| | | | | | What's news: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is formally dissolving. Stephen Schwartz has vowed not to appear at the Kennedy Center again. Dish Network has filed an antitrust suit against Disney. Paramount+ has renewed Mayor of Kingstown for a fifth and final season. Netflix has renewed Emily in Paris for S6. And the WWE‘s library is heading to Netflix. — Abid Rahman
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Murdoch's Newspaper War in L.A. Will Begin This Month ►Audacious bet. Rupert Murdoch's California Post has a launch date, with executives at News Corp. telling staff that it will be “setting the agenda, entertaining and disrupting the status quo.” The California Post will launch on Jan. 26, in both digital and print, setting up its newsroom on the Fox studio lot in Century City. “January 26 is our moment,” NYP Media Group editor-in-chief Keith Poole and California Post editor-in-chief Nick Papps wrote to staff in a memo Monday. “The California Post officially premieres thanks to this remarkable team who believed in the vision and did the hard work to bring it to life. We’re proud, grateful and just getting started.” The story.
—Antitrust battle. Dish Network has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Disney in an escalating legal battle over Sling TV‘s first-of-its-kind short-term offerings, which allow users to sign up for as little as one day at a fraction of the full monthly subscription cost. The case opens another front in clashes relating to the legality of bundling and could present a threat to programmers whose business models are dependent on restraining distributors’ ability to package channels and subscription periods. Sling TV’s short-term pass offerings and the resulting legal drama reflects ongoing tension in content distribution. The story.
—🤝 Licensing deal. 🤝 Kevin Hart the actor and comedian wants Kevin Hart the brand to outlive is career in Hollywood. Hart on Tuesday inked a wide-ranging deal with Authentic Brands Group, giving the IP licensing giant rights to his name, with Hart becoming a shareholder in the firm. Hart and ABG will co-manage the “Kevin Hart” brand, bringing it to new verticals and business areas, including consumer products, digital platforms, and live experiences. The story.
—🤝 Library deal. 🤝 Following a special Stranger Things episode of WWE‘s flagship show Monday Night Raw on Netflix on Monday, the relationship between the sports entertainment powerhouse and the global streamer is growing deeper and broader. The partners have expanded their long-term partnership, making the streamer “the home of WWE’s library in the U.S.,” following the expiration of a five-year deal that NBCUniversal’s streamer Peacock had for the WWE video library. Financial and other terms of the new Netflix-WWE deal weren’t disclosed, but THR understands that it is a multi-year agreement. The story.
—Boom times. Asia-Pacific’s screen economy is on track to expand steadily through the end of the decade, but nearly all of that growth will be driven by streaming, creator-led video and connected TV as traditional television continues to contract, according to new forecasts from regional consultancy Media Partners Asia. Released Tuesday, MPA’s annual Asia-Pacific Video & Broadband report forecasts total screen revenues across the region rising from about $171b in 2025 to roughly $196b by 2030, with online video accounting for the entirety of net gains over the period. The story. |
Kennedy Center Honors' TV Rights Draw Interest ►"Several outlets want to get the next contract — and CBS says they won’t lose it." December’s Kennedy Center Honors broadcast may not have been a ratings smash, but a source familiar with the matter tells THR's Alex Weprin that it isn’t impacting the interest in the TV or streaming rights to this year’s installment, which are up for grabs and will all-but-assuredly be broadcast under the Trump Kennedy Center Honors name. December’s broadcast was the last one under the old CBS deal, with the network televising every year’s ceremony going back to 1978. Its exclusive negotiating window lapsed last year, opening up the potential pool of bidders. The story.
—"It is no longer apolitical, and appearing there now has become a kind of ideological statement." Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz has vowed not to appear at the Kennedy Center after its renaming and takeover by Donald Trump. In a statement, Schwartz, who notes he was part of the opening event at the Kennedy Center, said the institution is “no longer apolitical” and that he will not appear there, “as long as that remains the case.” The composer told the NYT that he had been asked to host a gala event for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center in May. The story.
—"Public media remains essential to a healthy democracy." The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is formally dissolving several months after its federal funding was rescinded, but with a plea for public media to continue. The CPB announced Monday that its board had voted to dissolve the corporation after 58 years. The CPB had been winding down its operations since August, weeks after Congress passed a Trump administration-backed budget bill that rescinded $1.1b in previously approved federal funding. Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the CPB, said in a pointed statement that dissolving the corporation was the best option to help preserve public media in the U.S. The story.
