| | | | | | What's news: Stephen Knight will write the next James Bond film. Netflix is giving Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague a theatrical run. BritBox content will appear on HBO Max. Raphael Bob-Waksbergs's Long Story Short has been renewed for a second season. A Hostel series starring Paul Giamatti is in the works at Peacock. Michael Kassan and UTA have settled their lawsuit. — Abid Rahman
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Lynette Howell Taylor Elected President of Film Academy ►Scouse power. Lynette Howell Taylor, an Oscar-nominated film producer, was elected the 37th president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences through a vote on Thursday. She succeeds Janet Yang, who held the job for the past three years. Howell Taylor, 46, who was born in Liverpool, England, is the youngest person in 70 years and the first person born outside of the U.S. in 28 years to serve as Academy president. Five other governors were also tapped for officer positions: composer Lesley Barber was re-elected as vice president (chair, membership committee); producer Jennifer Fox was elected vice president (chair, awards committee); documentarian Simon Kilmurry was elected vice president/treasurer (chair, finance committee); actor Lou Diamond Phillips was elected vice president (chair, equity and inclusion committee); and writer Howard A. Rodman was re-elected vice president/secretary (chair, governance committee). The story.
—New book incoming. One day after formally declining to throw her hat in the ring for California governor, Kamala Harris unveiled her new memoir on Thursday, a book following the tumultuous 107-day campaign for president in 2024. The tome, titled 107 Days, will be published by Simon & Schuster on Sept. 23. And — in a pointed choice given the Donald Trump factor in the show’s cancellation — the politician will kick off her media tour with an appearance on CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Thursday night. The story.
—What's in a name? Back in late 2021, Barry Diller’s IAC inked a $2.7b deal to acquire Meredith Corp. in a blockbuster move to create a digital media powerhouse, which they ended up calling Dotdash Meredith. From now on, the company that includes brands like People, Travel & Leisure, Brides, Better Homes & Gardens, Entertainment Weekly, Food & Wine and AllRecipes will be known as People Inc. The name is also a winking nod to Time Inc., whose brands make up a big piece of the company’s portfolio. The story.
—Congrats to all! Shirley Halperin is departing THR to become co-editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone — the first woman to fill that role in the brand’s 60-year legacy. Maer Roshan, THR’s co-editor, is staying on as the magazine’s sole editor-in-chief. Halperin, a veteran music journalist and editor, will lead Rolling Stone ’s music coverage alongside Sean Woods, the title’s longtime executive editor, who is being promoted to co-editor-in-chief. Halperin starts her new role on Sept. 1, serving as both co-editor-in-chief and head of music, and will split her time between New York and Los Angeles. Woods, who will step into his new role effective immediately, will remain based in the brand’s New York headquarters. The duo will work closely with Rolling Stone’s recently appointed CEO, Julian Holguin, to shape the brand’s editorial direction. The story. |
Shari Redstone Signs Off As Paramount's Owner ►"Forever grateful." In the final earnings report of Paramount’s decades-long ownership under the Redstone family, non-executive chair Shari Redstone touted the turnaround that co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins have executed at the company, while thanking employees and shareholders during what has been a tumultuous period for the entire media sector. On the company’s earnings call, Redstone delivered a farewell to the company that she helped put together from the assets her father Sumner Redstone originally acquired. The results.
—Boffo. Apple delivered revenue of $94.04b for Q3 of 2025 overshadowed by tariff concerns as the tech giant shifts device production from China to India. Apple's overall revenues, up 10 percent year-on-year, surpassed Wall Street expectations after an analyst consensus estimate from Bloomberg forecast Apple would post revenue of $89.22b. The company's services segment, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and other products, posted overall revenue of $27.4b, up 13 percent from a year-earlier $24.2b. Key iPhone sales were $44.6b during the latest quarter, a 13 percent rise from a year-earlier $39.2b, in part as consumers accelerated purchases amid fears tariffs may force up device prices. The results.
—Mixed bag. Peacock is stuck in a bit of a rut in terms of subscriber growth, but it has again inched closer toward breaking even. Thankfully, in the second quarter of 2025, Comcast got one last dance with Hulu. NBCUniversal’s streaming platform Peacock ended the previous quarter with 41m subscribers; quarterly losses were $215m. Well, for this quarter, subscribers stayed flat, but Peacock cut its losses to $101m from April to June; the streamer’s Q2 2025 revenue was $1.2b. In the semi-comparable Q2 of 2024, Peacock’s quarterly losses were $348m; its revenue was $1b. The results.
