| | | | | | What's news: Disney+'s Rivals won best drama at the International Emmys. FX is developing a live-action series based on the video game Far Cry. Sony Pictures has landed the rights to James Islington’s Hierarchy series. And Dave Burd, aka rapper Lil Dicky, is in talks for an animated feature with DreamWorks Animation. — Abid Rahman
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'Wicked: For Good': Inside Broadway's Biggest Blockbuster ►Something Wicked this way comes. If you, somehow, missed the news, Wicked: For Good opened to boffo box office over the weekend, earning a record smashing $223m globally. With Wicked interest at an all-time high, THR's Caitlin Huston has the behind-the-scenes story on the making of a box office behemoth. Caitlin spoke to dozens of cast and creative team members including Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and director Jon M. Chu about the decision to split the films into two, live singing on set and how they shot the final song. The feature.
—"It’s a tragic arc. It’s somebody who is looking for his place in the world." Caitlin Huston also spoke to Wicked: For Good star Ethan Slater about playing the "unfortunately relatable" Tin Man. The actor opens up on his character's transformation in the film, his best day on the set and also his almost-but-not-quite "Here's Johnny!" moment. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
Bell Media Bets Big On Bringing Hollywood Stars Back to Canada ►Bell is tolling. THR's Etan Vlessing reports from up north that Bell Media is doubling down on bringing homegrown stars in Hollywood back to Canada to make TV series. In the last year, the Canadian media giant has unveiled development and production deals with the likes of Seth Rogen, Elliot Page and Will Arnett, and there are plenty more in the pipeline. The story.
—🤝 Slate deal. 🤝 KC Global Media, led by Sony international TV alums Andy Kaplan and George Chien, and Philippines’ Rein Entertainment have unveiled a five-movie slate deal in development for 2026 and 2027. Their expanded partnership follows a collaboration on the Ian Veneracion-starring crime action series Drug War: A Conspiracy of Silence, and will kick off with Dose, an eight-episode crime drama centered on two powerful women: a rising triad queenpin and a relentless international police agent. The story. |
'All's Fair' Scores S2 Renewal at Hulu ►Bad reviews be damned! Hulu has rendered a verdict on the Kim Kardashian-led legal drama All’s Fair, and it’s a favorable one. The streamer has picked All’s Fair for a second season, with the renewal coming three weeks after its premiere. The series, co-created and executive produced by Ryan Murphy, has performed well for Hulu so far in the face of overwhelmingly negative reviews, with more than one calling the show the worst of the year. Despite (or maybe in part because of?) those reviews, All’s Fair had a strong launch on Hulu, recording 3.2m views worldwide in the three days following its Nov. 4 premiere. Hulu says that’s the best start for an original scripted series on the platform in three years. The story.
—Game on. FX is heading into the world(s) of Far Cry. The Disney-owned outlet has picked up a Far Cry series based on the Ubisoft video game franchise from executive producers and FX stalwarts Noah Hawley and Rob Mac (the artist formerly known as Rob McElhenney) and FX Productions. Like the games, the show will be an anthology, with Mac set to star in the first season. Far Cry will stream on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in other parts of the world. Plot details for the first season are being kept quiet. FX does note, though, that the show’s format will follow that of the games, “with each season in a new setting [and] following a new cast of characters.” The story.
—🏆 Domination, innit. 🏆 The International Emmy Awards for 2025 were handed out on Monday night in a ceremony in New York City, and it was another big night for British television, with the U.K. picking up seven awards, including best drama, best comedy, best actress and best TV movie/mini series. The best drama prize went to Disney+'s 1980s-set dramedy Rivals that is based on Jilly Cooper’s book. Best comedy was taken by the BBC comedy Ludwig, that stars Peep Show legend David Mitchell. Anna Maxwell Martin took the International Emmy for best actress for the harrowing ITV limited series Until I Kill You and Catalan actor Oriol Pla won best actor for the Disney+ drama I, Addict. The winners.
