What's news: The FCC is set to vote on ending the ownership limit on local TV stations. MS NOW's fan event will be in Texas. Paramount is facing a fourth lawsuit over the WBD merger. Danny McBride will direct an untitled G.I. Joe feature for Paramount. And Mark Hamill’s original screen-used Luke Skywalker lightsaber sold for $3.75m! — Abid Rahman
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Bernthal on 'The Odyssey,' 'Spider-Man' and Always Going Big
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►On the cover. Jon Bernthal’s steady rise in Hollywood has culminated in an explosive 2026. His year began with the limited series His & Hers, a juicy mystery that now ranks as the 10th most popular Netflix show of all time. He both co-wrote and starred in special installments of The Bear (“Gary”) and The Punisher (“One Last Kill”), series vehicles that have earned him, respectively, an Emmy and the Marvel seal of approval. To that latter point: The Odyssey’s release on Friday comes ahead of Spider-Man: Brand New Day (out July 31), in which Bernthal will debut his gravelly voiced antihero in an MCU movie after a decade of playing him in various TV shows. Oh, and Bernthal recently wrapped his four-month run in Dog Day Afternoon, where he made his Broadway debut, without missing a single show. THR's David Canfield profiles the perpetually busy actor who considers himself a soldier for his directors. The cover story.
—Nominations are now open! Each year, THR recognizes the industry’s best and most influential business managers, the professionals who manage the financial lives of entertainment’s most high-profile figures. This year’s power list will be published in the Oct. 21 issue, so if you or your client would like to be considered, please fill out the following form via the link in the story. If chosen, we'll reach out for more information. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 26. The form.
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Fandango Set to Rival Tubi, Pluto |
►Entering the chat. Versant wants to battle Tubi, Pluto and Roku Channel in a bid for free streaming scale. THR's Alex Weprin has the scoop that the media company is overhauling its free streaming service, dropping the “Fandango At Home” branding in favor of a streamlined “Fandango” name, and adding a slew of new content and features as it seeks to grow a meaningful streaming business. The story.
—Heading south. Versant's MS NOW is planning a roadtrip to Texas, taking its annual fan gathering on the road to the Lone Star State, in what the cable news channel says will be its biggest live event yet. Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jen Psaki, Stephanie Ruhle, Ali Velshi, Ari Melber, Chris Hayes, Symone Sanders Townsend and Rev. Al Sharpton are among the talent expected to participate. MS NOW launched its live franchise as MSNBC Live in 2023, and held its first event in New York in 2024, drawing thousands of attendees to Brooklyn. Last year it moved it to Manhattan. The story.
—🤝 Chinamaxxing. 🤝 Imax has partnered with Chinese company Goer Dynamics to develop the first Imax entertainment system designed specifically for self-driving cars. Unveiled Wednesday at a ceremony in Qingdao by the two companies, the system pairs an Imax-exclusive acoustic architecture — engineered for ultra-high dynamic range and heavy, distortion-free bass — with a 4K HDR flip-down display that adapts to changing light conditions on the road. The story.
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How Paramount May Fight an Onslaught of Lawsuits
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►The hits keep coming. A fourth lawsuit has been filed looking to block Paramount‘s bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, this time by shareholders who accuse David Ellison and his father, Oracle scion Larry Ellison, of striking an illegal deal with Donald Trump for approval of the merger. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, the investors claim that the Ellisons promised to make sweeping changes at CNN to greenlight the acquisition. They also point to an alleged promise for up to $20m in free advertising and a $16m payment to Trump through a prior settlement by the studio’s previous ownership to resolve an allegedly frivolous lawsuit he had filed against CBS. The story.
—"Everything is on the table." THR's Winston Cho takes stock of all the legal challenges facing Paramount in its attempts to complete the WBD merger. Winston writes that Team Ellison could choose to fan political divisions (a risky move), it could cut a deal with the state AGs or even renegotiate the terms of its $111b acquisition. The analysis.
