| | | | | | What's news: Othello was completely shut out of the Tony noms. Harvey Weinstein’s defense team continues to push for a mistrial. Silver Lake has sold Frieze to Ari Emanuel. Lucinda Hicks is the new CEO of Sister. Guy Ritchie will direct Road House 2. — Abid Rahman
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Oliver Stone Looks Back at the Fall of Saigon 50 Years Later ►"We're back to learning nothing." April 30 marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the capture of the capital of South Vietnam by the Communist North Vietnamese army that marked the official end of the Vietnam War — a conflict that stretched two long decades and cost millions of lives. Approximately 60,000 of them were U.S. soldiers. Among the survivors was director Oliver Stone. THR's Seth Abramovitch spoke to the three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker behind the Vietnam dramas Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July about how he reconciles then and now on the anniversary of the conflict's end. The interview.
—New chief. Black Doves, Chernobyl and This Is Going to Hurt production company Sister Group has named Lucinda Hicks CEO. Hicks, a former CEO of Banijay U.K. and COO of Endemol Shine U.K., will be based in London. She also previously ran TV production company Dragonfly. Since 2022, Hicks has worked with Sister and other companies, such as Channel 4, in an advisory capacity. The company also unveiled the promotion of global CFO Chris Fry to the additional, newly created role of COO. Sister was co-founded by chief creative officer Jane Featherstone, executive chair Elisabeth Murdoch, and Stacey Snider. The story.
—Piling up. Apple's antitrust woes are growing, with a judge referring a criminal case against the tech giant to federal prosecutors for violating court-imposed rules to maintain revenue from its borderline monopoly over segments of the App Store. Under the ruling, Apple is barred from imposing commissions on payments made outside an app or restricting developers from telling users about alternative payment options that allow them to bypass fees on sales in the App Store, where the company exacts a toll of up to 30 percent on all transactions. The court’s ruling will allow companies across Hollywood, like Spotify, to link to discounted rates and payment methods, allowing them to bypass Apple's commission. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 With the Silver Lake take-private complete, Endeavor Group Holdings continues to sell off its remaining “non-core” assets, with Ari Emanuel still the biggest buyer. The company on Thursday said that it had agreed to sell Frieze to a new events and experiences company founded by Emanuel, and backed by a consortium of investors. Frieze operates international arts fairs, as well as editorial and digital arts platforms. Frieze CEO Simon Fox and his team will continue to operate the business under its new ownership. The story. |
Gold House A100 Honorees 2025 ►🏆 Changemakers 🏆Jon M. Chu, Michelle Yeoh, Bowen Yang, Lisa, Bruno Mars, Bong Joon Ho and THR's co-editor-in-chief Maer Roshan are among the honorees who have been named to this year’s Gold House A100 List. The Gold House A100 List recognizes the 100 most impactful changemakers in culture and society. Other Hollywood luminaries who made this year’s list include Moana 2 stars Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson and directors Dave Derrick Jr. and Dana Ledoux Miller; singer Charli xcx; Maybe Happy Ending stars Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen; K-pop group Seventeen; singer Tyla; Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk and stars Lee Byung-hun and Lee Jung-jae; The Wedding Banquet creative team and stars Andrew Ahn, Anita Gou, Bowen Yang, Han Gi-Chan and Kelly Marie Tran; singer Nicole Scherzinger; and Amy Homma, director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The story.
—"I don’t know what the big deal is. I love all my children." Robert De Niro is sharing nothing but “love and support” for his daughter, Airyn De Niro, after she came out as transgender. The two-time Oscar winner shared in a statement to THR “I loved and supported Aaron as my son, and now I love and support Airyn as my daughter." De Niro shares Airyn and her twin brother Julian with actress Toukie Smith. The legendary actor also has five other children, including his most recent baby, Gia, whom he welcomed in 2023 with his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen. The story.
—The latest. Harvey Weinstein’s defense team continued to push for a mistrial Wednesday as the former mogul faces rape and criminal sexual charges in Manhattan for a second time. Thus far, all three motions for a mistrial have been denied by Judge Curtis Farber. Miriam Haley, a former production assistant on Project Runway and one of the complaining witnesses in the case, has been on the stand Tuesday and Wednesday. The latest call for a mistrial came Wednesday afternoon as Haley, who alleges that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006, testified about why she continued to stay in communication with the former mogul after the alleged incident, saying, “I had no idea there were other people.” The story. |
Tony Awards Nominations 2025 ►🏆 Denzel robbed! 🏆 Musicals Buena Vista Social Club, Death Becomes Her and Maybe Happy Ending lead the 2025 Tony nominations with 10 nods each. All are nominated for best musical, a category that also includes Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical. A number of starry names received their first Tony nomination, including George Clooney, for his role in Good Night and Good Luck; Nicole Scherzinger, for her role in Sunset Blvd.; Sarah Snook, for her role in The Picture of Dorian Gray; Bob Odenkirk, for his role in Glengarry Glen Ross; and Mia Farrow, for her role in The Roommate. The nominations.
