| | | | | | What's news: The NYT's lawsuit against OpenAI is moving forward. Zendaya will play Ronnie Spector in a Barry Jenkins-directed biopic. A live-action Scooby-Doo series is in the works at Netflix. Baby Reindeer leads the noms for the BAFTA Television Awards. CBS has renewed Watson. Renée Zellweger will appear in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
Patrick Whitesell On His Empire Building Plans ►Life after Ari. In his first interview since a $25b move took Endeavor private, Patrick Whitesell talks to THR's Peter Kiefer about his next chapter (NFL clients and the live events business loom large) and his $250m investment platform. The interview.
—Pivotal point. Donald Trump’s takeover of The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. is coming at a critical moment for the venerable arts institution: It needs to figure out where The Kennedy Center Honors will be televised to millions of viewers across the country. THR's Alex Weprin writes that 2025 will be the final year that the Honors are broadcast on CBS under its current rights deal, and the institution needs to settle its TV future at the same time that it contemplates a revamp of the event. The story.
—Biblical mess. Last year, Angel Studios — home of the sleeper hit Sound of Freedom — predicted to theater owners at CinemaCon that its upcoming film David would be the highest grossing animated movie of all time while announcing the title as a splashy 2025 Thanksgiving release. Since then, Angel has been clashing with Slingshot, the production company behind David, over its rights as the film’s distributor. Slingshot is now suing Angel for allegedly co-opting the feature to advance its own business interests, including its fledgling streaming service. The story.
—Moving forward. A federal judge has rebuffed OpenAI‘s bid to dismiss a copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times accusing the tech company of mass theft for using the publication’s content to train its AI system without consent or compensation. U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein on Wednesday advanced the Times‘ core claims related to copyright infringement while narrowing the scope of the case. He said she will issue a ruling “expeditiously.” With the decision, the publication clears a key hurdle in the case as it seeks an answer on fair use — a critical question in AI cases that asks whether the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems without a license is permitted. The story. |
Inside Vogue World: Hollywood ►Wintour's here. Anna Wintour doesn’t come to Los Angeles often, so when she touches down, it usually means there’s important fashion business on the horizon. That proved to be the case Wednesday when the global editorial director of Vogue and chief content officer at Condé Nast assumed position at a podium situated on the Chateau Marmont terrace just before 11 a.m. in front of the city’s fashion elite for the Vogue World: Hollywood event. THR's nicest man Chris Gardner reports that Gavin Newsom, costume designers, stylists and models like Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevingne and Hailey Bieber all mixed it up at the fashionable affair. The story.
—"We are the ones who have paid the heaviest price." Oscar-winner Javier Bardem has signed a letter by bereaved Israeli and Palestinian fathers that calls for an end to the Israeli-Gaza conflict and a return to negotiations to end the war. “On behalf of more than 800 Palestinian and Israeli families, members of the Bereaved Families Forum, we demand the release of all hostages from Hamas and the release of the huge number of innocent Palestinian prisoners from Israeli government prisons, an end to all forms of violence and war and a return to dialogue and negotiations to end the conflict between the two peoples,” Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan said in a letter co-signed by Bardem and which was published in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The story.
—Deleted. A Snow White producer’s son harshly slammed Rachel Zegler, accusing the star of hurting the film with her social media comments. Jonah Platt, 38, son of producer Marc Platt, took to Instagram to defend his father against Zegler fans in the wake of a Variety story that noted that Platt flew to New York to ask the actress to remove a “free Palestine” comment that she made on X. In a since deleted reply, Jonah Platt wrote: “You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20-year-old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for.” The story. |
Marvel Unveils 'Avengers: Doomsday' Cast ►26 stars! Six years after Avengers: Endgame became one of the biggest movies of all time, the Avengers are finally assembling again. During a nearly five-and-a-half hour livestream, Marvel Studios unveiled its cast for Avengers: Doomsday, revealing a mix of MCU mainstays as well as actors from 20th Century Fox’s now-defunct X-Men universe and upcoming stars of Fantastic Four: First Steps. Notable names missing from the roll call included Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Chris Evans (Captain America), the latter of whom is expected to appear at least one of the two-part movies. The cast.
