Longtime television producer Joel Rogosin died Sunday of complications from COVID-19 at the Motion Picture Television Fund’s retirement home in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills. 30 more words

via ‘Magnum, P.I.,’ ‘Knight Rider’ Producer Joel Rogosin Dies of Coronavirus at MPTF Retirement Home — Variety

Netflix is going back to the debt markets yet again, announcing plans to offer $1 billion in junk bonds to fund operations and potential acquisitions. The announcement comes the morning after the streamer posted an eye-popping 15.77 million net new streaming subscribers for the first quarter of 2020, a record quarterly boom driven by the…

via Netflix Plans to Raise $1 Billion Through Debt Offering — Variety

Film and TV shoots have restarted in Sweden and Denmark under a new set of preventive rules relating to the coronavirus crisis. Although Sweden did not impose a lockdown or any other drastic restrictions to fight the pandemic as in other countries around the world, it is among the first European countries, along with Denmark,…

via Film Production Restarts in Sweden, Denmark Under New Coronavirus Rules — Variety

Tom Cruise expected to spend his summer in Italy, hanging onto the sides of planes, dodging bullets and engaging in elaborate car chases. The arrival of COVID-19 spoiled those plans, indefinitely postponing the shooting of “Mission: Impossible 7,” the latest installment of the globe-trotting espionage franchise. 13 more words

via Post-Pandemic Hollywood: Inside Plans to Make Movie and TV Sets Safe Again — Variety

The ventilator used by celebrated British physicist Stephen Hawking has been donated to a hospital in Cambridge, U.K., to help treat patients with coronavirus. Hawking, the subject of Academy Award-winning biopic “The Theory of Everything,” died in 2018 from motor neurone disease, aged 76. 13 more words

via Stephen Hawking’s Ventilator to Be Used by U.K. Hospital in Coronavirus Fight — Variety

It’s “full steam ahead” at the Toronto Film Festival, according to artistic director Cameron Bailey. However, even the organizers of North America’s largest annual film gathering can’t say with total certainty what that means, since there are so many unknowns in the fast-evolving coronavirus pandemic. 12 more words

via Toronto Film Festival Considers Digital Options in Post-Coronavirus World (EXCLUSIVE) — Variety

Fox Corp. will cut senior executive salaries on a short-term basis in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The move was announced Wednesday in a memo from chief executive Lachlan Murdoch. 27 more words

via Fox Corp. Cuts Senior Exec Salaries Amid Coronavirus Pandemic — Variety

Variety didn’t pay much attention to the first Earth Day in 1970 but by its 20th anniversary, mentions were far more prevalent, reflecting Hollywood’s growing commitment to environmental issues. 28 more words

via Earth Day at 50: Looking Back at Hollywood’s Early Green Scene — Variety

Here are 10 environmental hotspots around the globe — and ways that you can help. AMAZON Oil drilling, logging and mining threaten the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous peoples, namely those in Brazil. 25 more words

via 10 Environmental Hotspots That Need Our Help — Variety

“Empire” signed off with a premature series finale on Tuesday night, after the coronavirus forced the Fox show to curtail its sixth and final season. With the potential of the intended series finale to come at a later date, the final episode of “Empire,” for now, scored a 0.8 rating and 2.9 million total viewers.…

via TV Ratings: ‘Empire’ Series Finale Delivers Largest Audience Since October — Variety