| | | | | | What's news: Project Hail Mary has become Amazon MGM's biggest film ever at the box office. Peter Alexander is leaving NBC News. AMC has canceled Talamasca: The Secret Order. CBS has nixed Watson and DMV. New Line has found a writer for Lights Out 2. And the trailer for HBO's Harry Potter series hit 277m views in the first 48 hours. — Abid Rahman
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Netflix Price Hike Reveals Streaming's Next Phase ►So cable, then? Every month, streaming gets a bit closer to good old fashioned pay TV. Now seemingly every service pairs its scripted entertainment with lowbrow reality fare and live sports. And, increasingly, the monthly prices for those services are making the glory days of the pay TV bundle seem that much more appealing. Take the latest price hike from Netflix, which raised the bar for its standard ad-free plan to an eye-watering $19.99 per month. Twenty dollars per month is a symbolic number, but it underscores how the model has shifted. THR's Alex Weprin writes that streaming platforms want to give users the option to avoid most ads … but advertising has increasingly become the big game. The analysis.
—New front in the streaming wars. United Airlines is in the midst of installing Starlink internet across its fleet, which will deliver broadband as fast as you can get at home, even when cruising at 580 miles per hour six miles above the earth. Alex Weprin writes that United’s push to bring free high-speed internet to its aircraft also underscores what will become a new reality as other airlines follow: The streaming wars will soon take to the skies. The story.
—"Poland is home to outstanding creative talent." Netflix formally opened and inaugurated a new Warsaw office on Monday, 10 years after first launching its streaming service in Poland. Located in the heart of the city, the new office houses 300 staff across content and engineering, as well as marketing, global affairs, communications, finance, and talent. Netflix opened its first Poland office in 2022, with its dedicated technology hub established the following year. The story.
—Woof! Global streaming subscription revenue surpassed $150b for the first time in 2025, according to a new survey from Ampere Analysis, which highlighted that as “a major milestone” for the subscription market. And streaming subscription revenue will hit $202b by 2030, up 29 percent, “as streamers shift focus from subscriber growth to price increases and ad-supported tiers,” the research firm predicted on Monday. The story.
—🤝 Carriage deals. 🤝 Fubo TV has added to its offering of regional sports networks — or pay TV channels built around live local sports — in time for the 2026 Major League Baseball season. The sports-first streamer unveiled an agreement with Spectrum SportsNet LA, the TV home of Los Angeles Dodgers games, to carry all MLB team games, including pre- and postgame shows and exclusive content. Fubo also inked a separate carriage deal with the Atlanta Braves and BravesVision to stream Atlanta team games, starting with the March 27 opening day game. The latest Fubo lineup deals come as the teams behind RSNs continue to eye streaming platform options as the traditional pay TV bundle. The story. |
Brand's Rape Trial Moved to October ►Pushed back. The start of a London trial over allegations of rape and sexual assault against disgraced comedian and actor Russell Brand has been pushed back from mid-June to October. The 50-year-old is accused of three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault, and one allegation of indecent assault, with six women alleging crimes dating from 1999 to 2009. Brand has denied all the charges. Last month, he appeared at Southwark Crown Court to enter a not guilty plea to two more alleged incidents with two separate women in London in 2009. The first charges against Brand were brought in April 2025 with alleged offenses against four women. The story.
—Paid in full. Taylor Frankie Paul's season of The Bachelorette was scrapped by ABC three days before the already-filmed season was set to air due to an ever expanding domestic violence scandal, but the star is still reportedly getting paid her full salary. Paul, who also stars on Hulu‘s hit reality series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, will reportedly receive her six-figure payment for The Bachelorette because she fulfilled her contract by filming the entire season. Outlets have speculated that Paul’s salary would be around $250,000, which is in line with previous buzzy Bachelorettes. The story.
—"He really just talks like a 6-year-old." John Oliver kicked off Sunday’s Last Week Tonight by mocking Donald Trump for his justification of avoiding the use of the word “war” amid the United States’ military operation in Iran. Oliver then said that no matter what word is used to describe the conflict, "it has been chaos." The recap.
—"I fuck with Trump." Nick Cannon is getting candid about his political views. The comedian-producer was joined by model Amber Rose on a recent episode of his show, Big Drive, where he called the Democratic Party “the party of the KKK.” After Rose claimed that Democrats “don’t care about Black people, don’t care about people of color and the Republicans do,” Cannon replied, “I agree with you 100 percent.” The Masked Singer host continued, “People don’t know that the Democrats are the party of the KKK. People don’t know that the Republicans are the party that freed the slaves. I mean, both you and I have some conservative views. You’re just a little bit more outspoken than I am. And honestly, I don’t subscribe to either party. I rock with W. E. B. Du Bois, when he said there’s no such thing as two parties. It’s just one evil party with two different names." The story.
