'Kung Fu Panda 4' Cast - 4 Stars Confirmed to Return, 7 Stars Will Not Return & 5 Actors Join the Cast

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The outsized audience for this week’s highly-watched women’s NCAA basketball match between Iowa and LSU may also have noticed that many of the commercials seen during the game belonged to AT&T, State Farm, Home Depot and Gatorade. There was good reason. Optimum Sports, a media agency that specializes in sports properties and is part of ad giant Omnicom Group, had quietly snatched up 35% of advertising time during the game, a record setter in terms of viewership for women’s sports and the latest example of how interest in female players and the leagues in which they play is booming.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Nicholas Galitzine may have told his parents that he has a lot of sex scenes in “Mary & George” with both women and men, but that didn’t keep things from getting awkward when his mom and dad were by his side at the series’ London premiere. “I was kind of in hysterics because there is nothing more uncomfortable than watching your son bed a number of characters even within the first few episodes,” the British actor, 29, tells me during a wide-ranging conversation on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Part two of Ryan Murphy’s 12th season of “American Horror Story,” titled “Delicate,” is finally here. The first of this installment’s five episodes will air on FX on Wednesday, Apr.

Even though Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow once vowed to push forward with more “Matrix” projects with or without the involvement of The Wachowskis, we honestly thought the studios were done with “The Matrix” franchise following the only mildly-received “The Matrix Resurrections.” However, a surprising report from Deadline has announced that filmmaker Drew Goddard (“Cabin In The Woods”) is attached to write and direct a fifth “Matrix” film, which will continue the action-packed cyberpunk story.

Slowly, but surely, the lineup for the 77th Cannes Film Festival is being revealed. Last month, Cannes announced that George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” will be an early world premiere on la Croisette on May 15.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent With one week to go before the press conference unveiling the 77th Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, director Thierry Fremaux is pledging to remain zen — despite wrestling with submission delays, reverberations of Hollywood’s double strikes and high expectations after last year’s edition unveiled Oscar winners “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall.” This year’s edition is already heating up, with George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” confirmed to premiere at the festival and Quentin Dupieux’s “A Second Act,” starring Léa Seydoux, set as the opening night film. In his first and only interview ahead of the lineup reveal, Fremaux tells Variety all about this year’s edition, including his hopes to welcome back Francis Ford Coppola with “Megalopolis” and Yorgos Lanthimos with “Kinds of Kindness,” his appeal to Ted Sarandos to lure Netflix back on the Croisette, his stance on France’s new #MeToo reckoning, the presence of female directors at the festival and how geopolitical turmoil may shape the Official Selection. Last year was a milestone year for the Cannes Film Festival. How did you approach this year’s lineup, and how many films have been selected so far? The unanimous feedback we got is that 2023 was a really great year.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jerrod Carmichael recently opened up to Esquire magazine about tensions with fellow comedian Dave Chappelle. Carmichael, who is making the press rounds in support of his new HBO series, generated headlines in June 2022 when he criticized Chappelle, who had already been earning backlash for making jokes about the transgender community. “Chappelle, do you know what comes up when you Google your name, bro?” Carmichael asked during a GQ magazine profile at the time, referring to the comedian’s comments about trans people.

Jaden Thompson Tiffany Haddish, Billy Gardell, Nikki Glaser and Andy Kindler are set to perform at the third annual Friendly House Comedy Fundraiser, which supports women in substance abuse recovery. Tammy Jo Dearen of Comedy Central will host the event, to be held on April 7 at The Bourbon Room on Hollywood Boulevard. “When women recover, the world recovers.

Katcy Stephan “I, Tonya” director Craig Gillespie is in talks to direct “Supergirl” at Warner Bros. DC Studios.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Romantic comedy series “Top End Bub” will begin production next month in Australia as a sequel to hit 2019 feature film “Top End Wedding.” Stars Miranda Tapsell (“The Sapphires”) and Gwilym Lee (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) will reprise their roles. The series is created, executive produced and written by “Top End Wedding” writers Joshua Tyler and Tapsell and produced by Goalpost Pictures.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Does the sports world have room for April Action after weeks of March Madness? Fox aims to answer the question in 2025 when it launched a new post-season college-basketball tournament in tandem with large sports and music promote AEG Worldwide. The College Basketball Crown will rely on 16 teams drawn largely from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East conferences, with the possibility of other participants.

Lexi Carson The Producers Guild of America’s Produced By Conference announced that its return this year is slated for June 8. It will be held at the FOX Studio Lot in Century City in Los Angeles.

Pep Guardiola says his decision to drop Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland from his line-up against Aston Villa is down to rest purposes only, amid the hectic upcoming schedule Manchester City face.

A drunken thug accused a dog walker of stealing his XL bully before chasing him with a hammer and snatching his Pomeranian.

Conan Gray loves Olivia Rodrigo, but he hasn’t made it out to see her on tour yet!

“We’re your Dreamgirls!”

As the Walford residents came to grips with the discovery of Keanu Taylor’s body in the latest visit to EastEnders, one of Albert Square’s most hated characters, Dean Wicks may have sealed his fate after he was unexpectedly implicated in the mechanic’s death. Things all kicked off during Wednesday (3 April) night’s visit to Walford, which picked up where things left off the previous night, with Jack Branning walking in on Stacey Slater and Denise Fox trying to hide Keanu’s body after the floor collapsed over where he was buried.

Peter Andre and Emily MacDonagh have been flooded with messages of congratulations from their famous pals, following the birth of their new baby, who was born on Tuesday 2 April.The Mysterious Girl singer, 51, and his wife of nine years shared the exciting news with OK! that they had welcomed their third child together, a beautiful baby girl weighing 7lb 3oz. Sharing adorable pictures of their bundle of joy with OK!, they revealed that they haven't yet picked out a name for her.The couple's celebrity friends were quick to congratulate them on the new arrival on social media, with Christine McGuinness penning: "Congratulations," followed by a love-heart eyes emoji. Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins suggested a moniker, commenting: "Amazing news, big congratulations, I vote for Charlotte." TOWIE star Amy Childs also said: "Congrats Peter and Emily," while former Strictly professional Ola Jordan joked: "Congratulations guys.

YouTube star Aspyn Ovard filed for divorce… on the same day she announced birth of third child!

Katie Price raged online as she took to Instagram to call out a 'scumbag' who she claimed stole a gate from her property. She shared a snap of a gate on her property, with some of it appearing to be missing. Captioning the photo, Katie wrote: "Seems I have a scumbag who has stolen my gate in my fields." Despite this, a couple of hours later, the star shared that she was for lunch at Bills with her children.

Nick Cannon is having a hard time when it comes to the Diddy and Cassie situation.