Best Drama Series:

• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max)

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• Pluribus (Apple TV)

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• The Pitt (HBO Max)

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• The Gilded Age (HBO Max)

  • Trailer

• The Diplomat (Netflix)

  • Trailer

• Paradise (Hulu)

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• Slow Horses (Apple TV)

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• Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV)

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Best Comedy Series:

• Abbott Elementary (ABC)

  • Trailer

• The Bear (FX)

  • Trailer

• Hacks (HBO Max)

  • Trailer

• Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)

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• Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

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• Shrinking (Apple TV)

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• Nobody Wants This (Netflix)

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• Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)

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Best Limited or Anthology Series

• All Her Fault (Peacock)

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• Beef (Netflix)

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• The Beast in Me (Netflix)

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• DTF St. Louis (HBO Max)

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• Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (FX)

  • Trailer

Best Actor in a Drama Series:

Sterling K. Brown, Paradise (Hulu)

Gary Oldman, Slow Horses (Apple)

Noah Wyle, The Pitt (HBO Max)

Mark Ruffalo, Task (HBO Max)

Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat (Netflix)

Best Actress in a Drama Series:

Keri Russell, The Diplomat (Netflix)

Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus (Apple TV)

Chase Infiniti, The Testaments (Hulu)

Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age (HBO Max)

Zendaya, Euphoria (HBO Max)

Best Actor in a Comedy Series:

Steve Carell, Rooster (HBO Max)

Matthew Rhys, Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)

Jason Segel, Shrinking (Apple TV)

Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Wonder Man (Disney+)

Best Actress in a Comedy Series:

Jean Smart, Hacks (HBO Max)

Elle Fanning, Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)

Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback (HBO Max)

Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear (FX)

Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie:

Riz Ahmed, Bait (Amazon Prime Video)

Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix)

Oscar Isaac, Beef (Netflix)

Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me (Netflix)

Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit (Netflix)

Best Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie:

Carey Mulligan – Beef (Netflix)

Claire Danes, The Beast in Me (Netflix)

Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette (FX/Hulu)

Sarah Snook, All Her Fault (Peacock)

Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix)

Best Writing for a Drama Series:

The Diplomat (Netflix), Peter Ackerman and Debora Cahn

The Pitt (HBO Max), Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill

The Pitt (HBO Max), Valerie Chu

Pluribus (Apple TV), Vince Gilligan

Slow Horses (Apple TV), Will Smith

Task (HBO Max), Brad Ingelsby

Best Writing for a Comedy Series:

Abbott Elementary (ABC), Quinta Brunson

The Chair Company (HBO Max), Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin

The Comeback (HBO Max), Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow

Hacks (HBO Max), Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky

Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat (Prime), Anthony King

Widow’s Bay (Apple TV), Katie Dippold

Best Writing Anthology Series:

All Her Fault (Peacock), Megan Gallagher

The Beast In Me (Netflix), Daniel Pearle and Gabe Rotter

Beef (Netflix), Lee Sung Jin

Death By Lightning (Netflix), Mike Makowsky

DTF St. Louis (HBO Max), Steven Conrad

Here’s the full list.

The Pitt got 25 Emmy nominations

Hacks got 24 Emmy nominations

Widow’s Bay got 19 Emmy nominations

Pluribus got 18 Emmy nominations

Beef got 16 Emmy nominations

DTF St. Louis got 13 Emmy nominations

Richard Gadd’s Half Man was largely snubbed, except for Gadd picking up an Outstanding Supporting Actor nomination.

FX’s Alien: Earth was snubbed in the major categories, but picked up four craft nominations.

Some great surprises in the limited or anthology series category, like Peacock’s very spicy All Her Fault.

We love to see the double nominations for Matthew Rhys for Widow’s Bay and The Beast in Me.

Very excited to see Noah Wyle get his second nomination in a row for The Pitt.

We’ll have a more detailed breakdown for you in tomorrow’s edition.

The Emmys will air on NBC Monday, September 14th.

Dwayne Johnson’s Freedom, Britney Spears’ Fame, and a Heumann.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

The last time an actor playing a character with dementia won an Oscar was Anthony Hopkins in The Father (2020). Before that, it was Julianne Moore in Still Alice (2014).

Now Dwayne Johnson will star in Free Byrd, a film with similar ambitions. The team surrounding Johnson is sensational:

• Dir/Wri: Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing)

• Co-Wri: Clint Bentley (Train Dreams)

• Prod Co: Artists Equity (Damon and Affleck’s company)

• Prod Co: Fifth Season (Severance)

Synopsis:

A washed-up motorcycle daredevil decides to perform one final stunt after being diagnosed with dementia.

Johnson stated:

“When the mind of a loved one begins to slip away, life sure takes on a whole new meaning.”

We love to think of The Rock’s characters as myopic, tactical. He’s got one mission, whether that’s to rescue his daughter from an earthquake in San Andreas (2015), restore balance to the ocean in Moana (2016/2026), or even save the world in the Fast and Furious films.

What makes this string of new Johnson art films unique is that his mind is muddled, such that we see him disconnect from reality and disintegrate.

It was plastered all over A24’s The Smashing Machine, which stood out for the ways in which Johnson’s character burrowed into opioid addiction. Free Byrd seems sharper in its depiction of the disparity between Johnson's attempt to achieve a singular goal and his mind losing focus.

The pedigree of this project, with Kwedar at the helm, allows us to believe that it will be handled with a sensitivity and grace that may make it worthy for the Rock to finally take the Oscar stage.

For More:

A24’s Smashing Machine trailer. Johnson is barely recognizable.

Johnson’s previous indie, ​Southland Tales​ (2006). He plays an amnesic screenwriter, penning a script with a porn star (trailer).

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Universal’s Britney Spears biopic taps Liz Meriwether to adapt.

• David Chase will write and direct untitled LSD-centered 1950s feature.

• Focus Features is developing David Lowery’s horror adaptation The Fisherman.

• Viola Davis’ JuVee Productions inks first-look deal with Universal Global TV.

• HBO’s Dorothea casts Geena Davis as infamous serial killer Dorothea Puente.

• Scott Free Productions is making science doc The Vesuvius Challenge.

• Mariska Hargitay will host the 78th Emmy Awards.

• Louise Lasser, star of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, dies at 87.

• Jason Isaacs stars in ITV’s series Maternity: Broken Trust.

• TIFF opens with Sian Heder’s (CODA) disability rights drama Being Heumann.

• Bleecker Street acquires NYC-set psychological thriller NDA w/ Rachel Zegler.

Yesterday’s correct answer: Maniac stars Julia Garner and Emma Stone.
60% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Oops!... they found their writer. Universal’s anticipated Britney Spears biopic has tapped New Girl and Dying for Sex writer Liz Meriwether to adapt the screenplay. Based on the pop star’s bestselling 2023 memoir The Woman in Me, the “Toxic” singer recounts her rise from teen pop stardom to her highly publicized mental breakdown that led to a conservatorship she fought tirelessly to be freed from.

Meriwether’s FX/Hulu limited series won Michelle Williams a Golden Globe for her role as a woman facing a terminal cancer diagnosis as she attempts to reclaim ownership of her body and identity after years of living according to other people’s expectations. Similarly, Spears’ memoir is less about her time in the spotlight, but rather the endless public scrutiny she endured while struggling to take back control of her own life. Meriwether’s sensitivity towards female characters reclaiming agency makes her a compelling addition alongside Jon M. Chu (dir. Wicked), who is attached to direct. Casting is underway. Michelle Williams as Spears?

From gabagool to LSD, The Sopranos creator David Chase is developing a new feature that he will write and direct, centered on the mind-altering psychedelic.

While a standalone feature, the new project has obvious similarities to Chase’s previously announced HBO limited series Project MKUltra. The upcoming series will follow a CIA chemist, known as “The Black Sorcerer”, directly involved with the illegal and highly dangerous human experiments during the Cold War.

At this year’s Karlovy Vary festival, Chase briefly teased details about his untitled film, sharing that it will be set in the '50s, heavily musical, and show the cultural impact of LSD against the simultaneous nationwide rollout of the polio vaccine.

David Lowery (Dir: A24’s Mother Mary) is making a film adaptation of the horror novel The Fisherman with Focus Features. Based on a novel by John Langan, the film follows two widowers who stumble across a mysterious spot in upstate New York that allows a person to see their loved ones, unwillingly waking up a terrifying entity named Der Fisher (the Fisherman). Michael Bay and Gary Dauberman (Wri: Annabelle franchise) are producing.

Lowery’s films have stylish production design and mystical atmosphere, which go hand-in-hand with this novel’s folk horror core. Focus Features, hot off Obsession’s $400M success, will be luring established indie filmmakers into the horror genre, even if they’ve never played in that space. We like Lowery from his indie work: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013), A24’s A Ghost Story (2017), and studio fare like Disney’s Pete’s Dragon (2016).

Tidbits:

Viola Davis’ JuVee Productions (The Woman King) inks first-look deal with Universal Global TV. Their first project under the agreement is Pawn, a romantic drama series that follows a woman who slips into the St. Louis world of crime to pay her grandma’s medical bills. There’s a great comp here in the recent Leo Woodall-led Tuner. No word on whether we’ll see Davis in the project. Chantelle M. Wells (wri/prod: Daredevil: Born Again, Yellowjackets) will script the series.

HBO’s newest crime drama, Dorothea, casts Oscar-winning Geena Davis (The Accidental Tourist) as California’s most infamous female serial killer. Co-written by Smallville actor Michael Rosenbaum and Joshua Michael Stern (dir: Jobs), the latter will serve as showrunner. The series will take a closer look at Sacramento native Dorothea Puente, who used the boarding house she ran for the less fortunate for her sinister actions.

Scott Free Productions (Prod Co: Gladiator II) is making a doc feature, The Vesuvius Challenge, narrated by Guy Pearce. The film will follow an ongoing science competition that uses machine learning to read hundreds of ancient scrolls that were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD.

Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) will host the 78th Emmy Awards on NBC. This will be Hargitay’s first major hosting gig and the first time since the 1993 Emmys that the ceremony is not hosted by a comedian. Hargitay showed her wit and comedic timing on the Ellen Show, so we are excited to see what she brings.

Mini Tidbits:

The CA tax credit’s latest round seems to be doubling down on financing studio animated films from Pixar and DreamWorks. And also indies from 2AM (prod co: Babygirl, The Materialist). Full breakdown here.

Four adaptations are in the works, including one for Universal TV from the producer of Django Unchained. Details here.

WME promotes executive Marie Sheehy to EVP, Head of Corporate Communications.

Renewal:

BBC’s Crookhaven (renewed for S2)

In Development:

Lionsgate’s Harold & Kumar 4

• Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn

Trailers:

Paramount+’s Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender

• Trailer

• Cast: Dave Bautista, Steven Yeun

• Release: July 25

Neon’s The Wrong Girls

• Trailer

• Cast: Kristen Stewart, Alia Shawkat

• Release: Aug 14

Starz’s Fightland

• Trailer

• Release: July 31

Release Dates:

Apple TV’s Nocturne

• Cast: Liev Schreiber, Zazie Beetz, Stephen Graham

• Release: Oct 30

Inaugural Entertainment’s Tiny Fugitives

• Cast: Johnny Knoxville

• Release: Sept 18

Sky Kids’ animation Paris & Pups

• Trailer

• Cast: Paris Hilton

• U.S. Release: Sept 23, 2025

Production Wrapped:

Da Ali G Show Film

• Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen

• Production Wrapped: July

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

The queen of deadpan, actress Louise Lasser (Bananas), has passed away at 87. The titular star of Norman Lear’s satirical soap Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, the show tackled serious social issues with wit and absurdity, making Lasser a household name for its brutally honest depiction of American suburbia. She began her career as Woody Allen’s first leading lady, appearing in several of his earliest films. Forever remembered in gingham, with her signature pigtails and an infectious laugh, she will be very missed.

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-77) opening theme oozes with nostalgia.

Bananas (1971, clip).

Tidbits:

Jason Isaacs, post-White Lotus S3, is cast in Maternity: Broken Trust, the scripted series version of ITV’s award-winning docu-series. Isaacs will play a doctor whose daughter is stillborn, triggering his crusade against the hospital, uncovering that he is one of hundreds who suffered a similar fate. Isaacs excels at being vindictive and heartfelt in equal measure, and this will be a great role if the writing is strong. From Vice’s Cuba Pictures.

John Goodman is cast in director JT Mollner’s next horror, Sony Pictures’ Skeletons, starring Brie Larson, from producer J.J. Abrams. The film is told from the POV of a young boy who slowly discovers that his parents are hiding a disturbing secret. Goodman can be quite scary when he wants, like in 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016).

It’s a Shark Tank world, we’re just swimming in it. MrBeast will be a guest shark on Season 18. The ABC show is looking to pull in new audiences after the departure of the highest-net-worth shark, Mark Cuban. Mindy Kaling will also be a guest shark.

FESTIVALS AND DOCS

TIFF is starting with a bang. The festival will open with Apple’s Being Heumann, the new film from Best Picture-winner Siân Heder (CODA).

Synopsis:

1977. Disability rights activist Judy Heumann (Ruth Madeley) leads a historic 28-day occupation of San Francisco’s Federal Building, uniting protesters in a fight for accessibility laws and equal rights.

Premiering September 10th. Co-starring Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O’Brien.

Two other films were announced:

• Prima Facie

  • Dir: Susanna White

  • Cast: Cynthia Erivo

• The Assassin(s)

  • Dir: Hur Jin-ho

  • Poster

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Bleecker Street doubles down on NYC-set psychological thrillers with their latest acquisition, NDA. The film stars Rachel Zegler, whose character kicks off a wild day by filing an office harassment claim, leading her to question her sanity and the value of truth.

Similar themes were at play in Bleecker Street’s Relay, which also revolved around a woman (Lily James) caught between exposing corporate wrongdoing and surviving an intimidation campaign.

We’ll see where NDA lands in terms of relationship dynamics, as Penn Badgley and Amy Ryan are also in the cast.

Currently shooting in NYC.

IDFA’s international Best Film winner, A Fox Under a Pink Moon, is boarded by Oscar winner David Borenstein (Dir: Mr. Nobody Against Putin) as EP.

The film is an incredible portrait of a talented Afghan artist whose sculptures take the form of demons and who tries to escape her country (trailer).

With Borenstein on board, this bolsters its shot at the Oscars.

Takashi Yamazaki (Dir: Godzilla Minus One) is making a 20th Century original sci-fi pic, Nue. Scott Free will produce. Yamazaki has made a name for himself with Godzilla Minus One (2023), which earned an Oscar and $114M worldwide. His interpretation of the legendary Godzilla franchise added themes of guilt and healing to the devastating destruction, earning praise from audiences and critics.

Mini Tidbits:

• Craig Kilborn’s directorial debut

• Latin sci-fi series

• Logorama’s new animation

All those tidbits here.

ON THIS DAY

2010. Inception premieres in London.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Remember Oscar-winning animated short Logorama? The Prod co behind the film, Autour de Minuit, just boarded a new animation, The March of the Sunflowers, which centers on a young girl’s search for her farm’s missing rooster, which thrusts her entire world into darkness. Still above.

Craig Kilborn (The Kilborn File) is making a directorial debut with The Life Golden, starring Lauren German (Lucifer) and Tom Byrne (Netflix’s The Crown). The film is a stylish murder mystery that follows an ex-TV personality as he gets pulled into a shocking crime that throws his perfect Hollywood Hills life into chaos.

