| | | | | | What's news: The media’s race to rename everything, from MSNOW to Versant. The Broadway strike that wasn't. Elizabeth Berkley’s comeback tour. DC announces a new show about the Daily Planet’s unlikely ladies’ man Jimmy Olsen. The time Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson solved a Hells Angels hostage crisis. — Julian Sancton
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Paramount Releases First Earnings Report Since Skydance Takeover ►Going public. The entertainment company reported its third quarter earnings Monday, its first earnings report under the leadership of CEO David Ellison, and the ownership of his Skydance. Ellison penned a shareholder letter, writing that scaling its direct-to-consumer business “is our top priority” alongside “supercharging” its creative. Ellison also said that the company is launching a “comprehensive strategic review” so that it can determine whether to divest other non-core assets, beginning with Telefe in Argentina. The company is targeting $30 billion in revenue in 2026, with cost savings of $3 billion expected, up from the previously announced $2 billion. The story.
PLUS: Wall Street Gives David Ellison’s First Paramount Earnings a Thumbs Up, With Some Big Questions
—No Spin Zone. Paramount isn’t planning to join fellow media giants Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery in spinning off its cable assets. On the company’s quarterly earnings call Tuesday, Paramount president Jeff Shell acknowledged the continued decline in cable viewership (and thus subscriber and advertising revenue), but he said the company plans to take a different approach in managing those assets: “It’s increasingly clear that streaming has become the replacement” for traditional multi-channel bundles. The story.
—What's in a Name? The media business is in the midst of a rebranding revolution. In just the last few weeks, a couple of the country’s largest publishers changed their names from Gannett to USA Today Inc. and Dotdash Meredith to People Inc., taking on the name of their most prominent media brand. ESPN and CNN launched new consumer-facing streaming services called … ESPN and CNN, while Apple TV decided to drop the “+” from its own service in the name of simplicity. Then, of course, there’s Versant and MSNOW. THR’s Alex Weprin scrutinizes media's new name game. |
How Broadway Almost Went on Strike ►Close Call. Actors’ Equity almost went on strike on Broadway for the first time in decades. The union of actors and stage managers was so prepared for the possibility that they had drawn up schedules for picket lines and had posters at the ready if an agreement wasn’t reached. If actors had gone on strike, dozens of Broadway shows would have gone dark for an untold period of time, which members of Congress warned would have a “significant economic disruption” on the city. Musicians were also on the verge of a strike at the same time, setting up the possibility for almost all shows on Broadway shutting down. THR’s Caitlin Clark has the tick-tock on the nearly avoided disaster on the Great White Way. The story.
—Farewell to Oz. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are officially saying goodbye to Glinda and Elphaba. The stars of Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked sequel took to London’s Leicester Square on Monday night for the European premiere of the film. The pair, matching in extravagant black dresses, were joined by fellow cast members Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and Michelle Yeoh on the yellow brick road carpet, ahead of the movie’s Nov. 21 release in theaters. The story.
PLUS: Wicked Witch’s Hat From 1939’s ‘Oz’ Hits Auction Block
—Out for their scalps. Hayley Williams is going on tour, and she’s got a message for ticket scalpers: Stay away. The pop punk icon confirmed a slate of upcoming shows for next year on Monday, in an Instagram post that detailed her efforts to combat scalping: “I’ve had countless conversations with my team, and they’ve spent countless hours trying to find the best solution for fans to be able to buy tickets,” Williams. “It’s been tough (to say the least), and unfortunately, there’s just no way to guarantee that zero tickets get scalped. But we’re doing our best.” The story. |
‘Showgirls’ Nearly Killed Her Career. Now She’s Touring the World with It ►A lot of dreams have come true. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Showgirls, Elizabeth Berkley’s big-screen debut that has gone from unmitigated disaster to cult camp classic. After painstakingly rebuilding a respectable career, and now she’s starring in Ryan Murphy’s All Fair (which, judging from critical reactions and sky-high streaming numbers, is likely to follow a similar path as Showgirls). In a teary interview with THR’s David Canfield, the Saved By the Bell star characterizes the decades since Showgirls as “30 years of building blocks” to right now: “In all this time, I’ve been working toward this moment.” The interview.
