| | | | | | What's news: General Hospital dominated the Daytime Emmy Awards. Actors’ Equity has reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League over a new contract. Aziz Ansari's directorial debut Good Fortune bombed at the box office. Caterina Scorsone is taking a break from Grey's Anatomy. Apple has won U.S. broadcast rights to F1. And Latin music revenue growing to over $490m in the first half of 2025. — Abid Rahman
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OpenAI's Sora Adds "Guardrails" After MLK Backlash ►Come on, man. OpenAI is once again walking back its rules for Sora after the estate of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. reached out to the tech giant about videos that users created featuring his likeness. The Sora 2 video-generation tool has become a point of alarm in Hollywood over the ease and speed with which users can create content, including with recognizable characters and IP. The company released a joint statement with King Estate, Inc. addressing the concerns, with the tech giant saying that it has “paused generations depicting Dr. King as it strengthens guardrails for historical figures.” The story.
—✊ Strike averted! ✊ Actors’ Equity has reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League over a new contract, averting the possibility of a strike. The union, which represents actors and stage managers, stated that they had reached an agreement over the Broadway contract after a mediation session that started Friday and lasted until 6 a.m. ET Saturday. The contract will still need to be ratified by members. The story.
—✊ Landslide. ✊ The results of the latest Teamsters Local 399 elections are in, and Lindsay Dougherty has been re-elected to the union’s top staff post. Dougherty won nearly 71 percent of the vote and her political slate swept the election in a contest that concluded on Friday. A little over 1,600 ballots were cast, according to results the union posted to Instagram. Teamsters Local 399 represents drivers, casting and locations professionals, animal experts, chef assistants and mechanics working in entertainment in the greater Los Angeles area. The union reported around 5,700 members at the end of 2024. The story. |
Long-Expected Paramount Layoffs Likely to Begin Before November ►Grim times ahead. The widely-expected layoffs at Paramount are likely to happen a bit sooner than some have anticipated. David Ellison is set to hold his first earnings call as CEO on Nov. 10, after taking over the company back in August. That call is poised to be a big one, with Ellison and his senior leadership team expected to give their financial outlook and strategy for the company. Now the widely-expected cuts are expected to come before that call, and as early as the week of Oct. 27, sources say. While the precise number of roles to be eliminated is not yet clear, one source pegged the expected number at around 2,000. Paramount had more than 18,600 employees at the end of 2024, though there have been additional layoffs earlier this year before the Skydance deal closed. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 MARI, Ari Emanuel’s new events company, has acquired theater ticketing company TodayTix. The ticketing platform, which is used on Broadway and in the West End, adds to MARI’s portfolio, which now includes the Miami Open presented by Itaú and Mutua Madrid Open, Frieze, and Barrett-Jackson, and now the connection to the theater world. Emanuel describes the acquisition as a “technology engine” for his portfolio. Brian Fenty, Co-Founder and CEO of TodayTix Group, will remain CEO of the company and will also join MARI’s executive leadership team. Co-founder Merritt Baer will continue as artistic director and producer at Secret Cinema, another movie event owned by TodayTix. Mari acquired the company from private equity firm Great Hill Partners. The story.
—Surging. Latin music's popularity in the U.S. continues to surge, the RIAA reported in the trade organization’s mid-year latin report published Friday, with latin music revenue growing to over $490m in the first half of 2025. That represents a nearly 6 percent jump over last year, per the RIAA, with latin music making up just under 9 percent of all recorded music revenue in the U.S. in that time frame. This marks the 12th consecutive year of growth for Latin in the mid-year, as the genre is carried by global stars like Bad Bunny, Karol G, Fuerza Regida and Rauw Alejandro among others. The story.
