| | | | | | What's news: Shopify has taken down the Yeezy store over swastika merch. Amy Adams will co-lead Apple's Cape Fear series. Matthew Rhys will star in Apple's Widow's Bay. Dune 2 was the big winner at VES Awards. Focus has picked up global rights to Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme. — Abid Rahman
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Lyor Cohen Addresses Kanye West in Open Letter ►"Your words and actions are not only offensive but triggering to all decent people." Lyor Cohen, who held key executive roles at Def Jam Recordings from 1988 to 2004, has addressed Kanye West in an open letter, following the rapper and producer's recent racist and pro-Nazi outbursts on social media. Cohen is known for his influential role in hip-hop. He started his career in the 1980s as a tour manager for Run-D.M.C. before becoming a key figure in the rise of Def Jam Recordings, where he worked with such artists as Jay Z, LL Cool J and DMX, among others. West signed to Roc-A-Fella Records, a subsidiary of Def Jam Recordings, in 2002 and released his breakout debut album, The College Dropout, in February 2004 through Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam. The letter.
—"All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform." The company hosting and fulfilling orders for Yeezy.com has removed the brand’s website after the streetwear and footwear brand, owned by Kanye West, reduced its online shop to a single T-shirt with a Nazi swastika emblazoned on the front, a representative for the brand’s hosting platform confirmed. Shopify, the host of West’s successful brand’s ecommerce website, told THR in a statement about the removal on Tuesday morning that following the addition of the swastika shirt, the brand violated policy. The story. |
Musk Is Hacking German Politics, and the Berlin Film Fest May Pay the Price ►"Musk’s actions are quite without precedent." A week after Elon Musk's straight-armed salutes at Donald Trump’s inauguration — the gesture, with its echoes of the Nazi era, is punishable as hate speech in Germany — and ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, the billionaire told a crowd at an AfD rally in Halle that Germans are too focused “on past guilt” and “need to move beyond that.” Germany is holding a snap election on Feb. 23, and Musk appears to be doing his best to hack it, and this is all coming to a boil as the world’s film industry heads to the German capital for the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. THR's Scott Roxborough writes that extremist issues, not the movies, could (once again) be the focus at this year’s Berlinale, and the broligarch-in-chief is fanning the flames. The story.
—Supine. In a move to try and ensure that it doesn’t wind up in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Disney appears to be rolling back some of its DEI efforts. The entertainment giant, in its latest filing to regulators, scrubbed references to the “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative, which launched in 2021 with the purpose of amplifying underrepresented voices. It also didn’t mention employee development programs and fellowships for underrepresented talent, instead noting an existing initiative intended to hire military veterans. The story.
—Turbocharging ads. Amazon Prime Video is betting that a stacked lineup of sports can help it turbocharge its fast-growing advertising business. The tech giant’s video streaming service already has NFL Thursday Night Football, which averaged 13.2 million viewers last season, and it has WNBA and NWSL games, giving it a lineup of women’s sports. THR's Alex Weprin writes that this year it will add NASCAR Cup Series and, in the fall, the NBA, giving it a year-round presence, and the ability to give advertisers and sponsors the ability to spend big 12 months out of the year. The story.
—Some good news! Copyright law bars a former competitor of Thomson Reuters from using the company’s content to create an AI-based legal platform, a court has ruled in a decision that could lay the foundation for similar rulings over the legality of using copyrighted works to train AI systems. U.S. District Judge Stephanos Bibas on Tuesday rejected arguments from Ross Intelligence that it’s protected by the “fair use” exception to copyright protections. THR's Winston Cho writes that the court’s ruling on the novel issue will likely be cited by creators suing tech companies across Hollywood, though the case doesn’t involve the creation of new content created by AI systems. The analysis.
—✊ Strike authorization ✊ Employees at an Alamo Drafthouse theater in Colorado have authorized a strike over layoffs that their union claims violated federal labor law, joining staffers at two theaters in New York that have done the same. One hundred percent of participating staffers at the theater chain’s Sloans Lake location voted on Feb. 5 and 6 to greenlight the potential work stoppage. Days earlier, the chain laid off 47 out of nearly 300 workers across three Colorado locations, a move that Denver-based Communications Workers of America Local 7777 — which has a certified union in Sloans Lake — claims is illegal. The story. |
Rock & Roll 2025 HOF Nominees Revealed ►Best of the best. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has named 14 music legends as performer nominees for induction in its 2025 class. The nominees for 2025 are Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Maná, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and The White Stripes. Honorees will be announced in April, with the annual induction ceremony set for the fall in Los Angeles. At the ceremony, inductees selected via three special committee categories — Musical Influence, Musical Excellence and the Ahmet Ertegun Non-Performer Award — will also enter the Hall of Fame. The story.
