| | | | | | What's news: Sean Combs’ former assistant Phil Pines is set to speak for the first time on camera tonight. A musical adaptation of The Lost Boys is planned for Broadway. Video episodes of Call Her Daddy will only be available on YouTube. Peacock has acquired The Five-Star Weekend. Rebecca Hall has joined the cast of Adam Wingard's Onslaught. — Abid Rahman
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'Fall of Diddy' Directors on Getting People to Speak in Doc ►"The fear has been incredibly palpable for so many people." THR's Etan Vlessing spoke to Emma Schwartz and Yoruba Richen, the co-directors behind Investigation Discovery’s Sean 'Diddy' Combs docuseries The Fall of Diddy, that debuted on Monday night and concludes tonight. The filmmakers discuss the four-parter, which alleges new violent behavior and illegal activity from the disgraced entertainment mogul as he awaits trial. The interview.
—Exclusive sit down. Sean Combs’ former assistant Phil Pines is set to speak for the first time on camera about the blizzard of sexual assault allegations against Combs. ID is set to air an exclusive 30-minute sit down interview with Pines, after the final two episodes of The Fall of Diddy. Pines worked as Combs’ senior executive assistant from 2019 to 2021. In a lawsuit filed in December, Pines alleged that Combs tasked him with helping to organize and clean up ‘Wild King Nights’ parties, a series of debauched get-togethers at hotels. Pines alleges that his duties included making sure the parties were supplied with drugs, lubricants and sex toys. The story. |
Jim Acosta to Exit CNN ►Shocker. CNN is losing one of its more high-profile anchors amid a larger programming pivot. Jim Acosta, the former White House correspondent who now anchors the 10 a.m. hour on the venerable cable news channel, is set to exit the company, a source familiar with the move confirms to THR's Alex Weprin. The anchor was a foil to Trump during his first term, and he actually had his White House “hard pass” revoked, sparking a lawsuit from CNN. The news network unveiled sweeping changes to its lineup last week, including a morning edition of The Situation Room , which will be hosted by Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown in the hour. The story.
—It's easy to sue, but tougher to win. M. Night Shyamalan and Apple didn’t rip off a 2013 indie movie in the making of psychological thriller series Servant, a jury has found in a verdict that highlights the difficulty creators face in substantiating claims of copyright infringement. The California jury’s unanimous decision, delivered on Friday after a day of deliberation in the seven-day trial, ends a long-running legal battle initiated in 2020 by Francesca Gregorini. She alleged in a lawsuit seeking $81m a conspiracy to copy almost every aspect of her film The Truth About Emanuel, which she wrote and directed, in the making of the first three episodes of Servant. THR's Winston Cho writes that the verdict reaffirms the high bar in convincing a jury that any alleged similarities between two works constitute copyright infringement. The analysis.
—The latest. Blake Lively has moved to depose a key player whose crisis management firm Street Relations allegedly played a part in the smear campaign initiated by Justin Baldoni. Lively filed a petition in Texas state court on Jan. 21 seeking a court order for a deposition of Jed Wallace, who was named in the complaint the actress filed with the California Civil Rights Department but not the lawsuit she filed in federal court. The filing is intended to obtain testimony for use in an anticipated complaint or to investigate a potential claim in ongoing litigation. The story.
—Le Xodus. France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, the group behind the country’s national film awards, the Césars, is quitting X. In an announcement on Monday, the César Academy said it had deleted its account on the platform, noting that the public positions taken by owner Elon Musk means X “no longer corresponds” to the Academy’s stated values. The César Academy’s decision to ditch X follows a similar exit by the Berlin Film Festival last November, though Berlin did not explicitly say it was Musk’s politics that prompted the move. Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera also publicly quit X last year. The story.
