| | | | | | What's news: It's a bumper Emmys issue of TIE this morning, with all the news, reviews and reaction from Sunday night's event. Chloé Zhao's Hamnet was the big winner at TIFF. Ego Nwodim is the latest castmember to leave SNL. Netflix has renewed Hunting Wives. And national treasure Stanley Tucci is joining NBC's Winter Olympics team. — Abid Rahman
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Primetime Emmy Awards 2025 ►🏆 Congrats! 🏆 The 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards were handed out Sunday, with Adolescence, The Studio, The Pitt and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert among the night’s big winners. Netflix's Adolescence scooped up six awards in the limited or anthology series categories, including best series, best supporting actor (Owen Cooper), best actor (Stephen Graham), best supporting actress (Erin Doherty), best directing (Philip Barantini), best writing (Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne). HBO's The Pitt won three Emmys, including best drama series, best actor in a drama series (Noah Wyle) and best supporting actress in a drama series (Katherine LaNasa). Seth Rogen won four Emmys for Apple's The Studio , including best comedy series and best actor. The winners.
—Snubs, shutouts and surprises. The 2025 Emmys were full of surprises, with a number of unexpected winners announced early in the show. Severance's Britt Lower won best actress in a drama series, an honor that many experts predicted would go to Matlock's Kathy Bates. Severance was also the favorite to win best drama series and famously led this year’s Emmy nominees with a whopping 27 nominations. But instead, the acclaimed Apple TV+ series failed to win any trophies outside of wins for Lower and Tramell Tillman during the main Emmys telecast (it won six awards at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys). Still, perhaps no win Sunday night was more shocking than when Somebody Somewhere actor Jeff Hiller, a surprise nominee, won the best supporting actor in a comedy series Emmy, beating out predicted winners like Harrison Ford and Ike Barinholtz. The snubs.
—Let them (Tim) Cook. A record-setting night for The Studio helped give Apple TV+ its best night ever at the Emmys, while HBO and HBO Max rebounded in a big way to tie Netflix for the top spot among all networks and streamers. Apple secured 22 wins, 13 of which were for the Lionsgate TV-produced The Studio. Led by The Pitt and The Penguin, HBO and HBO Max (which submit as a single entity for the awards) took home 30 awards. It was a bounce-back year for the Warner Bros. Discovery outlets, which in 2024 had their lowest number of wins (14) since 1998. Netflix also had 30 Emmy wins this year (including five juried awards for individual achievement in animation). The scorecard.
—"The Studio’s strong showing is a reminder of how much the industry likes watching stuff about itself." THR's executive editor of awards coverage Scott Feinberg dissects Sunday night's Emmy results, and looks at how HBO's The Pitt beat Apple's Severance, and Apple's The Studio and Netflix's Adolescence dominated. The analysis. |
Review: A Flat Host and Lame Time-Saving Gag Upstage Worthy Winners ►"Never have I been as thoroughly conscious of how many masters an Emmys telecast must serve." In his review of the 77th Emmys telecast, THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg writes that the Boys & Girls Clubs of America had a roller-coaster night as The Pitt, The Studio and Adolescence dominated: "Let it never be said that Bargatze and the producers didn’t have a tough job, made even tougher by the precariously polarized nature of our country, perhaps more this week than ever before. They failed! Completely! But I’m not really sure what success would have looked like." The review.
—"A new way for a company to lose money." Nate Bargatze poked fun of the TV industry and some nominees during the opening moments of the Emmy Awards. The first-time Emmy host opened with a sketch with Bargatze portraying television inventor Philo Farnsworth explaining the all-too-real and baffling ways the medium would be used in the future. Flanked by SNL cast members Bowen Yang, Mikey Day and James Austin Johnson, the sketch was a variation on Bargatze’s beloved “Washington’s Dream” sketch from his debut hosting SNL last year. The monologue.
