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It’s kind of a wonder that we haven’t gotten more horror games based around convenience stores. There’s Puppet Combo’s Night Shift and Rewind or Die, and now we have Skaar Game Productions and Numme’s psychological thriller Envelope, a lo-fi surreal horror adventure title that is less about a killer targeting a convenience store clerk, and more about the bizarre world in which you’re immersed.

Recently released into Early Access on Steam (there’s also a demo available), Envelope was developed by “two guys in [their] mid 20’s from Norway”, and casts you as a member of the night shift crew at a convenience store. You soon find yourself getting pushed to do something beyond anything you could possibly imagine.

While the first part of the game is linear, you have the absolute freedom later on to tackle your mission any way you see fit. That...

Yahoo! recently announced that Sailor Moon would be returning to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim for Toonami Rewind, a block of programming airing every Friday at 5 p.m. Et starting May 31. But this is not the English dub of "Sailor Moon" that aired on Toonami's original after-school program from 1998 to 2002. Like many young millennials, I was obsessed with the Sailor Scouts and their adventures. Their empowering stories of kicking ass, kissing a handsome prince, and standing up for what's right — all while wearing lip gloss and short skirts — made me believe that girls could do anything. But there was something off about this magical girl anime, something that didn't quite make sense between what I was hearing and seeing.

It turns out that the 1990s English dub from Dic Entertainment and Cloverway completely altered or erased scenes and dialogue to cater to younger American audiences. While there may be...

Charli Xcx released an expanded version of Brat, which includes three new songs, on Sunday at midnight. The 15-song original arrived on Friday.

She announced the new version on social media a few hours ahead of the drop. “Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not,” she captioned a post on Instagram. The expanded album, given the same title as her social media post, includes new tracks “Hello goodbye,” “Guess,” and “Spring breakers.”

The trio of tracks expands on the original album,...

Who doesn’t wanna dance with Charli Xcx? The U.K. star has been pop’s party girl since her debut, writing high-octane hits for other artists, like Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” while saving her most extreme and wildest avant-garde impulses for her own excellent LPs, most recently 2022’s Crash. On her sixth album, Brat, she stays out later and goes harder than ever before. And while she’s spinning around on the dance floor she’s also spiraling out in her head,...

Charli Xcx should be a bigger star, and she knows it. The British singer-songwriter got her start as a Pitchfork-approved pop auteur, and 2013’s underrated True Romance remains a skipless synth-pop debut. But aside from 2014’s “Boom Clap,” she’s failed to make much of a splash as a solo artist on either side of the pond.

Conceived and recorded during lockdown, at the height of the pandemic, 2020’s insular How I’m Feeling Now allowed Charli to redefine herself, free from industry expectations. Her latest effort, Brat, splits the difference between the stay-at-home hyperpop of that album and the more radio-friendly dance-pop of 2022’s Crash, and the result is one of the most relentlessly infectious rave-ups since Katy B’s On a Mission.

Brat is, in part, inspired by Ministry of Sound-influenced club music of the mid-2000s. The beats and vocals throughout are sliced and diced into unrecognizable shapes and sounds.

Dolly De Leon, who rocked the Cannes Film Festival two years ago in “Triangle of Sadness,” has joined the cast of “Severino: The First Serial Killer,” an upcoming series from Philippines outfit CreaZion Studios.

While “Severino” is the highest profile project, the producer is building a larger slate of feature films.

“Severino” De Leon is a large-scale period thriller series, chronicling the tale of Catholic priest Severino Mallari, who killed 57 people during the Spanish colonization era of the country. Producers Rj Agustin and Real Florido have tapped Yam Laranas known for his horror films “The Echo” and “The Road” as series director. The cast also includes Dennis Trillo as Severino and Chai Fonacier. Production is scheduled for August.

Florido is set as director and working with producer Kristine De Leon on development of “The Fantabulous Badingger-z,” a rotoscope animation movie adapted from the comic book “Badingger-z and the Accla Assassin.

Exclusive: Filipino producer-distributor CreaZion Studios is unveiling a slate of film and TV productions here in Cannes, including Severino: The First Serial Killer, which has Dolly De Leon joining Dennis Trillo in the cast.

Scheduled to start shooting in September, the series tells the true story of Catholic priest Severino Mallari, who predated Jack The Ripper by killing 57 people during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines.

Trillo is playing Severino, while De Leon will play his mother, in what looks set to be one of her darkest roles yet. Severino believed his mother was bewitched and that he could cure her condition by killing people.

Yam Laranas, known for horror films The Echo and The Road, is directing the series, which has been scripted by Dodo Dayao (Cattleya Killer), Rona Co and Rody Vera (Die Beautiful).

De Leon has been working between the US and the...

Exclusive: The Philippines’ Star Cinema and GMA Pictures are teaming up to produce Hello, Love, Again, the sequel to blockbuster hit Hello, Love, Goodbye.

