| | | | | | What's news: Hollywood intimacy coordinators have their first union contract. Lars Eidinger will play Brainiac in Superman 2. The Wire actor James Ransone has died. CBS has canceled NCIS: Tony & Ziva and Apple has canceled The Last Frontier. And Nicki Minaj made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest. — Abid Rahman
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Bari Weiss Pulls '60 Minutes' Prison Report Hours Before Airing ►Worse than Wigand? CBS News shocked the media and political world on Sunday when it pulled a 60 Minutes report by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi about the “brutal and torturous conditions” at an El Salvador prison where the Trump administration had deported alleged illegal immigrants. The announcement was made just a few hours before the broadcast was scheduled. The move comes a few months after Bari Weiss was named editor-in-chief of CBS News, a hiring that was met with concern among many employed at the company as well as media watchers. On Sunday, Alfonsi wrote an email to other 60 Minutes correspondents that she had found out the day prior that Weiss “spiked our story.” In her email, Alfonsi stated that she thought the decision was politically motivated and not editorially driven. The story.
—Crisis looming. Bari Weiss defended her decision to pull the 60 Minutes prison segment that had been scheduled for Sunday, telling staff at the network Monday that the story “did not advance the ball” and that the show needed to "get the principals on the record and on camera." "I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready," she continued. "I want to say something about trust: our trust for each other and our trust with the public," Weiss said on the call. "The only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable." The story.
—Daddy stumps up big. David Ellison’s Paramount has sent a revised offer to acquire Warner Bros., one that keeps the $30 per share price tag but resolves many of the issues that the WBD board had with the deal. The big change: David Ellison’s father and Oracle founder Larry Ellison has agreed to personally backstop the $40.4b in equity financing connected to the deal, and he has agreed not to revoke the Ellison family trust or adversely transfer assets in the trust while any deal is pending. Paramount also upped its termination fee to $5.8b, matching Netflix, and extended the end date for the tender offer to Jan. 21, 2026, giving WBD shareholders a few extra weeks to make a decision. The story. |
'Avatar 3' Opens to $345M WW ►Patience. James Cameron’s third installment in his groundbreaking Avatar series minted green at multiplexes around the globe over the weekend as the year-end holiday box office commenced in earnest. Avatar: Fire And Ash, from 20th Century and Disney, amassed $345m in its worldwide opening, the second-best global opening of any 2025 Hollywood title behind fellow Disney Thanksgiving tentpole Zootopia 2.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Fire and Ash was never expected to match the $441.6m launch of the 2022 sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, but the drop-off was somewhat worse than expected. One surprise in particular, it came in on the lower end of expectations in North America with $88m. Threequels also face challenges, even when it comes to Pandora. The goal now is to make up ground over the lucrative year-end holidays, when a five or six multiple is entirely possible.
The mega-budget film is earning strong audience exits, including an A CinemaScore, in line with the two previous films — despite its running time of more than three and a quarter hours. Disney insiders say this puts the threequel in the driver’s seat, noting additionally that PostTrak exit scores are an exceptional 4 out of 5.
The first Avatar movie was all but lambasted when it opened to $77m in 2009, considering its cost, but the angst soon ended as the film picked up momentum on its way to becoming the top-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office with an astounding $2.97b, not adjusted for inflation. The box office report. |
Hollywood's Top Dealmakers of 2025 ►The billionaires' brawl. What happened to a quiet December? This is the time usually reserved for reading too many best-of lists. Instead, each day brings another megadeal that will rattle the entertainment industry for years. In an action-packed year, David Zaslav sparked a bidding war to sell Warner Bros., Lachlan Murdoch edged out his siblings and is rebuilding the Fox empire and Bob Iger is getting Disney into the AI gold rush. THR goes inside the year that reshaped the industry. The list.
—✊ First contract. ✊ Intimacy coordinators now have a union contract. On Thursday the SAG-AFTRA national board unanimously ratified a deal reached with major studios and streamers in early December. The first-ever agreement for these workers, who choreograph and coordinate intimate and nude scenes in entertainment, takes effect on February 22, 2026. The contract applies to new scripted films and television series that start production after that time. The contract establishes minimum wage rates for daily and weekly work and inducts intimacy coordinators into the union health and pension plans. The story.
—Wait, what? Rapper Nicki Minaj made a surprise appearance at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest on Sunday, joining Erika Kirk on stage to bash California Gov. Gavin Newsom and praise Donald Trump. When Kirk asked Minaj about the “biggest surprise” she’s learned from the current administration, she responded, “I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president. I don’t know if he even knows this, but he’s given so many people hope.” Before, she also took aim at Newsom, reading some of her past posts on X about the governor as Kirk laughed. “It only gets worse from here for you, buddy,” Minaj said. The story.
