| | | | | | What's news: Cassie Ventura has revealed more details of the horrific abuse she received from Sean Combs. Netflix is bringing back Star Search and has renewed Bridgerton for S5 and S6. Bruce Springsteen described the Trump administration as "corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous" at a concert. IATSE has called for fired U.S. Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter to be reinstated. — Abid Rahman
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WBD Upfront: Branding Whiplash and "The 'White Lotus' Effect" ►Somehow, HBO Max returned... Warner Bros. Discovery is changing the name of its streaming service again, with Max becoming HBO Max once more. Originally, the service launched as HBO Max in 2020. In 2023, the company controversially changed the streaming service to simply Max — ditching the most venerated network brand name in television in favor of the most popular name for male dogs. Ahead of the company’s upfront presentation in New York at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, WBD president and CEO David Zaslav said the name will be HBO Max once more... until, that is, they decide to change it again. The story.
—"It’s not TV, it’s HBO Max ... again." THR's Mikey O'Connell was in the room for WBD's upfront presentation and has all the details of what went down in an event that went hard on executive talking points and largely ignored the studio's recent film successes. The story.
—Fromage foray. WBD's CNN is launching another installment in its Searching For travel food franchise, sending star Eva Longoria to France for a new season that will debut in 2026. Longoria has already hosted two editions of the show, Searching For Mexico, which was originally ordered for the ill-fated CNN+ streaming service, and Searching For Spain, which debuted earlier this year. The franchise began of course with Searching For Italy, hosted by Stanley Tucci, though CNN canceled that series in 2022 as part of a pullback in original programming, a strategic move that was reversed after Mark Thompson joined as CEO. Tucci now hosts a different Italy travel food series for Nat Geo. The story.
—Synergy innit. HGTV’s latest renovation of a memorable pop-culture location will come with a bunch of roses. The cable network has announced a series with the working title Renovating the Bachelor Mansion, with the goal of renovating, you guessed it, the Bachelor mansion. Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of the Warner Bros. Television Group and U.S. Networks, announced the series, along with host of other shows, at WBD's upfront presentation. Why is a WBD channel making a show about a location in an ABC show? There is still corporate synergy at play here, as Warner Bros. produces The Bachelor franchise. The story. |
Netflix Upfront: Charlize Theron, Roger Goodell and Quite a Few Catchphrases ►"There was something refreshingly un-desperate about the Netflix pitch, whether that was a facade or not." Netflix returned to the upfronts on Wednesday afternoon with a presentation that, at first, looked like it might be a production of Waiting for Gadot. Mikey O'Connell reports that the messaging has not changed since the last dog and pony show for media buyers: Netflix has achieved cultural ubiquity in a manner that no other streamer has come close. Naturally, it is the best place for advertising. Right? Right? Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of advertising, kicked off a one-ish hour spiel by reiterating that point — albeit with some new data to share. The story.
—Woof! At upfronts, Netflix revealed that its advertising tier has now topped 94m monthly users, as it touted new engagement metrics and announced the expansion of its in house ad tech suite. Netflix ads chief Amy Reinhard told its upfront attendees that the company has more 18-34 year old ad supported users than any broadcast or cable network, and that its users are more engaged, spending 41 hours per month on the platform. The story.
—Woof, woof! On Wednesday, Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria renewed a whole bunch of shows and also announced a whole bunch more. Newly announced (in alphabetical order) are Bridgerton seasons five and six, Forever season two, Love on the Spectrum season four, competition series Million Dollar Secret season two, teen drama My Life with the Walter Boys season three, Survival of the Thickest season three (also its last), The Diplomat season four and a second season of Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons. The story.
