| | | | What's news: Anatomy of a Fall won best film at the European Film Awards. Lupita Nyong’o will head the jury at the Berlin Film Festival. Apple Original Films has won the bidding war for Two for the Money. J.K. Simmons has joined Clint Eastwood's Juror No. 2. ABC's Station 19 will finish with its seventh season. AMC has canceled Lucky Hank. — Abid Rahman
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Golden Globes 2024 Nominations ►🏆 Barbie and Succession lead the way 🏆 The nominations for the 2024 Golden Globes were revealed Monday morning. Cedric the Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama announced the nominees across multiple film and TV categories, including new awards recognizing stand-up comedy and cinematic and box office achievement, live from the Beverly Hilton. The full list of nominees.
—🏆 First one, finally! 🏆 Barbie director Greta Gerwig received her first best director Golden Globe nomination, following years past in which she was snubbed for her films Lady Bird and Little Women. Gerwig was nominated alongside Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Celine Song (Past Lives), Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Bradley Cooper (Maestro) and Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things). Gerwig also received a best original screenplay nomination alongside Noah Baumbach for Barbie. The story.
—🏆 New personal best 🏆 Meryl Streep has broken her own record as the most-nominated actor in Golden Globes history. On Monday, the actress was nominated for best performance by a supporting female actor for her role in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, bringing her total nomination count up to 33. The story. |
Tucker Carlson to Launch Streaming Video Platform ►Tucker, the man and his stream. Tucker Carlson is planning his own streaming service, the Tucker Carlson Network, TCN for short. The former Fox News host is expected to officially launch the service Monday after teasing it over the weekend. Carlson is expected to discuss TCN on Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM show Monday. According to Carlson’s website, the service will cost $9 per month, but is launching with a $6-per-month promo price. The story.
—🤝 Stake acquired 🤝 Japanese studio Toho has taken a $225m stake in Fifth Season, the U.S.-based independent studio known for producing Apple TV+’s hit series Severance and Max’s Tokyo Vice. Under the deal, South Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM will retain majority ownership of the TV and film producer, while Endeavor Group Holdings continues as a strategic shareholder. The story.
—✊ Just in time ✊ The Beverly Hilton has reached a tentative agreement with the hotel union Unite Here Local 11. The union announced the provisional deal, which makes the historic property the first Beverly Hills location to reach a 2023 agreement with the powerful Southern California and Arizona union, on Friday evening. With the development, the hotel has avoided potential picketing of the Golden Globe nominations and ceremony. The story.
—🤝 Tentative agreement 🤝 The Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative agreement with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers on a new three-year national commercial contract, the union announced on Friday. The new deal provides larger wage boosts than in a DGA agreement negotiated earlier this year and institutes new AI guardrails. The 19,500-member union’s national board of directors unanimously approved the deal, which has been sent to members for ratification. The story. |
European Film Awards: 'Anatomy of a Fall' Wins Big ►🏆 Momentum builds 🏆 Justine Triet’s acclaimed French courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall has won best film at the 2023 European Film Awards, held Saturday evening in Berlin. Sandra Hüller, a double nominee in the best actress category, won for her barnstorming turn in the film as a writer who may have killed her husband. Triet took the best directing honor for Anatomy of a Fall and shared the best screenplay honor with Arthur Harari for their joint script to the twisty murder mystery. The story.
—🏆 Well, well, well 🏆 The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has named The Zone of Interest as its choice for the best picture of the year. The group named Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest star Sandra Hüller and Poor Things actress Emma Stone as the lead performances of the year. Rachel McAdams and Da’Vine Joy Randolph received the best supporting performances prizes for Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret and The Holdovers, respectively. The winners.
—"I am deeply honored." Lupita Nyong’o will be president of the international jury of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale announced Monday. The star of 12 Years a Slave, Us and the Black Panther franchise will head up the jury that picks the Gold and Silver Bear winners of the upcoming Berlinale, which runs February 15-25, 2024. The story. —Multi-studio bidding war. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Apple Original Films landing Two for the Money, a heist thriller to star Charlize Theron and Daniel Craig, with Justin Lin set to direct. Dan Mazeau, who worked with Lin to co-write Fast X, is penning the script for the project, which is in development. While plot details are being kept safely behind a laser trip-wire security system, the story follows the evolution of a relationship between two career thieves, to be played by Theron and Craig, over the course of three big jobs. The story.
