| | | | | | What's news: Fortnite will feature the late James Earl Jones' AI-recreated voice. Smokey Robinson is being investigated for sexual assault. Michael J. Fox will star in S3 of Shrinking. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey will be the first film shot entirely on new Imax film cameras. David Leitch is set to direct Netflix's Gears of War movie. — Abid Rahman
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Charter to Buy Cox In $34.5B Merger ►🤝 Mega deal. 🤝 In one of the biggest telecom acquisitions in years, the cable giants Charter Communications and Cox Communications have agreed to merge in a $34.5b deal. Charter is the second-largest cable company in the U.S. after Comcast, while Cox is also among the largest with six million subscribers. Combining the two companies would create a cable behemoth, with enormous scale in both broadband internet connectivity and video. Charter’s footprint includes New York City and Los Angeles, while Cox is a major player in cities like Boston, Phoenix and New Orleans. The story.
—Huge W for WB. When it filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, Village Roadshow pointed to the souring of its longtime partnership with Warner Bros. for its financial woes. At the heart of the falling out that was years in the making: A legal battle over the studio’s decision to release Matrix Resurrections simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters, eating away at box office returns. That lawsuit went dark shortly after it was filed, with a judge moving it to arbitration. A year later, an arbitrator found in favor of WBD and awarded the studio roughly $125m, THR has learned of the previously unreported figure. The story.
—Confirmed. The Department of Justice is investigating concert promoters Live Nation and AEG in a criminal probe regarding their responses to refunds for pandemic-era concert cancellations, Live Nation confirmed Thursday in a statement, denying any wrongdoing. The news of the probe comes as Live Nation continues to face the DOJ’s monopoly suit. The Justice Department called for a breakup of Live Nation’s eponymous concert promotion arm and the ticketing giant Ticketmaster last year, claiming the company has leveraged its power in concerts and ticketing to stifle competition. Live Nation has consistently denied the claims. The story.
—Social media outrage in 3..2..1... James Earl Jones passed away last year, but it appears that his iconic voice will live on. In a notable move, Disney and Epic Games say that players of its flagship game Fortnite will be able to recruit and speak to Darth Vader in the game, starting today. The Vader character will use the voice of Jones, recreated with the help of generative AI. The companies noted in a blog post that they are doing so in “close consultation” with the late actor’s family. Epic says that the dialogue in Darth Vader’s responses to users in the game will be created by Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model, and the audio itself is being generated by ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model. The story. |
Smokey Robinson Under Investigation After Sexual Assault Claims ►"Actively investigating criminal allegations." Smokey Robinson is under a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after being accused of sexual assault. In response to the investigation, Robinson’s attorney, Christopher Frost, wrote in a statement, “We are aware that a police report has now been filed by the Plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit. It is clear to us what is happening here. Plaintiffs filed a police report only after they filed a $50m lawsuit. This means only that the police are now required to investigate.” The investigation comes more than a week after the famed Motown legend was sued by four women who worked for him as housekeepers for sexual assault and rape. The story.
—"Counsel is advised that future misuse of the Court’s docket may be met with sanctions." A federal judge has warned Justin Baldoni's lawyers against legal maneuvering that he said may be intended to “promote scandal arising out of unproven potentially libelous statements.” U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman on Thursday struck from the court’s docket a letter from Bryan Freedman, representing Baldoni, accusing Blake Lively's legal team of trying to extort Taylor Swift. Freedman claimed that the actress’ lawyer reached out to an attorney at the law firm Venable, which represents the singer, and demanded that Swift issue a public statement in support of the actress under the threat of releasing personal text messages in Lively’s possession if the request was refused. The story.
—The latest. Sean “Diddy” Combs overdosed on painkillers the night he attended a Playboy Mansion party in 2012 as he battled addiction issues, which the disgraced mogul and his former long-term girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, struggled with throughout their decade-long on-and-off relationship, Ventura testified Thursday at his federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial. The incident occurred around four years into their tumultuous relationship, which Ventura detailed as part of testimony she gave in a Lower Manhattan federal court as the defense cross-examined her. The story.
—Arrested. Chris Brown has been arrested over a 2023 incident in England where the controversial singer allegedly beat a man over the head with a tequila bottle. The scandal-plagued Brown had previously been sued over the alleged incident, as Page Six reported, with music producer Amadou Diaw claiming in an October 2023 lawsuit that Brown “inflicted severe and lasting injuries” on him in February of that year and that Diaw was hospitalized with “lacerations on his head and torn ligaments in his leg.” Brown’s arrest comes as the singer’s upcoming Breezy Bowl XX Tour is slated to begin in the Netherlands on June 8. He’s also supposed to play several dates in the U.K. in June and July, and he’s got U.S. dates scheduled from end of July through October. The story. |
Do Standing Ovations Signal the Decline of Cinema? ►Read THR's Cannes Film Festival day 4 digital daily here.
