| AMAZON MGM'S 'MERCY' STARRING CHRIS PRATT GETS SNOWED IN |
About 400 theaters closed due to a monster winter storm over the weekend. The weather lowered the opening for Amazon MGM Studios' Chris Pratt movie Mercy to $11.2M, and also hurt other titles. Rivals might cry that for a $60M production, this isn’t the ideal start. Then again, they’re not Amazon, which is a multi-trillion-dollar company with priorities well beyond the theatrical movie business.
With power outages galore and hundreds of thousands of customers sans electricity in Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana, myriad circuits closed some cinemas for Saturday and/or Sunday business. AMC locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri were also affected. Cinemark theaters shuttered due to weather in Louisville, KY; Plano, TX, Huntsville, AL; Little Rock, AR and more. Regal closed dozens of theaters. >>> Original Projection |
Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
LoPiccolo's New Paradigm - After nearly 17 years at Paradigm, Nick LoPiccolo has parted ways with the agency. As the industry undergoes transformational change, LoPiccolo will "focus on a more flexible, unrestrained model to unlock new revenue streams and opportunities beyond traditional agency structures." >>> Agency Supportive
Karolina Wydra Talks 'Pluribus' - Karolina Wydra has been acting for the better part of three decades, scooping up roles in film (Crazy, Stupid, Love) and TV (House, True Blood ) and working with heavyweights like the late David Lynch. But her “dream,” she says, was to work with Vince Gilligan. After she walked away from the business to have children, she wasn't sure how she'd ever get back in. Then came an audition request from the Pluribus casting team. >>> Q&A
Hitchcock Reframed - One of the greatest directors of all time is going vertical. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent feature The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog has become what is believed to be the first classic movie to be reframed as a microdrama. It is now available on UK app Tattle TV, but only in the States due to licensing. >>>First Big Movie
50 Cent's DMX Podcast - Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s G-Unit Audio is teaming with Narratively on a new podcast series exploring the early life and rise of the late rapper and actor DMX. Look Thru My Eyes: Becoming DMX will be available everywhere podcasts are heard later this year. >>> Hosted by Jadakiss
Lionsgate Skipping CinemaCon Stage - Lionsgate won’t be taking the stage at this year’s CinemaCon, which runs April 13-16 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. But the studio will still be representing on the ground. Lionsgate’s marketing department will be busy prepping the opening of Michael, which hits theaters around the world on April 24. >>> Other Studios Still Going
Vue V, Coke — Vue, Europe’s largest privately owned cinema chain, and Coca-Cola Europacific, the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, have settled a payment dispute after the latter commenced legal action. Coca-Cola Europacific issued Vue with a “winding-up petition,” which threatened to shutter the cinema chain unless the bill was paid. The petition has since been withdrawn. >>> Switched To Pepsi
Barnicle's On Board — All3Media’s push to bolster its U.S. business is continuing. The British production group has struck a deal to bring over documentary producer Barnicle Brothers. Projects have included This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist for Netflix. >>> "The Real Deal" |
In an underwhelming era for feature comedies and a moment in indie film where exciting surprises are harder to come by, the Sh*theads trio of Macon Blair, Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr. is keeping the dream alive.
Ahead of its festival debut, Blair and his leads spoke with Deadline about the more than decade-long journey to bring The Sh*theads to screens, the pitch to financiers on this project, tapping into Thames’ darker side following his hero roles in films like The Black Phone, and more. >>>Q&A
Related:
‘The Sh*theads’ Team Talks Most Unexpected Production Challenge: A Portable Toilet Exploding Near Set On Day Zero
‘The Sh*theads’ Review: No Turns Go Unstoned In Macon Blair’s Funny, Druggy Shaggy Dog Story |
QUOTABLE "Thin mints" - Meghan Markle, describing her Girl Scout cookie preference at the Sundance premiere of 'Cookie Queens,' which she EP'd |
exclusiveLena Headey and Chloe Fineman have joined the cast of Red, White & Royal Wedding, Amazon MGM Studios’ sequel to their hit rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue, based on Casey McQuiston’s bestseller.
ExclusiveJi-young Yoo (KPop Demon Hunters) has joined the cast of Apple TV's Presumed Innocent for Season 2 in a recurring role.
exclusivePatricia Clarkson is set to join Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming feature What Happens at Night. |
BY THE NUMBERS 9.6M - Peak UK viewership for the Season 4 finale of 'The Traitors' |
MORE NEWS
👨💼 Lionsgate Studios has appointed Steven Mnuchin, who was U.S. Treasury Secretary during Donald Trump's first presidential term, to the company's board of directors.
🥖 The Great British Bake Off has named TV cooking mainstay Nigella Lawson as its new judge, replacing Prue Leith.
🏛️ The White House hosted screening of Amazon MGM Studios‘ upcoming documentary Melania on Saturday, as the furor intensified over the latest killing in Minneapolis by a federal immigration agent.
🏈 The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will face off at Super Bowl LX following their NFL Conference Championship wins. Super Bowl LX is set to take place on Sunday, February 8.
🤝 Darren Walker is joining Anonymous Content as President & CEO. Walker will be based in the company’s Los Angeles and New York offices.
🍭 Posy Sterling’s year is off to a cracking start. Not only is the British actress coming off the back of December’s BIFA win, where she nabbed the Breakthrough Performance award for her work in Daisy-May Hudson’s debut Lollipop, but she has also recently been selected as one of the nominees for BAFTA’s EE Rising Star Award. Here she talks to Deadline. |
| OBITUARIES
🕯️ Francis Buchholz, who played bass for The Scorpions for nearly two decades during most successful era, featuring on such classic tracks as “Wind of Change,” “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “No One Like You,” died Thursday of cancer. He was 71. 🕯️ Nessa Hyams, a groundbreaking casting director of the New Hollywood, who worked on 1970s masterpieces as Peter Bogdanovich’s screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc?, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist and Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, died January 9 at her home in Manhattan. She was 84. 🕯️ Floyd Vivino, known to several generations of New York City-area fans (including more than a few rock stars) as local kids TV host Uncle Floyd, died Thursday, January 22, after suffering ill health for nearly three years. He was 74. 🕯️ Laura Adler , an Emmy-nominated casting director and former administrator of Casting Society, died Thursday in Los Angeles following a brief illness. She was 65. 🕯️ Yvonne Lime, who starred alongside Michael Landon in I Was A Teenage Werewolf, recurred on Father Knows Best, had dozens of other screen credits and later devoted her life to philanthropy, died Friday. She was 90. 🕯️ 2026 Deaths Photo Gallery |
| ON THE RADAR
Mon - CA Post launches
Tue - BAFTA & WGA Awards nominations announced
Thu - Comcast, Apple earnings; Bridgerton Season 4 premieres |
Candlelight Vigil - About 100 demonstrators assembled outside 577 Main St. in Park City, Utah to rally against the ongoing ICE raids in Minneapolis and to remember residents Alex Pretti and Renee Good. |
|
