| | | | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover stars are A Complete Unknown leads Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro. Taylor Swift won big at the Billboard Music Awards. Three men have filed civil cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs accusing the mogul of rape. YouTube TV is raising prices again. Bluesky has hit 25m users. Mariah Carey will perform during Netflix's NFL Christmas Gameday. — Abid Rahman
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Folk Heroes: Chalamet, Fanning and Barbaro Talk 'A Complete Unknown' ►On the cover. A Complete Unknown stars Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro, as well as director James Mangold, spoke to THR's Seth Abramovitch about channeling Bob Dylan for the Searchlight Pictures biopic, surviving sudden fame and the pitfalls of working with your rock idols. The cover story. |
Ron Meyer Had a Fling with Charlotte Kirk's Manager, Too ►"He gave me the impression he was a gentleman and again he reassured me he was not a player." Veteran Hollywood executive Ron Meyer's career came crashing down in 2020 amid a sex scandal involving the British actress Charlotte Kirk. THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters reports that even as Kirk seeks payment in a sordid $2m settlement with the ex-NBCU vice chair, new details emerge that the actress' onetime manager (and a former Miss Great Britain) had her own "sexy" encounter with Meyer that left her feeling ‘played’ … and possibly litigious. The story.
—New shocking allegations. Three men filed a trio of civil cases in New York Thursday, claiming that in separate incidents, each was drugged and raped by disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. The three cases filed on Thursday are notable not only because they all allege the sexual assaults occurred from 2019 to 2022, or for the similarities in the accounts of what allegedly occurred between each man and Combs, but also because they were filed by a lawyer not associated with Houston attorney Tony Buzbee. His firm is representing the majority of the civil lawsuits already filed against Combs. The story.
—Guilty. Country music star Morgan Wallen on Thursday pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-story bar in Nashville and nearly hitting two police officers with it. Wallen, who appeared in court alongside his attorney, was sentenced to spend seven days in a DUI education center and be under supervised probation for two years. According to the arrest affidavit, Wallen was accused of throwing a chair off the roof of Chief’s bar on April 7. The chair landed about a yard from the officers, who spoke to witnesses and reviewed security footage. Witnesses told officers that they saw Wallen pick up a chair, throw it off the roof and laugh about it. The story.
—Arrested. Vanderpump Rules star James Kennedy has been arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence. The Burbank Police Department confirmed to THR that they were dispatched to a home in the area Tuesday night after getting a call about an argument between a man, later identified as James Kennedy Georgiou, and a woman. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and later released after posting bail. Though the name of the woman involved has yet to be released, Kennedy has been dating Ally Lewber since 2022. The pair were reportedly at a party hosted at Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kathy Hilton’s home that same night. The story. |
Unreleased Michael Jackson Tracks Discovered ►In the closet? THR's Nicole Fell has the big scoop on a trove of unreleased Michael Jackson tapes being found in a storage unit deep in the San Fernando Valley. On the tapes are 12 unreleased tracks, music Jackson worked on prior to the Dangerous album, around 1989 to 1991. Among the unreleased tracks is one titled "Don’t Believe It," which seems to reference the rumors that would circulate about the pop star in the media. Former California Highway Patrol officer turned stay-at-home dad Gregg Musgrove found the tapes "treasure hunting." The story.
—Next act. Former ABC executive turned talent agency chief Lloyd Braun, former NBC network news division executive Noah Oppenheim and veteran producer Sarah Bremner are putting together their own production banner to finance and co-finance feature films and scripted TV series, with cash provided by Jeff Zucker’s vast war chest courtesy of RedBird Capital. The trio have sealed a deal to formally unveil their shingle, Prologue Entertainment, and reveal an initial slate of four projects — three features and one six-part series — that the company is going to market with. The story.
—How much was cable again? YouTube TV is raising prices again. The cost of the live TV service will rise to $82.99 per month from $72.99 per month starting Jan. 13 for existing members, according to an email sent to subscribers Thursday. The $82.99 pricing starts Thursday for new members. The company attributed the price increase to “the rising cost of content” as well as investments into the platform. The last price increase came in March 2023, when YouTube TV raised the monthly price to $72.99 from $64.99. The story.
—Misclassification. A National Labor Relations Board office is arguing in a complaint against the Love Is Blind producers that the show’s contestants have been misclassified and are in fact employees. A regional office in Minnesota issued the complaint on Wednesday evening against Kinetic Content and Delirium TV, LLC, arguing that the dating show producers flouted the National Labor Relations Act. The producers “intentionally unlawfully” misclassified its contestants as “participants” rather than employees, which barred the contestants from organizing to improve wages and working conditions, the NLRB alleged in an announcement of the case on Thursday. The NLRB case follows several lawsuit filed in the last few years by Love Is Blind contestants that allege mistreatment on set. The story.
