| | | | | | What's news: Legendary and Sony Pictures are ending their distribution pact. Netflix is facing a proposed class action over the Paul-Tyson fight. Storm Reid is not returning to Euphoria for season 3. Disney+ has renewed Moving. Netflix has renewed A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Musical Tammy Faye is closing on Broadway after opening last week. — Abid Rahman
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THR's Next Gen Creators 2024 ►15 rising influencers. THR’s inaugural list of Next Gen Content Creators — which honors TikTokers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, streamers and podcasters based on a mix of factors including rate of growth, brand deals booked and Hollywood projects lined up — captures a moment in time for the ever-changing world of the internet. Learn their names now before they appear on your TV, in your Spotify Discover Weekly playlist or on your Instagram Explore page. The list.
—Defeated. A major shareholder proposal calling for News Corp. to scrap its dual-class share structure was voted down on Wednesday. Following the media company’s 2024 annual meeting of shareholders, News Corp. said the non-binding proposal to adopt a recapitalization plan that would eliminate a dual-class share structure was “convincingly” defeated. The final voting results were unavailable from News Corp., but will be reported in an SEC 8-K filing to be made public. The proposal’s defeat beats back a major challenge to Rupert Murdoch’s transition of power at News Corp. to his son Lachlan Murdoch. The story.
—Not happy. Netflix is facing a proposed class action from subscribers who were plagued by persistent buffering and freezing glitches that caused them to miss parts of the boxing spectacle between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. A Florida resident alleges Netflix was “woefully ill-prepared” for the nine-figure global audience that tuned in to the bout. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages on behalf of subscribers who had trouble watching the fight, brings claims for breach of contract and violations of Florida laws surrounding deceptive trade practices and consumer protection. The story.
—So, this is what it feels like...when doves cry. Pamela Hayden, who has voiced Milhouse Van Houten on The Simpsons — and dozens more characters — for the past 35 years, is departing the long-running Fox series. Hayden has been credited on just under 700 of The Simpsons‘ 774 episodes to date. In addition to Milhouse, Hayden has provided the voices for Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders (and occasionally his brother Todd), Malibu Stacy, Lisa’s classmate Janey, and many other recurring and one-time characters. The story. |
Legendary and Sony Ending Distribution Deal ►It's over. Legendary Entertainment and Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group are parting ways. In late 2022, the two companies announced that Sony would become Legendary’s go-to studio in terms of releasing and marketing its movies around the globe (excluding China). But there was a major caveat. Legendary’s marquee franchises, Dune and Godzilla (the latter is part of the MonsterVerse ), would continue to be handled by Warner Bros. The news that Sony and Legendary are terminating their deal isn’t a surprise to Hollywood insiders. Nor would insiders be surprised if Legendary returned to Warners permanently. There are two other options: Legendary could strike a new distribution deal with another studio, or farm out its films on a title-by-title basis. The story.
—🤝 First-look deal 🤝 Hunger Games movie franchise director Francis Lawrence and his About:Blank Productions banner have signed a first-look production deal with Lionsgate. With the Hunger Games series having generated nearly $3.7b in ticket sales worldwide for Lionsgate, Lawrence inked the producing deal with the major studio ahead of directing and producing The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the next film in the franchise. The story.
—🤝 Multi-year deal 🤝 The Penguin's visionary lead director, Craig Zobel, has signed a new multi-year, first-look deal at HBO. The Emmy nominee helmed the first three episodes of the Gothic crime drama, helping establish the visual language of the series, as well as serving as an executive producer. The Penguin started strong out of the gate with an acclaimed pilot and gradually became one of the network’s biggest hits in years, with its series premiere having racked up a cumulative 18m U.S. viewers. The story. |
'Suits: L.A.': Gabriel Macht Returning as Harvey Specter ►🎭 Coming back! 🎭 Gabriel Macht is suiting up once again. The actor, who starred in Suits as suave and successful lawyer Harvey Specter, is returning for the show’s Los Angeles-set spinoff, Suits L.A. Macht posted a video on his Instagram seemingly confirming that he would be appearing in the upcoming series starring Stephen Amell. Suits L.A. will see Amell portray Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York, who now leads his own firm on the West Coast. The story.
