‘Yellowjackets’ Composers Says Misty’s Dream Sequence Song Is ‘Punk and Kind of ‘Sweeney Todd’

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Warner Bros. Discovery is negotiating to sell around half of the storied Warner studio’s film and TV music-publishing assets for approximately $500 million, three sources confirm to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits. While it is unclear exactly which assets are on the table, one source says that the rights to “slightly less than half” of the catalog, with a price of around $500 million, are likely to go to a major label, with Sony said to be in the lead. The catalog is believed to include music from such films as “Purple Rain,” “Evita,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Rent” several “Batman” films and many more titles, as well as songs included in iconic films such as “As Time Goes By” from “Casablanca” — iconic titles to be sure, but again, it is unclear exactly which rights are in play. Top attorney Allen Grubman is said to be overseeing the deal for Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Love Island USA” is set to premiere on July 18 exclusively on Peacock, the streamer announced Wednesday.  The fifth season of “Love Island USA” will take place in Fiji with an all-new group of singles. Throughout the season, islanders will compete in challenges, face temptations and forge new relationships. Each week, new episodes will be available for streaming six days a week.  “Love Island USA” stands as Peacock’s most-streamed original reality competition series, heightening the anticipation for the show’s fifth season. David George, Adam Sher, Simon Thomas, Ben Thursby-Palmer, Andy Cadman, Iona Mackenzie and Claudine Parrish serve as executive producers, alongside Tom Gould, Richard Cowles, Mike Spencer, Richard Foster and Chet Fenster. The series is produced by ITV Entertainment. 

McKinley Franklin editor Anthony Anderson, Cynthia Bailey, Gina Rodriguez and Reggie Bush are of the announced celebrity clients set to be featured on Season 2 of Amazon Freevee’s “Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis.” Jeff Lewis is back for a second season of his home renovation show that features some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. Lewis’ team is comprised of Megan Weaver, Tyler Meyerkorth, Andrew Coleman and Shane Douglas, with the season sporting an all-new slate of celebrity talent looking for a revamping of their homes. Aside from Anderson, Bailey, Rodriguez and Bush, stars Noah Beck, Kate Bosworth, Josh Duhamel, Sara Foster, Regina Hall and Christina Ricci will be featured in the season. 

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Sherri Chung admits she was late to the “Gremlins” party — only because she was too young and found it too scary. But when she grew older and was reintroduced to the movie, she thought “it was the greatest thing ever.” The 1984 film, as well as Jerry Goldsmith’s score, became a key inspiration for her. So when she got the opportunity to score Max’s new animated series “Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai,” directed by Tze Chun, she decided to “lean into the scary and the fear, but also the emotion” with her music. The series is an origin story that gives a partial explanation as to how Gizmo ends up in a Chinatown antique store at the beginning of 1984’s “Gremlins.” To add a Chinese element to the score, Chung used bamboo flutes, but the meat of the score came from the erhu, a two-stringed bowed musical instrument sometimes referred to as the “Chinese violin.”

EXCLUSIVE: Paradigm on Friday announced its signing of Umbrelic Entertainment, the L.A. and Detroit-based film finance and production company founded and operated by Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Umbrelic will be repped within Paradigm’s Content Group department by Nick LoPiccolo and Babacar Diene.

Jinkx Monsoon. Cementing their place in the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Hall of Fame by winning “All Stars 7,” Monsoon strutted their stuff on Broadway, making herstory as the first drag performer in “Chicago” on the Great White Way. Now, the “internationally tolerated” star has an upcoming tour, and they just landed a part in “Doctor Who.” Monsoon spoke with Variety over Zoom from London, where they were preparing to film a role in the beloved sci-fi series alongside new Doctor Ncuti Gatwa. Even from across the pond, Monsoon makes it clear that fighting against the wave of anti-trans and anti-drag bills being passed in the U.S. is a top priority.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Pete Docter, Pixar’s creative chief officer, is hoping the animation studio’s 27th release, “Elemental,” will draw families to movie theaters this weekend. Peter Sohn‘s film is a story about immigration, families, duty and love. Not only does Docter say the visuals are “a spectacle,” but believes it should be experienced with an audience. Docter, who has been with the studio since the beginning and was upped to CCO in 2018, has come under criticism recently that Pixar has lost its magic touch. Here, Docter sits down with Variety over Zoom to discuss Pixar’s approach to programming, Cannes, “Elemental,” and what’s next for the studio.

