Taormina Celebrates its 70th Anniversary With the Nastri d’Argento Awards, a Host of Italian Comedy Stars and Some Sparks

Taylor Swift is set to touch down to round off the UK leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour in a matter of days and fans are getting excited for her final performances.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The American Music Awards is taking one more year off. CBS and Dick Clark Productions are set to announce Tuesday that the AMAs, which weren’t held in 2023 — the first time the kudocast went dark since its 1974 launch — also won’t hand out awards in 2024. Instead, the next ceremony (dubbed “the world’s largest fan-voted award show”) will take place in May 2025, the network and producer revealed — shifting the AMAs to the spring for the first time.

Jack Dunn Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, AP reports. Walz, an Army veteran and former teacher, has been a leading figure in campaigning for Harris and is credited with calling Trump “weird,” which grew into a wider Democratic messaging strategy. Before serving as the governor of Minnesota, Walz served six terms in the House of Representatives.

Trap.The film, written, directed and produced by Shyamalan, follows serial killer Cooper Adams (Hartnett) who has to evade police while attending a pop concert with his daughter.Other cast members include Ariel Donoghue, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, Kid Cudi, and Saleka Shyamalan, who is the director’s daughter.This is M. Night Shyamalan’s 16th film, following last year’s Knock At The Cabin, 2021’s Old, and Glass starring Samuel L. Jackson.The film’s score is by Herdís Stefánsdóttir, who previously collaborated with Shyamalan on Knock At The Cabin.Along with being part of electric-pop duo East Of My Youth, her other soundtrack credits include Y: The Last Man, The Essex Serpent, and HBO series We’re Here.The rest of the soundtrack has been created by Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka, who plays fictional pop star Lady Raven in the film.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leon Marchand, the 22 year-old swimming champion who made Team France proud with four gold medals and one silver at the Paris Olympics, ranks as one of the games’ biggest breakout athletes. After wrapping up his last competition on Monday, Marchand, who is originally from Toulouse, in Southern France, and travelled to Paris with his parents and brother, embarked on a wall-to-wall media tour marathon but reportedly snubbed one of the Olympics’ most popular talk shows, “Quels Jeux,” which is hosted by prominent journalist Lea Salamé and airs on broadcaster France Televisions. According to Le Parisien newspaper, it is because Salamé’s show “doesn’t fit his values,” although they didn’t expand on why that might be.

HBO has just dropped a bone-chilling teaser for the much-anticipated prequel series to It, titled Welcome To Derry, following the announcement that production has concluded.

Chappell Roan is on her way to claiming her first UK Number One album, with breakthrough debut ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’.Released last September, the album marked the long-awaited debut LP from Roan and, while it did well on the US charts, it had less of an impact in the UK.However, following the singer’s huge surge in popularity over the past few months, the debut has been making waves in England and is on course for the top position on the charts – nearly a year after it first arrived.The rise in her profile comes thanks to the huge global success of her one-off single ‘Good Luck, Babe!’, as well as the support slot she locked in on Olivia Rodrigo’s huge run of ‘Guts’ tour dates.Currently, ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ is sat at the Number Two spot on the Official Singles Charts, and ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’ has moved up three places midweek in the album charts thanks to the release of a vinyl variant (via Official Charts).At the time of writing, two of Roan’s singles have already made it to the UK Top 40 singles charts: ‘HOT TO GO!’, which peaked at Number 19, and ‘Red Wine Supernova’ climbed to Number 38.Other competitors for the UK Number One album are Charli XCX, who has been dominating the music charts this summer with her hit album ‘Brat’, Jack White’s latest record ‘No Name’ (currently at Number Six), Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s ‘VULTURES 2’ (Nine), Sam Smith’s reissued 2014 debut album ‘In The Lonely Hour’ (22) and 86TVs’ self-titled album (27).Around the time of its release, Roan’s debut album was given a glowing four-star review by NME, with Hannah Mylrea describing it as laden with “unabashedly fun anthems”.“Sharp pop moments shine brighter than some of the weaker ballads that pad

Naman Ramachandran Ridley Scott‘s “Gladiator” is set to return to London’s Royal Albert Hall for a 25th anniversary screening as part of the venue’s Films in Concert series. Scheduled for April 26, 2025, the event will feature the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorus performing Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard‘s Golden Globe-winning score live. Matthew Todd, director of programming at the Royal Albert Hall, noted the venue’s Roman amphitheater-inspired design as a fitting backdrop for the gladiatorial epic.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor MAD World has acquired global rights to Sylvie Ballyot‘s Lebanon Civil War documentary feature “Green Line,” which will be competing for the Golden Leopard in the main competition of the Locarno Film Festival. “Green Line,” co-written by Ballyot and Fida Bizri, uses miniature sets of Beirut and figurines to reconstruct Bizri’s turbulent upbringing during the Lebanese Civil War, which took place between 1975 and 1990.

