Why Justin Lin Quit 'Fast 10'; Met Gala's Best Looks; Paramount Tops 62M Global Streaming Subs; Amber Heard Hires New PR Team; 'Doctor Strange 2' Review

View on web New reader? Subscribe May 03, 2022 What's news: A leaked draft opinion indicates the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v Wade. Fast X has a new director. Netflix scraps Meghan Markle's Pearl. Paramount+ hits 40m subs. A Jackass series is in the works. Lionsgate and Peacock sign a movie output deal. Plus: The Met Gala took place on Monday evening, and we have all the best looks from fashion's big night — Abid Rahman  Behind Justin Lin's 'Fast 10' Breaking Point ►"This movie is not worth my mental health." Justin Lin's shock exit from the tenth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, days into shooting, left Universal and the producers scrambling for a replacement and all of Hollywood wondering what happened. THR's Borys Kit has the inside story on Lin's abrupt exit from Fast X, including a timeline of events and details on the friction with franchise star and fellow producer Vin Diesel. The story.  —Replacement found. Borys also has an update on the director search for Fast X. Louis Leterrier, the helmer behind Now You See Me and several Transporter action movies, is Universal’s choice to take over the movie and replace Justin Lin. Details and deals still need to be worked out, but if the pieces all come together, the movie could be back on track in a matter of days. The story.  —"Roe was egregiously wrong from the start." A draft opinion circulated among Supreme Court justices suggests that earlier this year a majority of them had thrown support behind overturning the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a report published Monday night in Politico. It’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter. The story. —A right royal snub. A newly parsimonious Netflix is scrapping Pearl, an animated series created by Meghan Markle. The series, about a young girl inspired by influential women in history, was the second project to stem from Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex's overall deal with Netflix, and was originally put in development in July 2021. Pearl becomes the third animated kids’ project to be axed before its debut at the streamer. The story. —Leaning on the hitmakers. Despite the cutbacks, Netflix has handed out an eight-episode series order to Obliterated, an action-comedy from the creators of Cobra Kai. The show was previously picked up by TBS with a straight-to-series order in 2019 only to be dropped a few years ago. The Netflix order for Obliterated, from exec producers/showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, is for eight, 45-minute episodes. The story.  Met Gala: All the Details on Red-Carpet Arrivals and Exhibition ►Fashion's big night. The 2022 Met Gala took place on Monday night and stars from music, TV, film, politics and sport drew on the inspiration of the Gilded Age to don outfits that ranged from jaw-dropping to outlandish to comical. Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda served as the event's co-hosts, while Martin Scorsese, Sofia Coppola, Tom Ford and Chloé Zhao conceptualized vignettes for the Costume Institute's latest show. The story.  —Vintage entrance. Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson were the final arrivals on the red carpet at the Met Gala, and it was the worth wait. Kardashian wore the legendary "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" dress Marilyn Monroe wore in 1962 and that was loaned to the reality star for her high-wattage appearance. The story. —Best looks. THR has gathered together the best looks from the 2022 Met Gala all in one handy place, so click here to see who looked fabulous and who looked ridiculous. The slideshow. Paramount Adds 6.3M Global Streaming Subs in Q1 to Top 62M ►Solid gains. Paramount Global added 6.3 million streaming subscribers worldwide in Q1 to top the 62.0 million mark as of the end of March, up from more than 56.0 million as of the end of 2021. The company also detailed that Paramount+ grew to “almost 40 million” subscribers from 32.8 million as of the end of December. Its disclosure of 6.8 million new subscriber additions at Paramount+ would put the flagship streamer at 39.6 million. The results.  —The mayhem continues. Following the box office success of Jackass Forever, Paramount Global plans to revive the TV show for Paramount+. Speaking during a Q1 earnings call, CEO Bob Bakish said a new Jackass series is the first project of a strategy to produce TV spin-offs for Paramount+ that leverage earlier theatrical success of movies. The story.  —Global expansion. During its Q1 earnings call, Paramount Global said it will be launching Paramount+ in the U.K. and South Korea in June, with plans to also make it available in India in 2023 as part of its continued expansion around the world. The story. —Cage up first. Lionsgate has signed a multiyear movie output deal with Peacock for all theatrically released Lionsgate films, starting with the studio’s 2022 slate. The agreement with the streaming platform brings movies exclusively to Peacock and NBCUniversal networks for their Pay 2 window, starting in 2024. The story.  —Next-day viewing. Peacock is now featuring next-day streaming of shows currently airing on Bravo, including The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Top Chef and Watch What Happens Live. That’s a few months ahead of a previously announced September timeline for next-day streaming. Subscribers to Peacock’s premium tier will have next-day access to currently running shows. The story. Amber Heard Hires New PR Team as Johnny Depp Wraps Up Case ►Mid-trial switch. Amber Heard, reeling from bad press surrounding the dueling defamation case between her and ex-husband Johnny Depp, has parted ways with her crisis management firm and hired a new PR firm. Precision Strategies had been steering Heard’s public relations strategy. The actress, expected to take the stand for the first time on Wednesday, dropped the firm last week in favor of Shane Communications. The story. —Yet another David E. Kelley project. Emmy winner Jeff Daniels will star Man in Full, the Netflix limited series based on Tom Wolfe’s best-seller. David E. Kelley is adapting the novel and will executive produce along with Regina King. The project marks a return to Netflix for Daniels, who won an Emmy for the streamer’s limited series Godless in 2018. The story. —"I had no idea the Fellowship existed, but I’m told it’s a big deal!" Legendary Scottish comedian and actor Billy Connolly will receive BAFTA’s highest honor, the BAFTA Fellowship award, for his contributions to television. The 79-year-old Connolly, a multi-BAFTA winner, will be honored at the Virgin Media BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday, May 8. The story. —Comprehensive verdict. A jury on Monday gave a sweeping win to the Kardashian family in former reality TV star Blac Chyna’s lawsuit against them. The Los Angeles jury found that none of the members of the famous family defamed Chyna, nor did any interfere with her contract by convincing the E! network to cancel her reality show Rob & Chyna. The story. —YEAH!! WHAT!? OK!! THR rascal Ryan Gajewski spoke to legendary hip-hop producer Lil Jon on landing his own home-renovation show, HGTV's Lil Jon Wants to Do What? The hitmaker, who was a recent guest host on Bachelor in Paradise, talks working with home design expert Anitra Mecadon and taking tequila shots with homeowners. The interview.  Film review: 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'   ►"A little more ordinary than its director/material match promises." THR film critic John DeFore reviews Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The cult filmmaker returns to comic-book movies with a parallel-dimensions Doctor Strange adventure starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, newcomer Xochitl Gomez and Rachel McAdams. The review.  —"He’s a human being, and I think it was a very human error." Benedict Cumberbatch has heard your criticisms about Doctor Strange’s actions in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and he’d like to defend his character once and for all. THR's Brian Davids spoke with the star days before Doctor Strange 2 opens and he's pretty sick of defending that spell. The interview. —What to know before you go. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens this week, and you would be forgiven for being a little hazy on what happened in the first Doctor Strange film and how the sequel fits in with MCU (there are 28 of them including this one!). Fret not, THR's Graeme McMillan has put together a Multiverse breakdown to help fans prepare for whatever craziness unfolds in the latest film chapter. The story.  In other news... —Florence Pugh and Harry Styles star in thrilling Don’t Worry Darling trailer —Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear sets February 2023 theatrical release —Griffin Dunne joins Sophia Bush in Bryan Greenberg’s opioid drama Junction —Morgan Wallen to perform at Billboard Music Awards a year after ban —Nick Axelrod to join UTA Ventures as vice president —CODA star Troy Kotsur signs with Verve —Encinitas’ iconic Crescent House from Westworld is up for grabs —David Birney, actor on Bridget Loves Bernie and St. Elsewhere, dies at 83 —Ron Galella, controversial dean of American paparazzi, dies at 91 —Jerry Ver Dorn, actor on the soaps Guiding Light and One Life to Live, dies at 72 —George Yanok, Emmy-winning writer on Lily Tomlin specials, dies at 83 What else we're reading... —The story everyone is talking about this morning: "Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows" [Politico] —Story from December, but suddenly very relevant: "What an America without Roe would look like" [NYT] —The first incredible piece of Evgenia Peretz's two-part expose on Grey’s Anatomy writer Elisabeth Finch, who has likely pulled an Anna Delvey on Shondaland after being accused of making up her trauma [VF] —Greg Braxton has a great profile piece on actor-turned-director Salli Richardson-Whitfield who is involved with two of HBO's buzziest shows (The Gilded Age, Winning Time) [LAT] —And to end, something light and silly on a thoroughly depressing morning: "11 weird and upsetting facts about Elon Musk" [Intelligencer] Today...   ...in 2002, Sony launched Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man into theaters. The film, launched 20 years ago to the day our review of Raimi's Doctor Strange 2 posted, starred Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and would become a cultural phenomenon and huge box office hit, earning $825 million worldwide. Spider-Man would spawn two sequels and turbocharge the superhero movie genre in Hollywood. The original review.  Today's birthdays: Rebecca Hall (40), Christina Hendricks (47), Pom Klementieff (36), Rachel Zegler (21), Bobby Cannavale (52), Amy Ryan (54), Kristin Lehman (50), Joseph Kosinski (48), Dominique McElligott (36), Mozhan Marnò (42), Harvey Guillén (32), Ron Canada (73), Maxwell Jenkins (17), Meagan Tandy (37), Debora Caprioglio (54), Noah Munck (26), Rob Brydon (57), Emily V. Gordon (43), Cheryl Burke (38), Frankie Valli (88), John Mathieson (61), Peter Guinness (71) Ric Parnell, the British rock drummer who played the unfortunate Mick Shrimpton in This Is Spinal Tap as well played drums on hits such as Toni Basil’s “Mickey,” has died. He was 70. 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