—"Bimal has the experience, care and, most importantly, the vision to make our weird spaceship a new kind of media machine as turbulence rattles the rest of the industry and country." Meadowlark Media has found its next CEO, and it is a familiar face to the sports-centric media company, which was founded by former ESPN personality Dan Le Batard and former ESPN president John Skipper. The company says that Bimal Kapadia will become its new CEO, succeeding Skipper, who exited the company earlier this year. Kapadia had been Meadowlark’s COO since it launched, and managed the company’s relationship with Draftkings, and brokered the deal for Pablo Torre’s show with The Athletic, among other deals. The story. |
Creators Have Disrupted Hollywood. Now AI's Coming to Disrupt Them. ►The good, the bad and the slop. As Sora 2 sweeps through social media feeds, it inevitably provokes the question of what all this will mean for influencers. How will the ability to conjure up realistic video at the drop of a hat shake up a world that’s based on creating those videos by hand? THR's Steven Zeitchik writes that the prospect of automation fills many influencers with delight because it means a powerful new tool to convey their content and message. But it also fills them with dread because part of what has made them so effective is their skill in shooting and editing footage, and now the barriers to that footage are so low that pretty much anyone can do it. The story.
—For today’s young creators, chaos reigns. Polished and perfect are out, and candid and messy are in. At least that’s what it appears consumers on social media are drawn to when connecting with creators in 2025. THR's Carly Thomas writes that some influencers are pivoting away from meticulously curated profile pages, which peaked in the mid-2010s on Instagram. With TikTok's rise, spontaneous, quick-edited videos are proving more popular — not just because they stand out as islands of genuine humanity in a sea of glossy luxury and AI slop, but also because they align better with platforms’ current algorithms. The story.
—Are influencers too big for Hollywood? Hollywood has long been the top of the mountain, the final level of stardom. But with film and TV on the decline, and brands throwing millions at influencers, THR's McKinley Franklin writes that it's becoming increasingly clear that many top creators are not even interested in breaking into the industry. The story. |
Daytime Emmys 2025 ►🏆 Congrats! 🏆 General Hospital dominated the 2025 Daytime Emmy Awards with seven total wins, while Sir David Attenborough broke a record that was set just one year earlier. Attenborough notably beat Dick Van Dyke’s record as the oldest-ever winner of a Daytime Emmy, which he set at the 2024 show. Dyke was 98 when he won the award, while Attenborough is 99. General Hospital won the coveted best daytime drama series award and took home the most awards with seven trophies, including best drama actress (Nancy Lee Grahn), best supporting drama actor (Jonathan Jackson) and daytime drama writing. The winners.
—Throwback. Sabrina Carpenter's Saturday Night Live hosting debut kicked off with a fun callback to none other than the viral "Domingo skit" — with a modern pop twist. The “Manchild” singer returned to the late night show, where she doubled up as the night’s host and musical guest. The cold open kicked off with another homecoming of Chloe Fineman's Kelsey character and her group of best friends, including Carpenter. The recap.
—Woof! THR's Etan Vlessing has the scoop that directing legend John Carpenter has come on board to executive produce a horror anthology series for Elevation Pictures. Created and showrun by Michael Amo and Will Pascoe, the new series, John Carpenter Presents, during season one will be set in the remote wilderness of Alaska. As a diverse group of characters faces a chilling mix of supernatural and existential terror, the anthology series will explore the hidden fears and social anxieties of our time, according to a logline from the producers. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 HBO announced on Friday a slew of returning and new cast additions to Euphoria, the hit Emmy-winning series that will be coming back for a third season after a three-year hiatus. New castmembers include Bella Podaras, Bill Bodner, Cailyn Rice, Colleen Camp, Danielle Deadwyler, Eli Roth, Gideon Adlon, Hemky Madera, Homer Gere, Jack Topalian, Jessica Blair Herman, Kwame Patterson, Madison Thompson, Matthew Willig, Natasha Lyonne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Sam Trammell and Trisha Paytas. The eight-episode third season went into production February in Los Angeles, and will debut spring 2026 on HBO. The story. |
Apple TV Revs Up to Compete, For Real, In Streaming ►Scaling up. Almost exactly six years after it launched, Apple TV is at an inflection point. In the span of a week, the streaming service rebranded itself, struck its first standalone bundle deal with a competitor, and inked arguably its most significant sports rights deal yet. THR's Alex Weprin writes that taken together, it suggests that the tech giant is gearing up to drive (pun intended) new subscribers and viewers to the service, which is loved among Hollywood types for its premium original content, and feared for its perceived lack of scale. The analysis.
