| | | | | | What's news: A host of MCU stars have come out against Disney's suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. Christopher Nolan is the new president of the DGA. Tom Holland suffered a concussion on the set of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Trump’s $15b defamation lawsuit against the NYT has been dismissed. Fox Corp. may be involved in the TikTok deal. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
Eisner on Kimmel Suspension: "Where Has All the Leadership Gone?" ►"By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny." Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner appeared to take aim at Bob Iger and the Disney brass Friday as he railed against the decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel. “Where has all the leadership gone? If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment?” Eisner wrote in a post on X on Friday. Eisner called the decision to suspend Kimmel’s show "yet another example of out-of-control intimidation." Eisner ran Disney from 1984 to 2005, but was famously was forced out of the company in a shareholder rebellion that cleared the way for Iger’s leadership. The story.
—"It should be clear to everyone that the First Amendment is absolutely critical in this country." John Oliver used the main segment of his HBO show Last Week Tonight to address the Kimmel news. Oliver noted he appeared on Kimmel’s show the very night Kimmel made his comments. He defended Kimmel and said he was unclear about what was offensive about Kimmel’s remarks. Oliver went on to say that Kimmel’s suspension feels like a “turning point.” “Not because comedians are important, but because we are not,” he said. “If the government can force a network to pull a late night show off the air and do so in plain view, it can do a fuck of a lot worse.” The recap.
—"If this firing goes for you the way it did for me, you'll get 23 years on a better network." Bill Maher also went to bat for Kimmel on Friday's episode of HBO's Real Time. Maher defended Kimmel, noting, “Jimmy, pal, I am with you, I support you, and on the bright side, you don’t have to pretend anymore that you like Disneyland.” He then addressed his own controversy that arose in 2001 while hosting ABC’s Politically Incorrect. "It was 24 years to the day that I made comments on ABC that got me canceled from that network, and Jimmy Kimmel took my slot at Politically Incorrect . Oh yes, I got canceled before cancel even had a culture," he said. "This shit ain’t new. It’s worse, we’ll get to that, but you know, ABC, they are steady. ABC stands for ‘Always Be Caving.'" The recap.
—"Anyone who cares about the ability to speak freely for a living should be disturbed by this." A few members of the podcast manosphere are backing Kimmel. Folks like Tom Segura, Tim Dillon and Andrew Schulz have expressed support for the under-fire ABC late-night host, who was suspended by ABC earlier this week for his comments describing Charlie Kirk shooting suspect Tyler Robinson. None are considered left wing, and Dillon and Schultz, in particular, are considered fearless about adopting controversial positions and regularly mock “woke” culture. All these comics have been regulars on The Joe Rogan Experience . Yet Rogan himself — who endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 election — has been silent on social media and on his podcast about a fellow celebrity comedian and chat show host being suspended for a phrase uttered within a joke. The story.
—"I’ve grappled with being here tonight and around what to say about the present situation that we are all faced with, the stark contraction to the many advances we’ve made watching the insidious erosion of women’s rights, of trans and queer rights, the muzzling of free speech." The musical performances scheduled to take place at Sunday night’s premiere of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery were canceled as Disney — parent company of the doc’s distributor, ABC News Studios — continues to deal with the Kimmel fallout. At the premiere, Lilith Fair co-founder Sarah McLachlan, who also appears in the documentary, introduced the film ahead of the screening. She announced that the performances were canceled in a move of solidarity to support free speech. The story.
—Reverberations. The blast zone from Disney's decision to suspend Kimmel is now threatening to engulf the Brentwood home of Bob Iger, who just happens to be married to Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Iger, along with Disney Entertainment chairman Dana Walden, was the Disney exec who pulled the cord on Kimmel’s suspension, and that decision has prompted a journalism non-profit that Bay (and Iger) have supported for years to consider distancing themselves from the westside power couple. An annual fundraiser for the International Women’s Media Foundation is reconsidering its decision to hold its annual fundraiser at Bay and Iger’s home next month, according to several sources. The story. |
Hollywood Creatives Slam Disney Over Kimmel ►"I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed [the suspension]." Hollywood heavyweight Damon Lindelof said he “can’t in good conscience” work for Disney or ABC unless Kimmel's suspension is lifted soon. In a social media message, Lindelof explained that he’s known Kimmel and his wife, Molly McNearney, over “twenty years.” The Lost co-creator added that anyone who knows Kimmel knows that "he is caring and empathic and grateful." "You know he loves his country. You know he appreciates a good roast, and he can take as good as he gives. You know he supported his crew through multiple strikes, and you know he is generous and philanthropic and most of all, you know that he is kind," Lindelof wrote. The story.