—Stop-work order incoming. The Writers Guild of America is on the verge of ordering its writers not to work with Village Roadshow, claiming the firm is behind on paying its writers. Amid the ongoing Hollywood contraction Village Roadshow, the once-prolific shingle behind the Ocean’s movies, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Lego Movie, has been trimming costs, a few months ago conducting a round of layoffs affecting business affairs, administration and film and television roles. The story.
—Monster growth. Bluesky, the upstart social media platform, hit the important milestone of 25m users early Friday morning. The site continues to profit from people looking for an alternative to X, with Bluesky achieving phenomenal growth since Election Day. Bluesky had 6m users in late August, nearly 11m in late October and hit 20m users on Nov. 19. The story. |
Billboard Music Awards 2024 ►Tay Tay goes big. Taylor Swift topped the 2024 Billboard Music Awards on Thursday night, scooping up 10 awards, the most of the night, after going into the night with 17 nominations. Zach Bryan, who led the nominations list with 21 nods, won five awards. Performers included Coldplay, Linkin Park, Fuerza Regida, Jelly Roll, Megan Moroney, Seventeen, Shaboozey, Stray Kids and Teddy Swims. The winners.
—"This is the nicest early birthday present you could have given me." With her 10 wins, Taylor Swift became the most decorated artist in Billboard Music Awards history, breaking her tie with fellow chart-topper Drake. Swift now has 49 career BBMA wins. The story. |
TV's Current Craze Is The Comedic Weepie ►"Catharsis may be what viewers need even more than escape in a world of relentless news about war, intolerance and fractured ideologies." Shows about grief, mental illness and forgiveness shouldn’t be as funny as Apple TV+'s Shrinking. Shows about grief, loneliness and degenerative illness shouldn’t be as funny as Netflix’s A Man on the Inside. Shows about grief, self-acceptance and economic insecurity shouldn’t be as funny as HBO’s Somebody Somewhere. THR's Daniel Fienberg writes that laughing while crying is the TV trend this season. The story.
—Queen of Christmas. Mariah Carey is coming to your TV screens on Dec. 25 via Netflix and the NFL. Carey will star in the show open for NFL Christmas Gameday on the streamer, the same day Beyoncé will perform live during halftime of the Ravens-Texans game on Netflix. The singer, whose holiday staple “All I Want for Christmas Is You” jumped to the No. 1 position on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart, is currently on her Christmas-themed music tour, which wraps on Tuesday. For the NFL show open, she will perform her festive hit as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. The story.
—Cross purposes. The opening week of Cross was a big one for Amazon Prime Video. The streamer claimed the No. 1 overall spot on Nielsen’s streaming charts for Nov. 11-17 as Cross drew 1.36b minutes of viewing. The crime drama, starring Aldis Hodge and based on James Patterson’s Alex Cross novels, ranks as Prime Video’s second-best new series debut of 2024 behind Fallout. (Amazon says 40m viewers worldwide watched at least some of Cross over its first three weeks of release.) While Cross had a big opening, HBO’s DC Comics-based series The Penguin made its first appearance on the Nielsen charts for the week after its finale. The streaming rankings. |
Oscars: All 85 Submissions for Best International Feature ►Things are getting are serious. A handful of favorites aside — we’re looking at you, Emilia Pérez — the race for the 2025 Academy Award for best international feature is wide open. Here's THR's cheat sheet for every international film vying for the Oscar shortlist. The list.
—We are so back! After taking a year off, Sony Pictures Entertainment is returning to CinemaCon to present its slate at the annual gathering of theater owners and Hollywood studios. And, in a first, Amazon MGM Studios will take to the stage at the mammoth Colosseum theater at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The show is hosted by the National Association of Theatre Owners, the trade org representing thousands of cinema across North America and the world. Sony’s return means the four remaining major legacy studios will be participating — the others being Disney, Paramount Pictures and Universal/Focus Features — alongside Lionsgate and Amazon Studios MGM, with additional programming to be announced. The story.
