| | | | What's news: Disney beat Wall Street estimates for Q2. Tom Ascheim is out at Warner Bros. Discovery. Ashley Judd revealed the cause of her mother Naomi Judd's death. Amazon renews Upload. NBC picks up George Lopez comedy. Paul Feig's A Simple Favor to get a sequel. Emily Blunt to front a pharma thriller feature from David Yates. Plus: Peacock has picked up a series a decade in the making from Borat 2 filmmaker Jason Woliner — Abid Rahman |
Ron Howard on Career Highs, Self-Doubts and 'Hillbilly Elegy' Author J.D. Vance ►"I was surprised by some of the positions [Vance has] taken." Ron Howard, one of America's most successful filmmakers whose movies have grossed over $4.3 billion globally and won more than 40 awards, spoke to THR's Beatrice Verhoeven about his long career.
Among the many nuggets in the piece, Howard reveals what it was like to take over the troubled Star Wars spinoff movie Solo midstream and also advising (but not directing) his budding filmmaker daughter Bryce Dallas Howard. Interestingly, Howard also gives his opinion on J.D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy which the director adapted for the big screen in 2020, who recently won the Ohio Senate Republican primary by taking a Trumpian turn. The profile.
—"Mother used a firearm." An emotional Ashley Judd opened up about her mother Naomi’s cause of death and struggle with mental illness in an interview with Diane Sawyer that aired on Thursday’s Good Morning America. The actress explained that she had been “deputized” by her family to speak about what happened and shared that she was speaking out now to try to control the narrative around her mother’s death. The story.
—Doing A-OK. Disney's streaming subscriber numbers once again beat Wall Street expectations last quarter, adding 7.9 million Disney+ subscribers for a global total of 138 million. Hulu added 300,000 subscribers to reach 45.6 million subs and ESPN+ added 1 million subscribers to reach 22.3 million. Overall, Disney reported Q2 revenue of $19.2 billion and income of $3.7 billion for the quarter. The results.
—The cuts keep coming. Tom Ascheim, the former Freeform president who joined WarnerMedia in April 2020, is out at Warner Bros. Discovery. The exec’s role as president of Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics at WarnerMedia, has been eliminated after Discovery’s Kathleen Finch was handed oversight of WarnerMedia’s linear networks. Also out is Warner Bros. exec vp worldwide corporate communications and public affairs Johanna Fuentes. Her role will not be replaced amid a larger PR reorg at WBD. The story.
—No surprises here. Brett Weitz is leaving his role as general manager of Warner Bros. Discovery-owned networks TNT, TBS and TruTV. Weitz’s role has been eliminated following the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger that saw the latter company’s Kathleen Finch take on oversight of the Warners-backed cable networks following a restructuring. The story.
—Premium sports play. Staying with Warner Bros. Discovery, the company and British telecom giant BT Group will merge their sports media units BT Sport and Eurosport in the U.K. and Ireland in a 50/50 joint venture. The JV brings together an extensive portfolios of premium sports rights, including the Olympic Games, the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, cycling Grand Tours, and tennis Grand Slams. The story.
—Kelly's time to shine. THR's awards columnist Scott Feinberg has the scoop on the Emmy category submissions for Paramount's ratings juggernaut Yellowstone, including a significant push for Kelly Reilly in the highly competitive lead actress in a drama category. Scott writes Taylor Sheridan's Western, the first three seasons of which collectively attracted a single Emmy nomination, could be on the precipice of a Schitt's Creek-like awards surge. The story. |
Chuck Lorre's 'United States of Al' Canceled at CBS ►It begins. With Upfronts next week, CBS has begun cancellations, and the first victim is Chuck Lorre’s United States of Al. The sophomore comedy, which hailed from The Big Bang Theory alums Lorre, Dave Goetsch and Maria Ferrari hailed from Warner Bros. Television, where prolific writer-creator Lorre has been based with an overall deal. The critically-panned show will air its finale this month. The story.
