| | | | | | What's news: The BBC has apologized to Trump over an edited interview, but will fight any legal action. Gen-AI short-form user-generated content is coming to Disney+. Apple TV is getting rid of the MLS paywall. And a fan rushed at Ariana Grande at a Wicked: For Good event in Singapore. — Abid Rahman
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Why a Top Hollywood Exec Became an AI Evangelist ►A "tidal wave" is coming. Kevin Reilly spent more than three decades overseeing the television fixtures that defined our culture, from Glee to Samantha Bee, Hacks to The Office. So when he says a shift is happening, it’s worth paying attention. On Wednesday the former NBC and Fox executive, 63, announced that he’s stepping back onto the Hollywood stage after five years away — only instead of returning to a big media company he’s joining Kartel, a little-known AI startup out of Beverly Hills, as its CEO. THR's Steven Zeitchik spoke to Reilly about his new job, and what his message is for the entertainment figures fighting AI. The interview.
—"Skynet cinema" or savior? A few years ago, the idea that a feature could be generated — written, shot and “acted” — largely by AI felt like science fiction. Now, OpenAI’s Sora 2 can spit out hyperreal video from a prompt, “AI talent” like Tilly Norwood is courting representation, and the entire industry feels like one update away from apocalypse. But as new AI tech blurs the line between art and algorithm, Hollywood is split between panic and promise, with some indie producers betting AI could finally level the playing field, writes THR's Scott Roxborough. The analysis.
—Bleak. Don’t want to wait until 2027 for Frozen 3? Soon, you may be able to make your own. On Disney's earnings conference call on Thursday, CEO Bob Iger said Disney+ is “in the midst of rolling out the biggest and the most significant changes — from a product perspective, from a technology perspective — since we launched the service in 2019.” Changes will include games on Disney+ through its agreement with Epic Games. And there will also be gen-AI short-form user-generated content (UGC) on Disney+ in the future. The story.
—"Don’t mimic me with falseness." Morgan Freeman is speaking out again on AI. In a recent interview, Freeman offered his thoughts on AI and how its trying to use his voice with permission. “I’m a little PO’d, you know,” he said. “I’m like any other actor: don’t mimic me with falseness. I don’t appreciate it and I get paid for doing stuff like that, so if you’re gonna do it without me, you’re robbing me.” The Now You See Me: Now You Don’t star claims, “my lawyers have been very, very busy,” to remove AI being used without his knowledge, and added that there’s been “quite a few” cases his lawyers have found. The story. |
WBD Reworks Zaz's Package Amid Sales Chatter ►Widening the scope. Amid a split of Warner Bros. Discovery and chatter it’s fielding bids from would-be buyers, David Zaslav’s pay package has been altered to ensure his stock options vest regardless of what happens to the company. Earlier this month, WBD and Zaslav agreed to amend his stock option agreement, originally entered into in June during a period the company was focused on spinning off the company’s TV networks into a new, separate entity, according to a Thursday SEC filling. The move is intended to align the exec’s incentives with shareholder interests during the ongoing strategic review. The agreement clarifies that if the company pursues something called a “reverse spinoff” by retaining WB and spinning off Discovery Global, the transaction — as long as it’s completed before the end of 2026 — will be treated in the same manner as the originally planned separation for the purposes of Zaslav’s payout. The story.
—Breakup blues. Having split from Lionsgate, Starz released its third quarter financials on Thursday, with revenue down on a widened net loss. Starz saw overall revenue fall to $321m, down from a year-earlier revenue at $347m. The standalone company recorded a widened operating loss at $34.8m, against a year-earlier operating loss of $17m. The net loss for the latest quarter was $52.6m, compared to a year-earlier net loss of $30.6m. The company posted streaming revenue at $222.8m, against a year-earlier $232.2m. And linear and other revenue came to $98.1m, compared to $114.7m in the year-earlier period. The results.
