| | | | | | What's news: Alec Baldwin has sued Santa Fe officials for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations. S1 of Apple TV+'s Severance will appear on Roku Channel. Vince McMahon and the SEC have reached a settlement. Rory McCann will replace the late Ray Stevenson for S2 of Ahsoka. — Abid Rahman
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How the Wildfires Are Becoming a Conspiracy-Theorists Haven ►"Natural disasters have always attracted crackpots." The fires are causing massive physical devastation. THR's Steven Zeitchik writes that the last few days suggest that the social media response to them could be destroying democracy. The analysis.
—Paused. Despite the widespread devastation to homes and businesses across the Southland, central production hubs in Los Angeles appear to remain unscathed from the historic destruction caused by wildfires in the region. Not included in the 5,000-plus structures that have been ravaged by the blazes are major soundstages that host the majority of TV and movie shoots in Los Angeles. THR's Winston Cho reports that most production in the area has been suspended but is expected to return. The story.
—"Your heart just breaks." Milo Ventimiglia shared that he and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, have lost their Malibu home in the fires. The actor said his house burned down after the Palisades Fire swept through their neighborhood. His family evacuated Tuesday and watched on security cameras as the flames took over their home. Mariano and Ventimiglia are also expecting their first child any day now. Ventimiglia also acknowledged “life imitating art” as his character Jack Pearson in This Is Us — spoiler alert! — saved his loved ones from their family’s house fire. The story.
—"My place looked like Dresden." Mel Gibson revealed that he lost his Malibu home while he was in Austin to record a podcast interview with Joe Rogan. Gibson said that his wife, Rosalind Ross, and their son, Lars, were safe as they had evacuated their home. He added that fellow actor Ed Harris’ home, down the street from Gibson’s, was also burned down. Despite the devastation, Gibson said his chickens survived the fire. The story.
—Tragic loss. Jeff Bridges has tragically lost his family home in Malibu due to the raging wildfires. The actor, along with his brother Beau and sister, inherited the home from his parents, Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges. The Big Lebowski star primarily lives at his home in Santa Barbara, California, which he shares with his wife, Susan Geston. The story.
—Some good news. The Eaton Fire has spared the iconic Walsh family house from Beverly Hills, 90210. Nearly half the other homes on its picturesque Altadena block, including the two immediately to the east and the pair directly across the street, are gone. But the classic Spanish Revival property remained intact when THR visited on Thursday afternoon — except for a covering of ash, as the blaze currently threatens Mount Wilson Observatory in the Angeles National Forest to the north. The story. |
Disney, WBD and Fox Pull Plug on Sports Streaming Venture ►It's over. Venu, the sports-focused streaming service co-founded by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp. will not move forward, the companies said Friday. The decision comes at the end of an eventful week for the companies, with dealmaking looking to revive the service’s fortunes, before a fresh legal threat appeared to put it in limbo once more. On Monday, in a shock move, Disney announced a deal to merge its Hulu + Live TV service with competitor Fubo. A couple of days later, the two major satellite TV firms DirecTV and Echostar argued that the court should reconsider any request to lift an in junction previously issued in the case, suggesting that they may take action. Disney, Fox and WBD announced their plan to launch a joint streaming service nearly a year ago. The story.
—Shake-up. Comcast‘s SpinCo cable business is beginning to take shape under incoming CEO Mark Lazarus and CFO Anand Kini. On Thursday, the company announced the senior leadership team for the new company, comprised of NBCU vets. The C-suite will include Val Boreland, who will become president of entertainment for the new venture. Boreland is currently NBCUniversal’s executive VP and head of content acquisitions for TV and streaming. Also, Keith Cocozza, who currently leads communications for CNBC, will become chief communications officer for the new company, while Brian Dorfler, who leads human resources for the NBCU Media Group will lead HR for the new company. The story.
—Punching back. Alec Baldwin has sued Santa Fe officials for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations for pursuing criminal charges against him in the accidental shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of Rust. Baldwin, in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in federal court in New Mexico, alleges prosecutors intentionally concealed evidence that would vindicate him and sought to charge him for political gain. He accuses Santa Fe district attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Kari Morrissey of manipulating evidence and eliciting false testimony. The story.
—Scaling back. Last August, Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled a plan to work with Birtcher Development and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on an ambitious proposal to develop, build and lease a studio lot complex in what was described as a long-term commitment for an $8.5b production spend in the state over the course of more than a decade. That particular vision appears to have hit a speed bump as WBD confirms that it is no longer working with Birtcher on development of the sprawling studio complex. The story.
