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What's news: Michael had 22 days of reshoots and director Antoine Fuqua ended up being paid a whopping $25m for the feature. WGA members ratified a four-year deal with studios and streamers. iHeartMedia and SiriusXM are in early merger talks. Rob Reiner's son Jake has addressed the trauma his family has suffered. Amazon has canceled The Boys spinoff Gen V. And Helena Bonham Carter will no longer be part of White Lotus S4. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
'Michael' Moonwalks to Record $97M U.S. Opening►The fans come out. In another win for a non-franchise title, Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic pulled off a moonwalk for the ages at the worldwide box office with a record-smashing $97m domestic opening and $120.4 million foreign launch for a global blast-off of $217.4m, according to Sunday estimates. Michael, coming in nearly $30m ahead of expectations, boasts the biggest domestic opening of all time for any biopic after passing up Oppenheimer ($80m), not adjusted for inflation. And the Lionsgate movie eclipsed Boheiman Rhapsody to rank as the top worldwide opening for a music biopic. Universal, a powerhouse on the international front, is releasing the film overseas on behalf of Lionsgate.
Other milestones: Michael marks Lionsgate’s best debut since the pandemic, and its sixth-biggest ever behind four Hunger Games installments and the final Twillight film. And it danced past the opening of 2026 sleeper hit Project Hail Mary to mark the second-biggest opening of the year, both in North America and globally, behind Universal and Illumination’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that overseas, where Jackson is an even bigger draw, Michael is likewise off to a record-breaking start with $120.4m from 84 markets. In 63 of those — including the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Spain, Netherlands and South Asia — it sent a new benchmark for the music biopic genre. Michael opened in virtually every corner of the globe; one exception is Japan, where Jackson’s fanbase is enormous. The 2011 Michael Jackson posthumous concert doc This Is It earned $196m at the foreign office; Japan’s contribution was $57m. Kino and Lionsgate have set a June release date. The box office report. |
Jackson Alleged to Have Sexually Abused 4 Kids in Suit►New claims. Just as Michael is opening in theaters worldwide, a family that was very close to the late Michael Jackson now accuses him of sexual abuse in a new lawsuit. Dominic and Connie Cascio, and their five children, say Jackson abused four of the kids at Neverland Ranch, on trips, and at tour stops. The family had previously defended the singer against abuse allegations on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in 2010 and in other outlets. They had long described themselves as the pop idol’s “second family.” But as reported by the NYT , the Cascios previously approached the Jackson estate with the allegations years ago. The family and the estate struck a secret agreement whereby the family would be paid around $16m over the course of five years. When the payments halted in 2025, another round of negotiations fell apart, and now a lawsuit has been filed. The story.
—"Our abusers are praised sometimes, even after we come out and tell the truth." James Safechuck, one of two men whose allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Michael Jackson anchored HBO’s 2019 doc Leaving Neverland, has released a video message to other survivors of childhood sexual abuse, timed to the release of Michael. Distributed by Safechuck’s attorney John Carpenter of the Los Angeles plaintiffs’ firm Carpenter & Zuckerman, the video addresses other survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The video.
—Production chaos. Michael almost looked very different on screen — and its director, Antoine Fuqua, and producer, Graham King, received even larger paydays after the film underwent major reshoots. As THR previously reported, the film’s third act was scrapped amid legal concerns tied to a prior settlement involving one of Jackson’s accusers. The Jackson estate paid for extensive reshoots to reshape the film. According to a new report, Fuqua and King were initially set to earn $10m and $6m, respectively, for directing and producing the biopic. King received an additional $10m, while Fuqua secured an extra $15m, to complete the 22 days of reshoots. The story. |
Trump Gets Defensive in '60 Minutes' Interview ►"I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody." A subdued — and, at one point, defensive — Donald Trump sat down with Norah O’Donnell for an interview that aired Sunday night on 60 Minutes to share his perspective of what happened in the moments after shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Allen reportedly emailed a “manifesto” to his family moments before the attack, saying he was targeting members of the Trump administration. When O’Donnell started reading from the gunman’s alleged manifesto, the interview got tense. She read this quote, alleged written by the suspect: “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” Trump, visibly annoyed, replied: “Well, I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people. Horrible people. Yeah, he did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody." The story.
