Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road In First Look Warner Bros Deal; Focus Is Sequels Of ‘Constantine’ With Keanu Reeves, ‘I Am Legend’ With Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan

The incoming Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)/ BT Group UK sports streaming JV will be named TNT Sports, the U.S. media giant has revealed.

Shirley Halperin Executive Editor, Music Veteran music publicists Luke Burland and Bobbie Gale are teaming up to form a new firm, 2b Entertainment. The two share more than 30 years experience working with artists, music companies and brands. Both previously served in senior media relations positions at Warner Bros. Records (now known as Warner Records) and as in-demand indies — Burland, most recently at BB Gun Press (founded by Brian Bumbery, currently a top communications executive at Apple Music); Gale at her own MixedMediaWorks. Based in Los Angeles, 2b Entertainment’s client roster includes Jojo Siwa, Danny Elfman, Mike Dean, Holly Humberstone, Josh Groban, Julian Casablancas, Justin Tranter, Maggie Lindemann, Meghan Trainor, My Chemical Romance, OK Go, Shania Twain and Steve Earle, among other artists. Corporate accounts run across entertainment, lifestyle and fashion, representing such brands as CITI, +1 Records, Laylo, Dad Grass, Muserk and Cosm. (See the full roster here.)

EXCLUSIVE: Argentinian crime thriller A Singular Crime (Un Crimen Argentino), directed by Lucas Combina, has landed a series of international distribution deals on the third day of the EFM.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The verdict is in: Syndicated court staples “Judge Mathis” and “The People’s Court” will both end their run at the end of this season, Variety has confirmed. “Judge Mathis” will wrap after 24 seasons, while this most recent iteration of “The People’s Court” wraps after its 26th season. Season 24 and Season 26, respectively.  Both shows come from Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures Productions and are distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. According to insiders, the decision was made due to the declining nature of the daytime syndication landscape. As local TV stations shrink their syndication dollars and the advertising marketplace shrinks for daytime syndication, first-run syndication has become a trickier landscape. At the same time, station groups have been expanding their local news broadcasts, also in a bid to save money.

John Oliver has fired the first shot at his new Emmy rival Saturday Night Live – six months before his show Last Week Tonight will go head-to-head in a new awards category.

Marvel‘s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania and Michael B. Jordan in the upcoming boxing sequel Creed III, has revealed which of the Hollywood heavyweights packs the hardest punch.Majors plays villain Kang The Conqueror in Quantumania, who shares multiple fight scenes with Rudd’s Ant-Man. In Creed III, he faces off against Jordan’s champion boxer Adonis in the ring.

EXCLUSIVE: Molly Yeh has inked a two-year exclusive deal with Food Network, which will include more episodes of her Midwest-inspired cooking show Girl Meets Farm.

Paul Rudd is revealing why it was a challenge starring opposite Jonathan Majors in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”.

Believe it or not, M. Night Shyamalan had his seventh #1 opening weekend at the box office with “Knock At The Cabin” earlier this month.

Angelique Jackson M. Night Shyamalan has inked a new multi-year, first-look deal with Warner Bros. Pictures, with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker switching his allegiance from Universal. The announcement was made Thursday by Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. News of the pact comes as the director celebrates his latest release “Knock at the Cabin,” which marks his seventh No. 1 opening at the box office — he has a No. 1 film in each of the last four decades — and further contributes to his more than $3 billion haul at the global box office, beginning with his breakout hit, “The Sixth Sense.” “Where I write and direct is my home,” Shyamalan said in a statement announcing the new deal. “Disney and Universal, where I’ve made most of my films, will always be home and family to me. Warner Bros. has a storied history of cinema. Through its recent experiences, the company has rediscovered its love and appreciation for filmmakers, and the impact of the theatrical experience. We all win when movies succeed in theaters. I believe David Zaslav, Michael De Luca, and Pam Abdy have dedicated themselves to unique filmmakers, and to filling theaters all around the world for years to come.”

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros Pictures Group has inked a multi-year first-look directing and producing agreement with two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, whose movies have grossed $3.3 billion at the box office.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery programming execs are trying a new experiment: Airing some iconic modern-day HBO programming on basic cable, beginning with comedy “Silicon Valley” on TBS and drama “True Blood” on TNT this Saturday. As this is TV — not HBO — the shows will be edited both for content (receiving a TV-MA rating) and ad breaks. While this is not the first time HBO content has been refashioned for cable — think “Sex and the City” or “The Sopranos,” both of which were sold into syndication — it does mark a first for programming produced and aired on HBO in more recent years. (“True Blood” ended in 2014, “Silicon Valley” concluded in 2019.)