—Growing scandal. Fuji TV chairman Shuji Kano and president and CEO Koichi Minato have resigned in the wake of a widening sexual assault scandal around a 2023 dinner that the Japanese network is alleged to have organized at which a former member of the now-disbanded pop idol group SMAP is claimed to have assaulted a woman. Kano and Minato announced they were stepping down during a press conference at the Fuji TV headquarters in Tokyo on Monday. Fuji Media Holdings, parent of Fuji TV, has launched an independent probe into the 2023 dinner at which the celebrity TV host and former pop star Nakai Masahiro is alleged to have assaulted a woman and subsequently paid out a settlement. The story. |
'Lost Boys' Musical Set for Broadway ►"Initiation's over, Michael. Time to join the club!" A musical adaptation of the 1987 cult horror-comedy The Lost Boys is planned for Broadway. The Lost Boys, A New Musical is set to arrive on Broadway in spring 2026 at the Palace Theatre. The musical will feature a score by The Rescues, direction by Tony Award winner Michael Arden (Parade, Maybe Happy Ending), and a book by David Hornsby, a writer and producer on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Chris Hoch. There will be a private invitation-only industry presentation of the musical March 14. Broadway and film actors James Carpinello, Marcus Chait and Patrick Wilson are producing the show. The story.
—Big change. The video episodes of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy are moving off of Spotify and will only be available on YouTube. Video episodes of the podcasts from Cooper’s Unwell Network, which includes Hot Mess with Alix Earle and Pretty Lonesome with Madeline Argy, will also be moving to YouTube. Audio versions of the podcasts are still available widely. The change comes after SiriusXM made a deal to acquire Cooper’s podcast and her podcast collective for up to $125m starting in 2025. Cooper, who is the most popular female podcaster in the world, had previously been part of Spotify’s slate. The story.
—🤝 On the move 🤝 The World’s First Podcast, from the sisters behind the Netflix series Nobody Wants This, has joined the slate at media company Dear Media. Kim Kardashian will be the first guest of the podcast in 2025, with the episode airing Jan. 30. The weekly show, hosted by Erin and Sara Foster, released their first episode under the new banner Jan. 9, with the two sisters in conversation. The World’s First Podcast originated in 2021 and inspired the podcast featured in Nobody Wants This. The story.
—🤝 Development deal 🤝 Elliot Page’s Pageboy Productions is partnering with Canadian media giant Bell Media to develop and produce original scripted TV series. The non-exclusive co-development pact will see series created for and picked up by Bell Media’s main TV network CTV and its streamer Crave. Canadian-born Page launched Pageboy in 2021, with its titles including the Page starrer Close to You and the Toronto Film Festival title Backspot. The story. |
Disney and YouTube In Close Race for Overall TV Viewing Crown ►Bob's still top. As last year wound down, the Disney TV empire — counting broadcasters like ABC, streaming platforms Disney+ and Hulu along with cable channels like FX — managed to stave off YouTube in the race for viewing marketshare in the attention economy. Disney’s brands saw about 11.2 percent of overall TV viewing in the U.S., just ahead of YouTube’s 11.1 percent share, per Nielsen's Media Distributor Gauge for December. YouTube, meanwhile, appears to be reaping the benefits by orienting its app as a viewing destination on TV sets instead of just as a second screen for videos. The Google-owned platform claimed 11.1 percent of TV use in Nielsen’s tracking frame, which runs from Nov. 25 through Dec. 29. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Ellen Pompeo‘s Natalia Grace-inspired Hulu series has released its first look and premiere date. The anticipated eight-episode limited series, Good American Family, will release two episodes on March 19 on Hulu, followed by weekly installments for the remainder of its run. The series was announced back in summer 2022, prompting Pompeo to scale back her onscreen role on Grey’s Anatomy so she could star in and exec produce Good American Family, which was at the time described as an untitled orphan project for the streamer. The show is a dramatization of the Natalia Grace story. Grace, who has a rare form of dwarfism, has become a familiar name as her story has been told across three seasons of the ID docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace. The story.
—"Once in a while, you come across a story that has that truly special mix of elements." Kevin Costner has set a new three-episode docuseries at Fox Nation, the Fox News-owned streaming platform, something of a sequel to his 2022 project Yellowstone One Fifty. The new series is called Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner, and will see the Oscar winner retrace the 1903 Yosemite expedition of Teddy Roosevelt and environmental advocate John Muir through the American west. The first episode debuts Feb. 8, and will kick off what Fox Nation is calling its “America 250” campaign, which will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country next year. The story.
