What's news: Patrick Holland will continue as executive chairman and CEO of Banijay U.K. Hulu has renewed Furious. Big Brother U.S. has hit 1,000 episodes. StudioCanal has launched catalogue label StudioCanal Classics. And Joe Russo says watching Avengers: Endgame is “required” to understand Doomsday. — Abid Rahman
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Jake Reiner Speaks About Parents' Murders For First Time
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►"Nobody really understands what it’s like to go through something like that until you’re living it." In his first public interview since the brutal murders of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, in their home in December, their son Jake Reiner reveals details of his sister’s discovery of the murder scene and discusses the incredible loss of his parents and his younger brother, who is in jail awaiting trial for the double murder. Jake Reiner, 34, spoke with ABC 7 Los Angeles about his famous filmmaker father’s legacy and the experience he’s had after losing both parents so abruptly and in such a tragic manner. He also gave an update on his sister, Romy Reiner, but would not discuss anything around his brother, Nick Reiner, who has been charged with and pleaded not guilty to murdering his parents. The story.
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Apple TV Hikes Prices as Streaming Inflation Continues
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►Ooooof. Apple is raising subscription prices for its Apple TV service, as streaming inflation continues to be felt across the entertainment business. Apple TV will now cost $14.99 per month, a $2 price hike, while the annual plan rises by $20 to $119.99. The price increase is effective today, with existing subscribers being given one month notice. Apple is also raising the price of its Apple One individual plan by $2 to $21.95 per month. Apple One bundles Apple TV with Apple Music, Apple Arcade, cloud storage and other features. The story.
—🤝 Manny making moves. 🤝 As film and TV studio services giant Quixote cuts down its exposure to empty soundstages, the lease at one of its vacated locations has been taken over with plans to make it a home base for a production label. Producer Manny Halley has inked an agreement with Quixote to take over its 125,000-square-foot Montague Street location in Pacoima, about an hour-ish drive north from DTLA. Halley’s team plans to use the complex, which has four soundstages across six acres, as the base of his Imani Studio. The story.
—It's official. Patrick Holland has been tapped to continue running the now merged and expanded U.K. business of Banijay Entertainment as executive chairman and CEO of Banijay U.K. following the recent merger with All3Media. Holland will report to Banijay CEO Marco Bassetti. He joined Banijay U.K. in May 2022 from the BBC, where he was director, factual, arts & classical music, after serving as channel controller of BBC Two since 2017. The story.
—"It’s got to stop." A popular roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain has been closed since July 12 after two riders suffered similar brain hemorrhages. According to a CNN investigation, two women who rode the X2 coaster six days apart both lost consciousness and ended up in surgery with similar brain hemorrhages of a type that’s "typically associated with high-speed collisions." The story.
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Penn Badgley to Star in Amazon's 'Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone'
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► 🎭 Killer casting. 🎭 You star Penn Badgley will topline a murder mystery at Prime Video called Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. Amazon has placed a series order for the project from showrunner David Hemingson, Fifth Season and Made Up Stories. The series is based on a novel of the same name by Benjamin Stevenson. The show follows Ern Cunningham (Badgley), a “mystery-writing expert” who heads to a family reunion “to welcome his brother Michael home from prison — the same brother Ern helped convict,” the show’s logline reads. “When a frozen body appears and a snowstorm traps everyone inside, the deaths begin to mount." The story.
—🟢 No-brainer. 🟢 Hulu has renewed Furious, a serial killer thriller starring Emmy Rossum, for a second season. The pickup comes a few days ahead of the first season finale, which debuts Aug. 31. Loosely based on the 1987 movie Black Widow and created by Liz Meriwether, Furious stars Rossum as Alice Black, an FBI agent who is tracking a serial killer (played by Lola Petticrew). “Both walk their own paths toward justice,” the show’s logline reads, “and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur.” The story.
—Milestone! Big Brother hit a TV milestone on Thursday, becoming the first primetime entertainment show in the U.S. to air 1,000 episodes. It’s reaching that mark while also riding improved ratings this summer. Since it airs multiple times each week — most seasons of the show have between 30 and 40 episodes — Big Brother has reached the 1,000-episode mark in its 28th season. It’s far ahead of The Simpsons (which reached 800 episodes near the end of season 37 in February) and fellow CBS reality staple Survivor (727 through season 50), which premiered a few weeks before Big Brother in 2000. The story.
—Finally! Though it’s been one of the most streamed shows in the U.S. for the past three-plus years, The Big Bang Theory had never reached the top of the Nielsen charts. Emphasis on had: The comedy took over the No. 1 overall spot in the streaming ratings for the week of July 27-Aug. 2 with 1.14b minutes of viewing time. The Big Bang Theory grew a little bit week to week and was the only series or movie to record more than a billion viewing minutes — which it did for the third straight week. The streaming rankings.