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FCC to Vote on Ending Broadcast Station Ownership Cap
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►Huge for Nexstar and Sinclair. The FCC is set to vote on ending the ownership limit on local TV stations. The organization announced Wednesday that it will vote on lifting the cap, which by the letter of the law limits companies from owning local TV stations that reach more than 39 percent of the country’s population. In an op-ed announcing the vote at the right-wing news site Breitbart, FCC chairman Brendan Carr argued that lifting the cap would rebalance power between station owners and other big media players, ranging from national networks to streamers and social media companies. The story.
—Oh... Staying with the FCC's Brendan Carr, a ProPublica report released Wednesday reveals that both Carr and fellow Republican FCC commissioner Olivia Trusty received pricey gifts valued at thousands of dollars from Paramount, including tickets to the Kennedy Center Honors, which were televised by the network. ProPublica found that Trusty’s ethics disclosure revealed that the tickets to the event were valued at $12,000. Carr hasn’t filed his ethics disclosure yet, but was seen seated in a private box with David Ellison, and Kennedy Center guidelines suggest that those tickets would be priced at $125,000 each. The story.
—Some good news! New York and New Jersey are on a roll. Both states have made gains in the race to nab Hollywood movie and TV spending for on-location shoots. California, meanwhile, has upped the ante with a doubled incentive program that is attempting to halt production flight to more attractive tax locales — and that triage effort appears to be working. The Golden State stayed No. 1 overall with $1.33b in production spend that inched up 5 percent year-over-year as filming count grew by 11 percent, industry tracker ProdPro reported in its Q2 2026 snapshot released on Wednesday. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Prolific composer Brian Tyler has sold his catalog of blockbuster film and TV scores, comprising more than 60,000 minutes, to Cutting Edge Group. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but the company called the acquisition "one of the largest ever completed for the rights of a single film and TV composer." Tyler's portfolio includes the soundtracks to the Fast and the Furious franchise, the Now You See Me films, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe and the first “Official F1 Theme” for Formula 1, which airs during the global broadcast of every race. The story.
—Sith happens! An iconic piece of Star Wars memorabilia smashed predictions and sold for a record-setting sum. Heritage Auctions confirmed late Wednesday afternoon that Mark Hamill’s original screen-used Luke Skywalker lightsaber sold for $3.75m. It’s the one he wielded during a climactic face-off with Darth Vader in 1980’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back until the Sith Lord cut off his hand and delivered the infamous “I am your father” line. The story.
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Creatives from 'Sharknado' and 'Doctor Who' Are Now Making AI Films |
►"We want to be among the first to make great stories with this new technology." THR's Steven Zeitchik has the scoop that a number of credited Hollywood writers are boarding AI films backed and developed by Promise AI, a L.A. based startup devoted to using AI for original work. Among them are Jamie Magnus Stone, who directed eight episodes of the modern Doctor Who revival, and Micho Rutare, a longtime producer who developed the Sharknado Syfy franchise via his former studio The Asylum. The story.
—"Lowering the barrier to entry isn’t a tech fantasy. It’s the only way the industry keeps producing the kind of work that made every one of us fall in love with it in the first place." In a guest column for THR, film producer and Millennium Media president Jonathan Yunger writes that he spent 15 years making movies the old way, and now has reluctantly become an AI guy. Yunger explains a pivot from film sets to building an AI startup lab for creatives. The column.
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'The Batman Part II' Release Delayed, Again
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►"It's been 84 years..." Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Studios have The Batman Part II flying off to a new date, again. Matt Reeves' film will now open on Feb. 18, 2028 in Imax, after being previously slated for an Oct. 1, 2027 release. Batman 2 was originally set for an Oct. 3, 2025 release, which had to be moved in the wake of the 2023 writers and actors strikes. WB also moved J.J. Abrams' The Great Beyond to Oct. 1, 2027; Sam Esmail’s Panic Carefully to April 9, 2027; and Santiago Menghini's The Revenge of La Llorona to Feb. 26, 2027. The story.