—ICYMI. David Ellison held an event at the at the U.S. Institute of Peace on Thursday in honor of Donald Trump, where the president reportedly spoke to guests for nearly an hour. According to a Friday report, CBS News executives and journalists were in attendance, including Bari Weiss and Norah O’Donnell. The acting attorney general Todd Blanche was also present; the Justice Department, which Blanche oversees, still has to approve Paramount‘s $110b megadeal for Warner Bros. Discovery. The story. |
WGA Ratifies 4-Year Contract With Studios►🤝 Done and done! 🤝 Members of the Writers Guild of America gave the green light on Friday to a four-year deal with studios and streamers that will stem the bleeding of the union’s ailing health plan. The atypically long pact, which injects $321m into the plan, was supported by slightly more than 90 percent of members and rejected by 9.6 percent in a ratification vote. The results arrived after union negotiators sought to convince members that trading a shorter deal for the largest-ever boost to annual health funding in the union’s history was a worthy bargain. The story.
—Shell game. Last year was good to Jeff Shell. This year, not so much. The short-lived Paramount Skydance president received a total pay package of $60.7m in 2025. In April 2026, he was ousted amid a fight with a high-stakes gambler. Shell may be off the Paramount org chart, but he’s not yet off its books. Shell’s separation agreement called for cash payments equal to the salary and target bonus he would be eligible for, spread over the 12 months. Shell’s contract includes a $3.5m salary and $1.5m target bonus, so the cash payment should be in the ballpark of $5m. The story.
—Quids in. NBCU owner Comcast has disclosed the 2025 compensation packages for chairman and co-CEO Brian Roberts and co-CEO Michael Cavanagh, who served as president until the start of 2026, along with pay details for other top executives. Comcast’s proxy statement, filed with the SEC, showed that Roberts’ pay for his roles as chair and CEO, before the change to co-CEO as of the start of this year, came to $35.1m in 2025, compared with $33.9m in 2024. He had made $35.5m in 2023 and $32.1m in 2022. Roberts’ salary was $2.6m, but he received $23.5m in stock awards and an $8.6m cash bonus. The story.
—Making eyes. iHeartMedia and SiriusXM are in early talks about combining the two companies, according to sources familiar with the matter, who say that music industry titan Irving Azoff and Apollo Global Management are involved to try and help facilitate a deal. iHeartMedia is the largest radio station owner in the U.S., with more than 860 stations in 160 markets, while SiriusXM is the largest satellite radio service, boasting talents deals with the likes of Andy Cohen, Alex Cooper and most famously Howard Stern. The story.
—🤝 Overall deal. 🤝 Writer and proudcer Jez Butterworth is making a new home with Universal Entertainment. Butterworth has signed a five-year overall deal that will cover both TV/streaming and film projects. He’ll work with Universal Studio Group on the TV side and Universal Pictures for movie development. Butterworth will also continue working with 101 Studios, which is behind two series, MobLand and The Agency, on which Butterworth is an EP and writer (both stream on Paramount+). 101 Studios signed a production deal with NBCUniversal last year as part of Taylor Sheridan moving his overall deals to NBCU. The story. |
Rob Reiner's Son: "This Truly Is My Living Nightmare"►"My world, as I knew it, had collapsed." Jake Reiner, the son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and wife Michele Reiner, has opened up about his family tragedy that saw his brother, Nick Reiner, charged with their parents’ brutal murder in December 2025. "Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time. It’s too devastating to comprehend. I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare," Reiner wrote in a Substack post. The iconic Hollywood filmmaker and his wife were killed in their home, allegedly by their son Nick Reiner, who has been charged with murder in their deaths and remains in jail until a criminal trial. The story.
—Scandal expands. THR's Gary Baum reports that Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman, known as a "pit bull" for his aggressive tactics, has been accused in court of orchestrating online smear campaigns using fake social media accounts and anonymous attack websites. Targets include actress-turned-activist Alexa Nikolas, who named Freedman, digital fixer Jed Wallace, and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan in her defamation case. The same trio also worked for Justin Baldoni in his dispute with Blake Lively. The story.
