What's news: Hayden Panettiere's mother is firing back at her critics. I Love Lucy will be the first recipient of the TV Academy’s Legacy Award. Netflix has renewed a slew of U.K. shows including The Gentlemen, Legends and Black Mirror. Hulu has decided not to renew Not Suitable for Work. And Kit Harington will play Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter S2. — Abid Rahman
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Mike Schur: Paramount-WBD Merger Is Existential for Writers |
►"A market ceases to function when competition disappears. And it’s disappearing." In a must-read guest column for THR, Mike Schur, the television writer, showrunner and producer behind hits like The Office, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, offers his view on the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Schur writes that if the deal is completed, Hollywood writers will have "one less buyer for our work, less demand for writing services, less leverage to negotiate deal terms that recognize our value, less creative latitude." The column.
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Einbinder Defends Ruffalo From Paramount "Antisemitism" Claim |
►"All of us artists could stand to be more like Mark." Hannah Einbinder has come out strongly in defense of Mark Ruffalo as the actor faces an accusation of “antisemitism” from Paramount over his opposition to the studio’s deal for WBD. On Monday, Einbinder, the Emmy-winning Hacks actress, posted a lengthy message of support for Ruffalo on her Instagram Stories. "The idea that [Ruffalo] only said these things because the Ellisons are Jewish is LUDICROUS," she wrote, adding, "this is criticism of RIGHT WING technofeudalist oligarchs who are in the process of carrying out the largest media acquisition in history. Period end of story. People are not too stupid to see these obvious connections. If you want to make it about the Ellisons being Jewish, then you are the one being antisemitic." The story.
—Pushing back. Hayden Panettiere‘s mother Lesley Vogel fired back at critics, disputed a claim in her late daughter’s memoir and says the actress went “downhill” after being cast in Heroes during an interview with Good Morning America on Monday. Vogel has been criticized for her initial comments about her estranged daughter’s sudden death at the age of 36. Vogel had said that the Nashville star had “sadly lost her way,” leading some to accuse her of being inappropriately critical of her late daughter. “I would say to the haters out there, you don’t have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child,” she told GMA. “That’s my domain.” The story.
—Brutal. As Disney enjoys another banner summer at the box office, staff across the brand and its subsidiaries received unprecedented news about spouses’ health benefits eligibility, in a move that may signal a wider corporate trend as costs rise. Employees at Disney and its portfolio of brands learned this week that the company will no longer allow spouses or domestic partners to join Disney-sponsored health plans if they have access to coverage through their own employer. The change was announced last week and takes effect in 2027. The story.
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Regal Launches Rewards+ Loyalty Program
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►We are so back! THR gadabout Ryan Gajewski has the scoop that Regal Entertainment Group is expanding its loyalty program offerings as the movie theater chain enjoys a historic summer. The company launched the Regal Rewards+ membership tier on Monday to add a flexible and social-friendly option for theatergoers. Membership starts at $10.99 a month and includes one monthly 2D movie ticket that does not expire, the opportunity to purchase up to four additional discounted tickets per month at the membership rate, 20 percent off all concessions, waived online convenience fees and birthday rewards. The story.
—Ouch. The ESPN app, which turned a year old last week, is set to raise its rates. As of Sept. 17, 2026, an ESPN Select subscription will increase $1 per month from $12.99 to $13.99, or from $129.99 annually to $139.99; an ESPN Unlimited subscription will increase $2 per month from $29.99 to $31.99, or from $299.99 per year to $319.99. This is the first pricing increase since the new ESPN app, known simply as “ESPN,” launched in August 2025. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Teletubbies IP owner WildBrain has bought Personality AI in an $11m cash and stock deal to create safe conversational AI experiences for kids in partnership with IP owners. Personality AI, launched a year ago, has tech tools to create interactive characters using generative AI. WildBrain and the AI product maker will work with IP owners to create interactive experiences across toys, apps and platforms via licensing agreements. The story.
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Kit Harington Cast in 'Harry Potter' S2 |
►🎭 You know nothing Gilderoy Lockhart. 🎭 Kit Harington is returning to HBO, but this time, he’s going to be very blond. The Game of Thrones star has been cast in season two of Harry Potter. The actor will play the vain Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart. The news comes as a surprise as Superman actor Nicholas Hoult was previously reported to have been cast as Lockhart. Hoult has dropped out over scheduling issues, with the actor currently filming the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow. The story.
