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What's news: Netflix claims it has now spent more than $135b on film and TV productions. Amazon has renewed Reacher, and has greenlit a series based on Rebecca Yarros’ Empyrean novels. Peacock is developing a Fast & Furious series. And Ben Kingsley, Max Minghella and Pekka Strang are the final actors to join the sprawling S4 cast of The White Lotus. — Abid Rahman
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Bonjour de Cannes!►The 79th Cannes Film Festival opens it doors today, and THR's intrepid team of reporters, editors and critics are on the ground in the south of France. Click here to read our Cannes day 1 daily.
—Les films qui font le plus de bruit. The Cannes market arrived this year the way it often does: slowly, then all at once. THR's Mia Galuppo and Scott Roxborough report that on the eve of the 2026 Marché du Film (May 12-20), there was a late surge of fresh packages — prestige auteur plays, elevated genre films and star-driven indies — a tentative sign of green shoots for an global film industry badly in need of some positive momentum. Mia and Scott gather together the buzziest titles up for sale in Cannes this year. The list.
—Pourquoi Hollywood ghoste Cannes? There’s a tentpole-sized hole in the center of this year’s Cannes lineup. For the first time since 2017, not a single film from a major Hollywood studio will be premiering at the festival. Spooked by social media pile-ons, eye-watering costs and a string of high-profile misfires, Mia Galuppo and Scott Roxborough write that the major American studios have calculated that a glitzy Palais premiere might not be worth it (in more ways than one). The analysis.
—Les chiffres importants. The Cannes Film Festival and Cannes Market have revealed prospective attendance figures for the 2026 event, reporting that some 40,000 industry professionals will be taking part in the market this year, with 16,000 film executives from more than 140 countries registered for the Marché du Film. The U.S., France and the U.K. remain the top three countries in terms of attendance at the Cannes Market, with Europe as a region dominating in terms of total attendees. But the Asian contingent is gaining strength. Japan, the country of honor at the 2026 Marché saw a nearly 50 percent increase in attendence this year, and now represents the fifth-largest contingent at the market. The story.
—La reine de Cannes est toujours au sommet. Scott Roxborough spoke to French film icon Catherine Deneuve, who this year returns to Cannes with two new films in the official competition. The 82-year-old discusses Parallel Tales, Asghar Farhadi's ensemble drama that also stars Isabelle Huppert and Vincent Cassel and also Marie Kreutzer's Gentle Monster, in which she co-stars with Léa Seydoux. The interview. |
La Sélection Cannes de Rooney►Crème de la crème. THR’s chief film critic David Rooney highlights promising competition entries from some of world cinema’s most highly regarded directors, including new features from the likes of Lukas Dhont, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Paweł Pawlikowski, Christian Mungiu, James Gray, Na Hong-jin, Asghar Farhadi, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Arthur Harari. The list.
—🎭 Des voix d'anges. 🎭 Bong Joon Ho‘s much-anticipated animated feature Ally has lined up its voice cast, with Bradley Cooper, Ayo Edebiri, Dave Bautista, Finn Wolfhard, Rachel House and Werner Herzog joining the project, the Oscar-winning director’s producers announced Tuesday in Cannes. Newcomer Alex Jayne Go led the casting announcement, suggesting she could be voicing the title role. The reveal arrives alongside recent word that Neon has signed on to release the film in North American theaters in 2027 — marking the indie label’s reunion with Bong following its 2019 release of Parasite. The story.
—🤝 C'est vendu! 🤝 After releasing Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie stateside, Neon has nabbed the rights to Matt Johnson’s next film. Johnson will direct the untitled project, with Finn Wolfhard set to star. The story is inspired by true events that saw a Vice Canada editor recruit drug mules for an international cocaine smuggling operation, including out of Vice's offices. Wolfhard will play the Canadian investigative journalist who helped break the story. Neon has acquired worldwide rights and will release the film in the US. The company will handle international sales in Cannes. The story.