—Going commando. Danny McBride, the star and creator of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones, is attached to direct an untitled G.I. Joe feature for Paramount. The move is really just a change of ranks for McBride as he also wrote the screenplay for the action project that is based on the Hasbro toy line. It would, however, mark his feature directorial debut, a notable step up after helming several episodes of Gemstones. A Joe feature is one of the big priorities at the studio, which, under new owner David Ellison, has been ramping up development of major IP and brands such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek. The story.
—🤝 The Chips Act. 🤝 Alvin and the Chipmunks are ready to hit the ground running as the brand begins a new chapter. Big Shot Pictures has closed a joint venture with Bagdasarian Productions, which owns the property. Founded by Brian Robbins, Big Shot acquires 25 percent ownership stake in Alvin and the Chipmunks and will develop new projects for the franchise. This includes a big-screen feature that is beginning development and aiming for theatrical release in late 2028, timed to the franchise’s 70th anniversary. The story.
—🎭 Filled out. 🎭 Lamorne Morris, Abby Elliott, Michael Strassner and Joey Bicicchi have joined dramedy The Swimming Lesson. THR previously broke the news that Heidi Gardner and William H. Macy will star in writer-director Casey Twenter’s indie film that is set to begin production next month in Gardner’s hometown of Kansas City. The film centers on Tay (Gardner), a single mother who leaves behind her complicated life in L.A. to return to her childhood home. The story.
—Awards run set. Oscar-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi‘s epic drama All of a Sudden has locked down its awards-season release date: Neon will open the film exclusively in North American theaters on Nov. 25. The film world premiered in competition at Cannes in May, where its two leads, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, shared the best actress prize. All of a Sudden also ranked at the top of many critics’ Cannes best-of lists this year. The story.
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Streaming Viewers Are Getting Older |
►Signs of aging. THR's Rick Porter points out something that is often overlooked in the streaming revolution: The audience is getting older. Looking at Nielsen streaming data, Rick reveals that the median streaming viewer is still 15 to 20 years younger than the median network or cable viewer, but the gap has started to narrow some. The story.
—🎭 Stellar cast. 🎭 America Ferrera, Paddy Considine, Kit Harington and Alex Hassell are among the star-studded cast for a new Channel 4 thriller called Army of Shadows. Co-produced by StudioCanal and Two Cities Television, the series is penned by BAFTA-winning Ronan Bennett and has begun filming across Manchester, Liverpool, London and Paris. The show is inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film and Joseph Kessel’s seminal book of the same name, which famously dramatized the emergence of the French Resistance to the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. The story.
—🎭 Another one. 🎭 Dexter: Resurrection is adding to its killer cast for season two. The latest actor to join the Paramount+ series is Gabriel Luna. He’ll be playing a character named Ray Ballard, a serial killer with the moniker “The Sleepy-Eyed Stranger.” Luna joins fellow new additions Brian Cox and Dan Stevens on the serial killer side of Resurrection’s season two story. Bokeem Woodbine and Nona Parker Johnson have also been cast in the series along with returnees Michael C. Hall, Jack Alcott, Uma Thurman and Krysten Ritter. The story.
—Blast from the past. HGTV is assembling a slate of ’90s television stars to lead Totally ‘90s House, a new competitive home renovation series hosted by Jaleel White. Brian Austin Green, Beverley Mitchell, Jodie Sweetin, Melissa Joan Hart, Matthew Lawrence, Keshia Knight Pulliam and Joey Lawrence will star in the six-episode season that premieres on Aug. 26, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The celebrities will be tasked with revamping homes that are stuck in the decade, with the winner walking away with a $25,000 donation for their chosen charity. The story.
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Film Review: 'The Odyssey'
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►"Go big or go Homer." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. The Oscar-winning filmmaker tackles the classical Greek story with a stacked cast. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, John Leguizamo, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, Corey Hawkins and Mia Goth. Written by Christopher Nolan, based on Homer’s Odyssey. The review.
