| | | | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is Game of Thrones author and fantasy legend George R. R. Martin. Spotify is raising its U.S. prices. Asad Ayaz is Disney's first-ever chief marketing and brand officer. Dennis Cinelli is Paramount's new CFO. Netflix is launching a slate of original and exclusive podcasts. And Gracie Abrams is set to make her acting debut in an A24 movie. — Abid Rahman
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George R.R. Martin on His Triumphs and Torments ►On the cover. At the height of his reign, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin gets candid with THR's James Hibberd about his efforts to rule his expanding media empire, his new GOT-universe HBO show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and the long-delayed saga he’s still determined to finish — if he can. The cover story. |
The Fight For WB May Get Much Uglier ►"As far as the attempt by Paramount to have a proxy fight, why not? It’s all a part of the smoke signals and mechanics of it." After multiple rejections, Paramount CEO David Ellison could hit the nuclear button in his quest to wrest Warner Bros. Discovery from would-be-buyer Netflix. But this next fight may be a more public — and bruising, writes THR's Alex Weprin. The analysis.
—Finally! Grok, the AI chatbot created by xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by and majority-owned by Elon Musk, last week switched off its image creation and editing function for non-subscribers after an uproar over sexualized and violent imagery created with it. The restriction came amid threats of fines or even an outright ban on X in the U.K. Now, it has expanded restrictions to all users, including subscribers. The story.
—Big blow. A Los Angeles judge has tossed most of Rebel Wilson‘s lawsuit against producers of The Deb, calling many of the allegations “conclusory without specific facts” and “abusive.” The ruling, issued on Wednesday, didn’t give the actress a chance to fix her claims, marking a key loss for Wilson in what’s become a sprawling legal battle over the film’s release involving claims of defamation, sexual harassment and embezzlement. It follows the court greenlighting a bid by Amanda Ghost, one of the producers, to depose a public relations employee and subpoena documents related to a series of anonymous websites that accused her of sex trafficking, among other things. The story.
—Thanks Trump. Spotify is raising its prices for premium subscribers in the U.S., as well as Estonia and Latvia. Starting next month, the price for the paid subscription in the U.S. will rise to $12.99 from $11.99. The last price hike in the U.S. was in July 2024, when the price increased to $11.99. The story. |
Asad Ayaz to Lead Disney's New Company-Wide Marketing ►Upped. Disney is reshaping how it presents itself to consumers worldwide, announcing Wednesday the creation of a new conglomerate-wide marketing and brand organization that will be run by longtime executive Asad Ayaz as its first-ever chief marketing and brand officer. The move is designed to more closely align Disney’s marketing teams across its far-reaching businesses — from film, television and streaming to theme parks and ESPN — and to strengthen how the company connects with audiences globally. The story.
—"He brings deep expertise across direct-to-consumer, media and industrial sectors, as well as AI and other disruptive technologies." Paramount has named Dennis Cinelli its new chief financial officer, bringing a veteran of the tech world to the company’s senior leadership. Cinelli had been a board member of Paramount, but will step aside from that position to join the executive team. He succeeds Andrew Warren, who had been serving as interim CFO since last summer. Warren will become a strategic adviser to the company. The story.
—Wait, what? Fashion retailer Gap Inc. has named former Paramount top executive Pam Kaufman executive vp, chief entertainment officer, a new role. She will report to Gap president and CEO Richard Dickson, starting Feb. 2. In her role, Kaufman, who served as Paramount’s president and CEO of international markets, global consumer products & experiences until she unveiled her departure late last year, will lead the development of Gap’s “fashiontainment” strategy in close partnership with its brands. The goal is to strike partnerships and experiences that can drive long-term growth. The story.
—Deeply experienced. Jackie Brenneman, a long-serving executive at the National Association of Theatre Owners, the group now known as Cinema United, is taking over from Jean Prewitt as the new president and CEO of The Independent Film & Television Alliance, the group that runs the American Film Market. Prewitt, who has run IFTA for 25 years, is stepping down next month. With Brenneman, IFTA gets an exhibition expert. The veteran film exec spent nearly a decade at NATO, eventually rising to the post of executive vice president and general counsel. The story. |
U.S. Marshals Storm Timothy Busfield's Home ►The latest. Federal authorities forced their way into the upstate New York home of actor Timothy Busfield on Tuesday after he surrendered to police in New Mexico in a sweeping child sex abuse case that has drawn national attention. Busfield, 68, known for roles in The West Wing and Thirtysomething, turned himself in to the Albuquerque Police Department on Jan. 13 to face charges alleging he inappropriately touched two minor boys while directing the Fox series The Cleaning Lady. Prosecutors have charged him with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and one count of child abuse. The story.
