Popular adult animated series Harley Quinn is getting its very own Valentine’s Day special.
21.09.2022 - 20:14 / variety.com
Angelique Jackson Actor, producer and Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions has a new series in the works for HBO Max. The half-hour, single-camera comedy, titled “Rollin,’” is in development under the multi-platform entertainment company’s overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group. According to the official logline, the series centers on “an easily corruptible newbie skater and her ragtag rink crew who find drive and deliverance on the hardwood at an ATL skating rink known for its good music, food, vibes and stellar stunts. They soon discover that walking away from your past is easier said than done — but as all skaters learn, when you fall down, you must get back up.”
Calaya Michelle Stallworth (“Fear the Walking Dead,” “Daybreak”) will write and executive produce the series, which is in the script development stage. Waithe and Hillman Grad CEO Rishi Rajani are on board the project as executive producers, alongside Naomi Funabashi, the company’s president of film and TV. Pharrell Williams and Mimi Valdés will also executive produce the show via their I Am Other banner, with the label’s Shani Saxon serving as a co-executive producer. Hillman Grad’ executives Rocio Melara (VP, film and TV) and Sylvia Carrasco will help oversee the day-to-day on the series under the leadership of Funabashi. Last year, Hillman Grad announced that they’d inked an exclusive multi-year overall deal with WBTVG — moving from Amazon in a highly competitive situation — to produce new television programming for all platforms, including HBO Max, external streaming services, cable and the five broadcast networks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The first project announced under the new pact was the scripted drama
Popular adult animated series Harley Quinn is getting its very own Valentine’s Day special.
Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Harley Quinn” Valentine’s Day special is coming to HBO Max. Titled “Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special,” the new installment of the popular adult animated series will debut on HBO Max in February 2023. Per the official logline, “The special will feature Harley and Ivy celebrating their very first Valentine’s Day together, while also revealing how the rest of the ragtag crew spends the gushiest, mushiest, most romantic day of the year.” “Harley Quinn” recently concluded its third season, with HBO Max commissioning a fourth season in August. It was one of the DC projects that survived the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger, in which a number of planned DC related films and shows were scrapped.
pulling off their masks at the end of each episode. But now, a new revelation just might be the most seismic in the animated show’s 53-year history. Lead character Velma Dinkley is a lesbian in the new Warner Bros.
The long-circulating rumor is true: HBO Max’s new movie Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! acknowledges that the franchise’s Velma is LGBTQ.
HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys has a new title, Chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content.
Joe Otterson TV Reporter HBO Max has given a straight-to-series order to a new comedy series from Chuck Lorre and Nick Bakay with Sebastian Maniscalco set for the lead role, Variety has learned. The single-camera show is titled “How to Be a Bookie.” HBO Max has given it an eight-episode order. Per the official logline, “A veteran bookie (Maniscalco) struggles to survive the impending legalization of sports gambling, increasingly unstable clients, family, co-workers, and a lifestyle that bounces him around every corner of Los Angeles, high and low.” Lorre and Bakay serve as co-writers and executive producers on the show. Maniscalco will executive produce in addition to starring, with Judi Marmel also executive producing. Warner Bros. Television is the studio. Chuck Lorre productions is currently under an overall deal at WBTV. The show marks Lorre’s first series at HBO Max.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Gerhard Zeiler, president of International at Warner Bros. Discovery, has moved to reassure the Asia-Pacific region that it is an integral part of the group’s post-merger strategy. “Don’t believe that we don’t know how important Asia is for our company, he said Thursday. Zeiler was speaking at the APOS Convention in Singapore on Thursday. He cited examples of theatrical success for “Batman” and “Fantastic Beasts” in the region and investment in local production in the region. The reassurance may have been necessary following post-merger announcements that proposed changes in North America, Latin America and Europe ahead of Asia – despite recent external data showing Asia-Pacific as one of the world’s fastest growth regions.