—"More often, these roars of approval are simply a bizarre admixture of manners and madness." In recent years, Cannes’ increasingly standardized custom of drawn-out standing ovations — subject of sneers as well as sympathy — has received much attention: explained as sociology, critiqued as pathology. But as the trend shows no sign of abatement at the 78th festival, it’s worth considering the signal behind all the noise, writes THR's Gary Baum. The unrelenting, excessive applause isn’t just joyous. Underneath, it’s desperate, and a revealing indicator of the decline of what’s ostensibly being celebrated. The story.
—The most political festival since ’68? As Cannes' staff tries to follow "political neutrality" guidelines, THR's Scott Roxborough writes that Robert De Niro’s passionate opening-night excoriation of Trump as "America’s Philistine president" set a combative tone not seen in decades. The story.
—Unusually high number of Emmy hopefuls. Given that (a) the Cannes Film Festival always takes place in mid-May, (b) Primetime Emmy nominations voting always begins in mid-June, and (c) Cannes draws a large cross-section of the entertainment industry and press, it has always made sense for Emmy hopefuls to show up on the Croisette. But arguably, never have more made the pilgrimage than this year. THR's executive editor for awards Scott Feinberg writes that these actors have come — or will be coming — for a wide variety of reasons. The analysis. |
Hulu's 'Buffy' Update Casts Ryan Kiera Armstrong as New Slayer ►"In every generation, there is a chosen one." Hulu's Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot has found its "chosen one" in Ryan Kiera Armstrong. The Star Wars: Skeleton Crew actress has been cast in a lead role in the pilot, which will see Sarah Michelle Gellar reprise her role as Buffy Summers. Gellar, who’s also an executive producer, shared a video of her breaking the news to Armstrong on Instagram Thursday. Hulu ordered the pilot — which it’s referring to as the “Untitled Buffyverse Pilot” — in February. The show comes from 20th Television and Searchlight TV, with sisters Nora and Lilla Zuckerman writing and Oscar winner Chloé Zhao attached to direct and exec produce. The story.
—🎭 Good news, bad news. 🎭 Power Book III: Raising Kanan season four just came to a close, but the previously announced season five is around the corner. To that end, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse star Shameik Moore has been cast as Branford “Breeze” Frady. The fans have been waiting on that one. The bad: Raising Kanan season five will be its last. Boo! The story.
—🎭 "Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?" 🎭 Michael J. Fox will make his first acting appearance in several years with a role in season three of Shrinking. The five-time Emmy winner will guest star in the Apple TV+ comedy; details of his role are being kept under wraps. Season three of Shrinking is currently in production. Fox’s last on-camera acting role was in The Good Fight in 2020, reprising his Emmy-nominated role as attorney Louis Canning. The actor has been living with Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years and has helped raise more than $2b for research through his eponymous foundation. In Shrinking , Harrison Ford’s character, Paul Rhoades, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s during season one. The story.
—📅 Dated, finally! 📅 After what seems like an excruciatingly long wait for Trekkies, Paramount+ has finally set a premiere date for season three of the Star Trek series Strange New Worlds. The show, an ensemble led by Anson Mount as Captain Pike, will debut with two episodes on July 17, on the streaming platform. Following the premiere, new episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays, with the season finale on Sept. 11. Paramount+ previously announced that the series has also been renewed for a fourth season, which is currently in production in Toronto. The story.
—Tech paranoia FTW. Netflix’s Black Mirror scored its highest weekly viewing total ever, taking over the top spot on Nielsen’s streaming charts. The Last of Us also rejoined the rankings following its season two premiere. Black Mirror snagged about 1.58b minutes of viewing time for the week of April 14-20, narrowly beating a week in June 2023 (1.55b) for its best weekly showing so far in Nielsen’s streaming charts. It moved up from second place a week earlier. Netflix also had the biggest debut of the week with its western drama Ransom Canyon, which premiered to 1.12b viewing minutes. The Last of Us delivered 805m minutes on Max for the week following its April 13 season premiere (not including any linear viewing on HBO), in line with the 837m minutes for the week after its series debut in January 2023. The streaming rankings. |
Mel Gibson's 'Resurrection of the Christ' Lands at Lionsgate ►Second coming. Lionsgate will be the home for Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection of the Christ, the follow-up to his 2004 film The Passion of the Christ. The studio is teaming up with Gibson and his Icon Productions banner partner Bruce Davey on the production and will distribute the completed movie worldwide. Passion, which starred Jim Caviezel as Christ and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalen, was produced and self-financed by Gibson and his production company for a reported $30m. The gamble on himself paid off when the film made more than $610m globally. It was, until last year, the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time domestically, and the highest-grossing indie of all time. Resurrection has been in the works for close to a decade, and Gibson has stated in interviews that the aim is to have Caviezel reprise his role. Production will likely begin in late summer in European locations. The story.
