| | | | | | What's news: THR's latest digital cover star is the about-to-be-huge Chase Infiniti. ITV Studios is restructuring its U.S. operations. NBCU and YouTube TV's dispute over carriage fees continues. Lucy Liu will lead Peacock’s crime drama Superfakes. And Hamilton brought in another $3.6m on Broadway last week. — Abid Rahman
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P.T. Anderson Is Betting It All on Chase Infiniti. No Pressure ►On the digital cover. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, everything is supersized. It’s his most expensive film to date, to the tune of some $130m. There are set pieces of a scale previously unheard of for the director — explosions, car chases, bank robberies — as well as his most bankable star yet in Leonardo DiCaprio. Perhaps its most audacious gamble, though, is that for all the project’s ambitions — to translate auteur pedigree to box office numbers, to continue Warner Bros. hot streak — much of its potential rests on the shoulders of an unknown actress: Chase Infiniti, a 25-year-old from Chicago, making her film debut. THR 's Seija Rankin spoke to Infiniti about the film and what's sure to be a rapid rise to stardom. The digital cover story. |
Amazon Name Peter Friedlander Head of Global TV ►Big hire. Peter Friedlander is joining Amazon MGM Studios as the company's next head of global television. Friedlander, a well-respected former Netflix executive, is set to begin his new job on Oct. 6 and will take over the role from Vernon Sanders, who announced his departure eight days ago. Friedlander’s portfolio at Amazon MGM will include that studio as well as MGM Television (home to Fargo and Wednesday) and unscripted banner MGM Alternative. Friedlander left Netflix less than a month ago after 14 years, the last four of those as head of scripted series for the U.S. and Canada. He had been one of the longest-serving creative executives at that company and had a hand in bringing a number of its biggest series to streaming, including Orange Is the New Black, Stranger Things, Wednesday and Black Mirror. The story.
—Quids in. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch saw his fiscal 2025 compensation soar, with the company disclosing the pay bump just weeks after the executive settled a high-profile legal battle with his siblings over who will control the family’s media empire. According to Fox’s proxy filing, Murdoch took home a compensation package valued at $33m in the company’s fiscal 2025, which ended June 30. That is up from $23.8m a year ago, and from $21.8m in fiscal 2023. The pay package includes a $3m salary, $10.6m in stock awards, $2.75m in option awards, $10.7m in non-equity incentive plan compensation, as well as $4m connected to a change in the value of retirement benefits, and $2m in other compensation, mostly tied to a residential security plan. The story.
—Shakeup. ITV Studios is restructuring its U.S. operations, with ITV Studios America head Philippe Maigret set to leave the company. The reorganization will bring all scripted and unscripted development and production under the umbrella of ITV America, led by CEO David George. ITV Studios America had been the scripted arm of ITV’s stateside operations. Maigret, president and managing director of ITV Studios America, has led the studio since 2015. He’s expected to depart late this year but will remain an executive producer on the company’s current projects, including One with Bedrock Entertainment, which is set up at Prime Video. The story. |
Schreiber, Bialik, Messing Reject Israeli Film Boycott Calls ►"A form of collective punishment." Around 1200 artists and executives from the entertainment world have signed an open letter condemning calls to boycott the Israeli film industry amid the Gaza conflict. “To censor the very voices trying to find common ground and express their humanity, is wrong, ineffective, and a form of collective punishment,” the letter released on Thursday by the non-profit organizations Creative Community for Peace and The Brigade states. Among the high profile signers of the open letter are Liev Schreiber, Mayim Bialik, Gene Simmons, Debra Messing, Sharon Osbourne, Greg Berlanti, Jerry O’Connell, Howie Mandel, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sherry Lansing and Haim Saban. The story.
—Convenient. Paramount has hired Makan Delrahim, a former Department of Justice head, as its chief legal officer. Delrahim served as assistant attorney general for the antitrust division at the Department of Justice during President Trump’s first term, and most recently worked at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he and his firm provided legal counsel to Skydance Media throughout the acquisition process of Paramount. The move of a former antitrust head also comes as Paramount has been reported to be seeking an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which would likely face some regulatory hurdles. The story.
—🤝 Settlement. 🤝 Three days into trial, Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5b to settle a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission accusing the tech giant of duping consumers into signing up for Prime subscriptions, which users were impeded from canceling. The lawsuit, filed under the Biden administration in 2023 in the opening salvo against Amazon’s retail dominance, alleged the company adopted a “coercive” user interface to trick users into enrolling in automatically renewing memberships. It involved claims that some people intended to sign up solely for Prime Video, a lower-cost option. Under the deal, reached on Thursday, $1.5b will go to eligible users, who can receive up to $51. The remainder of the settlement constitutes a fine. The story. |
The Secret to Ratings Success? Trump Trying to Cancel You ►The Trump Effect. THR's James Hibberd and Rick Porter dig into the numbers and report that Donald Trump’s efforts to silence Comedy Central’s South Park, CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! have resulted in all three shows surging in the ratings and, in a couple cases, to their biggest numbers in decades. The analysis.
