| | | | | | What's news: THR's latest digital cover star is troubled cowpoke Kevin Costner. Chris Aronson is departing Paramount Pictures. Ari Emanuel has launched his new holding company, MARI. Spotify, BMG ink music publishing agreement. Disney nabs the rights to Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures books. And Savannah Guthrie will host a Wordle gameshow for NBC. — Abid Rahman
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How Kevin Costner Lost Hollywood ►On the digital cover. There’s a long list of people in Hollywood who swear they’ll never work with Kevin Costner again. And they all have their reasons. He doesn’t always pay his bills on time — one since-settled lawsuit alleged hundreds of thousands in unpaid costume fees. He burns through relationships — like his longtime producing partner, whom he sued for $15m. He ignores advice, even from folks like Steven Spielberg. He rewrites scripts without warning, overrules directors and on more than one occasion has clashed with his co-stars — including Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell … and Wes Bentley. THR 's Peter Kiefer goes inside all the on-set brawls, courtroom battles, epic bombs that have led to the world's most bankable cowboy to suddenly lose his aim. The cover story. |
Paramount Shake-Up: Chris Aronson Exits ►Another one. Veteran movie distribution executive Chris Aronson is departing Paramount Pictures on Dec. 1. Aronson, an influential member of the distribution and larger entertainment community for decades, has served as president of domestic distribution at Paramount since 2019. Prior to that, he did a long stint at 20th Century Fox before Rupert Murdoch sold off a large swath of his empire, including the Fox movie studio. Among his many contributions through the years, Aronson started the theatrical division for Rentrak (now Comscore), synthesizing and streamlining the collection and dissemination of box office data, including real-time grosses, that the entire industry has come to rely on. The news of Aronson’s looming departure from the Melrose lot comes as Paramount CEO David Ellison continues to overhaul the studio’s executive suite in the wake of his Paramount acquisition. The story.
—🤝 Full house. 🤝 Spotify has entered into a direct music publishing agreement with BMG, the companies announced on Tuesday, with the world’s largest streaming service now holding direct publishing agreements with the five biggest music publishers in the industry. The companies didn’t disclose financial details of the agreement beyond stating that it “ensures songwriters share more directly in the value created by their work.” Spotify’s deal with BMG follows direct music publishing licensing deals the company has closed this year with Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell and Kobalt. The story.
—🤝 Tennis, anyone? 🤝 Ari Emanuel has officially launched his new holding company, which will house many of the assets that used to be a part of Endeavor Group Holdings. The new company is called MARI, and will house a number of significant tennis tournaments, including the Miami Open presented by Itaú and Mutua Madrid Open, as well as the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, Mubadala Citi DC Open, SP Open, and a number of other exhibition tennis events. It also includes Frieze, the arts organization that Emanuel agreed to buy earlier this year, as well as a majority stake in Barrett-Jackson, the automotive auction house and lifestyle brand. The deals closed Wednesday in conjunction with MARI’s launch. The story. |
Bill Burr Fires Back at Critics of His Riyadh Appearance ►"Sanctimonious c***s." Conan O’Brien and the crew from his SiriusXM podcast took over Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre on Sunday night for a special live recording of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. After an introductory segment featuring co-hosts Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley, the Fonda’s lights dimmed as O’Brien readied to reveal his surprise guest — Bill Burr. “Hi, I’m Bill Burr and I feel wonderful about being Conan O’Brien’s friend,” said the veteran actor-comedian from a podium to rousing applause from the capacity crowd, which included THR . But he wasn’t exactly feeling wonderful about the week he’d had. “It’s been fucking fantastic,” he quipped after taking a seat. “Jesus Christ.” The recap.
—"She's strong." Freida Parton is asking Dolly Parton's fans to help pray for her sister after she postponed her upcoming Las Vegas concerts due to health issues. Freida took to her Facebook on Tuesday to share an update on the “Jolene” singer, who shared last month that she’s “been dealing with some health challenges” and that her doctors said she needs to “have a few procedures.” “Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly. Many of you know she hasn’t been feeling her best lately,” Freida wrote. “I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been lead to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me.” The story.
