| | | | | | What's news: Napster has been sold for $200m. Netflix's Adolescence has made U.K. TV history. Lizzo will play Rosetta Tharpe in a biopic. Saw XI has been cut from Lionsgate's release calendar, and Street Fighter has been nixed from Sony's. Denzel Washington's Othello might be heading to the big screen. — Abid Rahman
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'No Other Land' Filmmaker Beaten By Settlers, Detained By Israel ►"He has injuries in his head and stomach." Hamdan Ballal, one of the co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land was injured and detained after a conflict that took place on the West Bank on Monday, according to his fellow filmmaker, Israeli director Yuval Abraham, and the activist group Center for Jewish Nonviolence. Abraham claimed on X that a group of settlers had beaten Palestinian filmmaker Ballal, who was later detained by members of the Israeli military. The alleged violence took place in the village of Susiya, which is Ballal's hometown. On Tuesday morning, Abraham posted an update to say that Ballal had been freed. The story.
—Idiocracy. In an egregious display of disregard for national security from the second Trump administration, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz unknowingly added the phone number for the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine to a group text in which leaders discussed plans for an airstrike in the Middle East. In an article published on the outlet’s website on Monday, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg revealed shocking details of what happened in the group chat on the messaging app Signal. The story.
—Trial opens. The first sexual assault trial against French actor Gérard Depardieu began in Paris on Monday, with Depardieu in attendance. Two women accuse the French acting legend, famous for his roles in Cyrano de Bergerac, Green Card and The Last Metro, of assault that is alleged to have taken place in 2021 on the set of French feature The Green Shutters. The two female crew members — a set decorator and an assistant director — allege Depardieu sexually assaulted them during the filming of Jean Becker’s period drama. Depardieu denies the charges. The story.
—Settlement. Live Nation has settled a lawsuit from investors who claimed that they were misled about the scope of the company’s legal vulnerability tied to allegedly anticompetitive business operations that led to the Justice Department filing an antitrust lawsuit that seeks to break up the Ticketmaster parent. Lawyers for both sides on Friday informed the court of a $20m deal to settle the proposed class action. The deal represents a “fair, reasonable and adequate” resolution to the case, the filing stated. The story.
—Cha-ching. Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell received nine-figure cash payments in connection Silver Lake’s take-private of the company, though both men are rolling over most of their equity into the private venture. Per an SEC filing Monday in connection with the deal, Emanuel and a trust controlled by Emanuel received a payment of $174m in connection with the deal. Emanuel will also roll over more than $290m in equity into the new private company, $26m more than he originally agreed to roll over. Whitesell, meanwhile, received a $100m cash payment, and is rolling over nearly $266m in equity, $50m more than he originally agreed to roll over a year ago. The story. |
OpenAI Is Ready for Hollywood to Accept Its Vision ►"For some of these bigger production companies, the ones who are forward looking, they see where things are going." As artificial intelligence giant OpenAI engages major Hollywood studios and throws its own short film festival (with Universal, Disney and talent agency execs in attendance), THR's Winston Cho reports that its executives envision a future unconstrained by legal or labor guardrails. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Napster, the brand that ushered in an era of rampant music piracy before later being reborn as a subscription music streaming platform, has been sold for $207m. Tech company Infinite Reality announced Tuesday morning that it bought Napster, hoping to further transform the company from merely a streaming service into a more social-first music platform where fans can more directly engage with music and artists. The story.
—Big hire. As it looks to reshape itself for a post-TV future, CNN has rehired a familiar name in a new C-suite role. Amanda Wills, who departed the cable news brand in 2022 for The Wall Street Journal after a six-year run, has rejoined CNN as chief content officer. The executive will work with the product team as it plans out its content strategy across TV, digital and streaming platforms and will report to Virginia Moseley, the executive editor of editorial. Wills’ start date will be April 14. The story.