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How Dolly Parton Crossed Over Into Hollywood |
►"Of all the artists flying the country flag in this era, Dolly was the most transcendent." The 70s were also the last golden age of an American monoculture, when most of us experienced the same programs, movies, and records at the same time. David Kamp writes that the 70s were also a perfect time for a singular talent like Dolly Parton to breakout and capture the hearts of the country. The story.
—"A project roadmap that will guide us for decades to come." Dolly Parton's team has provided more details on Dolly-related media projects that will continue after her death. Projects in the pipeline include a Dolly avatar show, a Dolly Musical documentary, a Dolly biopic, a Dolly docuseries, a Dolly scripted series, a Billy the Kid animated series and more to be revealed at a later date. The story.
—"My sister was always thinking of others." Dolly Parton’s little sister Stella Parton has revealed the country music icon asked her medical team to try experimental drugs on her to help future cancer patients battle their own health struggles. "What the world saw is exactly who she was, so much so, she told me recently that if there was no hope for her, she would still allow her medical team to try experimental drugs in the hope of helping others in the future," Stella Parton said in an emotional Facebook tribute. The story.
—D'oh! CNN has apologized to Dolly Parton‘s family and to a Las Vegas tribute artist after mistakenly airing a photo of the impersonator during coverage of the country icon’s death this week. The mix-up came amid the network’s round-the-clock coverage following Parton’s death from a brief battle with cancer on Tuesday. The story.
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Re-Watching 'Endgame' Is "Required" to Understand 'Doomsday' |
►Homework assignment. Avengers: Doomsday director Joe Russo says watching Avengers: Endgame is “required” to understand the upcoming film. Russo told Fandango that the upcoming Avengers: Endgame Encore — a re-release of the 2019 blockbuster featuring additional footage — is “going to connect the story of the two movies. There’s a natural progression from Endgame into Doomsday, which is also inclusive of all the other stories that have been playing out. But I think it’s important to see Endgame again in theaters for two reasons: One, you’re going to have a lot of fun … and two, I think it’s required viewing for following the story in Doomsday." The story.
—🏆 Go n-éirí leat! 🏆 Irish-language feature thriller Aontas is Ireland’s submission for the best international feature film category at the Oscars 2027. Directed by Damian McCann, the film is a heist thriller starring Carrie Crowley, Bríd Brennan, Eva-Jane Gaffney, Seán T. Ó Meallaigh, Marcus Lamb and Art Parkinson. Told in reverse chronology, the film follows three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, who rob a rural Irish bank. The story.
—New library just dropped. Canal Plus’ StudioCanal on Thursday unveiled the global launch of catalogue label StudioCanal Classics. It boasts more than 18,000 titles, making it “the largest library outside the U.S., spanning 100 years of film history,” StudioCanal said. The company also said it had spent $29m into the 4K restoration of nearly 1,000 classic films. Among the StudioCanal Classics titles include Apocalypse Now, Basic Instinct, Paddington, Rambo, Manhunter, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Graduate and The Third Man. The story.
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How 'The Shards' Re-created a Classic 1980s TV Dance-Off |
►"They were terrified." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to Derek Hough and Tessandra Chavez, the choreographers for the mid-season dance episode of FX's The Shards. The pair reveal how they whipped Ryan Murphy's starry cast into Dancing With the Stars-like shape. The interview.
—"When I started getting to the end of the book, I just thought: She needs to destroy her kitchen." THR's Hilary Lewis spoke to The Five Star Weekend writer and executive producer Bekah Brunstetter about expanding the book into a multi-season series. Brunstetter explains key changes and how she tried to visualize the perfect image vs. messier emotional reality theme from the Elin Hilderbrand book in the Jennifer Garner-starring Peacock series, which was recently renewed for a second season. The interview.
—"I’m making this conscious choice to try to share from a place that is messy, and it’s really uncomfortable sometimes." THR's Caitlin Huston spoke to Sara Bareilles about her new album, Good Grief, and the related documentary. The singer-songwriter and actress discusses how the work helped process the grief she's suffered the past several years, after the death of her close friend and former manager Chad Joseph in 2020, the passing of another dear friend, Broadway actor Gavin Creel in 2024. The interview.
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A Deep Dive Into Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' |
►"When it comes to the pain and hurt, I believe that it has to be observed in a way that is adjacent to me as a filmmaker, for audiences to figure it out for themselves and to accept it." Lee Chang-dong, the Korean master filmmaker behind Secret Sunshine and Burning has reunited with some of his greatest stars for Possible Love, a provocative relationship drama that confronts the resentments and possibilities of contemporary life. The Netflix film, Lee's first movie in eight years, was this week selected by South Korea as its submission for the best international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards. THR's David Canfield talked to Lee about his contender. The interview.