—Can Kimmel help the Democrats? For Hollywood’s political class, Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night was a cause to celebrate — a crucial if momentary victory — for a town that’s been casting about for a way forward since Donald Trump re-entered the Oval Office in January. THR's Peter Kiefer writes that the question on the minds of many is whether the Democrats and industry activists can leverage what many see as government overreach and an assault on free speech by Trump and his FCC chair Brendan Carr to their advantage. The analysis.
—Taking a stand. Though Jimmy Kimmel is now back on the air, the Directors Guild of America isn’t acting like this instance of a Hollywood corporation apparently bowing to political pressure will be a one-off. In the wake of Disney’s brief suspension of the late-night host amid tough talk from the head of the FCC, the union is encouraging members to report any instances where they feel they are being censored. In a message to members, new union president Christopher Nolan and national executive director Russell Hollander said they believed “these issues go beyond the suspension of one late night program.” The story. |
NBCU, YouTube TV Take Their Carriage Dispute Up a Notch ►Not playing ball. NBCUniversal and YouTube TV dispute over carriage fees continues, with the former saying the latter is demanding absurdly cheap rates to carry its programming. YouTube TV is balking at the price tag for Peacock, arguing that NBCU is charging "more than what they charge consumers for the same content," the service says. The final whistle for an agreement to be reached is Tuesday, Sept. 30. Should NBCU programming be blacked out on YouTube TV, users of the popular cord-cutter platform could miss out on some very in-demand sports programming, like Notre Dame football (vs. Arkansas this Saturday), the NFL’s Sunday Night Football game, which is primetime TV’s most-watched program, and this weekend’s Ryder Cup golf event. The story.
—Bowser's down! A major shakeup is coming to the Mushroom Kingdom. Doug Bowser, the president and COO of Nintendo of America, is retiring at the end of the year, after more than a decade with the company. Bowser (who in one of the greatest coincidences in corporate history shares a last name with arguably the most famous villain that Nintendo has ever created) will be succeeded by Devon Pritchard, a longtime member of the Nintendo of America leadership team. In addition, Satoru Shibata will join NOA as CEO, while continuing his roles as managing executive officer and corporate director, member of the board at Nintendo Co., Ltd. Pritchard will also join the NOA Board of Directors and become an NCL Executive Officer. The story.
—Pricey! Microsoft has finally revealed the official price points for its upcoming handheld devices, ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, releasing on Oct. 16. The base model, the ROG Xbox Ally, will cost $599.99. The more advanced option, ROG Xbox Ally X, will cost $999.99. There had been a lot of speculation — and some leaks — about the price points. The most recent reports of leaked retailer prices placed the base model at $549.999 and the “X” at $849.99. In other words, Thursday’s news is going to be met with some serious jeers, especially for gamers who hoped to get the top-of-the-line option for $150 less. The story. |
International Emmy Nominees 2025 ►🏆 Rule Britannia, innit! 🏆 The BBC crime dramedy Ludwig, Australia’s hit kids animated series Bluey and Netflix’s biopic Amar Singh Chamkila were among the titles that scored nominations for the 53rd International Emmy Awards, unveiled on Thursday by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The U.K. led the field with 12 nominations, followed by Brazil with eight and South Africa with four. A total of 64 nominees span 16 categories and represent a record 26 countries. Winners will be announced on Nov. 24 at a ceremony in New York City. The nominations.
—Wale tale. THR's budding farrier Ryan Gajewski has the scoop that Grammy-nominated rapper Wale is behind a new project aiming to tell the story of a real-life notorious hitman. Wale and his management company EQT are in early stages of development on Silk, a series centered on D.C.-based hitman Wayne “Silk” Perry and his involvement in the crime world in the early 1990s. Silk is set between 1989-1993, at a time when the nation’s capital was known as the “murder capital.” It will follow the story of Perry, who was the enforcer for New York City-based drug dealer Alpo Martinez. Additionally, Wale has acquired a stake in Perry Industries, a new D.C.-based production company that owns the life rights to Perry, who currently goes by the name Nkosi Shaka Zulu El. The story.
