What's news: Curry Barker's next film has landed at Universal. Carlos Mencia has been charged with tax evasion. Peacock has ordered a show based on the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. The White House UFC event averaged 7m viewers in the U.S. And HBO has discounted its subscription price 40 percent ahead of the return of House of the Dragon. — Abid Rahman
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Why Netflix Canceled 'The Boroughs'
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►Strangest thing. On Wednesday, news broke that Netflix has dropped the axe on The Boroughs, less than one month after its release. The high profile sci-fi series had a strong cast — Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters and Bill Pullman — and even stronger producers in Stranger Things' Matt and Ross Duffer, so the move was a big shock. THR's Tony Maglio goes inside the decision drop the show, despite a strong start in viewership (see below) and with all the stellar names involved. The story.
—Awkward. Chalk this one up to odd timing and the lag in reporting for Nielsen’s streaming ratings: A day after news broke that Netflix had canceled its series The Boroughs, the Nielsen numbers show it had a strong premiere week. The Boroughs had 1.2b minutes of viewing in the U.S. for the week of May 18-24 (the show premiered May 21). It finished second overall, behind another Netflix drama, Nemesis (1.31b minutes). The streaming rankings.
—"Honestly, I don’t know what happened. I think it’s probably rare for a show to not get picked up and to have it announced that it’s not being picked up while it’s still in the top 10." THR's Brande Victorian spoke to The Boroughs star Geena Davis, who says she found the "perfect" role with the show — and then Netflix canceled it. The actress reflects on the show's strong viewership start, the cast’s disappointment over its one-season fate and why she’d gladly return for a spinoff. The interview.
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Coogler Moves TV Deal From Disney to Netflix |
►Matt and Ross who? Proximity Media Television, the banner founded by Ryan Coogler, his wife Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian, has signed a multi-year deal to develop series exclusively for Netflix. Proximity’s prior overall TV deal at Disney expired earlier this year. Proximity created Marvel Studios’ Ironheart (Disney+), National Geographic docuseries Hurricane Katrina: A Race Against Time, and the animated series Eyes of Wakanda (Disney+). The story.
—Child's play. More from Netflix, with the streamer announcing on Thursday that it is producing a reality competition show called Simon Says, which is indeed based on the game where a five-year-old plays “Simon” and tells others to do whatever they tell them to. According to Netflix, “Contestants will face a gauntlet of cunning challenges, strategic mind games, and unexpected pivots as they compete for a life-changing prize.” But “one rule remains the same: if Simon says it, you’d better listen.” The story.
—🟢 Greenest of green lights. 🟢 Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to a show based on Matt Dinnaman’s popular Dungeon Crawler Carl books. The live-action sci-fi fantasy series comes from Universal Global Television and Seth MacFarlane‘s Fuzzy Door company. UGT’s predecessor, Universal International Studios, and Fuzzy Door acquired rights to Dinnaman’s books in 2024. Chris Yost is set to write and executive produce the series. The story.
—Not exactly Super Bowl numbers. The UFC card on the White House lawn drew a big audience for Paramount+. The streamer says the June 14 event, which featured a purpose-built octagon on the south lawn of the presidential residence, averaged 8.2m viewers in the U.S. and Latin America (7m in U.S.). That makes the card the most watched live event in Paramount+’s history so far. Paramount is in the first year of a seven-year, $7.7b media rights deal with the UFC, which is owned by TKO Group. The story.
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THR Critics Make Their Emmy Predictions
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►What should happen vs. what will. Ahead the big reveal of the Emmy nominations voting ending on June 22, THR's award-winning TV critics Daniel Fienberg and Angie Han offer their own hot takes on the race. From Hacks and The Pitt to riskier favorites like Widow’s Bay and Bait, Daniel and Angie spotlight the clear-cut nominees, vulnerable frontrunners and dark-horse choices worth rooting for. The critics' conversation.
—ICYMI. We launched THR Live on Wednesday with an Emmy-focused conversation led by Scott Feinberg, executive editor, awards, and Brande Victorian, deputy awards editor. The YouTube livestream broke down the latest Emmy predictions, awards buzz and potential voter favorites amid Emmy nominations voting, while also giving viewers the chance to ask their most pressing questions via Instagram and a live chat box. The conversation.
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Amazon Drops Guadagnino's Altman Biopic
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►Shocker! Amazon MGM Studios has dropped Luca Guadagnino‘s upcoming film Artificial about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The Andrew Garfield-starrer will now be shopped to other studios. The decision was said to have come from Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios chief Mike Hopkins, who told the filmmaker and producing team ahead of time. The timing is, well, interesting: It comes only a few months after the news that Amazon has invested $50b in OpenAI as part of a “multi-year strategic partnership” that will accelerate the company's spend with Amazon Web Services. The story.
