Ibermedia Next Fund Launches, Aiming to Take Animation to New Tech Level

Sam Faiers jetted off for a flying visit to the big apple to celebrate the American launch of her hugely successful supplement brand.The former The Only Way Is Essex star, 32, revealed to fans on her social media that she had spent just two nights in New York. Although she couldn’t stay for long, Sam called the US launch “a dream come true” and shared that it had “always been my goal.” Sam, who admitted that she felt emotional leaving her kids behind in the UK, is partnering with Saks, a department store headquartered in New York that boasts 42 locations across the country, to bring her brand to a brand new audience.To celebrate the collab, Sam posed in a bright pink pantsuit outside of Saks’ most famous store which is located on New York’s iconic fifth avenue. The former reality star thanked her “amazing team” for the feat and paid tribute to her business partner, John Bailey.

Disney+ this week. But will there be another season? Here's everything we know about The Kardashians season 4 so far, from possible storylines to when it might premiere. We’ve been keeping up with the famous family for well over a decade now, so it’s no surprise that we can never get enough Kardashian Kontent.

Kelly Clarkson is opening up about the reason she is relocating her eponymous daytime talk show to New York City after four seasons in Los Angeles.

McKinley Franklin editor Strong Studios is set to develop a new crime series “Hall Mills Murders,” based on the chilling 1922 murder case that swarmed American culture, Variety has learned.  The eight-episode series will spotlight the murders of Edward Wheeler Hall, an N.J. priest, and Eleanor Millis, Hall’s mistress. Hall and Millis were found in the countryside, appearing to be cuddling in each other’s arms. However, it was quickly uncovered that the lovers were murdered, with their love notes shredded at their feet.  “We are thrilled to announce that the ‘Hall Mills Murders’ project will allow Strong Studios to significantly ramp up our production pipeline,” stated David Ozer, CEO of Strong Studios. “This sordid story and murder trial led to a three-ring media circus that is recognized to this day as the first of its kind in America to saturate news coverage on a daily basis. We know audiences are fascinated by true crime, and given this is the story that started it all, we have no doubt it will generate interest among broadcasters and streamers, and most definitely with audiences when we premiere.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Semafor, the digital new startup launched last fall, announced that it has raised $19 million in a new financing round, bringing its total raised to $34 million. The New York-based company was co-founded by Ben Smith, previously media columnist for the New York Times and editor in chief of BuzzFeed News, and Justin B. Smith, former CEO of Bloomberg Media Group. (The two are not related.) Semafor said the additional investments are an extension on the same terms of the company’s previous financing round. The new total also takes into account the repurchase of the approximately $10 million in funds from Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency company FTX whom federal prosecutors have charged with fraud, money laundering and campaign finance offenses. The funding from Bankman-Fried will be returned to FTX creditors as directed by officials, according to Semafor.

reports Daily Express US, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they were chased by paparazzi. Despite her absence, she was honoured alongside a raft of big Hollywood stars, including Amanda Seyfried, Christina Applegate, and Drew Barrymore. The event LA event recognises women's achievements in media and entertainment.

A New York court last week paused a lawsuit filed as part of a dispute over the Jimi Hendrix Experience catalogue pending the outcome of litigation related to the same dispute in the London courts. It follows an appeal court ruling in the UK last month which said that the London lawsuit should be allowed to proceed despite the connected legal action in the US.The Jimi Hendrix estate and its label partner Sony Music is on one side in this dispute, with companies representing the estates of the two other members of the Jimi Hendrix Experience – Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell – on the other side.The Redding and Mitchell companies claim that they control rights in relation to the Jimi Hendrix Experience recordings catalogue which are being infringed by the Hendrix estate and Sony.But the latter parties counter that, after Hendrix’s death in 1970, both Redding and Mitchell signed agreements in which they gave up any claims to rights and royalties stemming from the Jimi Hendrix Experience in return for “significant monetary consideration”.After lawyers for the Redding and Mitchell companies contacted Sony Music in the UK last year to make their formal claims in relation to the Jimi Hendrix Experience recordings, the Hendrix estate and Sony in the US filed legal proceedings in the New York courts.

