What's news: ABC is going to bat for The View in its battle with the FCC. Netflix has signed a flurry of deals to show short-form videos. Prince Harry has lost his privacy case against the Daily Mail. Liz Meriwether will write the Britney Spears biopic. Big Brother's live feeds will be available on YouTube this season. And the live-action Moana is getting panned on social media. — Abid Rahman
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Who's at the Sun Valley Moguls Retreat This Year |
►The OG billionaires’ retreat. Each July, executives disembark off private jets in Idaho for investment banker Herb Allen’s exclusive “summer camp for moguls” in Sun Valley. The Allen & Co event, held July 7-11 this year, was once free of reporters but now is more like an annual chase for crumbs of news among journalists on-site. So far, attendees include YouTube chief Neal Mohan, Disney moguls past and present (Josh D’Amaro, Bob Iger, Michael Eisner), Comcast’s top brass Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor and Sony Pictures’ Ravi Ahuja along with other Sun Valley regulars like ex-Yahoo! chief Jerry Yang, producer Brian Grazer, entrepreneur Wendi Deng and more. THR has a running tally of the Hollywood attendees this year at Sun Valley. The story.
—Not lying down. ABC is going to bat for The View. With the FCC, led by chairman Brendan Carr, targeting the daytime panel show as not being a “bona fide” news program and thus not exempt from FCC rules around equal opportunity, the network is firing back, citing the show’s long history of newsmaking interviews and FCC precedent to make its case in support of the program. The Disney-owned broadcast network has filed new comments in the matter, telling the FCC that "these Reply Comments arise from an unusual posture." The story.
—🤝 Content deal. 🤝 Netflix on Tuesday said it is bringing content from leading digital publishers, including THR and other Penske Media brands, to its members in the U.S. and other territories around the world. The streaming giant has partnered with BuzzFeed, Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, People Inc and, Tastemade, in addition to Penske Media’s PMX brands including THR, Billboard, Eater, Indiewire, Rolling Stone and Variety. The video offerings, which range from three-minute shorts to 20-minute episodes, will be “discoverable directly from the Netflix homepage” beginning Aug. 3. The story.
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What Sky Is Really Buying in the ITV Deal |
►"Sky gets the front door. ITV keeps the engine room." “Sky buys ITV” is a convenient headline. It is also not quite what has happened, writes Remy Blumenfeld. The blockbuster deal separates two things that made ITV unusually powerful — its network and its studio — and raises uncomfortable questions about the future of British television. The analysis.
—Drawing huge sums. Animated productions are emerging as a force in California’s film and TV tax credit program. Four animated titles from Disney (Hexed), DreamWorks (Donkey, and one untitled film) and Pixar (untitled film) nabbed $71.6m to shoot in the state, the California Film Commission announced on Tuesday. The figure accounts for more than 38 percent of the estimated $186.6m handed out to 41 new movies selected to receive tax credits. Collectively, they’ll spend roughly $204.7m and hire 1,977 cast and crewmembers. The story.
—Major defeat. Prince Harry has lost his London privacy case against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday in London’s High Court. The civil case against Associated Newspapers Ltd. for allegedly unlawful information gathering saw the High Court judge on Tuesday morning rule against the Duke of Sussex and six other claimants, including Elton John and husband David Furnish, actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost. In his judgement, the judge said the allegations against the Daily Mail publisher required more evidence to be proven in the civil case. The story.
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'Dying for Sex' Writer Set to Pen Britney Spears Biopic
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►Scribe in place. Universal’s Britney Spears biopic has found its writer with Liz Meriwether, the TV powerhouse behind New Girl and Dying for Sex. For the project, the studio is re-teaming with the creative team behind the Wicked films, with Jon M. Chu attached to direct and Marc Platt set to produce. The movie will be based on the singer’s 2023 best-selling memoir The Woman in Me. The story.
—"PATHETIC!" Moana, Disney‘s latest live-action remake of one of its beloved animated classics, held its world premiere at the iconic Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night. While official critics reviews for Moana are embargoed till July 8, ahead of the film’s theatrical release on July 10, press and attendees of the premiere were allowed to post brief thoughts on the film on social media, and the consensus reaction seems to be mixed, at best, and in some cases incredibly hostile, with some viewers questioning why Disney bothered making the film. The reaction.
—🎭 Next up. 🎭 Moana star Dwayne Johnson is set to star in and produce Free Byrd, an action drama directed by Greg Kwedar for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity banner. Gill Netter will produce the pic also written by Kwedar. "Free Byrd follows a Las Vegas motorcycle stuntman who conceals a dementia diagnosis from everyone, including his mechanic brother, as he risks everything on one last jump. The film examines and confronts the mind’s vast mysteries and the beauty and power of asking for help before it’s too late,” a synopsis from the producers states. The story.
