| | | | | | What's news: Daniel Craig surprisingly failed to secure a BAFTA nom. The Critics Choice Awards have been postponed again. Sony Music and Warner Music have canceled their Grammy-related events. Layoffs have hit Alamo Drafthouse. YouTuber Ms. Rachel is heading to Netflix. — Abid Rahman
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BAFTA Film Nominations 2025 ►🏆 Blessed be! 🏆 Edward Berger's Conclave topped the BAFTA Film Awards nominations. The Vatican drama leads the way with 12 nominations — ahead of Emilia Pérez's 11 and The Brutalist's nine, as revealed by the British Academy at its HQ in London on Wednesday. In a genre-diverse year for the BAFTAs, horror movies Heretic and The Substance, musical (or music-inspired) films, such as Wicked and A Complete Unknown, historical epics like Steve McQueen’s Blitz and big-budget action fare like Dune: Part Two and Gladiator II all earned noms. The nominations.
—Unstoppable. Congratulations are in order for Rich Peppiatt and his Kneecap crew and cast — they made BAFTA history on Wednesday as the movie became the British Academy’s most-nominated debut film ever. Peppiatt’s Irish hip-hop “print the legend” biopic on the Belfast-based rap trio — boasting Michael Fassbender among its ensemble — scored six nominations overall. The story.
—Snubbed! Despite making the BAFTAs longlist, Daniel Craig was notably missing from the best actor noms. The Queer star was not recognized among his peers Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Hugh Grant (Heretic), Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Timothee Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice). Craig was nominated for a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and SAG award, though didn't find favor back home with the British Academy. The story.
—"We’re supporting members as best we can." With the ongoing L.A. wildfires causing huge disruption to awards season, the British Academy is "tracking" events and how it may impact its own members. “We have a really small but mighty team at BAFTA North America,” Anna Higgs, the chair of BAFTA’s Film Committee, told THR. "We have an executive team there. We have members of our board, and we obviously have a lot of Academics. And first and foremost, our hearts and thoughts are with them." The story. |
Overcoming the Trauma of the Wildfires ►"The biggest myth is that we think of grief as death. But grief is any change to ourselves we don’t want." The destruction wrought by the Palisades, Eaton and other Los Angeles fires has left the significant physical challenge of rebuilding, with many unanswered engineering and environmental questions. THR's Steven Zeitchik writes that just as important, according to trauma veterans and professionals, is the psychological reconstruction — the Herculean challenge of restoring the sense of confidence and hope now also reduced to rubble. The story.
—Nonsense. The Academy has shot down a report that it was considering canceling the Oscars. THR's Scott Feinberg has the scoop on Academy sources emphatically rejecting a story in U.K. tabloid The Sun that the 2025 Oscars were in danger. The Sun story went viral on Tuesday after it was picked up by the Drudge Report. Scott spoke with senior figures at the Academy and can categorically report that no such cancelation plan is being contemplated. The story.
—Not looking good. The Critics Choice Awards have been postponed again. The show was originally scheduled to take place Jan. 14 in Santa Monica and air live on E!. But due to the wildfires currently raging across Los Angeles, it was postponed last week to Jan. 26. Now comes word that the ceremony is now being postponed again, to a later date, which has not yet been announced. The story.
—More cancelations. While the 2025 Grammy Awards are still slated to take place at the beginning of February, the three major labels have opted to cancel their Grammy week events in the wake of the wildfires. On Tuesday, Sony Music Entertainment, home to the labels Columbia, RCA and Epic Records, and Warner Music Group followed Universal Music Group in canceling Grammy-related events. Sony said it will instead redirect funds to focus on local relief efforts in L.A. The Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is still on per sources. The story.
—Public service. L.A. residents sought out local TV newscasts in large numbers as wildfires raged through the city last week. Ratings for evening and late news on L.A. broadcast affiliates grew across the board in the week of Jan. 6-12, particularly on Jan. 7, when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out and spread rapidly. On Jan. 7, KABC-TV drew 318,000 viewers for its 6 p.m. newscast and just under 192,000 at 11 p.m. — gains of 86 percent and 42 percent over the ABC affiliate’s recent averages of about 171,000 at 6 p.m. and 135,000 at 11. KTLA brought in 282,000 viewers at 6 p.m., quadrupling its usual number (70,000), and 200,000 for its regular 10 p.m. newscast, more than double its average of about 80,000. The ratings. |
John Mulaney's Broadway Show Brings In Close to $1.7M ►Packing them in. All In: A Comedy About Love cracked the top-five grossing shows in the theater industry last week, as John Mulaney and other cast members finished up their runs in the rotating cast. The Broadway show, which features readings of short stories, brought in close to $1.7m at the Hudson Theatre and played to 100 percent capacity, with an average ticket price of $215, the highest in the industry for the week. Last week, the cast included Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Richard Kind and Chloe Fineman. All In will feature rotating casts through Feb. 16, with the next lineup featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Aidy Bryant, Andrew Rannells and Nick Kroll. The story.
