| | | | | | What's news: YouTube now commands 12 percent of all viewing time in the U.S. Amid tariff turmoil, Wall Street sees Netflix as a "defensive" stock. A24 has landed Jesse Eisenberg's next film. Sheryl Crow and LeAnn Rimes are joining The Voice as "mega mentors." A musical based on the band TLC debuts next summer. — Abid Rahman
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L.A. Film and TV Production Levels Plunge ►Concerning. Filming levels in Los Angeles are slipping amid a global production crunch and escalating competition from other regions to host movies and TV shows. The three-month period from January to March saw losses in every category of production compared to the same period last year, according to a report from FilmLA, the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and county, issued on Monday. Shooting in L.A. decreased over 22 percent to 5,295 shoot days over that span. More than a year removed from the strikes, the entertainment industry hasn’t returned to filming in L.A. as initially expected. Shooting levels in the region, which was exacerbated by reductions in content spend across most studios, last year recorded the lowest figure observed by FilmLA since it started tracking the data in 2017 (excluding 2020, when filming was halted amid the pandemic). The story.
—Wait, what? Journalist Michael Wolff claims Warner Bros. Discovery “confirmed” to him an unusual suggestion they received from within “the Trump orbit”: If the company wants to curry favor with the administration, maybe give Donald Trump Jr. “a hunting and fishing show” on Discovery Channel. In a Monday story for New York Magazine, Wolff claims a purported Trump insider pointed to a recent (and very lucrative) Amazon deal for a documentary on Melania Trump as an “example” of how to “advantageously interact with the White House.” The implications were laid out in a lengthy Wolff profile on Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The story.
—The latest. The pre-trial sparks continue to fly ahead of Sean "Diddy" Combs' Manhattan trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The accused rap mogul’s lawyers submitted a lengthy questionnaire for potential jurors asking about aversion to sex, drugs and violence, ruffling the prosecution’s feathers. In a Friday letter sent to Judge Arun Subramanian, Combs’ attorneys floated a questionnaire for potential jurors that asks in detail questions about adult situations and footage of real-life physical assault. The questionnaire will be distributed to those who responded to their jury summons to narrow the pool ahead of selection on May 5. The story. |
That U.K. Netflix Tax? Not Going to Happen. ►The tariffs complicate things. Just days after Netflix announced record viewing figures for British series phenomenon Adolescence, the U.K. parliament was presented with a report on how its local TV industry is “under threat” and that global streamers are part of the problem. A government committee then floated an additional levy on foreign streaming platforms — an idea that's been greeted skeptically by close observers. The story.
—Is Netflix the safe Hollywood stock now? With worries about the impact of a global tariffs war, recession fears and stock market volatility, where should media and entertainment investors put their money in such tumultuous times? THR's business editor Georg Szalai spoke to market analysts, who are backing Netflix as a "defensive" stock, that will "demonstrate relative resilience in a weaker global macro" environment. The story.
—"Studios will push back." Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday featured politicians, famous musicians, labor leaders — and Hollywood production assistants. Echoing the event’s ethos of challenging corporate interests and billionaires, labor organizers at LiUNA Local 724 focused on one of the entertainment industry’s most crucial but unglamorous roles made a fiery unionization pitch to the reported 36,000 attendees. In the process, they put a spotlight on wages and working conditions as they described production assistants as being primed to build “working-class power.” The story.
—🤝 "Strike won! All jobs are back!" 🤝 After 58 days on strike, workers at two Alamo Drafthouse locations in New York City can return to the multiplex. On Monday workers at the Sony-owned cinema chain’s lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn locations announced that their union had reached a deal with management over layoffs that the union had previously claimed violated labor law. The union, aligned with the United Auto Workers Local 2179, ratified the tentative agreement on Sunday and said work will resume as usual starting Friday. The story.
—Making bank. SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz had a total pay package of $37m in 2024. That compensation package included a base salary of $2m, with the bulk made up of stock awards of $16.2m and option awards of $16.5m. She also received a bonus of $2.1m. Witz’s total pay package was up from 2023, when Witz did not receive stock and options awards, and had a base salary of $1.75m and a total pay package of $7.2m. The story. |
Social Media Shorts Are the New TV Guide ►Short form future. In a guest column for THR, Paul Pastor, co-founder and chief business officer of Quickplay, writes that as legacy media competes with large-scale social platforms, executives must learn how to participate in the creator economy or risk extinction: TikTok-style shorts as a discovery tool can help. The column.