—Not coming back! Storm Reid, who played Gia Bennett, the younger sister of Zendaya’s Rue, said she won’t be returning to Euphoria. The series is set to begin production on season three in January, three years after the show’s second season premiered on HBO. In a red carpet interview at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards, Reid told Rotten Tomatoes that she wouldn’t be returning to Euphoria: “Unfortunately, Gia’s not returning for the third season, but I’m so, so indebted to the cast and crew of that show [and] to HBO. Euphoria is a really special thing.” Sources confirm Reid won’t be part of season three. The story.
—🎭 Seven more 🎭 Peacock's forthcoming The Office-world comedy series is continuing to build out its cast. Seven actors — Duane Shepard Sr., Allan Havey, Nate Jackson, Mo Welch, Nancy Lenehan, Molly Ephraim and Tracy Letts — will have guest roles on the series from creators Greg Daniels and Michael Koman. Welch is also a writer on the series. Details on their parts are being kept under wraps for now. They join a cast led by Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore and which also includes Melvin Gregg, Chelsea Frei, Ramona Young, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Tim Key and Eric Rahill. The story.
—More cases to solve. Netflix has ordered a second season of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, with Wednesday star Emma Myers returning as a teenage gumshoe who gets to the bottom of murder cases in a small English village. The adaptation of Holly Jackson’s popular YA novel will see another six episodes filmed in 2025 in the U.K. for season two, with Zain Iqbal also returning as Ravi Singh. Season two will be adapted and written by Holly Jackson and Poppy Cogan. The story.
—It's happening. A second season Korean sci-fi fantasy series Moving is in the works at Disney+, Disney confirmed on day two of its Asia Pacific Content Showcase in Singapore. The announcement was made by Carol Choi, Disney’s executive vp of original content strategy for APAC, although no details on dates and cast on Moving season two were provided. Series creator, the influential Korean artist Kang Full, will be involved in the second season. The series, which launched in August 2023, has been a huge hit for Disney+ and Hulu, with the company saying that Moving ranked as the number one local original title globally on Disney+ last year. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 The United States needs Robert De Niro‘s help in Netflix‘s Zero Day. The iconic actor’s first turn on television will see him playing a former president who is called in to help the current president (played by Angela Bassett) after a crippling cyberattack on the nation, called a Zero Day event. Netflix revealed a first look at the limited series on Wednesday when announcing the anticipated release date of Feb. 20, 2025. The story. |
Robert Pattinson Joins Christopher Nolan's Next Film ►🎭 Stacked 🎭 Robert Pattinson is reteaming with Christopher Nolan for the filmmaker’s much-ballyhooed and much-shrouded new feature film project. The actor, who starred in Nolan’s 2020 sci-fi thriller Tenet, now joins a stacked cast that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o and Zendaya. Nolan wrote the script and is directing the project, which Universal Pictures will distribute. The studio has set a release date of July 17, 2026. The story.
—🎭 Ghostface has a new target 🎭 Birthday girl Isabel May, best known for starring in Yellowstone prequels 1883 and 1923, has nabbed the plum role of Neve Campbell’s daughter in Scream 7 and is in talks to star opposite the Scream queen. The seventh installment of the horror franchise, being made by Spyglass Entertainment, is in rebuilding mode after losing its young stars Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera. Campbell, who sat out the previous installment due to a salary dispute, is back for the new feature that will focus on her character, Sidney Prescott, and her daughter. The story.
—🎭 Circling 🎭 Daniel Craig is being eyed to star in the DC Studios feature Sgt. Rock for director Luca Guadagnino. The movie adaptation of the DC Comics character is in early stages, with no deal yet in place for Craig or Guadagnino. The project has a script from screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, who penned Challengers and Queer, with the latter being an A24 title that hits theaters Nov. 27 and counts Guadagnino as director and Craig as star. Plot details for Sgt. Rock have not been shared. Created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, Sgt. Rock is a World War II soldier who first appeared in comics in 1959. The story.