—🏆 Well deserved. 🏆 Seventy-five years after premiering on CBS, the trailblazing multi-camera sitcom I Love Lucy will be the first recipient of the Television Academy’s Legacy Award, an honor that was established earlier this year to annually recognize “a television program that’s made a profound and generational impact on audiences and remains relevant to society, culture and the industry today." A special tribute to the show will take place on Sunday, Sept. 6, as part of night two of the two-night Creative Arts Emmys ceremony. The story.
—🟢 Cor blimey guv! 🟢 The Gentlemen is set to return for a season three amid reports that Meghan Markle was in talks to star in the upcoming installment of Guy Ritchie‘s action comedy. Netflix also confirmed a slew of other renewals on Monday, including season two of the Dublin-set House of Guinness, Neil Forsyth’s Legends with Steve Coogan, Being Gordon Ramsay, as well as a ninth season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Also coming back for more are Love Is Blind U.K. for season four, The Rest Is Football season two, Black Doves season two, At Home With the Furys season three, Black Mirror season eight and Supacell season two. The story.
—🟢 Greenest of green lights. 🟢 Peacock is preparing to celebrate the cultural influence of The Wendy Williams Show and to interrogate the role of fame in its end. The streamer has greenlit a three-part documentary with the working title Clap If You Care: The Wendy Williams Show. Set to premiere in 2027, the film focuses on the rise and fall of the syndicated daytime talk show, distributed by Debmar-Mercury between 2008 and 2022, when the show wrapped as host Williams fought health issues. The story.
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Hulu Cancels Mindy Kaling's 'Not Suitable for Work'
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►One and done. Hulu has decided not to renew the Mindy Kaling-created series Not Suitable for Work for a second season. The comedy series, which premiered in June and ran for nine episodes, centered on "five work-obsessed 20-somethings striving for professional success and, if they have time, personal happiness in Manhattan’s most glamorous neighborhood, Murray Hill." Warner Bros. Television, which produced the show, plans to shop it around for a potential new home. The story.
—New face. Emily Compagno has been named a full-time co-host on Fox News' The Five. Compagno, who has been the co-host of Outnumbered since 2021, joins The Five starting Sept. 8, alongside co-hosts Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino, Jesse Watters, and Harold Ford Jr. and Jessica Tarlov, who rotate in the liberal co-host chair. In joining the program, Compagno will step down from her role on Outnumbered. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Disney+ has set a Nov. 4 premiere date for The Remarried Empress, its lavish Korean fantasy-romance series starring Shin Min-a, Ju Ji-hoon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Se-young. The 10-part series will launch with four episodes, followed by two new installments every Wednesday through its Nov. 25 finale. The streaming debut will follow a high-profile premiere in South Korea at the Busan Film Festival in early October. The story.
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'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' Sequel in the Works at Paramount
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►Lost and found. Paramount is developing a sequel to the hit 2003 romantic-comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days that starred Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. This project is still in early development and currently seeks a screenwriter, as it also has not yet attached any castmembers. Hudson is set to produce alongside Stacey Sher for Shiny Penny Productions. The studio’s plan is to ideally get Hudson and McConaughey to reprise their roles. The story.
—The new "King of the World." Spider-Man: Brand New Day is on the verge of knocking Titanic out of the all-time global box-office top five. Over the weekend, Brand New Day racked up another $39m domestically (and $109m globally) bringing its totals to $854.9m domestic ($2.22b globally). That puts Brand New Day just $44m shy of overtaking James Cameron’s Oscar-winning 1997 hit, something Brand New Day should easily manage in a week or so. The box office report.
—📅 Dated! 📅 It’s time to raise a glass to Buzzkill as the forthcoming feature sets its release amid the approaching spooky season. The Tubi Original film that stars Siena Agudong, Brec Bassinger and rapper Aliyah’s Interlude will debut on the free streaming service Sept. 25. Jem Garrard directed the YA horror-comedy movie centers on a group of sorority sisters who end up trapped with a murderer. The story.
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Oscars: South Korea Picks Lee Chang-dong’s 'Possible Love' |
►🏆 Chukahaeyo! 🏆 South Korea has selected Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love, the revered auteur’s first feature in eight years, as its submission for the best international feature category at the 2027 Academy Awards. Lee has represented South Korea at the Oscars before. Burning was the country’s submission for the 2018 awards season and became the first Korean film to reach the category’s shortlist, although it missed the final five. Possible Love will make its world premiere in competition in Venice next month before heading to TIFF for its North American debut. The story.