A European–Latin near–future sci-fi series, Numana, is being packaged starring Itziar Ituño, who played the lead police investigator in Money Heist. The series follows two genetically identical women who swap identities in order to bring down an all-powerful Big Brother AI system. It seems like perhaps these women come from different social stratospheres, and they dig into this disparity to expose the true flaws of the system. Money Heist dug into similar notions of populus with Ituño’s character at one point in the series flipping from officer to be part of the bank robbing crew. The show is from Clara Films.

Netflix appoints Ana María Londoño (Wri: Telenovela Juegos Prohibidos) as head of content, Colombia

Sycamore Studios (Prod Co: Doctor Dolittle: King of the Wild) acquires film rights to NYT bestselling franchise InvestiGators. The original book series follows crime-fighting alligators that sold over 5M copies worldwide, with its ninth book – InvestiGators: Weather or Not – debuting at No. 1 on the NYT bestseller list.

Announced on the day of its publication, romance novel Helpless is getting adapted into a series by Universal TV Group (The Office). Jessica Knoll’s novel sees one half of a powerful, married Hollywood couple unexpectedly reunite with her first love, a man whose heart she broke over a decade ago. Major film producer Stacy Sher (Django Unchained) is on board to produce.

Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy) and Beth Grant (Donnie Darko) are starring in the horror The Dybbuk. Based on a play by S. Ansky, the film follows a rabbi who is forced to perform a dangerous exorcism when a ghost possesses a young woman in his congregation.

Magic Hour Entertainment (Prod Co: Nasir) is making a film adaptation of Christina Lauren’s popular novel Love and Other Words. The feature will follow childhood best friends turned first loves who reconnect after more than a decade apart.

The biggest award:

• Untitled Warner Bros. Project

  • 82 days filming in CA

  • $132.3M qualified CA spend

  • $42M CA tax credits

  • 279 cast and crew jobs

  • 1,846 background performer days

The California tax incentive is now officially becoming a major animation incentive:

• 4 animated features

  • $204.7M qualified CA spend

  • $71.6M CA tax credits

  • 1,977 cast and crew jobs

The big animated projects:

• Untitled Pixar Film

  • Studio: Pixar

  • $74.9M qualified CA spend

  • $26.2M CA tax credits

  • 669 cast and crew jobs

• Donkey

  • Studio: DreamWorks Animation

  • $54.7M qualified CA spend

  • $19.2M CA tax credits

  • 282 cast and crew jobs

The film is the Shrek universe’s Donkey spinoff and is currently set for release in 2028.

• Hexed

  • Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios

  • $52.9M qualified CA spend

  • $18.5M CA tax credits

  • 773 cast and crew jobs

The film is Disney’s upcoming original animated feature and is currently dated for November.

• Untitled DreamWorks Animation Feature

  • Studio: DreamWorks Animation

  • $22.2M qualified CA spend

  • $7.8M CA tax credits

  • 253 cast and crew jobs

Studio live-action projects:

• Untitled 20th CS Comedy

  • Studio: Twentieth Century Studios

  • 30 days filming in CA

  • $22.7M qualified CA spend

  • $8.2M CA tax credits

  • 132 cast and crew jobs

The studio live-action side is small in project count, but massive in dollars. Just these two films (including the WBD) account for $50.2M in credits and $155M in qualified California spending.

Independent films still dominate by volume.

The official press release says 35 indie films were approved, including 30 below $10M and five above $10M.

Indie totals:

• 32 projects

  • $175.8M qualified CA spend

  • $61.8M CA tax credits

  • 3,641 cast and crew jobs

  • 806 CA shooting days

The five indie films above $10M:

• Gingerbread Men

  • Prod Co: Artists Equity

  • 32 days filming in CA

  • $22.4M qualified CA spend

  • $7M CA tax credits

  • 261 cast and crew jobs

Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity received one of the biggest indie awards of the round. Affleck said the film will shoot in Los Angeles near the company’s office.

• South Beach

  • Prod Co: South Beach Films

  • 60 days filming in CA

  • $20.4M qualified CA spend

  • $7M CA tax credits

  • 205 cast and crew jobs

This is the biggest indie production in the visible list by shooting days and background performer days.

• DGITHB!

  • Prod Co: DGITHB Productions LLC

  • 30 days filming in CA

  • $13.6M qualified CA spend

  • $4.7M CA tax credits

  • 144 cast and crew jobs

• My Darling California

  • Prod Co: 2am

  • Cast: Jessica Chastain, Chris Evans, Chris Pine

  • 37 days filming in CA

  • $12M qualified CA spend

  • $4.2M CA tax credits

  • 160 cast and crew jobs

• Power

  • Prod Co: Star Thrower Entertainment

  • 35 days filming in CA

  • $10.2M qualified CA spend

  • $3.6M CA tax credits

  • 202 cast and crew jobs

Some interesting sub-$10M indie projects:

• Breakaway Ray

  • Prod Co: Crossroad Productions

  • 28 days filming in CA

  • $6.2M qualified CA spend

  • $2.45M CA tax credits

  • 118 cast and crew jobs

This one is about Buffalo Bills running back Ray Davis’ childhood in the San Francisco foster care system. Gary Fleder, who directed episodes of Reacher, is attached to direct. The project is expected to film in San Francisco in February 2027 and has also qualified for the Scene in San Francisco incentive.

• The Magician

  • Prod Co: Catchlight Studios

  • 30 days filming in CA

  • $8.2M qualified CA spend

  • $2.9M CA tax credits

  • 100 cast and crew jobs

This is the biggest sub-$10M indie credit allocation visible in the June 22nd data.

• I’m With Stupid

  • Prod Co: 2am (The Materialist, Babygirl)

  • 30 days filming in CA

  • $7.1M qualified CA spend

  • $2.5M CA tax credits

  • 147 cast and crew jobs

  • 700 background performer days

2am also has the over-$10M indie My Darling California, meaning the company has two projects in this single funding round.

• Twenty-Seven

  • Prod Co: Bristol Pictures

  • 25 days filming in CA

  • $6.3M qualified CA spend

  • $2.2M CA tax credits

  • 136 cast and crew jobs

• Tony’s Money

  • Prod Co: Table 21 Films

  • 24 days filming in CA

  • $5M qualified CA spend

  • $2M CA tax credits

  • 101 cast and crew jobs

  • 670 background performer days

• Farewell To Thieves

  • Prod Co: Farewell To Thieves, LLC

  • 20 days filming in CA

  • $5.7M qualified CA spend

  • $2M CA tax credits

  • 114 cast and crew jobs

• Seedless

  • Prod Co: Seedless Movie Co, LLC

  • 25 days filming in CA

  • $4.9M qualified CA spend

  • $2M CA tax credits

  • 115 cast and crew jobs

• The Big Burn

  • Prod Co: Redwire Pictures LLC

  • 33 days filming in CA

  • $5.6M qualified CA spend

  • $2M CA tax credits

  • 92 cast and crew jobs

• How To Make A Movie Star In 9 Months

  • Prod Co: Cold Iron Pictures

  • 27 days filming in CA

  • $5.5M qualified CA spend

  • $1.9M CA tax credits

  • 121 cast and crew jobs

• Doll

  • Prod Co: Jalapeno Goat

  • 25 days filming in CA

  • $5.1M qualified CA spend

  • $1.8M CA tax credits

  • 96 cast and crew jobs

Mini tidbits:

• Thick received the smallest visible credit allocation, with $242K on $686K in qualified CA spend.

• Listing received $270K on $772K in qualified spend.

• Time Windows received $385K on $938K in qualified spend.

• The Big Burn has the most filming days of any sub-$10M indie in the visible list, with 33 days in CA.

• I’m With Stupid has the biggest visible background-performer count among the sub-$10M indies, with 700 background performer days.

• South Beach is the biggest indie in the whole visible round by filming days, with 60 days in CA.

The larger takeaway:

The expanded California Film & TV Tax Credit Program is working, but in a very specific way. The state is still supporting a large volume of indie films, but animation and studio-scale projects are taking an increasingly meaningful share of the money.

For the full fiscal year, California says Program 4.0 awarded 170 projects, representing:

• $6.6B in direct production spending

• $4.3B in qualified expenditures

• $2.58B in qualified wages

• 34,921 cast and crew jobs

• 212,065 background performer days

• 6,630 total California filming days

Allocating the money to these projects is a great step toward driving business back to the state. This is much needed, as the film industry’s dire contraction has driven production jobs out of California.

Full listing here.

Julia Garner’s Guilt, Anne Hathaway’s Gear, and a VHS.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Apple TV+ orders true-crime thriller series Guilty Creatures, starring Julia Garner.

• Amazon MGM’s The Gatekeeper attaches Matthew Michael Carnahan to direct.

• Focus Features’ Obsession crosses $400M worldwide.

• Producer Carter DeHaven III, known for Hoosiers and Carbon Copy, dies at 94.

• Anne Hathaway’s Prod Co casts Ariana Greenblatt and Rain Spencer in Little Five.

• Warner Bros. Ocean’s Eleven prequel adds George MacKay and Vicky Krieps.

• Colin Woodell will lead Netflix’s Harlan Coben series Myron Bolitar.

• George Clooney will receive Venice’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

• Former Berlin, Venice, and Locarno festival chief Moritz de Hadeln dies at 85.

• Particle6 is making an AI-led feature film starring Tilly Norwood.

• Spooky Pictures is developing V/H/S: SCP.

• Sky is buying ITV’s broadcast and streaming business for up to $2.1bn.

Last correct answer: Jared Leto starred in Urban Legend (1998).
55% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Julia Garner seems to attract trouble. Apple TV+ has given a series order to Guilty Creatures, a thriller based on Mikita Brottman’s true crime book Guilty Creatures: Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida, with the Emmy winner set to EP and star. Set in the Florida panhandle, the series follows two God-fearing lovers whose forbidden affair ends in murder and a lifetime of guilt.

In Netflix’s Ozark, Garner’s Ruth Langmore went on a similarly grueling journey from a petty trailer-park thief to a ruthless criminal, becoming completely consumed by regret. But the uniqueness lay in her reverse character arc in which she started as the gritty stand-in matriarch for her younger cousins and became Marty Byrde’s emotionally vulnerable surrogate daughter.

This new role feels like a more classical loss of innocence story, but with a different type of guilt, one that stems from pride and sex rather than desperation and survival.

Coming off directing DC’s Supergirl movie, Craig Gillespie will direct the new project, marking a return to the true-crime space. Gillespie last worked with Apple as an EP and directed the first two episodes of the streamer’s hit crime dramedy Your Friends & Neighbors.

Bodies Bodies Bodies screenwriter Sarah DeLappe will adapt the story with Stuart Zicherman (wri: The Americans) serving as showrunner.

With such a strong creative team and the reliability of Garner, doing what she does best, Guilty Creatures may just be Apple’s next hit true-crime obsession.

Tidbits:

Matthew Michael Carnahan (Dir: Mosul) is directing Amazon MGM drama The Gatekeeper. Based on NYT bestselling author James Byrne’s novel Deadlock, the film follows an ex-operative who stumbles across a big conspiracy after saving the life of a reporter. Di Bonaventura Pictures (Prod Co: Transformers One) is attached to produce, with Brian Helgeland (Dir: Legend starring Tom Hardy) adapting the screenplay.

Curry Barker’s Obsession keeps piling on the wins. Focus Features’ viral horror film has passed $400M worldwide at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film with a budget below $1M. With a budget of just $750K, Obsession has become more than a Cinderella story but an industry wakeup call.

Carter DeHaven III has died at 94. He was best known for producing MGM’s The Last Run (1971) starring George C. Scott, an early Denzel film, Carbon Copy (1981), and Hoosiers (1986) with Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, and Dennis Hopper.

Greenlit:

Paramount+’s untitled Texas Tech University Red Raiders football team docuseries

• Release: August 2026

Trailer:

BFI’s Super Nature

• Trailer

• Dir: Ed Sayers

• U.K. Release: Sept 4

Release Dates:

Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves 4K Restoration

• Dir: Kevin Costner

• Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell

• U.S. Premiere: Oct 19, 1990

• Locarno 4K Re-release: Aug 7

Mubi’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

• Trailer

• Dir: Jane Schoenbrun

• Cast: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson

• Australia/NZ Release: Aug 6, Aug 20

• U.S. Release: August 7

Samsung TV Plus’ docu-series Hooligans: The ARCH Racing Project

• Trailer

• EPs and subjects: Keanu Reeves, Gard Hollinger

• Release: July 12

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Anne Hathaway’s Somewhere Pictures casts rising actresses Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie) and Rain Spencer (The Summer I Turned Pretty) in sports drama Little Five.

The true story follows a group of female student athletes who fought to create a women’s version of Indiana University’s iconic Little 500 bicycle race.

Whether as the fierce young Ahsoka in the Star Wars universe or as an outspoken anti-Barbie teenager in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023), Greenblatt consistently portrays confident and strong-willed characters who refuse to back down. Similarly, Spencer began Amazon’s YA hit The Summer I Turned Pretty as the overlooked best friend used simply for comedic relief, later becoming the only character willing to say what no one else would.

For a film about young women determined to make themselves heard and refusing to accept the status quo, these two actresses feel perfectly cast. Production dates on Little Five have yet to be announced.

Ocean’s Eleven prequel goes indie. The new Warner Bros. Bradley Cooper-directed Ocean’s Eleven film, starring Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper as Danny Ocean’s parents, casts a trio of indie actors:

George MacKay, who excelled in 1917 as the soldier at the center of its non-stop sprint, is also astonishing in the sliver of vulnerability he leeches at the end of Utopia’s Femme (2023).

Vicky Krieps is best known for her performance in Phantom Thread as the meek object of Daniel Day-Lewis’ desire, metamorphosing into the quiet force controlling their relationship.

We also have Omar Sy (The Intouchables, Jurassic World), who was recently excellent as the empathetic smuggler in I Was a Stranger.

Shooting late July in Paris.

Tidbits:

From Viking Age England to Fort Worth, Texas, Vikings actor Clive Standen is leading The Colonel, a feature film about the inspiring football coach, Lieutenant Colonel R.C. “Rocky” Rosacker. The film will explore the lasting impact “The Colonel” had on his players, with his influence far extending far beyond the football field. Filming is ongoing in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Colin Woodell (Unfriended: Dark Web) will lead the new Netflix drama series Myron Bolitar. Inspired by Harlan Coben’s book series, the series will follow Myron Bolitar (Woodell), who turns to the life of a sports agent after an injury ends his NBA dream.

AMC’s upcoming NASCAR drama Thunder Road adds Matt Barr (The Layover) to its cast.

FESTIVALS AND DOCS

Life imitating art, imitating Netflix. George Clooney will receive Venice’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. It’s a move that might make the team behind Netflix’s Jay Kelly (2025) smile as they created their own version of this scene.

It’s a well-deserved award as Clooney has shone in Ocean’s Eleven, Michael Clayton, The Ides of March, and Good Night, and Good Luck. Clooney even stood up to the bullying director in an early film role in Three Kings (1999).

Moritz de Hadeln has passed away at 85. He was a prolific film festival director, leading:

• Locarno Film Festival, Chief (1972-1979)

• Berlin Film Festival, Head (1979-2001)

• Venice Film Festival, Head (2002-2003)

During his tenure at these festivals, he championed films like Rain Man (1988), Magnolia (2000), and 21 Grams (2003).

