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A controversial line uttered by Megan Thee Stallion in this year’s musical reboot of Mean Girls has reportedly been cut from the video-on-demand version of the movie.Variety reported on Monday (Feb. 26) that it had viewed the updated version of the film on Amazon Prime Video and that the rapper’s reference to “fire crotch” was […]
Universal Music Group Nashville, known for its roster of country music artists including Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton, has launched a new production arm of the Nashville-based entertainment company, focused on film and television projects.
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UMG Nashville‘s Sing Me Back Home Productions will delve into the deep catalog of artists throughout UMG Nashville’s history, in addition to celebrating newly-discovered talent. The new production arm is led by UMG Nashville chair/CEO Cindy Mabe, as well as senior vp, digital business and creative development Dawn Gates. The new division will focus on developing content for documentaries, original scripted and unscripted television, feature films and short-form content. In addition, it will be heavily involved in securing production partners, music supervision and distribution.
“Country music has always been the home of the richest storytellers in music. Storytellers like Merle Haggard, whose song ‘Sing Me Back Home’ helped frame the intent and name behind our production company,” Mabe said in a statement. “Songs and stories can transport people and literally sing them back home no matter where they are in the world. Creating a new canvas for our storytellers to paint was a natural next step for our artists to talk to their fans in a new way. With several productions underway, this new endeavor fits prominently into what we are sustaining and building as a music company: roots, legacy, music discovery, and storytelling. We are finding faith, family, and heartland are at the core of our business and we are making sure we are building generational content for different mediums across a variety of platforms and shepherding it into the homes of our audience.”
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Sing Me Back Home Productions has teamed with ITV America’s Thinkfactory Media to develop and produce a docuseries that will follow the personal and professional lives of Grammy-nominated husband-and-wife duo, The War and Treaty‘s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter. The docuseries will be helmed by Thinkfactory’s CEO and veteran producer Adam Reed. The docuseries is already in the works with a broadcast partner and is among the first of several projects in development through Sing Me Back Home’s broader collaboration with Thinkfactory Media.
Additionally, the Betsy Schechter-produced documentary Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive, will soon be released in partnership with Storyville Entertainment. The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and won the best feature documentary award at La Femme Women’s International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Most recently, Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive won The Palm Springs International Film Festival audience award “best of fest.”
“Country music and its community of artists, past and present, offer such a vast and rich world to explore for content,” Reed said in a statement. “As Thinkfactory doubles down on work rooted in the Heartland, we’re incredibly bullish on the projects we’re developing with Sing Me Back Home, and we admire what Cindy and her group are building at a time when the genre and its hitmakers are flying higher than ever.”
“We are thrilled to have the expertise of Cindy, Dawn, and the Sing Me Back Home team to partner on producing ‘Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive,’” Schechter said in a statement. “Just like her iconic song ‘I Will Survive,’ Gloria’s life is equally inspirational and this film has the power to impact audiences around the world for years to come.”
The new production division is the latest expansive move for UMG Nashville, following the recent launches of Silver Wings Records, and the comedy division Capitol Comedy Nashville.
Zendaya had to unexpectedly press pause on her global Dune: Part Two promotional tour on Monday (Feb. 26). The actress posted a video in which she was clearly suffering from vocal issues while explaining why she could not appear on Good Morning America as scheduled. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest […]
02/22/2024
From ‘Barbie’ to ‘Anatomy of a Fall,’ here are the most memorable needle drops, covers and original songs in movies released in 2023.
02/22/2024
Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (1917, Spectre) has gotten the green light to begin work on four separate feature films that will tell the individual stories of all four Beatles. According to a release from Sony Pictures Entertainment announcing the project on Tuesday morning (Feb. 20), Mendes will direct the films focused on George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr due out in 2027.
The project will mark the first time the band’s Apple Corps Ltd. and the group — McCartney and Starr and the families of Harrison and Lennon — have given full access to life story and music rights for a scripted film. “I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” said Mendes in a statement.