—History making night for Owen and Tramell. The 2025 Emmy Awards saw laughter, tears and plenty of memorable moments throughout the ceremony Sunday night. From The Late Show With Stephen Colbert receiving a standing ovation and Severance star Tramell Tillman and Adolescence breakout Owen Cooper making history with their wins, to Gilmore Girls, Everybody Loves Raymond and Law & Order reunions, THR highlights some of the night’s unforgettable moments. The moments. |
Emmys Silent on Charlie Kirk, But Political in Other Ways ►"Go Birds! F*** ICE! Free Palestine!" It was probably to be expected that the left-leaning Hollywood crowd at the Emmys steered clear of bringing up the shocking assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose murder last week has roiled the nation and sparked mourning, reflection and fierce debate. It’s a bit surprising that there weren’t some moderate-sounding “let’s all come together” appeals for unification in the wake of the tragedy, however. Still the event wasn't totally devoid of politics, with Hacks stars Hannah Einbinder and Megan Stalter, Bryan Cranston and Stephen Colbert all speaking up in one way or another. The story.
—Not bad. The 2025 Emmys raised $350,000 for the Boys and Girls Club after host Nate Bargatze pledged to donate $100,000 with the incentive of keeping the winners’ acceptance speeches 45 seconds or shorter. Bargatze kicked off Sunday’s awards show by explaining that he was challenged to come up with a way to keep the acceptance speeches within the allotted time. “Honestly, give your speech. I know how hard you guys have all worked to get here. I’m not trying to take anything away,” he said. “Fory-five seconds. That’s what you got. And if you want to do more than that, do it on social media later. More people are gonna see it there anyway.” The story.
—Omitted. Set to a moving musical tribute from Lainey Wilson and Vince Gill, the somber “In Memoriam” segment of the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday paid tribute to a host of small-screen stars who have died in the past year. But users on social media were quick to point out the notable names that did not make the montage. Notable names missing from the segment included Graham Greene, a prolific First Nations actor who starred in Northern Exposure and most recently The Last of Us, Reservation Dogs and Tulsa King, and legendary genre actor Tony Todd. Also missing were Polly Holliday, Jonathan Joss and Lynne Marie Stewart as well as WWE icon and reality star Hulk Hogan. The story. |
Best Dressed Stars at the 77th Emmys ►Red or dead. THR's Laurie Brookins writes that red overwhelmingly won the 2025 Emmys as the night’s dominant color trend on the red carpet. Laurie writes that while black gowns were seen in far greater numbers, the women who opted for crimson looks innately understood how the color that symbolizes power in fashion creates an instant look-at-me moment: "From Selena Gomez to Cristin Milioti, Mariska Hargitay to Sydney Sweeney, red was the night’s statement hue and befitting of the powerful women who wore it." The looks.
—Aura. Hacks star, and birthday girl, Megan Stalter hit the Emmys red carpet in a casual look with a big message. The comedian posed for photos with a white T-shirt and jeans combo, paired with a black bag with writing that read, “Cease Fire!,” seemingly referencing the ongoing war in Gaza. The Too Much star reflected on her look during the Emmys preshow. “We need to bring jeans back on the red carpet!” she exclaimed, before further pointing back to her outfit when asked what excites her about a big Hollywood nights like the Emmys. The story.
More from the 2025 Primetime Emmys...
—Adolescence star Owen Cooper makes Emmys history as youngest-ever male acting winner
—Severance's Tramell Tillman becomes first Black actor to win best supporting drama category
—Stephen Colbert gets standing ovation after talk series win
—Seth Rogen is "legitimately embarrassed" by how many Emmys The Studio won
—Adolescence co-creator Stephen Graham says he's "just a mixed-race kid"
—Noah Wyle dedicates The Pitt Emmy win to healthcare workers
—Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen accept Bob Hope Humanitarian Award
—Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s TV mom Phylicia Rashad pays fitting tribute |
'Demon Slayer' Makes History With Record $70M U.S. Opening ►Phenomenon. Talk about an unexpected September bloom at the box office, which continued this weekend with a cornucopia of new offerings led by the record-smashing U.S. debut of the Japanese anime sequel Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – the Movie Infinity Castle . The Sony-owned Crunchyroll is handling the movie in North America and a raft of foreign territories, excluding Japan and other select Asian markets. The pic opened well ahead of expectations in the U.S. and Canada with an estimated $70m from 3,315 theaters, including a huge Friday haul of $33m, to score the top opening ever for an anime title at the North American box office. It’s also Sony’s best showing in recent times, as well as a record-best for Crunchyroll. There’s more — Infinity Castle is the top opening of the year so far for an animated title, as well as the biggest September animated debut of all time, not adjusted for inflation.