—Looking good. Roku platform revenue, which includes ad sales, content sales and subscription-revenue, reached $975.5m in its Q2, up 18 percent year-over-year and above the company’s guidance and analyst expectations. The company attributed this to strong performance in video advertising and the acquisition of streaming service Frndly in May. In June, the company announced an integration with Amazon that connects Amazon advertisers with users on the Roku platform across its major streaming apps, including The Roku Channel. Total net revenue was $1.1b, up 15 percent year over year. Gross profit was $498m, up 17 percent and streaming hours were 35.4b, up 5.2b hours. The results. |
Welcome to Hollywood: Wisconsin Joins Film Tax Credit Race ►"A new chapter begins for Wisconsin’s film and TV production industry." Hollywood is looking at a new subsidy for films and TV shows, this time from Wisconsin, which joins a slew of other states that have implemented or expanded tax credit programs for productions in a tit-for-tat race to host the entertainment industry since 2021. Gov. Tony Evers signed a state budget earlier this month that will create a film office and a 30 percent transferable credit for movies and TV shows. Under the program, $5m will be handed out to productions annually until at least 2027. Before the passage of the budget, Wisconsin was one of 13 states with no subsidies for the entertainment industry. The story.
—🤝 Renewals. 🤝 David Zaslav wants Warner Bros. Discovery execs JB Perrette and Bruce Campbell around for his post-separation Warner Bros. venture. Both execs have signed new contracts with the major studio ahead of plans to split into two publicly-traded companies, according to an SEC filing made public on Thursday. Perrette, president and CEO of global streaming and games, has a new contract to run to Dec. 31, 2029. He is set to serve in the same role at David Zaslav’s streaming and studios business to be called Warner Bros. after the separation. And Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, whose own new contract will run through to December 31, 2030, is set to become the CFO of Warner Bros. The story.
—🤝 Settlement. 🤝 The legal showdown between Michael Kassan and United Talent Agency over the MediaLink founder’s exit has settled. "UTA and Michael Kassan have agreed to amicably end their dispute," said UTA and Sanford Michelman, a lawyer for Kassan, on Thursday. "The parties are not at liberty to comment further." Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. The timing and announcement of Kassan’s departure fueled bad-blooded litigation. Last year, UTA revealed that it had terminated him for cause on March 7 for misappropriation of company funds. After, Kassan said he had resigned on March 6 over how the agency ran MediaLink, which UTA acquired in 2021 for $125m. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Fox Corp. is making a major investment in motorsports, acquiring a one third stake in Penske Entertainment, the company that owns the Indycar circuit and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is home to the Indianapolis 500. The deal also includes a multi-year extension of Indycar’s media rights deal with Fox Sports. Indycar rights had previously been with NBCUniversal, but Fox took over the rights earlier this year, promising a major push for the circuit. This year’s Indy 500 averaged over 7m viewers, a significant increase from the year prior. The story. |
Spinal Tap Releases "Stonehenge" With Elton John, Reveals New Album ►Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight. Heavy metal legends Spinal Tap have teamed up with Elton John for a re-recording of the band’s classic cut “Stonehenge,” released on Thursday via Interscope Records. The band also released a music video for the single, confirming the song will appear on The End Continues, the forthcoming album for the mockumentary Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, out on Sept. 12 to coincide with the movie’s theatrical run. The 13-track set includes nine brand-new songs and four reinvented favorites, featuring guests Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, and Trisha Yearwood. The story.
—Rebuffed. Paramount will not have to face parts of a lawsuit from the cousin of a writer for Top Gun: Maverick, who alleged he co-wrote the screenplay. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff on Wednesday rebuffed Shaun Gray’s bid for court order that he was a joint author of the screenplay, which could’ve entitled him to a share of profits form the blockbuster sequel. Still, the court left the door open for him to pursue damages for copyright infringement. In a lawsuit filed in April, Shaun Gray alleged he penned key scenes after screenwriter Eric Warren Singer and director Joseph Kosinski enlisted his help to craft the story behind the movie. An active participant in story meetings, he said he wrote 15 pivotal sequences. The story.