—🏆 Bare Naked Ladies snubbed! 🏆 Josh Ross and Tate McRae lead the nominations for the 2025 Juno Awards, Canada’s version of the Grammys. Other multiple nominees included Shawn Mendes and The Weeknd earning four nods each. In the best singles category, Ross will challenge with “Single Again” and Mendes has “Why Why Why” in contention against McRae with “exes” and The Weeknd and Playboi Carti’s “Timeless.” Ross also has Complicated and McRae has Think Later contending in the best album competition. Ross, McRae, The Weeknd and Mendes will also vie against one another in the best artist competition. The nominees. |
The End of TV Is Here ►"Now that pay TV will have little if any exclusive content, the floodgates will likely open to more creative bundling of channels." On March 2, one of the last pillars of linear TV will fall: the Academy Awards. Hollywood’s biggest night is a celebration of cinema, but this year it may as well double as a requiem for traditional TV. For the first time in the history of the broadcast, the Oscars will be streamed live outside the pay TV ecosystem, on Disney’s Hulu, alongside its broadcast home on ABC. THR's Alex Weprin writes that as the final few holdouts like the Oscars ink streaming deals, a monumental shift in the way Hollywood works is underway. The analysis.
—🎭 Stacked 🎭 Apple has lined up a second A-list name for its Cape Fear series. Amy Adams will star opposite Javier Bardem in the thriller, which counts Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese — who teamed for a 1991 remake of the original 1962 film — among its executive producers. Adams will also be an EP. As with the two films (and the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners that served as their source material), the Cape Fear series will follow the events when a killer, Max Cady (Bardem), is released from prison and begins to harass the couple he deems responsible for his sentence, married attorneys Anna and Tom Bowden. Adams will play Anna. The story.
—🎭 Award-winning addition 🎭 Apple TV+ is adding another Emmy winner to its talent roster. Welsh superstar Matthew Rhys has signed on to star in and executive produce a series titled Widow’s Bay at the streamer. The former Americans and Perry Mason star will play the mayor of a coastal New England town who refuses to believe his constituents’ warnings that the place is cursed. Widow’s Bay comes from creator and showrunner Katie Dippold and Apple Studios. Atlanta's Hiro Murai is on board to direct the pilot and executive produce. Apple gave the show a series order in September 2024. The story.
—🎭 Another big name 🎭 Peter Dinklage has joined Michael C. Hall in the cast for Paramount+ With Showtime's Dexter: Resurrection. Dinklage, in a series regular role, will play Leon Prater, a billionaire venture capitalist. To the world, Leon is a generous philanthropist, but behind his polished exterior lies dark intrigue, reads his character description. He joins the previously announced cast of Uma Thurman and returning Dexter franchise stars David Zayas, James Remar and Jack Alcott. The story.
—New drama slate. U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has unveiled a slate of six dramas. Ollie Madden, director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, had in August said he would be doubling Channel 4’s drama budget and its number of commissions to deliver on the broadcaster’s plan to launch new dramas consistently throughout the year. That is a key strategy in Channel 4’s push to become a streaming-first public service broadcaster. Among the commissions unveiled on Wednesday, include a second season of The Undeclared War, a cyber thriller starring Simon Pegg and Hannah Khalique-Brown and, as a new co-lead, Siân Brooke. Also, Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials) has written "his first-ever love story in Falling." The story. |
VES Awards: 'Kingdom' Scores Top Honor, 'Dune 2' Leads With Four Wins ►🏆 The spice must flow 🏆 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes scored the top honor, outstanding visual effects in a photoreal feature, at the 2025 Visual Effects Society Awards. Dune: Part Two led the winners list with four wins in the feature categories, while The Wild Robot was named top animated film with four wins as well. Shogun won best photoreal episode, winning three awards. The Penguin also won three awards. This year, comedy duo The Sklar Brothers made their debut as the hosts of the show, while Keanu Reeves presented the VES Award for Creative Excellence to Shogun actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada. The winners.
—🤝 Third time's a charm 🤝 Focus Features has picked up global rights to Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme , and set a May 30 limited release for the project, which will expand wide on June 6. The feature is described as “the story of a family and a family business.” It stars Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Sister Liesl, his daughter/a nun; and Michael Cera as Bjorn Lund, their tutor. Other stars include Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis and Benedict Cumberbatch. The film hails from Indian Paintbrush, and is the third teamup with Anderson, Indian Paintbrush and Focus, which also released Asteroid City (2023) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). The story.