—Shut up and take my money! Takashi Yamazaki has already rampaged his way through the Japanese film industry, with his 2023 feature Godzilla Minus One becoming a box office hit and earning him an Oscar. Now, he continues his journey west to Hollywood for Nue for 20th Century Studios, a film that will team him with Ridley Scott‘s Scott Free banner. The logline is under wraps, but it’s an original sci-fi concept Yamazaki has been thinking of for years. The story.
—First feature. Magic Hour Entertainment, Max Siemers and Tanner Anderson’s newly formed production company, is set to adapt romance novel Love and Other Words. The feature film, based on Christina Lauren’s popular novel of the same name, centers on “childhood best friends turned first loves who reconnect after more than a decade apart and are forced to confront the mysterious heartbreak that took them away from one another,” according to the synopsis. The story.
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David Lowery Tackling 'The Fisherman'
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►🤝 Sold! 🤝 THR's Borys "Skewpz" Kit has the scoop that Focus has landed the catch of the day, picking up the supernatural horror package The Fisherman, a novel by John Langan. David Lowery, who most recently made the ghost story psychodrama Mother Mary, is attached to direct the adaptation and co-write the script with Alex Ross Perry. Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Alex Ginno of Platinum Dunes are producing along with Gary Dauberman and Mia Maniscalco. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Mubi has snatched up worldwide rights to Making Marie Antoinette, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the production of Coppola’s iconic 2006 costume drama, starring Kirsten Dunst as the ill-fated Queen of France. Sofia’s late mother Eleanor Coppola, who died in 2024, directed the documentary, assembling it from more than 80 hours of footage she shot on the set of her daughter’s third feature film. Marie Antoinette went on to win an Oscar for Milena Canonero for best costume design. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Details are being disclosed about a forthcoming psychological thriller starring Rachel Zegler. Bleecker Street Films has acquired U.S. rights to NDA, marking the feature directorial debut for Audrey Ellis Fox after her script for the film landed on the 2024 Black List. Penn Badgley and Amy Ryan round out the cast for the movie that is currently in production in New York. NDA centers on Dana (Zegler), who faces a wild day of mediation after filing an office harassment claim. The story.
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'Big Brother' 24/7 Live Feeds Coming to YouTube
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►Well almost 24/7. The new season of CBS' Big Brother's live feeds will be available on YouTube this season, the first time that’s ever happened. Season 28's 24/7 feed goes live on July 10 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The feeds will be available in full on Paramount+ and on Paramount’s Pluto FAST service. The feeds will also debut on the Big Brother YouTube channel at that time, but there will only be “available for limited periods following each episode throughout the summer,” Paramount revealed. The story.
—Mixed bag. Speaking of Big Brother, we now know the full cast for season 28. On Tuesday, CBS announced the houseguests competing in the upcoming season of the long-running reality series. The initial 14-player cast includes everyone from a rocket scientist and an MMA fighter to a pickleball coach and a RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, better known as Salina EsTitties. The lineup.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Stephen Graham’s new Apple TV series has a new title — Nocturne — and a debut date. Formerly titled Lazarus, the 10-episode drama written by Rowan Joffe and John Hlavin also stars Liev Schreiber and Zazie Beetz. The four of them are among Nocturne‘s executive producers; Hlavin is showrunner. Lazarus is the name of the 2018 Lars Kepler novel Nocturne has been adapted from. The name change likely stemmed (in part, at least) from the fact that Amazon Prime Video series Harlan Coben’s Lazarus beat it to market. The story.
—🎭 Four more. 🎭 The newest entry in CBS‘ NCIS franchise is filling out its cast. Jennifer Beals has joined the cast of NCIS: New York as a series regular along with Jacqueline Byers, Shane Harper and Devin Druid. The four join previously announced stars LL Cool J, who is reprising his role as Special Agent Sam Hanna, and Scott Caan. Filming on NCIS: New York, which scored a straight-to-series order in the spring, is set to begin filming later this month in its title location. The story.
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WC Sets Another Ratings Record in U.S. Loss to Belgium
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►Woof! The game was a letdown for fans of the U.S. men’s soccer team, but the TV audience set another record for the sport in this country. Early Nielsen ratings show 30m people watched Fox’s telecast of Belgium’s 4-1 victory over the U.S. Monday night in the World Cup‘s round of 16. That figure is likely to go up when final ratings, which will include Nielsen’s big data component and more complete out of home figures, are released later in the week. The preliminary ratings, however, easily clear the previous all-time high for an English-langauge soccer telecast in the U.S. The ratings.
—Beast mode. YouTuber MrBeast is joining the cast of ABC‘s reality program Shark Tank, where he will be a guest shark for season 18, which will debut in the fall. He will be a shark alongside Beast Industries CEO Jeffrey Housenbold, and joins a starry group of guest sharks for the new season. Other guest sharks will include actress and writer Mindy Kaling, former NFL star J.J. Watt, Diary of a CEO podcast host Steven Bartlett, and Sara and Erin Foster, the co-founders of Favorite Daughter and the inspiration for the series Nobody Wants This. The story.
