| | | | | | What's news: Zach Braff has signed on for the ABC's Scrubs update. Alix Earle will join S34 of DWTS. Chris Brown was released on $6.7m bail in the U.K. Kieran Culkin has joined the cast of Sunrise on the Reaping. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's A Useful Ghost won the Cannes Critics' Week top prize. — Abid Rahman
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THR's Stand-Up Comedy Roundtable ►Cancellation, conspiracies and cocaine. THR's award-winning Roundtable series is back as Emmy season gears up. First up is the stand-up comedians. Their latest specials tackle themes of death (Sarah Silverman), loneliness (Roy Wood Jr.) and a stroke that nearly ended Jamie Foxx's life. But gather this sextet — which also includes Chelsea Handler, Hasan Minhaj and Seth Meyers — around a table with a few old-fashioneds, and the mood is anything but bleak. Over the course of an hour, THR's Lacey Rose and these six comedians covered everything from clones to cocaine to cancellation. The roundtable. |
Music Insiders Slam Live Nation's Trump Ally Board Appointee ►"It’s just so obvious." Live Nation’s move to appoint Trump ally Richard Grenell to its board of directors caused a stir in the live music business this week, as several music executives who spoke to THR's Ethan Millman slammed the pick as a transactional move in the company’s attempt to squash the monopoly lawsuit Live Nation faces from DOJ. Grenell is a longtime Trump ally, previously serving as U.S. ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term, and was appointed the interim executive director at the Kennedy Center after the president seized control of the Center back in February. The DOJ first sued Live Nation a year ago, claiming the company uses its dominance in concert promotion and in ticketing with Ticketmaster to stifle competition, calling to break up the company. The story.
—"This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction." Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, one-third of Irish rap group Kneecap, has been charged with a terror offense in the U.K. Ó Hannaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara and was a star of Rich Peppiatt’s “print the legend” biopic on the Belfast, Ireland-based band, is accused of “displaying a flag in support of proscribed organization Hezbollah at a London gig,” according to the Metropolitan Police. The band took to social media after news of the charge. “We deny this ‘offense’ and will vehemently defend ourselves,” said Kneecap. The story.
—Bailing out. Scandal-plagued singer Chris Brown was released on $6.7m bail Wednesday while facing allegations he beat and seriously injured a music producer with a bottle in a London nightclub in 2023. The decision by a London judge to grant bail will allow Brown to launch a world tour next month that had been thrown into doubt last week when a district judge in Manchester ordered him into custody after he was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Judge Tony Baumgartner in Southwark Crown Court said that Brown could go on tour, including several stops in the U.K., but would have to pay the bail to guarantee his court appearance. The story.
—🏆 It counts! 🏆 After nabbing a Sports Emmy on Tuesday night, Lady Gaga is only one award away from becoming an EGOT winner. The “Abracadabra” singer earned her latest honor on Tuesday for her Super Bowl performance of “Hold My Hand,” the Oscar-nominated track from Top Gun: Maverick, earlier this year. In total, Gaga has 14 Grammys, an Oscar (for “Shallow,” which won best original song from A Star is Born) and now a Sports Emmy. The only coveted award Lady Gaga has left to add to her résumé is a Tony. The story.
—New faces. Ted Sarandos, Alexis Ohanian and Eli Manning are joining the board of trustees at the Paley Center for Media. The Netflix co-CEO, Reddit co-founder and two-time Super Bowl champion are also joined by Gary Vaynerchuck, CEO of VaynerMedia, and David W. Checketts, managing partner of Checketts Partners Investment Management. Jim Burtson, president of CAA, and Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, Meta will join the Paley Los Angeles Board of Governors. The story. |
Kieran Culkin Cast in 'Sunrise on the Reaping' ►🎭 Searching for Tucci. 🎭 THR whippet Ryan Gajewski has the scoop that Kieran Culkin is following up his Oscar win with a spot in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. The actor has been cast as Caesar Flickerman in the forthcoming Lionsgate film. Francis Lawrence directs the movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel that will hit theaters Nov. 20, 2026. Caesar is the eccentric host of the Hunger Games. Stanley Tucci portrayed an older version of the character in the series’ first four films that kicked off with The Hunger Games hitting theaters in 2012. The story.
