It was originally described as the “big one,” or even more pointedly, a straight-up “bloodbath.”
Either way, the largest round of layoffs in an overall workforce reduction of 7,000 at Disney is expected to begin Monday. From April 24 to 27, there will be Mouse House employees in film and TV losing their jobs every single day (except Friday), Deadline has learned. A rep for Disney declined comment.
To say that anxiety is high is an understatement. Just about everyone who works on Buena Vista Street in Burbank is on high alert, wondering whether their number is up.
“There is a sense of foreboding that the cuts are going to be wide, large-scale and very meaningful,” an industry source said. >>>Every Disney Ent. Unit Expected To Get Hit |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Wall Street Worries - One financial analyst called Fox's $787.5 million settlement with Dominion unexpectedly large — an unpleasant upside surprise as another big legal challenge looms with Smartmatic. Investors are waiting for more clarity from CEO Lachlan Murdoch, likely on the company’s next earnings call, on what the settlement means. >>>Sum Is Tax Deductible
Second Serve - Following the success of their Academy Award-winning drama King Richard, based on their own life stories, tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams have teamed with Oscar-nominated Tár producer Alexandra Milchan to develop En Garde, a new feature to be adapted for the screen and directed by the duo known as Bush Renz (Antebellum). >>>Duo's Other Projects
Punk Producer - Phil Hunt, a former advertising and music photographer, mingled with the likes of The Clash, Sex Pistols, Chiefs of Relief and Big Audio Dynamite during the first chapter of his career. He's since started up what was a small UK production label, Head Gear, which is now one of the most prolific film financiers in the UK, having invested more than $300M of capital in the last two decades across some 350 projects. >>> Int'l Disruptors Series
'Bullet' Bow - Patriot Pictures and XYZ Films have brought on Wayward Entertainment to release Nick Cassavetes action-thriller God Is A Bullet. Maika Monroe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Karl Glusman, January Jones, Paul Johansson, David Thornton and Jamie Foxx star in the movie, which will have a wide domestic theatrical release on June 23. >>>Digital Rollout To Follow
Formats Foreman - Nutopia, the indie company known for producing Welcome to Earth with Will Smith, is pushing further into the returning formats game with the hire of a new Creative Director in the UK. Tom Watt-Smith joins the company from Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb producer Lion TV. >>>Plans For New Role |
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After six seasons, FX’s hit drama series Snowfall said its final goodbye last night. Viewers have been on a journey with Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), seeing his highs and lows and cheering him on no matter what he’s gotten himself into. Here, Idris and series co-creator Dave Andron talk about Saint's progression, choosing when to end his story and the profound influence John Singleton had on the show. >>> Read The Interview |
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Exclusive
Will Ferrell & Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez Productions and Rian Johnson & Ram Bergman’s T-Street have teamed up to develop a comedy TV series as a starring vehicle for Ferrell. The series revolves around a professional golfer who becomes the face of a controversial new league competing with the PGA — with obvious parallels to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf startup.
Exclusive
Everything Everywhere All At Once star Jenny Slate will lead and executive produce horror movie Mindful, about a possessed meditation app that begins to kill its followers. In Mindful, when her husband shockingly dies while meditating on the Mindful app, Angela (Slate), deeply suspicious of the new wellness craze, uncovers supernatural forces that have fused with the technology.
Exclusive
Emmy and Tony-Award winner Courtney B. Vance has joined the cast of Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch in the role of Cobra Bubbles. Vance joins Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die), Zach Galifianakis and newcomer Maia Kealoha, who has been tapped as Lilo.