—Changing the game. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey will shoot entirely on Imax film cameras, a first for a commercial feature. Nolan is a fan of the big-screen format, which he’s used on Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy, Tenet and Oppenheimer. But shooting an entire feature film on the famously big, loud and unwieldy Imax film cameras (unlike the lighter, quieter digital Imax cameras, used in recent films such as Thunderbolts* and the upcoming Superman) was unworkable. Until now. In Cannes, Imax CEO Rich Gelfond revealed that the company has created 30 percent quieter and substantially lighter cameras and that Nolan will get first dibs. The story.
—Suiting up. THR's Borys Kit has the big scoop on David Leitch entering negotiations to helm Gears of War, Netflix’s big-budget adaptation of one of the biggest video game franchises on the Xbox platform. Jon Spaihts, who is working with Denis Villeneuve on adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune books for Legendary, is writing the script for the feature for which Netflix has partnered with The Coalition Studio, the Canadian game developer behind the franchise. Leitch and his wife and producing partner, Kelly McCormick, will produce the feature via their 87North banner along with The Coalition. The story.
—🎭 Comedy all-stars. 🎭 Borys also has the scoop on Will Forte, Colin Jost and Kumail Nanjiani joining the cast of Nate Bargatze acting debut The Breadwinner, a comedy feature that Eric Appel is directing for TriStar Pictures. Zach Cherry, Kate Berlant and Martin Herlihy have also boarded the feature, which begins production next week in Atlanta. The story sees the life of Bargatze’s character turned upside down when his supermom wife lands a deal on Shark Tank. The lifelong breadwinner of the family becomes a stay-at-home dad, and quickly realizes he’s in way over his head. The story.
—🎭 Don’t call her Mary Poppins. 🎭 Maika Monroe has been cast as a killer governess in Victorian Psycho, a psychological horror thriller that Zachary Wigon will direct for production and financing outfit Anton. Monroe joins Thomasin McKenzie in the production that previously had Margaret Qualley in the role of the governess. The project adapts the best-selling book by Virginia Feito, who also wrote the script. Set in 1858, the story centers on a governess named Winifred Notty, hiding her psychopathic tendencies while arriving to work at a remote gothic manor. The story.
—🎭 "Adapting this particular work represents a devious challenge — anyone who’s read the novel will understand why." 🎭 Tilda Swinton is set to star in an adaptation of Otessa Moshfegh's cult novel Death in Her Hands for David Lowery. The auteur will write and direct the film for See-Saw Films and a team of producers that includes Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Jeanie Igoe with executive producers Simon Gillis and Ann Phillips. Published by Penguin Press on June 23, 2020, Death in Her Hands is described per today’s release as “an anarchic whodunnit, an otherworldly psychological thriller and a striking portrait of a woman striving to take control of her own story.” Swinton will portray Vesta Gul, a recently widowed woman who comes across a chilling handwritten note while walking in the woods near her home. The story.
—🎭 Together again. 🎭 Welsh actor Luke Evans and Noomi Rapace are reteaming for the action thriller Traction, from writer and director Lorraine Darrow. Evans and Rapace earlier starred in the 2019 film Angel of Mine. The character-driven Traction will see Rapace play Kate, a former U.S. soldier leading a humanitarian mission in war-torn Chechnya. The assignment takes a perilous turn and Kate is forced to take on a cynical American war photographer, played by Evans, and a schoolteacher and her injured student as the group must evade both Russian forces and guerrilla fighters. The story. |
Josh Holloway Is Finally Coming Back ►"I had a hard seven years." Josh Holloway, the charismatic actor best known for his turns in Lost and Colony, talks to THR's James Hibberd about reuniting with J.J. Abrams to star in HBO Max's retro action comedy Duster, his frustrating professional dry spell, trying to stay thin for '70s clothes and being kinda-sorta down for a Lost reboot. The interview.
—"Where is June Osborne?! should be the name of the episode." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to The Handmaid's Tale stars Ann Dowd, Elisabeth Moss, Samira Wiley and Madeline Brewer about the season 6 episode, "Exodus." The actors, along with co-showruner Yahlin Chang, production designer Elisabeth Williams and costume designer Leslie Kavanagh, go inside the Red Center for that revelatory scene six seasons in the making. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"Unless you saw them, I don't think we can say anyone is necessarily safe." Jackie also spoke to Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis about the season 21 finale of the long-running ABC medical drama. Marinis breaks down the episode and also talks casting challenges amid industry-wide budget cuts, and shares insight into how she and star Ellen Pompeo discuss her onscreen role. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
Film Review: 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' ►"Come back, The Idol, all is forgiven." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Trey Edward Shults' Hurry Up Tomorrow. Abel Tesfaye, Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan star in this film about a tormented pop star, which doubles as a feature-length promotion for The Weeknd's new album. The review.