—Taking flight. The historic tale of the Wright Brothers and the invention of flying is getting the movie treatment via Wonder Project, the nascent independent studio that is creating films and series for the global faith and values audience. Jon Gunn, a name in the faith field who helmed Ordinary Angels starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson and is now the company’s head of story, will direct the feature, titled Flyer, which will be produced by Jeremy Latcham, the former Marvel executive who last produced Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The story. |
Hollywood Cooking Up Record-Breaking Thanksgiving Box Office ►"When there are great choices, the business hums." Consider it a symbol of Christmas coming early this year for all of Hollywood, as November tentpoles Gladiator II, the musical Wicked and the animated juggernaut Moana 2 hit the big screen timed to Thanksgiving. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that the three films are expected to fuel the biggest Thanksgiving weekend in history in terms of overall revenue, a rare bright spot in the post-pandemic era. The box office report.
—All change. The Pope’s Exorcist filmmaker Julius Avery has come on board to direct They Found Us, an alien abduction thriller from Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios being co-produced with Temple Hill. District 9 helmer Neill Blomkamp was originally attached to the project, with Joel Kinnaman to star as a father who tries to mend his broken relationship with his daughter during a camping trip in the Utah wilderness, only to be attacked by a hostile extraterrestrial, determined to kidnap them and take them to an unknown and terrifying alien world. The film is currently re-casting for a planned shoot in Australia in the first half of 2025. The story.
—🎭 Love triangle complete 🎭 British actor Shazad Latif is joining Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in Emerald Fennell’s buzzy adaptation of Wuthering Heights. MRC and Warner Bros. are backing the feature, which WB will distribute after picking it up in a twisty bidding war. Considered one of the great masterpieces of literature, Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel follows the Lintons and the turbulent relationship they have with the Earnshaws’ foster son, Heathcliff. In Fennell’s take, Elordi is playing Heathcliff while Robbie is playing Heathcliff’s secret love, Catherine Earnshaw. The story.
—🎭 Verily, Verity 🎭 Anne Hathaway is set to star in Amazon MGM Studios‘ feature adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s thriller novel Verity. Michael Showalter is directing the film that is planned for a theatrical release. Nick Antosca wrote the current script following the previous work of scribes Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna and the team of Will Honley and April Maguire. Verity centers on struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, who is hired by Jeremy Crawford to complete the remaining books in a series penned by his wife, author Verity Crawford (Hathaway), who has suffered a mysterious accident. Lowen soon learns that a secret unfinished manuscript may reveal clues about the family’s past. The story.
—🎭 Fun boys 🎭 David Spade and Theo Von are adding a new project to their plates with the buddy comedy Busboys. The pair wrote the script for the feature that they will star in for director Jonah Feingold. Spade and Von are self-producing and self-financing the movie that also counts Robert Ogden Barnum as a producer. Busboys is set in an Arizona border town and centers on two pals who mistakenly believe that becoming waiters will solve all of their problems. Production is set to begin in Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 2025. A distributor and release date have not yet been announced. The story. |
'Tammy Faye' Musical to Close on Broadway ►Oooof. New musical Tammy Faye is closing Dec. 8 after a short-lived run on Broadway. The show, which chronicles the famous televangelist and features music by Elton John, began performances at the Palace Theatre on Oct. 19 and opened just last Thursday, Nov. 14. The production failed to capture an audience and was met with mixed to negative reviews, with critics questioning the ultimate message of the musical and whether it was meant to satirize televangelism or celebrate the feminist icon Tammy Faye. The show, which was capitalized for up to $25m, made less than $400,000 in the most recent three weeks of its run, which was far below the numbers needed to support a musical of that size. The story.
—Boffo. Sunset Blvd. again hit its highest grossing week yet at the St. James Theatre, bringing in $1.9m, up $50,000 from the prior week, and playing to 95 percent capacity. This marks the fourth consecutive week the musical has built upon its grosses, since opening Oct. 20. And, as was the case last week, the backlash against Nicole Scherzinger for commenting on what appeared to be a pro-Trump social media post by comedian Russell Brand seems to be minimal. The Broadway box office report. |
A Heartbreaking Rift of Staggering Intensity ►"It’s hard to communicate how much I didn’t understand that I could be mad at Dave." Introduced to millions as the kid in Dave Eggers’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Toph Eggers re-emerges to reclaim his tragic family history and explains to THR's Gary Baum why his famous sibling is no longer a part of his life. The story.