—Hells Bells. The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese–directed film about The Band’s star-studded farewell concert in 1976, is rightly hailed as one of the greatest music documentaries of all time. But as The Band’s Robbie Robertson reveals in this exclusive excerpt his entertaining new memoir, Insomnia, a violently disgruntled Hells Angel threatened to derail everything. The story. |
DC Studios Taps ‘American Vandal’ Creators for Jimmy Olsen TV Spinoff ►Planet-ary ambitions. Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, who created the award-winning mockumentary American Vandal, are going into the DC Universe. The duo will write, executive produce and showrun the Superman TV spinoff to star Skyler Gisondo, the actor who played Daily Planet photographer and unlikely ladies’ man Jimmy Olsen. Gisondo and the character became a true breakout from James Gunn’s summer blockbuster, and a show was put into development around him. The concept centers on Olsen, as well as other Daily Planet reporters (minus Lois Lane and Clark Kent), who tackle cases involving super-powered villains. The exclusive.
—Now Hear This. Jay Shetty has a new purpose: To help sort out messy, complicated modern relationships for Audible. The multihyphenate will host the intimate and unscripted 10-episode series Messy Love: Difficult Conversations for Deeper Connection, a new Audible Original set to debut Jan. 22, 2026. The exclusive.
—Think Different. Hillman College will enroll a new class of students with Netflix’s pickup of a sequel series to A Different World. The streamer has given a series order to the comedy, which has been in the works for more than a year (and included a very rare pilot order from Netflix). The show will star Tony Award winner Maleah Joi Moon (Hell’s Kitchen on Broadway) as Deborah, the youngest daughter of original series leads Whitley (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), who enrolls at the HBCU her parents attended. The story.
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Duffer Brothers Unveil ‘Stranger Things’ Endgame Secret: “We Wanted to Swing for the Fences” ►A Bang, Not a Whimper. The eight-episode final season of Stranger Things will unravel over the course of a month, with four episodes arriving Nov. 26, the next three landing on Dec. 25, and the action-packed finale hitting both Netflix and theaters on Dec. 31. With such a whirlwind event on the horizon, one imagines the Duffers are already locked, loaded and long past considering the end of their darling. But in truth, they’re not quite done locking the final portion of the season, as they tell The Hollywood Reporter , and have only just started coming to terms with what it means to truly close the book on this career-defining chapter of their lives. The interview.
—Cinderella Story. When the audition for Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus came along, Karolina Wydra not only hadn’t acted in five years, she didn’t even have representation. She soon landed the mysterious role of Zosia opposite Rhea Seehorn’s Carol Sturka, and the two-episode series premiere has already made the case that Wydra is the latest example of Gilligan’s unique ability to turn journeyman actors into stars. “To be where I am today, I get emotional about it,” the show’s breakout star tells THR as she begins to cry. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams — being employed by Vince Gilligan, holy shit.” The story.
—“We Don’t Always Just Make Art for Numbers.” Sydney Sweeney is “proud” of working on the Christy Martin biopic Christy despite a low box office debut. Taking to Instagram on Monday, the actress, who portrays trailblazing boxer Christy Martin in the biopic Christy, reflected on making the film that opened to $1.3 million from 2,011 sites and couldn’t crack the top 10 at the box office. Sweeney also produced the film. The David Michôd-directed film was the first theatrical release from Black Bear Pictures. The story.
In other news...
Gwyneth Paltrow to Be Honored With Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Gala
Trump’s Tariff Talk and Border Chaos Cast Shadow Over AFM
Danny Lin Elected President of The Animation Guild
Tom Bergeron Reflects on Shock ‘DWTS’ Exit and Why He’s Making a Return: “If the Previous Regime Was Still in Charge, I Wouldn’t Go Back”
‘Second Nature’ Director on the Science Behind Queerness in the Animal Kingdom
What else we're reading...
—Steven Levy confronts Palantir's bellicose CEO Alex Karp, and asks whether Israel and Trump will ever to too far for him. [Wired]
—Jordan Kisner wonders why screaming is now all the rage. [NYT]
—Kat Lonsdorf speaks National Guard members who have secretly questioned Trump deployments. [NPR]
—Amanda Petrusich profiles David Byrne, who is still asking questions about what it means to be alive. [New Yorker]
Today's birthdays: Leonardo DiCaprio (51), Demi Moore (63), Stanley Tucci (65), Tye Sheridan (29), Ashleigh Cummings (33), Eduardo Franco (31), Scoot McNairy (48), Alison Doody (59), Calista Flockhart (61), Mark Sanchez (39), Susan Kelechi Watson (44) |
| Tatsuya Nakadai, the legendary Japanese actor best known for his roles in Ran, Harakiri and The Human Condition trilogy, has died. He was 92. Born on Dec. 13, 1932, in Tokyo, Nakadai (real name Motohisa Nakadai) was a prominent stage actor who became a leading man in Japanese cinema. He ultimately gained international fame, notably for his performances in historical and samurai dramas.
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