Amazon's Surprise Reboot; Timberlake's Apology; New 'Paranormal Activity'; Universal Music IPO

Today In Entertainment

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

What's news: Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's surprise Amazon reboot, The Real World reunites original cast for Paramount+, Melissa Benoist's Warners deal, Paramount developing new take on The King and I, another Paranormal Activity in the works, Vivendi plans Universal Music IPO by the end of 2021, Justin Timberlake apologizes, Gina Carano doesn't. Plus: Debra Martin Chase on the Equalizer reboot and how the landscape has changed for Black creatives in Hollywood, and remembering legendary casting director Lynn Stalmaster. --Alex Weprin

Amazon's Friday Evening Surprise

►Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are uniting for an Amazon series, Mr.& Mrs. Smith. The Atlanta star teased the series, coming to Amazon in 2022, on his Instagram story Friday. The project, a reboot of the 2005 New Regency film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, has quietly been in the works for months and stems from the Fleabag creator's overall deal with Amazon.

--Waller-Bridge and Glover will create and star in the series. Francesca Sloane (Atlanta, Fargo) — who is also under an overall deal with Amazon — is also attached as a co-creator and will serve as showrunner. The story.

In other TV news...

►The Real World is coming back to ViacomCBS. After its most recent season streamed on Facebook Watch, ViacomCBS is nearing a deal to revisit the series on Paramount+ with the original New York cast from the first season of the reality juggernaut.

--Titled The Real World Homecoming: New York, the new series will launch March 4 — the same date that Paramount+ is being rebranded from its current form as CBS All Access. The series will reunite the original cast in the iconic loft featured in the first season. MTV was the original home for the first 32 seasons of the franchise. Filming of Homecoming was recently completed. The story.

+Supergirl may be ending this year but star Melissa Benoist will remain in business with producers Warner Bros. Television. The actress has signed a multiple-year overall TV deal with the indie studio and launched her own company, Three Things Productions. Under the pact, Benoist will develop and produce new projects for Warners. While there is no talent component included in the deal, that won't exclude the Glee grad from starring in a new project that she also produces. The story.

+Renaissance poet Amelia Bassano is poised to get the small screen treatment. Tiffany Haddish, Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman and Mrs. America's Amma Asante are developing The Bardess for television. Envisioned as a limited series, the project will center on the true story of the Black, Venetian, Jewish poet, who some believe was behind Shakespeare's literary work. More.

+The Conners executive producers Sara Gilbert and Tom Werner are backing another comedy at ABC. The pair are executive producing Bucktown, which like the Roseanne spinoff is a multi-camera show about a blue-collar family. The ABC Signature project has received a pilot order from the network. More.

+CSI, one of the most successful TV franchises ever, is inching closer to a formal return at CBS. Stars William Petersen and Jorja Fox are closing in on deals to return for the limited series revival from the franchise's original creative team, Anthony Zuiker and Jerry Bruckheimer. The story.

+Producing icon Debra Martin Chase on the Equalizer reboot and how the landscape has changed for Black creatives in Hollywood. The president and CEO of Martin Chase Productions became the first Black woman to produce a film to gross more than $100 million (Courage Under Fire) and score a deal at a major studio, and now she's never been busier, Michael O'Connell reports. The interview.

A New 'King And I'

►Paramount Pictures is developing a new feature take on Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. The studio has acquired the rights to the musical that hails from famed duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, creators of Broadway classics such as Sound of Music and Oklahoma!

--Temple Hill, the banner run by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey and behind such recent movies as Happiest Season and Love, Simon, will produce the new version. Concord, who acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue in 2017, will also serve in a producing capacity. The story.

In other film news...

+Filmmaker Will Eubank and Happy Death Day’s Christopher Landon are teaming up for the reinvention of supernatural horror franchise, Paranormal Activity. Eubank, who last directed the Kristen Stewart thriller Underwater, is attached to direct while Landon, a Paranormal stalwart who wrote four of the previous movies before going on to become a hit horror director in his own right, will pen the script for what is being described by insiders as an "unexpected retooling" of the franchise, being made by Paramount Players. The story.

