| | | | | | What's news: Mormon Wives stars Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt will appear in Dancing With the Stars. Scott Teti will be the showrunner for The Bachelor. Taraji P. Henson is set to make her Broadway debut. Kenneth Branagh has joined the cast of The Devil Wears Prada 2. Jurassic World Rebirth is tracking to open at $100m+. — Abid Rahman
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Inside 'Elio's' "Catastrophic" Path ►"Elio just [became] about totally nothing." Pixar's latest animated feature Elio arrived in theaters June 22 and promptly bombed, earning just $20.8m domestically, the lowest opening frame at the box office in the fable animation studio's history. THR gumshoe Ryan Gajewski has been on the case and has the inside story on a quite spectacular misfire for Pixar, revealing that Elio was dogged by problems including the exit of America Ferrara as the voice of a key character, a director change and the erasure of queer themes. The story.
—🤝 Settlement. 🤝 Three crew members who worked on Rust have settled a lawsuit over the accidental shooting of the cinematographer on the film’s set. In a joint document filed last week, both sides notified the court of a deal to resolve the case. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed. The lawsuit stems from an incident on Oct. 21, 2021, when a revolver Alec Baldwin was handling went off and led to the accidental death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, as well as inflicting injury to director Joel Souza. In 2023, dolly operator Ross Addiego, set costumer Doran Curtin and key grip Reese Price sued Baldwin and the production companies behind Rust . They pointed to a disastrous safety culture on the set of the movie where producers allegedly shirked industry-wide norms related to the use of guns to shoot the film on a shoestring budget. The story.
—Backlash. English punk-rap duo Bob Vylan are facing significant backlash to their “death to the IDF” chant from Glastonbury over the weekend, with the State Department confirming Monday that it has revoked the group’s U.S. visas. Meanwhile, a source confirms to THR that United Talent Agency has dropped Bob Vylan following the controversy. The group’s frontman Bobby Vylan (a stage name, drummer Bobbie Vylan is the other half of the group) defended the chant in an Instagram post writing, “I said what I said.” The story.
—New financing. AMC Entertainment Holdings unveiled Tuesday that it has entered a “transaction support agreement” with key creditor groups, debt holders and certain lenders to give it more financial flexibility, resolve key litigation and allow it to focus on box office upside. The deals include $223m in new financing. AMC chairman and CEO Adam Aron said that “this transaction support agreement is yet another important and strategic move, as AMC continues to fortify our financial footing, and improve the trajectory of our post-pandemic recovery.” The story. |
Who Should Pay for Music and Movie Piracy? ►Game on. The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a major challenge to the legal precedent that internet service providers are liable for piracy by their users. THR's Winston Cho writes that such precedent has been the foundation of a years-long campaign from music labels and production companies to curb piracy by suing the gatekeepers to the internet for turning a blind eye to users who illegally download content. That may change depending on the outcome of a case between Cox Communications and music publishers that will be considered by the Supreme Court. The analysis.
—Nearing the end. A deal to settle a lawsuit from Donald Trump against CBS News over its handling of a 60 Minutes interview could be close. Lawyers for both sides moved to pause all proceedings until Thursday, citing “good faith” and “advanced” settlement discussions, according to a court document filed on Monday. The move comes ahead of the merger termination deadline on July 7. If the deal isn’t completed by then, a second 90-day extension would expire on Oct. 6. In the scenario that the transaction isn’t greenlit at that point, it’s believed that Paramount and Skydance will abandon the deal rather than seek another extension. The story.
—Spoiling for a fight. Meta is sizing up for another showdown with European tech regulators this week over the company’s alleged violations of Europe’s antitrust legislation, the Digital Market Act. On Friday, the European Commission, the European Union's executive branch, warned Meta that it may start issuing daily fines, potentially amounting to more than $150m a week, unless the Facebook and Instagram parent company properly complies with the DMA. Under the legislation, the EU can fine companies as much as 5 percent of their average daily worldwide turnover for violations. For Meta, which reported a global turnover of $164.5b in 2024, or around $450m a day, a 5 percent daily fine would amount to $22.5m. In practice, the EU rarely issues fines anywhere near the maximum allowed under the law. The story.
