| | | | | | It's a three-way race (so far) for the Warner Bros. empire. Movie shoot days are up in California, with a big asterisk. And The Weekender has a fresh crop of must-reads from THR's latest 118-page magazine (flip through it) and breaking stories that matter now. — Erik Hayden
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THE CASE FOR HBO In a world where Netflix and YouTube are utilities, media needs something else to stand on. So, as CEO Casey Bloys told reporters Nov. 20 at Hudson Yards, he has been undertaking an effort to make the HBO Max brand matter.
That includes defining what a "Max Original" is. "We are leaning into more cost-efficient, yet elevated and high quality series with a greater number of episodes that can return each year,” Bloys says. "These originals are designed to attract audiences that are adjacent to the typical HBO fans, while also feeding our strategy to deliver 52 weeks of new programming a year.” Alex Weprin's report.
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AS THE WARNER TURNS Paramount, Comcast and Netflix have punched their tickets to bid for some or all of Warner Bros. Discovery, officially kickstarting a process that is likely to see the company sold to yet another new buyer, either whole or in part.
One unanswered question is whether any Middle Eastern fund is providing financing for backstops to any of the bids. Both Paramount and Comcast have been connected to potential Middle East partners as they have pursued the deal. It is also not clear if others submitted bids. The state of play.
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Epstein's Doc Plan Exclusive The day of his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Jeffrey Epstein was planning a doc to rehabilitate his image, and to counter the soon-to-be-released Netflix doc Filthy Rich, a trove of newly released emails reveals, as first reported by THR. His partner in the project? Former Trump chief of staff, Steve Bannon, who has emerged as one of Epstein’s staunchest critics after his death. The Epstein-backed doc was to feature interviews with luminaries across media, including Michael Wolff. The report. |
Mogul’s Wild Tales "Everything was in slow-mo." Tom Freston, the former CEO of Viacom, recounted a few of his globe-trotting stories, including an infamous sex tour with Sumner Redstone, and sounded off on David Ellison, David Zaslav and the fate of MTV. Lacey Rose's Q&A. |
Biggest Beauty Moments Julia Roberts, Greta Lee, Zoey Deutch and Tessa Thompson — and their glam squads — star in THR’s annual portfolio of the queens (and kings) of the red carpet. On the cover. |
TV's Top Producers In THR’s annual census of the most powerful writer-producers, we polled 50-ish creators — Tina Fey, Seth Rogen, Jenny Han and John Wells among them —behind the biggest hits of the past year about the promising conversations they’ve had, Zoom pitch horror stories, writers room envy and more. The full list. |
Poll: AI Warps Music Amid an AI Slop flood, this year is a pivot point for artists who make a living by recording songs and convincing other humans to seek out their work. To take America's temperature, THR partnered with the Frost School of Music on a national poll with the aim to understand key issues. Exclusive data. |
The Podcast Roundable "You couldn’t pay me to listen to my first episodes." Six of the industry’s chart-busting talents — Ben Shapiro, Jon Favreau, Dax Shepard, Keith Morrison, Ashley Flowers and Mel Robbins — come together in THR's first podcaster roundtable talk about the future of the medium, and who, if anyone, can finally unseat Joe Rogan. Julian Sancton's feature. |
Yes, They Did Say That
"This will allow us to do so many new things." — Luma chief Amit Jain, whose AI Hollywood firm raised $900 million from Saudi Arabia, aiming to make titles "not just look like an Oscar winner visually but in story, in flow."
"Mr. Erickson has not received a single dollar in profits from AMC." — Aaron Liskin and Nick Soltman, lawyers for Fear the Walking Dead showrunner Dave Erickson, who sued AMC.
"For far too long we have been letting that dream slip away." — Fallout director Jonathan Nolan, on receiving $42 million in CA tax incentives to shoot the Prime series in-state. "We have established a $20 million Reskilling and Career Transition Fund." — Verizon CEO Dan Schulman, offering 13,000 cut staffers tips on AI use. "I didn’t like the sound of my third record. I thought it was like diluted fucking [soda]." — Yungblud, at a THR/Frost School of Music event at the Grammy Museum, candidly appraising his last album. |
Free Range Range CEO Peter Micelli expounds on AI’s industry impact, the management business and Paramount's David Ellison. “We work very hard on the culture,” Micelli says. “It’s the most defined I’ve ever seen." And, as far as that battle with CAA, "It’s not something I give a lot of energy to." The CEO adds that Range managers and CAA agents overlap with about 150 clients.