—Finally invited to the party. THR's Lacey Rose spoke to Jim Gaffigan about his new Hulu special, The Skinny. Fresh off his turn as Tim Walz on SNL, the newly svelte stand-up discusses comedy's move toward meritocracy, the RFK Jr. joke he backed out of telling and why he'd rather have a "clean" act than an "edgy" one. The interview. |
TV Review: 'Cruel Intentions' ►"Fails to answer questions like 'Why this again?' and 'Why now?'" THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Amazon Prime Video's Cruel Intentions. The updated take on Roger Kumble's 1999 film (itself a modernized adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' 18th century novel) moves the scheming and sexual hijinks to an elite D.C.-area university. The review.
—"A great cast walks the line between humor and heart." Daniel reviews Netflix's A Man on the Inside. Based on the Oscar-nominated 2020 documentary The Mole Agent, the Mike Schur series centers on a widower (Ted Danson) who goes undercover in a retirement community to catch a thief. The review.
In other news...
—Alien: Earth teaser reveals Predator in Noah Hawley prequel series
—Parthenope trailer: Sun, sea and sex feature in Paolo Sorrentino’s new film
—Apple TV+'s drug ring drama Dope Thief reveals first look
—Anthony Jeselnik’s new Netflix special trailer shows just one rude joke
—Lady Gaga, Green Day, Travis Scott, Post Malone set for Coachella 2025
—Spike Lee named jury president of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Festival
—Zendaya to receive a Tribute Prize at the Gotham Awards
—Digital creator Dougie Corrado signs with UTA, Ballen Management
—Cowboy Carter collaborator Willie Jones signs to Gravel Road Records
—Richard D. James, Star Trek production designer on Next Generation and Voyager, dies at 88
What else we're reading...
—Andrew Roth and Julian Borger report that ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged Gaza war crimes [Guardian]
—Alex Sherman writes that Comcast’s cable network spinoff may be a signal to the media industry for more consolidation [CNBC]
—Jason Jones and Kennington Smith III look at how Kendrick Lamar’s diss track "Not Like Us" found a home throughout college football [The Athletic]
—Danielle Paquette and Jonathan O'Connell report that police records reveal new details about a sexual assault allegation against Pete Hegseth [WaPo]
—Peter C. Baker wants an end to nostalgia concerts, especially the new ritual of musicians playing old albums, in full, onstage [NYT]
Today...
...in 1931, Universal unveiled James Whale's Frankenstein in theaters. Starring Boris Karloff, the film adapted Mary Shelley's 1818 novel that was at the time an unproven commodity on the big screen. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Björk (59), Goldie Hawn (79), Carly Rae Jepsen (39), Jena Malone (40), Cherry Jones (68), Ronny Chieng (39), Michael Strahan (53), Park Hae-soo (43), Andrew Davis (78), Isabel May (24), Aimee-Ffion Edwards (🏴37), Jimmi Simpson (49), Luke Tennie (30), Nicollette Sheridan (61), Marlo Thomas (87), Deborah Shelton (76), Alexander Siddig (59), Mariana Treviño (47), Cynthia Rhodes (68), Sam Palladio (38), Juliet Mills (83), Ryan Carnes (42), Paul W. Downs (42), Claire van der Boom (41), Lindsey Haun (40), Brian McNamara (64), Daniella Pick (41), Sean Schemmel (56), Jordan Warkol (38), Rain Phoenix (52), Lissie (42), Rib Hillis (54) |
| | Toian Matchinga, who guest-starred three times on the 1960s CBS series The Wild Wild West and appeared on such other shows as Death Valley Days, I Dream of Jeannie and The Odd Couple, has died. She was 82. The obituary. |
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