Once upon a time, you’ll remember that filmmaker J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot productions signed a massive deal with Warner Media, reportedly worth over $500 million (though later reports said closer to $200 million) to create content for Warner Media, HBO, and HBO Max.

Michael B. Jordan isn’t scared of anybody.Still, the 36-year-old actor — who will star in his directorial debut, “Creed III,” out March 3 — does have his fears.“I think the fear of being forgotten is a big one,” Jordan told Rolling Stone in the magazine’s new cover story.Jordan went on to explain the very personal reason why he came to have this fear. “One of my best friends growing up passed away when I was, like, 23,” he said. “And a few years later, I was working, shooting a film, crazy  s – – t going on at the time, you know, it was like the most amazing amount of stress.

William Earl Variety is pleased to announce the return of its Entertainment Marketing Summit, presented by Deloitte, on April 19 in Los Angeles. This year’s summit will feature Karen Bronzo, chief marketing officer, Warner Bros. Discovery; Dwight Caines, president, domestic marketing, Universal Pictures; Marc Weinstock, president, worldwide marketing and distribution, Paramount Pictures; Lisa Vanderpump, TV personality and executive producer of “Vanderpump Rules,” businesswoman, author and philanthropist; Terry Crews, actor, bestselling author, entrepreneur and host; among other elite creative and industry speakers. Bronzo, Caines and Weinstock will be among participants of a Keynote Entertainment Marketing Roundtable, moderated by Claudia Eller, chief production officer, Variety, in which leading film and TV marketers will share how they are promoting their projects to today’s audiences.

It’s been more than 15 years since the release of Will Smith’s film, “I Am Legend.” And in that time, there have been plenty of discussions about a sequel. However, nothing has come to be.

There are a lot of questions going into “Creed III.” Can this franchise survive without Sylvester Stallone showing up on screen? Is Michael B. Jordan able to balance starring in the film with his desire to direct the feature, as well? Needless to say, the anticipation is at a fever pitch, and we’ll likely get answers to these questions when the film debuts in a couple of weeks.

Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in “Joker: Folie à Deux” dropped on Tuesday with her looking devilishly in love.The “A Star Is Born” actress, 36, will portray the DC villain alongside Joaquin Phoenix in the “Joker” sequel.Director Todd Philips posted a set photo of the lovebirds for Valentine’s Day showing the baddies about to share a kiss.The close-up shot featured the “Shallow” singer with messy platinum blond hair and a bloodied mouth as she grabbed Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck close.In December, Philips revealed a first-look image of Phoenix in the highly-anticipated follow-up movie. “Day 1.

Lady Gaga has been seen for the first time as Harley Quinn as she stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix in the upcoming Joker sequel.Director Todd Phillip recently released a never-before-seen screenshot of the performing pair in Joker: Folie à Deux, which is set to be released in October 2024.Lady Gaga could be seen on the left with her long blonde hair worn in a loose wavy updo as she stared intently into Joaquin’s eyes.READ MORE:Iggy Azalea pours sizzling curves into tiny slashed dress with Emily RatajkowskiHer striking features were highlighted by dark, furrowing brows and a beauty mark just under her eye.The singer seemed manic as she grabbed Phoenix’s face with her hands while he stared back at her with a smile on his face.Joker could be seen wearing the remnants of his clown makeup, a faint white wash across his face with a bright red nose, a mouth slightly upturned and curly brown hair framing his face.The characters' steamy scene captured their fated love and fan reaction has exploded online.Fans gathered on Twitter to comment on the new scene and gushed over their first taste of Lady Gaga as the iconic Harley Quinn.One wrote: "Interesting! Can’t wait to see how this plays out."Another typed: "God dammit, she’s perfect."A third fan tweeted: "If she can bring the craziness out, then she’s perfect for the role."According to reports, Joker: Folie à Deux is presented in the style of a musical, which has excited followers of the franchise.The film’s predecessor was released back in November 2019 and soon became both the most profitable comic book movie of all time and the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever.Warner Bros.