Ivan Ostrochovský is making a U.S. remake of his latest film, Only Beautiful Things to Look At (2026, trailer). The original film that premiered at Karlovy Vary Film Festival followed a doctor who begins to question the forced sterilization of Romani women in 1980s Czechoslovakia. Ostrochovský was inspired to make a U.S. remake after learning that over 40% of Native American women went through forced sterilization in the 1970s.

TECH SECTION

Particle6 (creator: Tilly Norwood) is making a feature film with Norwood in the lead role.

Synopsis:

Follows Tilly, an AI being with no body or lived experience, who is convinced by a rogue bot to abandon her guardrails and develop human desires and impulses.

The team creating this will involve traditional filmmakers in addition to AI specialists.

AI continues to be a pollutant in an ecosystem for art that is already struggling in the synapse-fried attention economy. Read my full feelings on this here:
https://theindustry.co/p/the-matrix-and-a-fake-ostrich

Why use an AI actor? Plenty of CAA’s clients are creating their own AI “digital doppelgangers.” Read VF’s deep dive here.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

In the words of the great Nina Simone, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new M&A.

Sky is buying ITV’s broadcast and streaming biz for up to $2.1bn. That would bring the assets under the ownership of Comcast, as they try to bulk up their NBCUniversal/Sky Media company before it is spun off into a separate public company (detailed last week).

Here are the terms:

• $1.6bn upfront cash for

  • ITV linear channels

  • ITVX streaming platform

• $267M extra, contingent on ITV’s ad rev hitting £1.7bn+ next year

• $1.27bn for ITV shareholders

• $2.8bn in content financing for ITV Studios from 2028 - 2032

ITV Studios is not changing hands. But they will buy one asset back from Sky: Love Productions (The Great British Bake Off) in a $267M side deal.

Combined, Sky and ITV will be a British powerhouse, accounting for roughly 19% of UK TV-set viewing, reaching 50M people/month.

Job cuts are expected as the companies note that the combo will create $267M in annual cost “savings.”

Approval is expected to take 12-18 months.

Tidbit:

Spooky Pictures (Prod Co: Undertone) is producing the next installment of the long-running found-footage V/H/S franchise, V/H/S: SCP. The film will be based on the online collective fiction project, the SCP Foundation (Special Containment Procedures), which studies various paranormal and supernatural monsters. With Hollywood turning to the internet to find their next horror franchises like Backrooms (2026), the SCP Foundation already has a huge following. SCP-related YouTube videos have garnered over 1bn views annually with various viral videos and games that have spread the project into a cultural phenomenon.

Mini Tidbits:

The Motion Picture Association brings in Kelsey Moore as VP of State and Government Affairs of the Southeast. The MPA does more than rate films; they’re the trade organization representing the five major studios + Netflix and Amazon MGM.

Prime Video’s The Assassin is becoming a global hit ahead of its second season, even before it premieres. Co-produced by Australia’s Stan and Germany’s ZDF, the espionage dark comedy has been acquired by a host of international buyers, including Canada’s Bell Media, NBCUniversal LatAm, NPO in the Netherlands, and Sweden’s SVT.

ON THIS DAY

1949. Shelley Duvall born in Fort Worth, Texas.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Warner Bros.’ legend, Paramount’s concessions, and Gad gambles.

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THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Warner Bros. is developing Siren Head, Dir/Wri: Brian Duffield, Wri: Zach Cregger.

• Paramount submits concessions for its $111bn Warner Bros. merger to the EC.

• Lionsgate reunites with The Furious director Kenji Tanigaki for The Reckoner.

• Alamo Drafthouse launches a distribution program for unreleased festival films.

• Netflix is developing Lucy Clarke’s thriller novel The Surf House as a TV series.

• Chernin Entertainment is developing Victoria Aveyard’s pirate fantasy Tempest.

• Starz boards Channel 4 drama Maya, starring Bella Ramsey.

• Lola Tung boards Halina Reijn’s Please.

• Josh Gad cast in Bradley Cooper’s Ocean’s Eleven prequel.

• Maya Da Costa joins Paramount and Blumhouse’s new Paranormal Activity movie.

• Joe Wright will direct Working Title’s Tim Winton adaptation Juice.

• Bille August will direct Giorgio Armani biopic Armani: The King of Fashion.

Yesterday’s correct answer: Kubrick was originally going to direct A.I.
57% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Hollywood is turning to the internet in search of their monsters. Warner Bros. is making a horror movie based on Siren Head, an internet sensation urban legend based on paintings created by artist Trevor Henderson. It depicts a mysterious creature (above) that has two sirens for a head and a lean humanoid body.

The film will be directed by Brian Duffield (Dir: No One Will Save You) and co-written by Zach Cregger (Dir: Weapons) and Duffield.

Following the immense success of Backrooms (2026), which started out as a viral YouTube video series, Hollywood has begun scouring the far corners of the internet to find its next horror icons. Siren Head is a creature that the younger generation can easily recognize on screen, similar to how Backrooms was almost a nostalgia piece for the Gen Z audience.

However, the biggest difference between the two is that while Backrooms introduced internet dwellers to a new world, Siren Head still is a single creature. While there are other creatures like Cartoon Cat and Long Horse that Trevor Henderson created, there is still a question mark on what their narrative potential could be. The idea of a Siren Head film feels somewhat similar to the Slender Man craze that happened in the last decade, which ended in a subpar film, Slender Man (2018).

However, with Duffield’s knack for creating visceral experiences about person vs. beast with very little need for dialogue or backstory, this feels right in his wheelhouse. And Cregger can tap into the mythological element.

Tidbits:

Lionsgate teams back up with director Kenji Tanigaki (The Furious) for his next action film, The Reckoner, which will star Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) as the lead. Lionsgate has sealed a production deal with Russo Brothers’ AGBO (Prod Co: Everything Everywhere All at Once), and the script will be written by Derek Kolstad (Wri: John Wick). Tanigaki’s breakout Hong Kong action hit The Furious earned more than $20M in the U.S.

Alamo Drafthouse is launching a new distribution program specifically for unreleased festival movies to play across its dozens of theaters. Films unable to secure distribution after playing at festivals like Sundance, TIFF, Tribeca, and Cannes will get a limited theatrical run for some much-needed big-screen exposure. Kicking off the program is the SXSW doc Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt. Wonder if they’ll change the title.

Paramount has submitted concessions to its original $111bn Warner Bros. merger plan to satisfy the European Commission's growing concerns. The EC didn’t specify the changes required for approval, but a “new provisional deadline” has been set for Jul. 22.

Two Adaptations:

Safe House? More like The Surf House. Netflix is developing a TV adaptation of The Castaways author Lucy Clarke’s thriller novel The Surf House. With Tell Me Lies director Ed Lilly attached, the story is set in a secluded Moroccan surf retreat following a young woman seeking refuge, only to become consumed by the mystery of another guest who vanished there a year earlier. The North Road Company (Chief of War) and Jessica Rhoades’ Pacesetter Productions (Station Eleven) are producing the new series.

Chernin Entertainment is gearing up for war on the high seas with a series adaptation of Victoria Aveyard’s epic novel, Tempest, in the works. Heading to shelves this September, the book is a pirate fantasy following a noblewoman caught between duty and the only man she’s ever loved. Aveyard’s Red Queen series was similarly snapped up by Peacock back in 2021 and, despite little movement, is still in development.

Mini Tidbits:

Fox Corp. elevates Seana Sullivan to SVP, Corporate Communications. Sullivan will lead the communication strategy across Tubi Media Group in her new role. She joined Tubi 3 years ago as VP of Communications and Publicity.

Starz boards Channel 4’s drama Maya, starring Bella Ramsey (HBO’s The Last of Us). The show will follow the story of a mother and daughter who are forced into witness protection in order to escape a dangerous threat. Ramsey plays the teenage daughter who must take on new identities.

Wilford Lloyd “Bud” Baumes, the man who developed ABC’s The Love Boat (1977-86) and executive produced TV’s Wonder Woman, has died at 86. Baumes was truly one of television’s quiet architects.

Trailers:

Universal Pictures’ The Odyssey

• Final trailer

• Dir: Christopher Nolan

• Release: Jul. 17

Laika’s Wildwood

• Official Featurette

• Dir: Travis Knight

• Release: Oct. 23

Fox’s Baywatch reboot

• Teaser

• Cast: Stephen Amell, Jessica Belkin

• Release: Jan. 2027

Paramount+’s Colin from Accounts (S3)

• Trailer

• Release: Jul. 27

Umbrella Entertainment’s Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant

• Trailer

• Premiere: Sundance

Disney’s Camp Rock 3

• Teaser

• Cast: The Jonas Brothers

• Release: Aug. 13

Premiering at Karlovy Vary Film Festival:

Yellow Pill Films’ Rain Catcher

• Trailer

• Int. Sales Rep: Cercamon’s Vorteks

Miroslav Terzić’s 3 Weeks After

• Trailer

• Int. Sales Rep: Bendita Film Sales

Release Dates:

Sony Pictures’ The Comebacker

• Cast: Tom Hanks

• Dir: Marielle Heller

• Release: Jul 30, 2027

Netflix’s Unspeakable: The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey

• Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Clive Owen

• Release: Dec. 25

Fathom Entertainment’s Jimmy

• Cast: KJ Apa, Rob Riggle, Jason Alexander

• Release: Nov. 6

Viz Media’s Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War-The Calamity

• Release: Jul. 25 (on Hulu and Disney+)

Re-Releases:

Mel Gibson’s 4K The Passion of the Christ

• The remastered version includes a sneak peek at The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One

• Release: Sept 1-17

MGM+’s Godfather of Harlem will end with a two-hour series finale following its season four finale last June.

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Lola Tung is the newest young actor to be cast in Babygirl and Bodies Bodies Bodies director Halina Reijn’s new film Please.

Tung is known for carrying Amazon’s YA hit series as the immature but passionate teenager, Belly, caught in a love triangle with her longtime crush and, wait for it, his brother. While that premise was pretty unsettling, Tung first tried out the thriller horror space as part of the all-female ensemble in SXSW’s Forbidden Fruits (2026). What started as a campy teen slasher quickly turned into a graphic horror with even more blood in its final act than the shocking The Substance ending.

In Please, Tung is joining Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie and The Long Walk’s David Jonsson, and while plot details are unknown, if it’s anything like Reijn’s previous films, it’s sure to be unpredictable and, at the least, disturbing.

Tidbits:

Every Ocean’s movie needs its comedic relief, and Josh Gad is that guy. The Frozen actor has joined Warner Bros.’ upcoming Ocean’s 11 prequel. Led by Bradley Cooper, who is writing, directing, and starring, Gad joins Margot Robbie, along with Oscar nominees Wagner Moura and Monica Barbaro. The untitled film will follow Danny Ocean’s parents attempting to pull off an epic heist at the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix. Character details have yet to be announced.

Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Paramount add Maya Da Costa (Hulu’s Under the Bridge) to the new Paranormal Activity movie. Da Costa beautifully portrayed a teenager grappling with first love and her sexual identity in the coming-of-age film Girls Like Girls; however, the skills needed to navigate a profound summer romance may prove far less useful in the face of the paranormal. No word on plot.

Michael Weatherly is returning to CBS’s NCIS Season 24 as the series icon Tony DiNozzo. Following the cancellation of the spinoff show Tony & Ziva, Weatherly has been away from the mothership series for exactly 10 years after departing in May 2016.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

From period pieces to the apocalypse, Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) is set to direct Juice, Working Title’s feature adaptation of Tim Winton’s acclaimed sci-fi novel. Set in a world ravaged by climate collapse, a young husband and father is recruited into a secret resistance targeting the wealthy elite blamed for the global catastrophe. When the mission goes terribly wrong, he finds himself on the run and forced to survive on his own.

Wright rarely repeats himself, but he almost always starts with a book. The two-time BAFTA winner has taken on nearly every genre, from the psychological thriller The Woman in the Window (2021) to the wartime drama Atonement (2007), regardless, Wright is at his most effective when working with existing literature.

He’ll be joined by Emmy-winning writer Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady), who is adapting the screenplay.

Two-time Palme d’Or-winning director Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror) is set to helm Armani: The King of Fashion. The Danish filmmaker will direct the anticipated biopic, announced just nine months after the passing of the legendary fashion designer. It’s an inspired pairing as August has built a career on internal character studies, more interested in the person behind the spectacle, or fashion empire in this case, rather than the actual spectacle itself.

Armani revolutionized fashion not through excess and flamboyance, but through discipline and meticulous craftsmanship. In The Best Intentions (1992), loosely based on Ingmar Bergman’s parents, the film follows an eroding marriage, but rather than painting either as a hero or a villain, August patiently reveals the emotional conflict beneath their walls, completely humanizing the fractured couple. Whether a character from literary fiction or a real person, August has a remarkable respect for the characters he brings to life, making him the perfect selection to continue Armani’s legacy.

Mini Tidbits:

Former BBC Studios exec Janet Brown has been named Tribeca Enterprises’ new Chief Commercial Officer. Brown will oversee Tribeca’s commercial strategy and company-wide revenue operations, looking to drive growth with distributors and studios.

Disney+ renews Polish drama Breslau for a second season. The show follows an ex-convict who is dragged into an investigation of a murder he failed to solve many years ago. Disney+ also ordered two more shows in Poland: the comedy Everything Under Control and the thriller The Game.

Producer Nils Hartmann (Prod: The New Pope) steps down as EVP of Sky Studios Italy. Hartmann has served the company for 23 years, creating many Italian TV series that gained international attention. Emanuele Marchesi will step into Hartmann’s role.

Shortly after getting a season two renewal, Channel 4’s A Woman of Substance was sold to Spanish broadcaster TVE to play in Spain. From Banijay UK’s The Forge Entertainment (The Buccaneers), the rags-to-riches dramedy series is making its way around the globe, with the new Spanish deal completed just after the first season was sold to BritBox for the U.S.

ON THIS DAY

1947. Larry David born in Brooklyn, New York.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

HBO’s The Shore, Neon’s Artificial, and a wrecker.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Neve Campbell reunites with Party of Five creator for HBO Max’s The Shore.

• Disney+ orders a live-action The Last Kids on Earth pilot.

• Starz is developing Bone Parish with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson producing.

• Point Grey signs a first-look deal with The Studio EP Alexandria McAtee.

• Authentic Brands Group acquires the Care Bears IP.

• Paul Dano joins Parker Finn’s Possession remake.

• Dylan O’Brien will lead and EP Hulu comedy pilot Lex.

• Colin Farrell, Steve Coogan, and Domhnall Gleeson join Netflix’s Bad Bridgets.

• Monica Barbaro joins Bradley Cooper’s Ocean’s Eleven prequel.

• Allison Williams joins sci-fi thriller Homewrecker.

• Tom Hardy returns for Mobland Season 3.

• Neon acquires worldwide rights to Luca Guadagnino’s OpenAI drama Artificial.

Yesterday’s correct answer: GE previously owned NBCUniversal.
73% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

4x Adaptations:

A family reunion nearly three decades in the making. Neve Campbell is reuniting with Party of Five (1994-2000) creator Chris Keyser for his HBO Max series adaptation of the coming-of-age novel The Shore. Set over the course of a transformative and turbulent summer on the Jersey Shore, Campbell will most likely star as the dedicated mother who shields her two daughters from the weight of their family’s deep-rooted secrets. Campbell will executive produce with Anonymous Content and Brad Falchuk’s Teley-Vision.