—🎭 Perfect casting 🎭 Barry Jenkins and Zendaya are set to collaborate on a movie about music legend Ronnie Spector. Jenkins will direct the biopic, with Zendaya to play the American songstress who co-founded and fronted the 1960s girl group the Ronettes. Dave Kajganich penned an original screenplay about the life of Spector, who became popular along with the Ronettes for songs like “Be My Baby” and “Walking in the Rain.” It’s understood Jenkins and Zendaya have arrived at a version of Spector’s life that aims to immerse audiences in what the singer’s life with the troubled producer Phil Spector felt like, rather than a traditional career trajectory biopic. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 The Jessica Chastain/Isaac Hernández drama Dreams from Mexican director Michel Franco, has landed distribution deals across multiple territories, with The Match Factory closing for most of Europe as well as the Middle East and some Asian regions. The drama, which premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, sees Hernández play Fernando, a young ballet dancer from Mexico with ambitions of global success. Believing his lover Jennifer (Chastain), a wealthy philanthropist, will support his aspirations, he leaves his old life behind — barely escaping a fatal outcome. His arrival, however, unsettles Jennifer’s carefully controlled existence, setting off a chain of events that challenges both their futures. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Paramount+ has picked up the documentary The Children of October 7, which features Montana Tucker in conversation with Israeli children directly impacted by the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The film will premiere April 23 on the studio’s marquee streaming platform, to be followed with a linear TV run on MTV. Paramount+ launched another October 7 documentary, We Will Dance Again, in Sept. 2024. The story. |
Live-Action 'Scooby-Doo' Series a Go at Netflix ►Zoinks! Netflix has given a series order for a live-action Scooby-Doo series, based on the beloved and very long-lived cartoon Great Dane and his human, mystery-solving friends. The streamer's adaptation will be a “modern reimagining” of the Scooby-Doo premise. The series, from Warner Bros. TV, creators Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg and executive producer Greg Berlanti, has been in the works for nearly a year. Appelbaum and Rosenberg will serve as showrunners and executive produce via their Midnight Radio banner. The story.
—🏆 Clear leader 🏆 Netflix hit series Baby Reindeer is leading the nominations for the 2025 BAFTA Television Awards and the BAFTA Television Craft Awards, unveiled on Thursday. It earned eight noms, followed by Disney+ series Rivals, Apple TV+ hit Slow Horses, and ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office with six each. Baby Reindeer earned nominations in the categories of limited drama, leading actor, supporting actress, director fiction, editing fiction, sound fiction, and writer: drama. The nominees.
—Back on the case. CBS has ordered a second season of Watson, the Holmesian drama starring Morris Chestnut. The renewal comes midway through the show’s inaugural season and after a string of solid ratings performances on Sunday nights. The series premiered to 9.58m viewers following the AFC Championship in late January; that episode grew to 18.7m cross-platform viewers over five weeks, with 7m of those watching on Paramount+ — the most for any CBS original series on the streamer this season. Watson averages just under 6.8m viewers per episode in Nielsen’s linear data. In Watson , Chestnut plays Dr. John Watson, who returns to his medical career at a clinic that treats rare disorders six months after the death of his friend and partner, Sherlock Holmes. The story.
—It's over. CBS is once again changing its late-night lineup — or rather, trimming it. The network announced Wednesday that it will wind down its 12:35 a.m. show After Midnight later this year after two seasons — despite a recent renewal for a third season. Host Taylor Tomlinson decided to return her focus to her stand-up comedy and touring. The final episodes of the show are set to air in June. CBS says it won’t replace After Midnight with new programming in the 12:35 a.m. slot next season. Whether the network keeps that hour or returns it to local stations hasn’t been determined yet. The story.
—Steamy! Netflix has lined up its next high-profile Korean drama series — and this one could get steamy. Currently given the working title Scandals, the show will be an adaptation of the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal, which reimagined the promiscuous world of the classic French novel Dangerous Liaisons within the context of Korea’s Joseon era. The show will be led by a star-studded cast including Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook, and Nana, aka Im Jina. It has already started shooting in Seoul. The story.
—🎭 Oscar-winning addition 🎭 Renée Zellweger is set to visit the Arconia and join the cast of Hulu's Only Murders in the Building. News of the actress’ casting was announced Wednesday. Further details of Zellweger’s recurring guest star role have yet to be announced, but the actress joins Christoph Waltz and Keegan-Michael Key, who were previously announced to also be joining season five. The Emmy-winning series’ fifth installment will have 10 episodes, and is currently in production. The story. |
The Future of Streaming Is a Blast From the Past ►"This shift back towards aggregation, while seemingly regressive, is a necessary evolution for the streaming industry." In a guest column for THR, Helen Rees, a partner at Monitor Deloitte, outlines future trends in TV consumption and streaming. Helen writes that bundling, password crackdowns and price increases will only go so far for subscription streaming platforms. Up next may be a return to aggregating content from different providers, like traditional pay TV packages did. The column.