—Woof, woof, woof! Netflix is reaching back into TV history for its next piece of live programming. At upfronts, the streamer revealed it has picked up a new version of the talent competition Star Search. Premiering in 1983 as a syndicated talent show hosted by Ed McMahon, Star Search ran for 12 years and was revived at CBS from 2003-04 with Arsenio Hall as host. The Netflix show will stream live twice a week as contestants in music, dance, variety/comedy and kids categories vie for the audience votes that will determine who continues in the competition. Also on tap from Netflix are a comedy from Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Dan Levy; All the Sinners Bleed, a thriller from Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole; The Body , a YA drama created by Quinn Shepherd; and Prime Time, a doc series about NFL icon Deion Sanders. The story.
—🎭 Puncher's chance. 🎭 Netflix announced during its upfront presentation that Jamie Foxx will star in director Andrés Baiz’s forthcoming drama feature Fight for ’84. The film takes place in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash that killed the U.S. Olympic boxing team in 1980. Foxx stars as the new coach who is recruited to lead the team and would guide them to victory at the 1984 Olympics, where the squad collected the most boxing medals in the history of the Summer Games. The script is credited to Andrea Berloff, John Gatins and Andy Weiss. The story.
—🎭 Stellar cast 🎭 Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones will star in Here Comes the Flood , a Simon Kinberg-penned crime thriller that Fernando Meirelles will direct for Netflix. Meirelles is also producing the feature with Kinberg and Audrey Chon, the latter two via their Genre Films banner. Netflix picked up the original screenplay in 2020, making a splashy seven-figure deal to win a heated spec script auction. It was a markedly different era, with the streaming wars in full swing and the streamer’s film unit being run by Scott Stuber, who always had Netflix’s wallet open. Still, the project survived (at one point Jason Bateman was in talks to direct an iteration, but a deal never took), and now five years later has attracted top-shelf talent. Flood is being described as an unconventional heist movie about a bank guard, a teller and a master thief in a deadly game of cons and double crosses. The story. |
Lively's Lawyers Are Extorting Swift, Baldoni Claims ►Extortion claim. Justin Baldoni‘s legal team is accusing Blake Lively‘s lawyers of trying to extort Taylor Swift, with the aim of getting the singer to issue a public statement in support of the It Ends With Us actress. Michael Gottlieb, representing Lively, allegedly reached out to an attorney at the law firm, Venable, which represents the singer, and “demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature” in the actress’ possession would be made public, according to a letter filed in court on Wednesday by Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni. Gottlieb called the accusations “categorically false.” The story.
—The latest. The so-called “freak-offs” orchestrated by Sean “Diddy” Combs often left his girlfriend of nearly 11 years, Cassie Ventura, bruised and battered after she says she was punched, kicked and dragged so severely the antibiotic she used after the often-violent sexual encounters stopped working because she used it so frequently, she said in federal court on Wednesday. Ventura also revealed that the settlement in her civil case against the rap mogul, after what she said was a decade of abuse that stifled her career and left her deeply traumatized, was for $20m. That settlement came the day after Ventura filed the case and has opened the door for a flood of civil cases against Combs. Ventura also revealed she had been writing a book about her experiences with Combs at the time. The story.
—"Corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous." Bruce Springsteen has lost of his none of edge or his willingness to speak truth to power. In just the latest example, the rock icon excoriated Donald Trump from the stage throughout a Springsteen and E Street Band concert in Manchester, U.K. on Wednesday, describing the U.S. as being “currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.” “The last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. At the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other," a passionate Springsteen said speaking from the stage. The story.
"She must be reinstated at the behest of Congress." IATSE, the major Hollywood crew union, has weighed in on the White House’s abrupt firing of U.S. Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter on Saturday following the pre-publication of a report on AI, saying it is “deeply concerned” over the dismissal and Perlmutter should be reinstated. IATSE said the termination “does not appear to be lawful or legitimate” as Perlmutter is hired by the legislative, rather than the executive, branch. While the White House has not yet given a rationale for the decision, observers have drawn attention to the fact that Perlmutter’s dismissal came one day after her office released a prepublication report that suggested the training of AI models on copywritten materials may not be considered “fair use,” as AI companies have argued. The story.
