| | | | | | What's news: Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman will star in a remake of The War of the Roses. Road House was Amazon Prime Video's biggest global movie launch ever. The 2025 Golden Globes will take place on Jan. 5. Two members of the Newhouse family have stepped down from the WBD board. — Abid Rahman
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Disney's DEI Efforts Targeted Amid Proxy Fight ►Dark arts. Disney's efforts to boost diversity are under attack ahead of a key shareholder vote to elect its board that will shape the direction of the company. Former Trump aide Stephen Miller’s America First Legal foundation, in a letter sent to Disney’s top brass March 27, claims that DEI initiatives violate civil rights laws and have tanked the company's value. (Year-to-date, Disney’s stock has risen more than 30 percent.) The group asks for the appointment of an independent monitor to investigate the issue in what appears to be a bid to undermine CEO Bob Iger in a proxy fight against investor Nelson Peltz. The story.
—Stepping down. Two of Warner Bros. Discovery's board members, Steven Newhouse and Steve Miron, are stepping down from their roles with the company after receiving inquiries from the Department of Justice. The duo resigned as the DOJ investigates "whether their service on the Board of Directors violated Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act." The act addresses corporate directors that simultaneously serve on the boards of competitors. The story. |
Netflix Enters Its Dan Lin Era ►A monster job. Dan Lin starts his tenure as Netflix's new film head this week. As the producer and founder of Rideback takes the reins on Hollywood's most monied film division, that makes far more titles than any traditional studio, THR's Borys Kit and Mia Galuppo write that plenty of questions linger, including if the veteran executive will finally execute the streamer’s much talked-about "fewer and better" filmmaking strategy. The analysis.
—New face, same old problems. Also charting a new path forward is the Sundance Institute after Joana Vicente surprisingly exited as CEO last week, less than three years after she took the post. Mia Galuppo looks at how Sundance's new leadership will tackle the existential threats facing the festival and the indie space. The analysis.
—🎭 Divorce most horrid 🎭 Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman have signed on to star in The Roses, Searchlight’s reimagining of the 1989 dark comedy The War of the Roses, which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Jay Roach, the comedy director who segued into drama with movies such as Recount and Bombshell, is helming the feature that is in development. Tony McNamara, who earned an Oscar nom for writing Poor Things, penned the script, which is based on the novel published in 1981 by Warren Adler. The story.
—🎭 Filling out 🎭 Jack Champion, Sophia Lillis, Kate del Castillo, Tony Dalton, Whitney Peak and Bobby Cannavale are the latest actors to join Dave Bautista in Michael Dowse's action thriller Trap House. The film follows an undercover DEA agent and his partner in a game of cat and mouse with a group of thieves who just happen to be their rebellious teenagers robbing from a dangerous cartel and using their parents’ tactics and top-secret intel to succeed. The story.
—Worth all the kerfuffle. After a rather dramatic road to the small screen, Doug Liman's Road House proved to be a knockout for Amazon MGM Studios. Amazon's Prime Video says the remake of the 1989 action classic is its biggest global movie launch ever. And for the first time for a feature film, the streamer provided a viewership number, saying 50m viewers had watched the film since it debuted March 21. However, Prime Video did not offer clarity on how it reached that number. The story. |
Is MIPTV on Its Last Legs? ►"The TV bubble has burst." Since 1965, MIPTV, the international television market, held in Cannes every spring, has been a fixed part of the global industry calendar. But shifts in the international TV market — the decline in world-conquering U.S. series and cost-cutting by global streamers — have disrupted an event designed to meet the needs of an earlier era. THR's Scott Roxborough writes that the market, struggling for years, could be coming to an end. The analysis.
—📅 Timetable fixed 📅 CBS and the Golden Globes have set Jan. 5 as the date for the 82nd annual ceremony. The show will air live coast to coast from 8-11 p.m. ET/5-8 p.m. PT on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs). Organizers have also set the full timetable for the 2025 awards, with the nominations announcement taking place Dec. 9. The story.