—🤝 Winner, winner, chicken dinner! 🤝 THR's Borys "Scoopz" Kit has the huge scoop that Hollywood can finally stop obsessing over Obsession filmmaker Curry Barker‘s next movie. Universal Film Group, along with Blumhouse Atomic Monster, has landed Barker’s first follow-up to Obsession, the breakout movie of the year. In closing what is described as a rich eight-figure deal, Barker will write, produce and direct his third film for Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Universal. All details for the new project are being kept secret, but it is described as a Barker original horror idea. The story.
—Christmas comes early. Apple Original Films is reteaming with director Peter Baynton for a movie adaptation of the kids picture book Little Santa by author and illustrator Jon Agee. The latest collaboration follows Baynton landing the Academy Award for Apple’s animated short The Boy the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. Little Santa as an animated musical comedy adventure will follow Santa Claus as a child on an Oz-like trek through the North Pole. The story.
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'Grinch 2' in the Works with Jim Carrey, Ron Howard
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►Merry Grinchmas everyone! THR's second-nicest man Aaron Couch has the massive scoop Universal and Imagine Entertainment are developing a sequel to 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with three key players expected to return. Jim Carrey is in talks to reprise his role as the Grinch, with Ron Howard returning to direct. Howard will produce alongside his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer. The untitled sequel will have a script by Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel. The trio also worked on the 2003 Seuss adaptation The Cat in the Hat starring Mike Myers. The story.
—The Mother of exclusives. Aaron has the scoop Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig heading to director’s chair for Hellmask, a new feature he will adapt from his own comic book. The project will mark his third feature as a filmmaker. Danzig’s publisher Verotik, which focuses on dark fantasy and horror, is behind Hellmask. According to the synopsis, Hellmask is "a violent supernatural tale steeped in gothic atmosphere." The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 And it's a hat trick from Aaron with the scoop that Universal and Amblin have picked up a hot spec from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the prolific idea generators behind A Quiet Place. Like everything with the duo, plot details are being kept under wraps, but it is said to be a high concept sci-fi movie that they will direct. Steven Spielberg will produce via Amblin Entertainment with Kristie Macosko Krieger and Holly Bario. The story.
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Annecy: The Can't Miss Premieres, Showcases and Sneak Peeks |
►Get animated! From Sunday, pretty much everyone who’s anyone in the animation world will descend on the lakeside town in the French Alps for the world’s largest animation film festival. THR's Scott Roxborough offers a guide to this year’s edition which features six packed days of premieres, panels, presentations and sneak peeks, running alongside the three-day MIFA industry market. The guide.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 THR likely lad Ryan Gajewski has the scoop on six more actors joining the cast of Amazon MGM Studios‘ Hello & Paris. Rupert Penry-Jones, Trudie Styler, Amber Valletta, Bella Maclean, Eliot Sumner and Thaddea Graham have joined the film, a romantic comedy feature from writer-director Elizabeth Chomko. Javier Bardem and Kate Hudson were previously announced to star in Hello & Paris, which is loosely inspired by author Deborah McKinlay’s 2014 novel, That Part Was True. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 Paramount is marking its calendar for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. The adaptation of the bestselling novel will arrive on Nov. 12, 2027. CODA filmmaker Siân Heder is directing, producing, and write the script, from earlier drafts by Mark Bomback and Gabrielle Zevin, the author of the book. Daisy Edgar-Jones stars in the feature, which per the logline "is a modern love story about two friends who meet as children and reunite as adults to create video games." The story.
—"Jason Momoa was born to play Lobo." The first wave of social media reactions are out for DC Studios' Supergirl. The Craig Gillespie-directed film stars Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, who sets out to save her beloved dog Krypto. Supergirl also stars Jason Momoa, making his fan-anticipated debut as the antihero Lobo. The reaction.
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Carlos Mencia Charged With Tax Evasion
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►Funny money. Comedian Carlos Mencia has been charged with tax evasion after Los Angeles prosecutors said he failed to pay taxes from 2019 to 2024. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office on Thursday brought 12 felony counts against Mencia for failing to report $8.7m in personal and business income, which translates to roughly $300,000 in state taxes. Mencia, whose real name is Ned Arnel Holness, was arrested earlier this morning at his Encino home. The story.
—Dragon-sized carrot. HBO has discounted its subscription price 40 percent in the U.S. ahead of the return of House of the Dragon for season three. The sale cuts the cost of all three HBO streaming tiers — basic with ads, standard or premium. The only catch: You can’t just pay for a month-by-month plan, you have to buy the annual plan, playing for 12 months in advance. But given that HBO has Harry Potter coming in December, it’s not like the streamer doesn’t have some good stuff on tap for genre fans. The story.