—Gender bias and sexual harassment suit. An amended complaint filed against Netflix on Thursday alleges that a female children’s programming executive at the streamer was wrongfully terminated after she repeatedly spoke out about purported gender bias and sexual harassment perpetuated by her boss. The complaint argues that former Netflix director of kids and family global content acquisitions and co-comissions Amy Takahara was subjected to a “pervasive and hostile environment” by director of kids and tween live action and content licensing Edward Horasz that impeded her work at the streamer and culminated in a sudden firing after she challenged her boss. The suit was initially filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on May 21, but was amended and re-filed Thursday to include additional details of the alleged mistreatment. The story. |
U.K. 'Office,' 'Luther' Set for HBO Max ►🤝 The British are coming. 🤝 A cache of British series — including the original version of The Office, early seasons of Luther and the recently released Agatha Christie adaptation Towards Zero — are getting a bigger platform via HBO Max. The Warner Bros. Discovery streamer and the BBC Studios-owned BritBox have struck a deal to bring 15 BritBox shows to HBO Max in August and September. The “pop-up” — similar to an arrangement between AMC and Netflix in 2024 — will run from Aug. 1-Sept. 29. Both seasons of the Ricky Gervais-led Office and its Christmas specials will be part of the promotion, which will have a dedicated rail on the HBO Max app called "The Best of British TV by BritBox." The story.
—🎭 Checking in. 🎭 Peacock is offering a place to stay for a Hostel series project from filmmaker Eli Roth and star Paul Giamatti. The streamer will develop the project, which is based on Roth’s mid-2000s horror movies about an underground network of wealthy people who kidnap and torture young tourists staying in hostels. The show, which THR reported was in the works in 2024 (but without a home), comes from Fifth Season. Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Giamatti, an avowed horror fan, is set to star in the show, though details of his role are being kept under wraps. The Hostel series project is described as a present-day take on the concept. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 Netflix's sci-fi epic 3 Body Problem has cast Alfie Allen in a recurring role in season two. In addition, David Yip and Jordan Sunshine have also joined the cast. They join previously announced new cast members Claudia Doumit and Ellie De Lange. The season has just started production in Budapest, Hungary. The production has also revealed who from the first season’s cast is making the vast time jump into the season two storyline: Jess Hong as Jin, Benedict Wong as Da Shi, Eiza González as Auggie, Jovan Adepo as Saul, Saamer Usmani as Raj, Liam Cunningham as Wade, Marlo Kelly as Tatiana, Sea Shimooka as Sophon and Josh Brener as Kent. The story. |
'Long Story Short' From 'BoJack Horseman' Creator Lands S2 Renewal ►Quick as you like. BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg has a new animated Netflix comedy, and Long Story Short is here to stay — for a little while at least. On Thursday, Long Story Short earned an early season two renewal, announced ahead of the series premiere. Netflix also released season one’s trailer. Long Story Short follows one family over time. “Jumping through the years, we follow the Schwooper siblings from childhood to adulthood and back again, chronicling their triumphs, disappointments, joys, and compromises,” the logline reads. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Paramount+’s hit Sylvester Stallone-starring dramedy Tulsa King will premiere its third season on Sept. 21. In addition, the streamer has released the first description of the new episodes: “As Dwight’s empire expands, so do his enemies — and the risks to his crew. Now, he faces his most dangerous adversaries in Tulsa yet: the Dunmires, a powerful old-money family that doesn’t play by old-world rules, forcing Dwight to fight for everything he’s built and protect his family.” The new season of the Taylor Sheridan-produced series will also introduce Samuel L. Jackson’s character — Russell Lee Washington Jr. — who is going to topline a spinoff of the series titled NOLA King. The story.
—As you were. The top two shows on Nielsen’s streaming charts held their spots for a second straight week, but both Squid Game and Love Island USA slipped a little bit in viewing time. A pair of movies also had strong openings, with Prime Video’s Heads of State beating out Netflix’s The Old Guard 2 in the U.S. Squid Game topped the rankings for June 30-July 6 with 2.87b minutes of viewing for Netflix. That’s the sixth-highest weekly total for any show so far in 2025 — with two of the ones in front of it also being held by Squid Game. The Korean hit had 3.2b minutes a week earlier and 4.6b in the first week of the year, just after the release of season two. The streaming rankings. |
Jeremy Strong Circling 'Social Network Part II' ►🎭 YESSSS!!!!!! 🎭 Add Jeremy Strong to the list of bold-faced names circling Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network Part II. Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for penning the 2010 original movie, wrote the script and will direct the Sony drama that is inspired by a series of articles Jeff Horwitz wrote for The Wall Street Journal known as "The Facebook Files." Strong joins Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White as the select few master thespians who have been meeting with Sorkin as he packages a cast and budget that he will then show to the studio for final approval. The story.