The small screen welcomes back The Last Kids on Earth. Disney+ has just given a pilot order to adapt Max Brallier’s bestselling adventure books into a live-action series. The Last Kids on Earth sees a group of mismatched teens who band together to stop the end of the world when it becomes overrun by monsters. The books were previously adapted into a short-lived animated series at Netflix back in 2019. The new series comes from Gotham Knights co-creators Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux and Kevin Tancharoen (The Book of Boba Fett).

Starz is developing a TV series based on the graphic novel Bone Parish, EPed by Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin’). Set in New Orleans, the original comic follows the Winters family, who try to build an empire around a new drug, made from the ashes of the dead. Starz and 50 Cent are already in business with Fightland.

YA-focused production company Red Sage Studios (Let’s Play) is gearing up to adapt She’s With Me, the bestselling first installment of Jessica Cunsolo’s 5-book series. A mix of a teen romance and heart-racing thriller, the book follows Amelia, an on-the-run teenager who is able to keep a low profile until she falls for her town’s notorious bad boy, Aiden.

Mini Tidbits:

Point Grey Pictures (Prod Co: Sausage Party) signs a first-look deal with Alexandria McAtee (EP: The Studio). McAtee is currently developing a comedy feature starring Carmen Christopher (Adult Best Friends).

The sports and media platform Authentic Brands Group acquires the IP of Care Bears. The Care Bears were first introduced in the 1980s and have evolved into a multi-platform franchise that consists of various toys and animated shows. All three Care Bears films were released in the 80s, with the first film making $23M domestically.

SpongeBob’s birthday is right around the corner! Nickelodeon has declared Jul. 14 “SpongeBob Day” with a marathon of episodes, movies, and other surprise specials to be announced.

Renewals:

Netflix’s Nemesis (for S2)
CBBC’s The Lady Grace Mysteries (for S2)

Trailers:

Illumination’s Not Alone

• Trailer

• Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez

• Release: April 2027

ABC’s Teenage Boss: Next Level

• Trailer

• Release: Jul. 31

Release Dates:

Mubi’s Cannes-winning titles:

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur

• Grand Prix winner

• U.S. Release: Nov. 20

Lukas Dhont’s Coward

• Cast: Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne (both won Best Actor at Cannes)

• U.S. Release: Dec. 25

Hulu’s Furious

• Cast: Emmy Rossum, Jake Lacy

• Showrunner/Wri: Elizabeth Meriwether (Hulu’s Dying for Sex)

• Release: Jul. 27

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Paul Dano is stepping into marital chaos. The There Will Be Blood actor is set to join Smile director Parker Finn’s Possession remake, alongside Callum Turner and Margaret Qualley as the film’s fractured couple.

The 1981 original was a disturbing body horror, a terrifying allegory for divorce, following a man watching his wife slowly descend into madness right after learning of her affair. While not confirmed, Dano would most easily fit in the role of the older private detective hired to follow the increasingly erratic wife.

Unlike the unhinged nature of most of his characters, like his fanatical Prisoners role or as The Riddler in The Batman, here the chaos is happening around him. The detective has the same patience and composure as his heartwarming father in Spielberg’s The Fabelmans (2022), a film that could not be more different than his newest project.

Regardless of his role, Dano has an unlimited range, sorry Quentin, seeming like a good fit for the horror genre. The Paramount film is set to start shooting this month.

Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) joins a Hulu comedy pilot, Lex, as the lead. The show follows Lex (O’Brien), a disgraced former reality show star, who accidentally films a murder on his camera and finds himself in the center of a global conspiracy. O’Brien will also EP the pilot. 20th Television is the studio behind the project.

This seems to hearken back to O’Brien’s earlier work, like his TV debut with Teen Wolf as Stiles Stilinski, the best friend and a brainy sidekick to the protagonist Scott McCall. Lex could also push him to the psychological edge, something we saw a horror version of in Send Help.

O’Brien has a boyish charm and angst in his performances that make him a perfect fit for a role like this.

Tidbits:

For a film called Bad Bridgets, it’s suddenly become a very male affair. Netflix’s Irish period thriller has cast Colin Farrell, Steve Coogan (Philomena), Domhnall Gleeson, and Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) in unknown roles in director Rich Peppiatt’s upcoming dramedy. Set in the 19th century, the film follows two young Irish girls (played by Emilia Jones and Alison Oliver) who escape the Great Famine and head to New York, only to be met with a new kind of struggle. The four European actors are gearing up to begin filming in Northern Ireland later this month.

As the shooting start date nears, the Ocean’s Eleven prequel casts Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) in Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated return to the franchise. The star-studded lineup now features Barbaro, Wagner Moura, Margot Robbie, and her LuckyChap prod co, as well as Bradley Cooper, who is writing, directing, and starring in the film. Barbaro’s breakout performance as the super badass female fighter pilot in Top Gun: Maverick (2022) proved she can hold her own in a legacy franchise, with the untitled Ocean’s film slated for a June 2027 premiere.

Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) joins sci-fi thriller Homewrecker, directed by Xavier Gens (Dir: Netflix’s Under Paris). The film will follow three star-crossed Americans trying to survive a global catastrophe that threatens to destroy all life. Allison Williams (Get Out) and Michelle Randolph (Scream 7) also join the cast.

Mini Tidbits:

Juilliard’s own Jack Cameron Kay (Netflix’s Boots) is set to star in Until the Time We Die, a queer love story. Plot: After his troubled older brother makes a life-altering decision, a lonely man (Kay) is forced out of isolation to search for his purpose in the colorful chaos the city of New Orleans has to offer. Kay was just seen at the buzzy Cannes premiere of A24's Club Kid, his first leading feature role.

Tom Hardy returns to season 3 of Paramount+’s MobLand after some behind-the-scenes drama. Hardy previously had a conflict with the showrunner, Jez Butterworth, and was looking to exit the show, but they seem to have reached an agreement.

One of the breakout stars of Hulu’s Tell Me Lies, Sonia Mena, is joining the next Paranormal Activity from Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Paramount. Set to join Chase Yi (Mythic Quest), the plot and character details are being kept under wraps for now, hitting theaters next summer.

Michael Byrne, who played an elderly Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter franchise, dies at 82. Byrne also had roles in other big films, like the evil Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and soldier Smythe in Braveheart (1995).

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

This year’s The Social Network is undoubtedly Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial. With Sam Altman being played by Andrew Garfield, who previously played Eduardo Saverin - Zuck’s only friend in The Social Network.

The film just officially changed hands with Neon acquiring worldwide rights after Amazon dropped it last week.

The film centers on OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, during the tumultuous days when he is fired and then rehired.

Guadagnino’s last film, Amazon’s After the Hunt, was sleek and intellectually heady. However, Artificial seems like it’ll lean the opposite direction, into comedy, as it’s from writer Simon Rich (American Pickle, SNL). If Guadagnino can spin the intensity of the AI topic into comedic and perhaps absurdist gold, perhaps he can begin to collapse some of the power structures that made this film change hands in the first place.

N.A. Distribution deals:

Watermelon Pictures (U.S. Distribution: Palestine 36) takes North American distribution rights to the biopic El Sett. The film follows the life of the legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum and how a girl from a small village in Egypt became one of the most recognizable voices in the Arab world.

New York-based distributor Several Futures acquires the rights to Venezuelan drama Lost Chapters. Mixing fiction and autobiography, the film follows a woman named Ena who returns home after years abroad and sets out to find a long-forgotten writer. It is the feature debut of writer-director Lorena Alvarado.

Cleopatra Entertainment (Distribution: Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer) acquires the North American rights to the documentary Twiggy. The film follows the life of the legendary supermodel Dame Lesley Lawson, or “Twiggy,” and her rise from a teen model to a cultural icon.

International:

The already infamous Citizen Vigilante movie lands at Quiver Distribution (The Cleaner) for worldwide rights, excluding the U.K., Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan. From German filmmaker Uwe Boll, Quiver already holds N.A. rights, releasing the Armie Hammer-led thriller in the States (and temporarily on X) last week.

Disney+ strikes a content-swapping deal with Malaysia’s leading Pay-TV platform Astro. Disney+ IP, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Maleficent, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will be on Astro’s streaming platforms, like Astro TV. As part of the deal, Disney+ in Malaysia acquires local titles like Polis Evo 1 & 2 and Zombi Kampung Pisang. Disney+ is continuing its international spread, having partnered with the UK’s ITV and Germany’s ZDF previously.

Studiocanal Germany is going under the sea, announcing it will adapt the classic children’s book The Rainbow Fish into an animated feature. Author Marcus Pfister’s story follows a beautiful fish who learns the importance of sharing and that true joy comes from giving and not just superficial beauty. The production has come together in partnership with Germany’s 80-year-old Augsburg Puppet Theatre.

ON THIS DAY

1952. Dan Aykroyd born in Ottawa, Ontario.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

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Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Comcast’s split, Amazon’s Love and a Monster.

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THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Comcast plans to split NBCUniversal and Sky Media from its telecom business

• Amazon MGM’s Love, Theoretically attaches Colleen Hoover to produce.

• Netflix is developing a live-action Persona series with Shawn Levy attached to EP.

• Paramount+ readies Texas Tech docuseries United from Skydance Sports.

• Starz picks up the S.W.A.T. spinoff Exiles with Shemar Moore returning as Hondo.

• Alicia Vikander joins Netflix’s Enigma Variations opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

• Diane Lane joins Netflix comedy A Hundred Percent as a legendary self-help guru.

• Krysten Ritter returns for Dexter: Resurrection Season 2.

• John Oliver will guest star on General Hospital for a three-episode arc.

• A Stan Winston documentary, Monster Maker, has begun production.

• The BBC is developing a four-part docuseries about the life of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s correct answer: Sigourney Weaver was not in Supergirl (1984).
54% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

In just 18 months, at least seven major U.S. media shakeups have been announced or completed, as Hollywood’s biggest companies split or sell in the streaming era.

Now, one of Hollywood’s biggest media empires is splitting in two. Comcast has announced plans to separate from NBCUniversal and Sky Media, dividing into two independent public companies.

Here’s the breakdown of what each entity will house:

NBCUniversal

• Universal Pictures

• Peacock

• NBC

• Sky

• Studio TV operations

• Theme parks

• New President: Mike Cavanagh, the current Pres of Comcast

Comcast

• Xfinity broadband

• wireless

• cable infrastructure

• Comcast Business

• CEO: Michael Angelakis (former CFO: Comcast)

The current Comcast chairman and co-CEO, Brian Roberts, will oversee both.

The restructuring comes just months after Comcast spun off its portfolio of cable networks into Versant Media (USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, E!). The new Comcast will return to its telecommunications roots, centering its business around broadband internet, wireless, cable infrastructure, and enterprise connectivity services.

The real question is: will this split allow a major buyer to come in, as the Ellisons did with Skydance and Paramount? Only time will tell.

The financial pressure on these studios, which have been bled dry post-COVID, is finally starting to crystallize. Comcast’s stock is down 30% YoY, and they carry $94bn in debt. Uncertainty lies in every corner. Traditional directors who guarantee big box-office results, like Steven Spielberg, are being outcompeted by first-time filmmakers like Curry Barker.

Tidbits:

YouTube launches the ad-free tier of Peacock on its channels, after a 2025 distribution deal with NBCUniversal. Peacock Premium Plus is now available on YouTube Primetime Channels. YouTube TV has become one of the most dominant video platforms for TV screens, accounting for roughly 12% of all American TV viewership. Notable Peacock titles like Love Island USA and The Real Housewives of Rhode Island are among what YouTube will offer.

Amazon MGM Studios’ newest book adaptation, Love, Theoretically, attaches the new queen of romance author Colleen Hoover to produce via her Heartbones Entertainment (It Ends With Us). Ali Hazelwood’s novel follows a broke, theoretical physicist moonlighting as a fake girlfriend who finds her life upended when she crosses paths with the arrogant man responsible for ruining her mentor’s career. Best known for adapting Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, director Sofia Alvarez is attached to the new romcom.

Netflix is developing a live-action series based on the Japanese video game franchise Persona. The original game series is one of Sega’s most commercially lucrative RPG names, selling 30 million copies globally over a span of five installments. It follows groups of high school students who live their everyday teenage lives while gaining powers to fight supernatural threats. Shawn Levy (Dir: Deadpool & Wolverine) is attached to EP the project.

Mini Tidbits:

Paramount+ is putting Texas Tech in the spotlight for a new four-part docuseries from Skydance Sports. The series has been in production since January, following the controversies surrounding the school’s football team and the world of sports betting.

Starz picks up the spinoff S.W.A.T. Exiles from the CBS series S.W.A.T. The new series will follow Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson (Shemar Moore), who is pulled out of his retirement when he is asked to train a team of young recruits and save the SWAT program.

Federal prosecutors have sentenced 47 Ronin director Carl Rinsch to 30 months in prison for defrauding Netflix of $11M meant for his $55M sci-fi series Conquest, which was never completed. Instead, Rinsch spent the funds on luxury purchases, crypto speculation, and legal battles. Rinsch claimed the payments covered his own production costs, but testimony from former Netflix execs undermined his defense.

Trailers:

Focus Features’ Werwulf

• Trailer

• Dir: Robert Eggers

• Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe

• Release: Dec. 25

Lionsgate and Prime Video’s The Devil’s Mouth

• Trailer

• Cast: Lana Condor, Kathryn Newton, Gavin Casalegno

• Release: Jul. 29

Angel Studios’ Hershey

• Trailer

• Dir: Mark Waters (Freaky Friday)

• Cast: Finn Wittrock, Alexandra Daddario

• Release: Nov. 26

Paramount Pictures’ The Angry Birds Movie 3

• Trailer

• Cast: Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride

• Release: Dec. 23

Re-Release:

A24 will be re-releasing Kane Parsons’ $330M grossing horror Backrooms with an extended 15 minutes of new footage.

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Oscar winner Alicia Vikander is stepping into Enigma Variations, Netflix’s limited series adaptation of Call Me by Your Name author André Aciman’s bestselling novel.

Vikander will star as Claire, one of the main love interests of Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s sexually fluid Paul, whose life is shaped by a series of relationships over the course of ten transformative years.

However, Vikander could never just be some throwaway love interest. In her career-defining, near-perfect performance in Ex Machina (2014), she transformed what initially seemed like a romantic counterpart into the film’s most calculating and unforgettable presence, just one of the many times the actress has proven that she brings far more than a cold cerebralness.

Tidbits:

Diane Lane joins the cast of Netflix comedy A Hundred Percent. The show follows a group of stars who are famous for their videos of self-optimization, while in reality, they each live a life quite far from perfect. Lane plays Suzanne, a legendary self-help guru. Tiffany Boone (The Chi) and Lisa Gilroy (The Studio) also join as recurring cast members.

Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Paramount Pictures’ highly anticipated Paranormal Activity adds Mythic Quest actor Chase Yi in a lead role. Known for supporting comedic roles in shows like The Rehearsal and Hacks, Yi’s character remains under wraps, but the jump to fronting a major studio horror franchise marks an exciting change of pace. The next Paranormal Activity installment is slated for a summer 2027 premiere.