—Snubs, surprises and shutouts. Othello, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington, was entirely shut out of the Tony Award nominations. While the play received mostly mixed reviews, it has been drawing crowds on Broadway and has frequently had the most expensive average ticket price in the industry. The new musical Redwood, starring Idina Menzel, was also entirely shut out, as was The Last Five Years, starring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren. Though George Clooney got his first Tony Award nomination for his role in Good Night, and Good Luck, the play, which he co-wrote, did not receive a nod for best play. The story.
—Everything's coming up Clooney. Good Night, and Good Luck continues its ascent, breaking another Broadway box office record and its own marker for highest-grossing play last week. The play brought in $3.9m, close to $60,000 more than the prior week. The average ticket price was $314.60 and the show played to more than 100 percent capacity at the Winter Garden Theatre. Othello yet again had the highest ticket price in the industry last week, at $374.17, as the production brought in $3.1m and played to 100 percent capacity at the Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway box office report. |
DC's 'Sgt. Rock' Movie Not Moving Forward ►Standing down. Sgt. Rock, DC Studios’ action war movie based that was to shoot this summer, will no longer move forward, reports THR's Borys Kit. The feature project, with Luca Guadagnino in the director’s chair, had Colin Farrell as the titular DC Comics hero and was in preproduction as it planned a shoot in England. It was also in the throes of casting, trying to line up actors who would play the men of Easy Company, the combat unit fighting Nazi forces in Europe. Sources say Mike Faist, who starred in Guadagnino’s Challengers , was lined up for a role. The role of a female French Resistance fighter had also been set. It is unclear why the project has been shut down, although an insider said it came down to the project’s scheduling needs of shooting outdoors. The insider said that the project was not going away, and would be reassessed at the end of the year for a possible summer shoot in 2026. The story.
—Get the Stath in there! Guy Ritchie has signed on to direct Road House 2, the sequel to Amazon MGM Studios’ hit action movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Will Beall, whose credits range from comic book movies such as Aquaman to action flicks including Bad Boys: Ride or Die, is writing the script. Gyllenhaal will reprise his role as Dalton, the ex-UFC fighter who takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys bar. The 2024 movie, a remake of the 1989 movie that starred Patrick Swayze, was directed by Doug Liman and was written by Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry. It was a massive hit for the streaming unit, attracting nearly 80m worldwide viewers on Prime Video after only eight weeks. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry's heist movie Crime 101 has landed a high-profile release date in theaters. Amazon MGM Studios will open the film on Feb. 13, the beginning of the long Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day weekend. Directed by Bart Layton, Crime 101 is based on author Don Winslow’s novella of the same name. The story follows detective Lou Lubesnick as he attempts to solve a string of multi-million dollar jewel heists by tracking the perpetrator, who follows a strict set of rules known as “Crime 101.” As the fates of the various characters converge, the line between hunter and hunted blurs. Layton wrote the adapted script. The story.
—🎭 Fair dinkum 🎭 Staying with Chris Hemsworth, the Aussie actor is also taking a deep dive for Amazon MGM Studios. The actor is set to star in Subversion, a submarine thriller that Patrick Vollrath will direct for Amazon. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing via his di Bonaventura Pictures banner. The project is eying a production start this fall in Australia. Written by Andrew Ferguson, the story has been described as a “Die Hard on a submarine” style thriller that centers on a once-promising naval commander (Hemsworth) who is blackmailed by a cartel-like operation into piloting a dangerous submarine carrying illegal cargo across international waters. The story. |
Scorsese to Produce Pope Francis Doc ►"The essence of a life’s journey." Martin Scorsese is behind a documentary feature that counted Pope Francis as a collaborator prior to his death earlier this month. Aldeas — A New Story is in development from Scholas Occurrentes, the worldwide educational movement that the late pope founded. Scorsese is a producer on the movie that focuses on the Aldeas cinema initiative that aimed to combine the pope's interest in education, film production and community building. The film centers on the behind-the-scenes stories for the scripted short films being made across the globe through the Aldeas project. Aldeas will include previously unseen conversations between Scorsese and Francis, along with the late pope's final in-depth on-camera interview for a feature. The story.
