| | | | | | What's news: Endeavor is dead, long live WME Group! StubHub is set to go public. Apple's The Studio has revealed its full guest list. American Dad! may return to Fox. The rights to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are available. — Abid Rahman
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Endeavor Goes Private ►Change is afoot. Endeavor is private once more, as the $25b deal by Silver Lake closed Monday morning. With the take-private complete, a slew of changes are in order. For starters, the newly-private businesses will go by WME Group, retiring the Endeavor name for public-facing purposes. Ari Emanuel, who founded Endeavor in 1995 and most recently served as CEO of the public venture, will shift to a new role as executive chairman. Mark Shapiro, who had been president and COO of Endeavor, will become president and managing partner, working in conjunction with Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz, the WME co-chairs who will be co-chairmen of WME Group. And as widely expected, former Endeavor executive chairman Patrick Whitesell will exit to launch a new venture backed by Silver Lake. The story.
—PR battle escalates. Before the premiere of It Ends With Us, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni reportedly agreed not to criticize each other publicly to avoid harming the film. However, Stephanie Jones, the then-publicist for the film's production company, allegedly contacted the Daily Mail against Baldoni’s wishes to address a story about their feud, seemingly to prove she was handling the PR conflict. Baldoni later dropped Jones’ firm and planned to follow his publicist, Jennifer Abel, to her new PR agency. On Friday, Baldoni's Wayfarer sued Jones for breach of contract, while Abel is suing her for fraud, invasion of privacy, and unfair competition, among other claims. The story.
—Hitting pause. Plans have been formally put on hold for a 91-acre film and TV soundstage complex outside of London that had been billed as a major foray for the Sunset Studios brand outside the U.S. Sunset, owned by operator Hudson Pacific along with significant investor Blackstone, had announced the project in 2021 during what may have been the height of the streaming content spending boom on film and TV projects. The owners had touted the Sunset Waltham Cross Studios project as opening in 2026, with Hudson Pacific CEO Victor Coleman saying the company had the ability to start construction in 2022. But a broad pullback in spending by major studios and a focus on cost-cutting and profitability for streaming platforms has impacted some speculative building of studio soundstage complexes. The story.
—IPO incoming. StubHub, one of the largest ticket resale marketplaces in the industry, has filed for an initial public offering, according to an SEC filing the company submitted on Friday. Per the S-1 filing, StubHub has applied for listing on the NYSE, trading under the symbol “STUB.” The company didn’t disclose the number of shares it will be selling. StubHub reported a $2.8m net loss last year on $1.77b in revenue last year, the filing said, compared to more than $405m in profit in 2023 on about $1.37b in revenue. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Concord has officially closed on its deal to acquire music distribution platform Stem, the companies announced Monday. Neither Stem nor Concord disclosed financial details of the agreement, though they specified the deal encompasses only Stem’s distribution business, not Stem’s parent company, Stem Disintermedia, or its financial services company Tone. Speaking with THR, Stem founder and CEO Milana Lewis and Concord Label Group chief executive Tom Becci say the companies had been casually talking for years, but that they began discussing the acquisition in earnest last July. The story. |
Hollywood's DEI-Promoting Nonprofits Face Trump Assault ►"The higher profile you are, the bigger the target." It’s a dire time for the Hollywood nonprofits dedicated to advocating for minorities, women and other underrepresented demographics across the industry. Many of the major studios and networks at publicly traded companies have already rolled back or eliminated their in-house diversity, equity and inclusion programs since Donald Trump signed an anti-DEI executive order in January. THR's Gary Baum talked to the organizations who work with studios, from Women in Film and Color of Change to Gold House, who are facing a newly challenging environment imposed by the White House. The story.
—"Twain hated bullies. … He punched up, not down, and he deeply empathized with the weak." On a night when half a dozen people made jokes about this being the last-ever Mark Twain Prize, Conan O’Brien made sure the ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ended on a high note. O’Brien accepted the award for lifetime achievement in comedy Sunday night while acknowledging the backstage turmoil that hangs over the future of the cultural center in Washington. O’Brien, 61, was named the 26th recipient of the Mark Twain Prize in mid-January, about three weeks before Donald Trump upended the Kennedy Center by ousting longtime president Deborah Rutter and board chairman David Rubenstein. The recap.