—🤝 Production deal 🤝 Tom Holland is continuing his relationship with Sony Pictures, as the star’s newly launched production company has inked a producing deal with the studio. Sony announced Thursday that the studio has partnered with Billy17, the banner that Holland recently co-founded with brother Harry Holland and Will South. The pact kicks off with Burnt, which the Billy17 team has been developing with Rodney Rothman writing the script as a potential starring vehicle for Tom Holland. Plot details have not yet been shared. Billy17 is also working with Sony on adapting author Graeme Simsion’s novel The Rosie Project for TriStar Pictures. The story.
—🏆 Colman's the mustard 🏆 The African American Film Critics Association has announced the winners of its 16th annual AAFCA Awards, placing Sing Sing at the top of the list of its awarded films with three prizes. Colman Domingo, awarded best actor by AAFCA last year for his turn as the titular character in Rustin, once again received the designation for his leading part in A24’s Sing Sing this year. Co-star Clarence Maclin was also awarded best supporting actor for his role in the story of the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the maximum security prison. The script, written by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, was also recognized with a best screenplay honor. The winners. |
THR's Critics Pick the Best Films of 2024 ►Alas, no Unfrosted. Movies continued their difficult post-pandemic recovery in 2024. Hindering that process was a pipeline drastically thinned by the previous year’s protracted writers’ and actors’ strikes; the summer release slate was especially anemic. Despite the gloom, there were some gems this year and THR's film reviewers — David Rooney, Jon Frosch and Lovia Gyarkye — got together to pick the standout features. A heady rush of romantic addiction, a transcendent reflection on community, a searing refugee drama and an empathetic portrait of fury rank among the favorites of the year. The list.
—"Surprisingly gripping." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Jaume Collet-Serra's Carry-On. A TSA agent (Taron Egerton) is blackmailed by a shadowy figure (Jason Bateman) trying to get a mysterious package aboard a Christmas Day flight in this Netflix feature. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this live episode, Scott spoke to Queer star Daniel Craig. The British A-lister reflects on how his background in theater has helped him in film, his 15-year run as James Bond and playing, in Luca Guadagnino's new adaptation of William S. Burroughs' semi-autobiographical novella, a gay American living in 1950s Mexico City who is addicted to booze, drugs and sex. Listen here.
—Awards Chatter. Scott also spoke to The Substance and Landman star Demi Moore. The 40-year veteran of movie stardom reflects on her difficult childhood and path to acting, the backlashes that she faced after her pregnant Vanity Fair cover and becoming the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, and what it's like aging in Hollywood, both in her hit new film and in real life. Listen here.
In other news...
—Mike Judge takes on Big Pharma in Common Side Effects trailer
—Noah Wyle struggles to find balance in The Pitt trailer
—Netflix drops Nate Bargatze stand-up special trailer
—Jack Quaid feels no pain as a**-kicking hero in Novocaine trailer
What else we're reading...
—Kalhan Rosenblatt looks at why a Pokémon creature is the latest subject of the internet’s obsession with Luigi Mangione [NBC News]
—Peter Bradshaw writes that the Golden Globes noms are a lively list guaranteed to get under President-elect Trump’s skin [Guardian]
—With the critical acclaim for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Lewis Gordon writes that we're in the Golden Age of licensed video games [Ringer]
—Vanessa Friedman digs into how Matthieu Blazy became the creative director of Chanel, the top job in fashion [NYT]
—Here's your Friday list: "The 50 best Christmas movies of all time" [Vulture]
Today...
...in 1996, Cameron Crowe rolled out the 135-minute Tom Cruise-starrer Jerry Maguire, a commercial hit and enduring pop culture staple that grossed more than $270m in its theatrical run. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Dick Van Dyke (99), Taylor Swift (35), Emma Corrin (29), Jamie Foxx (57), Steve Buscemi (67), Jesse Armstrong (54), Harry Gregson-Williams (63), NeNe Leakes (57), Wendie Malick (74), Maisy Stella (21), D. Danny Warhol (53), Sunita Mani (38), Tony Curran (55), Johnny Whitaker (65), Michael Socha (37), Laurence Leboeuf (39), Lusia Strus (55), Bart Johnson (54), Robert Lindsay (75), Kathy Garver (79), Lynn-Holly Johnson (66), Karen Lorre (63), Katherine Schwarzenegger (35), Jeffrey Pierce (53), Tanya van Graan (41), MacKenzie Meehan (41), John Davidson (83), Debbie Matenopoulos (50), Marcel Spears (36), Rusty Cundieff (64), James Kyson (49), Billy Van Zandt (67) |
| Carol Goldwasser, a casting director who found actors for such popular kids-focused TV shows as Hannah Montana, Austin & Ally, Dog With a Blog and Cousins for Life, has died. She was 67. The obituary. |
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