| | | | | | What's news: James Gorman is set to become Disney's chairman of the board of directors. Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail won the top prize at the London Film Festival. 60 Minutes has hit back at Donald Trump for an accusation that it edited its interview with Kamala Harris. Deadpool 3 is now No. 12 on the list of all-time top-grossing films at the domestic box office. Hulu has picked up the U.S. rights to Paris Has Fallen. — Abid Rahman
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Amazon 'Union' Doc Drew Praise, But No Major Takers to Distribute ►"It’s actually been an opportunity to understand how you connect better with the audiences." Brett Story and Stephen Maing's Union, which documents how an unconventional grassroots group organized the first-ever U.S. union at an Amazon warehouse, is coming to select theaters without the backing of any major entertainment companies. After garnering an award at the Sundance Film Festival and glowing reviews, THR's Katie Kilkenny reports that the film didn’t have any major distribution deals on the table — so the filmmakers began planning an unabashedly pro-organized labor theatrical strategy. The story.
—Shakeup and succession talk. Disney is shaking up its boardroom, with former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman set to become chairman of the board of directors early next year. Gorman succeeds former Nike chairman Mark Parker, who will exit the board after nine years. “A critical priority before us is to appoint a new CEO, which we now expect to announce in early 2026. This timing reflects the progress the Succession Planning Committee and the Board are making, and will allow ample time for a successful transition before the conclusion of Bob Iger’s contract in December 2026,” Gorman said. The story.
—"That is false." 60 Minutes has responded to Donald Trump's accusation that the CBS newsmagazine edited its Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris to make the interview more favorable to her — and the Trump campaign issued its own statement in response. On Sunday, the show released the following statement in response to the Trump campaign's complaints. The story.
—"It’s been an honor to serve." Charles Phillips, the Paramount Global board member who led the company’s special committee to evaluate its deal options, is leaving the company. Paramount disclosed Phillips’ exit Friday, writing in a securities filing that Phillips informed the board of his decision earlier this week, and that it would be effective at the end of October. A former Oracle executive, Phillips was a central figure in Paramount’s ultimate sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The story.
—🏆 Congrats! 🏆 The 68th edition of the BFI London Film Festival wrapped on Sunday night, with Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail winning the competition prize. Elliot’s claymation feature had already won the animation-focused Annecy Film Festival this year. A special jury mention in the main competition went to the Zambian family drama On Becoming a Guinea Fowl by Rungano Nyoni. Mother Vera, directed by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson, won the LFF Grierson Award in the LFF documentary competition. The winners.
—"Thank you for your understanding." Zayn Malik announced he’s postponing the U.S. leg of his Stairway to the Sky tour following the death of Liam Payne. Malik took to his Instagram Story on Saturday morning to share the news, following his fellow One Direction band member dying on Wednesday after falling from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The story. |
Star-Studded Academy Museum Gala Raises Over $11M ►Hollywood shows out. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures held its annual gala on Saturday night honoring Paul Mescal, Rita Moreno and Quentin Tarantino while raising over $11m to support the exhibitions, education initiatives and public programming at the L.A. museum, which opened in 2021. The fourth annual event, one of Hollywood’s most star-studded nights, was co-chaired by Dr. Eric Esrailian, Salma Hayek Pinault, Nicole Kidman, Eva Longoria and Tyler Perry. The night’s guest list ranged from Hollywood icons — Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Meg Ryan, Joaquin Phoenix and Julia Louis-Dreyfus — to relative newcomers Mikey Madison, Drew Starkey, Harris Dickinson, Anna Sawai, Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez. The recap.
—Glitz and glamour. THR has gathered together an extensive gallery of the Hollywood royalty who attended Sunday's Academy Museum Gala. The gallery. |
'Smile 2' Grins With $23M Opening ►And the world smiles with you. Paramount and Temple Hill's new movie, Smile 2 won the domestic box office race with an estimated $23m from 3,619 theaters, including Imax and other premium large-format screens. That would put the film’s debut just ahead of the first Smile, a sleeper hit that opened to $22.6m in late September 2022 on its way to grossing more than $217m worldwide against a $17m budget. Overseas, the sequel likewise took in $23m.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Smile 2, which was budgeted at $28m, earned a B CinemaScore from audiences, compared to the B- the first film received. It also had to fend off competition from holdover slasher pic Terrifier 3, which opened to $18.9m last weekend despite being unrated and doing zero TV ads.