—Clearing the air. SoundCloud has issued an update to its terms of service, days after the music platform had caught heat from musicians and advocates over a previous update on its policy on artificial intelligence training. In an open letter published Wednesday, SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton wrote that the company “has never used artist content to train AI models. Not for music creation. Not for large language models. Not for anything that tries to mimic or replace your work. Period." The story.
—🤝 Tentative AI deal 🤝 Nickelodeon has agreed to “commonsense” AI protections for voice actors on animated shows like The Patrick Star Show and Dora the Explorer, according to performers’ union SAG-AFTRA. The union announced on Wednesday that it had reached a tentative deal with Nickelodeon over voice acting on animated programs for basic cable and Paramount+. With covered projects including Rugrats, The Loud House, Kamp Koral and Rock Paper Scissors, the three-year provisional contract also brings some rate increases, a new premium and faster payment due dates. The story. |
Cruise Whips Cannes Into Frenzy at 'Final Reckoning' Premiere ►Read THR's Cannes Film Festival day 3 digital daily here.
—Still has the juice. As the world’s leading movie star, Tom Cruise accomplished a pretty easy mission by touching down at the Cannes Film Festival Wednesday night and whipping the city into a frenzy ahead of the Palais premiere of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. Joined by his close friend and franchise collaborator, filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise walked the red carpet after signing a slew of autographs and posing for selfies with fans lining the barricades on the Croisette. The screening included multiple applause breaks, particularly when key characters had triumphant moments, and in the end it was greeted with a standing ovation of just under five minutes. The story.
—Action taken. French actor Théo Navarro-Mussy has been banned from walking the red carpet in Cannes because he faces accusations of rape and sexual assault. This is the first time an actor has been banned from the festival due to allegations of sexual violence. Navarro-Mussy, who appears in Dominik Moll’s Dossier 137, which premieres in Cannes’ competition today, has been accused of “rape, physical and psychological violence” by three former partners. A court last month dismissed the original complaint filed by the alleged victims, but they have said they plan to file a civil case against the actor. The story.
—Big hire. Neon has tapped veteran film marketing and publicity pro Ryan Werner as its new president of global cinema, the company announced Wednesday from Cannes. The newly created role positions Werner near the top of Neon’s theatrical distribution operations as the award-winning studio continues to expand its footprint in auteur-driven international cinema. Werner’s appointment comes amid a busy Cannes for Neon, with five titles in this year’s festival lineup — including Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, both premiering in competition, and Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5 screening as a special presentation. The story.
—🤝 First-look deal 🤝 Osgood Perkins is staying in business with Neon, the indie outfit that released his features Longlegs and The Monkey and helped crown him as Hollywood’s latest horror maestro. Perkins has signed a first-look deal with Neon and launched a new banner called Phobos, which he will run partner Chris Ferguson. Under the deal, Neon will serve as the home for Perkins’ projects, which he and Ferguson will produce. It will also allow Perkins and Ferguson to produce other filmmakers’ movies for Neon. Neon will release these projects theatrically in the U.S. and represent international rights. The story.
—🎭 Rome bound. 🎭 Al Pacino is racing off to join the cast of Bobby Moresco’s Maserati: The Brothers. Per intel sent by the producers on Thursday in Cannes, the second and “final phase” of filming will start in Rome in June, and the filmmakers are eyeing a fall debut. Maserati: The Brothers chronicles the rise of the Maserati family and their legacy in the world of automotive innovation. Pacino will portray businessman Vincenzo Vaccaro, a champion of Maserati family and an early investor in the auto dynasty. The story.