—🎭 Sold! 🎭 Peacock has acquired the drama The Five-Star Weekend, with Jennifer Garner on board to star and executive produce. The series from UCP will adapt Elin Hilderbrand’s novel of the same name, with Bekah Brunstetter creating, writing and also executive producing. The Five-Star Weekend will center on Hollis Shaw, a famed food influencer who suffers a devastating loss. Unable to move forward, the death reveals cracks in her picture-perfect life, including a strained marriage, a complicated relationship with her daughter and her growing pursuit of validation from her followers. The story. |
Jon M. Chu to Tackle Dr. Seuss' 'Oh, the Places You'll Go!' For WB ►📅 It's happening 📅 Dr. Seuss' final book is getting a feature adaptation from Jon M. Chu and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. The studio announced Monday that the animated musical movie Oh, the Places You’ll Go! is set for theatrical release in IMAX on March 17, 2028. The film from directors Chu and Jill Culton is set to center on a young adventurer navigating the ups and downs of life. Rob Lieber penned the screenplay, while EGOT winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are working on original songs for the project. The feature is based on Dr. Seuss’ last published book of the same name, which was released in 1990, a year before his death. The story.
—🎭 Dream team 🎭 THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Rebecca Hall reuniting with her Godzilla x Kong director Adam Wingard for the action thriller Onslaught. The move also sees the actress, whose true-life drama Peter Hujar’s Day premiered at Sundance over the weekend, reteam with her Monsterverse co-star and old college friend Dan Stevens, who is also part of the cast of the A24 action thriller now in production. In the film, Adria Arjona stars as a mother living in a trailer who falls back on a particular set of skills in order to protect her loved ones after she runs afoul of a threat that has escaped a secret military base. The story.
—🎭 Another one 🎭 Barbie and Sex Education actor Connor Swindells has joined the all-star ensemble cast of The Entertainment System Is Down, the new dark satire from Triangle of Sadness director Ruben Östlund. The Swedish helmer has already lined up a crowd of A-lists for the feature, including Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Brühl, Keanu Reeves, Nicholas Braun, Samantha Morton, and Tobias Menzies. Alongside Swindells, new additions to the Entertainment System cast include Daniel Webber, Wayne Blair, Dan Wyllie, Lindsay Duncan, Allan Corduner, Sofia Tjelta Sydness, Erin Ainsworth, Myles Kamwendo, Sanna Sundqvist, Tea Stjärne, and Swedish singer/songwriter Benjamin Ingrosso. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 The World Will Tremble, a historical drama about an escape from a Nazi death camp, has been acquired for worldwide distribution by Vertical. The film is slated to open March 14. Tremble is the second feature-length release by Israeli-American writer-director Lior Geller, whose 2008 short, Roads, holds the Guinness World Record for most awards won by a short student film. The story. |
Film Review: 'Kiss of the Spider Woman' ►"Entertaining, even if it soars only intermittently." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Bill Condon's Kiss of the Spider Woman. Diego Luna plays a political prisoner during Argentina’s military dictatorship, with Tonatiuh as the gay cellmate who escapes harsh reality by retreating into movie fantasy. Also starring Jennifer Lopez, Bruno Bichir, Josefina Scaglione, Aline Mayagoitia and Tony Dovolani. The review.
—"Fails to take flight." David reviews Dylan Southern's The Thing With Feathers. Southern adapts the Max Porter novella, Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, about a widowed father (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the menacing giant crow that attaches itself to his sorrow. The review.
—"A beautiful meditation." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Brittany Shyne's Sundance U.S. documentary competition entry, Seeds. Shyne constructs an empathetic portrait of Black agrarian life while also revealing threats to its survival in her Sundance-premiering directorial debut. The review.
