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Joe Otterson TV Reporter Some of this TV season’s blood has already been spilled — looking at you, “NCIS: Hawai’i” — but as we head toward upfronts week, there are still a number of broadcast shows “on the bubble.” But as the networks settle in on a diet of mostly stable franchises and fewer series pilots, there’s also less primetime schedule frenzy this year. The days before upfronts week which would normally mean a rapid fire few days of broadcast series renewals and cancellations announcements. But normal left the building a long time ago.

J. Kim Murphy The summer box office isn’t exactly starting with a bang. Universal’s action-romance “The Fall Guy,” starring Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stuntman courting a rising director played by Emily Blunt, earned $10.4 million from 4,002 locations on its opening day, a figure that includes $3 million and change from preview screenings.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The year is 1989, one of Michael Jordan‘s most iconic moments is simply called “The Shot.” The shoes he was wearing when he hit the game-winning basket over Craig Ehlo and the Cleveland Cavaliers were the Nike Air Jordan 4 sneakers. And to celebrate the 35th anniversary of that historic moment in Michael Jordan’s basketball history (May 7, 1989), Nike is re-releasing the Air Jordan 4 sneakers in a new North Carolina “blue industry” colorway for a new generation.

Jack Dunn The morning of the “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” premiere, stars of the film Peter Macon and Ras-Samuel discovered they were staying at the same hotel while getting breakfast. And when they met eyes from either end of the buffet line, they did not greet each other with a wave or a simple hello, they did so as apes. Embodying their characters, they dropped their shoulders and shuffled together, hooting and panting at the sight of a friend.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Vive la France! Vive la WWE! The first major event after Wrestlemania XL is also one of the biggest events in Europe. The WWE is going international with Backlash France 2024.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Elaine Epstein says that winning Hot Docs Forum’s top First Look prize of Can $20,000 cash for her film “Arrest the Midwife” is a “game changer.” The project, which has been on a close to year-long hiatus, will now finally be able to resume due to the award. “The last money we raised was 10 months ago,” Epstein said. “So it’s been a while.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood A-list actor Kareena Kapoor Khan has been appointed national ambassador for India by humanitarian organization UNICEF. UNICEF has been operating in India for 75 years and Kapoor Khan has been serving as the org’s celebrity advocate since 2014.

Addie Morfoot Contributor During a Distribution Advocates podcast recording at Hot Docs, producer/director Amy Hobby announced a new documentary $200,000 grant called The Marketing Innovations Fund, which will go to independent distributors. Hobby co-founded Distribution Advocates in 2020 alongside Abby Sun, Avril Speaks, Carlos Gutierrez and Karin Chien.

Julia MacCary editor Pauly Shore once again addressed his in-development Richard Simmons biopic that has become a hot topic. “I’m also gonna be starring in the Richard Simmons biopic…whether he likes it or not, Richard,” Shore said at his Netflix Is a Joke show at the Comedy Store Friday night in Los Angeles. “Just another fucking bump in my fucking road.” Shore’s hour-and-a-half comedy set spanned his life story with a particular focus on growing up in Los Angeles with parents Sammy Shore and Mitzi Shore who co-founded the Comedy Store.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer The war of words wages on between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and this time it’s personal.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer Less than 15 hours before it was scheduled to begin, Lovers & Friends Festival 2024 has been canceled due to “dangerous weather,” said event organizers in a post to their website. The one-day festival, which was supposed to begin at noon on Saturday (May 4) in Las Vegas, was shaping up to be a millennial mixtape dream come true with headlining sets from Usher, Backstreet Boys, Janet Jackson and Alicia Keys.

Alison Herman TV Critic Los Angeles is not the first city fans would associate with comedian John Mulaney. That would be Chicago, his hometown and the backdrop to innumerable childhood anecdotes in his stand-up act, or New York, where he broke out as a writer on “Saturday Night Live” and shot a special at Radio City Music Hall.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer When Amazon‘s “The Boys” debuts its fourth season next month, things are shaping up to be crazier than the time they blew up a whale and that other time they blew up a giant penis, as it seems Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr) are ready to burn their whole lives down — and take everyone else with them. In “The Boys” Season 4 trailer, Butcher reveals to Hughie (Jack Quaid), Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and the rest of the Boys that time is running out for him, and with the few numbered days he and his weakened heart have left, he’s looking to unleash a deadly virus on the supe community.

Charlie Puth woke up to a big surprise the morning following the release of Taylor Swift’s new “The Tortured Poets Department” album. Swift’s lyrics have always had a way of setting the internet on fire with references to her personal life and other pop culture homages.

Selome Hailu Paramount+ tends to lag in both Luminate and Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings, but came through with a No. 4 title for the April 26-May 2. “Knuckles,” a limited series based on the “Sonic the Hedgehog” video games, debuted on the first day of this viewing period and was watched for 450 million minutes.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees ended its first week of “general” negotiations on a new contract on Friday, and will resume next week. The union spent most of the week focused on its benefit plans, which are facing a $670 million shortfall over the next three years. The Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans extended health coverage to members who were out of work due to last year’s strikes, leaving an unusually large funding gap.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated drama “Io Capitano,” about the odyssey of two young African men who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe, and Paola Cortellesi’s feminist dramedy “There’s Still Tomorrow” were both the big winners at Italy’s 69th David di Donatello Awards. “Io Capitano” won Davids for best picture, director, producers, editor, and cinematographer, among other prizes, while “Still Tomorrow,” which is about the plight of an abused housewife in post-war Rome and had 19 nominations scored six statuettes, including best directorial debut, actress, non supporting actress, screenplay, and audience award.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The smell of success is… well, you know what it is: too sweet. Hozier has never been about chasing the hit, but he’s got one regardless, as the Irish singer-songwriter’s “Unheard” EP quickly generated the first No. 1 Hot 100 single of his career, in the form of “Too Sweet,” a wry ballad about mismatched lovers.

