hollywoodreporter.com - 12 617 Showbiz News and Updates

Apple's services business is off to a hot start in 2021. The tech giant's services revenue topped $16.9 billion in the first quarter of the year, up from $13.3 billion a year ago.

Far from the consistent critical glory of Sundance contemporaries like Kelly Reichardt and Debra Granik — or even the sporadic critical glory of a Lisa Cholodenko or an Ira Sachs — and not to be confused with more marketable writing-directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have forged one of the most perplexing career paths in American independent film.

Mobile gaming company Wildlife Studios has launched its second independent studio, SuperWOW! Games. The studio will be led byLu Gigliotti, known for developing franchises such as Need for Speed No Limits and Devil May Cry.

Jurnee Smollett will star in the Netflix thriller Lou, appearing oppositeAllison Janney. J.J.

Facebook has unveiled first quarter results that underlined continuing user growth during the pandemic, while also warning revenue growth would slow down towards the end of 2021, when compared with the COVID-era growth in 2020. Facebook, which is led by Mark Zuckerberg, on Wednesday reported that revenue grew 48 percent during the fourth quarter to $26.1 billion, with advertising revenue rising 46 percent to $25.4 billion.

Florence Pugh is set to star in Sebastian Lelio's adaptation of Emma Donoghue'spsychological thrillerThe Wonder, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The novel by the Irish-Canadian writer is set in the Irish Midlands in 1859 as an English nurse, Lib Wright, goes to a tiny village to observe what some see as a medical anomaly and others a miracle, that a girl has survived without food for months.

Sony Pictures Entertainment veteran exec Keith Le Goy has been named chairman of distribution and networks.

Film, TV and Broadway star Norbert Leo Butz has signed with APA. Butz stars in NBC's Debris series and nabbed a lead role as Rex Foster in the Disney+ adaptation of Tim Federle’s YA novel Better Nate Than Ever.

Gabrielle Union is set to release a new memoir. Dey Street Books, an imprint of the William Morrow Group at HarperCollins, will publish Union’s You Got Anything Stronger? in September.

When Donald Glover’s stunning starter home in the sleepy Los Angeles suburb of La Cañada Flintridge first hit the market in February, the listingattracted substantial publicityfrom Dirt and other outlets. One of the deep-pocketed folks who caught wind of the sale was Mark Fischbach, the 31-year-old gaming YouTuber better known as Markiplier.

The producer of acclaimed documentaries John Lewis: Good Trouble and The Way I See It is going into business with Industrial Media. Trilogy Films, led by Dawn Porter, has signed an overall deal with the independent production group specializing in unscripted content, becoming the sixth company to partner with Industrial.

Isabela Merced, who starred in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, has joined Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan inWarner Bros.' remake ofFather of the Bride. Gaz Alazraki, who helmedClub deCuervos, is directing the feature, which goes before cameras in May.

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the ship from which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left to make their historic first steps on the moon in 1969, died Wednesday of cancer, his family said. He was 90.

New event cinema company Iconic Events — led by an impressive roster of exhibiton industry veterans — has named Steve Bunnell to serve as its CEO. The Los Angeles-based venture also said it has enlisted theatrical circuits representing over 1,000 locations to the expanding network of theaters playing its programming.

Bob Iger has defended The Walt Disney Co.'s pivot before and during the pandemic from its legacy theatrical movie and TV business to a growing focus on the streaming space with Disney+ and other digital platforms. "It all worked out and it worked out great," Iger said of the November 2019 Disney+ launch while receiving an honorary Clio Award on Wednesday.

In a four-way bidding war, Hulu has landed the neo-feminist drama series$ugar, about a Sugar Baby ring formed at Stanford University. The darkly comedic show, which is in the very early stages of development, hails from rising writer and producerKimi Howl Lee.

Dax Shepard is opening up about sharing the news with his children that he had a drug relapse last year. While a guest onChelsea Clinton's In Fact podcast on Tuesday, the 46-year-old actor said he and wifeKristen Bell are open and honest with their daughters, Lincoln, 8, andDelta, 6.

Mysteries filter through HBO’s new limited series “Mare of Easttown” like water through a sieve.

Action-thriller The Survivalist starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Malkovich has been acquired by Quiver Distribution for North America. The feature, directed by Jon Keeyes, takes place after a viral pandemic decimates the world.

Gal Gadot is reteaming with Wonder Woman producersCharles Roven andRichard Suckle for a romance with a sci-fi twist. Based on the debut novel of the same name from Catriona Silvey,Meet Me in Another Life followsThora and Santi, kindred spirits that keep meeting in different versions of reality, where they could befriends, colleagues, lovers or enemies.

If you're going to build a new character-driven action franchise — and hang tight for a coda sequence midway through the end credits to see how that would take shape — then you need a charismatic lead to lay the foundations. Tom Clancy's Without Remorse certainly has that in Michael B.

Bob Odenkirk is set to release a memoir. Random House announced Wednesday that it will publishComedy Comedy Comedy Drama: A Memoir, which is slated for a 2022 release.

Buckle up, Sopranos fans. There is a new mini-chapter to the iconic HBO series.

NFL legend, Super Bowl champion and Fox Sports and ESPN football analyst Reggie Bush has signed with A3 Artists Agency. Bush retired from the NFL after 11 seasons in 2017 and away from the game has appeared on TV shows like the Mike and Molly comedy and in national TV commercials.

The embattled Chateau Marmont is facing yet another discrimination lawsuit as a celebrity-fueled boycott gains steam.

Everyone connected with Thomas Vinterberg's Oscar-winning dramedy Another Round has a drinking story. For Emil Goll, lead singer of Scarlet Pleasure — the band behind the song "What a Life," which plays over the film's final, climactic dancing scene — it was his first time being full-out wasted with fellow band member Joachim Dencker, or as the Danes call it, "druk," the movie's original title.

Three years after Frances McDormand brought the concept of an inclusion rider public during her 2018 Oscars acceptance speech, a reimagined version of this tool to guarantee inclusive hiring on film and television productionshas been launched.

The true pleasure ofThe Outside Storydoesn’t come from its heartwarming message about community or its nostalgic rendering of a mask-less, pre-pandemic New York City, but from Brian Tyree Henry’s exceptional performance in his first big-screen lead role. A few years ago, Henry awed viewers as Paper Boi, the moody, low-key rapper in Donald Glover’s FX hitAtlanta.

After a year in which COVID-19 stay-at-home orders limited options for consumers, giving a boost to streamers like Netflix and Disney+, 2021 may see subscriber churn become a bigger issue amid gradual reopenings. Last May, 14 percent of respondents to a Deloitte Insights survey said they had “canceled” or both “added and canceled” a paid streamer.