—🎭 Lead found. 🎭 Lucy Liu will lead Peacock’s crime drama Superfakes. The series comes from creator Alice Ju, Universal Studio Group’s UCP and A24. Josh and Benny Safdie are executive producers. Liu, who will also exec produce, is set to play a “small-time Chinatown luxury counterfeit dealer,” as described by the show’s logline, who becomes involved in a larger black market scheme in order to fund a better life for her family. Peacock ordered the series in January. Ju has a history with the NBCU-owned streamer, having worked as a writer and producer on the streamer’s Poker Face, and with A24, which produces Beef for Netflix. The story.
—📅 Are you not entertained?! 📅 Thirteen years ago, Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay) died in Spartacus: Vengeance. But, like, what if he didn’t That’s pretty much the premise for new series Spartacus: House of Ashur, which we now know will premiere on Starz with its first two episodes on Dec. 5. Steven S. DeKnight is back behind his Spartacus shield for Starz with House of Ashur, the fifth series in the franchise. He’ll also showrun this one, which again hails from Lionsgate Television. The Spartacus shows started at Starz in 2010 with Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The saga, set in ancient Rome, continued in 2011 with Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Spartacus: Vengeance in 2012 and Spartacus: War of the Damned in 2013. The story.
—Final demon defeated. Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters has set several records over its pop culture-dominating run in the summer. What it hadn’t done previously was lead the overall rankings on Nielsen’s streaming charts. Emphasis on “hadn’t”: In the final week of August, the movie took over the No. 1 overall spot with its highest weekly viewing total to date in the U.S., 1.12b minutes. It marked the movie’s 11th straight appearance in the Nielsen rankings, extending a record for a streaming original film that it set a week earlier. Another Netflix movie, The Thursday Murder Club, came in second overall for Aug. 25-31 with 1.03b viewing minutes. That narrowly beat Netflix’s YA series My Life With the Walter Boys , which recorded 987m minutes of viewing for the week of its season two premiere. The streaming rankings. |
Bill Burr In Talks to Join 'Social Network 2' ►🎭 Poked. 🎭 THR's Borys Kit and Aaron Couch have the scoop that comedian Bill Burr is in talks to join the bold-faced cast of Aaron Sorkin and Sony Pictures’ The Social Network Part II. Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for penning the 2010 original movie, wrote the script and will direct the drama that is inspired by a series of articles Jeff Horwitz wrote for The Wall Street Journal known as "The Facebook Files." Sorkin has been assembling a riotous list of next generation talent, with the call sheet so far including Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Strong, who are in the process of wrapping up their deals. The story.
—🏆 Chukahada! 🏆 The Busan International Film Festival capped its landmark 30th edition Friday night with a closing ceremony at the gleaming, minimalist Busan Cinema Center, unveiling the winners of its inaugural main competition section, the Busan Award, alongside the festival’s signature honors, the New Currents, BIFF Mecenat and Sonje Awards. The newly launched Busan Award — the festival’s first-ever official competition — crowned veteran Chinese-Korean auteur Zhang Lu’s Gloaming in Luomu as best film. The winners.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Roadside Attractions and Vertical have acquired the U.S. rights to Tow, the true-life drama starring Rose Byrne. Steff Laing, who directed Byrne in the Apple TV+ series Physical and also helmed shows Palm Royale and Your Friends and Neighbors, directed Tow, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival. Based on a true story, Tow follows Amanda Ogle (Byrne), a woman living in her aging Toyota Camry on the streets of Seattle. When her car, her only lifeline, is stolen and impounded, Ogle is thrust into a relentless legal battle against an indifferent system. The story. |
Broadway: 'Waiting For Godot' Hits $1.8M ►They are Wyld Stallyns! Hamilton is staying at the top of the industry box office charts, bringing in close to $3.6m last week, as Leslie Odom Jr. continues in his role as Aaron Burr. The numbers are slightly below the $3.8m commanded last week, when Odom first returned to the role he originated. Still, the 10-year-old show is hitting numbers not normally seen outside the lucrative holiday weeks, with an average ticket price of $335.14 and capacity above 100 percent. Waiting for Godot , starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, brought in $1.8m in its second week on Broadway, across just seven performances rather than the typical eight. The play, which is set to open at the Hudson Theatre on Sept. 28, had an average ticket price of $266.96, and played to 100 percent capacity. The Broadway box office report.
—New leadership. Nicki Hunter has been appointed artistic director of the Manhattan Theatre Club, one of Broadway’s major nonprofit theater companies. Hunter, who is currently the associate artistic director at MTC, takes over the reins from Lynne Meadow, who has held the position for more than 50 years. Hunter is also the latest newcomer to assume the artistic directing role, as the Lincoln Center, Second Stage and Roundabout Theatre have also all seen recent changeover in the roles. Manhattan Theatre Club, which owns the Samuel J. Friedman Broadway theater, as well as off-Broadway stages at New York City Center, has garnered 31 Tony Awards in the past 50 years and and seven Pulitzer Prizes. The story.