—🎭 Circling. 🎭 THR's Borys Kit has the scoop that Joey King is in negotiations to star alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic 2, Warner Bros.' sequel to the 1998 movie. Susanne Bier, who directed Bullock in the post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box and Kidman in the sordid Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple , is on board to helm the feature that has a Sept. 18, 2026 release date. Bullock and Kidman are reprising their roles as witch sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, who in the original movie fight a family curse that dispatches the men with whom they fall in love. That movie was based on the novel by Alice Hoffman and juggled themes and ideas of sisterhood, female empowerment, domestic abuse, with some comedy and supernatural fun thrown in. The story.
—🎭 Beef cakes assemble! 🎭 Jason Momoa, Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo and Roman Reigns are in early talks to star in Street Fighter for Legendary Entertainment. Based on the popular the video game, the project is a partnership with Capcom and has not yet announced its cast. But it’s understood Momoa, Koji, Centineo and Reigns are circling the adaptation in early negotiations. Kitao Sakurai, best known for writing, directing and exec producing The Eric Andre Show, was earlier announced to direct the adaptation. Capcom is deeply involved with the project, with Legendary co-developing and co-producing alongside the video game developer and publisher. The story.
—We'll have GTA6 before The Winds of Winter. THR's Lily Ford has the scoop that Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin has signed a deal with Lion Forge Entertainment to adapt Howard Waldrop’s A Dozen Tough Jobs into an adult animated feature film. The renowned fantasy writer will produce the project, a reimagining of the Greek classic story of the 12 labors of Hercules. A Dozen Tough Jobs transports the mythic tale to 1920s Mississippi, where Hercules is re-envisioned as a former sharecropper fighting to regain his freedom. The movie will also be produced by Martin, Lion Forge Entertainment CEO and founder David Steward II, and Lion Forge president and chief creative officer Stephanie Sperber. The story. |
Joachim Trier's 'Sentimental Value' Wows Cannes ►15-plus minutes! Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier returned to Cannes with Sentimental Value, which had its world premiere Wednesday night in the festival’s competition section. Cannes was bowled over by Trier’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed film The Worst Person in the World, giving Sentimental Value an astounding 15-minute loud, raucous and heartfelt standing ovation. The adoration was showered on the cast in nearly equal measure, with particularly boisterous cheers for stars Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård. And for Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, whose turn as Angnes could prove her international breakout. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Neon has acquired the North American rights to the political thriller The Secret Agent from writer and director Kleber Mendonça Filho. The Portuguese-language pic — about a technology expert returning to his hometown in 1977 to reunite with his young son and flee the country — premiered in competition in Cannes on Sunday. Neon is planning a North American theatrical release later this year. The Secret Agent stars Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leon, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho and Hermila Guedes. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Mubi strikes again! German director Mascha Schilinski’s second feature, Sound of Falling (In Die Sonne Schauen), has been acquired by Mubi for North America, UK, Ireland, India, and Turkey. The pickup follows a bidding war after a world premiere in competition in Cannes. Mubi has been on a streak at the festival, picking up major non-U.S. rights to The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and Jennifer Lawrence-Robert Pattinson-starrer Die My Love for a whopping $24m. The story.
—🏆 ยินดีด้วย! 🏆 A Useful Ghost, the debut feature from Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, has won the Grand Prize at the 64th edition of Cannes Critics’ Week. The absurdist fantasy comedy portrays a married couple where the wife dies of a respiratory illness caused by dust pollution, and then returns to the grieving husband as a ghost in the form of a vacuum cleaner. The Thai feature picked up the Grand Prix AMI Paris trophy as awards for the Critics Week section in Cannes were announced on Wednesday. See THR's review for the film below. The story. |
How World-Building Took Over Television ►A universe beyond the screen. Television series these days have never been busier. Shows exist against a backdrop of sprawling storylines; they contain characters with indefinite spinoff potential. For THR, Eric Kohn writes that when Emmy voters start marking their ballots this season, they won’t just be weighing in on an episode, performance or even series. They’ll be evaluating a world — a set of interconnected characters and storylines that can extend far beyond the 30 or 60 minutes in front of them. The analysis.
