Variety 06/19/2024

We’d already planned to take a deep dive into the recent history of Paramount Global and how it came to be in such a vulnerable place last year — and then the M&A overtures began flying. All signs were pointing to the company striking an agreement with Skydance Media sometime this month, after more than six months of on-again-off-again talks that have kept Paramount operating in a fishbowl. But, as usual, where the Redstones are concerned, you can’t make up better boardroom drama (with apologies to “Succession” boss Jesse Armstrong) than is organically provided by this family of sharp-elbowed Bostonians. When the surprise news came on June 11 that Shari Redstone was ending negotiations with Skydance Media, just as the deal seemed to be at the finish line, we simply…

“This is a true story.” So begins “Baby Reindeer,” and those five words, which appear on a title card, have ignited a firestorm of controversy. Now, Netflix’s runaway hit about an aspiring comedian named Donny Dunn is facing uncomfortable scrutiny over its depiction of thinly veiled real-life people. On June 6, Fiona Harvey filed a $170 million lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the series falsely presented her as a sexual predator and a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison. (The character is named Martha, but fans identified Harvey as the series’ real-life antagonist within days of “Baby Reindeer”’s April 11 release, unleashing a torrent of online vitriol at her.) “As a result of [Netflix’s] lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined,” the suit…

The sultans of media and tech will break out their windbreakers and puffy vests for Allen & Co.’s annual Sun Valley conference next month. It’s a chance for these high-net-worth individuals to look “oh so casual” as they discuss the state of their industries and the world. The vibe is relaxed, but things aren’t going swimmingly for these denizens of one-percent-dom. The economy remains wobbly, new technologies are upending old ways of minting money, share prices are tumbling and geopolitical turbulence is intensifying. And though we don’t know exactly what will go down at the weeklong confab (Sun Valley is an off-the-record affair), we have a pretty good sense of what’s on these moguls’ minds as they hit the Idaho resort. • Who Gets the Keys to the Magic Kingdom?…

Omar Apollo may be a singer-songwriter, but he has a penchant for telling stories visually. “In my head, when I write, I can see the scene of a song,” says the Grammy-nominated performer. “Maybe when I’m 67 and not touring, I’ll focus all my time on making soundtracks — this next album is definitely in alignment with that goal.” Said album, “God Said No” (out June 28) follows 2022’s “Ivory,” which earned Apollo his first Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Evergreen,” and featured guests including Kali Uchis and the Neptunes. He’s had little downtime since, supporting the record with a tour and releasing the EP “Live for Me.” There, Apollo refashions poems into songs like “Ice Slippin,” which recounts the moment he came out to his parents: “And you thought what…

When U2 opened up Las Vegas’ Sphere last September, the band’s longtime creative director, Willie Williams, had a hard time fathoming how another act could follow the group into the new $2.3 billion dome, given the demands of the giant wraparound screen. “I can’t imagine how anybody else is ever going to play here, frankly,” Williams told Variety at the time, “because we’ve had 18 months to put it together — and absolutely everything is bespoke and involving things that we haven’t really had to think about before.” Cut to summer 2024. Dead & Company, the Grateful Dead spinoff, is in the middle of a three-month residency that nearly everyone agrees is equally mind-blowing. So how long has it been in process? And did the group know there would be…

2024 has been loaded with horror releases, with scary stories about everything from rampaging spiders to satanic late-night talk shows. This crop is distinctive for its unconventional reworkings of well-worn tropes. There’s a slasher that owes as much to Terrence Malick as to Jason Voorhees; a dystopian-future tale that eschews global destruction to examine the implosion of one family; and two movies about nuns with evil pregnancies. Better yet: Several of these efforts have made waves at the indie box office, illustrating the horror audience’s affinity for going to strange new places. Some of the year’s biggest titles are to come, from original works (“Trap,” “Longlegs”) to hotly anticipated sequels (“MaXXXine,” “Alien: Romulus”) to bone-chilling indies (“Terrifier 3,” “Oddity”). But the following already stand tall among 2024’s best releases. In…