Layoffs To Come At ‘Lord Of The Rings’ IP Owner Embracer Group Following Restructure

On the same day ESPN ran special extended coverage of player comings and goings during NBA Free Agency, about 20 of the network’s top on-air talent found out they would be on the move, as well.

Naomi Campbell is a mother again!

Naomi Campbell is now a mother of two after welcoming a baby boy.

a second chance to secure tickets and a once-in-a-lifetime summer vacation abroad.Even within the US, desperate devotees have trekked across state lines to see their favorite artist perform the sensational three-hour show, creating an explosion in concert tourism.Welcome to “The Taylor Swift Economy.”“Every weekend, the city that she visits releases the data around hotel occupancies and just the amount of money generated for each local economy — and it’s in the millions,” Callie Cox, a financial analyst for investment company eToro, told The Post. “Taylor Swift, if you take a step back, is selling out stadiums for multiple nights in a row, booking out hotels in every city that she goes to, and commanding an obscene price for tickets,” she continued.In Pittsburgh, an estimated 24,000 hotel rooms were booked at “premium” prices by Swifties making the Eras Tour pilgrimage this month for the record-breaking show, while tourists drummed up more traffic than usual for local businesses, from parking garages to restaurants.Not to mention, fans are shelling out top-dollar for themed outfits to humble brag on social media.In fact, compared to that of a Steelers game, Pittsburgh Swift fans “generated 20% or 25% more in revenue” and record-breaking food sales for local hotspots.Dan Fleetwood, the president of QuestionPro Research and Insights, said that the economic impact of Swift is larger than dozens of countries, as the Eras Tour is estimated to generate $5 billion alone.“If Taylor Swift were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries; if she was a corporation, her Net Promoter Score would make her the fourth most admired brand, and her loyalty numbers mimic those of subjects to a royal crown,” he said in a statement.

Selena Gomez made headlines over the weekend when it appeared she unfollowed several celebs.

Pop superstar Beyoncé was performing in Germany as part of her Renaissance tour when she almost suffered what-could-have-been a catastrophic wardrobe malfunction. Luckily for queen Bey, 41, her backup dancers Les Twins had her back, with one of the dancers from the trio catching the near-slip and preventing the crisis. As the singer-songwriter was performing, the left side of her bust almost spilled out of her bright pink, glittery dress.

This is one very unusual David vs. Goliath story.

K.J. Yossman Embracer Group, the Swedish gaming conglomerate that snapped up the rights to “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” in a surprise deal last summer, has finally revealed how much it paid – and it seems like they got a bargain. The Karlstad-headquartered company has confirmed it spent SEK 4.2 billion – $395 million at today’s conversion rates – to acquire Middle-Earth Enterprises from the Saul Zaentz Company last August. At the time the deal was announced, Embracer and Saul Zaentz declined to say how much the “Lord of the Rings” holding company had sold for. But estimates at the time projected the rights – which include worldwide rights to films, video games, board games, merchandising, theme parks and stage productions – were worth up to $2 billion.

Sweden’s Embracer paid nearly $396M for the rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise.

Kraven The Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson – check it out above.Directed by J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year), the film serves as an origin story for the Marvel villain and is the fourth installment in Sony’s Spider-Man universe, following Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and last year’s box office flop Morbius.While the character is typically portrayed in the comics as simply being a renowned game hunter, the film adaptation appears to add lion blood dripping into his wounds as part of his origin story.

Johnny Depp, the renowned actor known for his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and more, has opened up about his challenges during his defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard. The six-week case was a televised courtroom circus that included screaming fans and therapy alpacas. Still, the Alice in Wonderland star emerged victorious, winning all three of his defamation claims and was awarded over $10 million in damages.

Fantasy on TV was once the preserve of teen-skewing shows like Xena and Hercules, until Game of Thrones made things bigger but bloodier with its blockbuster eight-year run. Now, however, the genre is expanding in unexpected ways, typified by Amazon’s The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. Where we might have expected another adaptation about obviously good folk fighting clear evil, the show that emerged offers a look at power, obsession and conflict set thousands of years before J.R.R. Tolkien’s foundational text. After Thrones (and its own prequel), it is a coming-of-age for the genre, proof that fantasy is capable of offering subtlety and complexity as well as large-scale adventure.