—Mister Fantastic backs Kimmel. Pedro Pascal, a linchpin of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe after starring in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, came out big for Kimmel on social media. "Standing with you Jimmy Kimmel Live!," Pascal wrote on Instagram, adding, “Defend free speech” and “defend democracy,” sharing the words with a photo that featured the actor with Kimmel during an appearance on the show. Tatiana Maslany, who starred in the title role of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, a Marvel series that debuted on Disney+, posted a behind-the-scenes photo of herself on set, urging her Instagram followers to “cancel your Disney+, Hulu, ESPN subscriptions!” The story.
—"It’s wrong and anyone with a conscience knows it’s wrong." Former Late Night and Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien also backed Jimmy Kimmel. “The suspension of @jimmykimmel and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the Right, Left, and Center,” he wrote on X. The story.
—"It’s a comedian talking. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it." Late night alum Jay Leno shared his concerns over the Kimmel news. “I’m on Jimmy Kimmel’s side on that one,” Leno said. “These kinds of things happen all the time. You don’t get canceled [for] saying popular things. Usually it’s the truth that winds up getting canceled, so we’ll see what happens.” The story.
—"Disney does not want to be the ones that broke America." Mark Ruffalo continues to speak out about Kimmel's suspension at ABC. Ruffalo took to Threads on Saturday to re-share a post that alleged Disney's stock price has dropped seven percent following the late night talk show being suspended earlier this week. "It’s going to go down a lot further if they cancel his show," Ruffalo wrote. The story.
—"I know how decent he is." Adam Carolla, the comedian, podcast host and longtime friend of Kimmel, weighed in on Kimmel’s suspension on Friday. Carolla, who co-hosted The Man Show with Kimmel, has a particularly unique perspective, as he is well-known for his right-leaning political views, in contrast to Kimmel’s personal politics. "I think a lot of people want me to comment on it. It’s a weird thing," Carolla said. "The right and the left are always sort of misinterpreting things. He was inaccurate about something. It wasn’t like he was necessarily attacking Charlie Kirk." The story. |
Woody Allen Calls Cancel Culture "Dumb" ►"I would think they would have more common sense, when they read about the situation." Woody Allen reflected on how his career changed after allegations circulated that he sexually abused his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, while sharing his thoughts on cancel culture in a new interview. Allen again addressed the sexual abuse claims, maintaining his innocence, and spoke about the fallout from the controversy he faced, which has included a number of stars declaring they no longer want to work with him. And he called cancel culture, “just dumb,” castigating actors who refused to work with him after the allegations came to light. The story.
—Horrific. The severely decomposing body discovered at a Los Angeles impound lot inside a Tesla, which was found to be registered to up-and-coming singer D4vd, has been identified as a missing Inland Empire teen whose death may soon launch a homicide investigation. Celeste Rivas, 15, had been missing for nearly 18 months before her body was discovered at Hollywood Tow on Sept. 8. Rivas was identified after the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner shared that the girl had a right index finger tattoo that reads “Shhh…” D4vd, a 20-year-old TikTok and SoundCloud breakthrough in 2022, had a quick career takeoff and found himself opening for SZA and performing at Coachella before his first album dropped. D4vd now has 32m monthly listeners on Spotify and a deal with Darkroom/Interscope. The story.
—Dawson's sick. James Van Der Beek said Sunday night that he is dropping out of the live Dawson’s Creek reunion event due to “two stomach viruses.” Lin-Manuel Miranda will replace him for the one-night-only live reading of the pilot script. The event, which will benefit the organization F Cancer, is set to feature original stars Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Nina Repeta, Kerr Smith, Meredith Monroe and Busy Phillips. It will take place Monday in New York City at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The story. |
Christopher Nolan Elected President of DGA ►The Guild Knight. Christopher Nolan has been elected president of the Directors Guild of America during the union’s biennial national convention, with results released Saturday. Nolan, who ran for the top office unopposed, will take over for outgoing president Lesli Linka Glatter, who led the 19,500-member union of directors, associate and assistant directors, unit production managers and stage managers through the 2023 actors and writers strikes. During the convention, the union’s 167 delegates additionally re-elected veteran television directors Laura Belsey as the group’s national vice president and Paris Barclay as its secretary-treasurer. Joyce Thomas was elected assistant secretary treasurer, Todd Holland was elected first vice president, Ron Howard was elected second vice president and Gina Prince-Bythewood was elected third vice president. The story.