David Canfield's report.
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Over the Line For years, the Succession actress Dasha Nekrasova awkwardly balanced a mainstream acting career with her controversial Red Scare podcast. But an invitation to white nationalist Nick Fuentes proved a step too far for talent agency Gersh. Seth Abramovitch has the backstory.
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Sharp Knives Three years after Rian Johnson inked one of the richest movie deals in streaming history to bring his franchise to Netflix, the force behind Wake Up Dead Man and Poker Face is ready to move on with a movie that will get a traditional theatrical release. David Canfield's profile.
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Don't Panic Mike Schur, at least, isn't. Speaking in his Universal lot bungalow the morning after his 50th birthday, the NBCUniversal-based producer mused on buyers’ murder obsession, Hollywood’s aging issue and why recent mega deals aren’t a new trend: "That’s a death knell." Mikey O'Connell's interview. |
Murder, He Wrote James Patterson believes Marilyn Monroe was probably murdered. “I think that she was treading in very dangerous waters,” the author tells THR. “She had these incredible relationships with President Kennedy, and with Robert Kennedy, and with Sinatra, and with Mafia figures. They told her stuff, and she kept track of it. She had information that was kind of dangerous.” Joe Pompeo's story. |
“If you want Sonic, you go to the guy who did Sonic”
Neal H. Moritz is in talks to restart Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a live-action franchise for Paramount. → Glen Powell will star in John Patton Ford's freshly titled A24 feature, How to Make a Killing, alongside Margaret Qualley and Ed Harris. → Danielle Deadwyler, Billy Barratt, Alfred Molina, Tim Meadows and Dolly De Leon have joined the cast of A24 drama The Chaperones from director India Donaldson. → Ron Howard's Amazon MGM Studios feature Alone at Dawn added Jonathan Ajayi, Austin Amelio, Jon Bass and Rohan Campbell to the cast. → Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki will star in Netflix holiday rom-com The Bodyguard, adapted from Katherine Center’s bestseller novel. → Prime Video has ordered a Stargate series from Amazon MGM Studios and creator and showrunner Martin Gero. → HBO ordered a fourth season for George R.R. Martin‘s House of the Dragon and second season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. → HBO also renewed Mark Ruffalo starrer Task, The Chair Company, co-created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, and I Love LA, from Rachel Sennott. → Former HBO Films executive Maria Zuckerman has signed a multiyear, first-look deal with Fox Entertainment Studios that covers both TV and film projects. → Leslie Bibb has set her first project since checking into The White Lotus: a starring role in six-part Cold War crime series Top of the Rock. → Netflix has formally greenlit The Boys From Brazil, a limited series based on Ira Levin’s 1976 novel, starring Jeremy Strong. → Snapshot: |
Good News, Bad News More features are shooting in California (even if TV is still falling in L.A.), but overall production spend is down notably as recent on-location activity is fueled by smaller-budget indie projects. The latest numbers.
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Around Town Events of the week: Josh Brolin, Cailee Spaeny, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington and Josh O'Connor premiered Wake Up Dead Man in L.A. Bethenny Frankel celebrated her 55th birthday party in Miami with a Scarface-themed event. Alix Earle partnered with Caraway to host a Thanksgiving community initiative in L.A. Joe Alwyn, Steven Spielberg, Chloé Zhao and Jessie Buckley walked the carpet at the L.A. premiere of Focus Features' Hamnet. Dakota Johnson moderated a special screening of Bugonia with Jesse Plemons, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone in L.A. All 78 photos from this week's events. |
The Bottom Line Snapshots from THR's team of critics: "Wickhards will rejoicify" as Wicked: For Good opens in theaters. Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan's The Family Plan 2 is "dumb-fun." Oday Rasheed's thriller If You See Something is "resonant, but not always persuasive." Jordan Peele's Peacock doc series High Horse: The Black Cowboy is "smart and entertaining." Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore's AMC+ hitwoman comedy The Assassin "starts off fun, but gets dumber as it goes along." Déjà review
30 years ago today: Martin Scorsese's Casino hits theaters — "a scorching, gripping depiction of the underside of the American Dream, fascinating even to us nickel-slots types." THR's 1995 take. |
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