| | | | | | What's news: Adam Schweitzer has officially joined WME and taken many of his top clients with him. Jenn Levy is the new head of unscripted at Amazon MGM. Sebastian Stan is in talks to join The Batman Part II. Sydney Sweeney is closer to starring in a sequel to The Housemaid. And Jafar Panahi tells THR he plans to return to Iran despite the prospect of prison. — Abid Rahman
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WBD Rejects Paramount's Revised Offer ►No dice. Warner Bros. Discovery is still sticking with Netflix. Even after David Ellison’s Paramount filed a revised tender offer for the company Dec. 22, with Larry Ellison personally promising a full backstop on the deal, the WBD board released a letter Wednesday morning rejecting the new offer and sticking with its signed agreement with Netflix. The revised offer also saw Paramount increase the termination fee to $5.8b, matching Netflix, and extending the deadline for the tender to later in January. The company kept its offer price at $30 per share, all cash. The story.
—Exodus. Adam Schweitzer has officially joined WME as a senior partner in the talent department, the agency announced Tuesday. The agent, who is based in New York, was previously at CAA, where he was a senior talent agent for the last three years. Schweitzer was one of several agents said to be transitioning out of the Century City-based firm at the end of November and heading to WME. A good portion of Schweitzer’s impressive award-winning client roster has made the move with him. The bold-faced names include Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Christoph Waltz, Rachel Zegler, Cooper Hoffman, Hong Chau, Patrick Stewart, Tom Hollander, Diane Kruger, Paddy Considine, Hank Azaria, Dianne Wiest, Nina Arianda, Jim Sturgess and Emily Ziff Griffin. The story.
—Woof! A worldwide theater network expansion helped Imax post $1.28b in global box office for 2025, a new company record. That surpassed Imax’s previous highwater mark of $1.1b in global box office for 2019 when measuring ticket sales in North America, China and the rest of the world. Imax, which earlier forecast $1.2b to $1.25b in gross global box office for 2025, on Wednesday put its record year down to more of its big screen releases shot with its “Filmed for Imax” proprietary cameras and an expanded film slate that includes more local language titles. The story.
—"Bringing on someone of Jenn’s caliber to fill the job makes our future that much brighter." Amazon MGM Studios has a new head of unscripted. The streamer announced on Tuesday that Jenn Levy, a former vp of nonfiction at Netflix, has been named head of unscripted and documentary television. She will succeed Lauren Anderson, who shifted responsibilities from overseeing unscripted to focus elsewhere last year. In her new role, Levy will oversee Amazon’s MGM Unscripted, MGM Alternative, Big Fish Entertainment and Evolution Media shingles. She will head up development and production on Amazon’s Prime Video exclusives in addition to titles that will be sold to other distributors. The story.
—🤝 Development deal. 🤝 Tracee Ellis Ross is getting into business with Fox Entertainment Studios. The six-time Emmy nominee and Golden Globe winner has signed a first-look deal for scripted projects and an overall unscripted deal at the studio. Under the deal, Ross and her Joy Mill Entertainment will develop comedy, drama and animated scripted series and unscripted and reality formats. Ross will serve as an executive producer on all projects developed under the agreement; Adriana Ambriz is head of development for Joy Mill. The story. |
Who Is Paying Nick Reiner's Legal Bills? ►Lots of questions. For what’s been characterized as an open-and-shut case, remarkably little is known about the slayings of Hollywood icon Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. They were found fatally stabbed in the master bedroom of their Brentwood home, and their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested shortly after for the killings. Law enforcement has not said what made them focus on him as a suspect, and prosecutors have yet to detail a motive or what happened. THR's Winston Cho dissects some key legal considerations ahead of the hearing. The story.
