What's news: Lionsgate's AI strategy is being questioned by activist investors. Longtime SNL music booker Brian Siedlecki is exiting the show. Julie Andrews will not appear in Princess Diaries 3. Crunchyroll has snapped up the rights to Makoto Shinkai's next anime movie. And Nicholas Hoult will play Professor Gilderoy Lokckhart in Harry Potter S2. — Abid Rahman
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The Pillsbury Doughboy Is Coming for Hollywood |
►On the cover. Across Hollywood, a new status quo has emerged: Advertising is entertainment, and major companies and brands are thinking hard about how they present themselves to potential customers, learning a thing or two from the major studios in the process. It’s a full-circle moment in many ways, as in the early days of television, the line between advertising and entertainment was blurry at best. THR's Alex Weprin looks at how companies from Gap to General Mills are luring A-list talent and keeping an ailing entertainment industry afloat. The cover story.
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Would Paramount Really Leave California?
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►"It is an attempt to blackmail the regulators." In July, THR reported that Tennessee officials had reached out to David Ellison, gauging his interest in relocating Paramount's corporate HQ amid a rift with California over the Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Last week, THR's Alex Weprin and Winston Cho report that Ellison convened a meeting with senior leadership at the Paramount lot on Melrose, where the company is the last legacy studio with a presence in Hollywood. It was official: Paramount had entered exploratory talks to relocate corporate headquarters, perhaps to Tennessee, Texas or Georgia. The story.
—"Paramount has deep roots in Southern California. My vision is to stay true to our roots." Those are the words David Ellison wrote in a letter to California lawmakers in February. What a difference a few months makes! Now the mogul is locked in a protracted legal battle with the attorneys general of California and 11 other states as he attempts to consummate his mega-merger. THR's Katie Kilkenny writes that with Ellison in a race against time before a ticking fee penalty of $7m a day kicks in, the leaks about leaving California are cranking up. The story.
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Alex Cooper's Unwell Hits $500M Valuation After WTSL Investment
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►🤝 Rapid growth. 🤝 WTSL, the Silver Lake-backed firm led by Patrick Whitesell, has made a strategic investment in Alex Cooper’s Unwell media company. The exact figure was not disclosed, but the funding values the business, which includes Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast and other media, at $500m. The plan is to use the investment to grow the company, including through acquisition. This is the first outside investment WTSL has taken. Sources say Unwell has been profitable for the past three years since it launched. The story.
—"[Gen Z is] tired of looking at small screens." Ellis Jacob, CEO of Cineplex, says young audiences are driving Hollywood’s box office rebound by heading back to the multiplex in big numbers. “The big change is Gen Z are coming back to the movies in a big way, and that’s making a difference,” Jacob told THR on Tuesday after the Canadian exhibitor posted second quarter financial results where Cineplex swung to a profit and higher overall revenues on box office draws like The Odyssey and Michael, in addition to younger audiences embracing breakout horror pics in Obsession and Backrooms. The story.
—Trouble brewing. Shares in Lionsgate had a roller coaster ride on Tuesday after a report that an activist investor had urged a pivot of the Hollywood studio towards artificial intelligence to avoid becoming an “Al casualty.” Semafor was the first to report on the letter from Sagar Gupta, who leads the activism strategy at Anson Funds, that urged Lionsgate to transform itself for the AI era, or consider selling up. The story.
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'SNL' Parts Ways With Longtime Music Booker |
►Shocker! THR's Ethan Millman has the scoop that longtime Saturday Night Live music booker Brian Siedlecki is departing from the show. Sources say SNL has elected not to renew his contract. Siedlecki, a well-respected producer and talent booker, has been with SNL for nearly 30 years, starting as an intern back in 1996. He’s helped maintain the show’s status as one of the most-coveted music bookings in entertainment, a must-stop for artists plugging their new records and a major milestone in establishing burgeoning acts as superstars. The story.
—Another record. Taylor Swift is joining country songwriting royalty, as the world’s biggest artist is set to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this fall, the organization announced on Tuesday, making Swift the Hall’s youngest-ever inductee. It’ll be her second songwriter career milestone this year, after Swift had become the youngest-ever inductee in the broader Songwriters Hall of Fame back in June. The story.
