| | | | | | What's news: Apple has renewed Slow Horses for a sixth season. SAG-AFTRA and the major video game studios are heading back to the bargaining table. Japan's Toho is buying GKIDS. Hulu has greenlit Dan Fogelman's NFL drama. — Abid Rahman
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THR's Most Powerful Women in International TV ►An industry at the crossroads. It’s been a rough year. Layoffs at nearly every studio and major production company have highlighted the overall contraction in the market and signal a broad shift in priorities away from growth at all costs to a laser focus on the bottom line. Against this backdrop, the executives on THR's annual list of the 31 most powerful women in international television have had to find ways to do more with less, to restructure their business operations, question long-established practices, and create new ways forward — all without abandoning the core principles of equity and inclusion that got them this far. The list.
—Sweetened golden parachutes. The executives that comprise the “Office of the CEO” at Paramount Global are getting a sweetened deal to stick around during the limbo ahead of the company’s merger with Skydance Media, which isn’t expected to close until sometime in the first half of 2025. That Paramount co-CEO trio — George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins — were earlier granted a 2x multiple of their unspecified annual salary, as well as other benefits. Now the company, in a securities filing disclosed on Tuesday, says that pay increase will continue to apply during the duration of employment at the company, even if the executives are no longer part of the “Office of the CEO.” The story.
—Talks incoming. More than two months into SAG-AFTRA‘s strike against video game companies, the union and the bargaining group representing employers have set a return to the bargaining table. The negotiations will continue on Oct. 23, the parties said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The companies included in the employer negotiating group include Activision Productions Inc., Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., WB Games Inc, Take 2 Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC and Formosa Interactive LLC. The story. |
Alex Cooper Is Blowing Up ►"I'm a motherf***er when it comes to business." Gen Z’s podcast queen Alex Cooper breaks her silence to THR's James Hibberd on that Kamala Harris interview, ditching Spotify, coming for Joe Rogan, oral sex in her Olympics coverage and the surprising benefits of being chronically online. The interview.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Japanese media giant Toho Co. — the studio behind that country’s famous Godzilla movie monster — has unveiled a deal to acquire GKIDS, the North American indie producer and distributor. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but GKIDS, launched in 2008 with a focus on animated movies, is set to operate as a subsidiary of Toho under company founder/CEO Eric Beckman and president Dave Jesteadt. The story.
—🤝 New owners 🤝 The longtime home of the annual Academy Awards ceremony has been sold. In a newly closed deal, an investment group led by producer Elie Samaha, who also owns the TCL Chinese Theatre, has bought the Dolby Theatre. Avison Young, the real estate firm that represented the buyer, Samaha’s JEBS Hollywood Entertainment LLC, announced the sale of the 180,000-sq-ft Dolby Theatre on Tuesday and said the deal also includes surface parking lots totaling 1.45 acres. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The story. |
Details of Barry Diller's "Remarkably Honest" Memoir Revealed ►"Readers know when an author is telling the truth." Hollywood legend Barry Diller is (finally) ready to tell his story. Who Knew, which is the title of the media mogul’s new memoir, will be published on May 20, 2025. It’s said to be delivered in Diller’s own singular voice, and will tackle both his personal and his professional worlds. The book, from Simon & Schuster, is said to be an "entertaining account of his personal journey, an unconventional love story and a fascinating tour through show business and digital media.” The story.
—Shooting. Jake E. Lee, a former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, was shot and wounded multiple times in Las Vegas early Tuesday morning. Las Vegas police said in an emailed statement that the victim was shot around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday and was taken to a hospital for treatment. No arrests have been made, and the police department said its investigation was ongoing into the shooting, which took place in a neighborhood about 10 miles south of the Strip. The story. |
'Slow Horses' Scores S6 Renewal at Apple ►Quick as you like. Apple has handed out an early season six renewal for Slow Horses, the comedic spy drama starring Gary Oldman. The news comes on the heels of the season four finale that released Oct. 9 on Apple TV+, and a season five renewal announced early this year. The forthcoming fifth season, following the season four ending, will see the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge. The story.
—🎭 Treading the boards once more 🎭 Oscar winner Gary Oldman will return to the British stage in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape at the York Theatre Royal next spring. The Slow Horses star will head back to where he began his career, having first performed at the northern England theater 45 years ago in Ben Travers’ Thark. Oldman's last theater appearance was nearly four decades ago, in 1987 with London Royal Court’s Serious Money. The story.
—Yet more NFL content. Dan Fogelman is adding another Hulu series to his portfolio, this one set in the high-stakes world of the NFL. Hulu has given a series pickup to the untitled project, which is from 20th Television and Skydance Sports. Details are sparse, though it is said to involve a generational family dynamic, in addition to its setting in the NFL. Skydance Sports, it is worth noting, is a joint venture between David Ellison’s Skydance and the NFL. The league is notoriously careful about its brand, but told THR last year that it wants to develop more scripted fare via the Skydance JV. The story.
—Another one. Hulu has added Matteo Lane to its comedy lineup. Lane is set to film his special on Oct. 24 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica. And though its release date is being kept under wraps, the hour will join a forthcoming lineup that’s already set to include Jim Gaffigan, Bill Burr, Ilana Glazer, Roy Wood Jr., Atsuko Okatsuka, Jessica Kirson and Chris Distefano. The story. |
Former 'Grey's' Writer Admits to Having "Lied About So Much" ►"I trapped myself in the addiction of lies, betraying and traumatizing my closest friends, family and colleagues." Former Grey’s Anatomy scribe and co-executive producer Elisabeth Finch is copping to having “lied about so much” on the same day that a docuseries about her Hollywood rise and fall is dropping on Peacock. In a statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday afternoon, Finch apologized for what she described as multiple falsehoods that affected friends, family and others close to her. Admitting that she had “given no one any reason to believe a word I say,” Finch said, “‘I’m sorry’ feels like the smallest words compared to what I’ve done, yet they are the truest." The story.
