What's news: David Ellison met with DC Studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. Peacock has canceled Ponies after one season. Revivals of The Sound of Music and A Few Good Men are heading to Broadway. And Netflix has pulled out the animation big guns at Annecy. — Abid Rahman
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►When Big Tech and Luca Guadagnino collided. Where can Luca Guadagnino’s OpenAI movie Artificial go now? That’s the question that has been whirling around Hollywood since the news broke that Amazon MGM Studios was dropping the feature just months after Amazon entered into a $50b investment with Sam Altman’s OpenAI. THR's Mia Galuppo and Borys Kit go inside Artificial's hunt for a new home, as both political and commercial challenges await. The story.
—Zohran's annus mirabilis continues. A political earthquake struck New York on Tuesday, after a stunning series of victories for the DSA and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primaries. THR's Steven Zeitchik recaps an incredible evening and what it all means for Hollywood, Big Tech and also for L.A.'s upcoming mayoral contest. The story.
—Push for arrest. Lawyers for British actress Julia Ormond are looking to have the court issue a bench warrant for the arrest of CAA cofounder Michael Ovitz for walking out of a deposition after being prodded about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Ovitz was asked about his continuing association with Epstein after the disgraced financier’s conviction for sex crimes. At one point, Ovitz stopped engaging. “I’m not going to discuss anything about Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. “You can ask all the questions you want, you’re going to get no answers." The story.
—What goes up... Despite strong box office recently, shares in AMC Theaters plunged on Tuesday as the company unveiled a fresh cash raise to retire costly debt. The day began with parent AMC Entertainment Holdings announcing it had a deal to sell shares to raise around $200m. AMC said it would use around $189m to redeem $125m of senior notes at 6.125 percent in interest due in 2027. AMC shareholders didn’t react well to the company’s latest move, and the stock fell nearly 27 percent on Tuesday morning. The story.
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Hollywood and Big Tech Are Preparing For War
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►Existential battle. With Meta wanting to steal TV viewers and Amazon and Apple meddling with content, THR's Alex Weprin writes that traditional media companies are pursuing megadeals to try and survive. The analysis.
—"I believe that if Steve were still alive, we would have combined our companies." Former Disney CEO Bob Iger opened up on a handful of deals that never were in a fascinating FT exit feature. The story, which included a series of interviews leading up to Iger’s exit from Disney earlier this year (he remains on the board for now), also touched on Iger’s uneasy relationship with Bob Chapek, among other topics. Among the things Uncle Bob dished on included: Disney's ill-fated deal to acquire Twitter, a desire to buy the James Bond franchise, and talking to Apple about the tech giant buying Disney. The story.
—Some men just want to watch the world burn. A new audiobook version of The Odyssey has been released voiced by legendary actor Michael Caine — except not really. Caine granted permission for an AI audio company to clone his voice for this project and other upcoming books and articles. This new version of Homer’s epic poem is a 13-hour cinematic production with a full cast of AI voices, music and sound effects. The project reportedly took just six weeks to produce. The story.
—Estate settled. The $29m estate of Liam Payne, the late One Direction singer who died after falling from a balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel in October 2024, will go entirely to his son, according to court documents made public this week. Payne, who made millions at a young age while performing with the wildly successful boy band, died with no will. Because he left no instructions for the handling of his estate, the total amount is being administered under British intestacy rules. The story.
—"I’m focused on my recovery and taking things one day at a time." Matt Miller, an NFL draft analyst for ESPN, says his left arm was amputated after he was involved in a car accident last week. Per local news reports, Miller was identified as the driver of a Ford Bronco that crossed the center line of a highway in Jasper County, Missouri, on June 17 and collided with a semi truck. The driver of the semi wasn’t injured. The story.
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Ellison Met With DC's Gunn, Safran
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►"He came to Atlanta, we showed him everything, and we’re having discussions with him." DC Studios co-chairmen and co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran have already met with Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison amid the merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount. At the premiere of Supergirl on Monday night, executive producer Lars P. Winther confirmed that Ellison has already been to Atlanta, where Gunn's Man of Tomorrow is currently in production. The story.