—"The reason MAGA was so high on Donald Trump was that he was the guy who wasn’t going to get involved with this kind of shit anymore." Late night hosts, including Jon Stewart and Seth Meyers, didn’t waste any time before sharing their honest thoughts about the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Daily Show 's Stewart kicked off his show joking about how “President Trump and an elite team of Delta Force special operators removed a dangerous foreign dictator from power.” However, before getting to a photo of Maduro, he flipped through photos of other controversial world leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. “No, I’m talking about the now former president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who was reverse-ICE’d and imported,” Stewart clarified. "He was actually imported to a jail in Brooklyn." The recap. |
Rourke Denounces Eviction Fundraising Campaign ►"It's humiliating." The saga of Mickey Rourke‘s latest round of financial woes has taken another bizarre turn as the actor has released a video denouncing a GoFundMe set up in his name by his longtime manager, allegedly with his permission. The fundraiser, launched Sunday, is nearing its $100,000 goal — money meant to help Rourke remain in his home after being served an eviction notice for falling $60,000 behind in rent. Seated with his beloved rescue dog Lucky on his lap, a distraught Rourke, in a fuchsia V-neck T-shirt and straw cowboy hat, addressed his nearly 500,000 Instagram followers, distancing himself from the fundraiser. The story.
—"Nobody’s trying to grift Mickey." Confusion reigns over the Mickey Rourke situation, but THR's Seth Abramovitch is on the case. Seth spoke to Rourke’s manager Kimberly Hines, who called from Europe to walk through the events that led to the launch of the GoFundMe, and also offer an update on Rourke’s current status and well-being. The interview.
—"Verdict’s in … I do have brain damage." Evangeline Lilly has revealed she has brain damage after medical tests revealed the extent of a concussion following a freak fall during a May 2025 holiday in Hawaii. “It’s late on January 1, the first day of 2026, and I am entering into this new year, the Year of the Horse, with some bad news about my concussion,” the Lost alum said in a recent Instagram post. “A lot of you asked how I’m doing. A lot of you have inquired about the brain scans that you heard I got. And the results came back from the scans and almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity.” The story.
—Double dip. THR's nicest man Chris Gardner has the scoop that Heated Rivalry breakout Connor Storrie has signed with CAA for representation. The move comes as Storrie’s star is on fire thanks to the meteoric rise of Jacob Tierney’s hockey drama Heated Rivalry and his portrayal of the magnetic Russian Ilya Rozanov. Storrie's co-star Hudson Williams also signed with CAA, a notable coup for the agency to rep both rising stars. The story. |
'Mayor of Kingstown' to End With S5 at Paramount+ ►The beginning of the end. Taylor Sheridan’s Mayor of Kingstown is coming to an end, but not before a fifth and final season. Paramount+ has renewed the Jeremy Renner-starring series for an eight-episode season five, which will mark its end. The show is not concluding due to a lack of recent quality. Season four, which ended on Dec. 28, 2025, currently has a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (though there were only five reviews). It could be concluding because Sheridan’s overall deal at Paramount Skydance is coming to an end — though his TV contract has a few more years left. How active Sheridan will be remains to be seen. The story.
—"[Five seasons] seems to be the upper limit for Paramount+." With Mayor of Kingstown coming to a close, THR's Tony Maglio and Rick Porter consider the implications of Paramount+ ending a successful Taylor Sheridan show. Why is the final season shorter? Why end things at all? Will this cause a domino effect among Sheridan shows? What’s still coming from the Sheridan-verse? And how will Mayor of Kingstown end? Tony and Rick seek to tackle those questions and hopefully soothe some Sheridan-heads out there. The analysis.
—About that season 4 finale. For THR, Demetrius Patterson spoke to actor Lennie James about the season 4 finale of Mayor of Kingstown. The Fear the Walking Dead star reveals that he was lured to play villain Frank Moses opposite Jeremy Renner because "there was much more going on with him than just being a gangster. It was about the way he was playing the game." Warning: Spoilers! The interview. |
'Emily in Paris' Renewed for S6 at Netflix ►Macron will be pleased. After a season split between France and Italy, Emily in Paris is heading home. Netflix has renewed the romantic dramedy starring Lily Collins for a sixth season. The pickup for Emily in Paris comes less than three weeks after season five premiered to typically solid viewing figures: The season racked up 26.8m views worldwide (155m hours divided by a running time of 5 hours, 47 minutes) over its first 11 days. The season follows Emily (Collins) to Italy, where she opens a satellite office for the marketing agency she works for in Rome. She strikes up a new romantic relationship there, but — spoiler alert — ultimately opts to return to Paris. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 Amazon Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV series has added Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Celia Imrie, Bill Paterson and others to its cast. We already knew that Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner won the lead Lara Croft role. The series, an adaptation of the popular video games, hails from co-showrunners Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Chad Hodge. Jonathan Van Tulleken will direct and executive produce. The story.
—Bad sign? THR's Ethan Millman has the scoop that Jimmy Kimmel Live! is cutting down its musical guest performance count to twice per week. Multiple sources familiar with the matter say Kimmel music producer Jim Pitt had informed them in the past several weeks about the move, though none who spoke with THR say they were given any reason on the decision. The ABC late night show is not expected to get shorter, another source familiar with the matter says. The story.