Another Season 1 character is returning to HBO’s The White Lotus. Natasha Rothwell will reprise her Emmy-nominated role as Belinda Lindsey, the spa manager of the Hawaiian White Lotus resort who memorably connected with Jennifer Coolidge's character, in the upcoming third installment of Mike White’s anthology series. |
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Renewals, Pickups & Cancelations |
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BY THE NUMBERS
-38.5% - The plunge in L.A.-area production in the first quarter of 2023 amid strike fears and industry uncertainty |
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More News
🪑 Quentin Tarantino will attend Cannes Directors’ Fortnight as a guest of honor on May 25 for a special event consisting of a secret screening and a discussion on his counter-history of cinema, the parallel sidebar has announced.
🥴 The fight over South Park streaming rights is heating up, with Paramount Global counter-suing Warner Bros Discovery for $50 million, claiming "blatant breaches" of contract.
⚖ After Jonathan Majors' manager and publicist fired him, and after he was dropped from the feature adaptation of Walter Mosley’s novel The Man in My Basement as well as an unannounced Otis Redding biopic from Fifth Season, the actor's lawyer defended him again against charges of assault and harassment. “Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone,” attorney Priya Chaudhry declared late Wednesday as rumors of more potential incidents swirled around her client.
🏠 Disney indicated that “affordable and attainable housing” around Walt Disney World, which it first announced a year ago, will be ready in 2026. “This type of land contribution is unique and is one of many ways we are making a lasting impact in Central Florida,” read a post on the Disney Parks Blog. The news came two days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis included a lack affordable housing in the area on his list of reasons to slam the House of Mouse.
🤝 Paramount Pictures has renewed its first-look deal with Todd Garner’s Broken Road Productions, an arrangement that's been in place since 2018. Garner produced the John Cena family movie Playing with Fire for Paramount Players and is currently in active development on Double Fault, starring Rebel Wilson, at the studio.
🧛♂️ A TV series based on the best-selling Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer is in early development at Lionsgate Television, Deadline confirms. Meyer is expected to be involved. There is no writer attached to the project yet, nor has Lionsgate sought out a potential buyer.
🏎️ After stepping in for Justin Lin as the director for Universal‘s forthcoming Fast X, the penultimate installment in the long-running Fast & Furious action franchise which has grossed over $6B worldwide, Louis Leterrier will return to helm its final installment. |
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Trending  Avatar: The Way of Water, a film director James Cameron called "the worst business case in movie history," ended up not only being the top-grosser last year, but also the best revenue-to-cost proposition.
🔻 After a rocky set in the festival's opening weekend, Frank Ocean announced he will not return for Coachella Weekend 2, citing a leg injury. |
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Obituaries 🕯 Herb Lazarus, who spent the past 27 years as international TV president for Carsey-Werner Television Distribution during his nearly 70-year career and is in the International TV Distribution Hall of Fame, died Tuesday. He was 88. 🕯 Moonbin, a member of the South Korean boy band Astro, died by suicide today at his residence in the Gangnam district of Seoul. He was 25. 🕯 Otis Redding III, the singer and guitarist who had followed his father, Otis Redding, into the music business, died of cancer Tuesday in Macon, GA. He was 59. 🕯 Todd Haimes, who built New York’s Roundabout Theater Company into one of the city’s – and country’s – leading nonprofit theaters, died today at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital of complications from osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. He was 66. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Thu - Star Trek: Picard show finale
Fri - Dead Ringers premieres
Sat - Earth Day
Mon - CinemaCon starts
Tue - Spotify & Alphabet earnings; The Flash screens at CinemaCon
Wed - Roku & Meta earnings |
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Muse - The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the poster for its upcoming 76th edition. The image pays tribute to iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve, showing her standing on Pampelonne Beach near Saint-Tropez during the shooting of Alain Cavalier’s 1968 romantic drama Heartbeat (La Chamade), which was adapted from the novel by Françoise Sagan.
In a statement, the festival called Deneuve "an embodiment of cinema, far from what is conventional or appropriate. Without compromise and always in tune with her convictions, even if it means going against the grain of the times. She is the muse of Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Marco Ferreri, Manoel de Oliveira, André Téchiné, Emmanuelle Bercot or Arnaud Desplechin.” |
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