The first Kentucky Derby was held May 17, 1875, establishing what would become the most famous horse race in the world. For decades, the event served as something of a novelty every spring, as crowds traveled to Churchill Downs to kick off the racing season. For decades, the TV broadcaster of the race (initially CBS, then ABC, and now NBC)...

MoviePass is launching its own kind of fantasy sports league, but for film releases, box office results and more. The company behind the subscription service is launching a fantasy gaming platform called Mogul in which users can compete in tournaments, head-to-head matchups and solo challenges in which they predict box office results, weigh in on per screen averages, sentiment scores...

Production companySister (Black Doves, Eric, Chernobyl, This Is Going to Hurt), co-founded by chief creative officer Jane Featherstone, executive chair Elisabeth Murdoch, and Stacey Snider, has named Lucinda Hicks CEO of Sister Group, the company unveiled on Thursday. The former CEO of Banijay U.K. and (chief operating officer (COO) of Endemol Shine U.K., who will be based in London, previously...

Apples antitrust woes are growing, with a judge referring a criminal case against the tech giant to federal prosecutors for violating court-imposed rules to maintain revenue from its borderline monopoly over segments of the App Store. Under the ruling, Apple is barred from imposing commissions on payments made outside an app or restricting developers from telling users about alternative payment...

AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron received compensation of $11.3 million in 2024, down from $25.4 million in 2023 and $23.7 million in 2022, according to the cinema giants proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Last year, Aron received no bonus and a base salary of $1.5 million, the same salary and bonus as in the...

A federal appeals court has revived a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sam Smith and Normani that claimed their multiplatinum hit Dancing with a Stranger ripped off a 2015 song of an identical name. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a lower courts dismissal of the case, finding that a jury could find...

Aloha (goodbye) fresh meat and also aloha (hello) SPAM. Disneys latest marketing collaboration is with SPAM, with the two very longstanding brands teaming to promote the upcoming live-action Lilo Stitch movie, as well as whatever SPAM actually is. Well let the SPAM brand answer that query itself. When the first SPAM can came off the production line in 1937, the...

We finally know what Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff have been putting over on X for a little while now. OK, so weve known for a few weeks, but the plans are now public. Hogan, a Mt. Rushmore professional wrestler (in terms of what he meant to the biz), and Bischoff, WCWs greatest promoter, have joined forces 25 years after...

Being autistic in the entertainment industry can make life more challenging,especially when you add the fact that I am also a Chinese, Jewish, transracial adoptee. On top of that, I grew up with a single mom in Columbus, Ohio. But, back to autism and Hollywood. Its Autism Awareness Month and its time we all become aware. I belong to the...

In a surprise move, Sinclair Broadcast Group says that the veteran Amazon executive Jeff Blackburn will join the company as chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel. Blackburn previously oversaw all of Amazons entertainment and video efforts, having joined the company shortly after its IPO in 1998 (he worked on the IPO as a banker). Blackburn helped launch and manage properties...

Veteran German film executive Kalle Friz will join Universal Pictures International as managing director for Germany and Austria in July. He will report to Paul Higginson, executive vp, EMEA, and oversee day-to-day operations in the territory, one of UPIs largest theatrical markets. His remit will include sales, distribution, acquisitions, marketing, publicity, and finance. Friz joins UPI from Studiocanal, where he...

The Writers Guild of America West has voluntarily recognized a union formed by its own staffers after a card count revealed that the majority of the bargaining unit favored organizing. The screenwriters labor group gave the green light to all non-supervisory staffers to join the Pacific Northwest Staff Union after the count revealed 81 percent of the bargaining unit supported...

WME is set to divest its basketball representation business, and may make a similar move for its baseball representation business, as it navigates some conflicts of interest associated with the firms take-private by Silver Lake, which closed last month. WME will spin out WME Basketball into a new independent venture that will be owned by WME Group executive chairman Ari...