—"I had started writing it while Jeremy [Saulnier] was still in post-production on Blue Ruin." THR's Brian Davids spoke to filmmaker Macon Blair about his new comedy, Idiots. Blair discusses how the road movie starring Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. dates all the way back to 2013, and the spiritual and thematic connection between Idiots and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. The interview.
—"I was trying to make the Citizen Kane of Insidious movies, and it felt that way on set." Brian also spoke to director Jacob Chase about his new film Insidious: Out of the Further. Chase discusses his collaboration with Insidious creators Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as his traumatic experience at the dentist that inspired one of the film’s several standout set pieces. The interview.
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Film Review: 'The Whisper Man'
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►"Smoother in the set-up than the wrap-up but carried by a strong cast." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews James Ashcroft's The Whisper Man. Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan and Adam Scott star in this Netflix feature about a series of abductions of young boys in smalltown New Jersey. Also starring Hamish Linklater, Owen Teague, Acston Luca Porto and Will Brill. Written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer, based on the novel by Alex North. The review.
—"A self-serving experiment with unsatisfying results." THR's Angie Han reviews Alicia MacDonald's Finding Emily. Angourie Rice and Spike Fearn star in a film about a struggling musician searching for the girl that got away, and the psych student who decides to help him. Also starring Cora Kirk, Jack Riddiford, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Timothy Innes, Isabella Laughland and Minnie Driver. Written by Rachel Hirons. The review.
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►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this live episode Scott spoke to Rhea Seehorn. The revered Emmy-nominated actress reflects on how a decade of unsuccessful auditions paved the way for her casting on Better Call Saul, how she reacted to learning that Vince Gilligan had written Pluribus for her, and why playing Carol Sturka on that hit Apple TV show is both the most challenging and rewarding job she has ever had. The podcast.
—Awards Chatter. In this episode Scott spoke to Nick Offerman. The consummate character actor reflects on how he landed and approached his star-making part of Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, why he relished playing a dramatic part on The Last of Us en route to an Emmy, and how he tackled the two parts for which he's Emmy-nominated this year: a corrupt drunk who winds up as vice president in Death by Lightning, and a former pro wrestler/recovering addict trying to reconnect with his daughter in Margo's Got Money Troubles. The podcast.
In other news...
—Jacob Tremblay doesn’t like the world he sees in Netflix’s Unabomber trailer
—Anthony Bourdain’s Get Jiro lands premiere date and bloody trailer from DC Studios
—Oldenburg to open with Mi Steinbach's doc Strange Neighbors
—Former ESPN host Sage Steele signs with HeartRock Partners for management
—Anonymous Content taps former Imagine exec Steve Shikiya as COO
—Andrea Eastman, casting director on The Godfather and former ICM agent, dies at 86
—Samuel Monroe Jr., Menace II Society star, dies at 52
What else we're reading...
—Harrowing personal account from Nepalese journalist Arjun Poudel on how he watched his village disappear in an instant in the recent deadly flash flood [The Kathmandu Post]
—Jason Wilson uncovers a fake U.S. thinktank has been set up and funded by Israel in order to game AI chatbots for propaganda purposes [Guardian]
—Ashley Carman has a deep dive on the unraveling of Crime Junkie podcaster Ashley Flowers' media empire [Bloomberg]
—Annie Linskey and Emily Glazer report that some U.S. companies with close ties to Trump are taking steps to gain favor with Democrats as they expect the GOP to lose the midterms [WSJ]
—Here's your Friday list: Dolly Parton’s 10 most essential hit songs [THR]
Today...
...in 2020, 20th Century Studios released Josh Boone's The New Mutants in theaters. The X-Men spinoff, starring Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton and Alice Braga, was a panned by critics and bombed at the box office. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
David Fincher (64), Jack Black (57), Shania Twain (61), LeAnn Rimes (44), Luis Guzmán (70), Billy Boyd (58), Jason Priestley (57), Quvenzhané Wallis (23), Michel Franco (47), Florence Welch (40), Sarah Roemer (42), Amanda Tapping (61), Brian Thompson (67), Eugene Byrd (51), Daniel Stern (69), Jonathan Whitesell (35), Carly Pope (46), John McKeever (42), Katie Findlay (36), Marissa Bode (26), John Allen Nelson (67), Emma Samms (66), Ken Jenkins (86), Kristin Booth (52), Steffiana De La Cruz (52), Esther Hall (56), Rick Rossovich (69), Nick E. Tarabay (51), Kelly Overton (48), Shane Van Dyke (47), Jordan Elsass (25), Jasmine Blackborow (35), Lexi Underwood (23), Alfonso Herrera (43), J.J. Soria (45), Alec Berg (57)
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Peter Cullen, the Canadian voice actor who starred as the heroic Optimus Prime in a convoy of Transformers films, TV shows and video games and as the gloomy Eeyore in dozens of Winnie the Pooh projects, has died. He was 85. The obituary.
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