—🎭 She's back 🎭 Felicity Huffman has booked her first major network new series opportunity since her role in a college admissions scandal broke in 2019. The Emmy-winning former Desperate Housewives star will be a guest star in the next season of Paramount+’s Criminal Minds spinoff Evolution, playing a doctor with deep connections to other lead characters in the franchise. Huffman was previously set to star in a spinoff of The Good Doctor, but last year, ABC passed on making it. The story.
—📅 Dated 📅 Disney+ has reveled the release date for its ambitious Korean political drama Uncle Samsik, starring Parasite's Song Kang-ho in his TV series debut. The show will launch with a five-episode premiere on May 15 exclusively on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu in the U.S. The period show is an ambitious political drama set during Korea's post-war reconstruction era. Uncle Samsik is directed by veteran Korean writer and filmmaker Shin Yeon-shick, who is also making his series debut with the project. The story.
—🤝 Content deal 🤝 MGM+ has struck a content deal to offer Lionsgate and Starz programming to customers in the U.K., including hit show Outlander. Under the partnership, the MGM-branded service will offer series and movies from Lionsgate and Starz in the U.K., marking the third in a series of content deals between MGM+ and Lionsgate, including previous agreements for Europe and Latin America. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. The story. |
Revolt CEO on Forging New Path Amid Diddy's Exit ►"The purpose of the company isn't shifting, regardless of who owns it or who doesn't own it." For THR, Brande Victorian spoke to Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels about the future of the urban music-focused digital cable television network after Sean "Diddy" Combs stepped away from the company in November after being hit with sexual assault allegations in several lawsuits. The interview occurred before the raids by federal agents on Combs' various homes on March 25. The interview.
—"New levels of visibility." Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter is galloping on Spotify and bringing other Black country-based artists for the ride. THR's Mesfin Fekadu reports that since the album’s release on Friday, the number of first-time listeners for acts like Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts and Shaboozey — who all appear on Cowboy Carter — has increased in the past week. Spencer saw an uptick of 170 percent in first-time listeners, Roberts and Tanner Adell both went up 125 percent, and Tiera Kennedy’s first-time listens were increased by 110 percent. The story.
—🏆 Yay us! 🏆 Taylor Swift, Timothée Chalamet, Ryan Gosling, Olivia Rodrigo, Barbie, Saltburn, Sydney Sweeney and little ol' THR are among the nominees for the 28th annual Webby Awards, which honor the best of the Internet. THR landed three noms this year, including best website/mobile site in the category of general desktop and mobile sites, entertainment, and two noms for video content. The nominees.
—"Feels fine." Michael Stuhlbarg will perform in the first preview of Patriots on Broadway on Monday after being attacked near Central Park on Sunday evening, according to a spokesperson for the production. According to media reports, the actor was walking in Central Park when a man threw a rock and hit Stuhlbarg in the back of the neck. Stuhlbarg chased the man, later identified as Xavier Israel, out of the park. Israel was taken into custody and charged with assault, and Stuhlbarg declined medical attention. The story.
—"We punch so far above our weight." Colin Farrell is loving the recent wave of success enjoyed by Irish actors in Hollywood. In a new interview, The Banshees of Inisherin star revealed his pride in the success of his countrymen, including Barry Keoghan and Cillian Murphy, the latter who recently became the first Irish actor to win best actor at the Academy Awards. The story.