—🎭 Three more 🎭 Billion Dollar Spy has ensnared three new actors for the Russell Crowe-led Cold War thriller. Tony Goldwyn, Rufus Sewell and Justin Theroux are the latest recruits to join a cast of the true-life story of CIA asset Adolf Tolkachev. Crowe stars as Tolkachev, who became disillusioned with the Soviet regime and passed thousands of pages of intelligence to the U.S. His portrait still hangs at CIA headquarters as the only non-American honored there. Harry Lawtey plays Tolkachev’s CIA case handler, while other stars include Vera Farmiga and Willa Fitzgerald. Amma Asante directs from a script by Ben August and Stephen Gaghan, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by David E. Hoffman. The story.
—Let's do the Time Warp again! Beloved cult-classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been newly restored and remastered in 4K Ultra HD to mark the 50th anniversary of its initial release. The 10-month project was overseen by the Walt Disney Studios Restoration team ahead of theatrical events and a Blu-ray release to be announced later in the year, with the version set to include a new anniversary logo for the film. This restoration of Rocky Horror involved a digital scan and preservation process to ensure the clarity of each frame. Additionally, the version includes a newly mixed Dolby Atmos audio track, with the original mono audio also being fully restored for fans who want to hear the classic soundtrack as it originally premiered upon its domestic release on Sept. 25, 1975. The story. |
Feinberg Forecast: Scott's First Read of the 2025 Emmys Race ►Aaaaaaaand we're back! The Oscars are in the rearview mirror, we're now speeding towards the Emmys. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg takes his first stab at forecasting the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, for which work released between June 1, 2024 through May 31, 2025 is eligible. And in the early running, things are looking good for The Last of Us, The Pitt, Severance and The White Lotus. The forecast.
—🎭 Filled out 🎭 The Gentlemen star Daniel Ings has joined Swansea-born icon Catherine Zeta-Jones in Amazon Prime Video series Kill Jackie (w/t). Ings will star as Sam in the revenge thriller, Jackie’s (🏴 Zeta-Jones) buttoned-up lawyer and long-held crush. Based on the acclaimed novel The Price You Pay by best-selling author Nick Harkaway, Kill Jackie is adapted by Tom Butterworth, who also serves as showrunner, and Conor Keane. The show will also star Sidse Babett Knudsen, Óscar Jaenada, Hattie Hook, Darci Shaw, Raff Law, Enzo Cilent, Christine Adams, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Karlis Arnolds Avots, Set Sjöstrand, Tadashi Ito, Sebastian Armesto, Julian Barratt, Gavin Spokes, Jonathan Cake, Bamshad Abedi-Amin and Bill Paterson. The story.
—Animal passions. The creative team behind Netflix’s Big Mouth is turning its sights away from horny teenagers — or at least the “teenagers” part. The streamer has ordered an animated series titled Mating Season from Big Mouth creators Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett, Andrew Goldberg and Nick Kroll, collectively known as Brutus Pink. The series is set in the animal kingdom and is set to premiere in 2026. Mating Season will feature “a cast of bears, raccoons, deer, foxes and a host of other horny, lovable forest critters, as they navigate love, sexual relationships and the universal need to hook up and find a partner,” the show’s logline reads. The news comes as Big Mouth is set to debut its eighth and final season on March 23, ending as one of Netflix’s longest-running original series. The story. |
Big Loud Sells Catalog Stake for $200M ►🤝 Stake sale. 🤝 Big Loud, the Nashville record label that’s home to country superstar Morgan Wallen, has sold a stake in the singer’s catalog to Chord Music Partners. Sources tell THR that Chord made the purchase for $200m. Chord was founded in 2021 by investment companies KKR and Dundee Partners, and Chord’s portfolio includes music from The Weeknd, Ryan Tedder and John Legend among others. Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, bought a 25.8 percent stake in Chord last year, with KKR exiting the company. Since its founding in 2013, Big Loud has become one of Nashville’s preeminent record labels, with a roster that includes Wallen — the biggest country act in the business — as well as Hardy, Ernest and Miranda Lambert among others. The story.
—🏆 Congrats to all! 🏆 Trent Reznor, Jeff Toyne, David Fleming and Nainita Desai were among the top recipients at ASCAP’s 2025 Screen Music Awards held in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. The four were the Composer’s Choice Award recipients at the performance rights organization’s annual Screen Music awards, with Reznor taking home the Composers’ Choice award for film score of the year for his work on Challengers. Toyne took home both TV score and TV theme of the year for Palm Royale. Fleming won documentary score of the year for Jim Henson Idea Man while Desai rounded out the Composers’ Choice section with video game score of the year for Tales of Kenzera: Zau. The winners.