—"Imperfect, but hard to shake." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Oliver Laxe's Cannes competition entry, Sirat. In the French-born Spanish director's desert-set fourth feature, a father and son join a group of itinerant ravers in the deserts of Morocco. The review.
—"Accomplished and engaging." Lovia reviews Shih-Ching Tsou's Cannes Critics' Week selection, Left-Handed Girl. In her solo directorial debut, co-written with Sean Baker, Tsou follows three generations of women building a life in Taipei. The review.
—"A haunting story of boyhood as nightmare." Lovia reviews Charlie Polinger's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection, The Plague. Polinger's directorial debut observes a young boy trying to fit in at a summer water polo camp. Starring Joel Edgerton, Everett Blunck, Kayo Martin and Kenny Rasmussen. The review.
—"A solid sophomore outing." Lovia reviews Danny and Michael Philippou's Bring Her Back. In their second feature, the Australian directing duo behind Talk to Me explore how grief drives people to behave in ways bordering on the unimaginable. The review.
—"A gripping game of good cop vs. bad cop." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Dominik Moll's Cannes competition entry, Dossier 137. This sharp French procedural drama stars Léa Drucker (Last Summer) as an internal affairs officer searching for the culprit after a protester is gravely wounded in Paris. The review.
—"The Perfectionist." Jordan reviews Stéphane Demoustier's Cannes Un Certain Regard selection, The Great Arch. Claes Bang stars as Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen in this drama based on the tragic true story of the man who designed the massive modern Grande Arche of La Défense that sits just outside Paris. Also starring Sidse Babett Knudsen, Xavier Dolan, Swann Arlaud and Michel Fau. 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 Diego Luna. One of the faces of New Mexican Cinema reflects on the childhood tragedy that set him on the path to acting, navigating a post-Y Tu Mamá También career between Mexico and Hollywood, and how, despite possessing an accent that he thought would be disqualifying, he wound up a part of the Star Wars universe on screens big and small as the now-iconic character of Cassian Andor. Listen here.
—It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode, Seth spoke to filmmakers Sean Baker and Darren Dean. The Oscar-winning Anora director and screenwriter Dean share their memories of creating Baker's first festival film, the 2008 indie Prince of Broadway. Listen here.
In other news...
—Sydney Sweeney, Halsey get violent while hunting down a rare artifact in Americana trailer
—HBO’s Task trailer promises face-off between two troubled men
—Legendary Entertainment names Di Mu CEO of China division
—MSNBC makes key political hire as it builds a new D.C. bureau
—International Cinematographers Guild launches podcast
—Joan O’Brien, Operation Petticoat and It Happened at the World’s Fair actress, dies at 89
What else we're reading...
—Jessica Testa digs into which podcasts rule YouTube [NYT]
—Chris Baraniuk looks into the camera tech that made the jaw-dropping "one shot" takes in shows like Netflix's Adolescence possible [BBC]
—Nahal Toosi writes that Trump’s Middle East grift trip lays bare a stark advantage some Arab states have over Israel [Politico]
—Lauren Lewis reports that Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock & Roll Steakhouse in Tennessee had to close to avoid ICE raids [Daily Beast]
—Here's your Friday list: "Every Star Wars TV show, ranked" [Vulture]
Today...
...in 1986, Paramount unveiled the Tom Cruise jet-fighter thriller Top Gun in theaters, where it would become a summer smash and gross $176m stateside. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Pierce Brosnan (72), Danny Trejo (81), Melanie Lynskey (48), Megan Fox (39), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (35), Jim Sturgess (47), David Boreanaz (56), Joseph Morgan (44), Lynn Collins (48), Debra Winger (70), Brían F. O'Byrne (58), Alice Wetterlund (44), Yannick Bisson (56), Vincent Regan (🏴60), Mare Winningham (66), Deniz Akdeniz (35), Eva-Jane Willis (41), Khary Payton (53), Aleyse Shannon (29), Tiya Sircar (43), Ramon Tikaram (58), Peter Onorati (72), Kevin McDonald (64), Ali Skovbye (23), Miles Heizer (31), Tori Spelling (52), Rebecca Front (61), Tracey Gold (56), Laurette Spang (74), Jessica Morris (46), Stephen Mangan (57), Natalie Sharp (29), Jing Lusi (40), Bill Smitrovich (78), Ben Sinclair (41), Drew Roy (39), Gianfranco Terrin (40) |
| Charles Strouse, the famed Broadway composer who received Tony Awards for his scores for Bye Bye Birdie, Applause and Annie, has died. He was 96. The obituary. |
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