—🎠Seatbelts, everyone! 🎠Elizabeth Banks is attached to star as adventurous teacher Ms. Frizzle in a live-action The Magic School Bus movie, with Legendary getting the rights to make the feature. Rob Letterman will write a treatment and direct, after working with Legendary on Detective Pikachu. Scholastic, the publisher behind the book series, will produce, along with Banks’ Brownstone Productions, Marc Platt Productions and Legendary. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Lionsgate‘s forthcoming new chapter for The Blair Witch Project is set for a theatrical release on Sept. 24, 2027. Dylan Clark is set to helm a new take on the horror property from a script by Chris Thomas Devlin and Clark. Plot details and cast information have not yet been revealed, but THR reported last month that 1999 film stars Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams will serve as EPs alongside the first movie’s directing team of Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick and Gregg Hale. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Streaming audiences can soon watch Zendaya and Robert Pattinson navigate the fallout from oversharing in The Drama. HBO Max announced Tuesday that writer-director Kristoffer Borgli‘s black comedy hits the streaming service on July 31. The next day, the movie makes its linear debut on HBO. The story.
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Annecy: Netflix Reveals Looks at 'One Piece' Anime, 'Ray Gunn'
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►Going hard. Netflix used its anime showcase at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Tuesday to unveil new footage, artwork and project announcements, including a first look at season two of Blue Eye Samurai, new material from its upcoming The One Piece anime, a trailer for feature film The Ribbon Hero and the official announcement of new anime series Fool Night. The story.
—Not done yet. On Wednesday morning, Netflix was dropping more gems at Annecy, including first looks at its high-profile animation projects led by Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn and new details on its upcoming Ghostbusters series. The streamer also confirmed December release dates for Ray Gunn and its Cannes animation acquisition In Waves, positioning both as potential Oscar contenders. The story.
—🎠Staying at Amazon. 🎠Also at Annecy, it was revealed that The Boys star Jack Quaid has joined the cast of Invincible, Amazon's animated superhero spoof series from creator Robert Kirkman. Quaid will play Gravitator/Chris, a gifted engineer who uses his skills for thievery before an encounter with superhero Invincible turns him around. The story.
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'Ponies' Canceled After Single Season at Peacock
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►Sent to the glue factory. Peacock has canceled its espionage drama Ponies after a single season. The news comes about five months after the series premiered as a binge release on Jan. 15. Set in Moscow in 1977, the series stars Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson as Bea and Twila, secretaries who work at the U.S. embassy — “ponies,” or persons of no importance to intelligence operatives. Ponies did not break into Nielsen’s top 10 charts for original streaming series in the few weeks after its premiere, despite largely positive reviews. The story.
—🎠Hellboy of a casting. 🎠Ron Perlman has joined the season three cast for Amazon Prime Video thriller Cross. In a recurring role, Perlman will play a hard-driving officer. The part reunites him with showrunner Ben Watkins after their collaboration on Hand of God. In Cross, a ratings success for Amazon, Aldis Hodge plays brilliant homicide detective and forensic psychologist Alex Cross who digs into the minds of serial killers to identify and catch them. The story.
—Harlan's World. I Will Find You, the latest adaptation of one of Harlan Coben’s novels, had the biggest premiere week for any new Netflix series so far this year. According to the streamer's internal data, the thriller drew 24m views worldwide for the week of June 15-21. With a running time of just under 5 1/2 hours, the eight-episode series racked up 131.7m hours of watch time across the globe. The ratings.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Warriors' Heading to Broadway
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►Come out and play! A musical adaptation of The Warriors is coming to Broadway this spring. The musical, which is co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, marks Miranda’s first stage show since Hamilton, which opened on Broadway in 2015 and continues to be one of the highest box office performers. The Warriors is based on the 1979 Paramount film, which became a cult classic, and the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick. The production will begin previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in March 2027. Casting for the musical has not yet been announced. The story.
—The Sound of Sorkin. Revivals of The Sound of Music and of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men will be part of Lincoln Center Theater’s upcoming Broadway season. Bradley Whitford and Tom Blyth will star in A Few Good Men, which will be directed by Michael Arden and begins performances on Oct. 8. Jasmine Amy Rogers will star in The Sound of Music, marking the first Broadway revival in close to 30 years. Lincoln Center’s artistic director Lear deBessonet will direct, and Christopher Gattelli will choreograph with performances beginning March 23, 2027. The story.
