| | | | | | What's news: Paul Schrader has been accused of sexually harassing his former assistant. Jesse Armstrong's HBO movie has a title and a premiere date. Apple will host an FYC House inside the iconic Hollywood Athletic Club. Kelly Day has been named head of Amazon Prime Video’s international originals teams. — Abid Rahman
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'White Lotus' S3 Ends in Explosive Finale ►"It’s a classic Greek tragedy." For THR, Josh Wigler talks to The White Lotus creator Mike White about the fates he handed down for the ensemble cast of the Emmy-winning vacation saga. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"We were all crying backstage." As the season three finale of The White Lotus arrived on Sunday night, 10 members of the show’s cast gathered at the Four Seasons Westlake Village hotel to watch the episode together and give their immediate thoughts. THR's Kirsten Chuba spoke to the cast who broke down the action-packed finale. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"I've been reluctantly dubbed 'the mayor.'" THR's Mikey O'Connell spoke to White Lotus star Jon Gries on how things panned out for Greg in the season three finale. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"You’re immersed when you enter The White Lotus, and we want music to be a part of that too." THR's Nicole Fell spoke to Gabe Hilfer, the music supervisor on season three of The White Lotus. Hilfer discussed playing in Mike White's sandbox, and why they didn't use any of chart-topping megastar Lisa's songs in the show: "I feel like you're crossing a boundary because they're no longer their fictional character." The interview. |
How the Trump Crash Impacts Hollywood ►"Tariffs are the cliffhanger Hollywood feared." Wide-ranging tariffs are set to go into effect, global stock markets are plunging, and many economists are growing concerned about a serious recession. The world is going through a period of economic uncertainty the likes of which hasn’t been seen for decades. And Hollywood is not going to be spared. THR's Alex Weprin writes that from advertising woes and licensing declines to movie theater uncertainty and a shake-up in streaming, there are more than a few ways the uncertain moment could reshape the business. The analysis.
—"Shooting the economy in the dick." John Oliver mocked — who else? — Donald Trump in the opening segment of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, specially criticizing his tariffs plan. Oliver showed a video clip of Trump saying, “This will be indeed the golden age of America. It’s coming back.” Oliver’s response: “If you mean ‘golden age,’ the way we tend to describe the last decade before an old person dies, then yes, it feels like we are very much in the golden age of America right now. Thank you.” The recap.
—"No country is safe from my tariffs." Saturday Night Live's cold open didn’t hold back on roasting Trump‘s sweeping new tariff plan. James Austin Johnson’s portrayed Trump giving a speech on his tariff plan, which he suggested would "Make America Wealthy Again." Johnson’s Trump adds, “You know, you’re gonna check your stock portfolio in a couple of days and think, ‘I’m almost too wealthy with doing MAWA.’ But before that, we’re gonna do MAGDA, Make America Great Depression Again. But it’ll be better than great. It’ll be a fantastic, unbelievable depression, the likes of which you’ve never seen before." Mike Myers also returned to SNL to portray errant oligarch Elon Musk. The recap.
—Waiting for the madness to end. The tariff-driven market turmoil is delaying one of the entertainment world’s most closely-watched IPOs. The online ticketing giant StubHub has put its planned IPO on pause, just a few weeks after first filing to go public. The company is said to be waiting for the markets to quiet down and clarity to resume, at which point it would be ready to resume its IPO planning. The story.
—Uh-oh he's annoyed the gamers. The tariffs are coming for the video game industry too. Nintendo said in a statement Friday that it was delaying preorders in the U.S. for the hotly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 console, though it added that it is still on track for a June 5, 2025, release. The story.
—Extension. Donald Trump has signed another executive order to keep TikTok operating by giving the popular social video app owned by China’s ByteDance another 75 days to find a buyer. The TikTok parent had until April 5 to divest by finding a U.S. buyer. News of the TikTok deadline extension came on the same day China announced it will impose a 34 percent tariff on all goods imported from the U.S. starting on April 10 as part of escalating global tariff turmoil created by Trump. The story. |
Why Hollywood Feuds Aren't What They Used to Be ►"The “truth” isn’t in a headline — it’s in a thread, a blind item, a TikTok reaction video." Baldoni vs. Lively is the latest in a long, claw-scarred history of celebrity battles. In a guest column for THR, Remy Blumenfeld, a former reality show producer who knows a thing or two about conflict, recalls how the more vintage clashes benefited from a dash of class. The column.
