| WITH RISING STAR GLEN POWELL IN THE LEAD, PAR'S STEPHEN KING ADAPTATION SEEMED TO HAVE WINNING COMMERCIAL ELEMENTS |
In the post-strikes, post-Covid theatrical landscape where everyone is still trying to figure out what works, along came Paramount's $110 million reboot of The Running Man. The film, starred affable star-on-the-rise Glen Powell, hot off Top Gun: Maverick ($1.49 billion global B.O.), Anyone But You ($220M global) and Twisters ($372M global), and yet it completely stumbled in its U.S. ($17M) and global ($28.2M) openings. The Running Man was completely blindsided by Lionsgate’s surprise No. 1 Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which did $21.3M domestic, and $75.5M worldwide.
From a distance, the third tentpole bet on Powell seemed like a sure winner, with Baby Driver filmmaker Edgar Wright attached to direct and re-co-adapt the Stephen King tome (penned under his Richard Bachman pseudonym).
Conversations with a number of stakeholders in Running Man indicate that its shortcomings stem largely from the Paramount administration change-over, when the old guard left and David Ellison's regime came aboard after the August close of the Skydance merger. That's what often happens when there’s a makeover of the C-suite: The new bosses inherit a slate from previous management and they’re either into it, or they’re not, or they change up their end goals entirely. >>>Marketing Dept. Shake-Up |
Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
The Final Frontier - After breathing new life into high-profile IP like the Spider-Man franchise and Dungeons & Dragons, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are looking to boldly go where no directors have gone before with a popular franchise. The duo are coming on to write and are attached to direct a new original Star Trek film for Paramount.
>>>Will Also Produce
WBD Bids Due - Preliminary bids for Warner Bros. Discovery are due November 20, when suitors must submit first-round, non-binding offers. David Ellison’s Paramount, which made three overtures before the formal sale process started, will be ready. Comcast and Netflix, both of which hired investment banks to explore a deal, are also expected to jump in. >>>What Each Suitor Wants
Tom Cruise, Oscar Honoree - After a four and a half decades in front of the camera, Sunday night at the 16th Annual Governors Awards it was finally time for arguably the world’s biggest movie star to get his long-deserved Academy Award. Nominated three times for acting, and now receiving the Oscar for “his unwavering commitment to our filmmaking community, his vital support of the theatrical experience, and his unmatched body of work,” Tom Cruise accepted what presenter Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said would not be his last Oscar. He may know something because Inarritu is currently editing Cruise’s most recent film for release next year. >>> Highlights From The Evening
MS Skunkworks - The way MS NOW execs and talent describe their operation suggests the soon-to-be-former MSNBC is a skunkworks start-up emerging from stealth mode instead of a nearly 30-year-old cable news mainstay. >>>An "Agile" Culture
In Brief - WME signs Charlie Schwan; feature Bitter Bitter in works... Atlas & Ghost Machine set Redcoat film deal... Larry Teng re-ups overall deal with CBS Studios |
When the president in A House of Dynamite, played by Idris Elba, is weighing the future of all mankind as a nuclear missile hurtles toward Chicago, it’s made clear that he’s been thrust into a scenario he’s never rehearsed.
In fact, as screenwriter Noah Oppenheim and director Kathryn Bigelow found out in researching the movie, the lack of a presidential drill is based in reality: The last president to participate in a nuclear-decision making exercise was Ronald Reagan, even though other parts of the chain of command, through the U.S. Strategic Command, practice hundreds of times a year.
With a warning of plot spoilers, Deadline spoke to Oppenheim about a recent screening in Washington, why the movie is sparking a much-needed conversation and why world leaders still have it in their power and possibility to limit the nuclear threat. >>>Q&A |
QUOTABLE "Smile? YOU smile!" - Millie Bobby Brown clapping back at a red carpet photographer at the 'Stranger Things' S5 premiere |
exclusiveLesley-Ann Brandt (Lucifer) has been cast as a series regular on Apple’s Presumed Innocent for its upcoming second season.
exclusiveConstance Zimmer (UnReal) has been tapped for a recurring role in Ryan Murphy's FX limited series Love Story, headlined by Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon.
Sean Hayes will be going it alone when he returns to the New York stage next year. The Good Night, Oscar Tony winner and two-time Emmy winner is set to star in The Unknown, a new one-man thriller from David Cale about a writer on the edge that explores the fine line between fascination and obsession.
In Brief - Jeff Lewis set for Bravo return with Still Flipping Out... Alexa Swinton, Margarita Levieva & Matthew Lillard latest to join Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! |
BY THE NUMBERS 17.23M - Multi-platform viewers for 'High Potential' after 35 days |
MORE NEWS
📺 Sinclair revealed it has held merger talks with rival E.W. Scripps in the latest shakeup of the local TV sector. Scripps, which owns 60 stations along with broadcast network Ion, is the No. 9 U.S. station group in terms of revenue. The deal talks come as Nexstar is proposing to acquire Tegna in a $6.2 billion deal.
✂️ Dasha Nekrasova, an actress known for her work in projects like HBO’s Succession and A24’s Materialists, has been cut by Gersh over a recent podcast interview with far-right political commentator Nick Fuentes.
📺 Disney and YouTube TV reached a carriage agreement Friday night, ending a pitched battle that dragged on for 15 days, frustrating consumers. |
OBITUARIES
🕯️ Ted Hartley, the film and stage actor and former CEO and Chairman of RKO Pictures, has died at 100. 🕯️ Mary Cybulski, a veteran script supervisor who worked on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and The Ice Storm and many other films and also served as a set photographer for several top directors, died November 8 of glioblastoma multiforme. She was 70. 🕯️ Dan McGrath, an Emmy-winning comedy writer best known for his credits on animated classics ranging from the inimitable (The Simpsons) to the cult favorite (Mission Hill), died November 14. He was 61. 🕯️ Elizabeth Franz, the Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated Death of a Salesman actress whose performance was lauded by the seminal playwright Arthur Miller himself, has died at the age of 84. 🕯️ 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery |
ON THE RADAR
Mon - Julia Roberts on Colbert
Wed - The Morning Show finale; News Corp. annual meeting
Thu - American Cinematheque Awards
Fri - Wicked: For Good opens |
Golden Boy - Tom Cruise, who has been nominated for four Oscars but never won, received an honorary Oscar at the Governor's Awards on Sunday night. |
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