—Legal challenge. In the wake of Disney abandoning sports-focused streaming service Venu, the entertainment giant has been sued for alleged antitrust violations related to its dual role as a content supplier and distributor in business dealings. A Fubo subscriber, in a proposed class action filed in New York federal court on Tuesday, claims Disney’s ownership of ESPN “enables it to extract monopoly rents” in the streaming live pay TV market by forcing services to carry non-ESPN content to access the sports channel, which must be included as part of the cheapest package for consumers. The story.
—New faces. Outgoing IAC CEO Joey Levin and Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFI Technologies, have been named to the board of Warner Bros. Discovery. Noto joined the board Jan. 8 and Levin is set to join Feb. 1. Both will stand for election by the company’s stockholders at the 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The additions come after the announcement that Howl CEO Li Haslett Chen would step down from the board as of Jan. 31. After the appointments, WBD’s board will include 13 directors, with 12 of them independent. The story.
—Layoffs. Alamo Drafthouse has become the latest entertainment industry company to endure a round of job losses. The popular theater chain had company-wide downsizing on Tuesday. The move comes seven months after Alamo was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Austin-based company operates 35 cinemas across 25 metro areas. Sources say the layoffs were in two areas. On the corporate side, 9 percent of employees (15 in total) were let go as a part of restructuring “to ensure a more effective business.” On the store side, an unspecified number of employees were laid off ahead of what Alamo expects to be a slow few months at the box office. The story. |
CNN Plans Original Series On Lockerbie Bombing ►"This series is a stirring combination of investigative and highly emotional storytelling." THR's Caitlin Huston has the scoop on CNN Originals launching a four-part documentary series on the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Lockerbie: The Bombing of Pan Am 103 , which examines the mysterious circumstances around the bombing, which was the deadliest terror attack on U.S. civilians before the 9/11 attack, premieres with two episodes on Feb. 16. The following two episodes will air on Feb. 23. The series is produced by Mindhouse Productions in association with Sky Studios and CNN Original Series. The Lockerbie attack was also recently brought back into the news with the release of the Peacock series, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, starring Colin Firth. The story.
—Finally! Popular kids YouTuber Ms. Rachel is heading to Netflix on Jan. 27. Educator Rachel Accurso, whose channel focuses on toddler development, has become something of a phenomenon online, and she boasts 11m subscribers and over 7b views on YouTube. Ms. Rachel will debut with an initial four episodes, with more to come later. The episodes will be in English with subtitles in 33 languages. They will focus on speech and toddler learning, first words and milestones for babies, learning to read for preschoolers, and songs and nursery rhymes. The story.
—"Sheinelle, we all love you and we are so looking forward to having you back." NBC Today co-anchor Sheinelle Jones says that she is taking leave from the show as she deals with a family health matter. Jones announced the news on Instagram Wednesday morning, with co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin addressing it at the top of the 8 a.m. hour. Jones has been with the Today show for more than a decade, joining the morning program’s weekend edition in 2014. She was named co-host of the show’s third hour in 2019, where she worked alongside Dylan Dreyer, Melvin, and other talent from the program and NBC News. The story.
—Staying on call. NBC has ordered a second season of comedy series St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary following the overworked staff at an underfunded hospital in Oregon. The renewal comes as the show is set to return from hiatus Tuesday night for the second half of its season. St. Denis Medical is the first of NBC’s rookie series to earn a renewal for the 2025-26 season. Fellow comedy Happy’s Place, starring Reba McEntire, scored an order for additional episodes in November, usually a promising sign for a series. Medical drama Brilliant Minds wrapped its 13-episode season a week ago; NBC has three dramas — Grosse Pointe Garden Society, The Hunting Party and Suits LA — due to premiere in the next several weeks. The story.