—"It felt exciting to step into a more complex, antagonistic role and show a different side of myself." Justin Chambers is ready to “play someone so different” from his character on Grey’s Anatomy. In a new interview, the actor, who played Dr. Alex Karev for 16 seasons on the long-running medical drama before announcing his exit in 2020, said he used his guest appearance on the crime anthology series Accused as the type of role he’s looking to play in the future. The story.
—"We were unceremoniously let go in a way that felt mean and unjust." Sarah Drew has opened up about her exit from Grey’s Anatomy after starring on the show for nine seasons. The actress, who played Dr. April Kepner, was let go from the ABC medical drama after season 14 in 2018, alongside Jessica Capshaw, who played Dr. Arizona Robbins. However, shortly after her exit, Grey’s Anatomy's shortform series B-Team — which Drew directed — scored an Emmy nomination. In a podcast appearance, Kepner also revealed which character she was initially supposed to have a one-night stand with in season seven. The story. |
Alana Haim Lands Back-to-Back Movies ►🎭 Leaning into acting 🎭 THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Alana Haim, the singer-songwriter who is part of the rock band Haim, following up her feature debut in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza with two back-to-back movie gigs involving some bold-faced names. The budding actress has started production on The Mastermind, an art heist drama starring Josh O’Connor and directed by Kelly Reichardt. She will then jump into The Drama, a feature from Dream Scenario filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli that also stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. The story.
—Heroes. A new Netflix film is in the works inspired by the true story of German NGO Jugend Rettet and its ship, the Iuventa, which saved thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean before it was impounded by Italian authorities in 2016. The film, currently untitled, chronicles the journey of a group of young Berliners who find themselves unable to stand by and watch as countless refugees lose their lives attempting to reach Europe by sea. They launch a crowdfunding campaign to buy an old ship and venture to sea to rescue migrants. Netflix offered a first look on Wednesday of its lead Louis Hofmann, following the start of production in Berlin. The movie is now being shot in Malta. The story.
—📅 Dated 📅 Sony Pictures' forthcoming feature adaptation of the video game Until Dawn is set to invade theaters next year. Director David F. Sandberg‘s movie hits theaters April 25, 2025, putting it up against Amazon MGM Studios’ The Accountant 2. PlayStation released Until Dawn in 2015, with the horror game following eight friends and frenemies brought together at a remote mountain retreat. Horror mainstay Gary Dauberman, known for the It movies, wrote the latest version of the screenplay for Screen Gems after Blair Butler penned the script’s previous draft. The story. |
Film Review: 'Smile 2' ►"Puts a grin on your face and wipes it off." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Parker Finn's Smile 2. The filmmaker follows his surprise 2022 hit for Paramount about a malevolent spirit that jumps hosts via a diabolical grin, this time infecting a troubled pop star (Naomi Scott) with a ton of trauma to feed on. The review.
—"Test-tube baby story is fine for tube viewing." David reviews Ben Taylor's Joy. Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Bill Nighy star in this Jack Thorne written Netflix chronicling the dogged progress in the 1960s and ‘70s of the team behind an important breakthrough in IVF. The review.
In other news...
—Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce-inspired Lifetime holiday movie gets first look
—Boxers Jake Paul, Mike Tyson square up in gritty Netflix fight night trailer
—Social media star Quenlin Blackwell signs with CAA
—Apple TV+ joins Amazon Prime Video: Here’s how to stream Masters of Air, Bad Monkey and more for free
What else we're reading...
—Brian Stelter writes that Fox News anchor Bret Baier, tasked with interviewing Kamala Harris, has a history of appeasing the network’s pro-Trump audience [CNN]
—In an in-depth piece, Meredith Blake and Yvonne Villarreal look at whether reality TV's over reliance on franchises is good for business [LAT]
—Imogen West-Knights reviews Al Pacino's new memoir Sonny Boy, that captures one of cinema’s greatest actors and also one of its weirdest [Slate]
—With each new episode, Justin Charity writes that it is becoming impossible to look away from HBO's The Penguin [Ringer]
—Theodore Schleifer reports that Elon Musk, Miriam Adelson and Dick Uihlein put a combined $220m into groups supporting Donald Trump in July, August and September [NYT]
Today...
...in 1973, Sydney Pollack’s romantic drama The Way We Were held its premiere in New York at Loew’s State 1 theater. The Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford film went on to be nominated for six Oscars at the 46th Academy Awards, winning two for original dramatic score and the title song. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Flea (62), Tim Robbins (66), Kenneth Lonergan (62), Julian Dennison (22), Gil Kenan (48), Kim Wayans (63), David Zucker (77), Barry Corbin (84), Kellie Martin (49), Madison Wolfe (22), Ruby Rose Turner (19), Caterina Scorsone (43), Brea Grant (43), Todd Stashwick (56), Paul Sparks (53), Andrew Santino (41), Daniel Kountz (46), Jeremy Jackson (44), Martha Smith (72), Camilla Arfwedson (43), Christian Stolte (62), Randall Batinkoff (56), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (58), Tamara Podemski (47), Giada Colagrande (49), Keleigh Sperry (32), Jim Youngs (68), Nelson Lee (49), Terri J. Vaughn (55), Pascal Laugier (53) |
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