| | | | | | What's news: One Battle After Another won best feature at the Gotham Film Awards. Paramount has dated a live-action TMNT film and a new Sonic spinoff feature for 2028. Ed Weeks will star in CBS' Ghosts spinoff Eternally Yours. And Justin Lin will direct a live-action adaptation of Sony's Helldivers game. — Abid Rahman
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Iran Sentences Gotham Winner Jafar Panahi to Year in Prison ►Hero. Iran has sentenced filmmaker Jafar Panahi to one year in prison in absentia. Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran also slapped Panahi with a travel ban for “propaganda activities” against Iran, his lawyer told the media, adding that they will appeal the Iranian court ruling. The dissident Iranian director’s latest legal and political run-in with Iranian authorities follows Panahi having won the Palme d’Or for best film for It Was Just an Accident at the Cannes Film Festival. Panahi, who just a few years ago was imprisoned in Tehran and under a 20-year travel and work ban, returned triumphantly to Cannes and accepted his award from jury president (and vocal Panahi fan) Juliette Binoche. Panahi’s film, his first since being released from prison in 2023, is a direct assault on Iran’s authoritarian regime. The story.
—🏆 Jafar's night. 🏆 Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another won the top prize of best feature at the 2025 Gotham Film Awards, and Jafar Panahi had a big night just hours after Iran sentenced him to a year in prison. Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident , won all three awards for which it was nominated. Accepting his first prize of the evening for best original screenplay, Panahi said, “I would like to dedicate the honor of this award to independent filmmakers in Iran and around the world — filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence, without support, and at times by risking everything they have, only with their faith in truth and humanity. I hope that this dedication will be considered a small tribute to all filmmakers who have been deprived of the right to see and to be seen, but continue to create and exist.” He returned to the stage shortly after when It Was Just an Accident won for best international feature. He later won best director. The winners. |
Disgraced Diddy Slams 50 Cent's Netflix Doc ►"A shameful hit piece." Sean “Diddy” Combs’ team is speaking out about the new Netflix documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning from producer and his longtime rival, rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. Combs' camp slammed the doc that features footage the beleaguered mogul had shot of his life in the days before his September 2024 arrest as “a shameful hit piece” that is an “unfair,” “illegal” and an “unnecessary and deeply personal affront.” The blistering statement from Combs’ side came hours after Good Morning America aired a segment that features an interview with 50 Cent, and Alex Stapleton, the director of docuseries. The story.
—"It’s important to have integrity, and stand up for what you believe in." In a 2019 interview with THR, Scarlett Johansson backed Woody Allen, saying, “I love Woody. I believe him, and I would work with him anytime.” The A-list actress is one of the few actors to have stayed loyal to the Oscar-winning director after his stepdaughter, Dylan Farrow, alleged he had sexually abused her as a child. In a new interview, Johansson was asked about her support for Allen in that THR piece and how she handled the "inevitable online furor" and if there were consequences for her career. "I guess it’s hard to know," she responded. "You never know what the domino effect is." The story.
—Another exit. Paramount ad sales chief John Halley is leaving the company after 17 years. The writing has been on the wall since October, when David Ellison hired Roku’s Jay Askinasi as chief revenue officer. Askinasi’s hiring signaled to Wall Street that Paramount Skydance would be taking a more tech-forward approach to advertising and revenue generation. As for Halley, he’ll stick around as a consultant until March. The story.
—New hire. BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the U.K. public broadcaster BBC, has named Fernando de Jesus, currently creative lead at Rare TV, to oversee a new content development label. He will join former Channel 4 head of youth and digital Karl Warner, who recently established and is now leading a new creative unit within BBC Studios‘ Global Entertainment business that targets premium longform and digital formats for the U.K. and international markets. The story.
—London calling. Luma AI, which is behind such AI tools as Dream Machine and Ray3, has unveiled a key step in its global expansion, opening its first international office in London, a major production hub. Jason Day, a former WPP and Monks executive, will lead international business development, strategic partnerships, and customer expansion outside the U.S. from the London office. The story.
—Brainrot! YouTube on Tuesday released its trending lists for 2025, which highlight the topics, creators and podcasts that people were watching on the video platform this year. The lists matter because they give a sense of the cultural moment, and the creators leading it. So it is notable that, among YouTube’s trending topics were a number of Netflix projects (KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game), video games (Nintendo Switch 2, some Roblox UGC games and Cookie Run Kingdom) as well as of-the-moment topics like Charlie Kirk (the conservative media personality who was assassinated over the summer), Labubus (the hot plush toys) and brainrot (a term for low-quality content). The story. |
'Avatar 3' First Reactions: "Monumental Cinematic Achievement" ►"An epic that delivers on an enormous scale." Avatar: Fire and Ash has had its first few screenings for press on Monday, and the early reaction suggests that legendary filmmaker James Cameron can celebrate yet another billion dollar box office mega hit. While official critics reviews for Fire and Ash are embargoed till closer to the film’s Dec. 19 release date, 20th Century Studios allowed press to release social media reaction to screenings this week. The reaction.