—Suit filed. Paul Schrader, the screenwriter behind Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, American Gigolo and Affliction, has been accused of sexually harassing his former assistant and backing out of making settlement payments. In a lawsuit filed in New York on Thursday, the 26-year-old woman, identified as Jane Doe, claims Schrader sexually assaulted her during the Cannes Film Festival last year “by luring her into a hotel room and forcibly grabbing her and kissing her, despite her verbal protests.” Schrader was at Cannes for the premiere of his latest film, Oh, Canada . Schrader’s attorney denies the accusations, calling the legal filing a "desperate, opportunistic and frivolous lawsuit to enforce a settlement that was never signed by" the filmmaker. The story.
— "These are not new allegations or new accusers." Federal prosecutors have filed a revised indictment against Sean "Diddy" Combs bringing additional charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. With the new indictment, Combs faces the same three federal offenses he was originally charged with related to directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various businesses from at least 2004. The superseding indictment, which marks the third prosecutors have brought after they filed the case against Combs, brings another count of sex trafficking with respect to one of the accusers. The story. |
New 'Superman' Footage Divides Internet ►Up, up and “Aarrrrrrrrrrrrh!!“? Footage of DC Studios’ highly anticipated revival of Superman is dividing fans of the iconic DC Comics character after a five-minute clip from the upcoming film was released Thursday. The video depicted a suffering Man of Steel being assisted by his dog and a squadron of robots. THR's James Hibberd writes that the online reaction has been pretty strong and apparently comes down to two factors: Do you want a Superman who is more impervious and god-like, or one that’s more human and vulnerable? Do you want a Superman movie that takes itself quite seriously, or one that’s more comedic? The reaction.
—📅 Dated! 📅 The HBO movie from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong has a title and a premiere date — and, it appears, a very tight filming schedule. The movie — about four billionaire friends who gather during an international crisis — is called Mountainhead. HBO says it will debut on May 31, which also happens to be the final day of Emmy eligibility for the 2024-25 season. Production is set to wrap this week. That’s an extremely short turnaround for the film, which began filming less than a month ago in Park City, Utah. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 A narrative feature exploring Abraham Lincoln’s personal life and queer legacy has landed a theatrical release. Lavender Men is set to hit select theaters May 2 in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York City from Pride Flix. Lovell Holder helmed the film and co-wrote the script with Roger Q. Mason, who also stars in the movie that is based on Mason’s stage play of the same name. Pete Ploszek and Alex Esola co-star. The project focuses on theatrical stage manager Taffeta (Mason), who is feeling demoralized while working on a play about Lincoln and ends up in an elaborate daydream about the 16th president’s supposed gay love affair that has been fodder for speculation. The story.
—Call her agent. Ana de Armas is willing to put her hat in the ring for the Evelyn Hugo film adaptation. In a new interview, de Armas confirmed that she is aware of the fan interest in her playing the title character in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, the upcoming Netflix adaptation of author Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling 2017 novel. When asked if she’d be willing to take a break from action films to star in a role like Evelyn Hugo, the actress said, "I think one of the things I love about acting and my career is to be able to do everything. You have to try all the things you can. You can’t just always eat the same thing." The story.
—🏆 Congratulazioni! 🏆 Paolo Sorrentino‘s Parthenope, the director’s sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andre Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, are the frontrunners for this year’s David Di Donatello awards, Italy's version of the Oscars. Parthenope and The Great Ambition picked up 15 nominations each, including for best film and best director. The nominees. |
'Minecraft' Strikes Box Office Gold With $301M Global Start ►Wowzers! Warner Bros.' A Minecraft Movie, made with help from Legendary Pictures, struck gold with a record-shattering $157m opening domestically and $144m overseas for a global start of $301m. The film came in tens of millions ahead of expectations to score the top start ever for a video game adaptation, besting the $146.4m three-day launch of Universal's The Super Mario Bros. Movie over Easter weekend in 2023. (Opening on a Wednesday, Mario Bros. earned $204m through Easter Sunday.)
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Minecraft easily boasts the top start of 2025 to date and, just as noteworthy, is the biggest domestic launch since Deadpool & Wolverine in July 2024 ($211m). Saturday’s gross of $60m is the biggest in the history of Warners, not adjusted for inflation. Legendary put up 25 percent of the $150m production budget (that doesn’t include marketing costs).
The star-studded, high-wattage ensemble pic couldn’t have come at a better time. The 2025 box office has seen its fortunes fall off dramatically in recent weeks. Minecraft is just the shot of confidence Hollywood studios and cinema owners needed after pics including Disney’s Snow White bit the poisoned apple. The box office report. |
Emmys: Apple Sets FYC House at Hollywood Athletic Club ►Not messing around. Apple TV+ will host an FYC House — officially known as the “Think Apple TV+” Emmy FYC House — inside the iconic Hollywood Athletic Club. From April 24 through May 21, Emmy voters will be invited to a formidable lineup of screenings, panels and exhibitions. The streamer is poised to have its strongest Emmy season yet, with a lineup of contenders that includes the dramas Severance, Slow Horses, Your Friends & Neighbors and Bad Sisters, the comedies The Studio, Shrinking, Government Cheese and Bad Monkey, and the limited series Disclaimer, Presumed Innocent and Dope Thief. The story.