Mendes will direct the four stand-alone theatrical movies — with each one told from one band member’s point of view — as well as intersecting to tell the full story of the Fab Four. SPE, which will finance and distribute the movies conceived by Mendes, will share the details of the roll-out, which it promised will be “innovative and groundbreaking.”
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The director’s Neal Street Productions partner, Pippa Harris, added, “We intend this to be a uniquely thrilling, and epic cinematic experience: four films, told from four different perspectives which tell a single story about the most celebrated band of all time. To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege. From our first meeting with Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, it was clear that they shared both our passion and ambition for this project, and we can’t think of a more perfect home than Sony Pictures.”
One of the most scrutinized and studied groups in popular music history, the Fab Four have been the subjects of hundreds of books and docs, including Peter Jackson’s acclaimed 2021 four-part documentary series, Get Back, which incorporated previously unseen and unheard audio and video.
Apple Corps Ltd. CEO Jeff Jones said the company is “delighted to collaborate with Sam, Pippa and Julie to explore each Beatle’s unique story and to bring them together in a suitably captivating and innovative way. Sony Pictures’ enthusiastic support, championing the project’s scope and creative vision from the start, has been invaluable for all of us.”
Sony Music Entertainment is suing the producers of the 2022 biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, accusing them of failing to pay for the more than 20 Whitney tracks that appeared in the movie.
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In a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York federal court, Sony claims that Anthem Films, Black Label Media and others behind the movie signed deals for sync licenses to feature songs like “I Will Always Love You” in the movie – but that more than a year after the film was released, the label hasn’t been paid a dime.
“To date, Anthem has not paid the fees, or any portion of the fees, due under the agreements,” Sony’s lawyer, Christine Lepera of the firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, wrote in the complaint. As a result, the Sony says the use of the songs amounts to “willful and deliberate infringement” of its copyrights.
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Riding a wave of enthusiasm for musical biopics – 2018’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” earned more $900 million at the box office and Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 “Elvis” made $288 million – “I Wanna Dance” was released in December 2022 to middling reviews and an underwhelming return of $59.8 million gross.
According to Thursday’s lawsuit, Anthem and others signed a sync license agreement on Dec. 5, 2022 – less than ten days before the movie’s release – covering the use of Sony’s sound recordings of Houston’s songs, including “Greatest Love of All,” “I’m Every Woman” and the titular “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
“Unlike other types of films, musical biopics by their nature require use of the subject musician’s music, as it is nearly impossible to explain the importance of a musician’s creative genius or unique style and talent without the use of the musician’s music,” Sony wrote. “Aware of the need for authorization to use Plaintiffs’ sound recordings in order to produce a biopic about the life and music of Whitney Houston, and aware of the value of plaintiffs’ catalog, Anthem entered into a license agreement.”
But by August, Sony says it had not been paid anything. After notifying Anthem of the problem, the company allegedly told Sony that it was waiting on funds from a tax credit owed by the state of Massachusetts. But such a payment never came, Sony says.
“As a result of Anthem’s failure to pay the fees to SME, it is clear that there was no license or authorization to use the SME Recordings used in the Film,” the company’s attorneys wrote. “Nevertheless, the Film embodying the SME Recordings was, and continues to be, exhibited, distributed, and exploited.”
As defendants, the lawsuit names Anthem Films, a Boston-area film production company that allegedly produced the movie; NYBO Productions LLC, the entity that allegedly owns the copyright to the movie; Black Label Media, a Los Angeles film finance company; and WH Movie LLC, an entity allegedly created by Black Label to help finance the movie.
According to the lawsuit, the complex corporate structure behind “I Wanna Dance” potentially played into the lack of payment.
Though Sony says it notified Anthem that it was open to waiting for for the Massachusetts tax credit to be paid out, it demanded that such an agreement be formalized in writing. Anthem allegedly refused, saying that Black Label had “approval rights over Anthem’s and NYBO’s expenditures” and ultimately “ordered that Anthem neither pay SME out of the proceeds of the tax credit payment nor direct the relevant tax authority to credit SME the amount of the Fees.”