—Scribe found. Steven Knight is the latest bold faced name to join the James Bond creative team. The Peaky Blinders creator will write the script for filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who is directing the next 007 film for Amazon MGM Studios and producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman. Knight’s hiring marks an end of an era for the Bond franchise, at least in terms of its writers. Actor Daniel Craig said goodbye to the character with 2021’s No Time To Die, which also was the last Bond movie to be shaped by longtime scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who worked on the franchise beginning with 1999’s The World Is Not Enough. The story.
—📅 Awards run. 📅 Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s loving homage to Jean Luc-Godard’s 1960 film Breathless and the French New Wave, which received a 10-minute standing ovation and rave reviews following its world premiere at May’s Cannes Film Festival, will be released in American theaters on Oct. 31 and play on big screens for two weeks before dropping on Netflix on Nov. 14. When Netflix acquired Nouvelle Vague ’s U.S. rights shortly after Cannes, some reacted with surprise and dismay that a movie shot on film and about cinema would end up with a streamer. But the company is planning a robust theatrical release that will include not only screens in New York (where, appropriately enough, it owns the historic Paris Theater) and LA, but in all of the top 10 U.S. markets. The story.
—Achievement unlocked. Superman has leapt past the $300m mark at the domestic box office in less than three weeks in a major milestone for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios. The pic crossed the $300m mark early Thursday thanks to East Coast matinées after finishing Wednesday with a domestic tally of $299.7m. It’s the first DC pic release to achieve the milestone since The Batman in 2022. That pic topped out at $369.2m by the end of its run, not adjusted for inflation. In a second milestone, Superman has already passed up the entire lifetime of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, which topped out at $291m domestically in 2013, not adjusted. The box office report. |
TV Review: 'Chief of War' ►"Effective big moments and dull character beats." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Apple TV+'s Chief of War. Jason Momoa co-created and stars in the sweeping, action-packed drama about the unification of Hawaii 18th and 19th centuries. Also starring Luciane Buchanan, Temuera Morrison, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Cliff Curtis, Kaina Makua, Moses Goods, Siua Ikale’o, Brandon Finn, James Udom, Mainei Kinimaka, Te Kohe Tuhaka and Benjamin Hoetjes. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—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 Kenneth Lonergan. The Oscar-winning writer-director revisits his landmark first film, You Can Count on Me, about the bond between two orphaned siblings. Listen here.
In other news...
—Conjuring: Last Rites final trailer: The Warrens face their first demon
—Lifetime’s Chrisley family docuseries gets premiere date and trailer
—Taylor Kitsch plays CIA special ops agent in The Terminal List: Dark Wolf trailer
—Demi Lovato drops new single "Fast"
—TIFF: Guillermo del Toro, Jodie Foster to receive tribute awards
—Bobbi Althoff signs off from The Really Good Podcast
—Justin Timberlake reveals Lyme Disease diagnosis
—Hulk Hogan’s cause of death revealed
—Nicholas Clapp, documentarian and author, dies at 89
What else we're reading...
—Nate Jones pleads with everyone to not be weird about Sydney Sweeney for 5 seconds [Vulture]
—Alan Siegel wonders whether the excellent The Naked Gun reboot can save theatrical comedies [Ringer]
—Sharon Terlep looks at how Ford’s Made-in-America strategy hurts the company in Trump’s trade war [WSJ]
—Katie Glueck and Lisa Lerer report that Democrats are fed up with Netanyahu and are breaking the bipartisan consensus on support for Israel [NYT]
—Here's your Friday list: "The top cosmetic doctors in L.A. and N.Y.C." [THR]
Today...
...in 2014, Universal Pictures released Tate Taylor's Get On Up in theaters. The biopic of music icon James Brown starred Chadwick Boseman and was a critical success, although stalled at the box office. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Jack O'Connell (35), Jason Momoa (46), Sam Mendes (60), Adrian Dunbar (67), Saleka Shyamalan (29), Demián Bichir (62), Giancarlo Giannini (83), David Wain (56), John Carroll Lynch (62), Tempestt Bledsoe (52), Surveen Chawla (41), Mrunal Thakur (33), Honeysuckle Weeks (🏴46), Kris Holden-Ried (52), Terry Kiser (86), Daisy May Cooper (39), Max Carver (37), Charles Malik Whitfield (53), Oona Laurence (23), Carla Sehn (31), Sally Pressman (44), Lewis Smith (69), Jesse Borrego (63), Ana Girardot (37), Luke Eisner (29), Landry Allbright (36), Leon Thomas III (32), Ane Dahl Torp (50), Montserrat Lombard (43), Alex MacNicoll (36) |
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