What year is it? The best ratings comparison for ABC's blockbuster NBA Finals is in the Michael Jordan era. Original bets, from festival buys (hello, Obsession) to Steven Spielberg ideas (Disclosure Day) are the Big Summer Movies we're talking about. It's enough to forget that Hollywood is this close to being reshaped by an enormous megamerger. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Stanley Tucci's shorter commute; Dana White's Super Bowl moment; Xavier Becerra's Hollywood waffle; Maggie Gyllenhaal's next big swing.
|
The Justice Department has cleared Paramount's $111 billion megadeal for Warner Bros., a key approval that removes a major regulatory roadblock to completing the merger that will have ripple effects across Hollywood.
The decision clears the way for David Ellison's Paramount to become the largest theatrical distributor in the country and own a top five streamer by subscriber count.
As Winston Cho reports, there's a movement afoot among at least 10 states to stop Ellison in court. But Team Paramount, led by Makan Delrahim, may be leaning on a free speech theory to close the deal. Cho writes, "To that, Paramount has invoked First Amendment protections, arguing that it would be unconstitutional to block a merger based on speculation around how it would exercise editorial control."
+ DelRahim also directly replied to THR's scoop on the superstar tech lawyer that the states are in talks to hire to lead the effort to challenge Paramount: "Bob Van Nest is a great lawyer. Their firm does a lot of work for Netflix (and other huge big tech)."
|
After history-making strikes in 2023, a quiet negotiation cycle in 2026 yielded four-year labor contracts with SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild as work becomes more difficult to find for members.
Katie Kilkenny asks, "What made this year just so mellow? The top factor, perhaps, was the ongoing fallout from Hollywood’s contraction. It’s no small thing that, since 2022, studios have tightened their belts and downsized their slates, reducing the job opportunities available for average industry workers."
The Directors Guild also revealed the AI details of its deal late on Friday, with Kilkenny noting, "The union established novel contract language comparing any footage created with generative AI to footage captured by a camera, and enshrined that both fall under the director’s creative purview. The union won some transparency language (if directors are expected to use AI in a job, then their employer must tell them) and licensing regulations (the union must get notice and the freedom to set a meeting if their work is licensed to train a commercial generative AI system with the intent of creating outputs)." Full story.
|
Sky-high ticket prices? Half-empty hotels? Political chaos? FIFA isn’t fretting. North America’s World Cup kickoff times are poised to boost the tournament. As Will Leitch writes in his latest column, "I suspect the real reason that the narrative will shift is something far more banal, corporate and American: It’s going to be a television ratings smash … and not entirely because of the soccer itself."
|
"Well, you know, awkward, but I think that was the point." — Matt Damon, on debuting a rapper alter-ego, "The Nomad," in service of a good cause.
"Most of them just want a PDF that they can send to their investors and their family which says, 'I did not go to Epstein Island.'" — Aron D’Souza, on his clients for a Peter Thiel-backed online tribunal that aims to put journalists on trial.
"I love my husband, and our wedding night was great and all, but I think it might have been the greatest night of my life." — Mariska Hargitay, on sprinting ten blocks from her Broadway show to make the Knicks comeback win.
"I was super psyched to walk past the old place and walk right into my film career, but I couldn’t get on the lot." — Noah Wyle, on feeling locked out of the Warner Bros.' studio lot after ER ended.
"They’ve come to the table to bring creators in as business partners, as it should be." — David Israelite, head of the National Music Publishers Association, on making deals with AI song generator startups.
"Should game shows, reality show competitions, pageants and similar events be considered to be 'gaming'?" — A notice filed by the Trump admin's Commodity Futures Trading Commission, asking if it should regulate bets on reality TV.
Logline of the Week
"She has never made it past a month in a relationship. He has never gone longer than a month without one." -> Jennifer Lawrence's rom-com One Month Mark, now set up at Apple and seeking a director and co-star.