—🤝 Multiplatform deal 🤝 Amazon has struck a multiyear deal for the LeBron James digital series, Mind The Game, which will be distributed across several Amazon properties. As part of the deal, Amazon’s Wondery will distribute Mind The Game across Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, Fire TV Channels and Echo devices, as well as on YouTube and wherever podcasts are available. In its second season, the series will see James host alongside new co-host NBA hall-of-famer Steve Nash. Wondery will also manage ad-sales representation for all audio and video episodes of the podcast, as well as back catalog content. Uninterrupted, which launched the show last year, will produce the series. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed. The story.
—🤝 First-look deal 🤝 Fremantle has secured a first-look and development deal in television with Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree production company. Fremantle will become the primary home for all of Fruit Tree’s scripted television projects and unscripted docuseries, with the producer working closely with Fremantle’s Global Drama division and international distribution team to grow its slate and expand into new territories. The Oscar-winning actress and her producer-director husband founded the company in 2020, with its first TV projects including The Curse, starring Stone, Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder, and Fantasmas with Julio Torres. They are next set to produce The Yogurt Shop Murders , a doc series directed by Margaret Brown for HBO. The story. |
Film Review: 'A Working Man' ►"Gets the job done." THR's Frank Scheck reviews David Ayer's A Working Man. Jason Statham reunites with his Beekeeper director for a thriller co-scripted by Sylvester Stallone. Also starring Jason Flemyng, Merab Ninidze, Maximilian Osinski, Cokey Falkow, Michael Pena, David Harbour, Noemi Gonzalez, Arianna Rivas, Emmet J. Scanlan and Eve Mauro. The review.
In other news...
—Rust trailer: Alec Baldwin stars as outlaw in first footage of tragedy-stricken Western
—Mikey Madison gets pitched an ‘Anora Fedora’ idea after ‘Anora Menorah’ was cut in SNL promo
—Lady Gaga announces Mayhem Ball Tour with shows in North America and Europe
—AMC Theatres, CJ 4DPLEX strike sweeping global deal
—Jeff T. Daniel named president of The Shubert Organization
What else we're reading...
—Wild story from German newspaper Der Spiegel, who found the private data, passwords, phone numbers and email addresses of the likes of Mike Waltz, Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth online [Der Spiegel]
—Nick Timiraos, Alex Leary and Chip Cutter (great name) write that corporate America’s euphoria over Trump’s promises of a "Golden Age" is giving way to distress [WSJ]
—Marc Tracy traces the path of doc No Other Land's unlikely path to Oscar-winning success [NYT]
—Savannah Walsh talks to Elizabeth Tabish, who plays Mary Magdalene in the hit Bible drama series The Chosen, who discusses how she marries her belief with being a "hardcore leftist" [Vanity Fair]
—Bonnie Berkowitz, Dylan Moriarty and Luis Melgar
report that the Trump auto tariffs will likely lead to much higher car prices [WaPo]
Today...
...in 2005, ABC debuted a new hospital drama from executive producer Shonda Rhimes. Multiple accolades later, Grey’s Anatomy is going strong at the network, and Rhimes is one of the industry’s most influential showrunners. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Mariah Carey (56), Quentin Tarantino (62), Brenda Song (37), Nathan Fillion (54), Halle Bailey (25), Fergie (50), Jonathan Entwistle (41), Pauley Perrette (56), Kevin Corrigan (56), Lalisa Manobal (28), Sophie Nélisse (25), Holliday Grainger (37), Elizabeth Mitchell (55), Stephen Dillane (68), Kenny Doughty (50), Michael York (83), Julian Glover (90), Talisa Soto (58), Austin Pendleton (85), Louise Brealey (46), Rosabell Laurenti Sellers (29), Caroline Williams (68), Benjamin Koldyke (57), Ram Charan (40), Ty Tennant (23), Natasha Calis (26), Francie Swift (56), Sandra Hess (57), Taylor Atelian (30), Aoi Yûki (33), Michael Vlamis (35), Jason Narvy (51), Bevin Bru (54), Bernard Curry (51) |
| | Clive Revill, the New Zealand native who after being recruited to be an actor by Laurence Olivier starred on Broadway, appeared in two films for Billy Wilder and provided the original voice of the evil Emperor Palpatine in The Empire Strikes Back, has died. He was 94. The obituary. |
|
|
|
| | | |