Terrifier 3, from Cineverse, came in third place this weekend with just north of $9m from 2,762 cinemas, a solid hold that puts its domestic total at roughly $36m against a $2m production budget. The box office report.
—Achievement unlocked. Deadpool & Wolverine's record-smashing box office streak hit another milestone this weekend when the R-rated film surpassed Barbie to rank No. 12 on the list of all-time top-grossing films at the domestic box office, not adjusted for inflation. Over the weekend, Deadpool 3 took in another $679,000 after Disney upped the film’s theater count from 990 locations to 1,500 theaters nationwide in a final push before the pic’s theatrical run ends. The Ryan Reynolds–Hugh Jackman crowd-pleaser finished Sunday with a domestic total of $636.3m, compared to the $636.2m haul of Greta Gerwig's acclaimed comedy. The story. |
Guadagnino in Talks to Direct Lionsgate's 'American Psycho' ►RPattz surely? Luca Guadagnino is getting ready to explore a fresh take on Patrick Bateman. The Italian filmmaker is in final negotiations to helm a new film adaptation for Lionsgate of author Bret Easton Ellis‘ 1991 novel American Psycho. The book was previously adapted into a film from director Mary Herron that memorably starred Christian Bale as Bateman, with Lionsgate releasing it in theaters in 2000. Scott Z. Burns is writing the script for the project that is produced by Frenesy Films and is said to not be a remake of the first adaptation but rather a new take on the novel. The story.
—Throwing his hat in the ring. After breaking out in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Cooper Koch has his sights set on his next role — and an iconic one at that. At the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night, Koch told THR, “Luca’s doing American Psycho, so I think I can do Patrick Bateman,” when asked what he was looking to do for his Menendez follow-up. The story.
—"I’m putting this dress on, these rings, and I’m going crazy." At a special screening on the Paramount lot on Friday, Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger offered a first look at their new film and opened up about their experiences working on Ridley Scott's sequel. Washington, who plays Macrinus a wealthy arms dealer and former gladiator, stole the show at the event with his candid description of his character and his experience working on the film. The story.
—"Every single project out of DC Studios is going to be its own thing." James Gunn and the cast of his upcoming Max animated series Creature Commandos took to the stage at NYCC on Saturday, promising a new DC Universe entry that is “something beyond what any of us expected.” The series’ executive producer and writer were joined at the packed panel. At the event, a trailer of Creature Commandos was teased, the animated series is the first installment in the new Gunn and Peter Safran-led DC Universe. The recap.
—Closer look. Sony unveiled new looks at three of its upcoming titles — Venom: The Last Dance, Karate Kid: Legends, and Kraven the Hunter — during an hour-long presentation at this year’s NYCC. The Friday night panel, which featured appearances by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, director J.C. Chandor, Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and director Kelly Marcel, accompanied footage of the opening of Kraven, a trailer for Karate Kid: Legends, and a clip and discussion of what happens when Venom takes over a horse in The Last Dance. The recap. |
Fox Developing 'Billionaire Apocalypse' From 'Morning Show' Creator ►Musky tale. Fox is developing a drama series tentatively titled Billionaire Apocalypse that hails from Jay Carson and counts Hugh Jackman among its executive producers. The logline for the drama: “The richest man on the planet, 200 of his employees, and his family are forced to flee to his private island in the wake of a global financial collapse, where the employees and family members — who he’s treated as afterthoughts for decades — quickly realize he’s no longer rich and thus no longer in charge.” Billionaire Apocalypse comes from Fox Entertainment Studios and is written and executive produced by Carson, creator and writer of The Morning Show. Also serving as EPs are Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown. The story.
—🎭 Wife guy 🎭 Michael Emerson is joining CBS‘ Elsbeth season two in a recurring role. The Emmy winner took to the stage at an Elsbeth panel at NYCC on Saturday to announce his casting. A sneak peek at the upcoming Halloween episode was also unveiled during the panel, which featured a conversation, moderated by Elsbeth guest star Laura Benanti, with co-creators and executive producers Robert and Michelle King, showrunner and executive producer Jonathan Tolins and cast members Carrie Preston and Wendell Pierce. Emerson joins the series as a foil to his wife’s Elsbeth Tascioni, in which he will play Judge Milton Crawford, a haughty, soft-spoken and bespectacled man from an old New England family. The story.
