JoJo Siwa Inks Deal With Pure Imagination Studios To Develop Animated Kids Series Based On XOMG Pop! All-Girl Pop Group

Daron James Along with its record setting box office numbers and four Oscar nominations, “Avatar: The Way of Water” brings a “Metkayina” wave of impressive next-gen technology that will undeniably set new industry standards in motion capture, animation and underwater photography.  The original facial motion capture rig that also impressively immersed Andy Serkis as Gollum and Caesar, received an overhaul. Not only physically but also in the way the software replicates a performance.  “We looked at how the muscles in the face, eyes and lips are all related and created a neural network that maps all the connections between them,” says senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri. “This gave us this sympathetic motion in the actor’s face which allowed us to translate the performance to the character and make each frame more believable.” 

Kali Uchis took to Instagram yesterday (February 27) to call on her followers to stop drinking alcohol.Sharing an Instagram story, Uchis wrote “Please stop drinking liquor!!! There are spiritual consequences & no one can convince me otherwise. The root of the word “Alcohol” comes from Arabic “al-kuhl” which means “BODY EATING SPIRIT”.She added: “By consuming it into the body, it extracts the very essence of the soul, allowing the body to be more susceptible to LOW frequencies & even demonic energies.“It takes us away from our purest selves & our good soul.

Prince William and Kate Middleton took a little spin during their series of engagements on Tuesday. The Prince and Princess of Wales had an impromptu 45-second race while visiting the Aberavon Leisure and Fitness Centre in Port Talbot.Their business casual attire didn't get in the way, as Kate — who wore a skirt, sweater and heels, hopped on the bike and defeated her husband — who sported his usual smart blue suit.At the start of the race, Kate, 41, showed off her competitive nature as she adjusted the resistance on her bike.

The Academy continued its slow rollout of Best Original song performers for the 95th Academy Awards today. After already announcing Rihanna, Sofia Carlson, Dianne Warren and David Byrne, executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner and executive producer Molly McNearney revealed that “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” will also grace the Oscars stage.

Todd Gilchrist editor Even with predecessors such as  “Paths of Glory,” “A Very Long Engagement,” “1917” and of course Lewis Milestone’s 1930 best picture winner of the same name, director Edward Berger’s adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s bestseller “All Quiet on the Western Front” conveys the meat-grinder brutality — the violence, the blood, and the mud — of trench warfare unlike almost any film in the history of the medium.  “These kids are chewed up by the merciless war machine,” says Berger. “They sign up for this war full of hopes and ideals, but very quickly they realize that they have lost everything in the mud, especially their innocence and their youth.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer In the Season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian” — which first streamed on Disney+ on Dec. 18, 2020, over two years ago — Mando (Pedro Pascal) bid a moving farewell to Grogu, handing over his adorably wee ward to Grogu’s new Jedi master, Luke Skywalker (played by a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill). The wrenching final scene culminated in Mando removing his helmet — violating the core precept of Mandalorian doctrine — so Grogu could see his face for the first time. It felt like the definitive end of a two-season journey, one painstakingly crafted by executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni to reset the show and send it into a new storytelling galaxy. As the trailers for Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” have already made clear, however, the new season will begin on March 1 with Mando and Grogu back together. It’s almost as if the events of the Season 2 finale hadn’t happened.

A post shared by Ben Kweller (@benkweller)Benadded, “My last text with him was about the merch he wanted to make. My baby boy was at the starting line with so much life ahead of him… I have no idea why things like this happen.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Reelz, the small independent cable network behind the live P.D. series “On Patrol: Live,” has landed distribution on Peacock. Reelz’s linear feed will be available to Peacock Premium and Peacock Premium Plus subscribers starting March 1. Some Reelz library content, including next-day episodes of “On Patrol: Live,” will also be available on-demand on the platform. Reelz programming also includes “On Patrol: First Shift,” “Jail,” “Cops,” “Autopsy: The Last Hours of…” and more. The deal means Peacock subscribers will be able to stream “On Patrol: Live” on Peacock as it airs live on Reelz every Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to midnight ET.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Variety has promoted Michelle Fine-Smith to Senior VP of Global Consumer Partnerships. Based in New York, Fine-Smith manages Variety’s consumer teams on both coasts, overseeing sales across digital, social, branded content, print and live and virtual events. She has driven multiplatform programs for such top brands as Audible, DirecTV, Cadillac, City National Bank, Chanel, Google, Meta, TikTok and United Airlines. She joined Variety in 2008 and continues to report to Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, CEO and Group Publisher of Variety. “Michelle has transformed consumer brand partnerships for Variety with creative initiatives that integrate our diverse portfolio,” Sobrino-Stearns said. “Her passion, leadership and collaborative approach drove Variety in 2022 to the most successful year ever for our global consumer business.”

