McDonalds reached a settlement in the $10 billion lawsuit brought by Byron Allens Allen Entertainment Studios, in which the media mogul accused the fast food company of discriminating against Black-owned media companies. Allens companies and McDonalds released a joint statement on Friday, revealing that theyd come to an agreement to settle pending litigation between them. At the tailend of last...

There may be only one company that could get LeBron James, Tom Brady, Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, Jay-Z, Travis Scott, NBA star Victor Wembanyama, YouTuber Kai Cenat and dozens of other high-wattage names from the worlds of sports and entertainment under one roof: Fanatics, the sports merchandise, collectible and entertainment firm founded by Michael Rubin. And they want fans to...

Nothing is certain when it comes to predicting if a marketing effort a trailer, an activation, merch will stick with audiences. To that end, the past year has seen studios, streamers and record labels sign on more promo partners than ever before, says Disney chief brand officer Asad Ayaz, to help break through the clutter, combining the power of the...

One Piece actor Daniel Lasker has signed with Innovative Artists for representation. Lasker is recurring as Mr. 9, one of the villains in the Baroque Works criminal organization in season two of Netflixs live-action adaptation of the expansive manga and anime series. Lasker also stars in the upcoming indie feature London Calling as Barnabus, where he will appear opposite Josh...

The NBA, video game giant Take-Two Interactive and the National Basketball Players Association have agreed in principle to a multiyear extension of their partnership, continuing the NBA 2K video game franchise, while also expanding into new areas. One of those new areas is media and entertainment, with the companies unveiling what they are calling NBA Take-Two Media, which will combine...

And so it begins And it finallyhappened Those were the two reactions seemingly opposite, actually harmonious to the news that Disney and Universal had finally bitten the bullet Wednesday and sued an AI company, the startup image-generator Midjourney. It had, after all, been nearly 18 months since The New York Times dropped the first shoe, suing OpenAI and its backer...

Imax has tapped former Alamo Drafthouse content exec Heather Morgan as its new head of global distribution. Morgan, who served as chief content officer at Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, replaces Craig Dehmel, who is stepping down as global distribution chief after nine years at Imax. And Steve Garrett will continue as head of domestic distribution while taking on the additional role...

The future of federal funding for public media is, for the first time in decades, facing a very real risk of being eliminated, after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass President Trumps rescission package, which pulls $1.1 billion in funding for PBS and NPR. The House passed the package by the slimmest of margins, 214-212, after one Republican...

What do Reese Witherspoon, Bowen Yang, Sterling K. Brown, Serena Williams, Peter Jackson, Jimmy Fallon, Disney Entertainment co-chair Dana Walden and The Brutalist filmmaker Brady Corbet have in common? If you know the answer, chances are youre heading to Cannes soon. After all, these names are among the huge, action-packed lineup of speakers at this years Cannes Lions, taking place...

Jens Grede, who launched the fashion brand Skims with Kim Kardashian and wife Emma Grede, has joined the board of directors at United Talent Agency. Grede, the CEO of Skims, is also chairman of the fashion brand Frame andinvests in consumer and media brands via his holding company, Popular Culture. Jens brings a remarkable track record of developing and growing...

Universal Music Group has established a new joint venture with Patrick Whitesell and his Silver Lake Capital-backed investment firm WTSL, Whitesell and UMG announced on Thursday. The deal puts Whitesell who left his post as executive chairman of WME back in March in business with the worlds largest music company. Neither UMG nor Whitesell disclosed any specific financial details of...

In a video posted to his YouTube channel in 2009, the popular YouTube creator Hank Green had a big announcement to make. A couple of months ago, [my brother] John and I decided that we were really interested in the possibility of getting a real life online video conference happening, in order to get all of the best online video...

Toy giant Mattel has struck a strategic partnership with Sam AltmansOpenAIthat will see artificial intelligence-powered products help develop and launch fan experiences based on iconic toy brands. The first product driven by OpenAIs technology, which includes ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, will be unveiled laster this year. Mattel said using OpenAIs technology will bring the magic of AI to...