—🤝 Rights deal. 🤝 After producing the movie F1, Apple has landed on the podium for the real races of Formula 1. The tech giant has won U.S. broadcast rights to F1, making the auto racing circuit’s competition exclusive to streaming for the first time. Apple TV will begin showing races in the 2026 season, taking over from current rightsholder ESPN. Apple bid a reported $140-$150m annually for the rights, well above the $85m per year ESPN currently pays for F1. Apple and Disney-owned ESPN were the only two final bidders for the next rights deal, and ESPN reportedly declined to match Apple’s offer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, other than that the length spans five years, longer than ESPN’s three-year deal. The story.
—🎭 Spoilers! 🎭 For Grey’s Anatomy viewers left wondering after Thursday night’s episode if beloved Dr. Amelia Shepherd has truly taken a leave of absence from Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, the answer is both bad and good: Yes, veteran star Caterina Scorsone is indeed taking a hiatus from the ABC hit medical series, but she will return. THR has learned that Amelia is indeed going on a sabbatical, as she announced at the end of the Oct. 16 episode, which was the landmark 450th episode of the show. She won’t be seen again until episodes in 2026. The story. |
'Black Phone 2' Dials It in With $42M Global Opening ►Blumhouse is back, baby! Scott Derrickson’s Black Phone 2 delivered horror maestro Jason Blum a major win in opening to a better-than-expected $26.5m domestically from 3,411 theaters and $15.5m from 72 markets overseas for a global start of $42m against a relatively modest $30m production budget. The pic’s debut follows a string of misses for the Universal-based banner, culminating with the pricey flop of M3GAN 2.0 earlier this year. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that the sequel easily came in No. 1 in North America ahead of Disney’s tentpole Tron: Ares after being credited by critics for expanding the Black Phone universe and scoring strong audience exits, including a B CinemaScore (that’s a great grade for the horror genre).
Tron 3 came in second in North America after tumbling more than 65 percent in its sophomore outing to an estimated $11.1m from 4,000 cinemas for a 10-day domestic tally of $54.6m. Overseas, the threequel earned another $14.1m, including a dismal $2.8m from its debut in China, for a foreign cume of $49.4m and $103m globally (the problem? Tron 3 cost a net $180m to produce).
Elsewhere, Lionsgate’s Aziz Ansari-directed comedy Good Fortune launched nationwide this weekend, but didn’t find much gold despite good reviews and a star-packed cast that includes Seth Rogen, Ansari, Keke Palmer, Sandra Oh and Keanu Reeves. The $30m, about a scruffy guardian angel assigned to save someone’s soul, took in an estimated $6.2m from 2,990 locations domestically for a third-place finish. Warner Bros.’ One Battle After Another cleared the $100m mark internationally in its fourth weekend, for a global total of $162.5m. The box office report. |
Goggins Joins Midthunder in Action Movie 'Painter' ►🎭 Sold! 🎭 THR's Borys Kit has the scoop that Walton Goggins has signed on to star opposite Amber Midthunder in Painter, an action movie project from John Wick creator Derek Kolstad that was just acquired by 20th Century Studios. As part of the acquisition, James Cameron, whose Avatar films call 20th Century home, will act as an executive producer. Garrett Warren, a veteran stunt coordinator who has worked with Cameron on two Avatar movies, is making his feature directorial debut with the project. Painter centers on a young woman, trained from a young age, who must employ every skill in her arsenal to rescue her father after he is kidnapped. Midthunder, who starred in 20th's Predator movie Prey, is playing the young woman. Goggins will play the father. The story.