—New gig. Nathaniel Brown, who ran PR for Discovery during and following its merger with Warner Bros., has found a new role at TikTok. The executive has joined the social media platform with the title of global head of corporate communications, per an internal memo. Brown, who will be based in New York, starts today in the role, reporting to Zenia Mucha, chief communications officer. The story. |
Why the 'Wolf Hall' Sequel Series Almost Didn't Happen ►"We were so far adrift on the money and we had cut and cut and cut." When Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, the period piece starring Mark Rylance as 16th-century royal fixer Thomas Cromwell, premiered in the U.K. last year, it enjoyed a rapturous reception, with critics lauding it as “so beautifully made it’s breathtaking” and “a complete triumph.” THR's Katie Kilkenny writes that to hear director Peter Kosminsky tell it, the sequel to 2015’s Wolf Hall nearly didn’t get made at all. The story.
—Decisions are hard. The Bachelor host Jesse Palmer really wanted viewers to know that there has never been a Bachelor more torn than Grant Ellis, teasing a “historic” and “emotional” conclusion. Ellis and his two finalists — Litia Garr and Juliana Pasquarosa — began their final few days in Punta Cana, preparing for family introductions. The 31-year-old star of season 29 spent much of Monday's episode wavering, but eventually found his forever. The ABC franchise, meanwhile, revealed a new twist up ahead amid behind-the-scenes turnover. The recap.
—🎭 Daddy dearest 🎭 Amazon Prime Video is adding to the cast of its Legally Blonde prequel Elle. Tom Everett Scott has joined the series, which will follow Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree) through her high school years. Scott will play Wyatt, Elle’s father, opposite June Diane Raphael as Elle’s mom, Eva. The streamer ordered Elle to series in May 2024, with creator Laura Kittrell set as co-showrunner alongside Caroline Dries. Reese Witherspoon, who starred as Elle in the two Legally Blonde movies, and Lauren Neustadter are executive producing via Hello Sunshine company, along with the films’ producer, Marc Platt. The story.
—🎭 Linda's in 🎭 Peacock and A24’s Friday the 13th prequel series has found its lead actress. Linda Cardellini will star in Crystal Lake, a drama set before the events that kicked off the slasher franchise. She’ll play Pamela Voorhees, the mother of the unkillable killer Jason Voorhees (and the person responsible for the murders in the original 1980 film). Plot details are being kept quiet for now. Crystal Lake has been in the works for some time. Peacock ordered the series in 2022, with Bryan Fuller initially attached as writer and showrunner. Fuller eventually left the project, confirming his exit in May 2024 and saying that A24 “decided to go a different way with the material.” The story.
—Together again. Hulu is getting back into business with The Dropout creator Liz Meriwether. The streamer has ordered a drama series from Meriwether that’s loosely based on the 1987 movie Black Widow. Emmy Rossum is also an executive producer and is in talks to play one of the lead roles. The untitled show will follow an FBI agent who uses secrets from a female serial killer’s past to try and find her. Rossum would play the FBI agent should her acting deal go through. The story.
—Monster hit. Netflix's one-shot show Adolescence has made history by becoming the first streaming program to top the U.K.'s weekly TV ratings. Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham's drama beat out long-standing broadcaster favorites like the BBC’s The Apprentice and Death in Paradise after its first episode was watched by 6.45m people in the first week of release, according to ratings body Barb. It’s the biggest audience for any streaming TV show in the U.K. in a single week, leapfrogging Fool Me Once, also on Netflix, which accrued 6.3m in its first week. The story. |
Inside Apple's Deal for Bruckheimer, Kosinski's UFO Thriller ►💰 Bonanza! 💰 It may be a Hollywood era of uncertainty and contraction, but in some dealmaking situations, it is anything but. In a pickup worth dozens of millions of dollars, Apple Studios has closed a deal on the untitled hot package centered on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, formerly known as Unidentified Flying Objects. Joseph Kosinski is attached to direct and produce, with Zach Baylin on board to write the script. Veteran producer Jerry Bruckheimer is on board to produce as well. THR's Borys Kit goes inside one of the richest Hollywood deals in quite some time, one that underscores a shift in the event movie landscape and shows that behind-the-scenes talent, in this case a new generation combined with a long-standing veteran, can command top market prices. The story.