—"I welcome the chaos." Taylor Swift is responding to the mixed reactions to her new album, The Life of a Showgirl. While speaking on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show on Tuesday, the singer-songwriter talked about processing the mixed reactions to her 12th album, which has received both praise and criticism from critics and fans. “I welcome the chaos. The rule of show business is if it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping. And art, I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art. I’m not the art police. It’s like everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want. And what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror,” Swift explained. The story.
—"I’ve never lost a friend before." Nearly one year after Liam Payne died, his former One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson is opening up about Payne’s death. “It was really, really, impossibly difficult for me to deal with losing Liam,” Tomlinson said in a new interview. “Naively, I thought that because at this point, I’m relatively well versed in grief for my age, that it might soften the blow. [That was] super-naive. It’s very different." Payne, who was 31, died after he fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina. The story.
—"Never heard of him." Donald Trump weighed in on Bad Bunny being named the halftime show headliner for the 2026 Super Bowl, slamming the pick as “absolutely ridiculous.” On Monday’s episode of Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports, the host asked Trump to weigh in on the announcement. “The NFL just chose the Bad Bunny rabbit or whatever his name is,” Greg Kelly said. “This guy, who hates ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]; he doesn’t like you; he accuses everything he doesn’t like of racism.” After he asked Trump if he would consider boycotting the NFL, Kelly said that Bad Bunny “does not seem like a unifying entertainer and a lot of folks don’t even know who he is.” The story.
—First batch. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame unveiled its initial lineup of special guests set to make appearances for the 2025 induction ceremony in November, with Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat and Elton John among some of the biggest stars confirmed to be part of the show. The rest of the lineup announced Wednesday is made up of Beck, Brandi Carlile, David Letterman, Flea, Iggy Pop, J.I.D, Killer Mike, Maxwell, Missy Elliott, Questlove, RAYE, Sleepy Brown, Taylor Momsen, Teddy Swims and Twenty One Pilots. The stars will be performing or presenting to honor this year’s inductees, though the Rock Hall didn’t specify who was performing nor who each star will be honoring. The story. |
'Heat 2' Moves From WB to Amazon ►Edging closer. THR's Borys Kit and Mia Galuppo have the huge scoop Heat 2 , Michael Mann's follow-up to his 1995 crime drama classic, is getting a new home, ensuring that the ambitious and buzzy feature project will be getting made after all. United Artists, the Amazon MGM Studios division, is in talks to pick up the project from Warner Bros. after the latter let the movie be shopped in August when it was unable to agree with Mann on a budget. Jerry Bruckheimer and Scott Stuber have boarded the project as producers. Heat 2 is coming with plenty of heat, as a bevy of A-listers have been mentioned in connection with the project. With Leonardo DiCaprio circling, other actors whose names have surfaced include Austin Butler, Adam Driver and Bradley Cooper. However, no offers have been made to that talent, let alone any actor deals signed. The story.
—🤝 New studio. 🤝 Jaden and Willow Smith are expanding into the anime business via a partnership with studio N LITE, a Black-owned media company and anime studio based in the U.S. and Tokyo, to produce and voice roles in upcoming films. Jaden has signed on to executive produce and voice a role in Mfinda, which is in preproduction. The film, an epic fantasy inspired by Congolese folklore, hails from N LITE, anime producer-distributor powerhouse GKIDS, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions and legendary anime producer Masao Maruyama (Tokyo Godfathers). It is being touted as the first anime film created by a Black and Japanese team of producers and animators. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Walt Disney Studios has nabbed the adaptation rights to Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures fantasy book series for big screen treatments. Rundell will turn the first two books set in the fictional world of the Glimouria Archipelago filled with magical beasts into movie screenplays under the Disney Live Action banner. She will produce the adaptations alongside creative partner Charles Collier and her Impossible Films banner as part of a first-look development deal with Disney that includes all of the British writer’s current and upcoming literary properties. The story.