—🎭 Rising star. 🎭 Borys also has the scoop that Chloe Coleman has joined the cast of F.A.S.T., the Taylor Sheridan-written action feature being made by Warner Bros. Pictures. Ben Richardson, the main director of Sheridan’s 1923 show and a renowned movie cinematographer in his own right, is helming the feature starring Brandon Sklenar. F.A.S.T. concerns a former special forces commando, down on his luck after he returns Stateside, who is tapped by the DEA to lead a black op strike team against CIA-protected drug dealers in his town. Sklenar is playing the commando. LaKeith Stanfield, Jason Clarke, Sam Claflin and Trevante Rhodes are among those on the call sheet for the feature, which is now in production. The story.
—The short stuff. Natasha Lyonne is executive producing All Heart, an animated short that marks the latest project from Michael Govier and Will McCormack, the filmmaking duo behind the Oscar-winning short If Anything Happens I Love You. Asteria, the AI production studio co-founded by Lyonne, is helping to back the short and was involved in its production. The nine-minute animated short tells the deeply emotional story of a father’s journey to visit a young man with an extraordinary connection to his late daughter. The story. |
Academy Museum Gala Raises Over $12M ►All the stars! The Academy Museum hosted its star-studded signature gala on Saturday night, honoring Penélope Cruz, Bruce Springsteen, Bowen Yang and Walter Salles while also raising over $12m to support its exhibitions, education initiatives and public programming. The fifth annual event, presented in partnership with Rolex, was co-chaired by Jon M. Chu, Common, Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, Jennifer Hudson, and Academy Museum Trustee Alejandro Ramírez Magaña. It kicked off with remarks from the Downeys before handing out this year’s awards. The recap.
—All the looks! THR has gathered together all the best looks from Saturday's Academy Museum Gala, including the fits from the likes of Jacob Elordi, Selena Gomez, Viola Davis, Sydney Sweeney, Adam Sandler and Bruce Springsteen. The looks.
In other news...
—SNL: Miles Teller, Nikki Glaser, Glen Powell to host November shows
—Los Angeles Lakers land Revolve sponsorship deal
—Klaus Doldinger, composer of Das Boot and The NeverEnding Story, dies at 89
—Samantha Eggar, Oscar-nominated actress in The Collector, dies at 86
What else we're reading...
—Michael M. Grynbaum and Benjamin Mullin have a fascinating look at Bari Weiss' first days at CBS News including being confused at why people were leaking against her and asking journalists "why they are seen as biased" [NYT]
—Alan Sepinwall writes that HBO's crime drama Task gets rural America right [NYT]
—Marcus J. Moore pays tribute to D’Angelo reflecting on how the late R&B icon changed the entire gravity of music [Pitchfork]
—Joshua Chaffin reports that many women in today’s GOP have one thing in common: They got their start in public life by winning beauty pageants [WSJ]
—With Prince Andrew giving up his titles over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, Sean Coughlan looks into whether it really make much difference to the disgraced royal [BBC]
Today...
...in 1995, MGM unveiled Barry Sonnenfeld’s R-rated crime comedy Get Shorty in theaters, where it would go on to gross $115m globally. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Snoop Dogg (54), Viggo Mortensen (67), John Krasinski (46), Danny Boyle (69), Dan Fogler (49), Kenneth Choi (55), Rachel House (54), William Zabka (60), Thomas Newman (70), Melanie Mayron (73), Kamala Harris (61), Galadriel Stineman (35), Harry Lighton (33), William Russ (75), Katie Featherston (43), Matt Akey (49), Sam Witwer (48), Niall Matter (45), Alan Ackles (77), Niamh Cusack (66), John Bell (28), Robert Costanzo (83), Eric Scott (67), Zhenwei Wang (30), Alberto Ammann (47), Sandra Dickinson (77), George Harris (76), Jennifer Freeman (40), Anna Boden (46), Asante Blackk (24), Yvette Nipar (61), Candice Swanepoel (37) |
| Sam Rivers, the bassist and founding member of metal band Limp Bizkit, has died. He was 48. The obituary. |
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