—Woof! Disney's Zootopia 2 opening weekend numbers have been revised... upwards. The record-breaking animated sequel saw its North America five-day final opening box office number nudged up to $158m. Overseas, Zootopia 2's final opening figure adjusted up to $401.5m, for a total global haul of $559.5m. Bonkers. The box office report.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Kino Lorber has picked up rights for North America for The Currents, a psychological drama from Argentine writer/director Milagros Mumenthaler. The film had its world premiere in Toronto this year, screening in the Platform section. The drama follows Lina, an accomplished Argentine artist and designer (played by Isabel Aimé González Sola), who has a traumatic experience, a near-drowning, while accepting an award for her fashion career in Switzerland. Back home, the incident continues to haunt her, and her life slowly unravels. She develops an extreme aversion to water and spirals into a post-traumatic numbness. The story. |
Global Styles Shake Up Oscar Animation Race ►Fierce competition. THR's Scott Roxborough writes that this season’s Oscar race for best animated feature is one of the most stylistically varied in recent memory, a category where the technique on screen matters as much as the story. At one end are the studio behemoths, yet even the majors are wobbling. Pixar’s Elio stalled at the box office despite the studio’s trademark polish, and even Disney Animation’s Zootopia 2 has its detractors. Scott adds that due to contenders like Netflix breakout KPop Demon Hunters , as well as adult anime and a wave of European hand-drawn films, the surge of global styles is reshaping the animation category. The analysis.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Paramount's 2028 slate will include four pizza-loving turtles and a hedgehog. The studio announced Monday that the untitled hybrid live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature from producer Neal H. Moritz will hit theaters Nov. 17, 2028. Additionally, an untitled film in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is set for theatrical release on Dec. 22, 2028. THR reported last month that a TMNT feature franchise reboot was in the works, as the studio was aiming to revitalize some of its popular IP. Paramount is set to release director Jeff Rowe’s sequel to its well-received animated feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem on Sept. 17, 2027. The studio also announced that its 1986 action classic Top Gun will return to theaters May 13, 2026. The story.
—"How'd you like the taste of freedom?" THR's Borys "Scoops" Kit has the scoop that Justin Lin, best known for his work on the Fast and Furious action movies, is set to direct Sony Pictures’ and PlayStation Productions’ adaptation of Helldivers. The film is based on the popular video game franchise from Arrowhead Game Studios. Gary Dauberman, the scribe behind the hit It and Annabelle horror movies, wrote the script. The Helldivers game received critical acclaim when it first came out in 2015 and the sequel, Helldivers 2 , sold more than 12m units across PS5 and PC in the first four months after its launch in 2024. The game recently expanded to Xbox, and is built on teamwork, camaraderie, humor and action. The story. |
'Welcome to Derry' Has Strong Start on HBO Max ►Everyone floats down there. It: Welcome to Derry had a solid showing in its first full week of streaming, bringing in the best single week result for an HBO or HBO Max original series in five months. The prequel to the It films drew 620m minutes of viewing time for the week of Oct. 27-Nov. 2. The total includes a full week of viewing for the series premiere (which aired Oct. 26) and a few hours of the second episode that debuted the night of Nov. 2. Welcome to Derry ranked seventh among acquired series (Nielsen designates HBO shows that also stream on HBO Max that way) and just outside the overall top 10 for the week, coming in 12th. The ratings.
—🎭 Mommy issues. 🎭 Starz has cast Jennifer Ferrin in the role of young Kate Egan, Tommy’s (pretty terrible) mom and Ghost’s adoptive one. Power: Origins is the direct sequel to Power Book III: Raising Kanan. Ferrin joins a call sheet that now includes the returning Jason Dirden as Traymont Stinson; he’ll join Spence Moore as young Ghost, Charlie Mann (young Tommy) and MeKai Curtis, who continues from Raising Kanan in the title role of Kanan. Dirden’s is a recurring role. The story.