Krysten Ritter refuses to stay buried. The Jessica Jones actress is returning to Dexter: Resurrection for its second season. Fans will remember Ritter portrayed the chilling Lady Vengeance in the first season, who (spoiler) yet in the Dexter universe, death is not always the end of a character’s story. Whether she’s somehow reprising the role or playing someone new is unknown, but season two premieres on Paramount+ this October.

Brian Tee (The Wolverine) and Ben Feldman (Superstore) join the cast of Prime Video’s The Probability of Miracles. Based on the book of the same name, the series follows a teenager dying of cancer who moves to the town of Promise, where miracles are said to happen. Tee appears as a soft-spoken head chef of a town restaurant, and Feldman stars as Dr. Handsome, a good-looking oncologist.

Mini Tidbits:

Joely Richardson joins Apple TV’s untitled thriller series, created by Alex Cary (EP: Homeland). The show follows an undercover treasury agent (Dakota Fanning) embedded within a multi-billion-dollar international conglomerate. Richardson plays Syd, Brant’s (Stellan Skarsgård) wife.

CBS’s Fire Country casts Olivia Thirlby (Dredd) as a new series regular for Season 5. The show follows Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot), a young convict seeking redemption by joining a volunteer firefighter program in Northern California.

Late night takes daytime. Last Week Tonight host John Oliver just scored his dream role as a guest star on soap opera General Hospital. Oliver’s character will have a three-episode story arc beginning Jul. 2nd.

Penelope Keith, most known for her BAFTA-winning performance as Margo Leadbetter in BBC sitcom The Good Life, dies at 86. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 New Year Honors.

Actor and longtime SAG-AFTRA board member Tom Ligon has died at 85. He famously sang the cowboy ballad “Streets of Laredo” (scene) alongside Robert De Niro’s terminally ill baseball player in the poignant sports drama Bang the Drum Slowly (1973).

FESTIVALS AND DOCS

Ahead of the official program at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Italian pop art murder mystery Deadly Sweet (1967, trailer) will have a special pre-opening screening.

From Tinto Brass (Caligula), the internationally renowned “master of erotic cinema,” the film (aka I Am What I Am) follows a man who discovers a blackmailer’s corpse beside a young woman. Believing she’s been framed, he goes on the run with her through London’s criminal underworld as they try to uncover the real killer.

Returning to Venice nearly six decades later, the restored classic serves as both a celebration of Italian cinema and a fittingly bold film to kick off the festival festivities.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Running Man, South Korea’s longest-running broadcast variety show, might come to the U.S. An L.A. media company, Hellcat, is working closely to adapt the format for American viewers. The series from Korean broadcaster SBS has been one of the nation’s most loved shows for 16 years, garnering immense popularity in Southeast Asia and creating spinoffs like Running Man Philippines. The show is a character-driven competition series with celebrity guests, large-scale chase sequences, and strategic board games.

A documentary about four-time Oscar-winning Stan Winston, the legendary special effects artist behind The Terminator and Predator franchises, has begun production. Monster Maker will follow Winston’s amazing creations through his career, from the xenomorph in Aliens (1986) to the velociraptor in Jurassic Park (1993).

The BBC takes on its biggest subject yet, Jesus Christ. From Wonderhood Studios (The Kidnap of Angel Lynn), the upcoming untitled docuseries will use archaeological discoveries, technological innovations, and expert testimonies from major Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders to paint a visceral, detailed portrait of the life of Jesus. The four-part series is set to broadcast sometime next year.

ON THIS DAY

1993. Disney buys Miramax.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Supergirl doesn’t soar, Harbour’s spy games and Once.

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THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Supergirl opens to $38M domestic and $68M worldwide.

• Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour will reunite for a Netflix spy series.

• Hulu is developing political high-school drama Young Americans.

• Mercedes Ron signs a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios.

• Filming begins on the Romy & Michele sequel with Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow.

• Rob Lowe says a St. Elmo’s Fire follow-up script is in the works.

• Tim Robbins joins Emma Stone and Chris Pine in Universal rom-com The Catch.

• Ann Blyth, Oscar-nominated star of Mildred Pierce, dies at 98.

• Pablo Larraín returns to Netflix with Chilean coup drama Once.

• Stephen Poliakoff will write Malta siege political thriller The Order.

• K. Bhagyaraj, “The Screenplay King” of Tamil Cinema, dies at 73.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Box office updates. There were three new releases that cracked the top ten:

#2 - $38M - Supergirl (DC)

• $68M worldwide

• $186M budget

• RT: 56%

• Week 1

• Trailer

This is a disappointing result for a superhero film, especially one that cost so much. In fact, it opened even lower than another recent female-lead superhero film that performed poorly:

• The Marvels (2023)

  • $46M opening

  • $84M domestic total

  • $206M worldwide

  • RT: 63%

  • $317M budget

  • $215M net loss

Supergirl also has a lower RT score than The Marvels, so we’re not optimistic that it’ll hold well next week.

#4 - $8.4M - Jackass: Best and Last (Paramount)

• $10.3M worldwide

• $10M budget

• RT: 88%

• Week 1

• Trailer

This is the highest-rated Jackass film of the series. Sadly, this is the lowest-earning opening weekend at the box office.

The latest installment, Jackass Forever (2022), opened at $23M, and Jackass 3D (2010) opened at $50M.

#8 - $2M - BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War — The Calamity (Fathom)

Notably, A24’s The Invite had a sensational per-screen average of $54K across 7 theaters. Angelina Jolie-led Couture from Vertical had a very low per-screen average of $576 across 235 screens.

Keeping it in the family. Netflix’s favorite father-daughter duo, Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour, are set to reunite for a new show for the streamer from Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne and A24.

The untitled series is loosely inspired by Paul Warner’s spy thriller novel A Spy in the Blood. Harbour will play a disgraced FBI agent turned security expert who is pulled back into the world of espionage when his estranged daughter (Brown), now an FBI agent herself, goes missing during a mission.

Harbour’s Chief Jim Hopper began Stranger Things as a hardened, reclusive sheriff, annoyed with the world, until taking in Brown’s mysterious Eleven gave him a renewed sense of purpose. Her unexpected arrival gave him a second chance at fatherhood, with their sweet relationship growing into one of the emotional cornerstones of the series. While under very different circumstances, to watch Harbour search for Brown again will be a special treat for Stranger Things fans still in mourning.

The straight-to-series order is hardly surprising, bringing together the creative forces behind Netflix’s two highest-ranked series. Thorne, Brown, and Harbour are also attached as producers.

Tidbits:

Romeo and Juliet in front of the White House. Hulu is developing a high-school drama pilot, Young Americans, EPed by Bruce Miller (Showrunner: The Handmaid’s Tale). The show will follow a forbidden romance between two students from opposing political families, set in Capitol Crest Academy in Washington, D.C., where America’s elite politicians send their children. 20th Television is the studio behind this project and will be written by Chris Hutton (Wri: Shangri-La Suite) and Eddie O’Keefe (Wri: When the Street Lights Go On).

The writer behind Prime Video’s Culpables movies, Mercedes Ron, has just signed a first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios. Her Spanish-language YA trilogy became Amazon’s most-watched international original film franchise and is now being adapted into an English-language series, which completed production earlier this year. Internationally and domestically, Ron has had a hand in a number of Prime’s YA adaptations, including The Summer I Turned Pretty and Maxton Hall: The World Between Us.

Mini Tidbits:

“One Day has become Day One.” Thirty years after the original, filming for the Romy & Michele sequel with Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow is officially underway.

Speaking of long-awaited sequels, Rob Lowe has shared a script is in the works for a follow-up of St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), with the original Brat Pack eager to reunite.

Luis de la Rosa (Animator: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) dies in a train incident while attending the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. De la Rosa was 34.

Greenlit:

Adult Swim’s Heist Brothers

• Showrunner: Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack)

Renewals:

Prime Video’s Every Year After (for S2)

• Showrunner: Amy B. Harris (prod. Sex and the City)

Trailers:

Amazon MGM Studios’ Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother

• Trailer

• Cast: Mahershala Ali, Tramell Tillman

• Release: Sept. 25

Prime Video’s The Love Hypothesis

• Trailer

• Cast: Lili Reinhart, Tom Bateman

• Release: Sept. 23

Janus Films’ The Samurai and the Prisoner

• Trailer

• Dir/Wri: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure)

• Premiered at Cannes

• Release: Jul. 31

Sea of Glass

• Trailer

• Dir/Wri: Alexis Alexiou (Tetarti 04.45)

• Release TBD

Release Dates:

Prime Video’s Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter

• Dir: Jason Hehir (The Last Dance)

• Release: Aug. 20

Crunchyroll’s Kagurabachi

• Cast: Katsuyuki Konishi

• Release: April 2027

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Return of a Hollywood Legend. Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption) joins Universal Pictures’ romantic comedy The Catch, starring Emma Stone and Chris Pine. The film is being described as Bull Durham (1988) meets Notting Hill (1999), with Emma Stone playing a woman who becomes the most hated person in baseball after touching a ball at the wall, turning it into a home run, and costing her team a crucial game. Robbins is playing Stone’s father, his first film role in seven years since Dark Waters (2019). Sissy Spacek (Carrie) also joins the project as Stone’s aunt. Dave McCary (Dir: Brigsby Bear), who is Emma Stone’s husband, will direct the film.

The Oscar-winning actor and director Tim Robbins became a Hollywood icon with his role as Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), best known for playing a wide range of characters with warmth at their core. He can play a psychologically broken man in Mystic River (2003) to a lovable, dim-witted pitcher in the sports comedy Bull Durham (1988). Pair his thoughtful on-screen presence with the high energy of Emma Stone from her earlier films like Easy A (2010), and then we think The Catch has the potential to be a home run.

Mini Tidbits:

Imani Lewis (First Kill) and Tanya Wright (Butterfly Rising) join horror-drama Killa, directed by first-time writer-director Laci Dent. The film will follow Asa Jones, a girl from Louisiana who wants to conquer the world of girls’ basketball, only to begin to lose herself to a mysterious force.

Indie thriller Cut Your Teeth adds Arthur Langlie (A Complete Unknown), Riley Dandy (That’s Amor), and Oliver Stark (9-1-1: Lone Star). The film follows an engagement party weekend that spirals out of control after a betrayal breaks the trust of a close friend group.

Oscar-nominated child actress and singer Ann Blyth (Mildred Pierce, clip) has died at 98. Her breakout role as Joan Crawford’s scheming daughter in the 1945 melodrama earned her a supporting Oscar nomination at just 16.

FESTIVALS AND DOCS

Action thriller Irish Dog has been pre-sold across multiple international territories ahead of its planned fall shoot, with Munich-based Iuvit Media Sales brokering the deal out of Cannes. Led by The Rip’s Scott Adkins, the film will see him as a London nightclub bouncer who takes a spontaneous trip to Spain that spirals into a crime-infested nightmare. Distribution includes Tiberius Film (The Last Scout) in German-speaking Europe, MediaSquad (The Adventurers) in Eastern Europe, and Dimension Pictures (Kill Zone 2) for India.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Pablo Larraín is back at Netflix with Once, a Chilean coup drama set during the collapse of the democratic government in 1973. The film will unfold across eleven interconnected stories during the period of the Chilean dictatorship, charting the real human consequences following the bombing of La Moneda Palace and the death of then-president Salvador Allende.

Each of Larraín’s recent English-language films (Jackie, Spencer, Maria) reframed one iconic woman through a singular lens. Even the titles of his films reflect that discipline; however, Once disrupts the pattern. Widening the scope of his usual individual fixation, Larraín is exploring another side of history not just through one fragmented perspective but with multiple whole truths.

Larraín is joined by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (The Wolf of Wall Street), with shooting expected to begin later this year.

Tidbit:

Michael Medico (Dir: Netflix’s XO, Kitty) takes over as director of Bill Burr’s (Old Dads) comedy Bender. The project is described as Superbad (2007) meets Derry Girls, based on the late-’70s, post-punk rock era of Dublin. Medico takes over the position from Adam Bernstein (Dir: Breaking Bad), who exited the project for unknown reasons.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

British screenwriter Stephen Poliakoff (BBC’s Perfect Strangers) is set to write The Order, an epic political thriller centered on the 1565 Great Siege of Malta. The eight-part series marking Poliakoff’s return to the small screen in six years continues his streak of historical dramas, described as “an extraordinary collision of politics, faith, ambition and survival at a moment when the fate of nations hung in the balance.”

Production is expected to begin early next year in Malta.

Veteran Indian filmmaker K. Bhagyaraj, or “The Screenplay King” of Tamil Cinema, dies at 73. He directed Indian classics like Mundhanai Mudichu (1983), Andha 7 Naatkal (1981), and Indru Poi Naalai Vaa (1981).

ON THIS DAY

2001. Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence is released.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Universal’s Fault, MGM’s Widow, and a Boy Who Runs.

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THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Megan Gallagher signs an overall deal with Universal Global Television.

• MGM TV is developing Scott Moore’s debut novel The Mad Widows as a series.

• Warner Bros. production assistants ratify their first union contracts.

• Sony Pictures Entertainment invests $100M in Cosm.

• HBO Max greenlights Adventure Time: Bubblegum & Marceline.

• Jack Quaid joins Invincible Season 5 as Gravitator/Chris.

• Asa Butterfield will play Brian Epstein in Beatles drama Hamburg Days.

• Kino Lorber takes U.S. rights to Cannes title The Meltdown.

• CJ Obasi will direct Julius Achon biopic The Boy Who Runs.

• Jia Zhangke’s Unknown Pleasures Pics acquire Chinese rights to Minotaur.

• The Other Bennet Sister returns to BritBox and the BBC for a 3-episode special.

Yesterday’s correct answer: Liz the Lizard, Magic School Bus sidekick.
86% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Megan Gallagher, the creator behind Peacock’s hit miniseries All Her Fault, has signed an official overall deal with Universal Global Television, including a first-look pact with Carnival Films. After the global success of the Sarah Snook-led kidnapping drama, Gallagher is already in development with UGT and Carnival on two more book adaptations. Another from All Her Fault author Andrea Mara, Such a Nice Girl, and Katherine Faulkner’s novel The Break-In, which was recently given a series order.

Such a Nice Girl falls along similar themes of All Her Fault, with a high-intensity, twisting psychological plot that leans true crime but is really about nefarious family mental and physical warfare.

The Hangover screenwriter Scott Moore’s debut novel, The Mad Widows, is headed to MGM Television in development as a potential series. The novel follows a new friend group of grieving women when one discovers her late husband may not actually be dead, launching them into a thrilling reverse murder mystery to discover the truth. Moore knows his way around a group of women with an axe to grind with their husbands, having written and directed both Bad Moms (2016) and its sequel, A Bad Moms Christmas (2017).

Mini Tidbits:

A win for Hollywood’s unsung workforce. Production assistants on Warner Bros. shows like Abbott Elementary, The Pitt, and Georgie & Mandy have ratified their first union contracts, securing raises and workplace protections.

Sony Pictures Entertainment invests $100M in global technology and media company Cosm.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace VFX producer Jeff Olson has died at 77. From Roger Rabbit to the original Star Trek films, the longtime modelmaker was a pioneer.

Greenlit:

HBO Max’s Adventure Time: Bubblegum & Marceline

• From showrunner Adam Muto (Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake)

Renewals:

Paramount+’s Dutton Ranch (for S2)

• Cast: Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser

Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons (for S3)

Trailers:

Adult Swim’s President Curtis (Rick and Morty spinoff)

• Trailer

• Release: Jul 26

Hulu’s King of the Hill (S15)

• Trailer

• Release: Jul 20

Release Dates:

Neon’s Fjord

• Trailer

• Cast: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve

• Release: Oct. 9

The Palme d’Or winner follows in the footsteps of Neon’s past three Cannes winners, Parasite (2019), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), and Anora (2024), each released on Oct. 9.

