MipTV: Banijay Taking School Reunion Dating Show ‘Alumni Lovers’ to France and Netherlands (EXCLUSIVE)

The National have added a massive Cardiff Castle show to their summer 2024 UK and Ireland tour plans.The American quintet – comprised of Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf and Scott Devendorf – are set to perform at the iconic Wales establishment on July 3.They will be joined by special guests, New Zealand psychedelic rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who will serve as the opening act for the night. Tickets for the Cardiff Castle gig are available to purchase here.The National are also set to perform at a variety of festivals this summer including taking over the Other Stage at this year’s edition of Glastonbury.

Rob Brydon looks worlds away from his Gavin and Stacey days in his latest acting role.The actor is arguably best known for his portrayal of Bryn in the hit BBC sitcom, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones. Rob, 58, has swapped Barry Island for Tudor England in new series My Lady Jane, in which he portrays Lord Dudley.The upcoming romantic period drama is due to be released on Prime Video on 27 June, and is set in an alt-Tudor world. History has almost been rewritten in the series, as King Henry VIII's son Edward does not die of tuberculosis, and Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford are not beheaded in a twist of events.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) South Asia has a sizzling summer slate lined up in the kids space including a mix of anime and homegrown IP. Launching on the Indian animation-focused Pogo channel in May is new Indian IP “Jay Jagannath.” The series portrays the friendship between the Hindu God Lord Jagannath, who has taken the form of a child, Jagan, and his devout follower Balaram.

Manchester United and Chelsea are reportedly battling it out to sign RB Leipzig centre-back Castello Lukeba.

Manchester United are being linked with several potential new signings ahead of the summer transfer window.

Lise Pedersen In an exclusive interview with Variety after picking up the top industry prize at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel, Franco-Iranian director Mehran Tamadon outlined the intention of his upcoming feature documentary “The Last Days of the Hospital.” Set against the backdrop of France’s public health crisis and shortage of personnel, the film will show patients from a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Paris taking charge of their own ward. Tamadon has been running film workshops with the patients at the hospital for the past eight years, and decided it was time to make a film to denounce what he describes as “the ultra-liberal policy which plans the death of the public hospital.” “French public hospitals are not doing well, nurses and caregivers are leaving because they are mistreated and poorly paid.

Luann de Lesseps is reacting to the rumors about her dating life.

Jon Cunliffe's line of work has taken him worlds away from his birthplace of Bury.

As Standing Rock Sioux writer and theologian Vine Deloria Jr. once said, “Religion is for people who're afraid of going to Hell.

Firefighters have warned lives could be at risk after tendering for a new 999 mobilisation system failed to attract any bidders.

Alex Ritman Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (“Augure by Baloji,” “My New Friends”), French producer Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu,” “Staying Vertical”), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (“The Blue Caftan,” “Our Mothers,” “Casablanca Beats”) and Canadian film critic, journalist and frequent Variety contributor Ben Croll have been named on the jury for the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival. The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.

Well Go USA has landed North American rights for Dutch action thriller Invasion about a daring military operation in the wake of a hostile attack on the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor AMC Networks plans to offer ad-supported versions to all of its targeted streaming services by the end of the 2024-2025 upfront market, part of a broader bid to give advertisers a potential perch in nearly every video venue. AMC in late 2023 launched an ad-supported edition of its flagship AMC+ streaming venue, which comprises offerings from Shudder, Sundance Now and IFC Films Unlimited. Now, it wants to offer plans tied to those individual hubs, as well as other services, outside of an overarching AMC+ plan.

The boss of Mediawan has praised the “very smart” buying community who in recent years have moved on from a domineering TV rights position.

Love Island is set for a major revamp as it approaches its 10th anniversary in 2025.The ITV dating show's producers are reportedly ready to quadruple their weekly budget to secure a new location beyond Majorca. A unique property "shaped like a UFO" located in Portugal's stunning Algarve region has been identified as an early favourite.

Selome Hailu Netflix is at or near the top of both Nielsen and Luminate‘s streaming rankings every week, but achieved that with some titles that differ from its usual fare during the March 29-April 3 viewing window. As expected, “3 Body Problem” remained the most-watched streaming original series of the week per Luminate with 964.1 million minutes watched (an estimated 3.6 million views) — unsurprising, as the title is the follow-up from “Game of Thrones” helmers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who created the show alongside Alexander Woo.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent With one week to go before the press conference unveiling the 77th Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, director Thierry Fremaux is pledging to remain zen — despite wrestling with submission delays, reverberations of Hollywood’s double strikes and high expectations after last year’s edition unveiled Oscar winners “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall.” This year’s edition is already heating up, with George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” confirmed to premiere at the festival and Quentin Dupieux’s “A Second Act,” starring Léa Seydoux, set as the opening night film. In his first and only interview ahead of the lineup reveal, Fremaux tells Variety all about this year’s edition, including his hopes to welcome back Francis Ford Coppola with “Megalopolis” and Yorgos Lanthimos with “Kinds of Kindness,” his appeal to Ted Sarandos to lure Netflix back on the Croisette, his stance on France’s new #MeToo reckoning, the presence of female directors at the festival and how geopolitical turmoil may shape the Official Selection. Last year was a milestone year for the Cannes Film Festival. How did you approach this year’s lineup, and how many films have been selected so far? The unanimous feedback we got is that 2023 was a really great year.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Mario Van Peebles has been tapped to direct “That’ll Be the Day,” the story of how Buddy Holly and other musicians of the late 1950s helped give birth to rock ‘n’ roll and influence the wider societal and cultural landscape, including the civil rights movement. Music has been central to much of Van Peebles’ work, from his 1991 gangster movie “New Jack City” to his work on “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” which he co-executive produced for Hulu.

Movistar Plus+ original film and the awaited next feature from Spain’s Iciar Bollaín (“Take My Eyes,” “Maixabel”), has closed its earliest pre-sales, struck by Film Factory Entertainment, including a bellwether deal in France. The deals come as “I’m Nevenka” has wrapped production, shooting in the Basque city of Bilbao before transferring to rural Zamora, western Spain.

Annika Pham On the eve of the global content market MipTV in Cannes, Viaplay Group’s Vanda Rapti, EVP Viaplay Select and Content Distribution, has offered a confident outlook on the Scandi streamer’s international activities and content sales. The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to announce exclusively to Variety a string of new deals on Viaplay’s premium Nordic scripted content.