—🎭 In demand 🎭 Nicholas Hoult has signed on to star in the untitled bank heist thriller that David Leitch is directing for Amazon MGM Studios and Imagine Entertainment. Leitch will also produce with wife and producing partner Kelly McCormick via their 87North banner, alongside Imagine’s Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody and Allan Mandelbaum. Amazon, Imagine and 87North are keeping plot details under wraps, but the script is written by Mark Bianculli, who was a writer and consulting producer on Amazon’s Nazi hunting show Hunters. The story.
—🎭 Godmother found 🎭 Lizzo is attached to star in Rosetta, a biopic movie about Rosetta Tharpe. The film is currently in development at Amazon MGM Studios with a script from Natalie Chaidez and Kwynn Perry. A director is not yet attached. Tharpe was a gospel singer who gained prominence in the 1930s and ’40s and has been dubbed the “Godmother of rock and roll.” Producers on the project include Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker for Significant Productions, alongside Lizzo and Kevin Beisler. The story.
—🎭 All set 🎭 Jack Reynor is set to star in The Mummy, Lee Cronin’s new take on the mummified undead. New Line Cinema is behind the feature that has horror powerhouses Atomic Monster and Blumhouse producing. Doppelgängers, the banner run by Cronin, who previously made horror hit Evil Dead Rise for New Line, is also producing. Production begins next week in Ireland. The Mummy is set for an April 17, 2026, release. Plot details are scant, but it is understood that Reynor is playing a husband and father who runs afoul of supernaturally sinister forces. The story. |
How 'Snow White' Landed in Potential Box Office Bomb Territory ►Big yikes. The mood at Disney is likely grim right now as Snow White opened behind expectations to $42.2m domestically. Globally, the live-action remake of the iconic 1937 film was expected to clear $100m, but instead came in at $86.1m. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Snow White's opening numbers are near-disastrous for Disney, considering its hefty production budget of $270m before another $100m or so in marketing costs. But is there still a chance for a fairy tale ending? The analysis.
—📅 Hmmmm... 📅 Saw XI has been officially cut from Lionsgate‘s release calendar — but that doesn’t mean the franchise is dead yet. The planned sequel in the horror franchise, which had been slated to hit theaters on Sept. 26, has been removed from that date. This follows Patrick Melton, a writer on the movie, telling THR in a story published last week that there has been “inter-squabbling” between producers and Lionsgate. In a twinned move, The Strangers: Chapter 2 is now set for wide theatrical release on Sept. 26. Madelaine Petsch reprises her role in the sequel after starring in The Strangers: Chapter 1, which hit theaters last May and collected $48m globally. The story.
—📅 Oh no! 📅 The planned Street Fighter movie is sliding into limbo, while Phoebe Dynevor's shark thriller is set to make a splash a bit later than planned. Sony Pictures has removed Legendary’s Street Fighter film off of its theatrical release calendar after having previously scheduled it for March 20, 2026. Based on the popular video game franchise, the project is co-developed and produced with Capcom and had not yet announced its cast. Additionally, Tommy Wirkola's shark feature that stars Dynevor is now titled Shiver after having previously gone by Beneath the Storm. The Sony film is now set to hit theaters July 3, 2026, for a splashy summer release after having initially been set for Aug. 1, 2025. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Amazon MGM Studios has set a May 15, 2026, release for its feature adaptation of It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover's psychological thriller novel Verity, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, Ismael Cruz Cordóva and Brady Wagner. The release date is seen as providing counter-programming on a schedule for that month that includes such male-skewing tentpole fare as The Mandalorian & Grogu and Avengers: Doomsday. The Eyes of Tammy Faye filmmaker Michael Showalter is directing the movie. Nick Antosca wrote the script following previous work by writers Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, and the team of Will Honley and April Maguire. The story.
