| IN PREVIOUS CLASHES OVER PROGRAMMING, ADVERTISERS GENERALLY LED THE CHARGE. THIS TIME IT'S POLITICAL |
More than a few viewers and observers, even some who work in the television business, were surprised that local station owners Nexstar and Sinclair made the first move in the Jimmy Kimmel saga by pulling his show off their air.
But warning signs of discord between networks and affiliates had been flashing for years. Although the Hatfield-McCoy relationship has been fraught since the birth of the medium, streaming and cord-cutting has turned financial skirmishes into an existential contest. There have recently been battles over the 10 p.m. hour and fights about the “leaking” of premium sports and prestige shows from broadcast to streaming.
Late-night, then as now, has been a battleground. In 2020, NBCUniversal had to walk back plans to stream Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., respectively, on Peacock after an affiliate revolt even bigger than the one that greeted the ill-fated Jay Leno primetime experiment in 2009. >>>Money And Politics
Related:
Column: ‘Andor’ Writer Dan Gilroy On Disney Suspending Kimmel & Hollywood Facing “A Siege”
As Talks Continue, Conservative Support Around Free Speech May Tip Scale Towards Kimmel’s Return
Brendan Carr’s Threats On Networks May Be "Jawboning," And Courts Don’t Like It, Legal Experts Say
‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Crew To Be Paid Next Week As Discussions Carry On |
Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
Swift Sales For 'Showgirl' Release Party - Sources say that AMC's last-minute booking of Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl for a one weekend play has racked up $15M across all circuits in presales in its first 24 hours after going on sale Friday upon the pic’s announcement. >>>$30M-$55M Projected
UK Speech In Spotlight - As the Jimmy Kimmel situation highlights new tensions over free speech in the U.S., Deadline's Max Goldbart listens to the echoes across the pond. UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, he notes, has recently made a public pivot to fully backing the BBC. At the same time, she has assailed the country's right-leaning GB News network and its charismatic, controversial star host Nigel Farage. Nandy made arguably the most powerful intervention by a politician to date over GB News’ place in the UK news landscape. During a parliamentary committee hearing, she accused the channel of challenging the “shared spaces and shared understanding” that forms the “basis of democracy.” >>> "Polemic" Or News?
Gina Carano Is Back In Action - Six weeks after Mandalorian star Gina Carano saw her discrimination lawsuit against Disney and Lucasfilm settled in her favor after being fired in 2021 from the Star Wars series, Sin City-raised Carano is stepping into the vigilante shoes of Logan Reign. >>>Crime Fighter By Night
'Journey' To Box Office Oblivion - Sony's quest to deliver original movies to an IP-laden box office saw their $50M+ negative global acquisition of the Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell fantasy romance drama, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey from Korean filmmaker Kogonada, stuck on a road to nowhere at the box office, with a $3.5M domestic and $8M global opening. >>>34% On Rotten Tomatoes
Paramount Catches 'Monsters' - Paramount Pictures acquired at auction Here Be Monsters, a sea-set survival thriller that has franchise ambitions. It will be the next film directed by Joachim Rønning, who helmed fall release Tron: Ares. >>>Franchise Material?
Pamela Anderson Hangs Shingle - It’s a family affair for Pamela Anderson, who has launched the production company And-Her-Sons Productions alongside sons Brandon Thomas Lee and Dylan Jagger Lee. A TV series from UCP and Dark Horse Entertainment based on Dark Horse Comics’ 1990s comic book character Barb Wire is currently in development and will serve as the company’s first project. >>> Different Feel From Film |
Ronan Day-Lewis wrote the Anemone script with his father Daniel, an organic process that built from the original idea of confining two brothers to a hut in the forest, and letting them tear off the roof.
Tired of watching his stepson circle the drain, Jem Stoker (Sean Bean) heads off to a remote wooded area to confront his brother Ray (Day-Lewis), the boy’s PTSD-suffering biological recluse father who holes up in a stone cabin. Jem won’t leave until his brother agrees to come home, and that won’t happen until they’ve worked out everything from the recriminations of rough childhoods that included a brutal father, pedophile priests and active duty as British soldiers quelling rebellion violence in Northern Ireland.
The long writing process also made it so that Daniel didn’t have to get lost in the woods and become a frontiersman like he did for The Last of the Mohicans. For the first time, Daniel got to be on the ground floor, developing that character on the page, and organically becoming him. And, for the first time, he got to be directed by his own son. >>>Interview |
Quotable "It wasn’t handled well and I’m not happy about it" - 'Dexter: Original Sin' creator Clyde Phillips after the series was unexpectedly scrapped by Showtime |
Oscar winners Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer are coming back together after starring in 2011’s The Help with the holiday comedy Deck the Y’Alls. The duo will star alongside Wanda Sykes.
Exclusive Pablo Schreiber (Motor City), Zoë Chao (The Roses), Jamie Neumann (The Deuce) and Antonella Rose (A Sudden Case of Christmas ) have been cast alongside lead Alison Brie in FX's Untitled Witness Protection pilot.
Exclusive Mia Wasikowska, Xavier Samuel and Heather Mitchell will lead an Australian cold case drama for streamer Stan. The Killings: Parrish Station comes from Australian producer Helium Pictures with the support of Screen Australia and Screen NSW.
In Brief - Blake Jenner, Jaime King, Chris Kattan, Sydney Thomas & more are Bound For Glory... Ben Robson & Heidi Engerman join Ransom Canyon season 2... Guillermo Del Toro taps Rupert Friend, Kevin Durand & Jaeden Martell for The Boy in the Iron Box
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BY THE NUMBERS $555M+ - Worldwide B.O. for 'Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,' making it the highest-grossing Japanese film ever |
MORE NEWS 🗣️ Following what CNN‘s Boris Sanchez called a “unique blend of speeches” at Charlie Kirk's memorial, Donald Trump took to the stage and railed against Jimmy Kimmel, the “radical Left" and, of course, the media.
⚕️ Filming has halted on Spider-Man: Brand New Day after Tom Holland was injured while shooting on the Glasgow set. The actor was hospitalized and treated for a mild concussion. A source close to production says he will take a break “out of precaution” but is expected to return to filming in a few days.
🗳️ The Director’s Guild of America chose Christopher Nolan as its new president during Saturday’s Biennial National Convention. The 2x Oscar-winning Oppenheimer director was appointed to succeed Lesli Linka Glatter, among a new slate of officers and new members of the DGA’s National Board of Directors.
📱 Fox Corp. is in talks to join an investor group poised to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations, sources familiar with the situation told Deadline. President Donald Trump signaled on Sunday potential involvement by the company’s CEO Lachlan Murdoch and chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch. |
OBITUARIES 🕯️ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis, who fronted Buddy Holly’s backing band later known as The Crickets and eventually penned and performed the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died at the age of 88. 🕯️ 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery |
ON THE RADAR
Mon - Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown; Kamala Harris on Maddow; Sean Penn on Fallon
Tue - Leonardo DiCaprio on Fallon
Wed - Slow Horses S5 premiere
Fri - New York Film Festival opens
Sat - Global Citizen Festival in Central Park |
Love Of Country - Angelina Jolie walked the red carpet for her film Couture at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Asked about the current political state in the U.S., she responded, "I love my country, but I don’t, at this time, recognize my country." |
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