—📅 Dated, innit! 📅 Hope you like hot, young, rich, sad people — because HBO’s Industry is (almost) back! The finance drama will return for season four on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in its 9 p.m. time slot, HBO revealed on Monday with a teaser trailer. Industry will simultaneously be available to stream on HBO Max. Industry season four will run eight episodes, rolled out weekly, in which Harper (Myha’la) and Yasmina (Marisa Abela) continue their high-risk, high-reward personal and professional lifestyles. There’s also a new “splashy fintech darling” in London town. The story. |
'Stranger Things' Final Season: 10 Things Duffer Bros. Want You to Know ►Get prepared. Are you feeling upside down trying to remember everything that unfolded in the wild first four seasons of Stranger Things? As the highly anticipated final season of the hit Netflix series approaches, there’s quite a lot to remember leading up to this fifth season. But creators Ross and Matt Duffer have you covered. The brothers reveal 10 things to THR that they recommend viewers should keep in mind before watching the three-part conclusion of Stranger Things. The list. |
Feinberg's Oscar Predictions Ahead of Thanksgiving ►Hotting up. THR's executive editor of awards coverage Scott Feinberg offers his latest read of the Oscar race, and is now weighing in on all categories except for the trio pertaining to shorts. Since our last check-in, just about every current awards hopeful descended on Hollywood for the Academy’s Governors Awards on Nov. 16. And on Nov. 21, the Academy announced the longlists — meaning, the lists of all titles that have qualified for consideration — for its best animated feature, best documentary feature and best international feature categories, which numbered 35, 201 and 86, respectively. The forecast.
—🏆 Rising stars, innit. 🏆 The 2025 BAFTA Breakthrough U.K. creatives have been revealed. Among the talents selected are On Falling writer-director Laura Carreira; What It Feels Like for a Girl star Ellis Howard; Akinola Davies Jr., the director and co-writer of U.K. international Oscar submission My Father’s Shadow; and Matty Gurney, the star of BBC revenge thriller Reunion. In the games category, Cara Ellison, writer and narrative designer of Ghost Town; and Sally Beaumont, lead voice actor/script consultant/additional writer of Old Skies. The story. |
Scarlett Johansson to Star in New 'Exorcist' Movie ►🎭 Marquee signing. 🎭 Scarlett Johansson will star in Mike Flanagan’s “fresh, bold” take on The Exorcist. Blumhouse and Universal are behind the latest attempt to revive the horror franchise, which follows the companies’ ill-fated effort to launch a franchise with 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer. Flanagan wrote the script and is directing and producing the new feature that is not a remake nor a sequel but set in the Exorcist “universe,” whatever that entails. The original Exorcist focused on the demonic possession of a young girl and the priests that try to save her. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars. The various follow-ups mostly featured stories centered on the girl (now grown-up), the back stories of the priests or other demonic cases detectives from the first movie investigated. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 THR's Borys "Scoops" Kit has the scoop that Sony Pictures has landed the film adaptation rights to James Islington’s Hierarchy series. The move, one of the biggest book acquisitions of 2025, comes as the book series’ second installment, The Strength of the Few, debuts at No. 1 on the best-seller list following its Nov. 11 U.S. release. No producer or filmmaker is currently attached. Set in a Roman Empire-style civilization but infused with magic, the Hierarchy series follows Vis, a young man hiding a life-threatening secret, as he’s forced to investigate a death while also infiltrating the all-powerful regime that feeds on the mental and physical energy, dubbed the Will, of the masses. Vis uncovers conspiracies that pull him into a rebellion that could upend the world order. The story.
—🤝 Edging closer. 🤝 THR forest sprite Ryan Gajewski has the scoop that Dave Burd, the Dave star known by the stage name Lil Dicky, is in talks to sell an original animated feature pitch to DreamWorks Animation. Plot details have not yet been disclosed for the project that the studio landed in what was described as a highly competitive situation. Burd is a multi-platinum rapper, comedian and actor. He starred on the FX comedy series Dave, which was based on his real life and saw him serve as co-creator, executive producer and writer. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Adam Shankman’s camp action comedy starring RuPaul Charles has been titled STOP! THAT! TRAIN! ahead of a North American theatrical release set for May 29, 2026 by Bleecker Street. The drag queen disaster movie draws on the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe through franchise producer World of Wonder and also stars Ginger Minj, Jujubee, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Latrice Royale, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Monét X Change and Symone. Bleecker Street earlier nabbed the North American rights to the comedy feature from director Shankman that centers on camp drag queens on a chaotic high-speed train journey. The story. |
The 'House of Dynamite' Team Doesn't Care What You Think About the Ending ►"I see people being annoyed by the ending, and I get annoyed with them. I like that people have different opinions, but a resolution is not what this movie is about." THR's Seija Rankin spoke to Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow, star Rebecca Ferguson, writer Noah Oppenheim and producer Greg Shapiro about their heart stopping new feature, A House of Dynamite. The film's creative team open up about the making of the much-talked about Netflix awards contender, a movie they describe as being about so much more than the ending. The feature.
—"I desperately wanted to make this film and it was a sum of all the things I’m excited by in one place." THR's David Canfield spoke to filmmakers, and indie power couple, Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet, about Fastvold's new feature, The Testament of Ann Lee. The Oscar-nominated pair are back in the Oscar race with another audacious, brilliantly acted epic. In their first extensive interview about their new film, they're game to talk everything past, present and future — including using "zero AI" in their latest movie. The interview.
