| | | | | | What's news: The Naked Gun opened to an excellent $28.5m worldwide. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is set to close down. IATSE has reelected Matthew Loeb as president. Netflix has canceled FUBAR. John Krasinski will direct A Quiet Place Part III. Apple is developing a limited series based on Nancy Meyers' The Holiday. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
Ellison Sets His Team at Paramount ►The gang's all here. David Ellison has set his C-suite at Paramount Global. With Skydance's deal to acquire the media company set to close later this week, the mogul has officially named his senior leadership team at the company, the people who will run the new Paramount. As previously announced, former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell will be president of the new Paramount. But joining him will be Andy Gordon, who had been leading RedBird Capital’s Los Angeles office, who will become COO of the company. RedBird, which is providing financial capital to support the Skydance deal, has also most recently employed Shell.
THR's Alex Weprin writes that as expected, current Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks, who has also been leading the CBS business, will remain with the company as chair of TV media, adding oversight of the company’s cable TV channels. Cindy Holland, the former Netflix content chief, will lead new Paramount’s streaming businesses, including Paramount+ and Pluto. Holland has been a Skydance advisor since last year. Jim Sterner will join from Amazon Entertainment to lead human resources. Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon will be general counsel, and Melissa Zukerman will be chief communications officer. Andrew Warren will continue as interim CFO of the company. Skydance chief content officer Dana Goldberg and former Sony Pictures exec Josh Greenstein will lead the new Paramount studio as co-chairs. The story. |
'Fantastic Four' Suffers Sharp Drop ►Not fantastic? Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps easily stayed atop the domestic box office chart in its second weekend with $40m, but tumbled a worrisome 66 percent. That’s more than anyone could have predicted after the event pic opened to $117.6m last weekend amid stellar audience and critical reaction. At the same time, it isn’t entirely outside the range of normal for the superhero genre. And there’s still a clear runway ahead before summer ends.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that First Steps had hoped to clear $200m domestically through Sunday, but instead is projecting a 10-day domestic tally of $198.4m, compared to cume of $236.2m and a drop of 53 percent for DC Studos’ Superman in its second weekend. Overseas, First Steps made up ground in earning another $39.6m for an early global tally of $368.7m globally. That includes $170.3m internationally, compared to Superman's current overseas total of $235m from international markets.
In North America, First Steps had no trouble fending off Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s new family pic The Bad Guys 2 and Paramount’s comedy Naked Gun, which opened in second and third place, respectively. Bad Guys 2 started off with a better-than-expected domestic opening of $22.2m. The acclaimed The Naked Gun revival also opened on the high end of expectations, with a North America launch of $17m and $28.5m globally. The box office report. |
Baldoni, Wayfarer Sue Insurers to Cover Legal Fees ►Mounting bills. Justin Baldoni and his production banner Wayfarer and are suing a trio of insurers for refusing to cover costs related to litigating allegations of sexual harassment on the set of It Ends With Us , adding a new wrinkle to the sprawling legal battle that could complicate their thinking behind legal maneuvering in the dueling lawsuits. In a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Baldoni accuses New York Marine, QBE Insurance Group Limited, and Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of breach of contract for denying coverage of the lawsuit filed by Blake Lively. In total, the policies collectively carry at least $8m in insurance. Baldoni is a part of at least five lawsuits stemming from the film. His company and the production vehicle for the movie have been footing his legal bills. The story.
—Cultural barbarism. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which directs federal funds to local public TV and radio stations, says it will shut down after having those federal dollars taken away. The decision comes a few weeks after Congress passed a bill that included Trump administration priorities of tax cuts, cuts to Medicaid, increased spending for defense and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, among many other things. The bill, which Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, also included the rescission of $1.1b in previously approved funding for CPB. The story.
—🤝 Settlement. 🤝 Kevin Costner's production vehicle for his Horizon films has settled a lawsuit accusing it of failing to pay for costume rentals. United Costume Corporation on Thursday informed the court of a deal to resolve the case. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. Amid mounting financial and legal woes, Horizon Series, Costner’s loan-out firm, was sued in May for breach of contract for roughly $350,000 over unpaid fees across Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 and its sequel. The lawsuit bolstered the appearance of budget shortfalls for the sprawling productions. The story.