—🎠All set. 🎠Denée Benton, Jasmine Amy Rogers and Patina Miller will star in the Broadway premiere of School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play. The cast includes Erin Morton, Lucia Aremu, Nia Otchere-Sarfo, Jordan Rice and Heather Alicia Simms. The play, written by Jocelyn Bioh, comes to Broadway after making its world premiere Off-Broadway in November 2017. Whitney White will direct the production set for the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with performances starting Sept. 8. The story.
—Checkmate. In its final week on Broadway, Chess jumped up over $426,000 to hit $1.8m. The musical, which opened in October and stars Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher, played to 99.5 percent capacity at the Imperial Theatre. Death of a Salesman continues building on its post-Tonys momentum, hitting $1.97m across seven performances last week, marking its highest gross yet. Best musical Tony winner Schmigadoon also continues to increase its tally, up close to $50,000 to reach close to $1.2m. The Broadway box office report.
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TV Review: 'The American Experiment'
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►"Dignified and intelligent, if a bit frustrating." THR's Angie Han reviews Netflix's The American Experiment. Martin Sheen voices George Washington in a Tom Hanks-produced five-part series timed to America's 250th anniversary that leans on interviews with dozens of politicians and historians. Featuring Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Ron Chernow, Gordon S. Wood, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, H.R. McMaster, Jamie Raskin, Ted Cruz, Saul Cornell, Yuval Levin, Alexis Coe and Mike Pence. Directed by Brian Knappenberger. The review.
In other news...
—Stuart Fails to Save the Universe lives up to its title in trailer for HBO Max comedy
—Sheep in the Box: Neon drops first trailer for Hirokazu Koreeda’s AI family drama
—Women in Film announces 2026 WIF fellowship class
—Daryl Hall reveals he got a kidney transplant
What else we're reading...
—Emily Glazer, Annie Linskey and Jessica Toonkel have a must-read story on Larry Ellison courting Trump, including the Oracle oligarch apparently telling the president "that if Paramount landed the Warner deal, it could overhaul CNN" [WSJ]
—Max Tani and Rohan Goswami reveal that Ben Shapiro's failing and ailing Daily Wire is looking to solve its problems by IPOing at an eye-watering $2b valuation [Semafor]
—Mike Isaac and David Yaffe-Bellany report on Meta's attempts to keep up with Polymarket and Kalshi, by creating their own predictions market app [NYT]
—Andrew Solender talked to House Dems who are stunned by the DSA/Mamdani "earthquake" in New York [Axios]
—Clint Smith reports that after meddling with the Kennedy Center, Trump is aiming to do the same with the Smithsonian [Atlantic]
Today...
...in 1994, Disney unveiled what would become one of its most beloved animated titles, The Lion King, in theaters. The film was an early summer hit that year and went on to gross more than $950m worldwide since its release. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Mindy Kaling (47), Harris Dickinson (30), Dan Gilroy (67), John Gilroy (67), Iain Glen (65), Minka Kelly (46), Erin Moriarty (32), Peter Weller (79), Nancy Allen (75), Carla Gallo (51), Vanessa Ray (45), Joe Klocek (31), Ariana Madix (41), Stassi Schroeder (38), Sherry Stringfield (59), Amber Rose Revah (40), Tilky Jones (45), Lotte Verbeek (44), Rosie Jones (36), Beanie Feldstein (33), Mary Holland (41), Dominique Tipper (38), Candice Patton (38), Joe Penny (70), Michele Lee (84), Lydia West (33), Sherry Miller (71), Nicole Muñoz (32), Amir Talai (49), Raven Goodwin (34), Betsy Randle (71), Amirah Vann (46), Joanna Kulig (44), Saralisa Volm (41), Aaron Dominguez (32), Lucien Dodge (42)
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Giorgia Moll, the Italian actress known for her turns in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s The Quiet American and Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, died June 2 in Rome, her family announced. She was 88. The obituary.
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