What's news: An average of 25m viewers watched the U.S. v. Paraguay game. West Wilson won’t be returning to Summer House. Anya Taylor‑Joy is joining the cast of The Hunt for Gollum. The Four Seasons has been renewed for S3. And Netflix is joining the ice hockey drama craze with a series based on Hannah Grace's Icebreaker. — Abid Rahman
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Armie Hammer Wants a Second Chance |
►"I made these problems for myself." In 2021, Armie Hammer experienced one of the most total and public collapses of a Hollywood career in recent history. The scandal consumed the Call Me By Your Name actor so completely that for a stretch, he was living in a 200-square-foot hole of a flat in Venice Beach, paying for groceries with a debit card a friend had pressed into his hand. In his first major sit-down in years, scandal-scarred Hammer talks to THR's Seth Abramovitch about life after the fall, his new Uwe Boll movie and trying to pull his career out of the ruins: "I would have done a f***ing cat food commercial." The interview.
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'It Ends With Us' Settlement Postmortem |
►The bold wager that didn't pay off. THR's Winston Cho unpacks the case that captivated Hollywood that ends with Justin Baldoni paying Blake Lively's legal fees but no additional financial concession to Lively, whose team had bet on that outcome. The analysis.
—"They are incredibly complementary services." With Fox Corp. set to acquire Roku for $22b, the company will also own the top two free, ad-supported streaming players. Fox owns Tubi, which captured 2.2 percent of all TV viewing in the U.S. in March, while the Roku Channel captured 3 percent, according to the latest Nielsen Gauge, putting it just under Amazon’s Prime Video. At the moment, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the plan is to keep the two services operating separately, while noting the power of owning the two services. The story.
—🤝 Expanded deal. 🤝 Podcasts from Martha Stewart, Kate Hudson and Lele Pons will soon stream on Netflix. As part of the deal with iHeartMedia, Netflix will stream the new podcast Suite 305 with Lele Pons, The Martha Stewart Podcast and Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson will begin rolling out on Netflix in the coming months. As with the other deals, iHeartMedia retains all audio-only rights and distribution for the shows included in the deal, while Netflix has exclusive video rights for the podcasts. This adds to the existing lineup of more than a dozen iHeartMedia shows on Netflix, including The Breakfast Club. The story.
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THR Live - Inside the Emmy Race |
►🚨 ICYMI! 🚨 Here's another reminder to join us tomorrow (June 17) at 11 a.m. PT for THR Live - Inside the Emmy Race on YouTube. Who has the most momentum? Which contenders are flying under the radar? Which categories are the toughest to call? Which show has your vote? Tomorrow, awards editors Scott Feinberg and Brande Victorian go live for a special Emmy season conversation, and we want to hear from you! Send your questions via THR's Instagram Stories and tune in as our editors tackle viewer questions and unpack the twists and turns in the race. Remember your questions could shape the discussion! Submit your questions and vote in our Instagram polls!
—About that race. If you need a little help getting a sense of the race before tuning into THR Live - Inside the Emmy Race tomorrow, Scott Feinberg is out with his latest awards season forecast. The nominations round of Primetime Emmys voting officially kicked off last Thursday and is open until Monday, June 22, so Scott provides his latest read on 35 categories. The Feinberg Forecast.
—Fresh faces. The results are in after members of each of the 19 branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cast ballots to determine who will represent them on the organization’s board of governors for the 2026-2027 term: nine incumbent governors were re-elected; five who previously served as governors and then took mandatory two-year hiatuses from the board were re-elected; and nine were elected as governors for the first time. Rookie governors will include Guillermo del Toro (directors branch), Kris Bowers (music branch) and Fred Berger (producers). The story.
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THR's TV Producers Roundtable
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►"You get the hang of a show or a character or a script and think, “OK, you’re a well-oiled machine. It’s going to get easier.” It’s not going to get easier. And if it does get easier, you’re probably in trouble." THR's award-winning Roundtable Series continues, up next are the TV producers. Over the course of 90 minutes, six of TV’s top writer-producers — David E. Kelley (Margo’s Got Money Troubles), Lucia Aniello (Hacks), Erin Foster (Nobody Wants This), Bill Lawrence (Rooster, Scrubs, Shrinking), Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Dan Levy (Big Mistakes) — sit down with Mikey O'Connell and make it clear that, despite their frustrations with streaming notes, withholding singers and awkward actor interactions, there’s nothing they’d rather do. The roundtable.
—🟢 Jumping on that bandwagon. 🟢 Netflix is heading to the rink and officially getting into the hockey romance game. The streamer announced an adaptation of Hannah Grace’s best-selling romance novel, Icebreaker. The novel is the first in Grace’s college-set Maple Hills series. Icebreaker centers around the relationship between a college hockey player and a college figure skater. The greenlight comes on the heels of two successful hockey romance series at other streamers — Crave and HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry and Amazon's Off Campus. The story.