In technical legal terms, the lawsuit accused Anthem and NYBO of direct copyright infringement, while it accused Black Label and WH Movie of so-called vicarious copyright infringement – meaning they had some control over Anthem and profited from its alleged wrongdoing.
The defendants could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Sony Music did not return a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix look crazy in love in a new series of Joker: Folie à Deux set pictures posted by director Todd Phillips on Valentine’s Day. Philips shared three images from the upcoming DC sequel on Instagram — tagged to Gotham City, naturally — in which Phoenix’s Joker shares some quality time with […]
Fresh off his mesmerizing performance of “America the Beautiful” at Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII, Post Malone is bloodied but unbound in a new teaser poster for the upcoming Road House remake. Amazon’s Prime Video released images from the upcoming film on Tuesday (Feb. 13), including one in which Posty gives a menacing “come at me” […]
Move over, schnitzel with noodles. We have confidence these chestnuts from Craft Recordings’ new edition of the iconic soundtrack will delight fans.
Teyana Taylor proved her acting chops in her acclaimed role as a single mother struggling to make a home for her son in the gritty 2023 drama A Thousand and One. But the “Gonna Love Me” singer/actress is out to prove she’s a true double threat with her upcoming role in the as-yet-untitled Dionne Warwick biopic.
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On Wednesday (Jan. 24), Taylor praised the “Walk on By” star by giving props to the woman who she said helped her see herself. “And just like that.. 2020MORE Blessings!,” Taylor wrote alongside rose, praying hands and heart emoji in an Instagram post that featured a screenshot of an announcement from Warwick’s son, producer Damon Elliott, confirming the movie’s green light.
“It’s official… we are funded and we have a shoot date!” Elliott wrote, seemingly certifying that the film is ready to begin shooting; at press time there was no additional information on the production.
Taylor gave the 83-year-old Warwick her flowers in the post, writing, “Ms. Dionne Warwick… A woman of great statue, poise and elegance, with a fiery spirit — Realizing I was looking at my future self. My reflection without a mirror,” adding, “Being able to learn and study from one of the greats like, @therealdionnew has allowed me to learn a lot about myself and the woman I am today. She has taught us to be proud of who you are…. —Don’t Make Me Over.”
The post ended with Taylor telling Warwick that her music and social involvement has “enhanced the culture. Your soul and artistry serves as an example of not only resilience and strength, but of faith and purpose.” Taylor included a nod to the producers behind the film and Elliott, writing, “We are so excited to make you proud!… Shout out to @iamdamonelliott it’s GO TIMEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! It’s been a long time coming!!!”
Taylor announced plans for the movie in March 2023, telling Tamron Hall that they had already begun working on the biopic. “We’re in the building process right now. I’ve always wanted to make sure like, I could lock in with any person that I would be playing, you know?,” Taylor said at the time. “How Angela [Bassett] and Tina [Turner] was, how Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles, you know what I’m saying? Like, to really get to know them and I miss when movies was like that, when you get to know them and tap in and just bond.”
She said that at that point she and Warwick were already talking to each other every day. “That’s my girl. Me, her, and her son [Elliott],” she said. “I mean, I’ve always been a firm believer in just always standing on safety. She’s had a wonderful career, you know, and I think right now it’s about making her feel as safe as possible so she can tell her story. A lot of these stories get misconstrued or extremely dramatized to an extent and that’s not where we want to go.”
The role seemed to manifest naturally back in 2020, when notoriously hilarious X poster Warwick had a meet-cute on what was then called Twitter in which Dionne tweeted at Netflix with a plea to make a movie and take her casting suggestion. “Please don’t ask who I would cast to play me as it would obviously be Teyana Taylor,” Warwick wrote at the time.
See Taylor’s post below.