—"I’m already feeling better and very much on the mend." Rod Stewart is canceling the remaining month of his farewell tour dates, which includes his upcoming Las Vegas residency, after the rock star underwent a coronary stent procedure. Stewart’s announcement comes after the singer had to cancel shows in Cincinnati and Cleveland this week. The 81-year-old garnered headlines earlier this summer after he nearly fainted on stage during a concert in Utah, having to pause the show and go back stage to get oxygen. The story.
—The latest. 19 Kids and Counting’s Joseph and Kendra Duggar have withdrawn their not guilty pleas in a child endangerment investigation that led to both stars of the reality series being arrested in March, stemming from an investigation that began after a 9-year-old girl accused him of molesting her in 2020. Kendra Duggar, 27, and Joseph Duggar, 31, were both charged on March 20 with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and four counts of false imprisonment after an investigation. In April, both entered not guilty pleas. The story.
—"The cancer is incurable, and too late for chemo." Lucy Davis, the actress who starred as Dawn in the original British version of The Office, has revealed she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. The actress shared a post on Instagram explaining that she initially felt a lump that “wasn’t a ‘lump’ as such; rather a kind of hard spot. Really tiny. I almost didn’t bother getting it checked,” urging others to attend regular checkups. The story.
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Nicholas Hoult Boards 'Harry Potter' S2 |
►🎭 Secrets out. 🎭 HBO‘s Harry Potter series has locked in a key role for season two. Nicholas Hoult is joining the series as Professor Gilderoy Lokckhart, who comes to Hogwarts in Harry’s second year as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Lockhart is a key character in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in J.K. Rowling’s series and the source material for season two of the show. The character is renowned in the wizarding world for his many heroic deeds, though he’s later revealed as a fraud. Kenneth Branagh previously played Lockhart on the big screen. The story.
—"Best season yet" vs. "embarrassed to watch." Critics are fighting over Reacher season four. The latest season of Prime Video‘s action drama hit has overall a positive critics score on Rotten Tomatoes (it’s at 87 percent right now — below the previous seasons, but reviews are still pouring in). Yet some of the notices are interestingly split on whether the show has reached a new high or a new low. The reaction.
—📅 Dated, innit! 📅 Saturday Night Live UK has set its return on Sky and NOW. After a well-performing inaugural season earlier this year, the live comedy sensation returns on Sept. 12 with six brand-new episodes, the trailer for which was released Wednesday. Additional episodes are planned for early 2027. The story.
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Why Julie Andrews Won't Return for 'Princess Diaries 3'
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►"I'm not completely retired, but it's a different kind of work that I do these days." Julie Andrews has confirmed that she will not appear in Princess Diaries 3. In an interview with THR's Lexy Perez alongside her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton about their new children’s book Shy, the legendary British actress explained why she doesn’t see herself returning for the third film with Anne Hathaway. "I think the absolute truth is that I think I’m really past all that now," Andrews said. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 A remake of Possession is ready to take over theaters. Paramount has set a wide theatrical release for filmmaker Parker Finn‘s reimagining of the 1981 supernatural thriller feature on June 11, 2027. Callum Turner, Margaret Qualley, Diego Calva, Madeline Brewer, Emory Cohen, Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Paul Dano round out the cast. Finn helms Possession from his own script that is based on writer-director Andrzej Żuławski’s original film which starred Isabelle Adjani and the late Sam Neill. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Sony’s Crunchyroll has snapped up global distribution rights to anime hitmaker Makoto Shinkai‘s much-anticipated next feature. The anime streamer will co-distribute the untitled project with Sony Pictures Entertainment across the world excluding Asia — with the exception of India. Shinkai is one of anime’s biggest blockbuster names, his breakthrough feature Your Name grossed $358m worldwide in 2016. Weathering With You followed in 2019 with $193m, and 2022’s Suzume took roughly $323m. The story.
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'Death of a Salesman,' 'Jellicle Ball' End Runs on a High
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►Curtain call cash. Last week saw the closure of three productions, with Death of a Salesman and Cats: The Jellicle Ball reaching new highs in the final week of their runs. Salesman saw its highest box office yet of $2.5m over its final seven performances and was the highest grossing show in the industry last week. Jellicle Ball also hit the highest gross of its run, ending its final week with a gross of $1.8m, with capacity above 100 percent. The revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber show had a shorter-than-expected run with a final performance Aug. 8, after about five months on Broadway. The box office report.