—It's on! It may have taken the slow route of almost a decade, but Taylor Sheridan’s action thriller F.A.S.T. is finally on the, um, fast track. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop that in a deal involving high-level talks between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, Sheridan has navigated a feature package that includes Brendon Sklenar, the star of the multi-hyphenate’s hit 1923, and that series’ main director and renowned cinematographer Ben Richardson, to land at WB. And how fast is F.A.S.T. moving? WB has set an April 23, 2027 theatrical release date. F.A.S.T. concerns a former special forces commando, down on his luck after he returns Stateside, who is tapped by the DEA to lead a black op strike team against CIA-protected drug dealers in his town. The story. |
Film Review: 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' ►"Chronicle of a death foretold." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Sepideh Farsi's Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. The Iranian director assembled months of video conversations with Gaza photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces along with her family last month. The review.
—"Punishing but powerful." Jordan reviews Sergei Loznitsa's Cannes competition entry, Two Prosecutors. The Ukrainian director’s latest feature follows a law school grad who tries to take on corruption in the Soviet system and winds up facing the consequences. The review.
—"A bewitching female-driven drama through the ages." Jordan reviews Mascha Schilinski's Cannes competition entry, Sound of Falling. The second feature from Schilinski (Dark Blue Girl) depicts four generations of young women inhabiting the same farmhouse in northeast Germany. The review. |
Film Review: 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' ►"A little less conversation, a little more action, please." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. Superspy Ethan Hunt returns for the eight entry in the long-running action franchise that is a direct sequel to the events of 2023’s Dead Reckoning. Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett and Greg Tarzan Davis. The review.
—"College tropes, done well." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Amazon Prime Video's Overcompensating. Comedian and content creator Benito Skinner writes, produces and stars in this sex-filled eight-episode look at coming out and finding yourself after high school. The review.
In other news...
—Superman takes flight with full trailer from James Gunn
—Ciara and Adam Lambert to perform at amfAR gala
—Locarno Film Festival names Rithy Panh jury president
—Busy Philipps to host MPTF’s NextGen summer party fundraiser
—Former UTA comms exec Matt Leonard lands at Initial Group, Untitled
—WME promotes Rich Gambale to partner in unscripted TV
What else we're reading...
—With Andor wowing fans and critics alike, Shirley Li ponders whether Star Wars is better without lightsabers [Atlantic]
—Alex Marshall wonders whether Eurovision 2025, taking place in famously neutral Switzerland, can avoid politics [NYT]
—Gregory Korte looks into whether Trump, legally, can accept a plane gifted by Qatar [Bloomberg]
—Christopher Weaver and Anna Wilde Mathews report that UnitedHealth Group is under criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud [WSJ]
—Dara Kerr reports on the bizarre South African "white genocide" misinformation X's Grok AI chatbot has been spewing recently [Guardian]
Today...
...in 2015, Warner Bros. released George Miller's incredible Mad Max: Fury Road in North American theaters. The fourth installment in the Mad Max franchise was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, and won six. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Jamie-Lynn Sigler (44), David Krumholtz (47), Chazz Palminteri (73), Grant Heslov (62), Dan Patrick (68), Nicola Walker (55), Alexandra Breckenridge (43), Sophie Cookson (35), Tammy Pescatelli (56), Lainie Kazan (85), Greg Wise (59), Caroline Dhavernas (47), Timothy Hornor (50), Brenda Bakke (62), Quincy Dunn-Baker (43), Russell Hornsby (51), Tom Wu (53), Ashlynn Yennie (40), Sarah Hadland (54), Madhuri Dixit (58), Chris Grace (52), David Charvet (53), Brigitte Bako (58), Jim Hoffmaster (64), Inanna Sarkis (32), Jamie Harris (62), Kim Young-ah (50), Tatsuya Fujiwara (43), Michael Patrick Jann (55), Rob Bowman (65) |
| | Joe Don Baker, the broad-shouldered Texas tough guy who portrayed characters on both sides of the law, most notably Sheriff Buford Pusser in the unexpected box-office hit Walking Tall, died May 7, his family announced. He was 89. The obituary. |
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