—"Thrilling ambition, boldness, seriousness, generosity and flair." Despite David's less-than-effusive review of The Odyssey, the film's key critics' scores are some of the best of Christopher Nolan's career. As of this morning, The Odyssey's Rotten Tomatoes critics score sits at 96 percent from nearly 200 reviews and 88 percent on Metacritic. THR has gathered together what the top film critics in the world are saying about the film everyone is talking about. The review roundup.
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►"Like Stick, only blander." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's The Hawk. Birthday boy Will Ferrell and a stellar supporting cast star in a show that will remind you of better golf comedies and Ferrell-fronted sports stories. Also starring Molly Shannon, Jimmy Tatro, Fortune Feimster and Luke Wilson. Created by Harper Steele, Chris Henchy and Will Ferrell. The review.
—"Shame and secrets eat the soul." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Nader Saeivar's Hijamat. Produced and edited by Iranian Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi, the Karlovy Vary-premiering film is about a gay muslim Turk living in Berlin and features a striking cameo from Nastassja Kinski. Starring Kida Khodr Ramadan, Jael Cem Ilhan, Nicolette Krebitz, Aziz Capkurt, Moritz Bleibtreu, Vedat Erincin and Derya Durmaz. Written by Nader Saeivar. The story.
In other news...
—Anthony Ippolito goes the distance as Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky trailer
—Liam Neeson goes on the run in fast-paced The Mongoose trailer
—Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boys S3 trailer teases fallout from that big love confession
—Stranger Things cast reunites for 10-year anniversary video
—Netflix’s Bela Bajaria to receive 2026 International Emmy Founders Award
—Rob Liefeld penning new Avengelyne comic for Image
—Denis Villeneuve and artist Vija Celmins to be honored at LACMA’s Art+Film Gala
—UTA promotes James Wright co-head of its U.K. music group
—Dave Kendall, former MTV host, dies at 68
—Scott Bryce, actor on As the World Turns and Popular, dies at 68
What else we're reading...
—After becoming a global star at the World Cup, Sarah Shephard considers what's next for Brand Erling Haaland [The Athletic]
—Alex Reisner writes that generative AI is an engineering disaster and a shockingly inefficient trillion-dollar project [The Atlantic]
—Ashley Wong looks at how Prime Video has cornered the market on young-adult fiction TV adaptations and artfully exploited the BookTok boom [WSJ]
—Ivan Mehta reports that former tech nerd fave OnePlus says it won’t release new phones in the U.S. and Europe [TechCrunch]
—Moira Donegan reflects on the farce of Mitch McConnell seemingly clinging on to power despite being at death's door [Guardian]
Today...
...in 2010, Warner Bros. released Christopher Nolan's Inception in theaters. The sci-fi heist movie was a massive commercial and critical hit, scoring $839m at the box office and winning four Oscars from 8 nominations. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Will Ferrell (59), Rosa Salazar (41), Phoebe Cates (63), Alexandra Shipp (35), Scott Derrickson (59), Katrina Kaif (43), Rubén Blades (78), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (56), Corey Feldman (55), Jayma Mays (47), Daryl Mitchell (61), Kate Berlant (39), Erin Doherty (34), Laura Carmichael (40), AnnaLynne McCord (39), Milly Shapiro (24), Eleanor Matsuura (43), Andrew James Allen (39), Mark Indelicato (32), Cooper Koch (30), Michelle Morgan (45), Jonathan Adams (59), Ann Turkel (80), Amiah Miller (22), Kira Buckland (39), Faye Grant (69), Kim Woo-bin (37), Karina Arroyave (57), Fabian Arnold (30), Tom Taylor (25), James Maslow (36), Denise Faye (63), Leila Kenzle (66), Sherri Stoner (67), Chris Pontius (52), Bob Joles (67), Robinne Lee (52), Alan Resnick (40)
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Hal Williams, the actor known for his turns as the friendly neighborhood cop Smitty on Sanford and Son and as Marla Gibbs’ patient husband on another popular NBC sitcom, 227, has died. He was 91. The obituary.
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