What's news: Tom Hardy has settled his differences with MobLand's producers. Getty Images and Shutterstock have called off their merger. PlayStation will end production of physical game discs in January 2028. Benjamin Cavell has been tapped as showrunner for Dutton Ranch. Netflix has renewed Nemesis. And Mark Harmon will make a full-time return to the NCIS-verse. — Abid Rahman
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25 Movies That Explain the American Soul |
►A crazy, beautiful place, full of crazy beautiful people. For a country that’s been around for a quarter of a millennium, America is pretty dynamic. Politics, fashion, culture are constantly changing and that makes pinning down something like the American psyche a tricky game. THR's Steven Zeitchik gives it the old college try and picks out (and ranks) 25 films that capture the nation's essence in a way the Founders didn’t exactly lay out 250 years ago. The list.
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Lively Seeks $8M in Legal Fees From Baldoni |
►Winding down. Blake Lively is looking for $8m from Justin Baldoni to pay legal fees and costs that flowed from fending off a defamation lawsuit he filed as part of the sprawling court battle over the filming of It Ends With Us. The figure, disclosed in a bid for attorney fees on Tuesday, represents a portion of what Lively spent over the course of the litigation and her last chance at any monetary compensation unless she decides to file another lawsuit. The case settled last month with no payout to the actress, though she preserved her right to recover damages and legal costs under a California law. The story.
—Not happening. Getty Images and Shutterstock, two of the top photo, video and stock image marketplaces, called off a $3.7b merger after hitting a regulatory roadblock in the U.K. Getty said on Tuesday that its board of directors unanimously decided to scuttle the deal to merge with its rival after the top regulator in the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority, required the sale of Shutterstock’s editorial business. Getty’s board viewed that requirement as a non-starter. The story.
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PlayStation to End Production of Physical Game Discs
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►Huge. In a major change for the video game industry, Sony PlayStation says that it will end production of physical game discs in January 2028. Beginning at that time, new game purchases will only be able to be made on the PlayStation store, in a digital format from retailers. Sony announced the change in a post on Wednesday morning. The story.
—For sale. The studio complex 3030 Andrita Street in Atwater Village, which touts three existing soundstages totaling 34,500 square feet, is on the market. The campus, now titled BoxCar Studios but formerly named 3030 Studios, is billed by listing agent CBRE as “an ideal fit for a studio, production company, or content creator requiring a plug-and-play facility” after what’s said to be $18.6m in renovation upgrades. The story.
—Looking to buy. Firebird, the music and artist management company, is entering the IP acquisition space, announcing a $750m acquisition fund with investment firm Ares and advisory fund the Raine Group. Ares is directly investing in Firebird as part of the new partnership as well, the companies confirmed, with Ares managing director Jeevan Sagoo joining Firebird’s board of directors. The story.
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Harmon Back for 'NCIS: Origins' S3
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►🎭 Return of the king. 🎭 Mark Harmon will make a full-time return to the NCIS-verse in the 2026-27 season. Harmon will appear on screen in every episode of prequel series NCIS: Origins, reprising his long-time NCIS role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in addition to narrating and executive producing the series. Harmon guest-starred on the show last season as part of a crossover with NCIS that spanned the prequel’s 1990s setting and the present-day world of the flagship series. He also appeared in the series premiere in 2024. The story.
—New foreman at the Ranch. THR's James Hibberd has the scoop that Benjamin Cavell has been tapped as showrunner for the second season of the Paramount hit Dutton Ranch. Cavell replaces Chad Feehan, who stepped down from running the show in June. He is a veteran of shows such as Justified, SEAL Team and The Stand. Dutton Ranch was picked up for a second season last week. The Yellowstone spinoff was the biggest original series launch in Paramount+ history, while its premiere on Paramount Network marked the biggest basic cable launch in three years. The story.
—Alas. Netflix has unveiled a first look at its forthcoming competition show based on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory — and also a first listen, which might be the key element here. Titled Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, the unscripted series uses the re-created voice of actor Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 movie, as a key part of the game. Netflix and Eureka Productions, which is behind Golden Ticket, got permission from Wilder’s estate and worked with AI company ElevenLabs to re-create the late actor’s voice. The story.