—"My kids would see me sitting in a corner, you know, I couldn’t even move." Alec Baldwin says he had suicidal thoughts after charges were filed a second time in the fatal shooting on the set of his film Rust. The actor appeared on the most recent episode of Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction, a podcast hosted by Dave Manheim, where he talked about battling some dark thoughts during that time. Baldwin said he was in a rough place mentally after it was announced that he was going to be charged a second time in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in 2021. The story. |
Mickey Mouse: An Open Letter to Bob Iger (Re: Sora) ►"And it’s not just about me, Mr. Iger. Do you know what Sora is willing to make? Song of the South." In a guest column for THR, a particularly cheesed off Mickey Mouse, has penned a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger over the company's recent deal with OpenAI. Mickey writes: "You know I’m a company mouse. And I know you invested one billion smackers in the wonderful OpenAI and are going to put user-generated AI videos on Disney+. But, gee whiz, boss, folks are having me do some stuff I don’t fancy one bit, no sirree!" The column. |
'Superman 2' Finds Its Brainiac ►🎭 Ich bin das Wissen und die Stärke von 10,000 Welten. 🎭 James Gunn has found a very brainy actor to play the villain of Man of Tomorrow, his sequel to this summer’s Superman. The filmmaker revealed on Sunday that he had hired German actor Lars Eidinger to play Brainiac. The casting ends weeks of rumors about who would step into the role. Eidinger is largely known for work in Europe, such as the acclaimed German series Babylon Berlin, but he worked with Shawn Levy on the Netflix miniseries All the Light We Cannot See and Noah Baumbach on White Noise. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 THR's Borys "Scoops" Kit has the scoop that, in a competitive situation, Sony has landed the film rights to The Surrogate Mother, the latest novel from Freida McFadden, the author behind The Housemaid. In the deal, journalist-turned-screenwriter Anna Klassen is attached to write the adaptation, with Marc Evans Productions on board to produce Surrogate Mother. The story centers on Abby, a woman who, after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, is resigned to the fact that motherhood is not in her future. That is, until her personal assistant Monica makes a generous offer that will make all of Abby’s dreams come true. But it turns out Monica isn’t who she says she is, and the woman now carrying Abby’s child has an unspeakable secret. The story.
—Boxing clever. THR's Jackie Strause has the scoop on Natasha Lyonne's next feature film. The former Poker Face star will write and direct Bambo , which is set in the ’80s and follows a Brooklyn-born boxing-promoter father as he tries and fails to become the next Don King, and “takes his kid daughter along for the hurly burly ride of tax evasion, cocaine, race cars, lost dreams and heartbreak.” Lyonne is producing through her Animal Pictures banner with Max Ferguson alongside Craig Mazin for Word Games and Sarah Sarandos. Principal photography is set to begin in the summer of 2026. Bambo is the second feature film from Lyonne. Earlier this year, Lyonne announced she will be making her feature directorial debut with the AI film Uncanny Valley. The story.
—🎭 Filled out. 🎭 THR's effete pugilist Ryan Gajewski has a casting scoop on Ron Howard's Alone at Dawn. The Amazon MGM Studios feature is building out its company, adding Devon Bostick, Michael Angelo Covino, Lauren Hutton, Sean Kaufman, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and José Zúñiga to the military drama feature. Adam Driver, Anne Hathaway and Betty Gilpin were previously announced to star in the movie that is set to be released theatrically. Inspired by a true story, Alone at Dawn centers on an investigation following the death of Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman that would help lead to the Medal of Honor for his efforts in saving his fellow soldiers. The story. |
'Emily in Paris' Creator Unpacks Love Triangle Chaos ►"I think it’s really important that Emily does grow and I think she did this season." THR's Carly Thomas spoke to Emily in Paris creator and showrunner Darren Star about the season five finale of the hit Netflix drama. Star dishes on Emily and Marcello's season five romance in Rome and Paris, Mindy's Messy romantic entanglements, Gabriel's future and teases a potential season six. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"Yeah, it’s sad. I’m gonna miss everything about this place." Bowen Yang has clocked out from his final Saturday Night Live shift. Yang said goodbye to the sketch comedy series with a heartfelt sketch where he played a Delta employee working his last shift. While helping customers at the eggnog station, he said, “Oh, sorry, my machine’s kind of breaking down, so I’m closing my station. This is my last shift.” The recap.
—🎭 Checking in. 🎭 The White Lotus season four has made its first few cast announcements. Mike White’s HBO drama has cast Vikings star Alexander Ludwig and The Goldbergs' AJ Michalka for the next season, which will film in France. Season four will “follow a new group of White Lotus hotel guests and employees over the span of a week,” per HBO. The White Lotus season four is executive produced by White, David Bernad and Mark Kamine. White, the show’s creator, directs and writes the series. The story.