— 🤝 Sold! 🤝 Vox Media, the digital publisher that rose in the 2010s with ambitions to build itself up as a modern version of old school magazine titans like Time Inc., has sold off its remaining assets in a deal that winds down an era. Publishing brands, including food authority Eater, tech destination The Verge, sports network SB Nation, travel brand Thrillist, lifestyle site Popsugar, animal story-focused The Dodo and drinking culture site Punch, were acquired by THR-owner Penske Media. The story.
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►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.
—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this live episode Scott spoke to Jason Bateman. The former child actor-turned-multi-hyphenate reflects on his five years of work in front of and behind the camera on Ozark, the unanticipated success of his — and Will Arnett and Sean Hayes' — podcast SmartLess, and stepping outside his acting comfort zone on two limited series over the past year (Black Rabbit and DTF St. Louis). The podcast.
—Awards Chatter. In this episode Scott talked to Sam Levinson. The second generation writer/director behind some of the most envelope-pushing and polarizing small and big screen projects of the last decade — among them Malcolm & Marie, The Idol and his HBO drama series Euphoria — reflects on his own battle with addiction, "social media mobs" and the real-life tragedies that shaped his show's third and final season. The podcast.
—Awards Chatter. In this episode Scott talked to Tom Pelphrey. The character actor reflects on the importance of his college training and getting sober, his career-changing turn on Ozark and how becoming a parent with wife Kaley Cuoco helped to prepare him for his role of a lifetime in Task. The podcast.
—Awards Chatter. In this episode Scott talked to Ali Larter. The versatile actress reflects on how modeling led her to acting via a 1996 magazine cover; the challenge of finding multi-dimensional parts even as she rose to prominence in horror, comedy and superhero projects; and why the part of Angela Norris in Taylor Sheridan's Landman is a dream come true. The podcast.
—I’m Having an Episode. THR’s Mikey O’Connell attempts to stay on top of the latest TV and entertainment news with a little help from his friends, colleagues and a revolving door of actors, writers, showrunners and filmmakers. In this episode, Mikey interviews showrunner Katie Dippold who discusses the two-decade journey to creating Apple's Widow's Bay, the sleeper hit of the spring. Dippold also talks intense Halloween parties and the semantics of show business. But first! Lacey Rose returns to discuss THR roundtables, Harrison Ford and early Emmy momentum. The podcast.
In other news...
—Outer Banks crew head out on "last ride" in first teaser for final season
—WB's Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy to keynote Toronto Film Festival
—Liza Colón-Zayas, Jeff Hiller tapped to announce Emmy nominations
—Mýa signs with WME for representation
—David Sheiner, one of the poker players in The Odd Couple movie, dies at 98
What else we're reading...
—Adam Chandler considers why videos of World Cup tourists loving ranch dressing and Waffle House are so moving [WSJ]
—David Smith looks at what art we can expect from Chicago’s $850m Obama Presidential Center [Guardian]
—Ahead of the return of HBO's House of the Dragon, Alexis Soloski spoke to Matt Smith about his mid career tendency to play murderers and misanthropes [NYT]
—Sam Biddle reports that Israel asked Meta to censor Iran War content on Facebook and Instagram [The Intercept]
—Here's your Friday list: All 35 of Steven Spielberg’s movies, ranked from worst to best [THR]
Today...
...in 1981, Christopher Reeve returned as Warner Bros. unspooled Superman II in theaters in the U.S., months after critics appraised the sequel, with the film ultimately grossing more than $215m worldwide. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Zoe Saldaña (48), Paul Dano (42), Kathleen Turner (72), Hugh Dancy (51), Giacomo Gianniotti (37), Phylicia Rashad (78), Jean Dujardin (54), Paula Abdul (64), Robin Tunney (54), Millie Gibson (22), Mia Sara (59), Ryan Hurst (50), Sadie Frost (61), Aidan Turner (43), Samuel West (60), Ashly Burch (36), Poppy Montgomery (54), Atticus Shaffer (28), Virginia Hey (74), Lauren Lee Smith (46), Chelah Horsdal (53), Robin McLeavy (45), Mía Maestro (48), Chuku Modu (36), Helen George (42), Chris Larkin (59), Bumper Robinson (52), Lisa Chandler (41), Rebecca Field (49), Courtney Miller (31), Jessica Alexander (27), Michael Maloney (69), Molly Windsor (29)
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Tay Keith, the Grammy-nominated hip hop producer behind hits like Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode" and "Nonstop" by Drake, has died. He was 29. The obituary.
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