Variety 07/31/2024

We produced a metric ton of coverage of Taylor Swift and “The Eras Tour” over the past two years. But we didn’t fully capture the phenomenon that the concert experience has become for Swift’s most ardent fans until we put Chris Willman on a plane to Dublin to commune with Swifties three June nights in a row. Willman, Variety’s chief music critic, returned from Eire with a report that, like Swift’s music, will stand the test of time. It’s a colorful snapshot of the fandom that has fueled the biggest, longest, most successful concert tour of all time. Willman channels his inner Tom Wolfe with an eye and ear for the telling detail, such as the “Spangly American,” or the mothers and daughters who wrangled overseas treks in order to…

For all the raunchy jokes, club drugs, buckets of blood and meta punchlines, “Deadpool & Wolverine” may be the most sentimental movie of the summer. Hollywood insiders and super-hero-film fans were stunned to discover that last weekend’s Marvel blockbuster basically amounts to a big, sobbing, “Steel Magnolias”-grade send-off to 20th Century Fox. After all, it was at that defunct studio, founded in 1935 and sold by Rupert Murdoch to Disney in 2019, that “Deadpool” first shimmied on-screen in a skintight bondage suit and pistols. It’s also where two decades’ worth of Marvel films were made, most notably the “X-Men” series, which catapulted Hugh Jackman to stardom. These characters first appeared in Marvel Comics but were licensed to Fox, leaving them operating outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the moniker for Disney’s…

The first San Diego Comic-Con in five years without pandemic cancellations, COVID protocols or strike-related pullbacks was a refreshing return to normal. “Transformers One” stars Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Keegan-Michael Key charmed attendees in the 6,500-person Hall H by geeking out over the original 1980s cartoon series. There wasn’t an empty seat to be found in the “Abbott Elementary” panel, but the hit ABC comedy really made an impact with A.V.A. Fest (A Very Abbott Festival), a larger-than-life carnival activation that was the talk of the Con. Vice president Kamala Harris even popped up (via prerecorded video) at the panel for “The Simpsons.” And yet, the presumptive Democratic nominee couldn’t quite equal the sensation caused by the former Iron Man. Deadpool and RDJ Conquer Hall H Marvel Studios…

There’s a meta moment in Season 8 of “Jet Lag: The Game” when the stars of the un-scripted travel competition series are seated on a plane behind a fan watching an episode of the show on the streaming platform Nebula. Catching a “Jet Lag” viewer in the wild would have been unthinkable when the series bowed in 2022. But not anymore. Nebula is part of a wave of streamer startups that are owned by content creators and cater to niche audiences and passionate fandoms. The list also includes Dropout (formerly known as CollegeHumor) and Beacon, a Dungeons & Dragons-focused service that evolved from the YouTube channel Critical Role (which boasts 2.3 million subscribers). These outlets bill themselves as vehicles for reaching the super fans of their niches, and they wear…

Will NBCUniversal score a grand triomphe over 17 consecutive Parisian nights this summer? The broadcaster presents its 18th Olympic Games, running from the July 26 opening ceremony to the Aug. 11 conclusion. Here are the numbers that matter during what NBCU is claiming will be the “biggest media event ever.” 7,000+ Total programming hours across NBCU’s linear and digital platforms, including 5,000-plus hours on Peacock, which for the first time will livestream all 329 medal events across 32 sports. In aggregate, the lineup is roughly what the broadcaster delivered for the 2021 Tokyo Games $1.25B+ Amount of advertising revenue NBCU execs expect from the Paris Olympics, anticipating it will exceed the take from the COVID-delayed Tokyo Games -42% Decline in viewership across NBCU TV and digital platforms for the Tokyo…

The only woman to have scaled Mount Everest 10 times is making easy work of a steep hill in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. On a blistering July day, Lhakpa Sherpa — whose remarkable story is told in the documentary “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa” — is leading a hike that has most of the group huffing and mopping their brows. But the 50-year-old Sherpa, clad in sandals and wrapped in a sweater, isn’t even breaking a sweat. “Mountain Queen” details Sherpa’s journey to becoming the first Nepali woman to summit Everest in 2000, a particularly impressive feat as she was illiterate and had no formal education. But the movie, which arrives on Netflix July 31, isn’t just an account of physical triumph. It begins in 2022, with Sherpa…