—📅 King Jimmy. 📅 Jimmy Kimmel is set to deliver the Alternative Christmas Message on the U.K.'s Channel 4 on Christmas Day this year. During his address, Kimmel will reflect on the past few months, during which time Jimmy Kimmel Live! was briefly suspended by ABC after a comment he made following Charlie Kirk’s murder. Channel 4 has been airing the Alternative Christmas Message since 1993 as an alternative to the traditional Queen's/King's Christmas message. It typically provides a contrasting, often challenging, viewpoint to the monarch’s annual televised address. The story.
—Brutal. CBS’ NCIS has run for an incredible 23 seasons. But its latest spinoff, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, will only air for one. The drama series starring Coté de Pablo and Michael Weatherly, reprising their roles from the flagship series, will not be renewed for a second season on Paramount+. Ordered to series in February 2024, Tony and Ziva found the two former NCIS agents living in Paris, where they reunited to raise their daughter after Ziva, who had been presumed dead, returned to complete a final mission for the agency (de Pablo left NCIS in 2013, returning for a guest arc in 2017; Weatherly departed as a regular in 2015). The action was more serialized on the now-canceled show than the other series in the NCIS franchise. The story.
—One and done. Apple TV has canceled the thriller series The Last Frontier after one season. Jason Clarke starred as Frank Remnick, the lone U.S. marshal in charge of the barrens of Alaska who comes across conflict when a prison transport plane crashes, and a plethora of inmates are set free. The show also starred Dominic Cooper, Haley Bennett, Simone Kessell, Dallas Goldtooth, Tait Blum and Alfre Woodard. Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio created The Last Frontier and served as an executive producer alongside director Sam Hargrave. Laura Benson, Glenn Kessler, Albert Kim and Clarke also executive produced. The story. |
James Ransone 1979 - 2025 ►Tragedy. James Ransone, the versatile character actor best known for his roles in The Wire, Tangerine, Generation Kill, It: Chapter Two and The Black Phone, died on Dec. 19. He was 46. Ransone died by suicide, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. On The Wire, he played the goofy and brash failson Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka in season two of the HBO drama, which centered on street-level drug dealing to the Port of Baltimore. The obituary.
In other news...
—Vilpa Films to launch short film streamer Vilpa Max
—Helen Siff, actress in Hail, Caesar! and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, dies at 88
—Kevin Arkadie, co-creator of New York Undercover, dies at 68
—Craig Tennis, talent coordinator for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, dies at 85
—William Rush, British actor known for Waterloo Road and The X Factor, dies at 31
What else we're reading...
—Karen Yourish, Kenneth P. Vogel and Charlie Smart look at how hundreds of big donors, including Bill Gates, Tim Cook and Sam Altman have benefited from Trump’s return to office [NYT]
—After speaking to close friends and family, Talya Minsberg has the definitive obituary of Michele Singer Reiner [NYT]
—Citing One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent and It Was Just An Accident, Radheyan Simonpillai writes that the throughline of the best films of 2025 was the act of resistance [Guardian]
—Nicholas Barber reflects on why Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally is the greatest rom-com ever made [BBC]
—Tara Weiss talks to 5 experts about how the world of work will change over the next 20 years [WSJ]
Today...
...in 1965, the 197-minute Russian epic Doctor Zhivago held its world premiere at the Loew’s Capitol Theatre in New York. The David Lean classic went on to win five Oscars at the 38th Academy Awards, including cinematography. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Ralph Fiennes (63), Sergi López (60), Isha Talwar (38), Dina Meyer (57), Hector Elizondo (89), Poorna Jagannathan (53), David S. Goyer (60), Vanessa Paradis (53), Jordin Sparks (36), Meghan Trainor (32), Anna Próchniak (37), Gregor Fisher (72), Chris Carmack (45), Madeleine McGraw (17), Joe Anders (22), Shioli Kutsuna (33), Brooke Nevin (43), Anna Galiena (76), Joanne Kelly (47), Genevieve Hannelius (27), Hugh Quarshie (71), Heather Donahue (51), Deborah Twiss (54), Thunderbird Dinwiddie (52), Joe Dinicol (42), BernNadette Stanis (72), David Pasquesi (64), Krystal Joy Brown (39), Mia Tyler (47), Alexis Floyd (32), Greg Finley (41), Joshua Bassett (25), Darri Ingolfsson (46), Bryce Gheisar (21), Neel Sethi (22), Aliana Lohan (32), Omar J. Dorsey (50) |
| Lewis Horwitz, the influential film finance executive and producer who helped bring such independent films as Bloodsport, The Virgin Suicides, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Monster to the big screen, has died. He was 90. The obituary. |
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