—Blissful ignorance. Greg Gutfeld will host a game show called What Did I Miss? for the Fox Nation streaming service. On Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration, Fox News Media placed four people “in complete isolation in upstate New York, with no contact to the outside world — no phones, internet, television, or social media.” Ninety days later, those four people will come out of their cocoon, but before learning about what happened in the world over the past three months. In What Did I Miss?, contestants have to guess things that actually happened over the last 90 days, while avoiding scenarios invented by the production team. The story.
—Room to grow. The return of The Last of Us brought in a bigger audience than the show’s series premiere two years ago — but not as big as where season one ended. The season two premiere of the HBO drama delivered 5.3m viewers across platforms Sunday night — including the show’s on-air premiere and replays and streaming on Max. That’s a 13 percent improvement on the series premiere in January 2023, which had 4.7m night one viewers. The season one audience built steadily over the course of its nine episodes, hitting a high of 8.2m first-night viewers for its finale. The ratings.
—Reacher new heights. YouTube hit another high point in TV usage in March, and Prime Video’s Reacher flexed its considerable muscle as well. Nielsen’s monthly Gauge report on TV use in the U.S. has YouTube commanding 12 percent of all viewing time, the highest mark for the platform since the ratings provider began tracking that data in 2021. It grew from 11.6 percent — YouTube’s previous high — in February. Nielsen says Reacher was the most streamed show in March, with 6.6b minutes of viewing time. Seven different streamers had shows or movies in the top 10, with Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix and Paramount+ joining Prime Video. The report.
—Adding star power. Sheryl Crow and LeAnn Rimes will join NBC's The Voice as “mega mentors” to help the remaining competitors prepare for the show’s playoff rounds, which begin April 28. Crow will work with the singers on Kelsea Ballerini’s and Michael Bublé’s teams, while Rimes will mentor the remaining artists for John Legend’s and Adam Levine’s squads. Between them, Crow and Rimes have 11 Grammy Awards and more than 80m albums sold to date. Both are also familiar with The Voice — Crow was a mentor back in season four (which aired in 2013), and Rimes has been a coach on the British and Australian versions of the show. The story. |
Jack Black Asks 'Minecraft' Audiences to Not Throw Popcorn ►Personal PSA. Keep your popcorn to yourself. That was Jack Black's instruction to moviegoers attending a screening of A Minecraft Movie over the April 11-13 weekend at AMC Century City in L.A. following days of headlines about young moviegoers engaging in rowdy behavior and hurling handfuls of popcorn into the crowd when Black’s character exclaims, “chicken jockey!” As Black entered the auditorium unannounced, he initially disguised his voice when he intoned: “For today’s presentation of A Minecraft Movie, please no throwing popcorn.” When he began speaking in his own voice and was recognized, the crowd went nuts as he waved his main prop from the movie, an ax. “Look what I brought,” he said, eliciting hoots and hollers. The story.
—A real big coup. Jesse Eisenberg's next feature film, the follow-up to his Oscar-winning A Real Pain, has landed at A24. The still-untitled project, which has begun production, will see Eisenberg re-team with his A Real Pain production team, including Fruit Tree’s Emma Stone, Dave McCary and Ali Herting, and Topic Studios, which will serve as executive producers. Halle Bailey, Havana Rose Liu and Bernadette Peters join the previously reported cast of Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti. Bonnie Milligan, Colton Ryan, Lilli Cooper, and Maulik Pancholy round out the cast. The story.
—🎭 Two more 🎭 The forthcoming untitled comedy feature from director Nicholas Stoller is continuing to expand its cast alongside leads Will Ferrell and Zac Efron. Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Michael Peña have joined the Amazon MGM Studios movie that includes previously announced castmembers Regina Hall, Jimmy Tatro and Billy Eichner. Helming the film from his own script, Stoller reunites with the studio behind his recent feature You’re Cordially Invited that starred Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. Previously known as Judgment Day , Stoller’s new movie focuses on a young convict (Efron) who gets out of prison and takes an unscripted TV courtroom hostage, as he is convinced that the judge (Ferrell) delivered a ruling that destroyed his life. The story.
—🎭 First-look 🎭 Johnny Depp is back at work on a Hollywood feature for the first time in years, with Lionsgate releasing a first-look at the actor in Day Drinker. Additionally, the studio announced that Manu Rios, Aron Piper, Juan Diego Botto and Anika Boyle have joined Penélope Cruz in the thriller pic from director Marc Webb now shooting in Spain. Madelyn Cline also stars in the film, which marks a potential Hollywood comeback for Depp after controversies surrounding his messy divorce from actress Amber Heard and a U.K. court ruling that resulted in Warner Bros. axing him from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in 2020. The story.