—✊ Crew control. ✊ IATSE delegates have re-elected the crew union’s longtime international president Matthew Loeb and a host of other incumbent leaders after they ran unopposed. Loeb, general secretary-treasurer James B. Wood and 13 international vice presidents were re-appointed at the union’s quadrennial convention in Honolulu on Thursday. Loeb, a former scenic artist and shopperson who worked on Jacob’s Ladder and Malcolm X, was first elected to the top job in 2008 and has retained his seat ever since. The election means that Loeb will serve another four-year term and, by the end of it, will have helmed IATSE for over two decades. The story.
—Local office. Santa Monica is looking to step out of the shadow of Los Angeles in how it deals with producers looking to shoot features, television shows or commercials in the city. The westside municipality is establishing its own office to operate a film permitting system and serve as a liaison between productions planning shoot days in its neighborhoods, oceanfront vistas or its tourist-packed beachfront pier. As part of that new effort, FilmLA, the nonprofit office that oversees film permitting in greater Los Angeles, says it will cease issuing new permits in the city of Santa Monica as of Aug. 31. In the beginning of September, a new office, Film Santa Monica, will be operational and start issuing its own permits. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Cinelease, a mainstay in Hollywood motion picture and television equipment rentals for nearly five decades, has been sold to a private investment firm. The Mark Lamberton-led rental company — which is headquartered in Los Angeles but now has locations in major production hubs across the U.S. — was acquired by the Burbank-based firm Zello, run by Louis Dargenzio, who was formerly the president of Sunset Studios. Cinelease, founded in 1977, has been owned by equipment and tool rental firm Herc Rentals for the past six years. The story. |
Mark Ruffalo Returning as the Hulk for 'Spider-Man 4' ►🎭 (Hulk) smash hit incoming. 🎭 Mark Ruffalo is returning to reprise the role of Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, in Sony/Marvel's Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which comes 14 years after the actor joined the MCU in The Avengers. The move had been rumored for a while, but only firmed up as the script came together and as production gears up for beginning this month in the U.K. At the same time, Michael Mando, known for his work on Better Call Saul, is returning to reprise the role of the Scorpion, the villain character whom he first played in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the 2017 feature that kicked off the Tom Holland-centric Spider-Man movies. The story.
—📅 It's official. 📅 John Krasinski is returning to the franchise that made his name as a director. Krasinski will write and direct A Quiet Place Part III, with Paramount setting a summer release date of July 9, 2027. No cast is set, but the first two installments were led by Emily Blunt, Krasinski’s-real life wife, with their children played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe. Krasinski starred in the first film, released in 2018, and had a cameo in the second installment, which bowed in 2021. Krasinski and Paramount have been flirting with the threequel for some time. The filmmaker announced in 2022 that the film was targeting a 2025 release, but that did not come to fruition. In the interim, he directed IF for the studio. The story.
—📅 Mark your calendars! 📅 Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, which kicked off the legendary trilogy and franchise, is heading back to theaters just in time for its 50th anniversary. Lucasfilm owner Disney has confirmed a theatrical release is set for April 30, 2027. A New Hope originally hit theaters on May 25, 1977 and starred Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and the late Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. And the film saw the introduction to one of the most iconic villains of all time, Darth Vader. The story.
—📅 Get excited. 📅 The Busan International Film Festival has selected the latest wildly anticipated new feature from Korean maestro Park Chan-wook to open its landmark 30th edition on Sept. 17. A black-comedy survival thriller starring Korean leading man Lee Byung-hun, Park’s 12th feature, No Other Choice, will have its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival before heading to Korea’s biggest cinema event for its Asian debut. No Other Choice stars Lee and beloved Korean actress Son Ye-jin as a married couple struggling to hold their family together amid mounting economic desperation. The story.