—Sold! The Newhouse family is selling most of its stake in Warner Bros. Discovery, effectively winding down a partnership that has spanned decades. The family, which owns the magazine publishing giant Condé Nast, sizable stakes in Charter Communications and Reddit, as well as businesses like Ironman and TurnItIn, revealed in a securities filing Tuesday that it will sell 100m shares in the company in a block sale for $10.97 each via its Advance holding company, worth about $1.1b. The story. |
'Jurassic World Rebirth' Hopes to Set Off Major July Fourth Fireworks ►Champing at the bit. The dinosaurs are back three years after the Jurassic World trilogy wrapped — and more than 30 years after director Steven Spielberg's first movie, Jurassic Park, stomped into theaters. But just how big will the appetite be for the seventh title? Jurassic World Rebirth, from Universal and Spielberg’s Amblin Productions, opens Wednesday, July 2, in North America on the eve of the long Fourth of July weekend. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that tracking is suggesting a five-day debut in the $100m to $125m range, but that that number could climb higher. At the same time, there’s plenty of competition for eyeballs, including from Brad Pitt and Apple Original Films/Warner Bros.’ F1: The Movie. The box office report.
—🎭 It's happening! 🎭 The Devil Wears Prada sequel is heading into production this week, two decades after the beloved movie hit theaters, and is set to shoot in New York and Italy. Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci are on board for the follow-up film, which is adding Kenneth Branagh to the cast. The 2006 film, based on the book of the same name, follows Andy (Hathaway), a recent college journalism graduate, as she lands one of the most coveted jobs in publishing as the assistant to Anna Wintour stand-in Miranda Priestly (Streep). The film grossed a massive $326m at the worldwide box office and earned Streep an Oscar nomination. The story.
—🎭 Jungle book. 🎭 Universal is setting up what could be a new sci-fi horror franchise. Cynthia Erivo, who stars in the studio’s Wicked movies, has teamed up with Michael Bay and Brad Fuller of Platinum Dunes to adapt the sci-fi action thriller Saturation Point for Universal. Minnie Schedeen will write the script, adapting the novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky, known as a master of British sci-fi and an Arthur C. Clarke and BSFA Award winner. The 2024 book is part climate thriller in which the Earth has a zone so hot and humid it makes it hard for humans to survive. Naturally, into this zone must go our protagonist, Dr. Jasmine Marks, who leads a search and rescue mission and who will discover that the zone is far deadlier than initially believed. The story.
—🎭 Tough love. 🎭 Penn Badgley and Meghann Fahy are set to star in You Deserve Each Other, an Amazon MGM Studios romantic comedy based on the novel by Sarah Hogle. Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn, the writers who have been behind rom-com hits Never Been Kissed and He’s Just Not That Into You, are set to direct the feature. The duo also revised the script, initially written by Brett Haley and Marc Basch. Financing and production banner Fifth Season is producing You Deserve Each Other alongside Anthony Bregman and Peter Cron of Likely Story. Described as a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers rom-com, You Deserve Each Other follows Naomi and Nick, a couple who are about to get married and live happily ever after except for one thing: They’ve fallen completely out of love. The story.
—A first. Max will debut Ryan Coogler's critically-acclaimed box office smash Sinners in the U.S. on July 4, when viewers will be able to watch it two ways: by 1) streaming the exact theatrically released version, and 2) choosing Sinners in Black American Sign Language (BASL). It’s the first time a streaming service has interpreted a film into BASL, Warner Bros. says. BASL is “a distinct dialect of American Sign Language with its own dynamic history and unique grammar, signing space, rhythm, facial expressions and cultural nuances,” reads an announcement released Monday. Max says the release of Sinners in BASL marks "a major step forward in accessibility, representation and visibility in streaming." The story. |
'Mormon Wives' Reunion Surprise: 2 Joining 'DWTS' ►Corporate synergy. Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt from Hulu’s hit reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives are joining the upcoming season of ABC's Dancing With the Stars. The news was announced at the end of Mormon Wives’ second season reunion special. Both women were eagerly hoping to be chosen, it appeared. The special’s host, Nick Viall, shared that most of the MomTok ladies had auditioned for the season. He first announced Affleck as joining the cast, before adding a second “surprise” that Leavitt would also be joining. The recap.
—Setting sail for limbo. Doctor Odyssey won’t be setting sail for a second season — for now, and maybe not ever. But ABC maintains that the series hasn’t been canceled, even as its cast is on the verge of being free to pursue other work. The series, co-created by Ryan Murphy, Jon Robin Baitz and Joe Baken, was the only scripted ABC show whose future was up in the air as the 2024-25 season came to a close. ABC has repeatedly said that it’s still weighing the show’s future: Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich told THR in May that “We’re continuing to have creative conversations with Ryan, and we’ll talk to him about what the next chapter looks like.” The story.