Annika Pham Four U.K. genre-bending titles from Zu Quirke (“Nocturne”), Corinna Faith (“The Power”), Anna Fredrikke Bjerke (writer of Netflix’s “Midsummer Night”) and Ashley Horner will be teased to potential Nordic partners Aug. 21, at the 19th Nordic Co-production Market in Haugesund, Norway.

Parents across Scotland are sacrificing essentials like food in order to afford school uniforms for their kids, a charity has warned.

uncle Robert Fellowes’ funeral — but only “if it doesn’t cause too much drama,” his pal has revealed. The Duke of Sussex, 39, has reportedly been in contact with his aunt and his cousins, as well as his late mother Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, following his uncle’s death.Lord Fellowes, who was married to Diana’s sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, and served for a time as the late Queen Elizabeth II’s private secretary, died of undisclosed causes on July 29.

House Of The Dragon’s second season served as a steady build to the Targaryen conflict ahead, as Rhaenyra sets her sights on the Iron Throne.Created by George R.R. Martin and showrunner Ryan Condal, the prequel series is set 200 years before the events in Game Of Thrones and depicts the civil war which erupts within House Targaryen.In season two, Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith lead the show’s cast, alongside Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Olivia Cooke, Ewan Mitchell, and Tom Glynn-Carney.Ahead of the second season, HBO renewed the show for a third season which is set to start production in early 2025.Fire & Blood by George R.R. MartinThe obvious choice, but also the most relevant.

Tatiana Siegel After a high-stakes trial, a jury has found that Mattel did not steal a reality show concept from producer Norton Herrick, marking a major victory for the toy giant, which could have been on the hook for $46.2 million in damages. The verdict follows a 2½-month civil trial in Santa Monica that pitted the “Lone Survivor” producer against the company whose intellectual property spawned the Hollywood blockbuster “Barbie.” In a crushing blow, the 12-member jury shot down Herrick’s claims of breach of an implied contract, breach of confidence, fraud-misrepresentation, fraud-concealment and misappropriation of trade secrets. Herrick initially sued Mattel in 2018, claiming that the company stole his idea for Mattel’s reality competition show “The Toy Box,” which ran on ABC for two seasons beginning in 2017.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. After hitting theaters in June, Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest deranged film will soon be available to watch from home.

Fallout: London players are complaining about frequent crashes with the mod.First announced in 2020, Fallout: London is a player-made, full conversion mod for Fallout 4. It had been due to launch in April but after Bethesda surprise released the next gen update for the base game, Fallout: London was pushed back to July.Ahead of its release, Team FOLON teamed up with GOG for another round of quality assurance tests before the game was given the green light on July 26.As it stands, players still need a downgraded version of Fallout 4 to play London due to another update from Bethesda threatening to cause issues with the mod.

Instagram post from Monday, which featured a picture of her 11-year-old son Ace.“I haven’t wanted or touched alcohol since October 2017 and it has been the best decision I’ve made for myself and for my family,” Simpson wrote in her clap back. She continued: “Thank.

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of hate-related communications over a Facebook post said to incite hatred.

It prequel series Welcome To Derry has been shared.HBO Max‘s series will run for nine episodes and will see It director Andy Muschietti return along with Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. Producer Barbara Muschietti and co-producer Jason Fuchs will also return for Welcome To Derry.Specific plot details have yet to be announced but the show is expected to serve as a prequel story that will “expand the vision” of 2017’s It and 2019’s It: Chapter Two, movies.It is set to air at some point in 2025.

Journey have said they were “terrified” of their hit ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ being used in Glee.In a new interview with The Guardian, the rockers have opened up about the history of their smash hit, including its usage on several popular films and TV shows.“When I first heard the finished song I knew it was special, but it took years to get to the place where it’s a worldwide anthem,” said Journey guitarist and songwriter Neal Schon. “First, there was the movie Monster, with Charlize Theron.