—Re-upload. Amazon Prime Video has handed out a third-season renewal to the Greg Daniels-created sci-fi comedy Upload. The pickup comes two months after the sophomore season of the Robbie Amell and Andy Allo series debuted. The story.
—Family affair. Fifteen years after George Lopez's ABC comedy wrapped its six-season run, NBC has handed out a formal series order to Lopez vs. Lopez, a comedy that marks a reunion with showrunner Bruce Helford. Lopez stars opposite his daughter, Mayan Lopez, in the multicamera comedy from Universal Television, Mohawk Productions, Travieso Productions, Mi Vida Loba and 3 Arts. The story.
—Yet another Cinderella project. Skydance Television, Concord Originals and Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions are teaming up to produce a limited series based on Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Rachel Shukert, who created The Baby-Sitters Club for Netflix, will adapt the musical and serve as showrunner. The project will be taken to potential buyers in the near future. The story.
—Not long to wait. South Park fans can rejoice, a new made-for-TV film is on its way to Paramount+ this spring. South Park: The Streaming Wars will drop exclusively on the streaming service on June 1. This marks the third of 14 films creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone agreed to when they signed their $900 million ViacomCBS deal last year. The fourth made-for-TV film will arrive late summer. The story.
—Intriguing. Peacock gave a straight-to-series order to a mysterious series from Borat 2 director Jason Woliner. The untitled “mind bending” project, which counts Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as exec producers, has been secretly shooting for over a decade. It’s described as “a groundbreaking project that mixes fact and fiction to tell a bizarre and incredible tale” that promises to “pile on jaw-dropping new twists” and is shot in the style of Borat 2. The story.
—Replacement. Bridgerton is undergoing a casting shakeup: Ruby Stokes is exiting the Netflix hit as Francesca Bridgerton, and Hannah Dodd (Anatomy of a Scandal) is taking over the role. Stokes will be on another Netflix title, however, having secured the lead lead on Lockwood & Co. The story. |
Europe Still Waiting for Box Office Bounce ►Stalled. The European box office still hasn’t recovered from COVID-19. Figures released by the European Audiovisual Observatory on Thursday show that 2021 theatrical revenue across the European Union and the U.K., while ticking up compared to 2020, was still down a whopping 59 percent compared with pre-pandemic levels. The story.
—Another favor. A sequel to comedy-thriller A Simple Favor is a go at Amazon and Lionsgate. Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are set to reprise their roles, with director Paul Feig returning to the director’s chair. Jessica Sharzer will write the sequel, having penned the 2018 movie based on the book of the same name by Darcey Bell. The story.
—Pharma drama. Emily Blunt is set to star in crime thriller Pain Hustlers from director David Yates. The film is written by Wells Tower and tells the story of a high school dropout who lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical startup in a Florida strip mall. The project is produced by Lawrence Grey through his Grey Matter Productions banner and Wychwood Pictures. The story.
—Guaranteed gore. Legendary's remake of The Toxic Avenger promises to be sufficiently noxious for its hardcore fans after it was given an R rating by the MPAA. The reboot boosts an impressive cast led by Peter Dinklage and also stars Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon and Jacob Tremblay. The story.
—Returning face. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Hayden Panettiere is returning to the world of Scream. One of the stars of 2011’s Scream 4, Panettiere has closed a deal to reprise her character in the upcoming sixth installment of Spyglass Media and Paramount Pictures’ horror franchise. The story. |
Cannes: The Hot Sales Titles ►The march to the Marché du Film. THR's Scott Roxborough and Mia Galuppo run through the buzziest titles up for grabs at the upcoming Cannes Film Market, including films from Julia Garner, Juliette Binoche, Woody Harrelson and Parasite star Song Kang-ho. Scott and Mia write that with the sting of big-budget flops like Moonfall still fresh, buyers are likely to target the safer bet of more intimate fare, in the vein of last year’s Worst Person in the World. The hot list.
—Talking film. Fantastic Beasts star Mads Mikkelsen, Spanish Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, Italian writer/director Alice Rohrwacher and French multi-hyphenate Agnès Jaoui will be guests of the Cannes Film Festival, taking part in the “Rendez-vous with…” program of artist interviews, which will be held May 23-27. The story.