—Dismissed! Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and four of its reporters, accusing them of undermining his candidacy ahead of the 2024 election, has been dismissed. The court took issue with his lawyers essentially grandstanding in the complaint. “The complaint is decidedly improper and impermissible,” wrote U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday in the order issued on Friday. He pointed to "tedious and burdensome aggregation of prospective evidence, for the rehearsal of tendentious arguments." A chunk of the 85-page lawsuit is dedicated to arguments that “legacy media” is a “mouthpiece for the Democratic Party” and cites Trump’s achievements in real estate, entertainment and politics. Trump’s lawyers will be allowed to refile the lawsuit, though it will be limited to 40 pages. The court didn’t rule on the merit of the claims. The story.
—"And Rupert is probably going to be in the group." Could Fox News and the social video juggernaut TikTok soon share common ownership? Donald Trump suggested Sunday that they will. Trump, in an interview on Fox News' The Sunday Briefing, was asked about the pending deal talks around TikTok, which is currently controlled by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance. The president has delayed a pending ban of the app, instead using the app as a point of negotiation with China. Recent reports have connected Oracle, led by Larry Ellison, as well as the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the private equity firm Silver Lake, as among the entities in the new ownership group proposed by the U.S. Trump, however, seems to be adding Fox or the Murdochs into that mix. The story. |
What Happens When AI Tries to Replace a Showrunner? ►"I don’t feel my job is under threat. Yet." Looking over the vast landscape of television options in 2025, do you yearn for a show tailored more to your exact tastes? If so, then Showrunner from Fable Studio may be for you. The AI-powered platform, released to the public in July, allows users to craft short animated scenes for free after typing in a dialogue text prompt and choosing from a menu of preset characters, actions and settings. It’s all part of the company’s ambition to create the “Netflix of AI.” THR's Katie Kilkenny talks to real TV writers about testing the buzzy new AI platform. The story.
—Hmmmm... For decades, Stan Lee was the king of comic conventions. Now, nearly seven years after his death at the age of 95, he will once again be a presence at L.A. Comic Con, this time as a hologram that will use AI to have conversations with fans. Fans will be able to speak with the hologram at the Stan Lee Experience section of the con, a 1,500 ft. enclosed booth which costs between $15-$20 to enter, depending on whether you buy tickets ahead of time. And like meeting a celebrity or getting autographs, there will be paid opportunities to take photos with the hologram or have a three-minute, one-on-one conversation with it. The story.
—"Everyone thought I was crazy." Even though it’s been four decades since he originated the role, Sylvester Stallone was ready to portray Rambo one more time. During a conversation on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, the Tulsa King actor revealed that he pitched his potential return to the film franchise. Instead of following up after the events of 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood , Stallone wanted to partake in a prequel project that would feature an 18-year-old John Rambo. And, yes — he wanted to play a young Rambo, with the use of de-aging AI technology. "Everyone thought I was crazy," Stallone said of the pitch. "AI is sophisticated enough to go through Saigon to see him at 18 years old and basically use the same image. So it isn’t as big a stretch." The story. |
'Demon Slayer' Tops 'Him' for No. 1, Passes $550M Globally ►Monster smash. Anime hit Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – the Movie Infinity Castle is the champion of this weekend’s box office, topping the Jordan Peele-produced Him for no. 1. Demon Slayer, which set a record $70m U.S. opening last weekend, is on track to bring in $17.3m this weekend, a tumble of 77 percent but enough for a victory. Him, from Universal and Peele’s Monkeypaw, is projected to end the weekend with $13.5m, down from earlier estimates of $15m. Demon Slayer hails from the Sony-owned Crunchyroll, and is already a global smash — it now stands as the top-grossing anime movie of all time globally, with more than $555m.
But the weekend brought bad news from other corners of the Sony empire, with the high-profile Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell romantic fantasy A Big Bold Beautiful Journey bombing with a projected $3.5m, sixth-place finish. Journey centers on a man and a woman who relive key moments from their lives. The feature, Robbie’s first starring role since Barbie, earned a B- CinemaScore from audiences and tepid reviews. Kogonada directed the Blacklist script by Seth Reiss. The box office report. |
Tom Holland Suffers Concussion on 'Spider-Man' Set ►Taking a break. Tom Holland suffered an injury on the U.K. set of Spider-Man: Brand New Day on Friday. Insiders described the injury as a mild concussion, and say Holland will be taking a break from filming for several days. Sony, which is behind the movie, will meet on Monday to decide how to move forward with the production. Nobody else is said to have been injured. Brand New Day is perhaps the most important movie on Sony’s upcoming slate. The previous film, 2021’s No Way Home, stands as the studio’s highest grossing movie of all time with $1.91b in ticket sales. The previous movie, Far From Home, became the first Spidey movie to top $1b, and was just Sony’s second, after James Bond pic Skyfall . The film is also critical for the future of Marvel Studios, which co-produces the movie with Sony, as it is its only feature before December 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday arrives. The story.