—"We should all be against murdering civilians." Hacks star Hannah Einbinder was honored at the Human Rights Campaign's L.A. Dinner on Saturday night and used her time on stage to speak about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. The actress received HRC’s Visibility Award for expanding LGBTQ+ representation on and off-screen and told the crowd, "My queerness is a tradition of social justice, as is my Judaism. To me, these are traditions of humanity, of care for human life — all human life, equally." Visibly emotional, she continued, "As a queer person, as a Jewish person and as an American, I am horrified by the Israeli government’s massacre of well over 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza. I am ashamed and infuriated that this mass murder is funded by our American tax dollars." The story.
—🤝 Dae-bak! 🤝 Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM, the studio famously behind Bong Joon Ho’s multi-Oscar-winning Parasite, has signed a three-year pact with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to boost Asian cinema’s presence in Hollywood. The agreement’s first initiative, spearheaded under CJ ENM’s support, will be the world’s first museum exhibition dedicated to Bong’s work. Opening March 23 and titled “Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho,” the exhibition will consist of more than 100 original items, including storyboards, research materials, film posters, concept art, creature designs, props and on-set photographs. The story.
—"Funding and fellowships will allow current and new faculty to explore the pedagogical and scholarship opportunities – and challenges – generated by the vast AI revolution." Netflix chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings has donated $50m to launch the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity at Bowdoin College in Maine, at a time when artificial intelligence continues to be a hot-button issue. The institution's largest-ever gift will help "ensure that students graduate well-prepared to lead in a world reshaped by AI." The story. |
Emmys: 'White Lotus' Scene-Stealer Must Compete in Supporting Actor Category ►Rules, rules, rules. Ever since “Full-Moon Party,” the fifth episode of the third installment of HBO’s The White Lotus, Hollywood and social media have been abuzz about the unexpected, tour de force turn that features Sam Rockwell. His cameo is so great, in fact, that many are already declaring Rockwell the runaway favorite to win the Emmy for best guest actor in a drama series. But not so fast. THR's Scott Feinberg reports that if Rockwell is to be nominated for and perhaps even win an Emmy for the show, it would not be in the guest acting category. The story.
—"There’s always more than meets the eye." Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola, the actors who play the Ratliff brothers in season three of The White Lotus, tell THR that the sexual night between them is the "inciting incident for where our relationship goes next." Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—That White Lotus bromance and TV's incest obsession. As the Ratliff brothers spiral over their drug-fueled encounter, THR critics Daniel Fienberg and Angie Han dive into the recent wave of small-screen storylines about intra-familial sexual connections. The critics' conversation. |
Welcome to "Broadcast-ification"! ►From prestige to procedural. With French TV festival Series Mania opening its doors this week, THR's Scott Roxborough reports that all is not well on the international series front. Shifts in the buying habits of the global streamers, coupled with a rise in production costs and a drop in acquisition budgets among traditional networks, have put the squeeze on big-budget series and a shift towards mainstream crime series: "It's become more and more difficult to finance these big shows." The story.
—🤝 It's a long, long list 🤝 The Studio has revealed its full guest cast for the Hollywood sendup series co-created by Seth Rogen. Rogen — also the lead actor, writer, director and executive producer on the Apple TV+ series about moviemaking — has taken to his director’s chair to announce the many guest stars in the comedy, which had promised A-list cameos in every episode. Click through to see the full list. The story.
—No three piece. Matt Owens, who has guided Netflix‘s live-action One Piece series through its first two seasons, has announced he’s leaving the show. In an Instagram post Friday, Owens wrote that he is leaving the show to “focus on myself and my mental health.” One Piece recently finished filming its second season. Owens has been with the live-action adaptation of the long-running manga (which has also spawned a number of anime series) by Eiichiro Oda from the start. He developed a long-term plan for the series and served as co-showrunner on both seasons of the series to date — alongside Steven Maeda in season one (Maeda remains an executive producer) and Joe Tracz for season two. Tracz will continue overseeing post-production on season two; Netflix hasn’t announced a release date. The story.
—Daddy, come home. Fox is looking to add another show to its animation lineup — by bringing one of its former series back to the network. The broadcaster is close to making a deal with 20th Television Animation, which produces American Dad! , to return the show to the network, sources say. The show, created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, began its life on Fox before moving to TBS in 2014, where it has run for 10 seasons and more than 200 episodes. The show’s current two-season with TBS, which dates back to 2021, will end with Monday’s season finale. Should the deal with Fox go through, it would likely be for a multi-season order, allowing the series to have a relatively seamless transition to delivering new episodes at its once and possibly future home. The story.