An undisclosed number of the company’s 17,000 employees will be let go and certain game projects will be paused or outright terminated, along with other efficiency and overhead-reduction efforts that will take place in phases between now and March 2024, Wingefors said Tuesday.Embracer published an open letter explaining the news alongside a standard press release.“I am asking all our managers to lead and act with compassion, respect, and integrity,” Wingefors wrote in the open letter, following the layoff announcement. “Throughout each phase and wherever possible, we will work to ensure that affected team members receive information first.

K.J. Yossman “Lord of the Rings” owner Embrace Group has unveiled a dramatic company restructure including the appointment of a new COO, a new CSO, studio closures and lay-offs. “Today we announce a comprehensive restructuring program that will enable us to realize untapped potential in Embracer Group and better optimize the use of our resources. Across the group, we are now initiating multiple actions to strengthen our cash flow generation and leverage our portfolio of IPs to become a stronger company and setting out on a stable future to build even greater games to the benefit of gamers and fans across the globe ”, said Lars Wingefors, CEO and co-founder of Embracer.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large I bring all this up not just to boast, but also to note that one of the categories in which I was nominated was for “feature under 1,000 words,” for a piece I did giving a behind-the-scenes account of how Netflix revived the comedy “Girls5eva” after it was canceled by Peacock. It was a fun piece to report, and I got to tell a quick, first-hand account of how things all went down. But it wasn’t a sweeping, long piece of magazine journalism, and so it rightfully shouldn’t be compared to a 3,500-word opus. (Those go in another category.)

Grimes and producer Anyma have finally shared their rousing collaboration ‘Welcome To The Opera’.The singer has been previewing the track during various performances over the last year.It was debuted by Grimes during her DJ set at Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas in May 2022.At the time she later tweeted indicating that she would be dropping a demo of the song if Anyma was onboard, but that she’d still like to edit the song more before the final version is officially released.Now, the pair have shared the official version of the track which includes a sci-fi music video, which you can view below.Meanwhile, Grimes recently discussed AI and streaming services, saying she thinks Spotify and others should have a section dedicated to it.The singer previously revealed that she is beta testing her own AI voice mimicking software that will allow users to record vocals in Grimes’ voice, with a hit single from Kito featuring ‘AI Grimes’ released soon after.Grimes has since discussed consent with regards to AI and the voice of artists being used by others.“I think it’s good to have consent,” she said. “It wouldn’t personally bother me, but I just still think it’s good to respect people, like if they don’t want that… It is a lot, you are like foregoing creative control.

"The Chosen," the hit Biblical series about the life of Jesus Christ, is coming to The CW this summer. The network announced Friday that it had picked up the first three seasons of "The Chosen", which will debut on July 16 at 8 p.m., according to Deadline.The Angel Studios show will continue airing through the fall until concluding its run with a Christmas Eve finale.  The CW is the first U.S.

The CW will air the first three seasons of the global hit with the first episode set to debut on Sunday, July 16 at 8/7c p.m. It will continue its run through the fall and will air its finale on Christmas Eve.Weeks ago Lionsgate announced it had acquired the global distribution rights to the crowdfunded project. “The Chosen” comes from the Angel Studios app.

Twenty-one years ago, Robert De Niro co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with Jane Rosenthal. While its dates sandwich it between more prestigious festivals like Cannes and Venice, film fans can’t sleep on the festival, especially because of its world premieres.

Whenever I get a press release for a new Grimes song, I now have to read the text closer than usual to make sure that it's not someone using the GrimesAI-1 Voiceprint, an AI-assisted tool that allows musicians to generate their own Grimes vocals. As far as I can tell, this new track "Welcome To The Opera" by Anyma, a multidisciplinary artist, DJ, and producer, has real Grimes vocals.