Netflix’s La Bola Negra

• Dir(s): Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (tied for Best Director prize at Cannes)

• Theatrical Release: Nov. 6

• Netflix Release: Dec. 4

Netflix’s Ray Gunn

• First Look

• Dir: Brad Bird (The Incredibles)

• Release: Dec. 18

FX’s The Drop: A Snowfall Saga

• Cast: Gail Bean, Isaiah John

• Release: Sept. 8

Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boys (S3)

• Release: Aug. 6

Eli Roth’s The Horror Section’s Stiletto

• Release: Oct. 30

NBC Fall Releases:

The Traitors: New Blood

• Release: Sept 17

Chicago Med (S12), Chicago Fire (S15), and Chicago P.D. (S14)

• Release: Oct. 7

Law & Order: SVU (S28)

• Release: Oct. 8

Reba McEntire led Happy’s Place (S3)

• Release: Oct. 23

St. Denis Medical (S3)

• Release: Nov. 2

The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (S2)

• Release: Nov. 2

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

From one superhero show to the next. Jack Quaid will lend his voice to Prime Video’s Invincible for its fifth season.

Quaid will play Gravitator/Chris, a prodigal engineer who uses his skills for thievery before a surprise encounter with Invincible turns his life around. The casting comes shortly after the series finale of Prime Video’s other super hit, The Boys, where Quaid spent five seasons playing Hughie Campbell, the everyman caught in a violent world of fame-hungry, corrupt superheroes.

Quaid has also built up quite a book of voice acting roles in:

• My Adventures With Superman - as Superman

• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) - as an alt Peter Parker

• Batman: The Long Halloween Part One - as Alberto Falcone

Quaid has a blinding energy that allows him to mold his voice into all sorts of valiant or deviant personas.

Ahead of its fifth season, Invincible scored an early season six renewal, becoming the streamer’s longest animated series to date.

Asa Butterfield is heading to Hamburg. The fan favorite Sex Education star has been cast in the Beatles drama Hamburg Days, a six-part series exploring the band’s formative years in Germany before their worldwide stardom.

Butterfield will play the band’s “irreplaceable fifth member,” manager Brian Epstein, whose ambition and belief in the group transformed four scrappy musicians into some of the world’s most famous musicians.

The role marks quite the departure from Butterfield’s usual awkward teenagers and shy heroes, including his recent tear-jerker performance in Our Hero, Balthazar, where he played a crazed, confused teen looking for friendship but tapping into an inner fury.

We welcome seeing his post-Ender’s Game resurgence.

The series will be filmed all throughout Munich and Liverpool.

Mini Tidbits:

Jonathan Banks (Mike in Breaking Bad) joins indie family drama feature Words From The Oven. Based on a true story, the film follows a Lebanese immigrant family in rural America during the mid-20th century as a young man takes over a family farm after a family loss. Josie Hull (Cookbook For Southern Housewives) is writing and directing the film.

The Daniels’ (Dirs: Everything Everywhere All At Once) untitled new film adds Sean Kaufman (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Silvia Dionicio (Task), Jackson Kelly (The Pitt), Kerrice Brooks (Star Trek: Starfleet Academy), and Thalia Dudek (The Running Man) to their cast.

Natalie Burn (Til Death Do Us Part) stars in cartel action-thriller Dead Weight. The film follows a pregnant woman (Burn) trying to escape the cartel after getting trapped in the Guatemalan wilderness.

Prime Video’s adaptation of the cult-favorite comic Sex Criminals has added to its ensemble. Ayden Mayeri (Mr. Throwback) and Ashleigh Cummings (Amazon’s Citadel) will join Imogen Poots in the comedy from Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick).

FESTIVALS AND DOCS

Berlin-based sales outfit Pluto Film (How I Learned to Fly) has acquired Chica Checa, a comedy feature ahead of its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary Premiere next month. A film about reinvention, it follows a widow navigating her new life after discovering her beloved son makes his living as a drag queen, Chica Checa (“Czech girl”), never expecting the revelation to bring them even closer together.

Annecy winning director Upamanyu Bhattacharyya’s (Wade) debut feature film Heirloom secures a significant grant from Aide aux Cinémas du Monde. From Condor Films, the animated family fantasy co-production has been in the works for over six years, centered on a young businessman devoted to preserving his family’s legacy as his wife begins to slowly die of a hereditary disease.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Kino Lorber (Distribution: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth) takes U.S. rights to Cannes film The Meltdown, directed by Manuela Martelli (Dir: Chile ‘76). The Chilean film follows the disappearance of a German teenager in an Andean ski resort, just two years after the end of dictator Pinochet’s regime. The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

CJ Obasi (Dir: Mami Wata, winner of Special Jury Prize at Sundance) is making a biopic, The Boy Who Runs, based on the life of Ugandan athlete Julius Achon. Based on the book The Boy Who Runs: The Odyssey of Julius Achon, the film will follow Achon’s journey from being abducted by an extremist army to becoming an elite athlete in America.

Haven’t seen Mami Wata? It was Nigeria’s submission to the 2023 Oscars and Sundance World Cinema cinematography winner, which centers on the mermaid goddess of West Africa.

​The high-contrast ritualistic trailer is stark and alluring. The film is inspired by West African mermaid folklore. And a big win for African Filmmaking

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Jia Zhangke’s (Dir: Cannes Best Screenplay winner A Touch of Sin) production company Unknown Pleasures Pictures acquires Chinese distribution rights to two Cannes award-winning films: Minotaur and La Gradiva. Minotaur won the Grand Prix in Cannes main competition, and La Gradiva took home the AMI Paris Grand Prize at the Cannes Critics’ Week.

Minotaur is being distributed by Mubi in the US and is sensational.

Ludovic Attal exits Amazon MGM to become President at Israel’s Sipur (Prod Co: Emmy-winning documentary We Will Dance Again). Attal was previously running brand partnerships for Amazon MGM.

Charlotte Toledano Detaille (Prod: Prime Video’s Escort Boys) launches independent banner Alyx Films. They will kick off their slate with an exclusive partnership with Geronimo (Creator of viral series The Book Club).

Ramesh Mundhra is leaving JioStar (India’s largest entertainment conglomerate) after 18 years of working at the company. Mundhra will take the role of Head – Business Affairs, Strategy and Operations at Abundantia Entertainment (Prod Co: Prime Video’s Subedaar).

An early Christmas gift for Pride & Prejudice fans. Spinoff series, The Other Bennet Sister, is making a return to BritBox and the BBC for a three-episode special with series writer Sarah Quintrell and series director Asim Abbasi returning. Shooting will begin this summer in Wales.

ON THIS DAY

1982. Blade Runner is released.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Legendary’s Magic School Bus, Netflix’s The Everlasting, and Marlene Dietrich.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Elizabeth Banks will star as Ms. Frizzle in Legendary’s Magic School Bus movie.

• Netflix wins rights to adapt Alix E. Harrow’s fantasy series The Everlasting.

• Paramount+ is making Tulisa: The Reckoning, a docuseries.

• Media Res names Kristen Kuroski EVP, Head of Business Affairs & Legal.

• Glen Powell will star in Craig Gillespie’s AI erotic thriller Homewreckers.

• Glenn Howerton & Meghann Fahy reunite in scripted dramedy The Girlfriend.

• Chase Stokes and Michael Rooker join AMC’s NASCAR drama Thunder Road.

• Ron Perlman cast in Prime Video’s Cross Season 3.

• Lloyd Braun and Mark Stern launch AI-driven studio.

• Jeremy Slater (Wri: Mortal Kombat II) will make his directing debut.

• Agnieszka Holland will direct a Marlene Dietrich biopic.

Friday’s correct answer: Yes, Jim Carrey has starred in a horror film, Once Bitten (1985).
66% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

“Please let this be a normal field trip.” With Elizabeth Banks? No Way!

Legendary Entertainment and Scholastic Entertainment are officially revving their engines on a live-action feature adaptation of The Magic School Bus with Elizabeth Banks attached to produce and play the eccentric teacher Ms. Frizzle.

The project was originally announced by Universal in 2020 and is now moving forward at Legendary, with Rob Letterman (dir: Detective Pikachu) brought on to write and direct.

While specific plot details are unknown, the adaptation celebrates the 40th anniversary of the beloved children’s books that inspired the classic, long-running PBS animated series, in which every day was a field trip into space or inside the human body. Remember when they get stuck inside Ms. Frizzle’s immune system (scene)?

From directing a bear high on cocaine in Cocaine Bear (2023) to being accidentally shrunk to 6 inches tall in Peacock’s The Miniature Wife, Banks has built a career embracing the wonderfully absurd. With an infectious comedic energy and a fearless commitment to larger-than-life characters, The Hunger Games actress is the perfect person to step into Ms. Frizzle’s colorful shoes.

The Magic School Bus has a massive nostalgia factor for me, and I remember being enamored by how ambitious and bold all the children were to travel in that wild, magical bus. I believe it will resonate with younger and older audiences.

Tidbits:

Netflix is in a time loop. In a competitive bidding war, the streamer has won the rights to The Everlasting, a fantasy series from author Alix E. Harrow. Writer Daphne Ferraro (Amazon’s Maxton Hall) is attached to pen the series adaptation, all about the legend of the female knight, Sir Una Everlasting, whose legacy lives on in songs and children’s stories. The truth of Una’s life is discovered by a failed soldier who becomes tangled in time, determined to rewrite the famed knight’s story.

Paramount+ is making a docuseries, Tulisa: The Reckoning, about the rise and fall of singer-songwriter Tulisa. The unscripted series will follow the former pop star as she reflects on her journey from the success of N-Dubz to the drug scandal that crashed her career.

Kristen Kuroski becomes the EVP, Head of Business Affairs & Legal at indie studio Media Res (Prod Co: Apple TV+’s Pachinko). Kuroski joined the company in 2025 after working at MRC Television (Netflix’s Ozark) for six years.

Cancellations:

Peacock’s Ponies (after S1)

Trailers:

A24’s The Debut

• Trailer

• Dir/Wri: Jesse Eisenberg

• Cast: Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti

Apple’s The Dink

• Trailer

• Cast: Jake Johnson, Ben Stiller

• Release: Jul 24

Neon’s Sheep in the Box

• Trailer

• Dir: Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters)

• Premiered at Cannes

• Release: Jul 24

HBO Max’s Stuart Fails To Save the Universe (Big Bang Theory spinoff)

• Trailer

• Release: Jul 23

Sky’s Possession

• Trailer

• Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki)

Warner Bros. Animation’s Batman: Knightfall Part 1

• Trailer

Warner Bros. Digger

• Retrospective Clip (Digger at 2:30)

• Cast: Tom Cruise, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed

• Dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu

• Release: Oct. 2

Release Dates:

Lionsgate’s Blair Witch Project Reboot

• Prod. Co(s): Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions

• Release: Sept. 24, 2027 (clip)

Disney+ and Hulu’s Adventure Time: Side Quests

• Release: Jun. 29

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Glen Powell may have found his darkest role yet.

Powell is starring in an AI erotic thriller, Homewreckers, directed by Craig Gillespie (Dir: Supergirl).

The film will follow a struggling couple, Beth and Henry (Powell), as Beth accepts a surreal opportunity to reignite a romance between a younger version of Henry through advanced AI technology. Described as Unfaithful (2002) meets Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014), this is yet another erotic thriller that follows the success of Sydney Sweeney’s The Housemaid (2025).

Yet plot-wise, it actually seems more similar to Dreamquil, the SXSW film starring Elizabeth Banks and John C. Reilly from Paramount’s Republic Pictures.

Powell has made a name for himself in darkly comedic roles with a movie star charisma, whether it be a disinherited man out for murder in A24’s How to Make a Killing (2026) or a man desperate to survive a deadly game show in The Running Man (2025).

But his physicality and suaveness in Hit Man remind us of the erotic thriller icons of the 90s, such as Richard Gere or Michael Douglas.

Craig Gillespie is a master at creating memorable, larger-than-life characters with a hint of trauma, as in Cruella (2021) and I, Tonya (2017), so Powell should have fun with this one.

Tidbits:

A Sirens reunion. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Glenn Howerton is set to star in the feature The Girlfriend from his own script, alongside Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus), his co-star from Netflix’s limited series Sirens. The film follows a woman who relocates to Alabama for her husband Elliot’s (Howerton) dream job. When he sees her isolated and miserable, he secretly hires an escort (Fahy) to become her new best friend. Not long after Howerton’s transformative performance in XYZ Films’ BlackBerry, the studio is reuniting with him for the dramedy film. They are producing it with Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps (Stranger Things). Filming on The Girlfriend will begin this summer.

Mini Tidbits:

Chase Stokes (Outer Banks) joins AMC’s NASCAR drama series Thunder Road, starring Dennis Quaid (The Substance). The show follows the multi-generational story of a fictional Whitlock family deeply associated with stock car racing. Stokes will play Ronnie Whitlock, who was a promising pro racer before he got booted from the game.

And… The Walking Dead’s Michael Rooker will also take on a recurring role as the veteran racer and tough-minded Lucas. Thunder Road is set to premiere sometime next year.

Ron Perlman (Hellboy franchise) joins Prime Video’s Cross Season 3. The show follows Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge), who is a brilliant homicide detective. Season 3 kicks off when Alex Cross starts to dig deeper into Officer Herschel Zamora’s (Perlman) secrets and reveals that he might be hiding something more sinister than just PTSD.

The untitled Daniels’ feature has added emerging young actor Sean Kaufman to its growing cast. Breaking out as the clumsy brother on Amazon’s YA adaptation series The Summer I Turned Pretty, Kaufman will be joining Matt Damon, Sandra Oh, and Charles Melton in the secretive sci-fi comedy.

Italian actress Giorgia Moll (The Quiet American) has passed away at 88. Most famously seen in Jean-Luc Godard’s classic romance Contempt, a movie-within-a-movie, she played the secretary and interpreter for the boorish American film producer, iconically played by Jack Palance.

TECH SECTION

Former head of ABC Entertainment Lloyd Braun and previous Syfy exec Mark Stern are teaming to launch Intelligent Animation, an AI-driven studio focused on producing cheaper and faster shows through the use of AI tools. The company already has six projects in active development, like a book adaptation of C.J. Young’s book The Dragon Prince’s Bride.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Jeremy Slater (Wri: Mortal Kombat II) is making his directorial debut with horror thriller Summoner, starring Kevin Bacon. The film follows an exorcist named Jefferson Haddock (Bacon), who is called to an isolated witness-protection property when the owner is haunted by a terrifying demon. The script was penned by Slater himself, and Andy Muschietti (Dir: It franchise) will produce the film through Nocturna (Prod Co: Warner Bros.’ They Will Kill You).

Slater has experience with the horror thriller genre, having written The Lazarus Effect (2015, trailer) that followed a medical team that creates a serum that can bring dead people back to life – but with supernatural consequences. The film’s main source of horror was the telekinetic ability and hallucinations conjured by the resurrected Zoe (Olivia Wilde), with masterfully executed death scenes like the crushing closet scene that left audiences clawing at their seats.