—🎭 Back on call. 🎭 Zach Braff has signed on for the Scrubs update that’s in development at ABC. Braff will reprise his role from the 2001-10 series as Dr. John Dorian, aka J.D., the narrator and central character for most of the show’s first run. ABC confirmed it was developing a Scrubs reboot in December, after creator Bill Lawrence, Braff and other members of the cast had for years said they’d like to reunite. Braff is the first member of the show’s original cast to join the ABC update. Scrubs also starred Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, John C. McGinley, Neil Flynn and Ken Jenkins. The story.
—Expanding. Fox Nation is speeding into the sports docuseries space, picking up a new season of 100 Days to Indy, as well as the rights to the show’s first two seasons. 100 Days to Indy chronicles the drivers and teams of Indycar in the 100 days leading up the Indianapolis 500. The first two seasons of the shoe aired on The CW and also streamed on Netflix. For Fox Nation, the show marks a significant expansion into the sports world, with some corporate synergy involved too. Fox is the official broadcaster of the Indianapolis 500, and Fox Nation will stream a replay of the event after it airs on the broadcaster, in addition to the docuseries. The story.
—🤝 Distribution deal. 🤝 Disney and TelevisaUnivision have forged a unique distribution deal, one that spans both the U.S. and Mexico. In the U.S., the deal will see TelevisaUnivision’s lineup of networks, including Univision, UniMás, TUDN and Galavisión, launch on the Hulu + Live TV multichannel video service, as part of its core offering. In Mexico, meanwhile, TelevisaUnivision’s ViX streaming service will be offered in a bundle with Disney+. The story.
—She's in. Dancing With the Stars has found its next celebrity contestant. ABC revealed on Thursday that social media star Alix Earle will join the long-running competition show for its 34th season, which will kick off this fall. Earle, who has amassed more than 7.5m followers on TikTok and 4.3m on Instagram, initially saw a rapid rise in fame on social media in 2022, before graduating from the University of Miami. Her most popular content consists of “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos, beauty tutorials and lifestyle tips. Earle also hosts her Hot Mess podcast. The story. |
The 'Handmaid's Tale' Uncensored Oral History of a Revolution ►"I'm glad they waited until Elisabeth Moss was born." In a monumental effort, THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause wrangled together The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood, show creator Bruce Miller, stars Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski and Ann Dowd as well as 20-plus producers, castmembers and execs who together reveal how a classic novel became the Emmy-winning emblem of anti-Trump resistance. The oral history. |
Film Review: 'The Six Billion Dollar Man' ►"Conventional but substantive." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Eugene Jarecki's The Six Billion Dollar Man. The new film from the maker of Why We Fight focuses on the decade the famous WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spent confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The review.
—"Not exactly an advertisement for the Holy Land." Jordan reviews Nadav Lapid's Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection, Yes! The Berlin Golden Bear and Cannes Jury Prize winner is back on the Croisette with an ambitiously over-the-top feature about the madness and misery of post-October 7th Israel. Starring Ariel Bronz, Efrat Dor, Naama Preis, Sharon Alexander, Alexey Serebryakov and Pablo Pillaud Vivien. The review.
—"Doesn't exactly leap off the page." Jordan reviews Mario Martone's Cannes competition entry, Fuori. The Nostalgia filmmaker returns to competition in Cannes with a biopic about Italian author Goliarda Sapienza. Starring Valeria Golino, Matilda de Angelis, Elodie, Corrado Fortuna, Antonio Gerardi and Carolina Ros. The review.