—Another go. Disney+ and Disney Channel have ordered a pilot for a live-action series based on the best-selling books by Max Brallier. Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux are writing the pilot to The Last Kids on Earth and will serve as showrunners, and Kevin Tancharoen is set to direct. Should it go forward, the show would be the second TV adaptation of Brallier’s books, which include 10 novels in the main series and several standalone stories. An animated series, created and exec produced by Brallier, ran on Netflix from 2019-21. The story.
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Hardy Settles Beef With 'MobLand' Producers
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►Fixing the fixer. Tom Hardy appears to be back in the fold at MobLand. The actor had reportedly clashed with producers of the Paramount+ series during the filming of season two; THR reported that Hardy at times refused to leave his trailer and gave script notes to EP Jez Butterworth and creator Ronan Barrett. Now, though, Hardy and the show’s producers appear to have patched things up. Paramount+ hasn’t formally renewed the series for a third season, but the production had been targeting a fall start for filming on a new season. With Hardy back on board, that date looks easier to make. The story.
—🏆 Congrats to all! 🏆 The African American Film Critics Association has announced the recipients of the eighth annual AAFCA TV Honors. Among the top winners are ABC’s Abbott Elementary, which will be awarded for best ensemble and best writing; FX’s Love Story, which won for best limited series and best directing (drama) by Crystle Roberson Dorsey; and Hulu’s Paradise, named best drama, with lead Sterling K. Brown being recognized as best actor. Rounding out the series category is Shrinking, which won best comedy. The winners.
—LFG!!!! The cat-and-mouse game of Nemesis will continue for another season. Netflix has renewed the drama, created by Courtney A. Kemp (of Power fame) and Tani Marole, for a second season. The pickup comes about six weeks after Nemesis premiered; the show spent its first five weeks in the streamer’s worldwide top 10 for English-language series. Nemesis stars Y’Lan Noel as a master thief and Matthew Law as an LAPD detective obsessed with bringing him to justice. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Disney+ has set a launch date for the second season of A Shop for Killers, one of its biggest Korean streaming hits. The slick assassin thriller will bow on July 22, picking up with Jeong Ji-an (Kim Hye-jun) installed as the new head of Murthehelp, the online storefront that secretly arms killers, and her uncle Jeong Jin-man (Lee Dong-wook), who faked his death in the first season to flush out his enemies, back at her side. Together they will go on the offensive against Babylon, the mercenary outfit that hunted Ji-an through the first season. The story.
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Neon Closing In on 'Artificial'
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►Edging closer. After being dropped by Amazon MGM Studios, Luca Guadagnino’s OpenAI movie Artificial is in advanced talks to find a new home with Neon. Amazon dropped the film in mid-June, months after the tech giant announced a $50b investment in OpenAI. Artificial takes place during the tumultuous period at OpenAI in 2023 that saw CEO Sam Altman fired and rehired in a matter of days. The cast includes Andrew Garfield as Altman, Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati and Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever. The story.
—🎭 More Barbaro news. 🎭 Monica Barbaro is getting ready to join the fray with the Ocean’s Eleven prequel. The actress is in talks for a role in Warner Bros.‘ untitled feature that Bradley Cooper will direct. Cooper and Margot Robbie will star in the movie alongside Wagner Moura as the villain. Cooper is set to helm the film from a script he is writing after Carrie Solomon penned a previous draft. Plot details have not been shared for the project that is based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. The story.
—Societal collapse latest. Armie Hammer’s comeback movie Citizen Vigilante has been picked up for worldwide sales by Quiver Distribution. The movie written and directed by Uwe Boll, the German filmmaker, will be handled by Quiver internationally, excluding U.K., German-speaking territories, South Korea and Taiwan. The worldwide rights deal follows the film being banned in Germany due to concerns that it could incite violence against immigrants. That was followed by Elon Musk posting the full movie on his X account for 48 hours. The story.
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'Giant' Ends Broadway Run on $1.6M High
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►Going out with a bang. Giant hit its highest grossing week ever last week, as the show played its last performance at the Music Box Theatre Sunday and brought in $1.6m across its final eight performances, with the average ticket price jumping up about $20 to $200. The play, starring John Lithgow, already recouped its capitalization in May, with Lithgow winning a Tony for his portrayal of Roald Dahl. Last week also marked the final performance for Death Becomes Her, closing after 20 months on Broadway. In its final week, the musical, led by Betsy Wolfe and Jennifer Simard, hit $1.2m, its highest gross since January. The Broadway box office report.