—Moving on. ABC has found a new showrunner for The Bachelor, and with it comes a formal renewal for the series for the 2025-26 season. Scott Teti, who’s currently the showrunner and executive producer of Bachelor in Paradise, will take those same titles for The Bachelor’s 30th season. Teti’s hiring comes three and a half months after former showrunners Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner left the franchise amid allegations that they ran a “toxic” and “hostile” workplace; the pair have denied those allegations. Their departure, along with the prior exit of co-executive producers Michael Margolis and Keely Booth, left The Bachelor in an uncertain place after its 29th edition concluded in March. ABC left the show off its 2025-26 schedule at May’s upfronts — and scrapped The Bachelorette for this year — even as Bachelor in Paradise geared up for a summer run and the network announced its next Golden Bachelor lead. The story.
—Seismic news. Bill Burr is developing a half-hour comedy at Fox based on the life of comedian Earthquake (real name Nathaniel Stroman). It will be titled, wait for it, Earthquake. Burr is producing the project through his North Hill Productions; 3 Arts Entertainment will also produce through Fox Entertainment Studios. Right now the commitment is just for a script; Burr, Dave Becky, manager Jermaine Smith and (Burr’s producing partner) Mike Bertolina are executive producers. Details on the potential show are scant at the moment. The story. |
'Phantom of the Opera' Plans Return in Immersive Production ►"Experience the music of the night more intimately than ever before." The Phantom of the Opera is returning to New York in an immersive production. The show, entitled Masquerade, has been teasing its debut for weeks but has now confirmed the show will be led by Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus and released full casting, which includes former Broadway Phantom Hugh Panaro and Kaley Ann Voorhees, a former Christine. The show has set a six-week run of dates, which it calls its “initial celebration,” starting July 31 at a commercial building in midtown Manhattan. The show is based on the original musical Phantom , which features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe and book by Stilgoe and Webber. The production is presented by arrangement with Webber’s The Really Useful Group. The story.
—🎭 Broadway debut. 🎭 Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer will star in a revival of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone on Broadway. Debbie Allen will direct the revival of the August Wilson play, which is the second in Wilson’s American Century Cycle and follows Black travelers seeking refuge at a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911. The production is set to open in spring 2026 at a Shubert Theater to be announced. This marks the Broadway debut for Oscar-nominated star Henson, who recently starred in Tyler Perry’s Straw for Netflix. The story. |
Film Review: 'Jurassic World Rebirth' ►"More nostalgic than new, but still roars." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Gareth Edwards' Jurassic World Rebirth. Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp returns for this chapter about an extraction team seeking genetic samples from massive creatures in a tropical biosphere. Starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ed Skrein, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge and Bechir Sylvain. The review.
In other news...
—Glen Powell is desperate to win a killer competition show in The Running Man trailer
—Renate Reinsve does not want to work with Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value trailer
—Ryan Gosling is Earth’s only hope in Project Hail Mary trailer
—Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest fall in love abroad in My Oxford Year trailer
—Hershey biopic movie reveals first look at Finn Wittrock, Alexandra Daddario
—L.A. soundstage giant Hudson Pacific cuts board members
—Universal Music Group, UCLA launch Berry Gordy music industry scholarship
—Beatles’ Apple Corps names Tom Greene as new CEO
What else we're reading...
—Mark Gurman reports that Apple is weighing using Anthropic or OpenAI to power Siri in a major reversal for the tech giant [Bloomberg]
—Josef Adalian looks at how YouTube won the living room [Vulture]
—Modern marvel or concrete "blob"? Lois Beckett goes inside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s $700m new building [Guardian]
—In a grim glimpse of the future, Sebastian Herrera reports that Amazon is on the cusp of using more robots than humans in its warehouses [WSJ]
—Julia Jacobs and Anusha Bayya outline the 8 key text exchanges that dominated Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial [NYT]
Today...
...in 1998, Buena Vista’s star-studded sci-fi actioner Armageddon opened in theaters, going on to gross $553m globally over the summer. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Léa Seydoux (40), Liv Tyler (48), Pamela Anderson (58), Debbie Harry (80), Tate McRae (22), Sonoya Mizuno (39), Julianne Nicholson (54), Kyle Soller (42), Fortune Feimster (45), Hilarie Burton Morgan (43), Jonathan Roumie (51), Alan Ruck (69), Dan Aykroyd (73), Jordi Mollà (57), Jared Keeso (41), Hannah Murray (36), Thomas Sadoski (49), Melissa Peterman (54), Storm Reid (22), Terrence Mann (74), Ritchie Coster (58), Serenay Sarikaya (33), Geneviève Bujold (83), Dominic Keating (63), Marc Silverstein (54), Henry Simmons (55), Laurie Davidson (33), Lynsey Bartilson (42), Tim Abell (67), Kolton Stewart (26) |
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