—"My sons absolutely hated it." Shakira is sharing her views on Barbie, and despite the global love-in for the film, the Colombian singer wasn't so keen. In a new interview, Shakira was asked her thoughts on Barbie and replied bluntly that her sons hated the film and found it "emasculating," adding that she agreed with them. "I’m raising two boys. I want ’em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women. I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide," the singer explained. The story. |
How 'Tokyo Vice' Captured Japan's Biggest City ►"It's an immersion into Japanese culture through that city's crime world — and that was the main selling point for me and the network." THR's Patrick Brzeski spoke to the producers behind Tokyo Vice about how the Max neo-noir hit went to great lengths to feature Tokyo on camera more than any television series has before. From "courtesy gifts" for the locals to avoiding run-ins with the yakuza, the team behind the series did whatever it took to secure some of the city's most elusive locations: "The only way to work here is to assuage every concern." The interview.
—"It's been slow." THR's Brian Davids spoke to David Krumholtz on his career post-Oppenheimer. The actor earned praise for being the heart of Christopher Nolan's best picture winner, but hasn't yet felt his career picking up: "The hardest part of being in the film that won everything and made a billion dollars is that you go into this place of expectation." The interview.
—"I’m good at opening and closing conversations." THR's Seija Rankin spoke to Amy Poehler ahead of CinemaCon, where the comedian and actress will receive the Vanguard Award for her work on Inside Out 2. Poehler discusses voicing Inside Out's Joy after a 10-year gap and the Restless Leg Tour she undertook with best friend and comedy partner Tina Fey. The interview. |
Has the Racial Satire Lost Its Bite? ►"Now that it’s consensus that the Obama presidency didn’t cure America’s race-related ills, what can racial satires tackle?" THR's Lovia Gyarkye writes that the post-Obama years saw a boom in the Black satire subgenre with classic films like Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You, as well as television shows like Donald Glover’s Atlanta. The release of The American Society of Magical Negroes, the Oscar success of American Fiction and recent shows like Riley's I'm a Virgo offer a fresh chance to appraise the state of an evolving subgenre. The critic's notebook. In other news...
—Martin Short to be inaugurated as mayor of Funner, California
—Las Culturistas Culture Awards hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on show’s new venue for 2024
—Warner Bros. Television Group set for medal of honor at Entertainment Community Fund gala
—Starz, CAPE team for showrunners incubator for Asian Pacific Islander TV writers
What else we're reading...
—With Sex and the City hitting Netflix, Chris Murphy wonders whether the supposedly more prudish Gen Z will be able to handle it [VF]
—Mikael Wood writes that the power of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter isn’t its country twang, but the unlocking of the artist's imagination [LAT]
—Sopan Deb reports on the memorabilia collection left behind by the late Star Trek superfan Troy Nelson that has become a sensation on social media [NYT]
—Kelly Ng recounts the frankly incredible real life story of the murder related to attempts to adapt 3 Body Problem in China, that is in the news again this week [BBC]
—After the Florida Supreme Court upheld the state’s right to ban abortion, Mark Joseph Stern writes that Florida will now be ground zero for the "abortion wars" in 2024 [Slate]
Today...
...in 1978, CBS premiered its primetime soap opera Dallas, which would go on to run for fourteen seasons at the network. A revival series premiered on TNT in 2012, and ran for three seasons. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Pedro Pascal (49), Michael Fassbender (47), Christopher Meloni (63), Clark Gregg (62), David Frankel (65), Jesse Plemons (36), Jaime Ray Newman (46), Roselyn Sanchez (51), Emma Myers (22), Bethany Joy Lenz (43), Adam Shulman (43), Lindy Booth (45), Linda Hunt (79), Mayan Lopez (28), John Thomson (55), Simon Farnaby (51), David Rysdahl (37), Pamela Reed (75), Ceci Balagot (23), Briga Heelan (37), Adam Rodriguez (49), Ajay Devgn (55), Shawn Roberts (40), Adam F. Goldberg (48), Renée Estevez (57), Nicole Steinwedell (43), Jana Marie Hupp (60), Tiffany Brouwer (40) |
| Barbara Baldavin, who appeared on three episodes of the original Star Trek and recurred on Medical Center before working in the casting department on shows including Dynasty and Trapper John, M.D., has died. She was 85. The obituary. |
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