—✊ "What this fight boils down to is respect." ✊ Broadway cleaners voted to authorize a strike Tuesday amid negotiations over a new contract. The strike vote marks the first time the more than 250 cleaners, who are a part of the 32BJ of Service Employees International Union, have voted to authorize a strike in 18 years. Talks with the Broadway League, which represents their employers, the theater owners ATG, Nederlander, Shubert and Circle in the Square, are ongoing, but the Broadway cleaners say the two parties are still far apart on several issues, and the current contract has expired. The story.
—🎭 All set. 🎭 David Corenswet, François Arnaud and Yvonne Strahovski will star in a revival of Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain this winter. Anna D. Shapiro will direct the play, which is set for February 2027 at a Shubert theater to be announced. The production marks the Broadway debuts for Arnaud, a breakout star of Heated Rivalry, and Corenswet, star of Superman. Strahovski, who played Serena Waterford on The Handmaid’s Tale, made her Broadway debut, for which she was Tony nominated, in the 2012 production of Golden Boy. The story.
—🎭 Taking on the Dane. 🎭 James Norton, currently starring as newcomer Ormund Hightower in season three of House of the Dragon, is set to take on the titular role in a new production of Hamlet. The actor will be the West End‘s first Hamlet since Andrew Scott in 2017. He’ll be directed by acclaimed German creative Thomas Ostermeier. The production will open in the autumn of next year. The story.
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Film Review: 'Minions & Monsters'
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►"Clever, before it caves to freneticism." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Pierre Coffin's Minions & Monsters. Illumination's little yellow creatures become movie stars during the silent film era in their new adventure. Featuring the voices of Pierre Coffin, Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr. Written by Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin. The review.
—"Elementary but enjoyable." Frank reviews Philip Barantini's Enola Holmes 3. Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill return for the latest installment of Netflix's film franchise about Sherlock Holmes' crime-solving younger sister. Also starring Louis Partridge, Himesh Patel, Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Helena Bonham Carter. Written by Jack Thorne. The review.
—"A mostly appealing throwback." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews MHz Choice's Zorro. Oscar-winning French actor Jean Dujardin stars as the swashbuckling hero in this eight-episode series on the niche streamer. Also starring Audrey Dana, Salvatore Ficarra, Eric Elmosnino and Gregory Gadebois. Created by Benjamin Charbit and Noé Debré. The review.
In other news...
—Netflix’s new releases coming in July
—Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez fall for each other in Not Alone trailer
—Guillermo del Toro, Gale Anne Hurd elected to Academy Museum’s board
—Victor Willis, Village People frontman, dies at 74
What else we're reading...
—Nicholas Barber digs into why Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey has attracted so much controversy [BBC]
—Miles Surrey looks at what breakout hit Widow’s Bay can — and can’t — do for Apple TV [Bloomberg]
—Sarah Fitzpatrick and Michael Scherer report the White House is considering granting 250 pardons for the U.S. birthday setting off a frenzy among criminals including rapper Pras and fugitive Hollywood financier Jho Low [Atlantic]
—Eric Lipton writes that Trump’s corrupt moneymaking run is (surprise, surprise) unrivaled in presidential history [NYT]
—Matthew Dalton looks at the air conditioning debate roiling Europe as the continent suffers under record high temperatures [WSJ]
Today...
...in 2010, Paramount released M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender in theaters. The first live-action adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, stalled at the box office after scathing reviews, and holds a 5 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Léa Seydoux (41), Liv Tyler (49), Pamela Anderson (59), Debbie Harry (81), Tate McRae (23), Sonoya Mizuno (40), Julianne Nicholson (55), Kyle Soller (43), Fortune Feimster (46), Hilarie Burton Morgan (44), Jonathan Roumie (52), Alan Ruck (70), Dan Aykroyd (74), Jordi Mollà (58), Jared Keeso (42), Hannah Murray (37), Thomas Sadoski (50), Melissa Peterman (55), Storm Reid (23), Terrence Mann (75), Ritchie Coster (59), Serenay Sarikaya (34), Geneviève Bujold (84), Dominic Keating (64), Marc Silverstein (55), Henry Simmons (56), Laurie Davidson (34), Lynsey Bartilson (43), Tim Abell (68), Kolton Stewart (27)
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Michael Byrne, the British character actor and stage veteran who played a Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the wizard Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, died June 20. He was 82. The obituary.
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