—🤝 C'est vendu! 🤝 Korean studio Showbox has lined up distribution deals across more than 20 international territories for Colony, the new zombie thriller from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho, the company announced Tuesday ahead of the film’s world premiere in Cannes on Friday. The action thriller has gone to Well Go USA in North America, StudioCanal in the U.K., Gaga Corporation in Japan, ARP Sélection in France, and Plaion Pictures in Germany and Italy. The story. |
Inside SAG-AFTRA's Deal With Studios►"This contract is a testament to the incredible unity and determination of our members." New generative AI protections and a long-awaited merger of SAG-AFTRA’s two pension plans are just some of the terms of SAG-AFTRA’s four-year deal with studios and streamers that were revealed Monday. THR's Katie Kilkenny runs through the key elements of the agreement, reached May 2, that also raises minimum rates by 3 percent annually and gives the union the right to bargain on behalf of choreographers. The analysis.
—425,000 jobs! Netflix wants to be a bit more public with the impact it is having on the global economy and popular culture writ large. So on Tuesday it is releasing what it calls “The Netflix Effect,” a report outlining the economic and cultural impact that the streaming giant says it has had on the entertainment economy. In a post, co-CEO Ted Sarandos writes that Netflix has now spent north of $135b on film and TV productions, contributing what the company estimates is $325b toward the global economy. And Netflix has created some 425,000 jobs jobs across its productions, with another 700,000 or so working as day workers or extras on its projects. The story.
—🤝 21 Things Byron Allen Could Have Bought For $120m That Aren’t This Troubled Website. 🤝 After running into a cash crunch as a publicly traded company, BuzzFeed has found a buyer in Byron Allen, the Comics Unleashed CBS late-night host and mogul behind some assets of The Weather Channel, as well as a patchwork collection of syndicated shows, channels and 13 broadcast affiliate TV stations that comprise his Allen Media Group. In a $120m agreement, Allen will take a 52 percent majority stake in the company as well as the CEO role from founder Jonah Peretti, funded by $20m in cash and $100m in the form of a promissory note due five years after deal close, which is expected in May. The story. |
'Reacher' Secures Early S5 Renewal ►Dads rejoice! Amazon Prime Video is, unsurprisingly, sticking with one of its biggest shows. The streamer has ordered a fifth season of Reacher. The pickup comes ahead of the show’s fourth season, which is slated to premiere later this year. Amazon announced the renewal a few hours before its upfront presentation Monday evening. Alan Ritchson will reprise his role as Jack Reacher in season five, but Amazon is otherwise holding off on sharing details about the next season, including which of Lee Child’s Reacher novels will be the source material. Nick Santora remains as showrunner. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Lord of the Rings fans finally have their precious season three premiere date. On Monday, Amazon announced that season three of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will premiere on Nov. 11, 2026. Amazon says the series has attracted “over 185m viewers worldwide.” Season one had the largest launch of any Prime Video series ever, though season two was not as strong, but it still bowed as the top original series on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 chart. The story.
—Prime position. Amazon's upcoming series Sex Criminals has found a director in Nia DaCosta. The 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple filmmaker will helm the first two episodes of the series from creators Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon and Tze Chun. DaCosta will also be an executive producer of the series. Sex Criminals is the second TV project DaCosta has signed on to in recent weeks. She’s also executive producing and has story credit on Hulu’s pilot Southern Bastards. The story.
—🟢 Fantastic news. 🟢 Prime Video is taking another huge swing in the fantasy realm, greenlighting Fourth Wing, a series based on author Rebecca Yarros’ mega-selling Empyrean romantasy novels. The project has been in development at Amazon for about 2 1/2 years. Amazon MGM Studios is producing along with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society banner. Fourth Wing, from Entangled Publishing, hit shelves in 2023 and quickly became a best seller, winning both positive reviews and a large fan base that spread word on the BookTok segment of TikTok and other social media. The next two installments in the planned five-book series, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm, were also instant best sellers. The story.