—🎭 Feature debut. 🎭 Jessie James Decker is ready to spread some holiday joy with the forthcoming feature Karen Kingsbury’s The Christmas Ring. Decker, a country singer who starred with husband Eric Decker on the E! unscripted series Eric & Jessie: Game On, will make her acting debut with the film that is set for theatrical release Nov. 6 from Fathom Entertainment. Winans is also joining previously announced castmembers Kelsey Grammer, Benjamin Hollingsworth and Jana Kramer in director Tyler Russell’s holiday movie adapting Kingbury’s new book, The Christmas Ring, that hits shelves Oct. 21. The story. |
'And Just Like That' Ending With S3 ►"SJP and I held off announcing the news until now because we didn’t want the word ‘final’ to overshadow the fun of watching the season." Sex and the City revival series And Just Like That is ending with the currently airing third season. The news comes as the series, which has been dropping weekly, heads into its final two episodes, with the finale releasing on Aug. 14. Writer-director and AJLT showrunner Michael Patrick King announced the news on HBO Max's socials Friday. “And just like that… the ongoing storytelling of the Sex and the City universe is coming to an end. While I was writing the last episode of And Just Like That season three, it became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop. Along with Sarah Jessica Parker, Casey Bloys and Sarah Aubrey, we decided to end the popular series this year with a two-part finale and extended the original series order from 10 episodes to 12." The story.
—News to Nancy. Apple TV+ is developing a limited-series adaptation of 2006 Nancy Meyers romantic comedy movie The Holiday. The series will follow new characters, but like the ‘06 comedy, this version will follow a single American woman and a single British woman, living very different lives, who swap their houses for the holidays. They, of course, find love along the way. Krissie Ducker will write and executive produce the series through Left Bank Pictures, Catastrophe 's Rob Delaney is a consultant on the project. Meyers is not involved in the adaptation, indeed, she didn’t even know about it. “News to me,” Meyers wrote on her Instagram on Friday. “Imagine my surprise when I opened Instagram and this was the first post I saw.” The story.
—Consider that a divorce. Netflix's FUBAR has been canceled after two seasons. The action comedy starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro, who portray a father-daughter spy duo. News of the show’s cancellation arrived Friday night after its streaming ratings notably declined between season premieres. After debuting on Netflix at No.1 on Nielsen’s streaming charts during its premiere week two years ago in May 22-28 with 1.53b minutes of viewing, season two accumulated 412m viewing minutes this year during the week of June 9-15. In total, FUBAR’s minutes of viewing declined by 73 percent from season one to two. During its premiere week, the series landed at No. 8 among Netflix’s original shows for its second season. The story.
—📅 Moving home. 📅 South Park will officially leave HBO Max this week, with the streaming rights for the long-running animated comedy now becoming a global exclusive on Paramount+. HBO Max has been the U.S. home for South Park for the past five years, with its entire 26-season library available on the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service (the current season, which debuted last week, excluded). However, HBO Max has added a notice on the South Park page that warns users that the show is leaving the service Aug. 5. The story.
—🎭 Keepin' busy. 🎭 Late night television can’t get rid of Stephen Colbert that easily. After it was revealed that CBS canceled the comedian’s long-running late night talk show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, THR learned on Sunday that Colbert has landed another hosting gig on a separate CBS show. Colbert is set to make a guest appearance on an upcoming season three episode of the crime comedy, Elsbeth, which returns Oct. 12. Colbert will play the host of a fictional late night talk show called Way Late with Scotty Bristol. The story.
—Sticky wicket. The Office alum Anthony Q. Farrell has boarded the indie feel good cricket comedy Strikers as a showrunner and executive producer. Farrell, who recently completed production on his new Paramount+/GameTV comedy Hate the Player, joins Strikers as it eyes a summer 2026 production date and a potentially global TV audience, especially in South Asia. Cricket is set to make a return at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Strikers is created by Red Hill Creative founder Dana Abraham, whose credits include Orphan Black: Echoes and Neon Lights, and Emmy-winning producer and Queer Eye host Bobby Berk. Abraham will also play Amar Farooqi, a former baseball MVP candidate whose career crashes after an injury. The story. |
THR's Best International Film Schools ►Crème de la crème. THR's annual list of the top international film schools is back, with a collection of the fifteen best schools for young filmmakers outside the U.S. From Argentina to New Zealand, these programs boast alumni like auteurs Jane Campion, Bong Joon Ho, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Phillip Noyce, Juan Antonio Bayona, Agnieszka Holland and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The list.