—Repeat booking. Netflix has renewed The Four Seasons for a third installment. The renewal comes about two weeks after the show’s second season premiered. The Tina Fey-comedy delivered 24.4m views worldwide over its first two weeks, based on Netflix’s internal data, and also pushed season one back into the streamer’s top 10. The story.
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Late Night Revels in Knicks Win
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►"It all feels bigger than just sports." Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel used their respective late night shows on Monday to have their own New York Knicks celebration parties to mark the team winning their first NBA Championship in 53 years. The Tonight Show stole are march on its rivals by securing the champion Knicks as special guests as well as Spike Lee and the curse-lifting Wu-Tang Clan as musical guests. The recap.
—📅 Before the parade. 📅 The Knicks will get more of the late-night spotlight on NBC this week. Following Monday’s appearance on The Tonight Show, Karl Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby will be guests on Late Night With Seth Meyers. KAT will make his second appearance on Late Night on Tuesday and OG will make his show debut on Wednesday. The story.
—Meanwhile, in America 2. THR's Alex Weprin goes inside the UFC thunderdome that dominated the White House Lawn on Sunday and reports on what the TV cameras didn't pick up. Alex writes that in between bouts, military flyovers and hype videos on Paramount+, Donald Trump served as celebrator-in-chief, with tech titans and media moguls all seeking his attention. The story.
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World Cup Openers Draw Big Audiences
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►Woof! The World Cup kicked off to big TV audiences, including records for the opening games of two of the co-hosts. The U.S. squad’s 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday averaged some 25m viewers on Fox (and its streaming outlets Tubi and Fox One), Telemundo and Peacock, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings and internal streaming data. A day earlier, Mexico opened the tournament with a 2-0 victory over South Africa, which more than 19m viewers watched across all platforms. Fox, Tubi and Fox One combined for 15.99m viewers for the U.S.-Paraguay match, a record for a U.S. men’s national team game on English-language TV. The ratings.
—Ace up his sleeve. Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions is bringing the World Series of Poker back to ESPN. The production company will produce the 2026 WSOP in Las Vegas, Nevada’s Main Event and the Final Table. The WSOP last aired on ESPN in 2021. Last year, it was on CBS Sports Network and PokerGo. The story.
—Out of S11! West Wilson won’t be returning to Summer House. THR's Jackie Strause has learned via a source close to production that the Bravo star is exiting the series he has starred on for three seasons. West joined the hit reality series in 2024, but this year has catapulted him to a new level of stardom when he became embroiled in a relationship scandal with co-star Amanda Batula. The story.
—Tragedy. Love Island USA executive producer James Barker died last week after suffering a medical emergency in Fiji. Barker started working on Love Island in 2020, beginning as a story producer and working his way up to co-executive producer and executive producer, a position he had for the past three seasons. He had similar roles on Love Island Games. He worked on production and post-production and oversaw the series’ soundtrack. The story.
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Taylor-Joy Joins Next 'Lord of the Rings' Movie |
►🎭 Stacked cast. 🎭 Anya Taylor‑Joy is the latest big name to join the next Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum. The movie will be directed by Andy Serkis, who is reprising the role of Gollum. Hunt for Gollum takes place between The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogies, with Aragorn and Gandalf searching for Gollum to learn more information about Bilbo’s ring, the One Ring that threatens all of Middle-earth. Ian McKellen will return as Gandalf, alongside Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Lee Pace as Thranduil. The cast also includes Kate Winslet as Marigol, Jamie Dornan as Strider and Leo Woodall as Halvard. The story.
—🤝 It's Sony. 🤝 Netflix on Tuesday shared further details on its global theatrical release plans for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, unveiling that Sony Pictures Entertainment will handle international distribution for the global theatrical release. As THR previously reported, the film is set to be Netflix’s first wide theatrical release and first foray into releasing a movie into theaters exclusively for a minimum of 45 days. It was originally scheduled to be released exclusively on 1,000 Imax screens on Nov. 26, followed by a debut on Netflix on Dec. 25, but now has been moved to 2027. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Paramount is betting on the Duffer Bros. to turn the fall 2028 box office upside down. The studio has dated the Duffers’ mysterious project for Nov. 3, 2028. No plot details are known about the project, which Matt and Ross Duffer will write and direct. Paramount is describing it as an event film. The Duffers spent the last decade at Netflix overseeing the streamer’s breakout hit Stranger Things, which catapulted them to be among the most important creatives at the streamer. Ahead of the series finale dropping on Dec. 31, 2025, Paramount lured the Duffers with an exclusive, four-year pact that will see them create movie, TV and streaming projects. The story.
—🎭 Heavy. 🎭 Michael J. Fox has nabbed the lead voice role in an upcoming CG animated feature, Dragoons. The Back to the Future star will lend his voice to Dougie, an overlooked, ordinary worker at WizCorp who, after a freak accident, turns into a hero, with an apprentice, Dart. Additional casting for Icon Studios' Dragoons and a release date and distribution will be announced in the coming months. The story.