—New allegation. Prosecutors in New Mexico have detailed a new allegation of sexual abuse against actor and director Timothy Busfield. In a court filing Wednesday, the district attorney’s office for Bernalillo County accuses Busfield of groping a then 16-year-old girl when she was auditioning for a role several years ago at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, California. (The exact year was not disclosed.) He allegedly “kissed her and put his hands down her pants and touched her privates,” the filing said. The story.
—"My heart is broken. I can’t be here and not think about Renee." While the 2026 Golden Globes was light on political commentary, just days later, at the National Board of Review awards gala in New York, winners used their time onstage to speak about the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters and even Nicolás Maduro being removed from power in Venezuela. Sinners writer-director Ryan Coogler, being honored for best original screenplay, was arguably the highest profile winner to directly address Good’s death. The story.
—Park pivot. Disney is making a major change to a galaxy far, far away. The company is changing the timeline in its Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge world in Disneyland, with plans to bring characters and elements from the original Star Wars trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) to the land. That will include characters like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia Organa roaming the land (look for Han near the Millennium Falcon… and the cantina), as well as bringing John Williams’ iconic scores from the film franchise, which will play throughout the land. The story. |
Pete Davidson Set to Host Original Podcast for Netflix ►📅 Look out YouTube! 📅 Netflix is launching a slate of original and exclusive podcasts, as it makes an aggressive push into the format. The streaming giant on Wednesday announced that former Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson and former NFL star Michael Irvin would host new video podcasts for its platform. Davidson will host The Pete Davidson Show every week, featuring “no-holds barred conversations” filmed mostly in his garage, beginning Jan. 30. Irvin, the NFL hall-of-famer and Netflix Christmas Day game analyst, will host The White House with Michael Irvin, a twice a week sports talk podcast starting Jan. 19. The story.
—🏆 Congrats! 🏆 Good Hang With Amy Poehler, Call Her Daddy and The Daily are among the titles in contention for podcast of the year at the 2026 iHeartPodcast Awards. The other shows up for the top award include The Breakfast Club, The Mel Robbins Podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out, The Rest Is History, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, Heavyweight and Giggly Squad. Fans will vote on the winner during a voting period starting Jan. 14 and running through Feb. 22. The nominees.
—🤝 Streaming deal. 🤝 CNN will bring several podcasts from Lemonada Media to its new streaming offering. CNN now streams the video podcasts Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know, Don’t Listen to Us with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody, Alive with Steve Burns, The Dan Buettner Podcast and Since You Asked with Lori Gottlieb and Gretchen Rubin. New weekly episodes of most of the shows and select library episodes of the shows will be available to streaming subscribers Wednesday. Since You Asked with Lori Gottlieb and Gretchen Rubin will be available Jan. 20 when the next episode premieres. The story. |
SXSW: 'Margo's Got Money Troubles,' 'Ready or Not 2' Headed to Austin ►All set. David E. Kelley’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles will be the opening night TV premiere at the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival, joining the already announced opening night film, Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters. Also set to premiere at the fest is Radio Silence’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, the sequel to 2019’s popular horror-thriller, and They Will Kill You, the horror comedy starring Zazie Beetz and Myha’La. Elsewhere in the lineup are new titles from Jorma Taccone (Over Your Dead Body) and John Carney (Power Ballad), and a movie co-directed by Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, which is appropriately titled Family Movie. The lineup.
—Woof! Stray Kids: The dominATE Experiene, the concert film from K-pop boy group Stray Kids, has sold over $1.4m in ticket sales in U.S. in less than 24 hours. The concert film, which combines footage from their Los Angeles date at SoFi Stadium and behind-the-scenes material, is heading to theaters on Feb. 6. IMAX early access fan screenings take place on Feb. 4, and account for $400,000 of those ticket sales. The film was acquired by Bleecker Street’s Crosswalk and Universal Pictures Content Group and produced by Live Nation Studios. The story.