—Not keen at all. Kim Novak is voicing her concerns about Scandalous! In a recent interview, Novak slammed Sydney Sweeney‘s casting as her in the upcoming film, following the Vertigo actress’ relationship with Sammy Davis Jr. in the 1950s. Colman Domingo is set to direct, marking his directorial debut. David Jonsson will portray Davis. “I would never have approved,” Novak said of Sweeney portraying her, adding that the Euphoria actress “sticks out so much above the waist.” The publication noted that Novak’s criticism stems from her concern that the film will focus on the sexual side of their relationship rather than the fact that they had “so much in common.” The story. |
'Hail Mary' Rockets to $300M Globally ►Amaze! Amaze! Amaze! Project Hail Mary continues its out-of-this-world performance at the global box office, where it rocketed past the $300m mark in its second weekend to become the top-grossing Hollywood title of 2026 to date and Amazon MGM Studios’ top earner, not adjusted for inflation. In North America, the Ryan Gosling-led movie fell a scant 32 percent to $54.5m from 4,007 theaters to boast the best hold in recent memory for a film opening in the same range, including Oppenheimer and Dune: Part 2, both of which debuted to $82.5m, not adjusted for inflation. 2023’s Oppenheimer dropped 43 percent to $46.2m in its sophomore outing, while 2004’s Dune dipped 44 percent to $46.7m.
That puts PHM's 10-day domestic cume at $164.3m. Overseas, its total is $136.2m for an astonishing early global total of $300.8m, well ahead of the $276m earned by Creed III in its entire run (not that the Creed threequel wasn’t a major success). THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Gosling’s top-grossing film of all time is Barbie, but PHM is his biggest domestic opening featuring the actor in a leading role, not adjusted for inflation. It is also a domestic best for directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
PHM wasn’t the only winning pass driving up year-over-year revenue. In its fourth weekend, Pixar and Disney’s Hoppers became the second-biggest Hollywood offering of 2026 at the global box office with $297m in ticket sales (Chinese sports comedy Pegasus 3 ranks No. 1 overall at $609m). The box office report. |
John Hannah Returning to 'The Mummy' ►🎭 The gang's all back together. 🎭 THR's Borys "Der Skoopmeister" Kit has the scoop that John Hannah is reuniting with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz for the latest installment of Universal's horror-adventure franchise The Mummy. The Scottish actor appeared in the previous Mummy movies made at the turn of the century. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of film collective Radio Silence, who together revitalized the Scream franchise with 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream VI and are behind the Ready or Not films, are helming the feature, which has a script by David Coggeshall. The story.
—Scribe found. Der Skoopmeister also has the scoop that New Line has once again brightened up to the idea of a sequel to its 2016 supernatural horror hit Lights Out. The WB unit has hired up-and-comer Connor Osborn McIntyre to write the screenplay for the sequel, which has been on and off again on the development track over the years. Original producer Lawrence Grey is returning as producer while Eric Heisserer and David F. Sandberg, who respectively wrote and directed the movie, will also produce. Lights Out was the directorial debut for Sandberg, who went on to direct Annabelle: Creation and Shazam!, and was based on his original short. The 2016 movie cost under $5m to produce and scared up over $149m worldwide. The story.
—Colossal news. Ten years after Deadpool arrived in theaters and broke the rules of the comic book genre, two of its players are back together. THR's second nicest man Aaron Couch has the scoop that filmmaker Tim Miller has tapped actor Stefan Kapicic to join the cast of his upcoming, high-concept movie starring Keanu Reeves. The Warner Bros. sci-fi action film is currently in production in the Dominican Republic, and while plot details are not available, THR previously reported the Ian Shorr-penned script has shades of the Tom Cruise time-loop movie Edge of Tomorrow and the Blake Lively shark survival movie The Shallows. The story.
—📅 On the move. 📅 Warner Bros. is again shifting the release date of its live-action hybrid movie Animal Friends. The road trip adventure feature is now set to hit theaters Jan. 22, 2027, after previously having been scheduled for May 1, 2026. Prior to that, the film had been slated for release on Oct. 10, 2025. Peter Atencio directs the film from a script by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider. Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa, Aubrey Plaza, Addison Rae, Dan Levy, Lil Rel Howery and Ellie Bamber round out the cast. The project hails from Legendary, Maximum Effort and Prime Focus Studios. The story. |
AMC Cancels 'Talamasca: The Secret Order' ►One and done. AMC‘s Talamasca: The Secret Order has been canceled after one season. From showrunners John Lee Hancock and Mark Lafferty, Talamasca hails from the same Anne Rice-based shared universe that began with Interview With the Vampire and continued with Mayfair Witches. The supernatural drama stars Nicholas Denton, Elizabeth McGovern, William Fichtner, Maisie Richardson-Sellers and Celine Buckens. Jason Schwartzman appeared as a guest star alongside Interview with the Vampire actors Eric Bogosian and Justin Kirk, who reprised their roles as crossover characters. The story.
