called “Global Tetrahedron,” which is a real thing based on a fake entity invented by the satire site more than two decades ago. G/O Media, a private-equity backed firm that has owned The Onion since 2019, sold the site to a new Chicago-based firm called Global Tetrahedron, which is “made up of four digital media veterans with a profound love for The Onion and comedy-based content,” G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller said in a memo to staff Thursday. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

EXCLUSIVE: Noah Media, producer of Netflix’s 14 Peaks and Sky’s Villeneuve Pironi, has restructured to focus on international docs and laid off a small number of staff.

MediaCo Holding Inc. has acquired all of Estrella Media’s network, content, digital, and commercial operations. Among the Estrella Media brands joining MediaCo are the EstrellaTV network and its linear and digital video content business, along with its digital channels.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” is sweaty, sexy and full of angst. The film, which hits theaters April 26, centers on a love triangle between three tennis players with deeply competitive spirits both in the game and off the court.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief James Warburton, MD and CEO of Seven West Media, one of Australia’s largest media conglomerates, has resigned following a series of scandals. He was scheduled to depart the company in December, but now exits with immediate effect following a board meeting on Thursday. In a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange, Seven West said that Jeff Howard, currently its chief finance officer, will take over as MD and CEO with effect from Friday.

Zendaya not only stars in Luca Guadagnino‘s Challengers but is also a producer in the film written by Justin Kuritzkes.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor David Porter, an ad industry veteran and former Turner exec, is joining Warner Bros. Discovery as head of ad sales research, data and insights. Porter reports to Jon Steinlauf, Warner Bros.

Wonya Lucas, a veteran media exec who held the post of CEO for Hallmark Media Networks and TV One, has been appointed to Comcast‘s board of directors.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Anyone who’s ever played tennis knows the game starts with love and escalates fast. In Luca Guadagnino’s hip, sexy and ridiculously overheated “Challengers,” the rivals are former doubles partners Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), best friends since the age of 12, who went their separate ways after both players fell for the same woman. Patrick got there first, but Art wound up marrying her — and their sense of competition has only intensified since.

In Challengers, Luca Guadagnino serves up a film that is as much about the volleys of human emotion as it is about the physical rallies on the tennis court.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Marco Mueller has been appointed artistic director of Italy’s Taormina Film Festival, which will have a top notch selection committee comprising British film curator and former London fest chief Sandra Hebron and former Cannes Directors’ Fortnight boss Edouard Waintrop. As anticipated by Variety, Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests — among several other events — is taking the reins of the storied Sicilian event that has had its ups and downs over the years. Held since the mid-1950s in the Sicilian resort known to U.S.

Edgar Burcksen, a veteran TV and film editor who won an Emmy for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, worked at Industrial Light & Magic and was a longtime American Cinema Editors board member, has died. He was 76. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney released the official vote counts from its 2024 meeting of shareholders held April 3 — in which investors decisively defeated a campaign by activist investor Nelson Peltz to win a seat on its board. According to the votes disclosed in an SEC filing Tuesday, nine of the Disney-backed director candidates received more than 90% of the shares voted in their favor.