—"I know she’ll continue the amazing momentum we’ve seen in this area to date." It will be solely Kelly Day’s task to find Amazon Prime Video its Squid Game. Well, Day and whomever she ultimately chooses as her vp of international originals. Following last week’s departure of Jen Salke, Day has been named head of Prime Video’s international originals teams. The announcement was shared with staff on Friday morning via a Mike Hopkins email; Hopkins is the head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios. Day’s promotion is the first org-chart decision Hopkins has made since Salke’s ouster. The story.
—"A deeply impactful story and right now, it feels more relevant than ever." Warp Films, the Sheffield-based production company behind the hit Netflix series Adolescence and the new BBC revenge thriller Reunion said on Monday that it has acquired the option to develop the 1984 film Threads into a TV drama. Written by Barry Hines and directed by Mick Jackson, Threads starred Karen Meagher and Reece Dinsdale and, along with The Day After, the film was considered a classic of Cold War nuclear war dramas. The story.
—Posting big numbers. The second ever all-top seed men’s Final Four delivered two tight games — and two big TV audiences — on Saturday. Fast national ratings from Nielsen have the two games averaging about 15.3m viewers, the best mark for the men’s Final Four since 2017 (with the caveat that Nielsen didn’t include out of home viewing in its measurement until three years after that). That’s up 19 percent from a year ago (about 12.8m viewers) on TBS, TNT and TruTV, and 24 percent above CBS’ last time showing the Final Four in 2023. The ratings. |
'Yellowjackets' Stars on That Gut-Wrenching Episode ►"I felt a personal grief in saying goodbye." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to two actors involved in the Yellowjackets episode "How the Story Ends." penultimate episdoe of season three of the Showtime series. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"She's a piece of me forever and I don't quite know how I will process everything." Jackie also spoke to 1923 stars Julia Schlaepfer and Brandon Sklenar about the super-sized season two finale of the Yellowstone prequel series. Sklenar and Schlaepfer go inside the highs and lows of filming that epic finale. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"What makes her so unique and clever is that she’s unassuming." For THR, Ronda Racha Penrice spoke to Matlock star Skye P. Marshall about the latest episode of the HBO legal drama. Marshall, who plays Olympia Lawrence, discusses what comes next after that cliffhanger. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
In other news...
—Jared Leto leaves the digital world behind in Tron: Ares trailer
—FKA Twigs cancels Coachella performances over visa issues
—Ed Sheeran and Weezer join Coachella lineup
—Tribeca to open with world premiere of Billy Joel documentary
—Rahwa Ghebre-Ab named chief human resources officer at Lionsgate
—Robert Trebor, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys actor, dies at 71
—Dave Allen, bass player for influential postpunk band Gang of Four, dies at 69
What else we're reading...
—Jeanne Whalen and Christopher Otts report that Michigan's economy is, to put it bluntly, f***** because of Trump's insane tariffs [WSJ]
—Denitsa Tsekova, Isabelle Lee, and Vildana Hajric write that Trump’s tariff "Chart of Death" has Wall Street facing harsh reality [Bloomberg]
—Cecilia Vega reports that the Trump admin sent 238 migrants with no criminal records to a Salvadoran mega-prison [CBS News]
—In a lovely tribute, Rob Harvilla writes that Val Kilmer "was everyone’s Huckleberry" [Ringer]
—Josef Adalian writes that Jennifer Salke’s surprise exit won’t fix Amazon’s Prime Video problem [Vulture]
Today...
...in 1995, Columbia launched what would become a new franchise with the release of the R-rated cop actioner Bad Boys. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Francis Ford Coppola (86), Russell Crowe (61), Jackie Chan (71), Anna Konkle (38), Heather Burns (50), Clarke Peters (73), Sian Clifford (43), Jennifer Lynch (57), Sandy Powell (65), Grace Hightower (70), Ted Kotcheff (94), Eric Wareheim (49), Kevin Alejandro (49), Ed Speleers (37), Paul Raci (77), Ismael Cruz Cordova (38), Patricia Belcher (71), Jason Ralph (39), Nico Santos (46), Pete Lee-Wilson (65), Matt Servitto (60), Annapurna Sriram (36), Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (54), Elaine Miles (65), Sergio Peris-Mencheta (50), Ellie Harvie (60), Jimmy Akingbola (47), Hallea Jones (28), Conner Rayburn (26), Cec Verrell (67) |
| Jay North, who starred as the young mischief-maker with the characteristic blond cowlick on the 1959-63 CBS comedy Dennis the Menace, has died. He was 73. The obituary. |
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