—Thinking out of the box. Apple is bringing one of its biggest shows to a free streaming platform, in an apparent bet that the influx of viewers will help drive new subscribers to Apple TV+. Roku on Thursday said that the entire first season of Severance would be available on its Roku Channel for what it is calling an “exclusive fan experience,” which will run through Jan. 19. The effort is connected to the debut of season two of Severance on Apple TV+ on Jan. 17. The story.
—🤝 Settlement 🤝 The SEC says that it has reached a settlement deal with former WWE CEO Vince McMahon relating to undisclosed payments to an employee and an independent contractor with whom he allegedly had relationships with. McMahon will pay a $400,000 civil penalty, and will reimburse the WWE more than $1.3m. The story. |
Rory McCann Replacing Ray Stevenson for 'Ahsoka' S2 ►🎭 The Hound subs in 🎭 Scottish actor Rory McCann, best known for playing the burly brute The Hound on HBO’s Game of Thrones, will replace late actor Ray Stevenson for a second season of Star Wars show Ahsoka. Stevenson played the hulking former Jedi known as Baylan Skoll in the Disney+ series. He died after a brief illness in May 2023, three months before the series premiered. Ahsoka stars Rosario Dawson as another former Jedi, the titular Ahsoka Tano, who teams with a former apprentice in order to stop the evil Empire from re-forming. The story.
—Kawaaaiiii!!!! Netflix revealed on Thursday that production is underway on My Melody & Kuromi, a Japanese stop-motion animated series devoted to two of the most beloved characters from Sanrio, world-famous as the creator of Hello Kitty. Directed by visionary stop-motion artist Tomoki Misato, the series will launch on Netflix in July. The characters of My Melody & Kuromi have been favorites in Japan for decades. Sanrio launched My Melody in 1975 and describes the character as “a straightforward, cheerful girl who cares deeply for her younger brother” and “enjoys baking cookies with her mother.” Kuromi is a more recent addition to the Sanrio pantheon of cute, having launched in 2004. The story.
—Can you smell... Amazon Prime Video’s Red One and Netflix’s Carry-On both had big opening weeks in streaming, with Dwayne Johnson's Red One coming out on top in Nielsen’s charts. Red One, which Amazon touted as its biggest worldwide premiere to date, racked up 2.1b minutes of viewing in the U.S. for the week of Dec. 9-15. Carry-On, meanwhile, scored 1.69b minutes of viewing for Netflix for the week, albeit with one fewer day: It premiered on Dec. 13, while Red One began streaming Dec. 12 on Prime Video. The thriller starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman is currently in Netflix’s top five English-language films to date (as measured over the first 91 days of release). The streaming rankings.
—...what The Rock is cooking. The streaming premiere of WWE Monday Night Raw brought in a sizable audience for Netflix — at least in the U.S. Ratings figures from VideoAmp show Raw averaging 2.6m households for its first outing on Netflix, which struck a $5b rights deal for the WWE's flagship weekly show a year ago. That’s more than double the household average that the three-hour show drew on USA Network in 2024, when it typically drew about 1.2m households. VideoAmp data shared by Netflix also says Raw doubled its 2024 average among adults 18-49. Total viewer figures for Monday’s show weren’t available at publication time. The ratings. |
'Wicked' Scores Record $70M in PVOD Sales in 1st Week ►Cashing in. Universal is pulling back the curtain on what Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has earned in premium VOD sales, numbers often kept a closely guarded secret by the major Hollywood studios. The blockbuster film and Oscar hopeful has earned nearly $700m at the global box office to date, or $686m worldwide through Wednesday, as well as racking up more than $70m in premium video-on-demand sales in the U.S. and Canada in its first week in the home. It may seem counter-intuitive, but going in the home as early as 30 to 40 days doesn’t mean it hurts a tentpole’s box office profile. The story.
—🏆 Looking good 🏆 The Art Directors Guild has announced the nominees for its 29th annual Excellence in Production Design Awards, set to be held Feb. 15 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Feature nominees include the production designers on A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist, Gladiator II, Nosferatu and Saturday Night in the period film category; Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Dune: Part Two, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Wicked for fantasy film; and Civil War, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, The Substance and Twisters in the contemporary film category. The nominees.