By the Numbers
(Most-read stories on THR.com this week)
1) "Disclosure Day Review: Spielberg’s Spellbinding Return"
2) "Tony Awards: Complete Winners List"
3) "Love Island USA Season 8 Cast Revealed"
|
Netflix’s Roast of Kevin Hart led the week with 1.35 billion minutes of watch time in its first full week on Nielsen's latest streaming ratings snapshot. That Kevin Hart roast didn't deliver as much viewing time as the 2024 roast of Tom Brady drew in its first full week in May 2024 (1.67 billion minutes) but is still a very strong number. Meanwhile, a few premieres performed fairly well. Netflix’s Nemesis led the group with 832 million viewing minutes, and Paramount+’s Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch drew 725 million minutes for its first two episodes. Rick Porter's close read.
|
Hollywood's new "It" Brit is suddenly on everyone's list. (Just ask Clooney.) But does he have the juice to become the next leading man? Callum Turner has led commercial hits and daring indies but firmly within the lane of a rising talent. To emerge as a true movie star requires that presence, that mystique, that’s hard to articulate and harder still to find nowadays. David Canfield's cover story.
*Missed out on reading in print? Subscribe!
|
It’s been an epic rise for British actor Himesh Patel, from strumming Beatles tunes in Yesterday to teaming with Christopher Nolan for his adaptation of literature’s longest boat ride. "In a sense, it was baptism by fire," he says of Danny Boyle's film, "but it didn't feel like fire because I had so much support." Seija Rankin's profile.
|
Oysters, champagne, a 120 mph hot lap with Jenson Button and the great Kim Kardashian stakeout. THR, for three days across the 83rd installment of the jewel in the F1 crown, was given an exclusive peek into this life — the boat trips and bubbles. We were hosted by Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, invited into their suites and shown why film, TV and music A-listers can’t help themselves from getting in on the action. Lily Ford's three-day diary of F1's most exclusive weekend.
|
The Drama Actress Roundable |
Carrie Coon, Sarah Pidgeon, Claire Danes, Kerry Washington, Rhea Seehorn and Chase Infiniti star in the latest installment of the THR franchise. After hearing The Gilded Age‘s Carrie Coon talk about the doors that remain closed to her, Love Story breakout Sarah Pidgeon asks whether anybody gathered feels like they’ve truly made it. The answer? A unanimous “no,” with the subtle implication that anyone who says otherwise may be delusional. Full roundtable conversation.
|
Megan Thee Stallion, Rachel Dratch, Ariana DeBose and Nicole Scherzinger partied at The Carlyle Hotel following the Tonys. Sombr honored Taylor Swift during the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in NYC. Anderson Cooper, Graham Campbell, Joaquin Consuelos, Joe Machota and Mark Consuelos hit CAA's New York Party. George Cheeks and Matt Stone joined Richard Weitz at WME's pre-Tonys celebration in NYC. Jodie Foster, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader came together for a screening of Taxi Driver at Tribeca Festival. Cole Escola was among the guests at UTA's Tonys celebration. Jonathan Majors, Meagan Good, Tyler Perry and Tika Sumpter had a night out at the Hollywood Unlocked Impact Awards in Beverly Hills. Seth MacFarlane received the Maverick Award at the Newport Beach TV Fest. All 85 photos from this week's premieres and events.
|
Upcoming Releases
Notable movies heading to theaters
|
Snapshots from THR's team of film critics
Joshua Z. Weinstein's feature Here I'm Alive is a "moody, docu-style ensemble drama" chronicling a night in the life of financially strapped New Yorkers glued to their screens. Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer and Bill Skarsgard get "mired in the muck" of A24’s The Death of Robin Hood, a "dour revisionist take" from director-screenwriter Michael Sarnoski. Dawson's Creek co-stars Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson reunite in drama Happy Hours, which "will give you a hangover." Writer-director Zach Woods' The Accompanist, starring Susan Sarandon and Aubrey Plaza, is "sharply acted but overly precious feature debut." Writer-director Rachel Rose's feature debut The Last Day, on the perils of modern motherhood, boasts "a pair of powerhouse performances" by Alicia Vikander and Victoria Pedretti. The Listeners, Jordan Tannahill's semi-thriller for Starz, delivers a "tour de force" turn from Rebecca Hall.
Winners & Losers
James Hibberd's weekly scorecard
"Aaron Sorkin sequel footage draws mockery. Amazon hides Project Hail Mary from streaming fans. Blunt and Spielberg (sort of) stick the UFO landing. Spencer Pratt falls. Love Island breaks record."
And finally,
A Hollywood Flashback...
"She was able to maintain editorial clarity in a situation that would have unnerved the best.'"
|
|
|
|