—🎭 Two more 🎭 J.K. Simmons has joined Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in Juror No. 2, the legal thriller Clint Eastwood is directing for Warner Bros. Shooting is currently underway in Atlanta. In addition to Hoult and Collette, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb, Chris Messina and Kiefer Sutherland are on the call sheet. The film, written by Jonathan Abrams, tells the story of a family man (Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma. The story.
—📅 Date set 📅 Focus Features has set a release date for Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, a crime epic about a motorcycle club in the 1950s that stars Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy. The New Regency film set in Chicago will hit theaters on June 21, 2024, after first bowing at Telluride. The movie was earlier set up at Disney’s 20th Century Studios while on the festival circuit, but was taken off the release schedule amid the Hollywood actors strike, with New Regency eventually taking the film to Focus. The story. |
Norman Lear's Legacy of Inclusive Storytelling ►"He was a conscience for America." Legendary television producer Norman Lear, who died on Tuesday at age 101, was a champion of diverse casts as well as story subjects that tackled real-world social issues including racism, sexism and religious intolerance. THR's Rebecca Sun looks at Lear's long history and desire to confront social bigotry and how it permeated his body of work as a producer. The story.
—Calling time. ABC on Friday revealed that the upcoming seventh season of the firefighter-focused spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy will be its last. The news comes as Station 19 will return for season seven with new showrunners Zoanne Clack and Peter Paige. The duo took over for Krista Vernoff, who stepped down as showrunner from both Station 19 and Grey’s Anatomy after last season. Station 19 will reach its 100th episode landmark in its upcoming seventh season. The story.
—Scripted future in question. Disney's Freeform has canceled Cruel Summer after a two-season run and will conclude Good Trouble with the second half of its upcoming fifth season. Good Trouble, a spinoff of The Fosters, joins Grown-ish in wrapping their runs on the younger-skewing cabler in 2024. Anthology Cruel Summer and Good Trouble were Freeform’s last remaining scripted originals following the November cancellation of animated comedy Praise Petey. The story.
—End of an era. AMC has canceled Lucky Hank, the drama series starring Bob Odenkirk, after one season. The series, which marked Odenkirk’s follow-up after Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, wrapped its eight-episode run in May and has been on the bubble during the writers and actors strikes. The cancellation brings an end to Odenkirk’s run on the network, which dates back to 2009, when he was cast in Breaking Bad. The story.
—Biggest original film, ever! Peacock's movie Genie delivered a solid opening for the streamer during Thanksgiving week — big enough, in fact, to rank as the Peacock’s biggest original film to date. The holiday comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Paapa Essiedu premiered Nov. 22 and drew about 405m minutes of viewing time over its first five days, according to Nielsen figures. It’s set to rank seventh among movies for that week, which typically sees a number of holiday favorites re-enter the streaming charts. The story. |
Terrence Howard Sues CAA Over 'Empire' Salary ►"I trusted CAA to look after me, and they looked after themselves." Terrence Howard is suing CAA for an alleged conflict of interest in the agency’s dealings over his compensation on Empire. In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, Howard alleges his agents who packaged the deal with Fox prioritized the interests of themselves and the show’s producers, which it also represented, by inducing him to take below-market salaries over his six-season run starring in the series. CAA declined to comment. The story.
—Trouble brewin'. Yellowstone co-creator and showrunner Taylor Sheridan has filed a lawsuit against one of his own stars — Cole Hauser, who plays the fan-favorite Rip — and the whole thing is over coffee. Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch — a filming location for Yellowstone and 1883 — filed suit in a Texas federal court against Hauser’s coffee company, Free Rein, on Nov. 21. Free Rein’s brand logo looks similar to Sheridan’s company’s brand logo. To make matters slightly confusing, both brand logos look like literal cattle brands. The story.