—✊ Unionizing push. ✊ THR's Katie Kilkenny reports that a new organizing drive from the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Writers Guild of America West is striving to make inroads in the exploding creator economy. The labor groups are attempting to unionize Theorist Media, the digital media production company behind popular YouTube channels like The Game Theorists, The Food Theorists, The Film Theorists and others. The unions are targeting more than two dozen workers who edit, write and produce the shows, as well as create thumbnails and hone sound design. Beyond YouTube, Theorist also streams some of its work on Twitch. The story.
—Sorry, old boy. After Donald Trump threatened the BBC with a $1b legal action over an edited speech of his in a Panorama documentary, the U.K. pubcaster has issued a formal apology, but rejected any need for compensation. "Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” a BBC spokesperson said on Thursday in a statement. “BBC Chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the President’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the program,” the statement added. But while the BBC said it did not plan to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any of its platforms, the broadcaster added it intended to rebuff any threatened legal action by Trump. The story. |
Ariana Grande Rushed by Fan on 'Wicked' Red Carpet ►Something bad. Ariana Grande endured a downright frightening moment on the Wicked: For Good red carpet in Singapore on Thursday. In several videos going viral, a crazed fan broke through the red carpet’s security line, rushed the actress and aggressively threw his arms around her. And guess who reacted fastest to come to Grande’s defense? Cynthia Erivo — who immediately jumped in, helped shove the fan away, and then protectively put her arms around Grande. Their co-star Michelle Yeoh also comforted her in the immediate aftermath. The story.
—Mr. Cook, tear that wall down. Apple is getting rid of the Major League Soccer paywall, bringing every MLS game to its core Apple TV service beginning next season. The tech giant and the soccer league say that they will be sunsetting MLS Season Pass, the premium subscription service that had been the home for all MLS games in favor of making every game available to every Apple TV subscriber. When Apple and MLS announced their blockbuster 10-year, $2.5b deal in 2022, the agreement called for a “broad selection” of games, as well as playoff games, to be available to all Apple TV users, but most games were only available through the add-on Season Pass service. The story.
—OK... After using ex-players, animation and slime to draw casual fans into the NFL, the league is tapping a new segment of the TV audience for an alternate broadcast: reality fans. Peacock and NFL+ will feature a Reality Hot Seat altcast for the Dec. 7 Sunday Night Football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans. The booth will feature Survivor and The Traitors alum Rob Mariano, Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Heather Gay, TV and podcast host Justin Sylvester (E!’s Daily Pop) and Kate Chastain of Below Deck and The Traitors. The story.
—Hometown hero. Eminem has entered a multi-year partnership with the Detroit Lions to executive produce the football team’s Thanksgiving Halftime Show, the NFL announced on Thursday. The Motor City rap icon and his manager, Paul Rosenberg, will both be executive producers, and they’ll consult the Lions for booking talent on the yearly halftime show through 2027, the NFL said. The Lions are one of two teams to play every year on Thanksgiving as part of NFL tradition, alongside the Dallas Cowboys. This year, the Lions will face their division rival, the Green Bay Packers, for the 1 p.m. game on Fox. The Cowboys will face off against the Chiefs, while the Bengals face the Baltimore Ravens. The story. |
'Poker Face' Canceled at Peacock; Rian Johnson Will Seek New Home ►Shocker! Peacock has canceled Poker Face after two seasons, but series creator Rian Johnson is looking to take the show to another outlet — and with a new lead actor. News of the cancellation comes about four months after Poker Face, starring Natasha Lyonne, concluded its second season. The second season didn’t perform quite as well as the first installment in 2023, though it was among Peacock’s most watched original shows and reviews remained heavily positive. It was also a fairly expensive show, however, and not produced in-house at NBCU; Johnson’s T-Street produces the series with independent studio MRC Television. Johnson and MRC will shop Poker Face to other outlets — but with a twist. Lyonne will no longer play the lead role of Charlie Cale, instead Peter Dinklage has signed on to play the character. The story.