—🏆 Supporting player. 🏆 THR's Scott Feinberg reports that Paul Mescal will be promoted this awards season for best supporting actor — as opposed to best actor — honors for his critically acclaimed portrayal of playwright William Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. There had been widespread speculation about which path would be pursued by Mescal — a best actor Oscar nominee in 2023 for Aftersun — and his backers, including Hamnet distributor Focus Features. While Hamnet is a film about the love and loss experienced by William and Agnes Shakespeare, the fact of the matter is that Agnes — played by Jessie Buckley, a frontrunner for the best actress Oscar — is actually featured in quite a bit more of the film than her famous husband: Mescal appears in 44 minutes and 57 seconds (or 36 percent of the full runtime), whereas Buckley appears in 63 minutes and 49 seconds (or 51 percent of the full runtime). The story. |
MIPCOM Preview: The End of TV as We Know It? ►Inflection point. TV's biggest trade show MIPCOM is almost upon us, and THR's Scott Roxborough writes that this year's event marks the end of an era and the beginning of an uncertain future, both for the 41-year-old market and for the industry it serves. The global conference has long been a barometer of the small-screen business. But the center of gravity has shifted. Streamers undercut MIPCOM’s currency, the traditional licensing model, years ago. Now the bigger disruption comes from YouTube. The preview.
—Binge of suspicion. Netflix has picked up a series adaptation of the Hasbro board game Clue, reimagined as a competition show. Details remain scarce, but Netflix says that players will have to undergo physical and mental challenges in order to receive clues. There will also be red herrings to throw players off the case. The new competition show is being produced by Hasbro Entertainment, joined by Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation and B17 Entertainment. Sony acquired the rights to adapt Clue last year. Clue has been adapted for the screen before, most notably the 1985 dark comedy starring Tim Curry, though there was also a short-lived TV miniseries in 2011. The story.
—TRACE, SLATE, ADIEU. A gameshow based on the popular New York Times puzzle game Wordle is in development at NBC, with Today anchor Savannah Guthrie set to host. The project comes from Universal Television Alternative Studio and Jimmy Fallon’s Electric Hot Dog company. The NYT is also a production partner. Fallon will be an executive producer. Wordle, which the NYT acquired in 2022 and logs billions of plays from the paper’s games site annually, gives players six tries to guess a five-letter word, revealing only if letters are in the right place (via a green background) or part of the word but in the wrong place (with a gold background). The story.
—Overkill. In case Netflix’s Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, Peacock’s The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, Hulu’s Truth and Lies: The Hunted, Liz Garbus’s Lost Girls, multiple A&E shows, random Nightline and 20/20 episodes, and countless podcasts and YouTube were not enough Gilgo Beach serial killer content for you, Amazon Prime Video has you covered. On Tuesday, Prime Video ordered its own docuseries about the Gilgo Beach serial killer, Killing Grounds: The Gilgo Beach Murders. Emma Cooper will direct the series, produced by Nacelle Company and Empress Films. The story.
—🤝 Rights deal. 🤝 Fox Sports will once again be the TV and streaming home for the 2026 World Baseball Classic in the U.S. It will be the second WBC for Fox, which also televised the last installment in 2023. The event sees countries face off against each other in a tournament similar to the FIFA World Cup. The 2023 WBC saw Team Japan defeat Team USA in dramatic fashion, with Shohei Ohtani striking out his Anaheim Angels teammate Mike Trout to win the tournament. That game-defining moment averaged more than 6.5m viewers. The Fox broadcast network will air seven WBC games, including games involving Team USA, the quarterfinals, and the championship, with the remaining games running on FS1, FS2, and streaming on Fox One and Tubi, expanding the reach of the event. The story. |
Film Review: 'Tron: Ares' ►"Nothing new, but worth the download." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Joachim Rønning's Tron: Ares. The third installment in Disney's Tron franchise, takes on the very topical issues of AI and its part in the collision of human and digital worlds, all set to a propulsive NIN soundtrack. Starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges. Written by Jesse Wigutow. The review.