+Velvet Buzzsaw actress Zawe Ashton is joining Brie Larson in the sequel to Marvel's billion-dollar-grossing Captain Marvel action pic. Ashton will play a villain character opposite Larson, who once again will star as Carol Danvers, fighter pilot turned superhero. More.

Justin Timberlake's Apology

►Justin Timberlake on Friday apologized following the backlash he has received from a documentary about Britney Spears. The New York Times Presents Framing Britney Spears was released last Friday. The doc examines the singer's conservatorship and her early 2000s downfall, which became fodder for late-night hosts and tabloids that delighted in her struggles. The doc includes a discussion about the high-profile relationship between Spears and Timberlake and suggests Spears was shamed in the media for her behavior when the relationship ended while Timberlake boasted about having slept with her.

--Timberlake, in his statement posted to Instagram, apologizes to both Spears and Janet Jackson, his fellow Super Bowl halftime performer during the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" incident, "because I know and respect these women and I know I failed." The story.

+Related: Following the release of the documentary, the pop icon's longstanding conservatorship has been in the headlines — and an unexpected twist following a Thursday status hearing sent Twitter users into a frenzy: the judge handling the case is Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny's mother. More.

►Gina Carano has resurfaced after being fired from Lucasfilm. The 38-year-old actor, best known for her role on the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian, said in a statement released Friday that she would be teaming up with The Daily Wire, the conservative website run by Ben Shapiro, to develop and produce a movie project.

--"I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them." More.

►New this morning: The French media conglomerate Vivendi says it plans to spin off the record label Universal Music Group in an IPO by the end of 2021, valuing it at at least $36.4 billion. The label, one of the "big three" alongside Warner Music and Sony Music, is based in Santa Monica and counts Lady Gaga, Taylow Swift, J. Balvin and COldplay among its many artists.

Obituary: Lynn Stalmaster, the canny casting director who pushed relative unknowns Dustin Hoffman for The Graduate, Christopher Reeve for Superman and John Travolta for Welcome Back, Kotter, has died. He was 93.

In other news...

--The first Marvel series on Disney+ gave the streaming service another entry in Nielsen's weekly rankings. WandaVision's debut finished sixth among original shows on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Disney+ for the week of Jan. 11-17 in terms of total viewing time — but one way of looking at the data suggests it had one of the larger audiences of the week. It also gave Disney+ two entries in the top 10 originals, where it joined The Mandalorian, for the first time.

--Jerrod Carmichael's directorial debut On the Count of Three has gone to Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures for North America.

--IFC Films has picked up the North American rights to Gia Coppola’s romantic drama Mainstream, starring Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke as outsiders who become unlikely social media celebrities.

--Chloé Zhao's Nomadland dominated the nominations for the 2021 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards with six mentions across 11 categories.

--James Hibberd, an award-winning journalist who has been a leading voice in entertainment news for nearly two decades, is joining THR as a writer at large.

--Ever wondered what it’d be like to text Frank Gallagher? Fans of the drama series Shameless began to find out on Thursday when Showtime teamed up with Community, a startup that allows celebrities to connect with fans through SMS messaging, to promote the final few episodes of the long-running show.

--The "Blurred Lines" verdict will forever remain a landmark decision for the music industry — one that shows it's possible for hit songwriters to get in copyright trouble for infringing on prior work. But the dispute won't also become a lesson that star litigants be careful in what they tell the media afterwards. On Friday, in what's best described as a coda to the landmark case, a California federal judge rejects a renewed bid for attorney fees from Marvin Gaye's family.

What else we're reading...

--"ViacomCBS goes ‘all-in’ on streaming, but without many of its top shows" [Bloomberg]

--"I was an MTV VJ during peak Britney. ‘Framing Britney Spears’ made me ashamed ... and hopeful" [LA Times]

--"AT&T scrambles to install fiber for 90-year-old after his viral WSJ ad" [Ars Technica]

--"You can barely tell its the same trial in cable impeachment coverage" [NY Times]

--"Into the Lecterverse" [The Ringer]

Today's birthdays: Jerry Springer, 77, Chris Bender, 50, Stockard Channing, 77, Randy Moss, 44, Peter Gabriel, 71, Mena Suvari, 42.