—🏆 Proficiat! 🏆 Belgium has picked Lukas Dhont’s queer WWI drama Coward as its official selection for best international feature film at the Oscars. The film, set in the Belgian trenches of the First World War, follows the love between two young soldiers who try, through art and intimacy, to escape the horrors around them. Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) is a young Belgian soldier struggling to go on, who finds hope, and eventually romance, with the flamboyant Francis (Valentin Campagne), who entertains the troops with his gender-bending theatrical performances and impromptu song and dance numbers. The story.
—Sales open. French outfit mk2 films has come on board NAZA, the new documentary from No Other Land Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, recently selected for competition in Venice. The film is produced by The Guardian and James Wilson of JW Films, producer of Oscar-winner The Zone of Interest. Zone director Jonathan Glazer is an EP. Shot at night on the rooftops of Tel Aviv, NAZA claims to reveal “in detail the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.” The story.
—"Soothing and gruelling." Ridley Scott is back! The visionary filmmaker’s latest feature The Dog Stars hits theaters globally on Aug. 28. and early social media reaction suggests the post-apocalyptic sci-fi film has plenty of Scott’s visual flair but feelings were mixed over the script. The feature has an all-star cast, including Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley, Alison Janney, Guy Pearce and Benedict Wong and is based on the 2012 novel by Peter Heller. The reaction.
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►"All fists on deck!" THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Jean-François Richet's Mutiny. The Blood Father and Plane filmmaker directs the latest bone-crunching entry in the Jason Statham canon, set aboard a cargo ship heading out of Bangkok towards the high seas. Also starring Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Adrian Lester, Chaneil Kular and Ramon Tikaram. Written by Lindsay Michel and J.P. Davis. The review.
In other news...
—Ali G: Who Iz I? trailer: Sacha Baron Cohen’s prankster returns in stunt documentary
—Foo Fighters rock Hollywood Bowl debut as Gustavo Dudamel says goodbye to L.A. Philharmonic
—Guillermo del Toro, James Gunn join Crunchyroll’s inaugural anime future forum
—Hilary Strong steps down as CEO of John Gore Studios
—Rene Malo, Decline of the American Empire producer, dies at 84
—R.J. Kizer, sound editor and ADR expert, dies at 73
What else we're reading...
—John Branch digs into an alarming new study that has found that 1 in 4 NFL players gets the degenerative brain disease CTE [NYT]
—After the Daily Mail's failed recent attempt to stalk Meg White, Annie Zaleski looks at why the public is still fascinated by the elusive White Stripes drummer [Guardian]
—Mark Gurman reports that Apple is gearing to launch its first new Mac Mini in two years [Bloomberg]
—Isaac Chotiner talks to retired IDF colonel Doron Meiner on why Israeli authorities are encouraging settler violence against Palestinians [New Yorker]
—Jiyoung Sohn, Sooyoung Rhee and Jack Pitcher report on the rollercoaster ride that is the South Korean stock market that plummeted around 40 percent over six weeks in June and July, burning hundreds of thousands of investors [WSJ]
Today...
...in 2019, Vertical Entertainment released David M. Rosenthal's Jacob's Ladder in theaters. The remake of the 1990 film, which starred Michael Ealy, Jesse Williams and Nicole Beharie, was panned by critics. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Tim Burton (68), Alexander Skarsgård (50), Blake Lively (39), Tom Skerritt (93), Iñaki Godoy (23), Joe Wright (54), Rachel Bilson (45), Tom Hollander (59), Simon McBurney (69), Blair Underwood (62), China Anne McClain (28), Kel Mitchell (48), Ben Falcone (53), Fatih Akin (53), Kate Box (47), Chloe Pirrie (39), Caitlin FitzGerald (44), Jonathan Togo (49), Jackie Tohn (46), Joanne Whalley (65), John Savage (77), Ally Walker (65), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (32), Eric Millegan (52), Claire Rushbrook (55), Stacey Farber (39), Ben Diskin (44), Anthony Heald (82), Ashley Crow (66), Cameron Mathison (57), Christine McGlade (63), Donavon Stinson (50), Adam Beason (57), Julia Davis (60), Aras Bulut Iynemli (36), Julian Kostov (37), Rusty Schwimmer (64), Saverio Guerra (62), Madalena Aragão (21), Yoshi Barrigas (37), Billy Ray Cyrus (65)
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James Lew, the veteran stunt performer and coordinator who worked with John Carpenter on Big Trouble in Little China, They Live and Escape From L.A. and in scores of other films and TV shows, has died. He was 73. The obituary.
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