| LANDMARK PACT COMES JUST TWO MONTHS AFTER TECH COMPANY'S SORA 2 CAUSED WIDESPREAD OUTRAGE OVER RISK TO COPYRIGHTS |
Disney has set a game-changing partnership with OpenAI. The media giant is investing $1B in Sam Altman's tech heavyweight and is also handing over characters from Frozen and Star Wars to generative AI video app Sora. It is the most significant collaboration between a Hollywood studio and an AI company to date, and suggests Disney believes the old maxim: If you can’t beat them, join them. The three-year licensing agreement will allow Sora users to create bespoke fan videos with the likes of Captain America, Yoda, and Moana. A selection of these videos will stream on Disney+, which the company hinted at during an earnings call last month. >>>Follows Sora 2 Uproar
Related:
Disney Fires Off Cease-And-Desist Letter To Google Claiming Its AI Services Infringe On Copyright On A “Massive Scale” |
Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
Zombie Apocalypse Continues - Sony is proceeding with a third 28 Years Later movie following the electric fan reaction from recent screenings of the second film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta. That pic comes out over MLK weekend, on January 16, 2026. >>>Cillian Murphy In Talks
Corner Office Intrigue - Amid fireworks over who ultimately will control Warner Bros. Discovery, CEO David Zaslav’s future looks increasingly uncertain after 18 years as a media chief executive. While Paramount had offered him a Co-CEO role in its takeover proposal, Netflix swooped in and sealed an $83B deal. Sources familiar with the Netflix transaction say it doesn't include a specific gig for Zaslav, who will turn 66 in January. >>> Next Chapter Uncertain
A League Of Their Own - Hello Sunshine, along with Ally and the Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ If/Then Initiative, revealed the premiere of The Rise, a five-part documentary series capturing the growth of women’s professional sports. The first two films in the series land on Peacock on December 15, 2025, with additional features rolling out in 2026. >>>WNBA, Women's Hockey & More
Sundance Swan Song - Some of the biggest names in film and culture will be descending on Park City, Utah next month for the final edition of Sundance in the mountain town. (It moves to Boulder, CO, in 2027.) Names involved in fest titles include Jenna Ortega, Charli XCX, Seth Rogen, Russell Crowe, Ethan Hawke. New work by filmmakers David Wain, Alex Gibney and Olivia Wilde are among new titles screening. >>>Full Lineup
New Accommodations - Prime Video is checking out of Hotel Costiera. The streamer, which carries the first season of the English-language Italian series in a number of territories including the U.S., the UK and Italy, is not renewing it for a second. >>>Being Shopped
Read The Screenplay: ‘Jay Kelly’ - Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind the year’s most talked-about movies kicks off its 2025-2026 awards season with Netflix’s Jay Kelly, written and directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written by Emily Mortimer in her screenwriting debut. >>>The Script |
For Nia DaCosta, working with Tessa Thompson as her muse, has redefined Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler and made it work in purely cinematic terms. Her version is simply called Hedda, but there’s nothing simple about it.
The filmmaker sets the action in 1950s England, and Thompson’s title character is no regular English housewife; she’s a force of nature who wants her academic husband (Tom Bateman) to succeed, even though that means betraying Hedda’s former lover, Eileen (Nina Hoss).
It’s a far cry from the London-based New Yorker’s next film, zombie chiller 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. >>>Q&A |
QUOTABLE "This transaction raises national security concerns" - U.S. Reps Sam Liccardo (D-CA) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) in a letter to David Zaslav addressing the includsion of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and other Middle East investors in Paramount's bid for WBD |
Hunger Games canon stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are returning for Lionsgate’s next prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. While the film is set in the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games , there’s a scene in the new Suzanne Collins book where a grown Peeta (Hutcherson) and Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) listen to Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson in the original movies) as he recounts his Hunger Game to them. |
MORE NEWS
🍿 South Park wrapped up its unholiest season yet on Wednesday as Trump’s mission to take out his own Antichrist spawn reached a wild conclusion, including a jailbreak, an ultrasound and a Christmas miracle.
🐱 Johnny Depp will produce the first English-language feature adaptation of The Master and Margarita, the classic satirical novel from Soviet-era author Mikhail Bulgakov. Depp is not yet attached to star.
🏀 YouTube TV says it will begin offering cheaper, more targeted packages of programming starting early next year. Pricing and a launch date have not yet been announced for the bundles, which include a sports plan with a comprehensive selection of channels including all of the ESPN networks.
🏆 The Vanity Fair Oscar Party, the biggest fête on Hollywood’s biggest night is decamping from the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills for the Fairfax-area environs of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The decision is part of a new, multi-year partnership between LACMA and Vanity Fair. |
OBITUARIES
🕯️ Jeff Garcia, best known as the voice of Sheen Estevez in Nickelodeon’s Jimmy Neutron franchise, died Wednesday. He was 50. His son Joseph revealed his father’s passing on Instagram. 🕯️ Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling British author whose Shopaholic novel series became the basis of 2009 film Confessions of a Shopaholic, has died. She was 55. 🕯️ Frank Cozzolino, known for starring on HGTV's Holmes on Homes, has died. He was 56. The electrician was featured on the home renovation series alongside Mike Holmes, who confirmed the news on social media. 🕯️ 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery |
ON THE RADAR
Fri - F1 hits streaming; Taylor Swift: The End of an Era debuts
Sat - Dick Van Dyke turns 100; Josh O'Connor hosts SNL
Sun - Rachel Maddow L.A. 'Burn Order' event
Tue - NBA Cup Final |
Fantastic Four - Bradley Cooper, Andra Day, Laura Dern and Will Arnett attend a screening of Cooper's Is This Thing On? at the DGA Theater. |
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