—The spice did flow. For 17m film fans on Letterboxd, Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two was the spice of 2024. The popular movie-reviewing app has published its annual year in review, a ranking of the most popular and beloved films of the past 12 months, as determined by user ratings. Villeneuve’s sci-fi blockbuster topped the charts as the highest-rated, most popular, and most obsessively rewatched film of 2024. Unsurprisingly, the Canadian helmer was also Letterboxd’s most-watched director of the year. The story.
—🏆 Sammo! 🏆 The 18th Asian Film Awards, the region’s leading cinema honors, unveiled its 2025 nominations on Friday, with South Korea’s horror hit Exhuma leading the pack with 11 nods. Hong Kong throw-back action epic Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In was the second-most feted film with nine nominations. Adding further hometown star power to this year’s ceremony is the appointment of legendary filmmaker and martial artist Sammo Hung as this year’s AFA jury president. The story. |
Film Review: 'From Ground Zero' ►"A stirring account of resilience." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Palestine’s Academy Awards submission From Ground Zero. The anthology feature, produced by Rashid Masharawi and executive produced by Michael Moore, showcases 22 shorts by filmmakers documenting life in Gaza. The review.
—"More sedating than pulse-pounding." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Christian Gudegast's Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. The dogged cop (Gerard Butler) and wily thief (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) butt heads again in Gudegast's follow-up to his excellent 2018 heist thriller. 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 episode, Scott spoke to The Brutalist star Adrien Brody. In a conversation that was both epic and emotional, like his best films, the 51-year-old American actor — who at 29 became, and remains to this day, the youngest-ever best actor Oscar winner, for The Pianist, and who won a best drama actor Golden Globe for his latest film — looks back on an odds-defying, rollercoaster of a life and career. Listen here.
—Awards Chatter. Scott also spoke to Chris Columbus. The master of family-friendly fare — he wrote Gremlins and The Goonies and directed two Home Alone and two Harry Potter films — reflects on working with Steven Spielberg in his twenties, how Chevy Chase driving him to quit National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation proved to be one of the best things that ever happened to him and why, in recent years, he and his daughter, Eleanor, began producing films by rising directors including Nosferatu filmmaker Robert Eggers. Listen here.
—Awards Chatter. And finally, Scott also spoke to A Real Pain star Jennifer Grey. The iconic actress reflects on growing up the daughter of Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey, the making of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Dirty Dancing, challenges that followed, and now, at 64, getting to be a part of a third instant-classic, Jesse Eisenberg's new dramedy about a group touring Holocaust sites in Poland. Listen here.
In other news...
—Jason Statham hunts missing teen in trailer for A Working Man
—Colm Meaney to get Irish Academy lifetime achievement honor
—Tracey Friesen, veteran Canadian TV producer, dies at 58
—Bob Laemmle, longtime head of the Laemmle Art House Theater chain, dies at 89
What else we're reading...
—Danielle Kaye and Conor Dougherty report on how the fires will deepen the housing shortage in Los Angeles [NYT]
—Will Kennedy reports that the L.A. fires may cost between $52b and $57b [Bloomberg]
—Yesha Callahan reports that the Eaton Fire devastating historic Altadena is displacing Black families and destroying legacies [BET]
—Anna Gross and Joe Miller report Elon Musk has privately discussed with allies how Keir Starmer could be removed as U.K. prime minister [FT]
—Here's your Friday list: "Denzel Washington's 20 greatest films – ranked!" [Guardian]
Today...
...in 1999 at 9 pm, America met Tony Soprano for the first time in HBO's The Sopranos. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Reneé Rapp (25), Jemaine Clement (51), Hrithik Roshan (51), Kelly Marcel (51), Walter Hill (83), Fran Walsh (66), Rod Stewart (80), Brandon Cronenberg (45), Sarah Shahi (45), Emily Meade (36), Alex Meraz (40), Jacob Scipio (32), Siobhan Williams (33), Trini Alvarado (58), William Sanderson (81), Rebecca Dalton (36), Cash Warren (46), Janet Jones (64), Evan Handler (64), Dani Kind (45), John Harlan Kim (32), Antonio Cupo (47), Caroline Langrishe (67), Kenajuan Bentley (50), Lauren McCrostie (29), Kathleen Bradley (74), Katie Dippold (45), Tony Gardner (61) |
| Anita Bryant, the pop singer and Oklahoma beauty queen who gained fame by convincing America that a “breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine” before seeing her popularity plummet as she railed against gay rights, has died. She was 84. The obituary. |
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