—🎭 All set. 🎭 BritBox has confirmed its lead cast for the upcoming six-part drama The Cadburys, inspired by Deborah Cadbury’s book, Chocolate Wars. The series will be led by Harry Gilby as George Cadbury, Toby Regbo as Richard Cadbury, Jessica Barden as Maria Cadbury, Pearce Quigley as John Cadbury, Ben Hardy as Francis Fry, Joanna Scanlan and Poppy Gilbert as Elizabeth Adlington. Production is underway in Birmingham, with Freddie Highmore on board as an executive producer. The story.
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Dolly Parton Musical Set for Broadway This Winter
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►📅 Finally! 📅 The Dolly Parton musical is set for Broadway this winter. The show, now titled Dolly: A True Original Musical, is scheduled to begin previews at the St. James Theatre on Dec. 7, ahead of a Jan. 19 opening night, which also marks Parton’s 81st birthday. The musical about Parton’s life and career comes to Broadway after premiering in July 2025 in Nashville. The show features a score of Parton’s well-known songs, as well as new songs she has written for the musical. Parton co-wrote the book for the musical with Maria S. Schlatter, who wrote Parton’s Christmas on the Square film. Bartlett Sher directs. The story.
—Still packing them in. Maya Rudolph played her final performance in Oh, Mary! Sunday, sending the show off with a $1.5m box office tally. This made the play the fifth highest grossing show of the week, commanding the highest average ticket price on Broadway with $214, and coming in just behind MJ, which brought in $1.6m. Meg Stalter took over from Rudolph July 6. Hamilton led the box office with $2.1m, followed by The Lion King with $1.87m, and Death of a Salesman with $1.9m, which the play brought in across seven performances. The Broadway box office report.
—King of the West End. THR's Lily Ford spoke to Jamie Muscato, the Brit actor who has conquered London's never-healthier theater scene thanks to that viral Heathers performance and is currently playing every thespian's dream role — the Emcee in Cabaret. With his latest show set to fill even more seats, can one of London's most bankable stage stars finally score that long-overdue Broadway transfer? The interview.
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TV Review: 'The Man Will Burn'
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►"Engaging, but rarely digs deep." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews HBO's The Man Will Burn. This Burning Man docuseries chronicle the highs and lows of the festival, which sees tens of thousands of artists and fans descending on the Nevada desert every year. Directed by Jehane Noujaim and Vikram Gandhi. The review.
In other news...
—CODA director Sian Heder’s Being Heumann to open Toronto Film Festival
—Sandra Hüller-starring Fatherland set to open Sarajevo Film Festival
—Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women Gala sets co-hosts
—Jay-Z adds London stop to 30-year career celebration tour
—Rick Caruso unveils first look at Miramar Lake Club, a private golf and social club
—WME Group promotes Marie Sheehy to C-suite
—Brian Potter, “One Tin Soldier” and “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” songwriter, dies at 87
What else we're reading...
—Rose Horowitch posits that the age of reading might be a short anomaly in human history as literacy rates drop [The Atlantic]
—Tejal Rao reflects on the disappearing Las Vegas buffets and what losing a once-grand American tradition means [NYT]
—Dan Wetzel writes that the USMNT's World Cup losses will continue until America fixes its youth soccer system [ESPN]
—Offering a reality check, Candace Buckner is adamant that the U.S. is never going to win a men’s World Cup [The Athletic]
—Drew Lerner reports on the tensions between Fox and NBC as Telemundo courts English speakers for its World Cup coverage [Awful Announcing]
Today...
...in 2005, 20th Century Fox brought the Fantastic Four to the big screen, launching the Marvel superheroes to a $330m worldwide gross and a quickly greenlit sequel. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
David Corenswet (33), Milo Ventimiglia (49), Kevin Bacon (68), Anjelica Huston (75), Maya Hawke (28), Billy Crudup (58), Robert Knepper (67), Jaden Smith (28), Lee Tergesen (61), Wally Pfister (65), Isabella Sermon (20), Shazad Latif (38), Sophia Bush (44), Michael Weatherly (58), Kathleen Robertson (53), Kim Darby (79), Paras Patel (40), Sally Lindsay (53), Alexis Dziena (42), Jake McDorman (40), Sebastian Maniscalco (53), Michael Abbott Jr. (48), Schuyler Fisk (44), Amy O'Neill (55), Marcus Chong (59), Jamie Blackley (35), Matthew Marsh (72), Michael B. Silver (59), Lena Endre (71), Valarie Pettiford (66), Riele Downs (25), Pendleton Ward (44), Major Dodson (23), Mica Burton (32), Cullen Moss (51), Lance Gross (45), Des Hamilton (61), Thuso Mbedu (35)
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Louise Lasser, the demure, soft-spoken comedienne best known as Woody Allen‘s first leading lady and as the title character on the television satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, has died. She was 87. The obituary.
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