—🎭 Regular gig 🎭 Myles Bullock, best known for his appearances on Starz’s BMF and Peacock’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, has joined the new Prison Break reboot as a series regular. Hulu and Mayans MC showrunner Elgin James are behind the new iteration of the former Fox series that starred Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell. The two are not returning for the new series, which is described as a new take on the concept but set in the same world as the previous show. Emily Browning, Lukas Gage and Drake Rodger are the leads of the new Prison Break. The story. |
Amy Pascal, David Heyman in talks to oversee Bond franchise for Amazon ►License to thrill. Amazon MGM Studios is in final talks to assign the James Bond franchise to not one but two producers. Former Sony studio head turned producer Amy Pascal and Harry Potter producer David Heyman are in talks to oversee and run the storied British spy franchise for Amazon. The move comes as the studio looks to close a deal to take over creative control from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the producers whose family has been producing 007 movies since the 1960s. It is unclear how far along the talks are progressing, but sources say the two are far down the path. And while it’s unclear what the structure of this Bond entity will be, sources also say that Pascal could be the lead producer-executive. The story.
—🎭 In the frame 🎭 Euphoria actor Austin Abrams has emerged as the choice to star in Sony Pictures’ and Zach Cregger’s reboot of horror action movie Resident Evil. Cregger, the filmmaker who became part of the horror genre’s new generation thanks for his breakout hit Barbarian, wrote the script and is directing the feature. Abrams makes up part of the cast, which includes Josh Brolin and Julia Garner. Resident Evil would mark a reunion between the two, should any deal make. Cregger is currently readying for the release his follow-up to Barbarian, an ensemble horror piece titled Weapons. The story.
—Up for grabs. Another longstanding Hollywood IP rights have hit the market, drawing major interest from producers and studios. After the Jason Bourne rights became available, the rights to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are now also up for grabs. While there is a significant amount of interest in the venerated horror franchise from several parties, it’s quite in early in the process to determine who is involved and where it will land. But the participation of some bold-faced names — Texas’ favorite golden boy Glen Powell, anyone? — has some talking about a “free for all.” The story.
—On the brink. The new adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman that stars Jennifer Lopez is close to a sale after premiering at Sundance earlier this year. Roadside Attractions, Lionsgate and LD Entertainment are in final negotiations to acquire domestic distribution rights for the musical feature. Diego Luna, Tonatiuh and Tony Dovolani round out the cast for director Bill Condon's film that hails from Artists Equity and Mohari Media. Kiss of the Spider Woman is based on playwright Terrence McNally’s stage musical that debuted on Broadway in 1993 and adapted Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name. Condon penned the script, and the film features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The story.
—🎭 One more 🎭 Regina Hall is set to star with Will Ferrell and Zac Efron in an untitled comedy film from Amazon MGM Studios. Nicholas Stoller is directing the project from his own script, with the movie previously titled Judgment Day. The feature reunites the director with Ferrell following their collaboration on You’re Cordially Invited, which launched on Prime Video earlier this year and also stars Reese Witherspoon. The new film centers on a young convict (Efron) who gets out of prison and takes an unscripted TV courtroom hostage, as he is convinced that the judge (Ferrell) delivered a ruling that destroyed his life. Details regarding Hall’s role are being kept under wraps. The story. |
'Snow White' Limps to Alarming $43M Domestic Opening ►Not great. Trouble is a brewin’ for the controversy-laden Snow White, the live-action remake of the iconic 1937 animated film that put Walt Disney's film empire on the map. The big-budget tentpole opened to $43m domestically, enough for a first-place finish but behind even the most modest of expectations after getting battered by so-so audience scores and underwhelming reviews. That’s even less than Tim Burton’s Dumbo, which came in at $45m in 2019. Overseas, Snow White took in $44.3m for a global launch of $87.3m after hoping to clear $100m.
The good news: The $250m production still had no trouble winning the weekend and will have no competition until Warner Bros.’ kid-friendly A Minecraft Movie opens April 4. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that the female-skewing film is hoping to emulate the pace and tempo of Disney’s Christmas tentpole Mufasa: The Lion King, which debuted to $35m on its way to sprinting past $700m globally. The box office report. |
'The Residence': Uzo Aduba, Randall Park on Their Detective Dynamic ►"Every character has their secrets." THR's Lexy Perez spoke to The Residence's Uzo Aduba and Randall Park about the star-packed Netflix series. The detective duo discuss how Cordelia Cupp and her iconic look are reminiscent to past storytelling of detectives, and where they could see their characters solving a mystery next (should the show get another season). The interview.