Overseas, Demon Slayer earned another $49m as Crunchyroll rolled the film out in an additional 49 markets for a worldwide weekend haul of $132.1m. The film’s total global gross is now well north of $400m; Crunchyroll’s portion is now $177.8m.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that for U.S. theater owners, it’s the second strong weekend in a row for moviegoing after a miserable August, save for a special two-day singalong screening of KPop: Demon Hunters, the most-watched English-language film in the history of Netflix. Tracking had suggested the Demon Slayer would open $35m to $40m domestically; others thought $50m was far more likely. But it came in even higher as the appetite for the anime genre grows in the U.S., and after being embraced by critics and audiences alike. The box office report. |
TIFF: Chloé Zhao's 'Hamnet' Wins Audience Award ►🏆 Good now, some excellent fortune! 🏆 Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet picked up the top People’s Choice honor Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival during. The Nomadland director’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, a fictionalized account of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they fall in love, stars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. The Amblin Entertainment-produced drama bowed in Telluride, where it garnered critical praise, especially for leading lady Buckley, and had a Canadian premiere in Toronto. Zhao’s Nomadland also earned the People’s Choice award in Toronto in 2020 before going on to win best picture at the Academy Awards. The story.
—🏆 "The audience voted and I appreciate that." 🏆 The controversial and zig-zagging journey for the Oct. 7 rescue movie The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue had another twist on Sunday when it picked up the People’s Choice award for best documentary at TIFF. Director Barry Avrich’s documentary is about a retired Tel Aviv general driving through great danger to save his son’s family at a kibbutz near Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. The story.
—🏆 Glückwunsch! 🏆 Ondřej Provazník’s Broken Voices has won the German Independence Award for best film at this year’s Oldenburg International Film Festival. The Czech drama, inspired by real events, follows a renowned youth choir whose musical director is a sexual predator. Oldenburg’s acting awards, named after legendary American character actor Seymour Cassel, went to Irish actor John Connors for his performance in Jason Byrne and Kevin Treacy’s Crazy Love, and Sabrina Amali for her turn in Nancy Biniadaki’s Maysoon. The winners. |
Eurovision Organizers Feel the Heat as Israel Boycott Calls Grow ►"The consultation with the wider EBU membership is ongoing and no decisions will be made until the process concludes." Eurovision 2026 is set to be another contentious one, despite the European Broadcasting Union’s attempts to calm the chaos. Last week, news broke that Ireland and the Netherlands are threatening to withdraw from next year’s song contest, if Israel is permitted to take part. A statement from Irish broadcaster RTÉ said the decision was made “given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza.” On Friday, Dutch public broadcaster Avrotros concurred, adding: “Human suffering, the suppression of press freedom and political interference are at odds with the values of public broadcasting.” Similar sentiments have come from Slovenia’s RTVSLO and Iceland’s RÚV. The EBU told THR that members are still being consulted "to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest." The story.
—ICYMI. One more castmember is leaving Saturday Night Live before the show’s 51st season. In an Instagram post Friday, Ego Nwodim says she had decided to leave the show after seven seasons. Her announcement comes a few days after NBC had seemingly finalized the SNL cast for the coming season, with Nwodim included. "The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight,” Nwodim writes in the Instagram post. “But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave SNL. I am immensely grateful to Lorne for the opportunity, to my castmates, the writers, and the crew for their brilliance, support and friendship." The story.
—🤌 Touch of class. 🤌 NBCUniversal is bringing on a high-wattage star to help with its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy’s Milan Cortina region: The acclaimed actor and TV host Stanley Tucci. Tucci, the host of Nat Geo’s Tucci in Italy and former host of CNN’s Searching for Italy, will feature the food, traditions and culture of northern Italy, where the games will be played, in travelogue style segments for the network. The story.
