Variety

Record PS5 holiday sales combined with Wednesday's lively State of Play presentation show PlayStation emerging from 2024’s lows.

The lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jay-Z over the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl in 2000 has been dismissed by the attorney representing the Jane Doe, according to a court filing made on Friday in New York.⁠ ⁠ The voluntary dismissal, reviewed by Variety, was filed by attorneys Tony Buzbee and Antigone Curis, claiming that the Jane Doe who accused the musicians of sexual assault “hereby gives notice that the above-captioned Action is voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice.”⁠ https://bit.ly/3QhMYxg

AMC Networks revealed a red blotch on its balance sheet when it released its fourth-quarter 2024 earnings on Friday. They showed a $268.7 million devaluation of the media company’s U.S. cable channel business, which consists of AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and IFC Films. At the same time, the company says AMC Networks’ U.S. streaming revenue increased 8% between October and December. The company’s total combined streaming subscribers reached 12.4 million by the end of the year, which counts customers across AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE. https://lnkd.in/gmns-QeD

The Toronto Film Festival‘s planned official content market that will run concurrent with the event starting in 2026 is starting to take shape, reports Variety's Nick Vivarelli. Anita Lee, the fest’s chief programming officer, has announced that CAA co-head of media finance Roeg Sutherland, Goodfellas CEO Vincent Maraval, and Niv Fichman, founder of Toronto-based Rhombus Media are among members of the first round of advisors of the TIFF Content Market’s newly-created global advisory committee. The first group of TIFF market advisors also comprises former Cannes market chief Jérôme Paillard; Noah Segal, co-president and co-founder of Canada’s Elevation Pictures; Monique Simard, former president of Quebec SODEC (Société de développement des entreprises culturelles); and Kerry Swanson, CEO of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office. Additional members will be announced in coming weeks. https://lnkd.in/g5u3mazm

Berlin Film Festival, Day 2: Actress Tilda Swinton calls out "our greed-addicted governments who make nice with planet-wreckers and war criminals" and “The Light” star Lars Eidinger explains that director Tom Tykwer’s festival opener is meant to illuminate the danger of narcissism and the fact that “we are the reason the world is on the brink," while German helmers wrestle with politics and cultural identity. https://lnkd.in/gnJtyX6C

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“The Goonies” are officially back. Warner Bros. has hired Potsy Ponciroli to write the script for the sequel — almost 40 years after the original movie hit theaters back in 1985. https://lnkd.in/gbic6Xzt

Drake released a new album with Partynextdoor and references his “rap beef” with Kendrick Lamar on the song “Gimme a Hug.” Without naming Lamar, he hypothesizes that the new king of hip-hop would have girls “on stage twerkin’ with a dictionary,” an apparent dig at Lamar’s more “intellectual” style of rap. Ultimately, though, the song signals Drake’s desire to move on from his rap beef with Lamar, which really kicked off in March 2024 with Lamar’s verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s “Like That” and reached a climax with last week’s Super Bowl halftime show. “Fuck a rap beef, I’m tryna get the party lit,” Drake raps toward the end of the song. Full story here: https://bit.ly/41fYLCD

At a Variety FYC Screening of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” presented by 20th Century Studios, VFX supervisor Erik Winquist describes how the film's artists have become experts on ape behavior by studying chimps at the Wellington Zoo. https://bit.ly/3QjYAAa

“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” VFX supervisor Erik Winquist and director Wes Ball explain how even though action sequences proved to be a challenge, the quieter moments also required work: “We have just over 1500 visual effect shots in the movie, and only 30 shots have no visual effects.” https://bit.ly/3QjYAAa | Variety FYC Screening presented by 20th Century Studios