—🟢 Greenest of green lights. 🟢 At upfronts, Amazon announced that it has ordered an adaptation of Elsie Silver’s small-town Rose Hill romance books to series. Heidi Cole McAdams is set to serve as writer, showrunner and executive producer on the show. Silver’s Rose Hill books, including the titles Wild Love, Wild Eyes, Wild Side and Wild Card, follows the love lives of various residents — from a pilot to a country singer — of a Canadian mountain town. The story.
—No-brainer. Amazon is renewing its candid-camera favorite Jury Duty for a third season. The series, whose first season in 2023 followed an unsuspecting juror as he served in a scripted civil trial surrounded by actors, followed up with a second season set in a corporate retreat. Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky created the series originally for Amazon’s short-lived free ad-supported Freevee streamer, but the show was moved to Prime Video when Freevee shut down in 2025. The story. |
Peacock Developing 'Fast & Furious' Series►4 becomes 1. Peacock is launching not one Fast & Furious TV series, not two — but four, franchise star Vin Diesel said Monday at NBCU’s upfront at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Or maybe it is just the one. “For the last decade, we have realized that the fans have wanted more,” Diesel, sharing the stage with Jimmy Fallon, told the advertisers in attendance. “They wanted us to expand the legacy characters, their stories. And for the last decade, the desire has been for us to enter the TV space.” “The news that I have here today is that Peacock is launching four shows from the Fast and Furious universe,” Diesel said. A source inside Peacock tells THR that only one Fast show is in active development. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 At upfronts, Peacock set premiere dates for a few of its more anticipated series, including its Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake, drama The Good Daughter and season two of The Paper. Amy Poehler’s comedy Dig, season two of Day of the Jackal and some new unscripted shows are also on the horizon. A24-produced Crystal Lake, which stars Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees is set to premiere Oct. 15. The Good Daughter, starring Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy, will premiere Nov. 12. Season two of The Paper, the sort-of spinoff of The Office, will premiere in September. The story.
—All roads lead to Charleston. BravoCon will make its grand return in 2027, but before then, the network has planned a one-day fan event in Charleston, South Carolina. Bravo Fan Fest Charleston will be held on Oct. 24 in the location home to Southern Charm and Southern Hospitality. Attendees can enjoy live stage programming and panels, immersive experiences, themed activations and intimate photo opportunities with Bravo stars. Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen will also tape four shows leading up to the event, including back-to-back tapings on Oct. 22 and 23. The story.
—VRCU expands. Vanderpump Rules has added yet another spinoff to its television universe — this time, set at Lisa Vanderpump‘s mint hotel in Sin City. The news was unveiled at NBCU Upfronts, alongside a slew of additional Bravo programming additions. Vanderpump Rules: Lisa Las Vegas, which is described as a limited series, is one of two new shows the network has ordered, alongside Secrets, Lies, Texas Wives. Vanderpump Rules heads to Vegas as the original series was notably left off the list of renewals ordered by Bravo. The latest Real Housewives entry based in Rhode Island will return for a second season. The story.
—Pack your knives and go… straight to next season. Bravo has renewed Top Chef for season 24. The network's longest-running original series — it premiered two weeks before The Real Housewives of Orange County — is currently airing its 23rd cycle on the cable network. Filmed in Charlotte, North Carolina, with additional episodes shot in Greenville, South Carolina, the season is set to wrap with a June 8 finale. The story. |
Strike Force Five Discuss Fate of Late Night►Besuited hosts assemble! Monday night’s episode of The Late Show saw the late-night Voltron come together once more with host Stephen Colbert joined by The Tonight Show‘s Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘s Jimmy Kimmel, Late Night‘s Seth Meyers and Last Week Tonight‘s John Oliver. Introducing “four of his best television friends,” Colbert welcomed his late night rivals/peers/friends/contemporaries/well-wishers with a group hug, banter and a surprisingly insightful conversation about the future of late night. The recap.