—"I didn’t realize how lonely it felt until I felt like, ‘Oh, we are all feeling this love together.'" THR's Brande Victorian spoke to Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku about the making of Ryan Coogler's acclaimed feature. The Brit actress opens up about filming while seven months postpartum and the "healing" audience response to her character Annie. The interview. |
'Welcome to Derry' Star Unpacks Episode 5's Mystery Box ►"Everything that happened before this moment is so tiny in comparison to that box now being open." THR's Brian Davids spoke to actor Chris Chalk about the latest episode of HBO's It: Welcome to Derry. With three episodes remaining in season one of the prequel series, the Dick Hallorann actor teases what lies ahead now that Pennywise is out in the open. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"It’s like having Shakespeare call you up and say, “I’d like to write a play for you about a prince who has an issue with his father” — and then he sends you Hamlet. That’s the way I look at it when Taylor wants to write for you." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Andy Garcia about the latest episode of Paramount+'s mega hit series Landman. The film star says he had no hesitations about joining the Taylor Sheridan co-created series, and that he's in it for the long haul. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"That was always my idea to do the switch." THR's Lexy Perez spoke to showrunner Jenny Han about Amazon Prime Video's hit drama The Summer I Turned Pretty. Han discusses that poster change after the season finale and also all the classic film Easter eggs in the show. The interview. |
Film Review: 'Tinsel Town' ►"A Yuletide diversion for Anglophiles." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Chris Foggin's Tinsel Town. Kiefer Sutherland, Rebel Wilson and Derek Jacobi star in the film about a washed-up Hollywood action hero who travels to a small British town to perform in a Christmas pantomime production of Cinderella. Also starring Mawaan Rizwan, Maria Friedman, Jason Manford, Asim Chaudhry, Danny Dyer, Ray Fearon and Lucien Laviscount. Written by Frazer Flintham, Adam Brown, Piers Ashworth and Jake Brunger. The review.
In other news...
—Y: Marshals first look: Luke Grimes returns as a tortured Kayce Dutton
—How to Make a Killing trailer: Glen Powell goes to extremes to secure his inheritance in A24 film
—BIFAs: Emily Watson to receive Richard Harris Award
—George Clooney to receive Film at Lincoln Center’s 2026 Chaplin Award
—Palm Springs: Ethan Hawke to receive career honor
—John Eimen, child actor on Leave It to Beaver and McKeever and the Colonel, dies at 76
—Jill Freud, actress and C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia inspiration, dies at 98
What else we're reading...
—Reflecting on the subdued palette of Wicked: For Good, David Roskin asks where the color from Hollywood movies has gone [Guardian]
—Jonathan Vanian reports that, according to court filings, Meta halted internal research suggesting social media harm [CNBC]
—Joe Miller and Nikou Asgari report that Binance founder CZ (recently pardoned by Trump) has been accused of facilitating payments to Hamas [FT]
—Is "Victoria Goldiee" the new Stephen Glass? Nicholas Hune-Brown reports on a rather bleak, and increasingly common, aspect of journalism in the age of AI [The Local]
—Yun Li reports that The Big Short's Michael Burry is launching a newsletter to lay out his AI bubble views [CNBC]
Today...
...in 1992, Disney unveiled Aladdin in theaters nationwide, where it would go on to gross $504m globally and be nominated for five Oscars at the 65th Academy Awards, winning in the song and score categories. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Christina Applegate (54), Stephanie Hsu (35), Cole Escola (39), Joel Kinnaman (46), Dougray Scott (60), Billy Burke (59), Katie Cassidy (39), Jill Hennessy (57), John Larroquette (78), Paul Copley (81), Jill Flint (48), Bruno Tonioli (70), Jerry Ferrara (46), Amy Seimetz (44), Patsy Ferran (36), Eddie Jemison (62), Catherine Dyer (67), Tracey Walter (78), Sunny Hinduja (40), Matt Clark (89), Alexander Gier (44), Valerie Azlynn (45), Rene Mousseux (51), Mary Jo Deschanel (80), Murray Hill (54), Pilot Bunch (19), Stephen Fu (40), Stefanie von Pfetten (52), Zane Phillips (32), Rome Flynn (34), Kristian Nairn (50), Eddie Steeples (52), Kevin Chamberlin (62), Beverly Washburn (82), Natalia Cordova-Buckley (43), Serkan Keskin (48) | | Udo Kier, the German actor known for his eclectic body of work that included many horror movies and collaborations with filmmakers Gus Van Sant, Lars von Trier and Wim Wenders, has died. He was 81. The obituary. |
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