—🏆 The future. 🏆 ICYMI, the BAFTA Rising Star Award nominees are in, and Hollywood talents Chase Infiniti and Sinners star Miles Caton are among the up-and-coming actors to watch. Three Brits line up alongside them: Robert Aramayo for his lead performance in Kirk Jones’ I Swear, a biographical drama about a Scot with Tourette’s syndrome, Saltburn‘s Archie Madekwe, who this year co-starred in Alex Russell’s psychological thriller Lurker, and Posy Sterling, a British Independent Film Award winner for Daisy-May Hudson’s Lollipop. The story. |
Gracie Abrams to Make Acting Debut in A24 Movie ►🎭 Another string to the bow. 🎭 Singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams is set to make her acting debut in an A24 movie from Halina Reijn, director of Babygirl. Reijn will write and direct the project, titled Please. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but sources tell THR that it is a period female drama and will be a continuation of the edgy romance genre that Reijn tackled with Babygirl. David Hinojosa will produce the movie, re-teaming with Reijn for the third time following Babygirl and Bodies Bodies Bodies. Reijn will produce through her Man Up Film banner, with A24 producing and financing. The story.
—🤝 Renewal. 🤝 HBO Max and A24 have renewed their Pay-1 window deal. The multi-year renewal will continue to bring A24 films exclusively to HBO and HBO Max in the U.S. during the Pay-1 window. The Pay-1 window refers to the first window following theatrical and PVOD. HBO Max subscribers will continue to have access to dozens of the beloved indie studio’s films throughout the course of the deal. In 2025, half of A24’s Pay-1 titles rank among HBO Max’s top 10 movies within their first two weeks on the service, the streamer said. Nearly 70 percent of HBO Max viewers who watched an A24 film returned for more — these viewers watched an average of four titles. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Black Bear’s 2026 theatrical release slate has added a May 22 opening for Daniel Roher’s Tuner, and an Aug. 22 debut in cinemas for Matthew McConaughey’s The Rivals of Amziah King. The studio’s new U.S. theatrical distribution arm will also open on Sept. 4 the comedy Spa Weekend, starring Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris, and has set a Oct. 23 release for Guy Ritchie’s Wife & Dog, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike, Cosmo Jarvis, James Norton, Paddy Considine and Anthony Hopkins. The story. |
'Euphoria' Sets Return, Drops S3 Trailer ►📅 Dated, finally! 📅 Euphoria‘s time jump is officially a reality now that the full trailer has dropped for the long-awaited season three. The forthcoming new season of HBO‘s buzzy hit series starring Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi skips ahead five years from where season two left off when the show returns on April 12. The official return date was revealed on Wednesday, along with a high-octane, nail-biting two minute-plus first look. The story.
—🤝 Family first. 🤝 While Oracle founder Larry Ellison is helping his son David Ellison pursue a $108b bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, David’s Paramount is cutting a new deal for another of Larry’s passion projects: His competitive sailing circuit SailGP. THR's Alex Weprin has learned that CBS Sports and SailGP has inked a multiyear renewal for the TV rights to the circuit’s races, which features “high-tech, high-speed 50-foot foiling catamarans at iconic venues around the world,” and teams backed by countries and corporate sponsors. The story.
—🤝 Pick up. 🤝 Amazon Prime Video is adding to its adult animation roster with a series from Solar Opposites alumni Mike McMahan and Dominic Dierkes. The streamer has picked up Odd Jobs, a show set 100 years or so in the future that follows a group of gig workers. The show comes from CBS Studios and animation studio Titmouse. The series order for Odd Jobs comes on the heels of Solar Opposites concluding its six-season run on Hulu last fall. McMahan and Dierkes were executive producers on the final season. The story. |
Ryan Hurst to Star in Amazon's 'God of War' Series ►🎭 Kratos in place. 🎭 Amazon Prime Video's long-gestating God of War series has found its lead actor. Sons of Anarchy's Ryan Hurst will star in the series based on the hugely popular PlayStation video game franchise. He’ll play Kratos, a Spartan warrior who traded his soul to Ares in exchange for victory in battle. Kratos has been the main character in a franchise that spans 10 video games. Hurst has a prior connection to the franchise, having voiced Thor in God of War: Ragnarok. The story.