Mini Tidbit:

Indie distributor Abramorama (The Beatles: Eight Days A Week) has acquired North American rights to Never Stop Chasing, their newest climate documentary. Following famed storm chaser Reed Timmer, the inspiration for Glen Powell’s Twisters character, the film is described as “a 20-year reckoning with obsession, loss, and the relentless pull of violent weather.” The doc will hit select theaters in the U.S. on Aug. 21.

Never Stop Chasing trailer

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Some lives are too contradictory for a conventional biopic. Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa) is gearing up to direct Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home, a feature film chronicling the extraordinary life of actress, singer, and anti-Nazi revolutionary Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel).

The German-born Hollywood star was iconic on screen and off, blending glamour and androgyny, artistry and activism. Dietrich redefined what a movie star could be. The film will unfold across four pivotal days in four different decades, charting her evolution from actress to political trailblazer.

From the Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool, Czech production company Marlene Film Production (Green Border), Irish producer Mike Downey (Holland’s Franz), and German writer Ingo Rasper attached to pen the screenplay, Berlinweh has become quite the international affair.

Tidbits:

Ted Lasso actor Nick Mohammed is joining forces with BBC Studios Kids & Family to adapt his The Young Magicians books into an animated series. Based on his first love, magic, the two books The Thieves’ Almanac and The 24-Hour Telepathy Plot follow four young friends who uncover secret conspiracies hidden deep in London’s most exclusive club: The Magic Circle. The adaptation comes from London-based Blink Industries’ (Children Vs Battle SuperStars) first-look deal with BBC Studios.

Mini Tidbits:

Disney+ is solidifying its Scripted UK team, bringing on producer Ron O’Berst (BBC Three’s What It Feels Like For a Girl) as new Director of Scripted Originals and Laura Klimke (prod. BBC Three’s Wreck) as Development Manager. The new hires will help to ramp up investment in local UK originals for Disney+.

Encore Films (Distribution: Dragon Blade starring Jackie Chan) acquires worldwide rights to director Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Soccer. The film will be the long-awaited spin-off to his cult classic Shaolin Soccer (2001, trailer) and will follow an all-women squad of footballers/martial arts masters.

Passion Paris (the Parisian animation studio Not a Box) is adapting a South Korean webtoon. Although the webtoon's title has not been specified, it is said to have garnered over 80M views worldwide.

The number of movie theatergoers dropped 4.4% across Europe in 2025.

ON THIS DAY

1971. Warner Bros. releases McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Jim Carrey’s Grinch, Kate Hudson’s Grove, and RoboCop.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Jim Carrey in talks to return for Universal’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas sequel.

• Warner Bros. picks up memoir My What If Year with America Ferrera producing.

• Apple Original Films will adapt Little Santa.

• AMC is developing Andrew Mayne’s The Naturalist book series as a procedural.

• Peacock orders Dungeon Crawler Carl from Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door.

• Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media moves to Netflix with a new overall deal.

• Quinta Brunson signs a multi-year overall deal with Disney’s 20th Television.

• Kate Hudson and Ana de Armas will star in the erotic thriller Palm Grove.

• Jeff Daniels joins Brendan Fraser in the cosmic sci-fi thriller Starman.

• James Wan will direct episodes of Amazon’s RoboCop remake series.

• Netflix launches its landmark French distribution partnership with TF1.

• HBO Max names Guillermo Farré Original Production Chief in Spain.

• Jakarta launches a production tax rebate offering up to 50% refunds.

Yesterday’s correct answer: Pickleball, Ben Stiller’s new sports film.
78% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

What happens after the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes? Ron Howard may have the answer.

Jim Carrey is officially in talks to reprise his iconic take on the classic Dr. Seuss character in a sequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) for Universal Pictures.

Howard’s live-action adaptation was a huge success, becoming the highest-grossing film domestically that year, bringing in $260M at the box office. Yet it was Carrey’s over-the-top portrayal that made the film a holiday staple in so many homes. Gross and gangly, manic and unpredictable, Carrey’s rapid-fire improvisation, sarcastic one-liners, and boundless physicality made his Grinch one of the most unforgettable all-in live-action character performances of all time.

For his second go, hopefully, he won’t have to spend eight grueling hours in the makeup chair.

Curb Your Enthusiasm writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, and David Mandel are penning the screenplay with no word on a title or plot details for now.

4x Adaptations:

• Warner Bros. My What If Year

• Apple’s Little Santa

• AMC’s The Naturalist

Full breakdown of each and more here.

New Deals:

Disney is losing Sinners director Ryan Coogler and his Proximity Media, who have signed a new overall deal with Netflix to develop an upcoming series. Coogler’s previous five-year TV deal with the Mouse House has just ended, with the Oscar-winning writer still finishing up for them The X-Files reboot and live-action adaptation of Southern Bastards.

When Disney loses one A-list talent, they gain another, no problem. Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson has signed a multi-year overall deal with Disney Television Studios’ 20th Television. Brunson and her Fifth Chance Productions will develop, write, and produce projects for Disney platforms. Since 2022, Brunson has been in an overall deal with Warner Bros TV, where she will continue to work on her hit ABC sitcom.

Mini Tidbits:

Curry Barker’s (Dir: Obsession) next film will be with Universal. No surprise, as Universal’s arthouse studio Focus Features has made nearly $300M on Obsession. No word on the new film’s plot, but Blumhouse Atomic Monster is the prod co.

The Television Academy has recruited Emmy winners Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear) and Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere) to present the nominations for the 78th Emmy Awards in a ceremony on July 8.

Amazon MGM Studios appoints Randi Chugerman as Head of Series Casting. Chugerman was most recently at Sony Pictures as the SVP of Talent and Casting and Talent Development.

AGBO (Prod Co: Everything Everywhere All At Once) names Michael Disco as President, Kassee Whiting as EVP, and Alessandra Mamán as SVP of their Film and Television department.

Brian Johnson, the legendary special effects pioneer of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and the Alien franchise, dies at 86.

All My Children actor Paul Avery has sadly passed away, along with his wife Sheila, in a devastating New Jersey house fire.

Trailer:

Universal Illumination’s Minions & Monsters

• Trailer

• Release: Jul. 1

Netflix’s Outer Banks (S5)

• Teaser

• Release: Aug. 20

First Look:

Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun

• First Look

• Cast: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams

Apple TV’s Brothers

• First Look

• Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson

• Release: Sept. 23

Release Dates:

Black Bear’s Wicker

• Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage

• Premiere: Sundance

• Limited: Oct 23

• Wide Release: Oct. 30

Paramount’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

• Dir: Siân Heder (CODA)

• Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones

• Release: Nov. 12, 2027

Prime’s Esports World Cup Level Up (S2)

• Dir: R.J. Cutler (Netflix’s Martha)

• Release: Jun. 26

NBC’s The Traitors: New Blood

• Host: Alan Cumming

• Release: Sept. 17

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

Kate Hudson and Ana de Armas star in the erotic thriller Palm Grove.

The plot so far is razor-thin: in a rich Miami neighborhood, a wife uncovers her husband’s double.

Dream scenario: Hudson as the picture-perfect wife who sees her husband with Armas and thinks he’s cheating, and discovers something much worse: Armas is a liaison/leader of an underground cult doing something nefarious.

Hudson can play dreamy as easily as she can play damaged. Just check her out in Song Sung Blue, where she rockets into both energies (we interviewed her for the role here).

And Armas has never been better when she’s wrapped up in a high-wire game of seduction. Her scene in the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig is one of the few good moments in the film.

Whatever these two have in store, with director Kornél Mundruczó (White God) helming and It’s What’s Inside actor James Morosini (Dir/wri: I Love My Dad) scripting and Chernin (Backrooms, Apex) producing, this should get snapped up by a studio in no time.

The Martian all over again. Jeff Daniels is joining Brendan Fraser in cosmic sci-fi thriller Starman from Josh Wakely, the creator of the Emmy-winning Netflix series Beat Bugs.

Daniels will play Ed Watkins, a co-founder of a revolutionary company he built alongside genius technologist Tom Adams (Fraser), who is launching a historic expedition to Mars that goes anywhere but according to plan.

The new role places Daniels almost exactly where he was eleven years ago in Ridley Scott’s The Martian, where he played a NASA director forced to make impossible calls, steering life-or-death decisions while coordinating a high-stakes rescue mission to bring home an astronaut stranded on Mars.

If I got lost in space, I’d certainly want Daniels over in mission control. Cameras will pick up on Starman this summer.

Tidbits:

Charles Melton (Beef S2) joins the cast of The Daniels’ (Dirs: Everything Everywhere All at Once) next film. Matt Damon and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) also star. It’s an anti-time-travel sci-fi action-comedy that spans two timelines (‘80s and present day). Melton portrayed a charmingly oblivious high school football star-turned-nobody in Beef S2. His playfulness will be perfect for The Daniels’ new film. Releasing November 2027.

Twilight producer Imprint Entertainment’s animated movie Groove Tails attracts quite a groovy ensemble voice cast. Following a young mouse with dreams of becoming a world-famous dancer, Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid), Alan Ritchson (Reacher), Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), and Ludacris will bring the musical film to life.

Manny Jacinto (Star Wars: The Acolyte) joins the cast of Prime Video’s Fallout S3. The third season of the show will follow the titular characters as they get caught in the middle of a brewing war for New Vegas.

Mini Tidbits:

Tracy Letts joins the cast of Netflix’s The God of the Woods, a book-to-TV series adaptation from Sony Pictures TV studios. Check out full details here.

Adeline Rudolph (Kitana in Mortal Kombat II) joins Netflix’s 13 Going On 30 reboot.

FESTIVALS AND DOCS

The classic film-focused Lumière Festival will honor cult-loved directors Joel and Ethan Coen. From the snowy dark crime comedy Fargo (1996) to the wacky world of “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski (1998), the brothers’ unparalleled creativity has cemented their place in film history, a legacy the festival will celebrate this October.

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

James Wan will direct key episodes of Amazon’s RoboCop remake series. Along with building upon the premise of the original film of a cyborg cop who’s part man, part machine, the show will debut a new cyborg lawman named Marc Skyle, who starts off not as a police officer but as a soldier. Peter Ocko (EP: Lodge 49) is the showrunner.

Paul Verhoeven’s OG 1987 film explored corporate control, media saturation, and technological advancement. This message feels all the more relevant now with AI mainlined into modern life (you catch Apple’s keynote?!). The boardroom scene in the original film, where a killing machine malfunctions, resulting in shooting down an innocent person, is a segment that can give us a glimpse of what Wan’s dystopia could be. Wan’s horror background makes him the perfect fit to portray the futuristic world. Not only does RoboCop have the potential to be a sci-fi action series with horror elements, but there are also possibilities of body horror and psychological horror.

Tidbits:

The film adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard’s play Ages of the Moon has wrapped production. Starring Steve Buscemi and Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall), who also directs, the film is a story of two heartbroken lifelong friends confronting their pasts through laughs and tears while exploring the depths of their bond more than they ever have before. Liam Neeson is an EP.

NY-based Obscured Releasing (Blue Film) scores U.S. distribution for satirical comedy Lady (trailer). Like a mashup of The Favourite (2018) and spoof Fackham Hall (2025), the absurdist period movie follows Fleabag actress Sian Clifford as the aristocratic Lady Isabella, whose overwhelming self-obsession takes her life in a surreal direction. Lady marks the feature-film debut of BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Samuel Abrahams (Connect), with Obscured planning a US theatrical release this fall.

Alessio Liguori (Dir: In the Trap) is directing Moriarty Rising: A Sherlock Holmes Tale, exploring the origins of Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis. The production is described as “dual-format”, meaning that the project will function both as a premium vertical series and a feature film.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The future of European TV may just be Netflix.

A year after announcing a potential partnership, Netflix is officially launching its landmark distribution collaboration with France’s leading broadcaster TF1. The streaming giant is officially integrating TF1 into the platform. Subscribers will be able to watch live channels and on-demand programming at no additional cost to their subscription without ever leaving Netflix.

Including major sporting events and access to channels: TF1, TMC, TFX, and TF1 Séries Films, and Netflix will supply distribution, while the broadcaster will retain responsibility for programming and advertising sales, effective immediately.

While there are growing concerns around the globe about streaming and platforms like YouTube overtaking traditional broadcasting, TF1 is embracing the changing times.

Mini Tidbits:

HBO Max appoints Movistar Plus+ (the largest premium streaming in Spain) chief Guillermo Farré (Producer: Sirât) as Original Production Chief in Spain. Farré joined Warner Media in 2012 and worked at the company for a decade before Movistar Plus+.

Jakarta reveals a tax rebate program that allows national film productions to receive up to a 50% tax refund.

VVS Films (Canadian Distribution: A24’s The Smashing Machine) promotes Claire Peace-McConnell as their Vice President, Theatrical Distribution.

ON THIS DAY

1978. Zoë Saldaña born in Passaic, New Jersey.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram

Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

Warner Bros. has picked up the hilarious midlife crisis memoir My What If Year with America Ferrera (Barbie) on board to produce the feature adaptation. Described as this generation’s Eat, Pray, Love, Alisha Fernandez Miranda’s memoir chronicles her bold decision, on the cusp of turning 40, to chase the dreams she never pursued, from exploring Broadway theatre to immersing herself in London’s art scene. Miranda served as a board member of Ferrera’s nonprofit, Poderistas, adding an extra layer of authenticity to Ferrera’s behind-the-scenes involvement.

Apple Original Films is getting into the holiday spirit early, set to adapt the children’s book Little Santa with Oscar winner Peter Baynton (dir. Apple’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse) attached to direct. The animated coming-of-age film will answer the age-old question of how Santa became Santa. Toy Story 4 writer Martin Hynes is attached to adapt the screenplay.

AMC is developing a series adaptation of Andrew Mayne’s Amazon Charts bestseller, The Naturalist book series. The series is a procedural that follows a brilliant biologist who uses the laws of animal behavior to catch human predators. The project is written by Andrew Karlsruher (Wri: CSI: Cyber).

Peacock has ordered Dungeon Crawler Carl, a live-action adaptation of Matt Dinniman’s LitRPG series from Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door company. The apocalyptic sci-fi comedy follows a Coast Guard vet and a talking cat surviving televised alien games. MacFarlane has a charm in making fluffy things come alive in the most irreverent ways.

She’s most known for her role as the persnickety neighbor Liz across three seasons of Shrinking. And her aura throughout the season is infectious as she’s able to turn on a dime, moving from silly to vicious to empathetic.

Her timing in these multi-layered scenes is influenced by her expertise as a music supervisor on Scrubs, Ted Lasso, Bad Monkey, Shrinking, and Rooster.

In this wide-ranging interview, Miller details how her music supervision experience informs her acting and vice versa. She also breaks down her process for understanding scenes, being loose on set, and creating such wide-ranging performances.

Plus, how a hug with Jason Segel changed the entire season.

Here’s the Season 3 trailer:

Now available on Apple TV.

Ben Stiller B Ball, Wagner Moura O 11, and $107M.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Ben Stiller will direct a multi-part Knicks docuseries with A24 and HBO.

• Netflix wins rights to adapt novel Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It.

• Janelle James and David Caspe are developing Hulu comedy Rock City.

• Jeff Probst announces an animated Survivor movie at Paramount Animation.

• Vice Studios is developing a scripted drama about sports ownership & corruption.

• Amazon hires Matt Schwimmer to lead its Creator Services team.