—"Everyone feels that we have been abandoned." As the ongoing war in Iran continues with no end in sight, Iranian film industry insiders tell THR's Scott Roxborough that they feel both “under attack” from U.S. and Israeli bombing and “abandoned” by the international community. The conflict has severely impacted the film sector: cinemas closed for 18 days, the crucial Nowruz box office season was disrupted, and infrastructure like the Iranian House of Cinema headquarters and the historic Shokoufeh Cinema has been damaged. Two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi has urged global artists to speak out. Meanwhile, repression inside Iran has intensified, with authorities confiscating assets from filmmakers. The story. |
Helena Bonham Carter Exits 'White Lotus' S4 Cast►"Did not align once on set." After being announced as part of the cast for the upcoming fourth season of The White Lotus, Helena Bonham Carter has departed the project. Production on season four of the Mike White-created series recently kicked off in France and will be set during the Cannes Film Festival. The two-time Oscar nominee was an early announced addition to the show’s cast. "The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks. HBO, the producers and Mike White are saddened that they won’t get to work with her, but remain ardent fans and very much hope to work with the legendary actress on another project soon," HBO said in a statement. The story.
—🏆 Eternal Adolescence. 🏆 Netflix drama Adolescence and The Celebrity Traitors were the biggest winners of the BAFTA Television Craft Awards 2026, which were handed out in London on Sunday, with each show receiving two honors. Among the key winners, the craft award for best drama writer went to Will Smith for Slow Horses, while Philip Barantini won the best director in fiction honor for his work on Adolescence. Other honors went to Andor, Amadeus, Reunion, Trespasses, The Celebrity Traitors, The Last Musician of Auschwitz and Mussolini: Son of the Century. The winners.
—Checking in one last time. Hazbin Hotel has been renewed for a fifth and final season at Amazon Prime Video. The hit adult-animated musical comedy series’ renewal was announced on Saturday during a panel at LVL UP Expo in Las Vegas. The show, from A24 and Bento Box Entertainment, is created by Vivienne Medrano and is based on her animated pilot, released on YouTube in 2019. Erika Henningsen, Stephanie Beatriz, Blake Roman and Amir Talai, Alex Brightman and more star. The story. |
'The Boys' Spinoff 'Gen V' Canceled►Godolkin University is closing its doors. Gen V, the spinoff of The Boys that focuses on college students with superpowers, has been canceled after two seasons at Amazon Prime Video. The second and now final season of the show concluded in October 2025. The news comes as The Boys is in the midst of its final season on Amazon and the streamer is readying a prequel series, Vought Rising, for a 2027 premiere. Another spinoff, The Boys: Mexico, is also in development. Some Gen V characters are set to make appearances in the remaining episodes of The Boys — appropriate, since the spinoff’s final scenes showed the main characters being recruited into the resistance against Vought and Homelander (Antony Starr). The story.
—Hold onto your hats! A Taylor Sheridan show is experiencing some drama behind the scenes. The showrunner of Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch is exiting the drama ahead of its series premiere next month, on May 15. Executive producer and creator Chad Feehan has departed the show. He won’t return if the series is picked up for a second season — which seems likely given the hype around the next Yellowstone-verse offering. Showrunners on Sheridan productions tend to be like the ill-fated drummers in This Is Spinal Tap, with several having been replaced over the years. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 The team behind the Paramount+ show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds hit the CCXP Mexico stage on Saturday to reveal that the fourth season premiere will debut globally on July 23. The 10-episode season rolls out weekly on Thursdays through Sept. 24 for the series that was last seen with the season three finale that began streaming in September. Strange New Worlds castmembers Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding and Paul Wesley announced the return date and debuted the new season’s teaser trailer in front of a packed auditorium in Mexico City. The story. |
McQuarrie, Jordan to Tackle Adaptation of 'Battlefield'►The coming battle. THR's Borys "Der Skooper" Kit has the scoop that the groundwork is being laid for what could be Hollywood's biggest bidding war of the year. And it’s, appropriately enough, for Battlefield, the military video game which last year topped the sales charts. And if the title wasn’t enticing enough, it comes with some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Chrsitopher McQuarrie, who has spent the last dozen years guiding field operations for Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible movies, and Michael B. Jordan, who last month won an Oscar for his performance in Sinners. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Streaming audiences can get ready to swoon over the the Margot Robbie-led feature adaptation of Wuthering Heights. HBO Max announced Friday that filmmaker Emerald Fennell‘s romantic drama hits the streaming service on May 1. Jacob Elordi co-stars in the movie that makes its linear debut via HBO on May 2, the same day that a version with American Sign Language will also stream exclusively on HBO Max. The story. |
'Sleepers' at 30
►"I’m still not even sure why there was a real controversy." As Barry Levinson's Sleepers celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, THR's Brian Davids spoke to the filmmaker about classic legal crime drama that caused debate over the term "based on a true story." The Oscar-winning director addresses the controversy and the making of the film. The interview.