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'Backrooms' Sends Hollywood Running to Reddit for New Ideas
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►"There’s a lot of material to explore. It’s just about finding the right talent." Years before Kane Parsons' Backrooms burst into theaters with its $118m global box office debut, it was the focal point of fan debate, creativity and discussion on Reddit. THR's Alex Weprin reports that Hollywood is taking a closer look at the old-school forum that originated the A24 hit, with Reddit now embracing its role as an idea incubator where "fandoms can grow organically." The story.
—🎭 One more. 🎭 Saul Rubinek has nabbed a role in S. Craig Zahler’s gangster thriller The Bookie & The Bruiser, which recently completed production in Canada. The Copenhagen Test actor plays the role of Eli Hirschbaum, the owner and operator of Hirschbaum’s Drugstore, an old-fashioned “soda jerk” and pharmacist in 1959-era New York City. Hirschbaum is a father figure for Rivner, a Jewish veteran played by Theo James, and Boscolo, a tough Italian-American from the Lower East Side played by Vince Vaughn. The story.
—"I took her to a supermarket/I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere/So it started there." THR's Lily Ford has the scoop on Sing's Garth Jennings making a movie charting Pulp’s rise from obscurity to cultural touchstone, set to premiere exclusively on Mubi this fall. The company will release Pulp: What Do You Do for An Encore? later this year, a project described as in the spirit of 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense and Martin Scorsese’s beloved The Last Waltz (1978). It is narrated by frontman and legendary British rocker Jarvis Cocker and features 20 of the band’s songs. The story.
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TV Review: 'House of the Dragon' S3
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►"The third and fourth episodes feel different, in a good way." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews season three of HBO's House of the Dragon. Rhaenyra and Rhaena and Daemon and Aegon and Aemond and all the other little diphthongs are back as the series returns after two years away. Starring Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel, Matthew Needham, Jefferson Hall, Harry Collett, Tom Glynn-Carney, Ewan Mitchell, Bethany Antonia and Phoebe Campbell. Created by Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin. The review.
—"Admirably respectful of this couple, their profession, their romance and their city." Daniel reviews Alison Chernick's House of Criticism. The Itzhak filmmaker follows the two art critics, Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith, married since 1992, from galleries to diners to interactions with famous friends including Cindy Sherman and Lena Dunham. The review.
—"Hoffman saves the day — and the movie." THR's Stephen Farber reviews Alex Vlack's The Revisionist. Vlack's narrative feature debut is about the complicated dynamics between four writers: a father, his son, the son's wife and the couple's friend. Starring Alison Brie, André Holland, Tom Sturridge and Dustin Hoffman. Written by Alex Vlack. The review.
In other news...
—Greta Lee, Wagner Moura spend years trapped at home in trailer for Netflix's Last House
—Taylor Swift's Toy Story song "I Knew It, I Knew You" debuts at No. 1
—Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter drop "Bring Your Love" music video
—Janet Yang to chair board of Committee of 100
—Asia Argento to receive Locarno lifetime achievement award
—Felt That: Boxing game maker signs with CAA
—William Smithers, actor in Dallas and Papillon, dies at 98
What else we're reading...
—Dave Michaels, Dana Mattioli, Sadie Gurman and Jessica Toonkel report that the DOJ's decision to allow the Paramount-WBD deal surprised staff investigators [WSJ]
—Charles Homans, Steve Eder, Jan Ransom and Michael Rothfeld have an excellent visual piece on the untold story on Jeffrey Epstein's final days [NYT]
—People of a certain age will hate/love this Kevin Lee Kharas, Adam Christopher Smith, and Emma Garland story about "The Rise and Fall of the Hipster Music Era, 2000-2014" [Vice]
—Shaimaa Khalil explains the bizarre Iran vs Iran standoff at the World Cup game against New Zealand, as monarchists and non-monarchists clashed [BBC]
—Sid Lowe reports on Cape Verde's hero goalkeeper Vozinha who kept out the mighty Spain at the World Cup but also was in tears after the game as his mother was denied the chance to see him play due to visa issues [Guardian]
Today...
...in 2017, Focus Features released Colin Trevorrow's The Book of Henry in theaters. The drama thriller was panned by critics and bombed at the box office, and the backlash may have scuppered Trevorrow's chance to direct the Star Wars film that JJ Abrams ultimately ended up helming. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Laurie Metcalf (71), Daniel Brühl (48), John Cho (54), Clifton Collins Jr. (56), Charlotte Kirk (34), Billy Barratt (19), Park Bo-gum (33), Missy Peregrym (44), Sibel Kekilli (46), Jessica McNamee (38), Abby Elliott (39), Arnold Vosloo (64), Eileen Atkins (92), Eddie Cibrian (53), Camila Morrone (29), Frederick Koehler (51), Lyndsey Marshal (48), Nathan Parsons (38), James Patrick Stuart (58), Geoff Pierson (77), Joan Van Ark (83), Kekoa Kekumano (28), Iantha Richardson (36), Ali Stroker (39), Tom Lenk (50), Joseph May (52), Anya Chipovskaya (39), Adam Ray (44), Olivia Hack (43), Débora Nascimento (41), Imtiaz Ali (55), Jonny Weston (38), Tobias Segal (45)
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