—ICYMI. Netflix is overhauling the way it pays its top executives after shareholders rejected its CEO pay earlier this year … but co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters are still in line for big paydays next year. The company said Friday that it had approved target compensation packages worth $40m for Sarandos and Peters for 2024. However, the way it calculates their final compensation is being changed after shareholders indicated that they were not happy with the current compensation plan over the summer. The story. |
'Boy and the Heron' Opens to Record $12.8M ►Sugoi! Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron flew to a record-breaking $12.8m opening, making it the first original anime title in history to top the North American box office chart. The whimsical movie wisely chose to open on a weekend when there were no new wide releases from the major Hollywood studios. The first and second weekends of December are generally quiet as the studios prepare to unwrap their big Christmas films.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Boy and the Heron film shattered other records as well, including already becoming Miyazaki’s top-grossing film domestically after earning $5.6m on Friday from 2,205 theaters, not adjusted for inflation. His previous best, 2013’s The Wind Rises earned $5.2m in its entire North American run.
This year, the holiday action gets underway in earnest next weekend when Warner Bros. opens Wonka, although it debuted in select markets overseas this weekend to a very promising $43.2m from 37 markets, enough to rank No. 1 on the weekend global weekend chart. The box office report. In other news...
—Under the Influencer trailer tells the story of life after social media
—Rob Reiner takes on Christian nationalism threat in God & Country trailer
—E! News personality Adam Havener signs with Ken Lindner & Associates
—Former home of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward for sale in Beverly Hills for $8m
—Miami Art Week’s best parties and big stars from Leonardo DiCaprio and Janelle Monáe to Emma Chamberlain and Lori Harvey
—Lippin Group creates new management structure, promotes trio to office of chairman
—Dave Robb, veteran Hollywood labor reporter, dies at 74
—Lola Dee, popular singer of the 1950s, dies at 95
—Stan Rogow, Emmy-nominated Lizzie McGuire producer, dies at 75
What else we're reading...
—Will Leitch writes that the L.A. Dodgers agreeing to pay $700m for Shohei Ohtani is "bonkers" [Intelligencer]
—Nicole Narea reports on huge numbers of journalists that have died during the Israel-Gaza conflict, as well as Israel's attacks and harassment of journalists at home that has led experts to become deeply concerned about press freedom in the country [Vox]
—With shows like Good Times, The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son, Jonathan Abrams and Christopher Kuo write that Norman Lear reshaped how America saw Black families [NYT]
—Zheping Huang reports on Chinese tech giant Tencent's plans to create its own GTA-like game franchise with the dystopian future Tokyo-set Last Sentinel [Bloomberg]
—Stephen Kelly digs into the dark heart of Studio Ghibli's latest anime masterpiece, The Boy and the Heron, and reflects on whether this is really the last film from Hayao Miyazaki [BBC]
Today...
...in 1987, Warner Bros. unveiled Steven Spielberg’s 152-minute World War II-era drama Empire of the Sun in theaters. The film went on to earn six nominations at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Rita Moreno (92), Hailee Steinfeld (27), Mo'Nique (56), Gabriel Basso (29), Yasiin Bey (50), Rider Strong (44), Tom Shadyac (65), Yalitza Aparicio (30), Gary Dourdan (57), Courtney Henggeler (45), Donna Mills (83), Max Martini (54), Xosha Roquemore (39), Teri Garr (79), Dawn Steele (48), Alexa Demie (33), Ashley Hinshaw (35), Dola Rashad (37), Karla Souza (38), Ben Browder (61), Alex Russell (36), Bess Armstrong (70), Nesta Cooper (30), Gary Carr (37), Moe Dunford (36), Alexie Gilmore (47), Peter Kelamis (56) |
| Mort Engelberg, who was a producer on films including Smokey and the Bandit and The Big Easy before transitioning into politics as an “advance man” for Bill Clinton and other presidential candidates, died Saturday in Los Angeles of natural causes. He was 86. The obituary. |
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