—"People still haven't forgiven me for that — my own mom has a problem with me for that one." THR's David Canfield spoke to actor Darrell Britt-Gibson about his turn in the latest episode of HBO's Euphoria. Britt-Gibson also discusses his part in The Wire, and his character's involvement in the death of a beloved character on one of the greatest TV shows ever. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"My instinct from the first reading was that I needed to be bigger and my body [had] to take up the space in the room." THR's Lily Ford spoke to Stuart Campbell, the breakout star of Richard Gadd's latest drama, Half Man. The young Scottish actor talks about what it takes to play such a violent character and why he hopes it'll challenge audiences who dare to watch the brutal series. The interview.
In other news...
—Spider-Noir trailer has Nicolas Cage battling Brendan Gleeson’s super villain
—House of the Dragon reveals new trailer for "brutal" third season
—Big Bang Theory spinoff Stuart Fails to Save the Universe reveals first look
—Nikki Glaser roasts Katy Perry, Victoria Beckham at Time 100 gala
—Madonna invades Grindr to promote new album
—Madonna debuts 2 new songs at The Abbey
—Royal Television Society names Sophie Jones new CEO
—Ralph Gunderman, voice artist and Letterman show contributor, dies at 77
What else we're reading...
—With the Paramount-WBD deal edging closer to completion, Lucas Shaw looks at what rivals like Comcast and Netflix will do next [Bloomberg]
—David Gilbert reports that conspiracy theories have exploded everywhere on the internet following the WHCD shooting [Wired]
—Joyce Sohyun Lee, Samuel Oakford, Emily M. Eng, Simon Ducroquet and Sarah Blaskey have a fascinating visual analysis of the WHCD shooting [Washington Post]
—Hugh Dougherty, who was staying in the room next door to would-be Trump assassin Cole Allen, outlines the shocking security at the Hilton [Daily Beast]
—Rachel Bachman reports on the obsessive race to make a 4 oz running shoe, which seemingly Adidas has now won after an insane London Marathon [WSJ]
Today...
...in 2012, Fox Searchlight Pictures released Zal Batmanglij's Sound of My Voice in theaters. The Brit Marling-starring psychological thriller, which debuted in Sundance, was a hit with critics but never spawned the planned trilogy. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Lizzo (38), Sally Hawkins (50), Matt Reeves (60), Jenna Coleman (40), Patrick Page (64), Darren Barnet (35), Rachel Morrison (48), Russell T. Davies (63 🏴), Sheena Easton (67), Cristian Mungiu (58), Jon Cassar (68), Xavier Gens (51), Froy Gutierrez (28), Ari Graynor (43), Anna Chancellor (61), Emily Rios (37), William Moseley (39), Siobhan Finneran (60), Kevin McNally (70), Jamie Gray Hyder (41), Sofia Kappel (28), David Lascher (54), Anna Skellern (41), Laura Ortiz (39), Patrick Stump (42), Kate Pierson (78), Meredith Garretson (43)
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Nedra Talley Ross, the last surviving founding member of 1960s girl group the Ronettes, has died. She was 80. The obituary.
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