—Starz's loss... Netflix is heading back to Texas for another round of The Hunting Wives. The sexed-up summer sensation from Lionsgate has been renewed for a second season at the streamer. The original cast led by Brittany Snow and Malin Åkerman will reprise their roles. “I’m so excited to write these amazing characters again, and I can’t wait to take the audience on another sexy, twisted, batshit crazy ride through Maple Brook,” said creator/writer/showrunner Rebecca Cutter. Created by Cutter and based on the bestselling novel by May Cobb, The Hunting Wives became a streaming success for Netflix after acquiring the twisty murder drama that was originally produced for Starz, where Cutter had her three-season series Hightown . The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Ready to meet the new Geralt of Rivia? Netflix has released the first footage introducing Liam Hemsworth taking over the fantasy drama’s role for The Witcher's fourth season. This marks the first video of The Hunger Games star as the grim monster slayer, following Henry Cavill’s announcement that he was departed the role three years ago. Also, the streamer revealed the season’s premiere date as Oct. 30. The story. |
Film Review: 'Motor City' ►"Bracing for a while, then just flashy and thin." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Potsy Ponciroli's Motor City. Alan Ritchson and Shailene Woodley lead Ponciroli’s violent crime thriller set in 1977 Detroit, which played at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. Also starring Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, Lionel Boyce, Amar Chadha-Patel and Ben McKenzie. Written by Chad St. John. The review.
—"A poetic exploration of human obsession and mysterious nature." David Rooney reviews Werner Herzog's Ghost Elephants. The legendary German director follows conservationist Steve Boyes and expert trackers into the Angolan highlands in search of a possibly mythical herd of XL pachyderms. The review.
—"Shoots straight." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's Love + War. Debuting at TIFF, the film explores the ethics and toll of being a conflict photographer as seen from the eyes of Lynsey Addario. Featuring Paul De Bendern, Andriy Dubchak, Yulia Bondarenko, Serhiy Perebyinis, Afred De Bendern and Camille Addario. The review.
—"Sticks safely to the slow lane." For THR, Michael Rechtshaffen reviews Bobby Farrelly's Driver's Ed. The Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary filmmaker's TIFF-bowing road comedy tells the story of high school student who hijacks his driving instructor's car in a bid to win back his college girlfriend. Starring Sam Nivola, Sophie Telegadis, Mohana Krishnan, Aidan Laprete, Molly Shannon and Kumail Nanjiani. Written by Thomas Moffett. The review.
—"Suffers from arrested development." Michael Rechtshaffen reviews Alex Winter's Adulthood. Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario play siblings whose lives are upended after they discover human remains in their parents' basement in this noir-edged TIFF premiere. Also starring Billie Lourd, Anthony Carrigan and Alex Winter. Written by Michael M.B. Galvin. The review.
In other news...
—Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel officially gets a title
—KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack finally hits No. 1
—Rome: Fest to honor Chariots of Fire producer David Puttnam
What else we're reading...
—Cerys Davies looks at why re-releases of classic films such as Jaws, The Sound of Music, Apollo 13 and others are striking such a chord with cinemagoers [LAT]
—Leah Rustomjee and Ellie Ramsden go inside the Jane Austen Festival in Bath that this year is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the author's birth [Guardian]
—Columnist Karen Attiah claims The Washington Post fired her over social media posts related to the death of Charlie Kirk [Substack]
—Natalie Andrews and Corrie Driebusch report that Trump is looking to do away with quarterly earnings reports for company's and move towards six months [WSJ]
—In an op-ed, Governor of New York Kathy Hochul explains why she's endorsing Zohran Mamdani in NYC mayoral race [NYT]
Today...
...in 2017, Amazon Studios and Annapurna Pictures released Mike White's Brad's Status in theaters. The dramedy, which starred Ben Stiller and Austin Abrams, was critically acclaimed, though made little impact at the box office. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Tom Hardy (48), Tommy Lee Jones (79), Oliver Stone (79), Fernanda Torres (60), Ben Schwartz (44), Josh Charles (54), Megan Stalter (35), Rebecca Miller (63), Barry Shabaka Henley (71), Ed Solomon (65), Ron Shelton (80), Pawel Pawlikowski (68), Lee Chae-Min (25), Dave Annable (46), Gwyneth Keyworth (🏴35), John Bradley (37), Gia Sandhu (34), Danny Nucci (57), Marisa Ramirez (48), Tamera Kissen (31), Amy Davidson (46), Jake Cherry (29), Chelsea Kane (37), Mitchell Slaggert (31), Caterina Murino (48), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (54), Elisabeth Dermot Walsh (51), Tom Austen (38), Ingrid Bisu (38), Lauren Compton (38), Jimmy Carr (53), Emma Fuhrmann (24), Colin McFarlane (64), Wilbur Fitzgerald (77), Matt Shively (35) |
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