—"Too scattered for its own good." Lovia reviews Hailey Gates' Sundance U.S. dramatic competition entry, Atropia. An aspiring actress in an army role-playing facility falls in love with a soldier in Gates' feature debut, starring Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner and Chloë Sevigny and produced by Luca Guadagnino. The review.
—"Too diffuse to leave a lasting impression." Lovia reviews Katarina Zhu's Sundance U.S. dramatic competition entry, Bunnylovr. Zhu stars alongside Rachel Sennott and Austin Amelio in her film about a cam girl navigating a toxic relationship. The review. |
Film Review: 'Rebuilding' ►"Understated and radiant." THR's Sheri Linden reviews Max Walker-Silverman's Rebuilding. Josh O’Connor, Meghann Fahy, Amy Madigan, Kali Reis and Lily LaTorre star in the Colorado-set drama from the A Love Song helmer. The review.
—"Clear-eyed and explosive." Sheri reviews Bao Nguyen's The Stringer. Nguyen’s documentary tracks a two-year investigation into allegations that “Napalm Girl,” a Pulitzer-winning Vietnam War photo, was credited to the wrong person. The review.
—"Immersive and well-acted, if finally underwhelming." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Vladimir de Fontenay's Sundance world cinema dramatic competition entry, Sukkwan Island. The latest from the French writer-director tracks a father (Swann Arlaud) and son stranded together in the Nordic wilderness. The review.
—"Who's a good doc? You are. Yes, you are." THR's Daniel Fienberg reviews Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's Folktales. The Jesus Camp directors follow three students at a Norwegian "folk school," where students learn survival skills and dog sledding. The review.
—"A complicated examination of a crowd-pleasing hit." Daniel reviews David Osit's Sundance U.S. documentary competition entry, Predators. Osit interviews host Chris Hansen and several of the predator-luring decoys as he questions whether the reality show To Catch a Predator did the right thing in the wrong ways. The review.
In other news...
—White Lotus S3 official trailer teases romance, mystery and murder
—Paramount+’s Happy Face teaser shows Annaleigh Ashford playing a killer’s daughter
—Lady Gaga announces new album Mayhem
—Jay Shetty’s new purpose: A live podcast tour
—Sony Pictures TV taps Jennifer Rogers Doyle to head franchise management
—Simon Lythgoe signs with Buchwald
What else we're reading...
—Gunjan Banerji, Asa Fitch and Karen Langley report on a wild day on Wall Street and Silicon Valley following the release of DeepSeek [WSJ]
—Tim Bradshaw, George Steer, Michael Acton and Tabby Kinder explain why Nvidia lost almost $600b(!) in market value in one day [FT]
—Ana Swanson and Alan Rappeport write that Trump is increasingly using the threat of tariffs for issues that have little to do with trade [NYT]
—Adam Edelman and Daniella Silva report that public schools are trying to protect undocumented students from Trump's immigration raids [NBC News]
—Devin Oktar Yalkin and Abe Streep return to the fire-ravaged neighborhoods of Los Angeles to produce a harrowing photo essay [Intelligencer]
Today...
...in 2011, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful was released in U.S. theaters. The film received a lukewarm reception from critics and audiences but scored two Academy Awards nominations, including a best actor nom for star Javier Bardem. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Alan Alda (89), Frank Darabont (66), Will Poulter (32), Elijah Wood (44), Ariel Winter (27), Tom Hopper (40), Kathryn Morris (56), Gillian Vigman (53), Matilda Lutz (33), Alexandra Krosney (37), Lee Ingleby (49), Lynda Boyd (60), Camila Alves McConaughey (42), Angelique Cabral (46), Ty Olsson (51), Ema Horvath (31), Calum Worthy (34), Harley Jane Kozak (68), Adam Bartley (46), John Beck (81), Henry Mortensen (37), Chance Kelly (58), Whitney Peak (22), Peter McDonald (53), Tyra Ferrell (63), Peter Youngblood Hills (43), Joey Fatone (48), Hiroshi Kamiya (50), Maluma (31), Jordan Weiss (32), Graham Sibley (48), Rick Ross (49) |
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