Josh Groban is giving an eerie performance on Broadway as the title character in Sweeney Todd and he joined the cast to perform the opening number at the 2023 Tony Awards!

Broadway’s biggest night is back! The 2023 Tony Awards were held on Sunday, June 11, at the United Palace in New York City’s Washington Heights.

Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford both have special guests by their side at the 2023 Tony Awards!

Michelle Williams is playing the role of supportive wife tonight at the 2023 Tony Awards!

Gordon Cox Theater Editor As they say in “Into the Woods”: It takes two.  And not just in “Into the Woods.” The 2023 Tony nominations remind us several times over that sometimes an actor’s role is so closely tied to another that it’s difficult to imagine a performance without the organic give-and-take shared with a co-star.    From “Into the Woods,” there’s Sara Bareilles and Brian D’Arcy James, both contenders for Tony Awards as lead performers for their work in the tightly linked roles of the Baker and the Baker’s Wife. Among their fellow nominees, there’s Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as an accused murderer and the steadfast wife who strives to exculpate him in “Parade,” plus Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford as the murderous barber and the baker who loves him in “Sweeney Todd.” And the two lead roles in “Topdog/Underdog” and “Some Like It Hot” are so intertwined that these co-stars find themselves competing in the same category against a castmate.  

Emily Longeretta Jane Krakowski had one musical number in Season 1 of Apple TV+’s “Schmigadoon!” and she performed it from behind the wheel of a cramped convertible. It wasn’t much of a stage, but the Emmy nominee and musical theater veteran used every inch of the leather interior to sell her wistful yet seductive song, eventually wedging her high heel into the steering wheel to steady herself for the climatic high note. The performance is proof that no number is too small for Krakowski. But series creator and Emmy-winning songwriter Cinco Paul wanted to give her more to do in Season 2, which puts the series’ central couple Melissa (Cecily Strong) and Josh (Keegan-Michael Key) on the seedy streets of Schmicago, inspired by 1960s and ’70s musicals like ”Chicago” and “Cabaret.”

The 76th annual Tony Awards are set for Sunday, June 11, with plenty of musical performances, returning host Ariana DeBose, a new location venue — and no writers.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Daniel Pemberton pushed a few boundaries and “made something really creative and different” when he scored 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” When he returned to score the sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” he knew he would have to “push it as far as we can go.” Pemberton says he had to build the score from the ground up, which was complicated. “You’re trying not to make a score that sounds like other film scores. You’re trying to invent your own language.” Inventing that language took experimentation, research and failure. He explains, “I spent two years researching and developing this score, going through ideas, coming up with concepts and throwing them out.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor In the penultimate episode of “Ted Lasso” season 3, “Mom City” features Sam Ryder’s song “Fought & Lost,” a collaboration with Queen’s Brian May. Playing toward the end of the episode, the song acts as a bridge as Ted (Jason Sudeikis) as he has a heartfelt confrontation with his mother Dottie (Becky Ann Baker). The next day, he’s in his office to reveal a “truth bomb” to Rebecca, but the end credits roll before audiences get an answer. Ryder performed the piece in front of an audience at the Grammy Museum in Downtown Los Angeles at a special event with the show’s star Hannah Waddingham joining him.

upcoming co-host Julianne Hough and “So Help Me Todd” star Skylar Astin have been tapped to host “The Tony Awards: Act One,” a live pre-show that will present the first round of Tony Awards from 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

The show went on at Broadway’s Shucked on Wednesday night, though New York City’s bad air quality did have an impact on the staging: Book writer Robert Horn and composer Brandy Clark stepped in to play the main female character Maizy, with Horn reading the dialogue and Clark singing the songs.

Sweeney Todd is currently one of the hottest tickets on Broadway and the shows’ Tony-nominated stars are celebrating ahead of the big day this weekend.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Nominated for two Tony Awards in best choreography, Jennifer Weber describes “& Juliet” as a show filled with “music that makes you want to dance. It’s got music that everyone has danced to at some point in their lives.” The show uses memorable pop tunes from Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and more as it flips the Shakespearean tale of “Romeo and Juliet” by reimagining a world where Juliet doesn’t die. In putting together Act II’s “Problem/Can’t Feel My Face” epic song battle, Weber collaborated closely with costume designer Paloma Young. “We had similar visions in terms of storytelling,” she says. “Her costumes fuse this Elizabethan aesthetic with contemporary pop. A corset and Adidas track pants have never looked better together. Each [look] is super individual.”