—🎭 New face 🎭 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has received an early season two renewal, and Tatiana Maslany is set to guest star in season one. Both bits of news were announced at New York Comic Con during the Star Trek universe panel. It’s unclear at the moment who Maslany will be portraying in the teen-focused Star Trek show. However, it is known she will be a recurring character in the first season. She’ll star alongside Paul Giamatti and Holly Hunter. The story.
—Snapped up. Hulu has picked up U.S. rights to Paris Has Fallen, the new action series spin-off of the Gerard Butler Has Fallen film franchise. StudioCanal is producing the TV drama together with War of the Worlds producer Urban Myth Films, Millennium Media, Butler’s G-Base and Eclectic Pictures. Paris Has Fallen features Spiral actor Tewfik Jallab as Vincent Taleb, a protection officer safeguarding a French Minister who is targeted by a terrorist group. The show recently premiered on its Canal+ series in France. Hulu will release the show in the U.S. later this year. The story. |
Theater Review: 'Sunset Blvd' ►"Scherzinger is sensational." THR's David Rooney reviews Jamie Lloyd's Sunset Blvd. Lloyd strips down both the material and the staging, threading film into theater in his radical take on the 1993 show based on the classic Hollywood noir about a forgotten screen siren. The review.
—"A compelling portrait of a misunderstood creature." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan's Nocturnes. This doc, which won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft at Sundance, transports viewers to a lush forest in the Eastern Himalayas and tells the story of climate change through the beauty of moths. The review.
—"A total delight." Lovia reviews Simon Otto's That Christmas. Brian Cox voices Santa in Otto's feature directing debut, a Netflix animated feature written by Richard Curtis, which tells overlapping stories about children at Yuletide in a quaint seaside town. The review. |
TV Review: 'Happy's Place' ►"Innocuously forgettable." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews NBC's Happy's Place. The comedy centers on two very different women (Reba McEntire and Belissa Escobedo) who discover they're half-sisters whose late father has left them each half of his beloved Nashville watering hole. The review.
—"More than just a one-joke show, but not varied enough." Dan reviews HBO's It's Florida, Man. Danny McBride is among the executive producers of this late-night comic anthology of wild true tales reenacted by Anna Faris, Simon Rex, Sam Richardson and more. The review.
In other news...
—David Schwimmer may be out of his mind in Goosebumps: The Vanishing trailer
—Aldis Hodge tricks killer into confessing in Cross crime thriller first look
—M3GAN 2.0 surprises, Wolf Man gets trailer at NYCC
—The Walking Dead: Dead City brings S2 teaser to NYCC
—Jennifer Lawrence is pregnant, set to welcome second baby with Cooke Maroney
What else we're reading...
—With Taylor Swift causing problems for politicians in the U.S. and U.K., Gaby Hinsliff writes that the singer is where pop meets politics now [Guardian]
—Mark Gray talked to 50 Cent on why he has been so consistent and vocal about calling out Diddy's alleged abuse and his parties over the years [People]
—Michael M. Grynbaum and David McCabe report that an increasingly unhinged Trump is ratcheting up threats on the media [NYT]
—Max Tani looks at how Democrats are helping restore Fox News to cable dominance [Semafor]
—William Kremer goes inside Norway's TV BRA, the world's first TV station run for and by people with learning disabilities [BBC]
Today...
...in 1964, Warner Bros.’ My Fair Lady held its premiere at the Criterion Theatre in New York. The film, said at the time to have the largest advance ticket sales of any movie in history, eventually went on to win eight Oscars at the 37th Academy Awards. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Glen Powell (36), Kim Kardashian (44), Andrew Scott (48), Ken Watanabe (65), Catherine Hardwicke (69), Darius Khondji (69), Doja Cat (29), 'Judge' Judy Sheindlin (82), Louis Koo (54), Sophie Willan (37), Helene Joy (46), Melora Walters (65), Charlotte Sullivan (41), Aaron Tveit (41), Everett McGill (79), Hari Nef (32), Gaia Girace (21), Will Estes (46), Blanca Suárez (36), Chelsea Edge (34), Damon Whitaker (54), David Clayton Rogers (47), Michael McMillian (46), Mark Rendall (36), Ashley Liao (23), Matt Dallas (42), Tom Everett (76), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (75), Amanda Arcuri (27), Michael Kopelow (55), Jeremy Miller (48), Teddy Moutinho (25), Kate Drummond (49), Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman (40) |
| Aaron Kaufman, who directed the documentary Superpower about the war in Ukraine alongside Sean Penn and was a longtime producing partner of Robert Rodriguez, has died. He was 51. The obituary. |
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