—"Anybody out in the woods doesn't expect to walk into a village of cannibal murderers." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Joel McHale about making his debut in Showtime's Yellowjackets. The actor discusses his character stumbling upon the teenage survivors in the wilderness at the wrong moment. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"It was a bit like taking a leap of faith, and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m just going to go for it." THR's Brian Davids spoke to Alicia Vikander about her new film, Fleur Fortune's sci-fi thriller The Assessment. Vikander also looks back on the tenth anniversary of Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, as well as her upcoming reunions with Olivier Assayas and Jude Law in The Wizard of the Kremlin. The interview.
—"We have a crazy relationship with cops in general, at this point in the world." THR's Scott Roxborough spoke to Amanda Seyfried and showrunner Nikki Toscano about their new Peacock series, Long Bright River. The duo discuss Seyfried’s transformation for the role, including learning to play the English horn “in like 10 seconds” and on the courage to tell dark story in dark times. The interview. |
Theater Review: 'Othello' ►"The director has his actors barrel through scenes, as if pacing alone can generate heat." THR's David Rooney reviews Kenny Leon's Othello. Leon directs the first production of Shakespeare’s tragedy to play Broadway in more than 40 years, featuring Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal, Molly Osborne, Andrew Burnap and Kimber Elayne Sprawl. The review.
—"Strong build-up, disappointing follow-through." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Jess Varley's The Astronaut. Kate Mara and Laurence Fishburne play daughter and father in Varley's solo directorial debut about a woman experiencing strange sensations after returning from a NASA mission. The review.
In other news...
—Alan Cumming to host BAFTA Television Awards
—Making dollars out of scents: Inside the retail smell wars
—Mike Myers takes jab at Trump in ad for Canada’s Liberal Party
—Miami Film Fest: White Lotus star Jason Isaacs set for Precious Gem Award
—Blue Ant Media set to go public by acquiring Boat Rocker
—Trailer Park veterans launch new entertainment marketing firm Requiem
—Josh Wolf signs with Activist Artists Management
—Jake Paul reveals engagement to Olympic speed skater girlfriend Jutta Leerdam
—Jack Lilley, Little House on the Prairie stuntman and actor, dies at 91
—Jan Schwieterman, Good Burger actor, dies at 52
What else we're reading...
—With Art Basel Hong Kong set to open this week, Melanie Gerlis looks at how the event has become the art world’s enigma [FT]
—Despite some global hits, Sohee Kim and Lucas Shaw report that South Korea's TV industry is in crisis due to an ongoing unofficial China ban [Bloomberg]
—In a fascinating piece, Anna Nicolaou, Stephen Morris, Rafe Uddin and Alex Rogers look into how Jeff Bezos made peace with Trump [FT]
—Jacob Bogage reports that U.S. tax revenue could drop by 10 percent amid DOGE-led turmoil at the IRS [WaPo]
—In a guest column, Canadian woman Jasmine Mooney relays her horrifying two-week detention by ICE [Guardian]
Today...
...in 2005, America met Michael Scott (and Dwight Schrute). NBC’s The Office, an adaptation of the U.K. series created by Ricky Gervais, grew into a network staple for nine seasons. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Jessica Chastain (48), Lake Bell (46), Lara Flynn Boyle (55), Alyson Hannigan (51), Keisha Castle-Hughes (35), Kelly LeBrock (65), Tig Notaro (54), Diêm Camille (33), Jim Parsons (52), Finn Jones (37), Robert Carradine (71), Megyn Price (54), Peter Jacobson (60), Olivia Burnette (48), Christopher Briney (27), Amir Arison (47), Amanda Brugel (47), María Valverde (38), Jack Bannon (34), Kim Johnston Ulrich (70), Lauren Bowles (52), Philip Winchester (44), Eriko Hatsune (43), Michelle Harrison (50), Donna Pescow (71), Charlie Creed-Miles (53), Patrick Malahide (80), Nicholas Campbell (73), Luke Edwards (45), Brennan Elliott (50), Park Jeong-min (38), Gabriel Olds (53), Emraan Hashmi (46), Dominique Provost-Chalkley (35), Lisa Arrindell (56), Tyler Lepley (38), Neil Grayston (44), Haruka Ayase (40), Omari Douglas (31), Sam Daly (41) |
| | George Foreman, legendary boxing champion, Olympic gold medalist and spokesperson for the highly successful George Foreman Grill, died Friday. He was 76. The obituary. |
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