—🎭 Up next! 🎭 Netflix is prepping to shoot a feature adaptation of The Boy in the Iron Box, an adaptation of a six-part horror story by author Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro, who has Frankenstein hitting the streaming service in November. Rupert Friend has been tapped to lead the feature, which will also have Kevin Durand and Jaeden Martell on the manifest. David Prior wrote the script and will direct. Del Toro is producing the feature with longtime producing partner J. Miles Dale. Production is due to being in October. Published by Amazon Original Stories for its Kindle platform last year, the story told of a group of mercenaries that crash-land on a remote snow summit. Taking refuge from wolves in a long-abandoned fortress, the men find a concealed pit with a box wrapped in chains. Terrors are soon unleashed. The story.
—🤝 Label deal. 🤝 JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margules — the BoulderLight Pictures team behind horror hits like Barbarian — are heading to Paramount. The duo, who currently have a deal with Warner Bros’ New Line, will be behind a new genre label at the studio, serving as principals overseeing the development, production and release of high-concept genre films. (The label is yet to be named.) BoulderLight will head to Paramount after the completion of its Warner Bros. deal in January. BoulderLight will have the option to participate as equity co-financiers on projects within the deal. The story. |
'Apollo 13' at 30: An Oral History ►"Failure is not an option." Thirty years after Apollo 13 depicted space like no film before (or since), Ron Howard and his crew — including Tom Hanks, Brian Grazer, Ed Harris, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan and Clint Howard — reveal to THR's second-nicest man Aaron Couch how they found the right stuff to capture NASA's finest hour. The oral history.
In other news...
—The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer: Can Baby Yoda revive big screen Star Wars?
—Netflix strikes global marketing deal with beverage giant AB InBev
—Rachel Bloom set to host Clio Entertainment Awards
—Travis Kelce fined by NFL for making “obscene gestures” during Chiefs-Eagles game
—Erewhon takes Manhattan!
—Sonny Curtis, Crickets frontman behind The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme, dies at 88
What else we're reading...
—Now that David Ellison is firmly ensconced as Paramount Skydance CEO, Lucas Shaw and Hannah Miller write that the exec's plans to transform his company won’t be cheap or easy, especially given the political environment [Bloomberg]
—Wild story from Maggie Harrison Dupré, who reports ChatGPT is blowing up marriages as spouses use AI to attack their partners [Futurism]
—In a guest column, Christopher Ketcham writes that the internet made us stupid, and AI promises to make it worse [LAT]
—With the rush to recognize a State of Palestine, Jeanna Smialek writes that Europe talks big on Gaza but struggles to act [NYT]
—ICYMI, this Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian report about White House border czar Tom Homan accepting a $50,000 cash bribe is mind-blowing [MSNBC]
Today...
...in 1989, NBC brought an hour of surf, sand and drama to TV screens with Baywatch. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Tatiana Maslany (40), John Woo (79), Billie Piper (43), Teyonah Parris (38), Ruth Jones (🏴59), Will Sharpe (39), MyAnna Buring (46), Katie Lowes (43), Bonnie Hunt (64), Melvin Gregg (37), Mireille Enos (50), Tom Felton (38), Laura Vandervoort (41), Dan Jeannotte (44), Daniella Alonso (47), Rupert Penry-Jones (55), Akin Akinözü (35), Kim Yoo-jung (26), Dina Shihabi (36), Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (54), Shari Belafonte (71), Samantha Béart (41), Dan Bucatinsky (60), Lorie Griffin (65), Juliette Goglia (30), Ashley Eckstein (44), Michelle Ruff (58), Lauren Patten (33), Michael Graziadei (46), Kristen Branan (56), Ukweli Roach (39), Chad Michael Collins (46), Jim Byrnes (77), Jules Knight (44), Barrett Carnahan (33), Jon Bass (36), Matt Besser (58), Jonny Harris (50), Chelsea Tavares (34), Isis Hainsworth (27) |
| | | |