—🎭 Double the funny 🎭 Kristen Wiig and Bill Murray are set to star in a new comedy, Epiphany, from Max Barbakow. A plot synopsis reads: “When her massive fortune evaporates overnight, heiress and fashionista Favorite Ives (Wiig) has two weeks to nab a rich husband and fight creditors to stay off the street. Her desperate search for a big-money mark slams her into eccentric math savant and billionaire Oz Bell (Murray). Rocket Science confirmed on Tuesday that Wiig and Murray will also serve as executive producers alongside Jillian Apfelbaum and Margot Hand, with a script by Mitch Glazer. The story.
—🎭 Mom and pop found 🎭 James Purefoy and Charlotte Riley have been cast as King Randor and Queen Marlena in Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Films’ live-action take on Masters of the Universe. Travis Knight is directing the feature that Amazon plans on releasing theatrically worldwide June 5, 2026. Nicholas Galitzine is the sword-wielding prince while Jared Leto is on board as Skeletor, an evil sorcerer looking for secrets of the mysterious Castle Grayskull. Based on the quintessential toyline first launched in the 1980s and the popular cartoon of the same era, the concept centers on the character of Prince Adam of Eternia who, thanks to his Power Sword, turns into the muscular He-Man and is imbued with superhuman strength and abilities. The story. |
'Brave New World' Aims for $200M Global Opening ►Looking good. Studios and theater owners are hoping for a huge Valentine’s Day-President's Day boost at the box office, led by the year’s first superhero tentpole, Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World. If tracking and exhibitor predictions are right, Captain America 4— which should open to $90m-plus over the long four-day weekend, one of the top showings ever for the holiday. That’s the same weekend the first Deadpool opened, as well as Marvel’s Black Panther. Likewise for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania, which debuted to $120m over Presidents' Day weekend in 2023. Overseas, Brave New World opens everywhere, including in China, Japan and South Korea. It could collect $100m overseas. The box office report.
—"A thrill ride from start to finish." Brave New World has landed in Hollywood, and the social media reactions are pouring in from the premiere and press screenings on Tuesday night ahead of formal reviews Wednesday. The reaction. |
TV Review: 'The White Lotus' S3 ►"Stellar new cast saves it from deja vu." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews season three of HBO's The White Lotus. Walton Goggins, Parker Posey, Carrie Coon, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Natasha Rothwell lead the ensemble cast for the latest Thailand-set installment of the anthology. The review.
—"Uneven if ultimately disarming." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Michael Morris' Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall join returning cast including Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Emma Thompson in the fourth entry of the rom-com series based on Helen Fielding’s popular novels. The review.
In other news...
—How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake debuts fiery full trailer
—Bill Murray and Naomi Watts bond over a Great Dane in The Friend trailer
—Simone Ashley searches for a wedding date in Amazon’s Picture This trailer
—Starz drops Power Book III: Raising Kanan S4 trailer
—Dave Chappelle to receive NAACP President’s Award
—Cynthia Erivo to be honored at GLAAD Awards for "raising visibility and promoting acceptance"
—Issa Rae, Last of Us cast set for SXSW speakers line-up
—Cruz Abelita signs with CESD Agency
—Coi Leray signs with Epic Records
What else we're reading...
—Lauren Weber and Caitlin Gilbert report that scientists and experts are pushing back against RFK's misleading and dangerous vaccine claims [WaPo]
—Joe Flint and Suzanne Vranica report on the switcheroo that allowed Kanye West to advertise during the Super Bowl [WSJ]
—Reeves Wiedeman wonders what will happen to Saturday Night Live after Lorne Michaels finally retires [Vulture]
—Michelle Goldberg tries to explain why Elon Musk and J.D. Vance went to bat for a 25-year-old self-described racist [NYT]
—Kory Grow and Jon Blistein have an in-depth story on the tragic final years of the late One Direction singer Liam Payne [Rolling Stone]
Today...
...in 1937, Columbia Pictures unveiled the musical When You’re in Love, featuring star turns by Cary Grant and Grace Moore. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Christina Ricci (45), Josh Brolin (57), Katy O'Brian (36), Darren Aronofsky (56), Valorie Curry (39), Iko Uwais (42), Taylor Dearden (32), Jesse Spencer (46), Angus Sampson (46), Lochlyn Munro (59), Tanaya Beatty (34), Tara Strong (52), Michael Ironside (75), Paul Anderson (47), Sarah Lancaster (45), Jesse Hutch (44), Christine Elise (60), Anna Hopkins (38), Enver Gjokaj (45), Alex Meneses (60), Raphael Sbarge (61), John Michael Higgins (62), Josef Altin (42), Joanna Kerns (72), Odelya Halevi (36), Lisa Brenner (51), Jennifer Stone (32), Park Bo-young (35), Drew Ray Tanner (33), Georgina Reilly (39), Zach Grenier (71), Maud Adams (80), Clare-Hope Ashitey (38), Chynna Phillips (57), Ajay Naidu (53), Cliff De Young (80), Katherine Barrell (35) |
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