—🎭 Last-minute guests. 🎭 Ben Kingsley, Max Minghella and Pekka Strang have joined the sprawling cast for HBO's The White Lotus. The three actors will have recurring roles in the coming season and complete the ensemble for the series. As has been the case throughout the White Lotus casting process, details on the roles Kingsley, Minghella and Strang will play are being kept under wraps. Season four is currently filming in Cannes and Saint-Tropez, France (with some filming also happening in Paris) and will be set against the backdrop of the Cannes Film Festival. The story.
—Heading north. ABC has picked up a spinoff of The Rookie, titled The Rookie: North, for the 2026-27 season. Running Point actor Jay Ellis will star in the series, which like the original show will follow a man who becomes the oldest rookie on a police force. The Rookie: North was one of two pilots ABC ordered this development cycle and is the first new scripted series order for the network for 2026-27. The other pilot, a comedy titled Do You Want Kids?, was passed over. The story. |
Film Review: 'Marty, Life Is Short'
►"A sad and funny portrait and love story." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Marty, Life Is Short. Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg and more talk about the comedian as an actor, a personality and a pal in Lawrence Kasdan's doc. The review.
—"Instantly marks the filmmaker as a contender." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Curry Barker's Obsession. A young man faces dire consequences when his wish that his crush fall in love with him comes true. Starring Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Haley Fitzgerald, Darin Toonder and Andy Richeter. Written by Curry Barker. The review.
In other news...
—Kevin Hart, Marcello Hernández’s bachelor party gets out of control in 72 Hours trailer
—Shoot the People trailer: Misan Harriman captures fight for justice
—James Gun's Man of Tomorrow enlists Sinqua Walls
—NFL standout Ray Davis’ foster care journey set for movie
—Rex Reed, caustic film critic, dies at 87
What else we're reading...
—Drew Harwell goes inside the meltdown and struggle for relevancy at Ben Shapiro's The Daily Wire [Washington Post]
—Lucas Shaw reports on the chaos and conflict roiling Kevin Hart's media company [Bloomberg]
—With the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Mel Robbins, and Sheryl Sandberg recently promoting AI, Angelina Chapin reflects on the "girlbossification of AI" [The Cut]
—Osmond Chia reports that Japanese snack giant Calbee will temporarily switch to black and white packaging due to supply issues related Trump's Iran War [BBC]
—In time for Eurovision kicking off tonight, Mara Hvistendahl and Alex Marshall have in depth investigation into how Israel manipulated the public votes in 2025 [NYT]
Today...
...in 2017, Warner Bros. released Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in theaters. The film, which featured an incredibly campy performance from Jude Law, was not loved by critics and bombed at the box office. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Rami Malek (45), Nathan Fielder (43), Rhea Seehorn (54), Varada Sethu (34), Malin Åkerman (48), Emily VanCamp (40), Emilio Estevez (64), Domhnall Gleeson (43), Ving Rhames (67), Gabriel Byrne (76), Mackenzie Astin (53), Jason Biggs (48), Samantha Mathis (56), Deborah Kara Unger (60), Bruce Boxleitner (76), Stephen Baldwin (60), Odeya Rush (29), Emily Beecham (42), Jamie Luner (55), Richard Riehle (78), Jennifer Hetrick (68), Luke Benward (31), Scott Ryan (53), Kim Fields (57), Natalie Paul (40), Malcolm David Kelley (34), Amy Sloan (48), Aaron Abrams (48), Clare Bowen (42), Aaron Yoo (47), Rachel Wilson (49)
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Jennifer Harmon, who appeared 21 times on Broadway over a span of nearly 50 years and portrayed the villainous Cathy Craig Lord on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, has died. She was 82. The obituary.
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