Digital: Last News

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor While Madison Avenue seems focused on shiny new technologies, iHeartMedia is encouraging advertisers to get back to basics. Research conducted by Morning Consult and Advertiser Perceptions on behalf of the audio-media giant and podcaster Pushkin Media found a growing disparity between what marketers think top consumer priorities are and the things to which consumers are actually gravitating.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As fate would have it, the decades-old “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” cast email chain was randomly revived by Michael Cera just before Netflix ordered its new “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” anime series featuring the original film cast in voice roles. Franchise creator Bryan Lee O’Malley revealed the coincidence in a chat with Entertainment Weekly, noting that the long-dormant email chain’s revival was so random that cast member Chris Evans hilariously called out Cera.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A new oral history on “Mamma Mia!” from Vogue magazine ends with the cast and crew all in support of making a third installment in the Universal Pictures franchise, which kicked off in 2008 with a film adaptation of the musical and continued in 2018 with “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” Combined, the two musical films grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. “Universal would love to make a third movie, and I’ll leave it at that,” Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley said point blank when the discussion turned to a potential “Mamma Mia 3.” Amanda Seyfried, who leads the franchise as Sophie, added, “I dare you to show me one person who doesn’t want a third Mamma Mia!” But she also cast a bit of a doubt on a third movie since, according to her, its existence would most likely depend on Universal paying the cast what they are worth, which is far more now than when the franchise started.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Alan Moore, the comic book visionary best known for writing such revered works as “Watchmen,” “V for Vendetta” and “Batman: The Killing Joke,” revealed to The Telegraph that he is longer accepting royalty checks from DC Comics for films and television series based on his works. He’s asked the company to instead reroute these checks to Black Lives Matter.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The SEC charged a company called Stoner Cats 2 LLC — which produced an animated web series “Stoner Cats” funded by sales of NFTs that were priced at $800 each — with conducting an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities. The NFT sale of the Stoner Cats in July 2021 raised approximately $8 million to finance “Stoner Cats.” The voice cast of the “Stoner Cats” series included Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Chris Rock, Dax Shepard, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jane Fonda, Michael Bublé, Seth MacFarlane and Vitalik Buterin.

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media has cuddled up to Unstuffed: A Build-A-Bear Story, taking North American rights to the doc from The Last Blockbuster‘s Taylor Morden, which features the voices of talent including Jon Lovitz, Pete Holmes, Jerry Mathers, Larry Hankin and Mike Tyson.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jennette McCurdy will dig into emotions she’s been struggling with in a new weekly podcast, “Hard Feelings,” launching this fall. The author and former actor will employ “her characteristic candor and dark humor” in the podcast, according to Lemonada Media, the independent podcast network that is producing “Hard Feelings.” McCurdy, author of bestselling memoir “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” was in the original run of “iCarly” on Nickelodeon before starring in her own spinoff series, “Sam & Cat,” alongside Ariana Grande. “I’m thrilled and utterly terrified to launch my new podcast, which will be an intimate look at my experience processing hard feelings,” McCurdy said in a statement.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Invictus Games in support of the veteran community. On Tuesday, Markle was seen joining her husband in Germany to support and spectate the charity event, which "offers a recovery pathway for international wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women," according to the foundation's website. According to Hello Magazine, Markle gave a full speech as she joined Harry at the international sporting competition.

The UK government has said it was “important” to raise questions with the BBC about the Huw Edwards scandal amid concerns it could have called the broadcaster’s independence into question.

Ladbible Execs Launch Digital Studio

EXCLUSIVE: “The fact that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue to rage on unresolved proves that the lack of visibility creators have into their content is untenable.”

The National Book Foundation announced on social media that they were dropping Drew Barrymore as host of their upcoming awards ceremony amid the talk show's fall from grace after her announcement to resume "'The Drew Barrymore Show" despite ongoing strikes in Hollywood. In a post on X Tuesday, the Foundation announced their decision to rescind the actress' invitation. "In light of the announcement that The Drew Barrymore Show will resume production, the National Book Foundation has rescinded Ms.

A win for Travis Kelce! And something sweet and different for Taylor Swift!

Publicis Sapient have launched short film Forgiving Johnny, which is a firsthand account of forgiveness and the life-changing impact that digitization within the justice system had on an individual. The short film was created by director Ben Proudfoot and his company, Breakwater Studios with NBA all-star Karl-Anthony Towns

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Fresh off the world premiere of her last directorial effort, “Priscilla,” at the Venice Film Festival (where star Cailee Spaeny won best actress), Sofia Coppola joined Rolling Stone to reflect on the 20th anniversary of her beloved “Lost in Translation.” Coppola, whose script for “Lost in Translation” won the Oscar for original screenplay, partly used the dissolution of her marriage to fellow director Spike Jonze as inspiration for the film, which follows a college graduate (Scarlett Johansson) who accompanies her celebrity photographer boyfriend (Giovanni Ribisi) on a trip to Tokyo. While he’s out flirting with a Hollywood actress (Anna Farris), she befriends a faded movie star (Bill Murray) who’s in town to shoot a commercial. Since the film premiered in 2023, viewers have associated Johansson’s character with Coppola and Ribisi’s with Jonze.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Wonka” director Paul King worked with Hugh Grant on “Paddington 2,” but he knew getting the actor to play an Oompa Loompa in the upcoming Warner Bros. musical would take extra convincing. So King wrote Grant a letter in which he said the actor was great at playing “washed-up old hams,” which is exactly what King was looking for in his hunt for the perfect Oompa Loompa actor.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Investors cheered as TKO Group Holdings, the new parent company of UFC and WWE, clambered into the Wall Street ring. Shares of TKO, which began trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, closed up 2.6% on the day, to $103.22 per share after opening at $102. TKO Group has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, per data from CNBC.

Sophia Scorziello editor Gordon Proudfoot was both a lawyer and a disc jockey. Before the internet provided quick answers to almost any kinds of questions, Gordon ran an on-air “dial-a-law” segment where listeners could call him with legal queries about car accidents or whatever trouble they may have gotten into.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After 11 years, Apple is bidding adieu to the Lightning connector on its flagship iPhones. The company announced the iPhone 15 at its annual fall product launch event, held Tuesday at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. The new models will feature USB-C charging ports, scrapping the company’s proprietary Lightning connector, which was first introduced in 2012.

Starz has hired veteran entertainment executive Sofia Chang as EVP, Chief Distribution Officer. Based in New York, Chang will report into Alison Hoffman, Starz President of Domestic Networks. In her new role, Chang will oversee all of the streaming platform’s sales activities with multichannel video and digital distributors in the U.S. 

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Are Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift feuding? It’s a question that has launched more than a handful of social media conspiracies, but it’s not one Rodrigo is entertaining. Speaking to Rolling Stone, the Grammy winner addressed the alleged feud by saying she does not pay attention to the social media drama. “I don’t have beef with anyone,” Rodrigo said when asked about Swift.