—"[They were] an integral part of my life." Before their tragic deaths in December, Rob and Michele Reiner were working diligently to see that a onetime death row inmate convicted on now-refuted evidence would be exonerated and freed after developing a bond with the man so strong that the couple planned to invite him to live in their home if he were to be freed. Nanon Williams has been in prison in Texas for 34 years after being convicted as a juvenile offender of the 1992 murder of a Texas teenager, which he says he didn’t commit. Interviewed by NBC News, Williams said the bond that he developed with the Reiners, who were both liberal activists on multiple social fronts, grew to the point that the famous couple considered him to be a part of their family. The story. |
Why Jafar Panahi Will Return to Iran — Even as Prison Awaits Him ►"There are many other filmmakers who are facing the same challenges as I have." THR's David Canfield spoke to Jafar Panahi, the Palme d’Or-winning Iranian filmmaker who was sentenced last month to one year in prison in his home country for “propaganda activities” related to his work. Panahi, an Oscar frontrunner for his feature It Was Just an Accident, opens up about his plans to return home. The interview.
—✊ Win streak. ✊ Several organizing drives launched in 2025 have paid off for The Animation Guild. On Dec. 30 feature production workers at Netflix Animation Studios voted to join the union in a National Labor Relations Board election. Forty-four workers voted to join the union, which has organized production workers at several separate studios in recent years, while 13 voted against. On Dec. 23 remote animation staffers at DreamWorks voted to join the union, with 52 voters in favor and 10 against in an NLRB election. On the same day, a small group of production workers on the NBCU series Ted voted to join both The Animation Guild and The Editors Guild, which is a separate Local that is also affiliated with IATSE, in an NLRB election. The story.
—O.K. Five days after Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York City, actor, podcaster and lifelong NYC resident Michael Rapaport announced that he will be running for the office in 2029 to remove the Democratic Socialist, whom he referred to as a “stain at the helm.” Rapaport has become a leading voice in the anti-Mamdani camp, frequently railing against him as a candidate for his stance on Israel’s war on Gaza. The story. |
GLAAD Media Awards Nominations 2026 ►🏆 Congrats! 🏆 Nominees for the 37th annual GLAAD Media Awards have been unveiled, and yes, the queer hockey drama from Canada that became a pop culture sensation scored its first major nomination. Jacob Tierney’s Heated Rivalry netted a nom for outstanding new TV series alongside (recently canceled) Boots, Chad Powers, Clean Slate, The Four Seasons, The Hunting Wives, I Love L.A., Long Story Short, (recently canceled) Mid-Century Modern, Overcompensating and Pluribus. THR snagged a nomination again for outstanding magazine overall coverage. The nominees.
—Ubiquitous! Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie are slated to present at the Golden Globe Awards. Sunday’s Globes marks the pair’s first awards outing since the release of the HBO-Max Crave series. Their Heated Rivalry co-star François Arnaud presented at the Critics Choice Awards over the weekend. The story.
—🤝 Dream team. 🤝 THR and Spotify announced Tuesday that they are partnering on a Golden Globes red carpet preshow hosted by social media sensation Kareem Rahma. The creator behind the viral social media sensation SubwayTakes, Rahma is set to bring his sharp wit and unmistakable style to one of Hollywood’s most glamorous nights. Catch all the excitement with Rahma and the stars across THR and Spotify’s social media platforms, with expanded coverage available on THR.com. The story. |
Bari Weiss Is Making TV News' Crisis of Confidence the Big Story ►Big gamble. This will be a defining year for the future of TV news. High-stakes midterm elections, what’s next for the “Donroe Doctrine” after the shocking Venezuela raid and a general sense of chaotic energy means that every day will mean there’s a big story to cover. But that increasingly important news cycle comes as Americans’ trust in media has collapsed to an all-time low of 28 percent, according to Gallup. THR's Alex Weprin writes that CBS News chief Bari Weiss is saying loudly and publicly what other executives and anchors are saying privately, but it isn't clear whether her gambit to save CBS will succeed where others have failed. The analysis.
—Weiss wash. America, meet Tony Dokoupil — just pay little mind to the first impression made on Monday. Actually, only East Coast viewers need ignore it. Dokoupil made his official debut as CBS Evening News anchor on Jan. 5. It didn’t entirely go to plan. While transitioning topics from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to Sen. Mark Kelly, Dokoupil got caught between stories and without words. It was the teleprompter’s fault, THR is told, but CBS News, still in its very early days under Bari Weiss, scrubbed the flub for the streaming broadcast and reshot the segment. The story.