The 2019 original film was the highest-grossing Philippine film of all time, until it was surpassed by Rewind in January this year.

Veteran actress Kathryn Bernardo and actor Alden Richards will reprise their characters, Joy and Ethan, in Hello, Love, Again. Director Cathy Garcia-Sampana, who helmed the original film, will also direct the sequel, which will be shot in Canada.

The film’s theatrical release is set for November 13 this year in the Philippines, with international releases following thereafter.

Mild spoiler: Hello, Love, Again will be set five years on from when Joy (Kathryn Bernardo) said goodbye to Ethan (Alden Richards) and Hong Kong to pursue her dreams in Canada. After fighting for their love to conquer the time, distance and a global shutdown that kept them apart,...

Lives Outgrown, the long-awaited debut album from Portishead singer Beth Gibbons, has officially arrived. Stream all 10 tracks below.

Arriving 16 years after the most recent Portishead project, Lives Outgrown is an existential, wide-ranging effort that plays with themes of nature, destruction, hope, and dread. Gibbons described Lives Outgrown as her “most personal work to date,” and characterized the project as packed with “lots of goodbyes.”

Get Beth Gibbons Tickets Here

Last month, listeners got a taste of Lives Outgrown with the release of “Reaching Out,” while the first single, “Floating on a Moment,” was named our Song of the Week upon arrival. The LP was produced by James Ford, and the songs were written and recorded over the course of the past decade.

Speaking about the album, she shared, “When you’re young, you never know the endings. You don’t know how it’s going to pan out. You think,...

Earlier this month, Lionsgate announced the revival of The Blair Witch Project franchise with a new movie. Now, in the wake of that announcement, the cast from the original film has come forward to decry “25 years of disrespect” from Lionsgate and make new demands ahead of the reboot.

Released in 1999 via Artisan Entertainment, the original Blair Witch Project starred Joshua Leonard, Heather Donahue (now named Rei Hance), and Michael Williams, who used their real names and likeness for the project. Since Artisan Entertainment was bought-out by Lionsgate in 2003, though, the cast has allegedly experienced quite a bit of disrespect, even down to being forced to go to court just to win back their own names (since their Blair Witch “characters” were IP belonging to the production house).

The announcement of the reboot last month was the straw that broke the camel’s back, though. Taking to social media, Leonard began...

The Matrix universe is expanding with a new movie helmed by Drew Goddard.

The writer and director, best known for his work on titles like The Martian, The Cabin in the Woods, and Netflix’s Daredevil series, will both direct the film and pen its screenplay. Goddard has plenty of experience with sci-fi, having gotten his start penning episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Lost.

Currently untitled, the project will be the first Matrix film to not directly involve creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski, though the former will serve as executive producer. Plot details are currently being kept under wraps, but it sounds like Goddard has a strong vision to extend the franchise.

“Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and...

Club Charli Xcx will open on June 7, when the singer and songwriter unleashes her pulsating new studio album, Brat. The album’s release date arrives nearly two months after she announced it with its neon green minimalist cover artwork and chaotic lead single, “Von Dutch.” Charli is keeping her energy high in the lead-up to the summer release with two new singles and the complete Brat tracklist.

“Club Classics” and “B2b” arrive as a double-single released highlighting the thesis statement for the album: Charli just wants to party. “Put...

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big new singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This week, three highlights from Beyoncé’s game-changing Cowboy Carter (including a sweet Miley Cyrus duet), Camila Cabello returns with a super-charged hyperpop single, and St. Vincent previews her forthcoming album with a heavy, funky new track. Plus, new music from Sheryl Crow, Carin León, Leon Bridges, D4vd, and more.

Beyoncé, “Ya Ya” (YouTube)

Beyoncé feat. Miley, “II Most Wanted” (YouTube)

Beyoncé, “Bodyguard” (YouTube)

Camila Cabello feat.

A woman tragically dying in a car accident and her husband or boyfriend magically going back in time to save her—how many times have we seen a plot like that? Doctor Strange would say an infinite number of times, but that can’t stop Netflix from bringing out this new movie, Rewind, which has the exact same plot. Although there’s still an appeal to stories that involve the concept of time-traveling, what’s the harm in cashing in on that? Absolutely nothing, but Mae Cruz-Alvair’s Filipino movie is both banal and bland. Not everyone can be Richard Curtis pulling off something like About Time (2013), after all!

Spoilers Ahead

What Happens In The Movie?

Blame it on Netflix for giving away the main plot in the description itself, which effectively makes the first hour of the movie pointless. You know what’s going to happen to John and Mary already,...

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week, we go to the Philippines and take a look at a time-traveling romance film. Rewind has has become the highest-grossing Filipino film in history, with audiences lapping up the fantasy and mystical elements of a failing marriage given a second chance by divine intervention.