Refresh for more: The top brass at Warner Bros Discovery held a company-wide town hall Wednesday over Zoom in which they laid out the current state of the company and the industry, acknowledging the hard times amid a slew of cost-cutting and layoffs and emphatically addressing merger rumors with CEO David Zaslav exclaiming, “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale.”
grow the number of subscribers to its streaming service without regard to cost or profitability.”The plaintiff, a pension fund to benefit current and former police officers in Collinsville, Illinois, suggests that anyone who purchased WBD on the open market post-merger is qualified to join the lawsuit.It’s seeking a jury trial for monetary damages, alleging three separate Securities and Exchange Commission violations.
Deadline.Zeiler specifically mentioned “Harry Potter,” as well as “Game of Thrones” and DC movies, to be part of the future endeavors that will bring the company success.While there were no specifics of what the “Harry Potter” franchise will look like in the future, there has long been talk of a TV series circulating — although Warner Bros. and HBO Max both have previously denied rumors.“There are no ‘Harry Potter’ series in development at the studio or on the streaming platform,” Warner Bros. and HBO Max said in a joint statement in January 2021.However, it is unclear whether or not that has changed, or if there are any updated developments to a “Potter”-verse, as Zeiler suggested.Later that year, Daniel Radcliffe expressed what role he would want to play in the event of a reboot.“I would probably want to go with like, Sirius [Black] or [Remus] Lupin,” he said at the time.Most recently, HBO Max released the “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” documentary in January to celebrate the franchise’s two decades of success.Late “Harry Potter” star Alan Rickman, who played professor Severus Snape, left behind memories from the original franchise before he died.
K.J. Yossman Warner Bros. Discovery Intl President Gerhard Zeiler has set out the company’s post-merger strategy, re-iterating his belief in cinema as well as his commitment to “local stories,” despite the fact that HBO Max recently halted local original programming across a number of European territories, including in the Nordics, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey. “If you want to be a global player, you have to have relevant local stories,” Zeiler said at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) annual convention in London on Tuesday morning. “I mean don’t misunderstand me, the big kids will always be the Batmans, the Elvises, the Black Adams, which premieres next month here in the U.K.” He also pointed out that WBD invests in local films, citing productions in Japan and Germany, as well as streaming content.
Gerhard Zeiler has talked up the “development of franchises” including Harry Potter, DC and Game of Thrones as the key priority for the merged entity six months after he was handed the top international role.
The cast of HBO Max’s upcoming pilot More has been announced!
Joe Otterson TV Reporter Lukas Gage has joined the cast of the “Dead Boy Detectives” series at HBO Max, Variety has learned. The eight-episode series was ordered at HBO Max back in April. It is based on the DC comics of the same name as well as “The Sandman,” from characters created by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner. The official series description states, “It’s a fresh take on a ghost story that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), two dead British teenagers, and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson). So, it’s a lot like a vintage detective series — only darker and on acid.”
Joe Otterson TV Reporter Christian Serratos has been cast in the lead role of the HBO Max drama pilot “More,” Variety has learned exclusively. The project was originally ordered to pilot at HBO Max in September 2020. Serratos joins previously announced cast members Veronica Falcón, Yvette Monreal, Georgie Flores, and Ceci Fernandez. The show is inspired by the reporting of journalist Amy Chozick. Per the official description, “‘More’ follows the Lorenz family, a tight-knit clan of seemingly flawless Latinas led by mom/mastermind Leona (Falcón). The Lorenzes are the Vanderbilts or the Astors of the Instagram era. They pulled their way up from debt and obscurity to reality TV stardom and forged a billion-dollar mega-conglomerate not from oil or steel but from something more elusive and modern: Influence.”
EXCLUSIVE: Veronica Falcón (Perry Mason, Ozark), Yvette Monreal (DC’s Stargirl), Georgie Flores (Famous in Love), and Ceci Fernandez (WeCrashed) have been cast in series regular roles in the HBO Max Original drama pilot More, from executive producer/writer/co-showrunner Amy Chozick, Berlanti Productions, and Warner Bros. Television.
“Lethal Weapon 5” has already had a major tragic delay, with original director Richard Donner passing away in 2021. But now lead star and new director Mel Gibson claims another issue holds up the movie: the Warner Bros.
Who’s ready for “Magic Mike’s Last Dance“? According to Deadline, moviegoers need to add themselves to that list because Warner Bros. Discovery is now giving the film a theatrical release.