—"Calculated, but intense and focused." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Paramount+'s Red Alert. The Israeli drama focuses on a handful of stories of tragedy and heroism in the midst of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel. Starring Rotem Sela, Israel Atias, Miki Leon, Hisham Sulliman, Chen Amsalem, Rotem Abuhab, Sara Vino and Nevo Katan. Created by Lior Chefetz. The review.
—"A whodunit that fights the patriarchy in surprising ways." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Haifaa Al-Mansour's Unidentified. The latest Saudi feature by the Wadjda director follows a self-taught detective investigating the murder of a young woman cast aside by her country. Starring Mila Alzahrani, Shafi Alharthi, Aziz Gharbawi, Othoub Sharar, Adwa Alasiri and Abdullah Alqahtani. Written by Haifaa Al-Mansour and Brad Niemann. The review.
In other news...
—The Witcher S4 trailer shows Liam Hemsworth as an f-bomb dropping Geralt
—Guillermo del Toro to receive Cinema Audio Society’s Filmmaker Award
—Spike Lee to be feted by Chicago Film Festival
—Netflix House reveals pricing as Philadelphia tickets go on presale
—Prime Day vs. Black Friday: 5 categories Amazon’s shopping event does better
—The best Amazon Prime Day alternative sales: Save up to 70% across retailers online
—Surprise: Amazon Prime Day includes designer bag deals on Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton
—Tiffany & Co. partners with Netflix to bejewel Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein
—UTA hires Zoë Fairbourn in expansion of it entertainment marketing business
—Dwight Howard signs with Innovative Artists
—Allie Light, Oscar-winning producer of In the Shadow of the Stars, dies at 90
—Wanda Clark, Lucille Ball’s longtime secretary, dies at 87
What else we're reading...
—Henrique Almeida and Dylan Sloan report that Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first soccer billionaire due to his Saudi Pro League contract [Bloomberg]
—After a string of critical and commercial successes, Ben Lindbergh looks at how Warner Bros. dominated the box office in 2025 [Ringer]
—In a potentially concerning sign for the wider economy, Joe Rennison reports that the price of gold has pushed above $4,000 per ounce for the first time [NYT]
—Jim Hemphill went beast mode and saw One Battle After Another six times in six formats in six Days [IndieWire]
—Farrah Jarral reviews Werner Herzog's new book The Future of Truth, and wonders whether the veteran auteur is being profound with the work or just taking the piss [Guardian]
Today...
...in 2010, Relativity Media released Wes Craven's My Soul to Take. The supernatural slasher film was panned by critics and bombed at the box office, but has since been reappraised by Craven fans. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Sigourney Weaver (76), Matt Damon (55), Nick Cannon (45), Martin Henderson (51), Tom Rhys Harries (🏴33), Edward Zwick (73), David Yates (62), Bella Thorne (28), Chevy Chase (82), Jeremy Davies (56), Paul Hogan (86), Kristanna Loken (46), Anne-Marie Duff (55), R.L. Stine (82), Karyn Parsons (59), Tina Tamashiro (28), Percy Hynes White (24), Molly C. Quinn (32), Angus T. Jones (32), Enrique Arce (53), Peter Greene (60), Ian Hart (61), Emily Procter (57), Mona Singh (44), Ardal O'Hanlon (60), J.R. Ramirez (45), George Todd McLachlan (28), Dylan Neal (56), Stephanie Zimbalist (69), Michael Dudikoff (71), Nick Bakay (66), Travis Wester (48), Brad Greenquist (66), Mustafa Speaks (40), Amy Beth Hayes (43), Kylee Russell (29), Duncan Pow (48), Barbara Palvin (32), Jamie Marchi (48), Gordon Cormier (16) |
| Nancylee Myatt, a writer and Emmy-winning producer with credits including Night Court, The 5 Mrs. Buchanans, Living Single and lots of shows about teens, has died. She was 68. The obituary. |
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