Name: Rewind

Country: The Philippines

Producer: Abs-cbn/Star Cinema, AgostoDos Pictures, Apt Entertainment

International sales: Star Cinema

Distribution: Cinemas in Asia, Australia, Canada, U.S. (limited), Middle East

For fans of: A Change of Heart (Tanging...

Thirty years after the release of Portishead’s first album, lead singer Beth Gibbons has announced the impending arrival of her own solo debut LP, Lives Outgrown.

Ahead of the album’s May 17 release via Domino, Gibbons has shared the first single “Floating on a Moment,” which was accompanied by a video directed by multimedia artist Tony Oursler.

Lives Outgrown is the culmination of a decade’s worth of songwriting for Gibbons, with the singer ruminating on motherhood, anxiety, menopause, and mortality over the course of the album’s 10 tracks.

Portishead singer Beth Gibbons has officially announced her long-awaited debut solo album.

Set to premiere on May 17th via Domino, Lives Outgrown was produced by Gibbons with James Ford, and features 10 new tracks recorded over the course of the past decade. In a new press release, Gibbons touched on the album’s themes of motherhood, anxiety, menopause, and mortality.

“People started dying,” Gibbons said. “When you’re young, you never know the endings, you don’t know how it’s going to pan out. You think, ‘We’re going to get beyond this. It’s going to get better.’ Some endings are hard to digest… I realized what life was like with no hope, and that was a sadness I’d never felt. Before, I had the ability to change my future, but when you’re up against your body, you can’t make it do something it doesn’t want to do.

A film about the impact of divine intervention on a failing relationship has become the first Filipino title to surpass $16M at the global box office.

Rewind crossed the the 900M Philippine pesos worldwide gross mark this week, a huge return for the local box office. The local record was previously held by Hello, Love, Goodbye (2019), which grossed 691M pesos.

Anchored by the star power of real-life husband-and-wife Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, as well as buzz generated by word-of-mouth, the time-traveling romance film also broke the domestic box office record after grossing 848M pesos.

Directed by Mae Cruz Alviar, Rewind tells the story of the deteriorating relationship between married couple John (Dantes) and Mary (Rivera). After a divine intervention, John receives an opportunity to go back in time and make amends.

“We at Star Cinema knew that there was no other option but the two of them, because we...

From Hollywood strikes to the ascent of AI to sinking stock prices, 2023 was a topsy-turvy year for media and entertainment.

Cynthia Littleton and Andrew Wallenstein, hosts of Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” discuss the highs and lows of the past year on the latest episode.

Wallenstein, president and chief media analyst of Variety Intelligence Platform data division, pointed to the spread of easy-to-use generative AI tools as the biggest unknown that is casting a cloud over the industry. “This is something that is still just in the very early stages of transforming so many processes, particularly in production — and even of course beyond this industry,” Wallenstein observed.

The hosts also discuss the twists and turns of the streaming wars in a year when traditional Hollywood faced steep cuts. Netflix earned the right to do a “victory lap,” the hosts agreed, for solidifying its global lead in streaming subscribers.

“It was the...

Bollywood actress Kajol shared a recap of how her year 2023 went, calling it a “good year” by doing some amazing projects, and celebrating more things with loveliest people. Taking to Instagram, Kajol, who has 15.6 million followers on the photo sharing application, shared a Reel video with the title ‘2023 Rewind’.

The video shows a montage of Kajol’s different fashion looks, glimpses of her project like one from ‘Lust Stories 2’, unseen pictures of her family–husband Ajay Devgn and her kids Nysa and Yug, Durga Puja celebrations, and much more.

Jackie Shroff and ace fashion designer Manish Malhotra also featured in Kajol’s video.

The Reel was captioned as: “It was a good year after all! Laughed a lot, had some great experiences, did a bucket full of amazing projects, celebrated more things I can count and spent time with the most lovely people…With loads of love, Goodbye #2023! You were nice.

El 2023 toca a su fin, y la plataforma española presenta su iVoox Rewind con los audios y listas más populares en España y Latinoamérica de 2023. Además, por primera vez los oyentes pueden echar la vista atrás y sorprenderse con el tiempo que han pasado escuchando durante el año, y como venía siendo habitual en ediciones anteriores también ofrecen un resumen personalizado para creadores con los hitos de su podcast.

El podcast se sigue consolidando como alternativa de aprendizaje y entretenimiento para cada vez más gente, y 2023 ha sido un gran año para el podcasting donde iVoox acumula más de 800M de escuchas, más de 17M de episodios publicados y más de 330.000 nuevos podcasts, de los cuales 115.000 son en español.

Por su parte, los oyentes han interactuado con sus podcasts favoritos con más de 7M de comentarios, más de 4M de me gusta, 7,6M de suscripciones, más de 500.000 listas seguidas y...