—Stellar cast. Ralph Fiennes has signed on to star in Conclave, a papal-set conspiracy thriller based on Robert Harris’ best-selling novel of the same name from German director Edward Berger. John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini will also star in the film, which House Productions and FilmNation Entertainment are producing, developed with the support of Access Entertainment. The story.
—Not so secret now. THR's Alex Ritman has the scoop on a secret Luc Besson feature project hitting the Cannes Film Market. June and John is a project Besson shot during lockdown, a lower-budget romance film that he made independently and self-financed. The story.
—10-4 good buddy. Alex has a scoop on another Cannes market project, this time starring Vanessa Hudgens as a female trucker in the upcoming feature Big Rig. Martha Stephens will direct from a screenplay by Ryan Binaco, with Claude Dal Farra and Brian Keady of BCDF Pictures producing with Kelsey Law. Hudgens also executive produces.The story.
—Young guns. Child stars Jacob Tremblay and Woody Norman teaming up for a survival drama The Skeleton Tree that is hitting the Cannes Marché. To be written and director by Paul Barry in his feature directorial debut, the project — which made the 2021 Black List — is based on the book by the same name, written by Iain Lawrence and published in 2016. The story. |
Film Review: 'Top Gun: Maverick' ►"Refueled and ready for takeoff." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise's iconic ace fighter pilot returns 36 years after first feeling the need for speed in this sequel, also starring Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm. The review. — "Doomed by a weakly structured plot and poorly sketched protagonist." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer. Author Michael Connelly's automobile-loving defense attorney Mickey Haller heads to the small screen with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo taking the lead role in this David E. Kelley-created drama. The review. In other news... —Andy Dick arrested on suspicion of felony sexual battery —Landmark Theatres set to close L.A.’s Pico location this month —Tony Awards: Darren Criss, Julianne Hough to host live preshow on Paramount+ — CODA director Sian Heder to be awarded alumni honor at AFI Life Achievement Gala —Paradiso Media podcast network signs with CAA —ICM agent Christina Bazdekis exits to join UTA — Westworld to headline ATX TV Festival closing night —Rapper Gunna booked into jail on racketeering charge —Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh killed during Israeli raid in West Bank What else we're reading... —I'll let the subhead on this Tony Ortega story speak for itself: "The tale of a widower—and mother of two—from Texas who was convinced to send over $800,000 to people claiming to be “Leonardo DiCaprio” enslaved by the Church of Scientology" [ Daily Beast] —Interesting Ben Cohen interview with Maverick Carter, LeBron James’s friend and business partner and CEO of SpringHill, the buzzy production house [ WSJ] —An eye-opening edited excerpt of Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx's book That’s Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them [ Vulture] —A handy catchup of why former McCain '08 campaign manager Steve Schmidt is torching Meghan McCain on Twitter [ Intelligencer] —Fascinating Sandra E. Garcia story on the booming Brazilian butt lift market in Miami and the painful recovery often done on the cheap [ NYT] Today... ...in 1995, Buena Vista unveiled its war thriller Crimson Tide in theaters. The Simpson/Bruckheimer film, starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman and directed by Tony Scott, went on to gross $157 million globally during its run. The original review. Today's birthdays: Rhea Seehorn (50), Malin Akerman (44), Rami Malek (41), Nathan Fielder (39), Jason Biggs (44), Emily VanCamp (36), Gabriel Byrne (72), Domhnall Gleeson (39), Emilio Estevez (60), Samantha Mathis (52), Deborah Kara Unger (56), Ving Rhames (63), Emily Beecham (38), Odeya Rush (25), Bruce Boxleitner (72), Stephen Baldwin (56), Jamie Luner (51), Kim Fields (53), Tony Hawk (54), Malcolm David Kelley (30) |
| Phillip M. Goldfarb, the producer and production manager who won two Emmys for L.A. Law and worked on films including I Never Sang for My Father, Taxi Driver and The Last Detail, has died. He was 82. The obituary. |
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