Disney CEO Bob Iger is giving in to popular demand and says he will consider doing more with the beloved EPCOT character of Figment. The purple dragon character is featured in the theme park ride Journey Into Imagination With Figment at EPCOT in Florida at the Walt Disney World Resort and also greets guests inside the Imagination! pavilion. During Thursdays...

Disney shareholders rejected proposals to sever ties with the Human Rights Campaigns Corporate Equality Index; to issue a report on the risks of climate change to the companys businesses; and to issue a report examining the risks related to ad buying and selling. The company held its annual shareholder meeting Thursday, where stockholders voted against the proposals by overwhelming margins,...

In a bid to dismiss Justin Baldonis lawsuit, Blake Lively is pointing to a change in California law prohibiting the weaponization of defamation claims that concern accusations of sexual assault. California lawmakers in 2023 expanded libel protections to include communications based on public disclosures of sexual misconduct, effectively making it harder for accused individuals to retaliate by suing. Baldoni brought...

Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger says generative artificial intelligence is an enormously powerful technology that the company is beginning to utilize, but he warned that it is also proceeding with caution to protect its trove of characters and stories, as well as its creatives and customers. Iger was asked about the technology at Disneys annual shareholder meeting Thursday, telling...

Lionsgate has promoted Joel Meyer to executive vp,worldwide production for Lionsgate Television, replacing studio veteran Gary Goodman as he retires. Meyer will head up production for the studios premium scripted series slate, while overseeingLionsgates East Coast TV production facilities in Atlanta, Yonkers, New York and Newark, New Jersey. He succeeds Goodman, an 18-year veteran at the studio. Meyers promotion comes...

It was another recovery year for Hollywood following the dual strikes that affected the film pipeline just a few years after the COVID pandemic hit. The global box office dropped 10 percent to $30.5 billion last year but it wasnt bad news for everyone. In a mixed year for the industry, the film divisions of some legacy entertainment conglomerates actually...

European television giant RTL Group is closing in on profitability in its streaming division, with subscriber figures and online revenues surging last year and start-up costs falling. In its year-end results, published Thursday, RTL said subscribers to its streaming services RTL+ in Germany and Hungary and the new M6+ platform in France jumped 21 percent to more than 6.8 million....

The predominant union organizing video game workers in the U.S. has announced an initiative that will attempt to change industry conditions outside of traditional legal frameworks. On Wednesday the Communications Workers of America announced the launch of a new direct-join organization, United Videogame Workers-CWA, at a labor-organizing panel at the Game Developers Conference. The group not a certified union, but...

A clearer picture of Village Roadshows downfall is coming into focus, with the film production and financing company filing for bankruptcy after a costly endeavor aimed at creating content in-house and the souring of its longtime partnership with Warner Bros. The firm that backed theMatrixandOceans franchises was once one of the most prolific behind-the-scenes financiers in Hollywood. Business was good....

Bobby Kim, better known as Bobby Hundreds in the fashion world, is heading to the House of Mouse. The Hundreds co-founder has been named vp of creative for the Americas at Disney Consumer Products. The author revealed the news Tuesday on Instagram following the announcement that his apparel label closed its longtime flagship on streetwear corridor Fairfax Avenue. Kim is...

Longtime film critic Richard Roeper is leaving the Chicago Sun-Times after a 37 year career. The highly influential reviewer is taking a buyout from the Sun-Times, for whom he has written as a contributor since 1987. Roeper, a Chicago native, is among around 30 people to have taken a buyout from the iconic newspaper this week, including reporters and editors,...

Stability AI, the generative artificial intelligence company behind the popular Stable Diffusion image model, has hired visual effects legend Robert Legato as its chief pipeline architect. A three-time Academy Award winner (for Titanic, Huge and The Jungle Book), Legato is also a longtime collaborator of director James Cameron, and helped develop the virtual cinematography techniques used in Avatar. Cameron is...

A record 51 films will receive tax credits to shoot in California amid a historic downturn in production in the state fueled by an increasingly tit-for-tat incentives race to host Hollywood. The total marks the highest number of titles selected in a single round of the states film and TV tax incentive program, according to the California Film Commission. The...