Ozzy Osbourne is setting the record straight. On the latest episode of SiriusXM's Ozzy Speaks, Osbourne sat down with co-host Billy Morrison and gave an update on his health and touring status.“I’ve been working my guts out to try and get back on my feet. I’ve come to the point where Sharon says to me, ‘You know what, the truth of the marriage, you can't keep booking tours and failing, canceling," the singing legend said. Earlier this month, Osbourne made the difficult decision to end his touring career.

Tory Lanez has come to an end. On Dec.

Julia MacCary editor Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult’s vampire horror-comedy “Renfield” will get its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival on March 30. Hoult (“The Menu,” “About a Boy”) stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to Dracula, who is being played by Cage (“Face/Off,” “The Rock”). Chris McKay (“The Tomorrow War,” “The Lego Movie”) directed the film, and Ryan Ridley (“Rick and Morty,” “The Wastelander”) penned it. Additional cast members include Awkwafina, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones and Ben Schwartz. Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise” will close out the festival on April 2. Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland star in the film about estranged sisters reuniting, only to have flesh-possessing demons force them into a battle to survive. Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campell produced the film.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Dish Network is working to recover from a cyberattack that disrupted its internal servers and customer-service operations — and said the hack may have resulted in the theft of personal information. On Feb. 23, Dish execs announced on the operator’s earnings call that the company had experienced a network outage. After an investigation by cyber-security experts and outside advisers, Dish determined that the outage was due to “a cyber-security incident and notified appropriate law enforcement authorities,” the company disclosed in an SEC filing Tuesday. On Monday, Feb. 27, Dish said, it “became aware that certain data was extracted from the corporation’s IT systems as part of this incident” and said it’s possible that an investigation “will reveal that the extracted data includes personal information.”

elena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, and Hailey Bieber are circulating online prompting Selena to take a social media break, Selena's younger sister, Gracie Teefey, is enjoying hanging out with Kylie's niece, North West.In a four-part series of videos posted to North and her mom, Kim Kardashian's, joint TikTok account, the two girls and longtime friends make homemade pasta together and goof off in the kitchen while making a mess.Gracie puts her hair into two braids, prompting North to tease her, saying, «OK, Wednesday,» and even imitating the viral Wednesday Addams dance online.Gracie later claims she looks like «Cindy Lou Who» and the two girls break into a chorus of «Where are you, Christmas?»They don't mind making a mess, putting flour on each other's noses and mixing the eggs into the flour on the countertop. At one point, North even admits to farting on camera, proudly declaring, «Ooo, that's a stinky one.»Part three yaGo to part forPart fiveThe fun between friends comes as there seems to be some drama brewing online between Gracie's sister, Selena, and North's aunt, Kylie, and family pal, Hailey.After Kylie seemingly squashed fan theories that she and Hailey were shading Selena's eyebrows online calling them «reaching,» Selena publicly agreed, calling the conversation «all unnecessary» and adding, «I’m a fan of Kylie!»But shortly after a resurfaced clip of Hailey pretending to gag at the mention of Selena's bestie, Taylor Swift, prompted Selena to reply, «So sorry, my best friend is and continues to be one of the best in the game,» on the video, which called Bieber a “mean girl.«The back and forth caused Selena to take a brief break from social media, saying, „I'm 30, I'm too old for this. But I love you guys so much.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Ever since I broke the news that is playing Madame Morrible in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies, she has been saying that the films will mark her singing debut. However, Yeoh’s biggest fans have posted videos on social media of her showing off her vocal chops while singing the theme song of her 1993 movie “Butterfly and Sword.” Yeoh laughed when I brought it up at the Mandarin Oriental-hosted dinner in honor of her Oscar nomination for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” “That was so many years ago in Taiwan,” she said. At the time, she asked the song’s lyricist to make things simple for her. “I said to him, ‘I don’t sing, and I don’t speak Mandarin. Can you please not have many words?’” Yeoh recalled. “But then the first time he showed me, I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’”

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Singer-songwriter Ben Kweller’s 16-year-old son, Dorian Zev Kweller, died on Monday, the singer confirmed. Kweller’s wife Liz wrote in a social media post that Dorian died in a car accident. Dorian was an aspiring musician and released several songs under the name Zev.A post shared by Ben Kweller (@benkweller) “There’s no way that I can be typing this but I am…. Our son, Dorian Zev Kweller, was killed last night,” Ben Kweller wrote in statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday. “He was only 16 and he was a true legend. Kindest, gentle soul, a friend to all. If you knew him, you know. We’ll never get over him as long as we’re here on earth. Please keep his spirit alive with your memories and the music he made: @reallyzev.”

Aubrey Plaza was not in a bad mood or annoyed while onstage Sunday night at the SAG Awards. And now her co-star, Jon Gries, can vouch for that.In an interview with, Gries revealed what exactly was said onstage between him and Plaza as co-star F. Murray Abraham accepted the SAG Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Michael B. Jordan is making his directorial debut with “Creed III”, and he’s excited for some very special people to see it.

“Naatu Naatu” is coming to the Oscars.