The American Music Awards will skip 2024 as it did with 2023: CBS and Dick Clark Productions announced today that the next awards ceremony will take place in May 2025, a first-ever shift to spring.

, deep into her flower power era to promote her role as a florist in It Ends With Us, ditched the bra for a leather jacket moment in New York, and the result is pretty sexy.Stepping out for the CBS Morning Show, the , who is famously self-styled, paired a black leather moto jacket with what looks like painted-on flowers with matching shorts. Shorts! She left the jacket unzipped to let her sternum peek through and show off a truly impeccable tan.

Canadian director Xavier Dolan has revealed he is writing a period horror movie set in 1880s France, which he hopes to shoot in late 2025.If the project comes together, it will be Dolan’s first feature since Matthias & Maxime, which premiered in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers, August is looking to be just as packed – here’s what we know about new additions to the service.July saw the long-awaited arrival of Call Of Duty on Xbox Game Pass, with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launching on the subscription-based service. However, the new addition has reportedly led to a rise in cheats, while Microsoft have also confirmed a price rise for the service.

Batman is back in animated form in Batman: Caped Crusader.Developed by Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series), the Amazon series sees Hamish Linklater voice the iconic superhero in the early stages of his crime-fighting career.A synopsis for the show reads: “Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear.“Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the Batman. His one-man crusade attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications.”Other members of the voice cast include Jason Watkins as Alfred Pennyworth, Krystal Joy Brown as Barbara Gordon, Eric Morgan Stuart as Jim Gordon, and Christina Ricci as Catwoman.When the show moved from HBO Max to Amazon, it was officially picked up for two seasons.As for when the show will return, showrunner Bruce Timm told TheWrap in August 2023 they were “still working on the scripts and starting to record” for the second season.

Halloween actor Charles Cyphers, who played Sheriff Leigh Brackett in the horror franchise, has died.He passed away at the age of 85 after a brief illness on Sunday (August 4) his manager Chris Roe confirmed to Variety.Roe added in a statement: “Charles was a lovable and sensitive man. He always had the best stories, and you got a full performance while he told you.

A girl band member sparked concerns after collapsing during a live show. Pop idol Kotoko, of girl group UNIS, was taken to hospital when they fainted on stage at the Midsummer Night's Cultural Festival: Mini K-POP Concert in Haenam, South Korea on 3 August.

Q-Tip has commented on whether hip-hop needs another subgenre after fellow legend 9th Wonder says there needs to be.Recently, 9th Wonder said on X/Twitter that he had been telling “folks for at least 20 years now” that hip-hop needs a new subgenre. The esteemed DJ-producer cited the albums Common and Pete Rock respectively released this year, and said they should file into a category called “Adult Contemporary Hip-Hop”.“Tell that to the moment in music history when they created the term ‘Neo-Soul’,” the North Carolina star said, comparing his suggestion to the creation of the R&B subgenre.

Tim Walz, the twice elected governor of Minnesota, has been chosen by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, the Associated Press and other media outlets reported this morning.

Carol McGiffin has unleashed a nine-word critique on her former show Loose Women, calling it "boring" in a candid interview. The 64 year old TV personality shocked fans when she announced her departure from the ITV daytime programme last year, later revealing that she had to "step away" due to a "difficult issue." In a post-exit chat with GB News, Carol opened up about "too much stress" she faced during contract talks and lamented the show's shift towards being "too woke." Speaking to Woman's Own recently, Carol made it clear that there's no reconciliation on the cards with the ITV series, citing her contract as the deal-breaker, which she felt was unreasonable for anyone to sign.

The scientific formula for the perfect kids’ song has been revealed and it shares a BPM — and chord structure — with hits by Queen and Beyoncé. Dr.

It looks like Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota is Vice President Kamala Harris‘ choice to be her VP for her run to become President!

Coronation Street fans have issued a warning over Joel Deering as they fear his next move. Only Lauren Bolton - and viewers of the ITV soap - know just what the solicitor is capable of after his true colours were finally uncovered.

More details have emerged about the swimming incident that sent Zac Efron to the hospital over the weekend.

EXCLUSIVE: Hammer Films turns a spritely 90 years old later this year, and Sky is getting in on the celebrations.

David Tennant fans have all said the same thing after Disney+ shared another look at the star's latest drama.