—🎭 Leads in place. 🎭 Succession star Nicholas Braun and Purpose's Kara Young are about to take the stage together. Coming this fall, the actors will co-star in an off-Broadway revival of Rajiv Joseph’s Pulitzer Prize finalist Gruesome Playground Injuries. Neil Pepe is set to direct the play. Young returns to theater after her historic win at the 2025 Tony Awards for being the first Black performer to win a Tony two years in a row. As for Braun, the three-time Emmy nominee recently premiered the film Splitsville, and Gruesome Playground Injuries will mark his New York stage debut. The story. |
TV Review: 'Chad Powers' ►"Unconvincing — but perhaps intentionally so?" THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Hulu's Chad Powers. In this football comedy series, a washed-up quarterback dons a silly disguise to mount a comeback. Starring Glen Powell, Steve Zahn, Toby Huss, Perry Mattfeld, Wynn Everett, Frankie A. Rodriguez, Clayne Crawford and Colton Ryan. Created by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron. The review.
—"A stealthy and surprising domestic portrait." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Olmo Omerzu's Ungrateful Beings. Irish actor Barry Ward plays a dad at his wit's end with his 17-year-old daughter, who is struggling with an eating disorder, in this San Sebastian-bowing film. Also starring Dexter Franc, Antonin Chmela, Barbora Bobulova and Timon Sturbej. Written by Olmo Omerzu, Nebojsa Pop-Tasic and Kasha Jandackova. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ►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 episode, Scott spoke to Jafar Panahi. This key figure in the Iranian New Wave, one of only four filmmakers ever awarded the top prize at each of the three biggest European film festivals, reflects on his cinematic critiques of Iranian society, continuing to work even after being jailed by the regime and then banned from making films under the threat of being sent back to jail. Panahi also opens up on how his own experience with a prison interrogator partially inspired his latest film, It Was Just an Accident, which won Cannes' Palme d'Or in May and was just chosen as France's entry for the best international feature Oscar race. The podcast.
—Awards Chatter. In a special live episode recorded in front of an audience at the Access Canada Summit in Toronto, Scott also spoke to William H. Macy. The consummate character actor reflects on his fateful crossing of paths in the late '60s with David Mamet, his feelings about often being cast as "losers" (e.g. Fargo and The Cooler) and why he was "swept away" by the script for Clint Bentley's new film, Train Dreams, about the American character. The podcast.
In other news...
—Greenland 2: Migration trailer: Gerard Butler dodges more Earth-killing meteors
—Ben Stiller’s famous parents and comedians star in Jerry Stiller-Anne Meara doc trailer
—Tribeca sets 2026 dates, submission deadlines
—AFI Fest adds George Clooney, Emma Stone, Sydney Sweeney films
What else we're reading...
—Bloomberg has obtained 18,000 Jeffrey Epstein’s private emails, which show the support and advice the disgraced financier got in his "hour of terror" [Bloomberg]
—In light of the Comey indictment, ABC News has put together a remarkable, and growing, list of individuals targeted by Trump [ABC News]
—EJ Dickson has a pretty bleak story about a woman who went to Bali inspired by raw vegan and fruitarianism influencers and never came back [The Cut]
—Maya Salam has the entirely correct opinion that John Woo's Face/Off is a bonkers blockbuster with staying power [NYT]
—Here's your Friday list: Robert Redford's best movies [THR]
Today...
...in 2014, CBS Films gave Matthew Warchus' Pride a limited release in theaters. Based on a true story, the dramedy told the story of a collaboration between a Welsh miners union and LGBT activists during the 1984 miners' strike. Starring Ben Schnetzer, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Andrew Scott and George MacKay, the film was a hit with critics and won the Queer Palm in Cannes. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Linda Hamilton (69), Christina Milian (44), Jim Caviezel (57), Sam Nivola (22), Lilly Singh (37), David Slade (56), Frederick E.O. Toye (58), Leo Suter (32), Zoe Perry (42), Melissa Sue Anderson (63), Alisha Weir (16), Lysette Anthony (62), Manny Montana (42), Sheri Moon Zombie (55), Fola Evans-Akingbola (31), Emily Barber (34), Charlotte Spencer (34), Tricia O'Kelley (57), Emma Rigby (36), Jennifer Getzinger (58), Mary Beth Hurt (79), Jonathan Goldsmith (87), Ben Shenkman (57), Maria Bonnevie (52), Jacob Tierney (46), Bill Heck (47), Ashley Leggat (39), Patrick Bristow (63), Elizabeth Saunders (59), Fred Raskin (52) |
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