—Switching teams? Peter Alexander, the veteran NBC News chief White House correspondent and the co-anchor of the Saturday edition of the Today show, is leaving the network. Alexander announced the decision on the Today show Saturday morning. While it isn’t immediately clear where Alexander is going, there has been speculation in the business that he may be in the mix for the 11 a.m. hour on MS NOW, which was left conspicuously open amid a lineup overhaul announced last week. The story.
—Cases dismissed. On Friday CBS announced that it was canceling Watson and DMV after just two seasons and one season, respectively. The network cut ties with creator Craig Sweeny’s Watson, a short-lived medical spin on the Sherlock Holmes novels, and creator Dana Klein’s DMV, a workplace comedy, as it recommits to shows including Marshals and George & Mandy’s First Marriage. Waston’s series finale will air May 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, while DMV will conclude with a final episode on May 11 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. The story.
—Still got that magic. HBO's Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, a TV series reimagining J.K. Rowling’s seven-part book series, released its first trailer on Wednesday. After the first 48 hours, it had reached more than 277m organic views across platforms, making it the most-watched trailer in HBO and HBO Max history. The story.
—Woof! The Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special tallied 6.3m views in its first three days on Disney+ and Hulu. The special also drove views of the old Hannah Montana content by nearly 1,000 percent, per Disney. The marketing push behind the special was gigantic, with more than 250 brands getting in on the anniversary via user-generated content, events and activations, content collections and consumer products. Disney’s own ads generated 440m total impressions, the company said, and drove more than 30m engagements on social media. The teaser for the special alone got 120m views within 24 hours. The ratings. |
JFK Jr. Insider Reacts to 'Love Story' Finale ►"What I dreaded, for nine fucking weeks, was that [Ryan Murphy would] get into the cockpit with John and imagine the final moments before the crash. And yup, he did. And yup, I sobbed my guts out." Lisa DePaulo was a feature writer for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s magazine, George. In her final insider’s recap of the FX hit series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette for THR, DePaulo reflects on the episode "Search and Recovery," reliving the traumatic moment she learned of her friend's tragic death. Warning: Spoilers! The story.
—The finale breakdown. After seven weeks of ’90s nostalgia and an intimate look at America’s ultimate power couple, Love Story concluded last Thursday. And it was an emotional watch, to say the least. THR's Lexi Carlson has a deep dive on the heartbreaking finale. Warning: Spoilers! The story.
—"The music is definitely hitting people’s hearts." Lexi Carlson pulls double duty on Love Story, and has an interview with the series' music supervisor Jen Malone. The FX show drew attention on social media for its nostalgic tunes, and Malone discusses curating the season's sound, including the finale. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
Inside the Making of 'BTS: The Return' ►"Imagine the pressure of confronting this stuff when you’re the biggest band in the world." THR's Patrick Brzeski spoke to filmmaker Bao Nguyen and producer Jane Cha on the unprecedented access that shaped Netflix's behind-the-scenes documentary BTS: The Return — and what they discovered when the cameras kept rolling and the world's biggest band started to forget they were there. The interview.
In other news...
—Junos: Joni Mitchell calls Mark Carney a "blessing"
—Rob Schneider urges the U.S. to "restore the military draft"
—Pamela Anderson’s new campaign bans AI models
What else we're reading...
—Berber Jin and Jessica Toonkel go inside the sudden and dramatic collapse of OpenAI's Sora AI video generator [WSJ]
—Edward Luce interviews Trump, with the president openly admitting (bragging?) that he's warring with Iran to steal their oil [FT]
—Dan Lamothe reports that "The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran" [Washington Post]
—Tim Balk has the 5 key takeaways from the massive No Kings Protest and what it all means with the midterms looming [NYT]
—Bruna Horvath reports on the influencers flocking to Epstein's island to create content [NBC News]
Today...
...in 1990, Steve Barron's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the big screen, with the comic book adaptation becoming a surprise hit, at the time the top-grossing independent film ever. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Céline Dion (58), Anitta (33), Warren Beatty (89), John Astin (96), Norah Jones (47), Simone Ashley (31), Katy Mixon (45), Pete Holmes (47), Fiona Gubelmann (46), Paul Reiser (70), Corey Cott (36), Jason Dohring (44), Donna D'Errico (58), Helena Mattsson (42), Gideon Adlon (29), Maurice LaMarche (68), Cha Eun-woo (29), Michael Lehmann (69), Deena Dill (56), Cassandra Scerbo (36), Juliet Landau (61), Mark Consuelos (55), Patrick Brammall (50), Ian Ziering (62), Tessa Ferrer (40), Chelsea Harris (36), Bahar Soomekh (51) |
| James Tolkan, the character actor who expressed a disdain for “slackers” in the Back to the Future trilogy and portrayed Tom Cruise’s no-nonsense commanding officer in Top Gun, has died. He was 94. The obituary. |
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