—🎭 Filled out. 🎭 The Summer House stars are bringing the cameras back with them to the city. Amanda Batula, Kyle Cooke and Lindsay Hubbard are officially confirmed to star in the previously announced spinoff series of the Bravo flagship, which has the working title In the City. The veteran reality trio hails from Summer House, which films primarily in the Hamptons over the summers, but also checks in with its stars during their weekday lives in Manhattan. Batula and Cooke married in September 2021, and Hubbard welcomed 11-month-old daughter Gemma last December. The story.
—Finally! Mad Men always kind of belonged on HBO, and now it will be. The all-time-great Lionsgate Television drama is joining the HBO Max library on Dec. 1, when it will stream for the first time ever in 4K (for HBO Max “premium” subscribers). Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner, aired all seven of its seasons on AMC. The series has been streaming on AMC+ since 2020, and will remain streaming there as well. The story.
—Moving forward. A drama project starring Jared Padalecki that’s in development at CBS is taking another step forward. The drama, in which Padalecki would play a doctor serving patients in rural Texas, has opened a development writers room. Development rooms, as covered under the WGA’s 2023 contract, have three or more writers (including a showrunner) working on scripts ahead of a series order. The room will be open for a minimum of 10 weeks, per the WGA contract. The CBS project, first announced in January, reunites Padalecki and his Anna Fricke, who was the showrunner of Walker at The CW. The story.
—Prepping. With the publicity machine behind Stranger Things starting to ramp up ahead of the final season, the show re-entered the Nielsen streaming charts in mid-October. The series ranked eighth among original streaming shows for the week of Oct. 13-19, logging 393m minutes of viewing time for the four currently available seasons. Monster: The Ed Gein Story held the No. 1 overall spot for a third straight week, though its 979m minutes of viewing represented a 58 percent decline week to week. The former BBC/PBS series Poldark, which joined the Netflix catalog a week earlier, jumped into the rankings at second overall with 954m minutes. Aidan Turner, who starred in Poldark, also plays a key role in season three of The Diplomat , which premiered Oct. 16 and came in fourth for the week with 911m minutes. The streaming rankings. |
Broadway: 'Chess' Hits $2M, 'Just In Time' Reaches New High ►Checkmate. Chess broke the eight-performance house record at the Imperial Theatre, bringing in just above $2m last week. The musical revival, starring Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher, played to 96 percent capacity at the Imperial Theatre, and was also the third-highest grossing show in the industry. The show is set to open Nov. 16. Hamilton again led the industry grosses at $3.9m, followed by Wicked at $2.3m. The Lion King was the fourth highest grossing show at $1.9m, followed by Waiting For Godot, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, which brought in $1.7m.
Just in Time, starring Jonathan Groff as singer Bobby Darin, had its highest grossing week last week, bringing in $1.39m across eight performances at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Capacity moved up to more than 100 percent and the average ticket price also moved up to $243, the show’s highest rate yet, but just two dollars above the average price at the end of October. The Queen of Versailles, a new musical starring Kristin Chenoweth as documentary star Jackie Siegel, opened last week to mostly mixed to negative reviews (save a rave from the NYT). With the fully comped opening night, and comped press tickets in the lead up, the musical brought in just above $1m and played to 95 percent capacity. The Broadway box office report. |
Squashed 'Star Wars' Movie Sparks Fan Action ►A new hope? Weeks after it was revealed that Disney had squashed the idea of a Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker spinoff centered on Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo played by Adam Driver, the idea refuses to die amongst fans of the galaxy far, far away. A plane with the banner “Shareholders Want The Hunt for Ben Solo,” the latter part being the hoped-for movie’s title, flew over Disney’s Burbank-based headquarters in the 11 a.m. hour Thursday, just hours after the company had its earnings call. It’s the latest banner-flying move (fans hired a plane with a banner reading “Save the Hunt for Ben Solo ” in late October) and comes the same week as flyers showed up in Los Angeles’ mid-Wilshire area on lampposts and street signs, taking the form of missing persons posters. “Missing” and “Have You Seen This Man?” flank a photo of Driver as Ben Solo, also known as Kylo Ren. The story.