Jennie Punter Nishta Jain’s “Farming the Revolution” has won Hot Docs’ Best International Feature Documentary Award, it was announced Friday at the festival’s awards ceremony, held in Toronto at the Centre for Social Innovation–Annex. Produced by Jain (Raintree Films) and Valérie Montmartin (Little Big Story) and co-directed by cinematographer Akash Basumatari, the film follows the massive year-long gathering of Indian farmers protesting unjust new farm laws that they felt would impact their markets. The jury said, “‘Farming the Revolution’ spotlights the power of ordinary people with an enduring cinematic sophistication and an indomitable lyrical presence.” The award comes with a Cnd.

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses plot elements from “The Fall Guy,” now playing in theaters. Long before Taylor Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, director David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick had the idea to use “All Too Well” as a key moment in “The Fall Guy.” McCormick, a self-professed Swiftie, and Leitch were trying to find a fresh and contemporary song to fit into a particular scene. In the film, Ryan Gosling plays Colt Seavers, one of Hollywood’s top stuntmen. After experiencing an on-set accident, he falls off the grid for 18 months, ghosting aspiring director Jody (Emily Blunt), someone he also happens to be dating.

Katcy Stephan Hollywood’s next bidding war is about to erupt. “Eruption,” the much-discussed upcoming volcano disaster novel from the late Michael Crichton and James Patterson, is about to be brought to auction, attracting a large group of suitors keen on landing the sought-after film rights.

Ellise Shafer Kevin Spacey has responded to abuse allegations against him in the new doc “Spacey Unmasked” via a video response posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. Journalist Dan Wootton interviewed Spacey in a lengthy video titled “Right of Reply,” and Spacey asserted, “I’ve got nothing left to hide.” “Why didn’t you just deny it?” Wootton asked about the early Anthony Rapp allegation. Spacey said he didn’t know what to do.

Lexi Carson The female drivers of Formula 1’s F1 Academy have a docuseries about them currently in the works at Netflix courtesy of Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine Variety has learned exclusively that the docuseries, which was announced as being in development last year, is now in production will be available to stream globally on Netflix in 2025. No network or streamer was attached at the time of the original announcement.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor When Jensen Huang’s software company Nvidia invented the graphic processing unit, it fundamentally changed the world. Huang is set to receive the Gold House A1 honor in business and technology. The GPU was one step ahead of the CPU (computer processing unit) and being one step ahead is how Huang, Nvidia’s president and CEO, has been.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The summer movie season kicks off in theaters this month with “The Fall Guy,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Furiosa” and more big budget studio tentpoles. Streaming platforms are also going big with buzzy originals (from Prime Video’s “The Idea of You,” starring Anne Hathaway, to Netflix’s star-studded comedy “Unfrosted”) as well as some of the best movies of 2023 (Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw” and Michael Mann’s “Ferrari”) making their debuts on platforms such as Netflix, Max, Hulu and more.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Maggie Rogers is headlining arenas for the first time this fall, but she didn’t want it to feel like moving into bigger spaces for her concerts would mean a more impersonal experience. So for 11 shows that just went on sale in late April, she went out and personally manned the box office on opening day to help sell tickets for those big shows.

Todd Gilchrist editor Breakfast is often called the most important meal of the day. It’s also long been a fixture of Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy — from “The Tonight Show” routines about Cookie Crisp to the Honeycomb and Raisin Bran boxes lining the shelves of his cupboards on “Seinfeld.” His directorial debut, “Unfrosted,” brings the obsession full circle, chronicling the 1960s origins of Kellogg’s Pop-Tart.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The child actors from “Mrs. Doubtfire“ recently reunited nearly 31 years after the movie’s release for a joint interview on the “Brotherly Love” podcast, where Lisa Jakub revealed that Robin Williams wrote a letter to her school principal when she got expelled for taking time off to star in the blockbuster comedy film (via Entertainment Weekly). Jakub starred in the movie as Lydia Hillard, the eldest daughter of Williams and Sally Field’s characters.

Hunter Ingram SPOILER ALERT: This post contains major spoilers from “Go Home,” the sixth episode of “Sugar,” now streaming on Apple TV+. If you had “Colin Farrell’s new noir detective series is really a front for an ethereal alien drama” on your 2024 TV predictions, then take a bow, because this week’s episode of Apple TV+’s “Sugar” was all for you. And yes, you read that right. In the show’s sixth episode, Farrell’s character John Sugar is revealed to be a bluish-purple, humanoid alien masquerading as a classic Hollywood-obsessed private detective tracking down the missing granddaughter of a famous film director (James Cromwell).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UPADTED: After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all — for now. Insiders tell Variety that the expectation at the company is that neither of the two offers in play — Skydance Media-RedBird Capital Partners and Sony Pictures Entertainment-Apollo Global Management — will come to fruition. And Redstone is said to have reluctantly concluded that a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance, a longtime partner of Paramount Pictures, will not be possible.