—Big numbers. A documentary series about Sean “Diddy” Combs was a huge draw for Netflix in the first week of December. Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which detailed a host of past and new allegations against the music-business mogul, drew 2.28m minutes of viewing in the U.S. from Dec. 1-7. In most weeks of 2025, that would have led the Nielsen streaming charts, but The Reckoning came in second place overall behind Stranger Things. The first half of the latter show’s fifth and final season fell off from a record-shattering premiere week, but Stranger Things still recorded 4.38b minutes of watch time, the third highest weekly total for any title of 2025. The streaming rankings. |
Feinberg Forecast: New Year, New Landscape ►Elordi and Madigan in the mix. THR's executive editor for awards Scott Feinberg updates his picks following the Critics Choice Awards and the Palm Springs International Film Festival's Awards Gala, and ahead of the Actor Awards nominations. The forecast.
—🏆 Congrats! 🏆 The 2026 Annie Awards nominations, recognizing the best in animation across film and TV, have been revealed. Elio and KPop Demon Hunters top this year’s film nominations, with 10 nods each, including in the top category of best feature. For best feature, they’ll compete against seven-time nominees Little Amélie or the Character of Rain and Zootopia 2 and five-time nominee The Bad Guys 2. Other films with multiple nominations include Arco, with five, and The Twits and Scarlet, with three each. The nominees.
—Bonza! James Cameron and Disney haven’t yet decided if there’s going to be an Avatar 4. Cameron also hasn’t decided how directing duties will be handled on a prospective fourth Avatar film, given the director’s stated intention to move on to other projects. Yet another director named James — James Wan — says he’d love to be involved in the project should Cameron elect to scale back his involvement with the franchise. In a new interview, Wan said: “I have not done Avatar. Yeah, if you could put a good one for me with James Cameron, I’d love to take a crack at that.” The story. |
What Happens When Your Oscars Go Up in Flames? ►"People asked me if I took my Oscars but I didn’t think my house would burn down so they were not the first things I grabbed." When the Palisades Fire tore through Pacific Palisades last year, it didn’t just destroy Colleen Atwood‘s home. It melted three of her Academy Awards and badly damaged a fourth — a surreal, devastating footnote to one of the most decorated careers in Hollywood costume design. On the one-year anniversary of the fires, THR's Chris Gardner checked in with Atwood to find out how she’s doing and what’s become of her hardware. The interview.
In other news...
—Hugh Jackman is a murderous outlaw in A24’s Death of Robin Hood trailer
—Zazie Beetz slices and dices her captors in They Will Kill You trailer
—Ashton Kutcher is a sinister tech billionaire in FX's The Beauty trailer
—Equinox to distract L.A. drivers with billboard of three-breasted woman
—Con Pederson, CGI pioneer and 2001: A Space Odyssey VFX artist, dies at 91
—Andre Provencher, veteran Quebec media exec, dies at 76
What else we're reading...
—Catherine Shoard outlines why the Clooneys moved to France, including a U.K. government warning that Amal Clooney risks U.S. sanctions over her role in the issuing of an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu [Guardian]
—Anatoly Kurmanaev reports that Venezuela is bracing itself for economic collapse from a U.S. blockade [NYT]
—Fun read from Justin Charity, who writes that nothing encapsulates betrayal — and The Wire — more than the ubiquitous Wee-Bey GIF [Ringer]
—Paul Glynn looks at how the excellent Geese took flight to become "Gen Z's first great American band" [BBC]
—Ian Hodgson reports that Influencers and OnlyFans models dominate "extraordinary" artist visas to the U.S. [FT]
Today...
...in 2012, Paramount released William Brent Bell's The Devil Inside in theaters. Despite terrible reviews, the supernatural horror film, made for $1m, reaped an insane $102m at the global box office. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Rowan Atkinson (71), Eddie Redmayne (44), Kate McKinnon (42), Norman Reedus (57), Genevieve O'Reilly (49), Rinko Kikuchi (45), Adam Pearson (41), Nicolette Scorsese (72), Eliza Scanlen (27), Johnny Yong Bosch (50), Courtney Eaton (30), Hugh Skinner (41), Natalie Palamides (36), Betty Gabriel (45), Andrea Thompson (66), Cristela Alonzo (47), Elaine Bromka (76), Max Pirkis (37), Frank Sivero (74), Tara Spencer-Nairn (48), Cara Seymour (62), Diona Reasonover (34), Elizabeth Blackmore (39), Danny Pintauro (50), Irina Shayk (40), Donatella Damiani (71), Trudie Styler (72), Cristina Rosato (43) |
| Béla Tarr, the Hungarian arthouse director whose work, distinguished by long, elaborately choreographed takes, languid pacing, and stark black-and-white visuals, shaped a generation of arthouse filmmakers, including Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant, has died. He was 70. The obituary. |
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