—Lamar bump. Amazon Prime Video drew its biggest NFL audience to date with a wild card playoff game — although it didn’t quite match past streaming-exclusive matchups. As a whole, the opening weekend of the playoffs is trending down some from last season. The Ravens’ 28-14 win over the Steelers in primetime Saturday averaged 22.07m viewers for Prime Video, according to Nielsen. That figure is easily the biggest audience ever for an NFL game on the platform, topping a Dec. 5 matchup between the Lions and Packers (17.29m) by almost 5m viewers. The ratings. |
'Sing Sing' to Be Released in Theaters and Prisons Simultaneously ►A first. A24's Sing Sing is about to redefine the concept of a wide release. On Jan. 17, the Colman Domingo film will return to more than 500 theaters — and become the first movie to be simultaneously available to nearly a million incarcerated people across the U.S. Sing Sing, which follows a group of men enrolled in a prison theater program, will screen inside correctional facilities in California, New York, Texas and 43 other states. The unusual release is thanks to a collaboration between A24, Rehabilitation Through the Arts, the real-life nonprofit organization on which the film is based, and Edovo, a nonprofit that creates curricula for incarcerated people to access via tablets in more than 1,100 correctional facilities across the country. The story.
—"A renewed vote of confidence." The board of directors of the Cannes Film Festival has unanimously re-elected Iris Knobloch to serve a second term as festival president. Knobloch, a former executive at Warner Bros. France, took over from Pierre Lescure as the first-ever female president of the Cannes festival in 2023. Her new mandate will run for three years, through the festival’s 2028 edition. The story.
—Juries in place. The jurors for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival have been announced, with Arian Moayed, Celine Song and Reinaldo Marcus Green set for the U.S. Dramatic Competition section. Elsewhere, Steven Bognar, Vinnie Malhotra and Marcia Smith will handle the U.S. Documentary Competition, with Daniela Alatorre, Laura Kim and Kevin Macdonald taking the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Ava Cahen, Wanuri Kahiu and Daniel Kaluuya will judge the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The story. | Jon Hamm on His 'Landman' Finale Fate ►"There’s going to be a lot of wreckage to clean up." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Landman star Jon Hamm about the finale of the first season of the Paramount+ series. The actor discusses his oil tycoon's ending, the viral Jerry Jones scene, and lessons learned for when the show likely returns for season two. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
In other news...
—Netflix’s Belle Gibson series Apple Cider Vinegar drops first trailer, sets release date
—Tony Slattery, British actor, comedian and Whose Line Is It Anyway? regular, dies at 65
What else we're reading...
—Kelly Crow has an incredible story on the miraculous defense of the Getty Museum against the L.A. fires [WSJ]
—Tom Perkins reports that in the year preceding the devastating wildfires, Big Oil fiercely lobbied to kill a “polluter pay” bill [Guardian]
—Elie Honig has a scathing assessment of Trump investigator Jack Smith's legacy [Intelligencer]
—Beverley D'Silva profiles Marie Kondo, the tidying guru who changed the world [BBC]
—Jennifer G. Sullivan looks into how bad alcohol really is for the skin [The Cut]
Today...
...in 2010, Paramount gave a wide release to Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones in theaters. Based on Alice Sebold's 2002 novel, the film garnered mixed reviews and mediocre box office returns but did score Stanley Tucci an Oscar nom for best supporting actor. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Regina King (54), Mario Van Peebles (68), Natasia Demetriou (40), James Nesbitt (60), Nick Kocher (39), Dove Cameron (29), Jessy Schram (39), Andrea Martin (78), Jamie Clayton (47), Ernie Reyes Jr. (53), Eddie Cahill (47), Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (43), Margaret O'Brien (88), Claudia Winkleman (53), Levon Hawke (23), Kellita Smith (56), Chad Lowe (57), Grace VanderWaal (21), Ryan Corr (36), Ben Levi Ross (27), Valentina Zenere (28), Karen Carlson (80), Caroline Arapoglou (34), Victor Rasuk (41), Kim Riedle (43), Michael Seater (38), Dorian Missick (49), Johann Fitch (24) |
| Robert Machray, who starred as Orson Welles on the stage and played Fire Marshal Dobbins on Cheers in an acting career that spanned five decades, has died. He was 79. The obituary. |
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