—Indie lineup. The Directors’ Fortnight, the Cannes Film Festival independent sidebar focused on cutting-edge, auteur cinema, has unveiled its 2025 lineup. Laurent Cantet and Robin Campillo’s French drama Enzo will open the section on May 14, with Eva Victor’s Sundance hit Sorry, Baby as the closing film on May 24. The sidebar is organized by the French Directors' Guild. The lineup. |
Who Won Coachella? ►Kneecap! With the first weekend of Coachella 2025 now in the history books, clear winners have emerged among the dozens of acts who performed, including history-making headliners and small-font breakthroughs. For THR, Jeff Miller picks out the superlatives, including best overall set, best surprise, best breakouts and more. The list.
—CrazySexyCool news. A musical about girl group TLC will make its world premiere in Washington, D.C. next summer. Written and directed by Olivier-Award winner Kwame Kwei-Armah, CrazySexyCool – The TLC Musical will premiere at Arena Stage Theater from June 12, 2026, through Aug. 9. The musical is described as a “semi-biographical” look at the chart-topping girl group, which produced hits such as “No Scrubs,” “Waterfalls” and “Unpretty.” The musical will feature pre-existing songs from TLC. Chloe O. Davis will choreograph the show. Kwei-Armah also wrote and directed One Love: The Bob Marley Musical. The story.
—Revived! Famed country record label Lost Highway Records is officially coming back, Interscope Records announced on Tuesday, with CEO John Janick tapping Nashville veterans Robert Knotts and Jake Gear to take the reins. Knotts and Gear will both serve as executive vice presidents and co-heads of the new label. Lost Highway was founded 25 years ago by former UMG Nashville CEO Luke Lewis, working with artists including Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello and Kacey Musgraves. Perhaps most famously, Lost Highway released the O, Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. The story. |
TV Review: 'Government Cheese' ►"A hodge-podge of unrealized quirkiness." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Apple TV+'s Government Cheese. Paul Hunter and Aeysha Carr's 10-episode period drama series examines faith and fate, with zany nods to the Book of Jonah and plenty of other oddball touches. Starring David Oyelowo, Simone Missick, Bokeem Woodbine, Jahi Di'Allo Winston and Evan Ellison. The review.
—"Sadie Sink makes an exciting Broadway return." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Danya Taymor's John Proctor Is the Villain. In this Broadway play by Kimberly Belflower, a group of high schoolers start a feminism club during the height of #MeToo, starring Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink. The review.
In other news...
—Another Simple Favor trailer: Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick revive frenemies battle
—Cannes: ACID sidebar unveils 2025 lineup
—Max goes live in Turkey, unveils new originals
—THR elevates Liz Culley, names Debra Fink vp, entertainment and special projects
—Star Wars: Lego unveils massive, 2,970-piece Jango Fett starship
What else we're reading...
—Adam Serwer writes that the Trump administration's refusal to adhere to a Supreme Court ruling on the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia means a constitutional crisis is now here [Atlantic]
—Claire McNear has the entirely correct take that The Last of Us needs to up the amount of mushroom zombies [Ringer]
—Laura Martin writes that the Black Mirror season seven episode "Eulogy" might just be anthology series' most devastating ever [BBC]
—Michael C. Bender, Alan Blinder and Jonathan Swan go inside Trump's authoritarian squeeze on U.S. universities [NYT]
—Emine Saner talks to plus-size models on the backlash to body positivity following the arrival of Ozempic [Guardian]
Today...
...in 1954, MGM’s star-studded drama Executive Suite held its premiere in Hollywood. The film went on to earn four Oscar nominations at the 27th Academy Awards, including for best supporting actress (Nina Foch), art direction, cinematography and costume design. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Seth Rogen (43), Emma Watson (35), Maisie Williams (28), Emma Thompson (66), Luke Evans (🏴46), Arian Moayed (45), Susanne Bier (65), Reed Morano (48), Linda Perry (60), Julia Butters (16), Samira Wiley (38), Luis Fonsi (47), Claudia Cardinale (87), Alice Braga (42), Thomas F. Wilson (66), Danny Pino (51), Karen David (46), Paula Pell (62), Trine Dyrholm (53), Kamala Lopez (61), Andy Daly (54), Lois Chiles (78), Sam McMurray (73), Madeleine Martin (32), Damien Dante Wayans (45), Cooper Barnes (46), Cody Christian (30), Toheeb Jimoh (28), Clara Galle (23), Nadine Ellis (54), Fay Masterson (51), Leonie Elliott (37), Ester Dean (39), Annie Costner (41), China Chow (51), Siobhan Hewlett (42), Patrick J. Carney (45) |
| Andrea Nevins, a documentary filmmaker who received an Oscar nomination for her uplifting 1997 short film Still Kicking, has died of breast cancer. She was 63. The obituary. |
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