PVRIS have shared another brand new single from their upcoming fourth album – listen to ‘Love Is A…’ below.The new LP, titled ‘Evergreen’, was announced earlier this year with the single ‘Good Enemy’.The follow-up to 2020 album ‘Use Me’ will be released on July 14 via Hopeless Records and feature two songs shared last year, ‘Animal’ and ‘Anywhere But Here’.‘Love Is A…’ comes complete with a video that sees PVRIS’ vocalist Lynn Gunn buried alive.Watch the video, co-directed by Gunn, below.Speaking about the new album, Gunn said: “‘Evergreen’ is a reclamation of control in our post-pandemic culture, posing a complex discussion on fame, technology, spectacle, and female autonomy.”She added: “It’s not my job as an artist to cater to certain trends or people’s nostalgia, I have to follow what I feel compelled to follow and do my best to uncover what truths and messages I can find within that. I have to always embrace the risks of change and trust that each stage of my music’s life will resonate with whoever it’s meant to.”Later this year, PVRIS will head out on a co-headlining US tour with Poppy, dubbed the Godless/Goddess tour.The tour kicks off in mid-August in Seattle and makes its way to the east coast until mid-September. Click here for tickets and check out the dates below.AUGUST 2023 18 – Seattle, WA19 – Portland, OR22 – San Francisco, CA24 – Los Angeles, CA25 – Tempe, AZ26 – Las Vegas, NV28 – Salt Lake City, UT29 – Denver, COSEPTEMBER 20231 – San Antonio, TX2 – Houston, TX3 – Oklahoma City, OK6 – Kansas City, MO7 – Minneapolis, MN9 – St. Louis, MO10 – Columbus, OH13 – Pittsburgh, PA14 – Cleveland, OH15 – Toronto, ON

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made demands that the photo agency which was allegedly involved in the 'near-catastrophic' car chase. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - who were in New Yok City the night of the alleged chase - have demanded the photo agency hand over the footage snapped by photographers.

EXCLUSIVE: Good Deed Entertainment (GDE) has acquired North American rights to Carol Ray Hartsell’s Hamptons-set indie romantic comedy Love… Reconsidered for a Valentine’s Day 2024 release.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures has snapped up U.S., Canada and key international for Studiocanal and Heyday Films’ threequel Paddington in Peru.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up rights to the animated feature They Shot the Piano Player for the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Scandinavia, India, the Middle East, Turkey, Southeast Asia (excluding Taiwan and South Korea) and airlines within the aforementioned territories. The film from Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, two of the directors behind the Oscar-nominated animated feature Chico and Rita, is set up for a fall awards push from SPC.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor In its first acquisition at the Cannes Film Festival, Neon has picked up North American rights to director Pablo Berger’s animated feature “Robot Dreams” ahead of its world premiere in Cannes on Saturday. The Spanish filmmaker of “Blancanieves” based his first animated feature on the award-winning graphic novel by Sara Varon. “Robot Dreams” screens Saturday in the Special Screenings section of the festival. Neon previously scored three consecutive Palme d’Or wins with “Parasite,” “Titane” and “Triangle of Sadness.” “Robot Dreams” is described as a “universal exploration of the importance and fragility of friendship.” It follows DOG, a New York canine who decides to build himself a robot companion. They become inseparable, to the rhythm of 1980s New York city, until the sad summer night when DOG is forced to abandon ROBOT at the beach.

EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles-based Lion Heart Distribution has acquired North American rights to Allan Piper’s horror-comedy eVil Sublet co-starring All In The Family star Sally Struthers and Jennifer Leigh Houston.

Fox is looking for more farmer wives.

50 Cent has admitted that his decision to hang upside down at last year’s Super Bowl was “a mistake”.The rapper made a surprise appearance at the Halftime Show, which saw him join Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucy J. Mukerjee has joined Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith’s media company Firelight Media, geared toward nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color, as the new director of its flagship Documentary Lab.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor NBCUniversal is swinging its suite of free NBC and Telemundo 24-hour local news channels in major markets to Amazon’s Fire TV. Under the deal, U.S.-based customers with Fire TV and Amazon Echo Show devices can now access local breaking news coverage and original content on the free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels of NBCU’s 15 NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations in top markets The agreement builds on NBCU’s existing deals to distribute Peacock on Fire TV, as well as Today All Day and Dateline 24/7 FAST channels. In addition, NBCU network apps including NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, USA, Universal Kids, MSNBC, NBC News, CNBC, NBC Sports and Telemundo are available on Fire TV.

A popular Ayrshire takeaway has put on a unique tasty special to raise cash for a four-year-old battling cancer.

Fox News is facing another defamation lawsuit, this time from the former executive director of a Department of Homeland Security division tasked with monitoring the threat of disinformation.