—🎭 AFM special. 🎭 Cougar Town alum Dan Byrd is starring in the indie thriller Autobiography, which marks the directorial debut for Jennifer Downes and John Pena Griswold, also known as The Married Brothers creative team. Byrd plays Bryce, a failed writer who attends his high school reunion with his wife (Devika Bhise). Rather than meet as expected an old bully, played by Jeremie Harris, and his young ambitious fiancée (Gus Birney), Bryce comes face-to-face with Jeb, a strange interloper played by Sam Gilroy and who has a disturbing manuscript — the story of his life, written without his knowledge and with a violent ending yet to happen. The story. |
Film Review: 'Keeper' ►"Surreal as a nightmare, and just as logical." THR's Angie Han reviews Osgood Perkins' Keeper. Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland star in the story of a couple who travels to a cabin in the woods, where the woman is beset by surreal visions and disturbing occurrences. Also starring Birkett Turton and Eden Weiss. Written by Nick Lepard. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday ►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to George Clooney. The A-lister returns to the podcast (his last visit was for ep. 278) and reflects on his post-COVID career — highlighted by his portrayal of a movie star experiencing an existential crisis in Noah Baumbach's new Netflix dramedy Jay Kelly — as well as stardom, Instagram ("get the fuck off of it"), A.I. and which of today’s young stars most impress him. The podcast.
—I’m Having an Episode. THR’s Mikey O’Connell attempts to stay on top of the latest TV and entertainment news with a little help from his friends, colleagues and a revolving door of actors, writers, showrunners and filmmakers. In this episode, Mikey hosts Rhea Seehorn who discusses her new Apple TV show Pluribus, reuniting with Vince Gilligan and vending machine tutorial videos. But first, Mia Galuppo joins Mikey to ponder reality TV's current obsession with the women of Utah. The podcast.
In other news...
—Fallout S2 trailer gets ready for war
—Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi pine for each other in steamy Wuthering Heights trailer
—Audie Cornish, Don Lemon, Roxane Gay among On Air Fest headliners
What else we're reading...
—Steve Eder and Nicholas Confessore break down some key Epstein emails and look at what it means for the convicted sex offender's relationship with Trump [NYT]
—Jonathan Lemire writes that the Epstein issue returns at the worst time for Trump [Atlantic]
—Will Oremus looks at how far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes is triggering a MAGA civil war [WaPo]
—With One Battle After Another unlikely to make a box office profit, Julianna Ress wonders if you can win best picture if you flop [Ringer]
—Here's your Friday list: All the Predator movies, ranked [THR]
Today...
...in 2003, 20th Century Fox unveiled Peter Weir's naval epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World in theaters. The drama, one of the greatest films ever made, went on to be nominated for 10 Oscars at the 76th Academy Awards, winning for cinematography and sound editing. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Josh Duhamel (52), Olga Kurylenko (45), Russell Tovey (43), Vanessa Bayer (43), Dana Snyder (51), Bill Farmer (72), Maggie Roswell (72), Patrick Warburton (60), Ivanna Sakhno (27), D.B. Sweeney (63), Laura San Giacomo (62), Mason Gooding (28), Paul McGann (65), Macon Blair (50), Stella Maeve (35), Sandahl Bergman (73), Harland Williams (62), Laura Ramsey (42), David Moscow (50), Brooke Satchwell (44), Cory Michael Smith (38), Brian Gleeson (37), Brian Dietzen (47), Graham Patrick Martin (33), Simone Susinna (31), Nicolai Cleve Broch (49), Gary Grubbs (75), Dimitri Leonidas (37), Andrew Strong (51), Ivyann Schwan (41), Jeremy Yaches (44), Stephen Guarino (49) |
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