Variety

#Sponsored | Nele Paves on Estonia’s growing appeal as a filming destination and how two new soundstages will complete the “last missing puzzle piece” in making the country fully film-friendly during a panel sponsored by Estonian Film Institute and Tallinnfilm Studios | Variety Global Conversations at Cannes Film Festival

COLUMN: Inde Navarrette’s performance in “Obsession“ should be remembered (and, more importantly, actually considered) come award season. Her work is singularly brave and brilliant, standing alongside rich horror performances in recent years like Lupita Nyong’o in “Us” and Toni Collette in “Hereditary.” Voters, don’t make the same mistake you did by ignoring those lauded women. Read the full column by William Earl: wp.me/pc8uak-1lHhMO

“Obsession“ has earned $30.2M in its first week at the box office on a $750,000 budget. It has already passed the entire runs of “Heretic” ($27.9M),” Midsommar” ($27.5M) and “Together” ($21M). The horror film is on track to surpass “Barbarian” ($41M) and “Hereditary” ($44M) by early next week. Read the full box office report from Jordan Moreau: https://lnkd.in/ecmrYpQ5

Ed Sheeran has left Warner Music Group Music after 15 years, citing a desire to change "a lot of things in [his] professional life." "This isn’t a ‘disgruntled artist leaves record label’ type situation," the singer wrote in a statement. "This is a boy who started as a teenager on the company with different priorities, to the father of 2 man who exists now, who feels like he needs a shift and change in the way he does things professionally." https://lnkd.in/escd2BBH

#Sponsored | Phillip Jones shares about “building the ecosystem” in AlUla's growing film industry by training a local crew base and working with the Red Sea Film Foundation on a panel sponsored by Film AlUla | Variety Global Conversations at Cannes Film Festival

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Spotify is launching a new tool allowing fans to create “responsible” AI-generated covers and remixes of their favorite songs from participating artists and songwriters. The new tool will launch as a paid add-on for Spotify Premium users, creating an additional source of income for artists and songwriters. Read the full report from Jem Aswad: https://lnkd.in/ergeVzQB

Apple will broadcast a special live MLS game on May 23 shot entirely on 15 iPhone 17 Pros. This will mark the first major live sports event captured using only smartphones. https://lnkd.in/dagCuk8w

Hollywood has always been on the precipice of accelerating broader societal change: stigmatizing drunk driving, introducing seat belts, promoting same-sex marriage -- and now, the entertainment industry is leaning into stories that promote climate issues and humanity's relationship with the planet. Check out our latest impactful story from Cynthia Littleton:

For decades, Hollywood largely avoided environmental themes out of fear audiences would see them as homework. But as climate concerns have become harder to ignore, mainstream film and TV are leaning into stories about humanity’s relationship with the planet. The Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, a consortium backed by major studios and streamers including The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony, is working with Hollywood to define the environmental issues at stake and spotlight them through compelling stories. “For audiences, climate is not an abstract policy issue anymore. It’s wildfires affecting where you live. It’s extreme heat changing your summer. It’s the cost of your insurance. It’s clean water,” says SEA executive director Sam Read. “When something becomes part of your daily reality, it naturally becomes part of the stories you tell and the stories you want to see.” Here are 10 Earth-friendly titles to watch that effectively bring climate and environmental themes to the screen: • “Hoppers” (The Walt Disney Company / Disney+) • “Fallout” (Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios) • “The Wild Robot” (Peacock / DreamWorks Animation) • “Silo” (Apple TV+) • “Alien: Earth” (FX) • “The Last of Us” (HBO) • “Paradise” (Hulu) • “Project Hail Mary” (Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios) • “Fire Country” (CBS) • “Remarkably Bright Creatures” (Netflix) Read the full story by Cynthia Littleton: wp.me/pc8uak-1lHi7B