—🤝 First-look deal. 🤝 Issa Rae is moving to Paramount. The Insecure creator and star has signed a first-look producing deal at Paramount that will cover both film and TV. Rae is moving to the Skydance-owned studio after a decade with HBO (which aired Insecure) and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Under the three-year deal, Rae and her Hoorae Film & Television will work with Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, Paramount Television Studios president Matt Thunell and Motion Picture Group president Don Granger on developing and producing TV and film projects. The story.
—She's back! Andy Cohen has confirmed that NeNe Leakes is making her big Bravo return in the new spinoff series The Real Housewives: Ultimate Road Trip. On Tuesday, TMZ reported that the former Real Housewives of Atlanta star was slated to appear in the network’s new show, noting that she would not join the cast in full-time capacity. On Wednesday, while hosting Andy Cohen Live, the Bravo boss confirmed Leakes would be involved with Ultimate Road Trip. The story. |
TV Review: 'Star Trek: Starfleet Academy' ►"A cast worth following to the ends of the galaxy." THR's Angie Han reviews Paramount+'s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Holly Hunter plays the chancellor of the school for future officers, reopening for the first time in a century after shutting down amid a galaxy-wide catastrophe. Starring Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Zoë Steiner, Gina Yashere, Tig Notaro, Robert Picardo and Oded Fehr. Created by Gaia Violo. The review.
—"Tries hard but falls short." Angie reviews Peacock's Ponies. The flashy spy thriller series follows two American widows who become undercover CIA agents in 1970s Moscow. Starring Emilia Clarke, Haley Lu Richardson, Adrian Lester, Artjom Gilz, Nicholas Podany, Petro Ninovskyi and Vic Michaelis. Created by David Iserson and Susanna Fogel. The review.
—"Superb lead turn covers for laggy patches." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Agatha Christie's Seven Dials. Doctor Who writer and Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall adapts Agatha Christie's 1929 novel of the same name. Starring Mia McKenna-Bruce, Helena Bonham Carter, Martin Freeman and Edward Bluemel. Created by Chris Chibnall. The review.
In other news...
—Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Karl Urban are pirates with violent pasts in The Bluff trailer
—Anderson .Paak dives into the world of Korean music competition series in K-Pops! trailer
—Douglas Rohrbeck, Tommy Firth promoted at Fox News
—Noah Hawley set to be guest of honor at 2026 Canneseries
—Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast launches retail hub
—Jayda Cheaves signs with Wasserman
—Publicist Christa Dallas joins Narrative as vp
—BBC Studios global content sales chief Janet Brown departs
What else we're reading...
—Adrian Horton feels that Heated Rivalry is a well-timed defense of intimacy coordinators [Guardian]
—Simon van Zuylen-Wood reports on dark forces that have taken over the MAGA youth movement after Charlie Kirk's death [Intelligencer]
—Mark Arsenault reports that Chinese universities are racing up the global rankings, with U.S. colleges going in the opposite direction [NYT]
—Shadi Hamid writes that Zohran Mamdani's early moves in New York is showing Democrats the way beyond wokeness [WaPo]
—Danielle Cadet reflects on the shocking death of Renee Nicole Death, and wonders as a parent "how to bestow that hope on my children" in these dark times [The Cut]
Today...
...in 1981, NBC premiered the police drama Hill Street Blues, which went on to air for seven seasons and collect 26 Emmy Awards wins during its run. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Regina King (55), Natasia Demetriou (42), Mario Van Peebles (69), Kellita Smith (57), James Nesbitt (61), Jessy Schram (40), Dove Cameron (30), Levon Hawke (24), Ryan Corr (37), Andrea Martin (79), Claudia Winkleman (54), Eddie Cahill (48), Margaret O'Brien (89), Jamie Clayton (48), Chad Lowe (58), Craig Fairbrass (62), Ernie Reyes Jr. (54), Nick Kocher (40), Caroline Arapoglou (35), Karen Carlson (81), Miray Daner (27), Trent Ford (47), Charo (75), Grace VanderWaal (22), Victor Rasuk (42), Ben Levi Ross (28), Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (44), Christopher Convery (18), Dorian Missick (50), Michael Seater (39), Chris Warren (36) |
| John Forté, the Grammy-nominated musician known for his work with the Fugees and the Refugee Camp All-Stars among others, has died at age 50. The obituary. |
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