—Shut up and take my money! Othello may have just hit Broadway, but the future of seeing it on the silver screen — with Denzel Washington — looks promising, too. The highly anticipated show starring Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal celebrated its official opening on Sunday. Last year, Washington told Australia’s Today about a number of projects he had coming up. Broadway's Othello was one of them, but so was the film version. The play’s director, Kenny Leon, told THR on the red carpet at the Othello opening that there have “absolutely” already been talks about adapting the play into a film. The story. |
'The Office' Turns 20: An Oral History ►"I was a huge fan of the British Office. I thought it was a terrible idea to adapt it, as did everyone." On March 24, 2005, NBC aired the first episode of The Office, an American remake of the universally acclaimed, Golden Globe-winning BBC comedy of the same name. The premiere, a mockumentary that introduced the staff of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company’s branch in Scranton, Pennsylvania, pulled in a decent-sized audience that night. It drew 11.2m viewers following an episode of The Apprentice — but even with that start, expectations for the show were not high. THR's Rick Porter spoke to Greg Daniels, Mindy Kaling, Paul Lieberstein and Michael Schur, the writers from season one, about the early days of NBC's beloved comedy. The oral history. |
Film Review: 'Warfare' ►"Unflinching realism that leaves you breathless." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland's Warfare. Shaped from Mendoza's memories of Navy SEALs on a 2006 mission in Iraq, the co-directors plunge the audience into the hell of combat in a visceral real-time nerve-shredder. Starring D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Taylor John Smith, Michael Gandolfini, Adain Bradley, Noah Centineo, Evan Holtzman, Henrique Zaga, Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton. The review.
In other news...
—Andor official S2 trailer released by Disney+
—Logan star Dafne Keen signs with UTA
What else we're reading...
—But her emails! Read the full genuinely jaw-dropping Jeffrey Goldberg report about the Trump admin scheming a military op on Signal and accidentally adding a journalist into the chat [Atlantic]
—A little more on this security breach story, here's Goldberg on CNN talking about the whole omnishambles. Genuinely remarkable [CNN]
—Alex Marshall reports that Netflix's incredible drama Adolescence has ignited debate in the U.K. about smartphone use, with calls for politicians to act [NYT]
—With tickets to see Othello hitting almost $1k, Jesse Hassenger looks at how Broadway tickets got so expensive [Guardian]
—Aine Quinn has the true WWII story behind the classic film The Great Escape [BBC]
—Max Tani reports YouTube is preparing to test a technical change that could upend the way YouTubers, podcasters, publishers, and other creators make money [Semafor]
Today...
...in 1983, Francis Ford Coppola and Warner Bros. brought The Outsiders adaptation to theaters, featuring a cast that included rising stars Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and Diane Lane. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Elton John (78), Mikey Madison (26), Jenny Slate (43), Lee Pace (46), Sarah Jessica Parker (60), Edgar Ramírez (48), Richard O'Brien (83), Amy Pascal (67), Lark Voorhies (51), Nate Bargatze (46), Alex Moffat (43), Chris Redd (40), Mary Gross (72), Domenick Lombardozzi (49), Kiowa Gordon (35), Elizabeth Lail (33), Kari Matchett (55), Katharine McPhee (41), Bonnie Bedelia (77), Brenda Strong (65), Sean Faris (43), Marcia Cross (63), Aly Michalka (36), Maribeth Monroe (47), Laz Alonso (51), Matthew Beard (36), Jessica Reynolds (27), Kim Cloutier (38), Paul Michael Glaser (82), LisaGay Hamilton (61), Seychelle Gabriel (34), Deirdre O'Kane (57), John Stockwell (64), Erik Knudsen (37), Justin Prentice (31), Peter O'Brien (65), Rhianne Barreto (27), Ryan O'Nan (43), David Lengel (43), Robert O'Reilly (75) |
| Theo Kingma, who served as president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from 2013-15, died unexpectedly Friday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 58. The obituary. |
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