—ICYMI. And what about America? Here again is THR's 2025 list of the 25 best film schools in the U.S. Click to see which schools are adapting to straightened times faced by the entertainment industry, and which institutions are preparing their students for an increasingly tech-forward future. The list. |
Loni Anderson 1945 - 2025 ►80s icon. Loni Anderson, who starred as shrewd radio station receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati before her fairy-tale marriage to and acrimonious divorce from Burt Reynolds kept her uncomfortably in the tabloids, died Sunday. She was 79. A two-time Emmy nominee, Anderson died in Los Angeles from “an acute prolonged illness,” publicist Cheryl J. Kagan announced. The Minnesota native also portrayed doomed Hollywood sex sirens in two telefilms: 1980’s The Jayne Mansfield Story — alongside an untested Arnold Schwarzenegger as her second husband, Mickey Hargitay — and 1991’s White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd. The obituary. |
TV Review: 'King of the Hill' ►"Quickly settles back into its funny, big-hearted rhythms." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Hulu's King of the Hill. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels' classic Fox animated series gets revived for 10 new episodes under new showrunner Saladin Patterson. Featuring the voices of Mike Judge, Kathy Najimy, Pamela Adlon, Toby Huss, Stephen Root and Jonny Hardwick. The review.
—"As fun as it was inevitable." THR's Frank Scheck review's Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans' KPop Demon Hunters. One of Netflix's most popular original films ever, this Sony-produced musical tells the story of a superstar K-pop girl group battling an evil boy band. Featuring the voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Liza Koshy, Joel Kim Booster, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong and Lee Byung-hun. The review.
In other news...
—Netflix’s new releases coming in August
—Oasis fan dies after fall during Wembley Stadium gig
—Willem Dafoe to receive Sarajevo Film Festival honor
—Jeannie Seely, “Don’t Touch Me” singer and longtime Grand Ole Opry host, dies at 85
—Robert Charles Hunter, former PepsiCo CEO and Diane Ladd’s husband, dies at 77
—Scott MacDonough, unit publicist on Annie Hall and Norma Rae, dies at 81
What else we're reading...
—Jessica Toonkel and Erich Schwartzel look at the challenges facing Disney as AI takes off, as the studio looks to use the technology at the same time as protect its legacy IP [WSJ]
—Dasl Yoon has a fascinating story about North Korea's government debuting a flashy new TV show to attract younger people put off by traditional propaganda [WSJ]
—With Texas and California heading towards a tit-for-tat redistricting war, Ross Barkan wonders if the midterms will be won by cheating [Intelligencer]
—Caitlin Gibson profiles Ms. Rachel, the YouTube star who is carrying on Mister Rogers' legacy [Washington Post]
—In an op-ed, celebrated Palestinian-American academic Rashid Khalidi explains why he can no longer teach at Columbia University [Guardian]
Today...
...in 1954, Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, was unveiled in New York at the Rivoli Theatre. The Paramount feature went on to nab four Oscar nominations at the 27th Academy Awards, including for directing. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Barack Obama (64), Greta Gerwig (42), Billy Bob Thornton (70), Meghan Markle (44), Daniel Dae Kim (57), Abigail Spencer (44), Cole and Dylan Sprouse (33), Lauren Tom (64), Dennis Lehane (60), Marques Houston (44), Bruna Marquezine (30), Sebastian Roché (61), Kirby Ellwood (27), Chet Hanks (35), Sam Underwood (38), Fenella Woolgar (56), Donald Gibb (71), Michael DeLuise (56), Kym Karath (67), Jen Lilley (41), Nathaniel Buzolic (42), Kristin Richardson (55), James Tupper (60), David James Lewis (49), Dan Payne (53), Lucinda Dryzek (34), Martin Jarvis (84), Kristoffer Tabori (73), Ruth Madeley (38), Lara Peake (27), Peter Weber (34), Olivia Deeble (23) |
| | Jonathan Kaplan, who directed Jodie Foster to a best actress Oscar in The Accused and received five Emmy nominations for his work as a helmer and producer on ER, has died. He was 77. The obituary. |
|
|
|
| | | |