—Gold medal ad sales team. Next month will be a “legendary” one for NBCUniversal, with the media company now officially sold out of advertising inventory for the 2026 Winter Olympics from Milan-Cortina. NBCU also says it will mark the highest-grossing Winter Olympics of all time (the Summer Olympics typically generate higher ad revenues than its winter counterpart, given the sheer number of events). The company is branding what it is calling “Legendary February,” with the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the NBA All Star Game set to take place within a two week window. The story.
—Another big name exit. GQ editor Will Welch is leaving the company. The editor, who was named the editor of American GQ in 2018 and its global editorial director in 2020, wrote on Instagram that he will be leaving to work with Pharrell Williams in Paris. Welch did not yet specify details on the job, but said it’s a new role with the musician, who is also the men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton. Condé Nast did not comment on who would be named as a successor, but confirmed the news. The story.
—Streaming space. Spotify is making space for video podcasters. The streaming giant has unveiled Spotify Sycamore Studios, a new podcast space located on Sycamore Avenue in West Hollywood, that features video production environments designed specifically for video creators. It will be home to Ringer podcasts like The Rewatchables, RingerVerse and The Hottest Take, among others. Spotify Sycamore Studios access is invite-only for video creators in the Spotify Partner Program and is based on availability and needs. The story. |
THR's Writers Roundtable ►"I feel much more confident as a writer, but then at the same time, every time I start a new one it’s like, I’ve never done it before." THR's award-winning Roundtable Series continues, next up are the screenwriters. THR's Beatrice Verhoeven sat down with six scribes — Clint Bentley (Train Dreams), Hikari (Rental Family), Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein), Bradley Cooper (Is This Thing On?), Will Tracy (Bugonia) and Noah Oppenheim (A House of Dynamite ) — to discuss the origins of their Oscar-contending screenplays, why writing dialogue is like “music” and at what point the writer’s hat comes off when they have other duties like directing, producing or operating a camera. The roundtable. |
Netflix Reveals Release Dates for Top Shows ►📅 Dated! 📅 Stranger Things may have ended a bit before the New Year’s Eve ball drop, but Netflix won’t be without programming in 2026. Among the new premiere dates we learned on Wednesday are those for Beef season two, Sweet Magnolias season five and Virgin River season seven. Beef season two, starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, Seoyeon Jang, Youn Yuh-jung, Song Kang-Ho, William Fichtner, Mikaela Hoover and rapper BM, will debut on April 16. Sweet Magnolias will return for its fifth season on June 11. And enduring hit drama Virgin River will return on March 12. The story.
—Status quo. The NFL was — as it just about always is — the biggest thing on TV in the fall. Every one of the league’s weekly broadcast partners saw an uptick in ratings for the just completed regular season compared to 2024. With a number of record-setting games (and a change in the way Nielsen measures viewing), Amazon, CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC all saw their audience numbers grow year to year. Amazon, CBS and NBC are all claiming record years, and ESPN and Fox enjoyed sizable gains as well. NBC’s Sunday Night Football is on track to be the No. 1 primetime show on TV for the 15th straight year, with a cross-platform average of about 23.5m viewers on NBC and Peacock, up about 9 percent year to year. The ratings.
—Deep bench. Netflix has named the judging panel for its take on Star Search. Sarah Michelle Gellar, country music star Jelly Roll and Chrissy Teigen are joining the show, a new iteration of the talent competition that first aired in syndication in the 1980s. The trio will join host Anthony Anderson on the show, which is set to premiere Jan. 20 and will stream live on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) for five weeks. Star Search will feature performers in music, dance, variety, comedy, magic and juniors categories vying for a yet to be announced prize. Viewers will be able to vote in real time during each live show, either by using their TV remotes or tapping their screens if they’re watching on the Netflix mobile app. The story. |
Why Nobody Is Making a L.A. Fires Movie ►Too hot for Hollywood? Hollywood is famously quick to turn trauma into narrative. The Eaton Fire in Altadena and the Palisades Fire have proved to be a rare exception. A year after the disaster, there are few signs of the blaze in film or on TV. THR's Mia Galuppo looks at the reasons why. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Netflix revealed release dates and fresh looks for a number of projects from its 2026 film slate, including sneak peeks at Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes 3 and John Cena in the comedy Little Brother. The streamer announced Wednesday that Remarkably Bright Creatures, director Olivia Newman’s feature adaptation of author Shelby Van Pelt’s best-selling 2022 novel, is set to debut on Netflix on May 8. Tyler Perry‘s Joe’s College Road Trip will begin streaming Feb. 13 and the Alan Ritchson-led action film War Machine launches on March 6. The story.