—Do-over. A federal appeals court has revived a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sam Smith and Normani that claimed their multiplatinum hit “Dancing with a Stranger” ripped off a 2015 song of an identical name. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a lower court’s dismissal of the case, finding that a jury could find that the hooks of the two songs are substantially similar. A California federal judge will reconsider the issue. The story.
—Crispy and juicy. “Steve’s Lava Chicken” is tasty as hell — and a charting song on the Hot 100. Jack Black’s new track from A Minecraft Movie may only be 34-seconds long, but that didn’t stop the song from breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 after becoming a viral hit on TikTok this month. “Steve’s Lava Chicken” debuted at No. 78 on this week’s chart, which the publication has confirmed is a record for the shortest track to ever land on the chart. The song only encompasses a few lyrics, which were written by Black and director Jared Hess, where his character sings about his admiration for chicken smothered in hot lava. The story.
More music news...
—Kneecap concerts canceled in Germany following anti-Israel statements at Coachella
—Lorde announces new album, Virgin, with X-Ray cover art
—Barbra Streisand announces new duet album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two
—F1: The Album: Artist lineup revealed for Brad Pitt racing movie soundtrack |
Film Review: 'Rust' ►"An ordinary Western engulfed in extraordinary tragedy." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Joel Souza's Rust. More than four years after a fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Souza's feature about a misanthropic fugitive on the run with his grandson lands in theaters and on VOD. Starring Alec Baldwin, Frances Fisher, Josh Hopkins, Travis Fimmel, Patrick Scott McDermott and Devon Werkheiser. The review.
—"A thoroughly mediocre time." THR's Angie Han reviews Netflix's The Four Seasons. Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo and Will Forte are among the cast of this remake of Alan Alda's 1981 film about a vacation-loving friend group rocked by the news of an imminent split. The review.
—"Mamet’s writing can still crackle like wildfire." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews David Mamet's Henry Johnson. Shia LaBeouf, Evan Jonigkeit, Chris Bauer and Dominic Hoffman star in the writer-director’s lean screen adaptation of his four-character 2023 play. The review.
In other news...
—Bono shares emotional stories, performs U2 hits in Apple’s Stories of Surrender trailer
—The Better Sister trailer: Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Banks are estranged sisters at center of murder mystery
—Amazon’s Deep Cover trailer: Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom try to stop crime with improv
—Hulu’s Summer of 69 trailer: Chloe Fineman gives sex pointers to an awkward teen
—Cannes: Luc Jacquet to judge immersive competition
What else we're reading...
—Ben Smith and Liz Hoffman look at why JC Chandor's classic Margin Call remains Wall Street’s favorite movie, as well as and the best indictment of the financial system [Semafor]
—Max Pilley reports that dozens of major U.K. and Irish acts, including Pulp, Massive Attack and Fontaines DC, have publicly backed Kneecap's "freedom of expression" [NME]
—John Herrman reflects on how ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are so sycophantic, and how this "glazing" is a core part of the business model [Intelligencer]
—Emily Glazer, Becky Peterson and Dana Mattioli report that Tesla's board opened a search for a new CEO to replace Elon "Hat Guy" Musk [WSJ]
—After the brief and tawdry spat over tariffs, Issie Lapowsky recounts Donald Trump's relationship with tech oligarch Jeff Bezos [Vanity Fair]
Today...
...in 1998, Touchstone Pictures unveiled director Spike Lee’s drama He Got Game — featuring Denzel Washington, Ray Allen and Milla Jovovich — in theaters. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Wes Anderson (56), Madeline Brewer (33), Tim McGraw (58), James Badge Dale (47), Jamie Dornan (43), Joanna Lumley (79), Nicholas Braun (37), Uberto Pasolini (68), Dave Willis (55), Lorene Scafaria (47), Lizzy Greene (22), Julie Benz (53), Maia Morgenstern (63), Violante Placido (49), Bailey Chase (53), Caitlin Stasey (35), John Diehl (75), Stephen Macht (83), Kerry Bishé (41), Josh Rivera (30), Sam Myerson (34), Dann Florek (75), Chris Coy (39), Sacha Dhawan (41), Drew Sidora (40), Darius McCrary (49), Andrea Lowe (50), Jake Cannavale (30), Kaylee Hottle (18), Amira Casar (54), Ben Reed (60), Isabella Wei (21) |
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