—"An arthouse Asian Brave Little Toaster." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's Cannes Critics' Week winner, A Useful Ghost. Dead spirits inhabit the appliances of their living loved ones in writer-director Boonbunchachoke's delightfully absurd Thai sex comedy. Starring Davika Hoorne, Wisarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wanlop Rungkumjad, Wisarut Homhuan, Gandhi Wasuvitchayagit, Ornanong Thaisriwong and Kritpahat Srimangkornkaew. The review. |
TV Review: 'Sirens' ►"Not tantalizing enough to lure wayward sailors." THR's chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg reviews Netflix's Sirens. Created by Maid's Molly Smith Metzler, the five-part limited series tells the story of a pair of troubled sisters and the couple of affluent benefactors who may be harboring dark secrets. Meghann Fahy, Julianne Moore, Milly Alcock, Kevin Bacon and Glenn Howerton. The review.
—"Stirring music to feed the soul." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Oliver Hermanus' Cannes competition entry, The History of Sound. In this drama, two music students form a profound attachment in early 20th century New England, reuniting years later to travel the Maine backwoods collecting traditional folk songs. Starring Paul Mescal, Josh O’Connor, Chris Cooper, Raphael Sbarge, Molly Price, Tom Nelis, Alessandro Bedetti and Emma Canning. The review.
—"Genuine sentiments, fully earned." David reviews Joachim Trier's Cannes competition entry, Sentimental Value. The director’s sixth feature revolves around a house in Oslo whose walls have absorbed generations of experience. Starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning and Anders Danielsen Lie. The review.
In other news...
—Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz heat up trailer for Darren Aronofsky's crime thriller Caught Stealing
—Jason Momoa is done with peace in Apple’s Chief of War teaser
—Thomas Hayden Church is here to help in Tires S2 trailer
—Michael B. Jordan to receive American Cinematheque Award
—Sofi Manassyan signs with CAA
—"King" George Coulam, founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival, dies at 87
What else we're reading...
—Isaac Chotiner talks to Shira Efron of the Israel Policy Forum about what Israeli officials are privately saying about starvation in Gaza [New Yorker]
—Fran Hoepfner has the entirely correct take that Timothée "Ball Atreides" Chalamet’s enthusiasm for the Knicks is contagious [Vulture]
—Jacob Passy reports that Universal’s $7b new theme park Epic Universe is sparking an arms race with Disney [WSJ]
—Dave Lee writes that the just announced link up between Jony Ive and OpenAI is a long shot bet to kill Apple's iPhone [Bloomberg]
—Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker chart the decline and fall of oligarch Elon Musk, who becomes the latest government employee to lose their job [Atlantic]
Today...
...in 1996, Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise unveiled the big screen adaptation of Mission: Impossible, which would go on to gross $180m and kickstart a feature franchise. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Maggie Q (46), Ginnifer Goodwin (47), Sean Gunn (51), Michael Kelly (56), Brooke Smith (58), J.D. Williams (47), Michael Kostroff (64), Linda Emond (66), Tao Okamoto (40), Hideaki Anno (65), Emma Chamberlain (24), Paulina Chávez (23), Molly Ephraim (39), Ann Cusack (64), Edward Bluemel (32), Nazanin Boniadi (45), Stephen Walters (50), Heida Reed (37), Alison Eastwood (53), Camren Bicondova (26), A.J. Langer (51), Peyton Elizabeth Lee (21), Anna Baryshnikov (33), Judah Lewis (24), Anna Belknap (53), Srishti Rindani (30), Alexandra Dowling (35), Yadira Guevara-Prip (30), Taylor Anthony Miller (37), Karoline Herfurth (41) |
| Billy Williams, the esteemed British cinematographer who shared an Oscar for shooting Gandhi and also was nominated for his work on the Glenda Jackson-starring Women in Love and Henry Fonda's final film, On Golden Pond, has died. He was 96. The obituary. |
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