—🎭 Switching sides? 🎭 Another Marvel Studios mainstay could be heading to DC’s Gotham City. Sebastian Stan is in talks to join his Avengers co-star Scarlett Johansson among the new recruits for The Batman Part II, the DC Studios feature starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight. DC Studios had no comment. Matt Reeves returns to direct the movie, which is aiming to film in May, and co-wrote the script with Mattson Tomlin. The story.
—🎭 A W for all concerned. 🎭 Sydney Sweeney looks set to star in and executive produce The Housemaid’s Secret, The Housemaid sequel from Lionsgate. The next film in the franchise, based on the second novel in Freida McFadden’s trilogy, will also be directed by Paul Feig. Sweeney has already signed on to EP the sequel, and while there’s no deal yet signed for her to star, Lionsgate is understood to be looking for her to reprise her role as Millie. As for Amanda Seyfried, a co-star in The Housemaid, she too has an executive producer credit on the sequel. And her character doesn’t appear in McFadden’s second book, but the prospect of Seyfried appearing in the sequel is still a possibility. The story. |
TV Review: 'The Pitt' S2 ►"Exciting, engrossing and healing." THR's Angie Han reviews season 2 of HBO Max's The Pitt. The Noah Wyle-led ensemble is back for 15 new episodes set on July 4th, with a new attending physician, two new med students and more. Also starring Patrick Ball, Katherine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, Shabana Azeez and Sepideh Moafi. Created by R. Scott Gemmill. The review.
In other news...
—Mia McKenna-Bruce plays Agatha Christie sleuth in Netflix’s Seven Dials trailer
—James Marsden returns as Cyclops in third Avengers: Doomsday trailer
—Jerry Bruckheimer to receive Visual Effects Society’s lifetime honor
—Lorde, Stray Kids and A$AP Rocky to headline Governors Ball
—Genre host Brandon Davis launching new podcast
—Glasgow Fest to open with Everybody to Kenmure Street
—Marc Sazer elected president of American Federation of Musicians Local 47
—Author James Patterson signs with UTA
—Sidney Kibrick, child actor in the Our Gang comedy shorts, dies at 97
What else we're reading...
—Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman and Dustin Volz report that Marco Rubio is telling lawmakers that Donald Trump aims to buy Greenland, despite all the very public sabre rattling and the recent coup in Venezuela [WSJ]
—Tom Gerken looks at why more gamers than ever are playing the 2000s classic RuneScape [BBC]
—In a viral personal essay, actress/singer Ashley Tisdale talks about breaking up with her toxic mom group [The Cut]
—E.J. Dickson talks to women who were undressed against their consent by Elon Musk’s Grok AI image generator [The Cut]
—Melena Ryzik has a fascinating oral history on the making of global phenonmenon KPop Demon Hunters [NYT]
Today...
...in 2010, IFC Films gave Elia Suleiman's The Time That Remains a limited U.S. release. The semi-autobiographical film, which premiered in Cannes the previous year, chronicles the lives of a Palestinian family living under occupation from 1948 up to the year the film was made. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Nicolas Cage (62), Jeremy Renner (55), Haley Bennett (38), Sammo Hung (74), David Caruso (70), Tom Harper (46), Lyndsy Fonseca (39), Linda Kozlowski (68), Lauren Cohan (44), Robert Sheehan (38), Brett Dalton (43), Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (35), David Marciano (66), Leslie Grace (31), Sofia Wylie (22), Lorraine Ashbourne (65), Callum Woodhouse (32), Steven Williams (77), Erin Gray (76), Robert Ri'chard (43), Kevin Rahm (55), Liam Aiken (36), Marcus Scribner (26), Jess Darrow (31), Doug E. Doug (56), Max Riemelt (42), Hallie Todd (64), Sebastián Martínez (43), Kierston Wareing (50), David Yost (57), Kerri Medders (26), Annie Sertich (52), Camryn Grimes (36), Carmen Machi (63), Tomm Moore (49) |
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