—🎭 Daddy issues. 🎭 A CBS comedy pilot from Ghosts showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman has found its male lead. Ed Weeks will star in Eternally Yours, about a vampire couple who have been married for 500 years and are struggling to accept the fact that their daughter is now dating a human. Weeks will play Charles, one half of the married couple. The character description reads, “Nobility in the Middle Ages, Charles is now a pencil pusher who, along with his family, has to move every few years to avoid attracting attention to the fact that they never age. He disdains modernity and the weak-minded humans who inhabit it, which makes it all the worse when he learns his vampire daughter is now dating one." The story. |
How 'Heated Rivalry' Became the Internet's Favorite Show ►"We wanted to live up to the expectations for the fans." While TikTok’s algorithm caters to each user’s obsession of the moment, it feels nearly impossible to be on the app without seeing at least one video about Crave and HBO Max’s new gay hockey romance series, Heated Rivalry. THR's Nicole Fell talks to the show's creator Jacob Tierney and traces the virality of the show, even before it aired. The story.
—It's a wrap! Groundbreaking German period drama Babylon Berlin has wrapped shooting on its fifth and final season. Over 48 episodes, the neo-noir series, adapted from Volker Kutscher’s best-selling Gereon Rath novels, traces life in Berlin from the roaring 1920s to the collapse of the German Weimar Republic and rise of the Nazis. The final season is an 8-episode arc set during the last days of the republic. Season 5 of Babylon Berlin will premiere on public channel ARD in Germany and will go out in the U.S. on streamer MHz Choice. The story.
—"It’s in this stalemate." Welsh superstar Matthew Rhys wants to play the powerful New York urban planner Robert Moses in an adaptation of Robert Caro’s genre-defining biography The Power Broker, and he says Netflix is interested. Rhys adds that the publishing rights have emerged as a holdup over the project. Rhys revealed the Power Broker project on Conan O’Brien’s podcast Monday. It is not immediately clear whether the Netflix project would be a film, a miniseries or a series. The story. |
Film Review: 'Marty Supreme' ►"Kaleidoscopic, kinetic and madly idiosyncratic." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme. Timothée Chalamet stars in this odyssey of an aspiring table tennis champion angling to ping pong his way out of 1950s Lower East Side Manhattan. Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Tyler Okonma, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Emory Cohen and Sandra Bernhard. Written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie. The review.
—"A bit of an endurance test." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Travis Mills' Frontier Crucible. In his first screen role since 2022's Death on the Nile, Armie Hammer co-leads an 1870s Arizona-set film. Also starring Myles Clohessy, Thomas Jane, William H. Macy, Mary Stickley, Eli Brown, Ryan Masson, Zane Holtz and Eddie Spears. The review.
In other news...
—TV premiere dates 2025: The complete guide
—Sean Combs: The Reckoning teaser: Netflix doc has disgraced mogul warning "we’re losing"
—ACM Awards sets return to Las Vegas, reveals 2026 date
—Foo Fighters to play benefit concert in L.A.
—CAA adds digital media vet to bolster creators division
What else we're reading...
—Michelle F. Davis, Lucas Shaw, and Josh Sisco report that Netflix is offering mostly cash for WBD in the new bid round [Bloomberg]
—Club Chalamet has broken containment! Ashley Wong has profiled hugely controversial Timothée Chalamet superfan Simone Cromer [WSJ]
—As Wong Kar-Wai debuts Blossoms Shanghai, the legendary auteur's first TV show, Jennifer Zhan runs through the scandals that are dogging the series [Vulture]
—Despite the positive press for Gemini recently, Parmy Olson outlines why ChatGPT still has a winning edge over Google's AI [Bloomberg]
—Reflecting on the ongoing Olivia Nuzzi-Ryan Lizza-RFK saga, Michelle Goldberg writes that a serious journalism scandal lurks among a sexual one [NYT]
Today...
...in 2011, Alliance Films released Steve McQueen's Shame in theaters. The film, about a sex-addicted executive living in New York City, starred Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, and was a big critical and commercial hit. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Britney Spears (44), Lucy Liu (57), Alfred Enoch (37), Lesley-Ann Brandt (44), Jana Kramer (42), Fred Hechinger (26), Steven Bauer (69), Rena Sofer (57), Annalise Basso (27), Joe Lo Truglio (55), Brendan Coyle (62), Celeste O'Connor (27), Dennis Christopher (75), Dan Gauthier (62), Keith Szarabajka (73), Daniela Ruah (42), Yvonne Orji (42), Dan Butler (71), Patrick Walker (33), Connie Booth (85), Suzy Nakamura (57), Afra Saraçoglu (28), Cody Renee Cameron (37), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (54), Oliver Cooper (36), Eric Jungmann (44), Thomas Schnauz (59), Cassie Steele (36), John-Michael Powell (43), André Dae Kim (29) |
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