—🎭 Greek goddess era. 🎭 Julianne Moore will star in the world premiere of a new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl this winter. The Oscar-winner will star in Faydra, a modern take on the Greek myth that sees Aphrodite aim her arrow at Faydra and make her fall in love with her own stepson, Hippolytus. Additional casting for the Off-Broadway production will be announced at a later date. Performances for Faydra begin at New York City Center, Stage 1, starting Feb. 2, 2027, with an opening night scheduled for Feb. 25. The story.
—🎭 Snoopy hits Broadway. 🎭 Ayo Edebiri is returning to the stage next winter in the Off-Broadway presentation of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, with David Hyde Pierce taking on the titular role. Edebiri will play Snoopy, alongside Danielle Brooks as Lucy and Jin Ha, who recently appeared in Proof on Broadway alongside Edebiri, as Linus. Sam Pinkleton, a Tony Award winner for Oh, Mary!, directs the musical, which is slated to run Feb. 3 through Feb. 14 at New York City Center. The story.
—ICYMI. Tony Award-winning director and former Steppenwolf Theatre head Anna D. Shapiro has been tapped to lead Juilliard’s acting program. Shapiro has been named the next Richard Rodgers dean and director of the drama division at the prestigious school, taking over starting in July 2027. She succeeds Evan Yionoulis, who ended her tenure at the end of the 2026 academic year to become the new dean of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. The story.
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Film Review: 'The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer'
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►"A beautiful way of seeing." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Alessandra Sanguinetti's The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer. In this Locarno-bowing Argentinian documentary, Sanguinetti follows two farm girls as they became women over 25 years. Featuring Guillermina Aranciaga, Belinda Stutz and Juana Falconet. The review.
In other news...
—Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story teaser trailer will shock you
—TIFF: Martin McDonagh, Werner Herzog, Cody Fern films round out program
—NYFF: Tom McCarthy, Jesse Eisenberg and Jordan Firstman films join lineup
—Lee Daniels, Nadine Labaki, Marina Abramovic win Liberatum Pioneer Awards
—Disney taps Joss Hastings to lead marketing for consumer products
—Noah Wyle departs Verve after two years
—Calabasas Confidential star Nicole Sahebi signs with CAA
—Summer House star Bailey Taylor signs with Gersh
What else we're reading...
—Will Leitch writes that the WNBA’s Sophie Cunningham saga is just a "growing pain" for a fast expanding league [Intelligencer]
—Hanna Krueger reports on StubHub facing a flood of complaints and a proposed class-action lawsuit from buyers who experienced ticketing failures and delayed refunds [WSJ]
—Nicholas Barber looks at how Frank Miller's 1980s comic The Dark Knight Returns transformed Batman from a campy and comic character to an ultra-violent figure [BBC]
—Music critic Drew Millard hands out Pitchfork's first 0.0 score review in 19 years for Tyga's new "slop-pop concept album" [Pitchfork]
—Shivani Vora talks to couples who are part of growing trend to shrink their wedding parties down to a sibling or a close friend [NYT]
Today...
...in 2011, Sony released Ruben Fleischer's 30 Minutes or Less in theaters. The comedy, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña and Fred Ward, stalled at the box office after tepid reviews. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
LaKeith Stanfield (35), George Hamilton (87), Isaach De Bankolé (69), Casey Affleck (51), Bruce Greenwood (70), Yvette Nicole Brown (55), Cara Delevingne (34), Peter Krause (61), Dominique Swain (46), Maggie Lawson (46), Rebecca Gayheart (55), Brent Sexton (59), Jim Beaver (76), Selina Cadell (73), Rudy Pankow (29), Bex Taylor-Klaus (32), Iman Vellani (24), Michael Ian Black (55), Dan Beirne (44), Amanda Redman (69), Dana Ivey (85), Sam J. Jones (72), Steve Talley (45), Leah Pipes (38), Sharon D. Clarke (60), Ray Abruzzo (72), Jennifer Warren (85), Charles Mesure (56), Hannah Berner (35), Imani Hakim (33), Jade Tailor (41), Meryem Uzerli (43), Natalie Mendoza (48), Ronald Guttman (74), Bianca Wallace (34)
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Bill Jersey, the Bay Area documentarian who wrote, directed, shot, edited and produced films for more than a half-century, collecting two Oscar nominations and three Emmy noms along the way, has died. He was 99. The obituary.
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