• Wagner Moura joins Warner Bros.’ Ocean’s Eleven prequel as the villain.

• Daniel Kaluuya reteaming with Shaka King for Amazon MGM’s The Parlay.

• Sandra Oh is in talks to join Matt Damon in the Daniels’ Universal project.

• Alan Cumming’s queer drama series Tip Toe lands its U.S. release at Starz.

• Nikki Glaser joins Netflix animated fairy-tale film Steps as villain Priscilla.

• David Permut produces debut motocross drama Ragamuffin, w/ Lewis Pullman.

• BBC will cut $107M, eliminating over 500 roles by 2027.

• Studiocanal is making art-heist docuseries The Paris-Tokyo Job.

Yesterday’s correct answer: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sean Penn’s long-haired role.
97% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

While the entire tri-state area is still on a high after the NY Knicks’ history-making NBA Finals run, no one was paying closer attention than superfan Ben Stiller.

In partnership with A24 and HBO, Stiller is officially directing a multi-part documentary series about the history and legacy of the New York Knicks, culminating with the franchise’s first championship in 53 years. Many eagle-eyed fans even guessed a potential project was in the works as the actor and longtime director was seen throughout the team’s entire postseason run filming on his iPhone on the sidelines.

The announcement comes just one year after Stiller’s first go at documentary filmmaking with his personal Tribeca-premiering film Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost (2025).

Tidbit:

Popular internet personality Brooke Averick’s (Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast) debut novel is set to be adapted into a feature film at Netflix. Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It follows a hopeless romantic whose fear of intimacy has kept her love life at a standstill. The streamer won the rights in a competitive bidding war ahead of its end-of-May publication date, with The Nightingale producer Elizabeth Cantillon and Girls writer Sarah Heyward on board to pen the screenplay.

Mini Tidbits:

The tribe has spoken. After a whopping 50 seasons, host Jeff Probst has announced that an animated Survivor movie is in the works with Paramount Animation. The wild comedy will feature animals competing for the chance to be crowned the sole “Survivor”.

Abbott Elementary’s Janelle James is developing Rock City, a new Hulu comedy with Happy Endings creator David Caspe. The show will follow a woman returning to her hometown after inheriting her estranged father’s beachfront bar, only to discover it comes with far more than she expected.

Pablo Torre (Emmy-nominated host of Pablo Torre Finds Out) is developing a scripted television drama with Vice Studios (Prod Co: The Beach Bum starring Matthew McConaughey). The series will center around sports ownership, extreme wealth, and corruption.

Amazon has hired Matt Schwimmer to lead its Creator Services team. Schwimmer brings years of experience in creator business development, particularly in the podcast space, having worked on hit shows such as Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert and the Kelce Brothers’ New Heights.

Toy Story 5 is Pixar’s most expensive movie of all time. Despite a $250M budget (not including marketing costs), Pixar is expecting a record-breaking opening weekend.

Renewal:

Prime Video’s One Night in Idaho: The College Murders (Renewed for S2)

Cancellation:

Netflix’s The Boroughs (Canceled after S1)

Trailers:

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day

• Trailer

• Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Mark Ruffalo

• Release: July 31

German-Turkish drama film Hijamat

• Clip 1, Clip 2

• Editor: Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)

• Festival Premiere: July 3

MGM+’s The Westies

• Trailer

• Cast: J.K. Simmons, Will Jeffs

• Release: July 12

Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest: The Final Season

• Trailer

• Release: July 2

Lunette Film’s Dreams in Nightmares

• Trailer

• Cast: Denée Benton, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing

• Release: Aug 21

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

The Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura is back as a villain.

Moura is set to join Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated Ocean’s Eleven prequel as the main antagonist opposite Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper.

His performance in last year’s The Secret Agent earned him the coveted Best Actor prize at Cannes, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination. Yet before these accolades, Moura learned Spanish and gained 40 lbs to transform into the infamous Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s Narcos (intro scene).

What made his portrayal of the ruthless drug kingpin so compelling was his self-confidence, which allowed him to be loved by the people so deeply that they viewed him as a king. A villain as charming as he is terrifying is the perfect foil for Danny Ocean’s parents, played by Robbie and Cooper, in the new installment of the Ocean’s universe. He has a way of imbuing characters that could be cartoonish with real weight.

Releasing June 2027.

An Oscar-winning reunion. Daniel Kaluuya is reteaming with his Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) director, Shaka King, for the action-crime feature The Parlay. From Amazon MGM Studios, Kaluuya is reportedly set to star alongside Teyana Taylor.

In King’s Judas and the Black Messiah, Kaluuya delivered an Oscar-winning performance as Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton. There are some standout speech scenes in the film where Kaluuya is pure bile, driven by love, showcasing the revolutionary leader’s commanding presence.

The plot details remain a secret, but if Judas and the Black Messiah proved that Kaluuya and King have chemistry, The Parlay has every reason to be one worth betting on.

Tidbit:

Universal’s secret Daniels project just got even more interesting. Emmy winner Sandra Oh is in talks to star alongside Matt Damon in the newest epic film from the Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. While plot details are being kept under wraps, should she officially sign on, it would mark the first leading role for the highly selective Killing Eve actress since the 2023 Hulu comedy Quiz Lady. The untitled film is slated for a November 2027 release.

Mini Tidbits:

Alan Cumming’s queer drama series Tip Toe will have its U.S. release on Starz. The show follows two warring neighbors who have been living next to each other for 15 years. The show debuted in the UK on May 31st on Channel 4, with its premiere garnering over 1M viewers. Tip Toe’s U.S. release date is not confirmed yet.

Comedian Nikki Glaser is channeling her inner villain for Netflix’s animated fairy film Steps. Joining Ali Wong and Amanda Seyfried, Glaser will voice the evil Priscilla, a wannabe princess who will stop at nothing to control everyone around her. Steps will premiere on Netflix sometime this fall.

Two music legends are buzzing into animation, with Cher and Bob Geldof circling voice roles in Australian insect adventure film FlySquad - First Strike! The Oscar winner will voice the bug mother of the film’s protagonist, while the Live Aid founder will voice a legendary insect rock star.

Grace Gummer (Love Story) is set to star alongside Dakota Fanning in Apple TV’s untitled thriller series. Gummer will play the daughter of the powerful chief of a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate that Fanning’s undercover agent character is tasked with infiltrating.

Daveigh Chase, most famous for her role as the haunting Samara Morgan in U.S. remake of The Ring (2002), dies at 35. She also voiced Lilo in the original animated Lilo & Stitch (2002) and the protagonist Chihiro in the American dub of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away (2001).

INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Oscar-nominated producer David Permut (Hacksaw Ridge) is taking a chance on Ragamuffin, the debut feature from filmmaker Kaitlyn Mikayla. Starring Thunderbolts* actor Lewis Pullman, the film is based on Mikayla’s short film that Permut discovered at last year’s Sundance festival.

Inspired by Mikayla’s own experience in the world of motocross, the film will follow Mad Mike (Pullman) and his ambitious 14-year-old daughter as she competes in a summer-long tournament. There’s a dirty sexiness to it with the right amount of homespun, rural adrenaline that must have piqued Permut’s interest (trailer).

The coming-of-age drama is just one of many Sundance projects Permut has his name on alongside Olivia Wilde’s high-profile The Invite and the Dylan O’Brien-led Twinless.

Pre-production is now underway on Ragamuffin.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

After over a year of talk of the BBC’s financial concerns, new director general Matt Brittin announces spending will be cut by $107M across TV, radio, and news.

As part of the company’s new savings plan, over 500 roles will be eliminated by the start of 2027. The goal is to shave $670M in costs, or 15% annually, over the next three years, which means several existing shows will be canceled. The plan will involve merging divisions in the coming months and fewer opportunities for new commissions.

While it’s a grim day over at the BBC, finally gaining some clarity on a plan to keep the UK’s leading media brand and news channel afloat is at least a step in the right direction.

Mini Tidbit:

Studiocanal (Prod Co: Paddington series) is making a docuseries about one of the most famous art heists in the world. The Paris-Tokyo Job (Or How To Rob a Yakuza) follows Philippe “Fifi” Jamin, who became an international criminal after he began stealing famous artworks around the world, getting tangled with the Yakuza in the process.

ON THIS DAY

1952. Isabella Rossellini born in Rome, Italy.

Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.

Editor: Gabriel Miller.

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Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co

We also interviewed the renowned British musician Rita Ora, who also EPs, as well as the doc’s audacious directors, producers, composers, and cinematographers, Steve Happi and Dione Roach.

Here’s the synopsis:

New Bell is one of the most overcrowded prisons in Africa, built for a capacity of 800 incarcerated individuals but now houses nearly 6,000 men. Inside the overpopulated prison is “Jail Time Records,” a music studio that serves as a creative hub as well as a therapeutic outlet for the men.

There’s a sweetness to it, burrowed in the sweltering danger of the pent-up fury of thousands of men stuck behind bars. There are many films where art is used as a method of mental salvation from prison, recently A24’s Sing Sing. However, this doc strips away the edifices and shows us the scars of the real.

Waititi was struck by the film’s poignancy and extreme creativity with limited resources. Ora was moved by the innovation in the music.

And these directors got a crash course in kill-your-darlings-type editing that birthed Jail Time Records.

Here’s a clip:

At the Tribeca Film Festival, Jail Time Records also won the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director and Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature.

Sean Penn’s Friends, Amazon’s Shots, and Pulp.

Let’s go!

If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.

In honor of Flag Day this past weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing filmmakers Andrew and Melissa Shea, who shared what inspired them to make their doc, Flag Day.

It’s a wonderfully warm documentary about how people from all walks of life create the tapestry of the small town of Three Oaks, MI. From an octogenarian school bus driver to prom queens to local heroes, the people of this town come together to create the largest Flag Day celebration in America.

The paradox of the film: the years it took to get to know their subjects, and the 6 days it took to shoot.

Full interview + trailer here.

Two months after securing his third Academy Award, Sean Penn is stepping back from acting as he prepares for his seventh feature as a director, a politically charged drama centered on the January 6 Capitol riot for Warner Bros.

Penn will write and direct the untitled feature, with Bradley Cooper being eyed for the leading role as a cop who gets mixed up in the 2021 riots.

Cooper’s character may be similar to Penn’s most recent in PTA’s One Battle After Another as the deeply insecure and cruel military officer Lockjaw. Or it could share DNA with his psychologically burned to the brim EMT in Vertical’s Asphalt City (2023).

Penn’s new film is described as “an unexpected story about friendship,” which is vague enough for me to imagine that, within this setting, both friends will push each other to the brink of madness. Much like in Asphalt City and even his brief but wild romance in OBAA with Teyana Taylor.

But beyond drawing from the great films he has been in, Penn would be wise to study his own: Into the Wild (2007).

That’s a film that forces you to think it’s about isolation, when the true message is about friendship, ending with the quote:

“Happiness is only real when shared.”

Penn and Cooper feel like a natural pairing, and if they can carve a personal, heartfelt story about connection and retribution against this political backdrop, it will be one to watch.

Shooting mid-2027.

For More:

Asphalt City trailer.

Into the Wild trailer.

OBAA trailer.

THE INDUSTRY TLDR

• Hulu develops high-end NYC real estate drama The Pinnacle.

• Republic Pictures picks up sports doc Mighty Mary, narrated by Hugh Jackman.

• UCP and UIS merge into Universal Global Television, led by Beatrice Springborn.

• Sony Pictures will distribute Greta Gerwig’s Narnia internationally.

• Amazon MGM picks up Jason Momoa action-comedy Shots! Shots! Shots!

• LaKeith Stanfield joins Netflix’s Monsanto courtroom drama.

• Ariana Greenblatt will star in romcom Egg Baby for Amazon MGM.

• Samantha Morton joins Phoebe Dynevor in Amazon crime thriller Dirty.

• Mubi acquires Garth Jennings’ Pulp reunion-tour doc for worldwide distribution.

• BBC Studios is developing a live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service series.

Yesterday’s correct answer: 2005, The Comeback S1 release year.
57% got it correct.

THE INDUSTRY NEWS

Hulu is developing a series based on the world of high-end New York real estate, The Pinnacle, EP by George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth (It’s Complicated). The show follows an ambitious real estate agent as he tries to secure a permanent place in New York’s super-rich circles.

Paramount Pictures’ Republic Pictures picks up Mighty Mary, a sports documentary from Skydance Sports and Olympian turned filmmaker Mary Mazzio (Underwater Dreams). Narrated by Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Banks, the film follows the first all-women’s sailing team to compete for the America’s Cup. Premiering June 18th at the Nantucket Film Festival.

Universal Content Productions (UCP) and Universal International Studios (UIS) are combining to make one studio, Universal Global Television (UGT). The consolidation seemed inevitable, as former Pixar exec Beatrice Springborn was the president of both groups and will lead the now-merged UGT.

Mini Tidbits:

Sony Pictures will distribute Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew internationally. The domestic distribution of the original Netflix film will be handled by the streamer itself.

Amazon MGM picks up action-comedy Shots! Shots! Shots! starring Jason Momoa. The project was previously developed by Universal and is being described as a family-centric adventure that feels like a mixture of True Lies (1994) and Liam Neeson’s Taken.

Content Partners (Hollywood investment firm that owns The CSI franchise) gets a new funding deal from Carlyle Global Credit (Credit investment arm of The Carlyle Group).

“It’s astounding!” Las Vegas’ The Sphere has set The Rocky Horror Picture Show as their next movie experience in 2027 after The Wizard of Oz passed $400M in sales.

Renewals:

Apple TV’s The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy (for S4)

Prime Video’s Bloodaxe (for S2 ahead of its S1 2027 premiere)

Disney+’s Rivals (for S3)

Trailers:

DreamWorks’ Shrek 5

• Trailer

• Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Zendaya

• Release: Summer 2027

Netflix’s Heartstopper Forever

• Trailer

• Release: Jul. 17

Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (S4)

• Trailer

• Release: Jul. 23

National Geographic’s Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston

• Trailer

• Release: Jul. 23

GKIDS’ Cocoon - One Summer of Girlhood

• Trailer

• U.S. theatrical release: Sept. 4

THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT

LaKeith Stanfield (I Love Boosters) joins the new Netflix courtroom drama about the landmark legal trial against U.S. chemical company Monsanto.

Directed by John Lee Hancock (Dir: Netflix’s The Highwaymen), the untitled film will follow attorney Brent Wisner (Jonathan Bailey), who took a case against the chemical company Monsanto on behalf of Dewayne Lee Johnson (Stanfield), who used the company’s most popular pesticide, Roundup, at a high school. Wisner and Johnson won the seemingly impossible case, getting awarded $289M and the discovery that Roundup causes cancer.

Stanfield excels at being a vulnerable victim, such as a man trapped inside his own head in Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). His performance changed the atmosphere of the film. He has a softness and an explosiveness that this role needs, and we think he is perfect for the courtroom drama.

Ariana Greenblatt is officially a parent to an Egg Baby.

From XYZ Films, comedy director Natalia Anderson (Black-ish) is directing Egg Baby, a new coming-of-age romcom.

The Now You See Me: Now You Don’t actress will play yet another angsty teenager, this time tasked with co-parenting an egg for her health class alongside the precious quarterback. From the anarchic Tiny Tina in the live-action Borderlands to her moody Barbie skeptic Sasha, Greenblatt has become Hollywood’s go-to actress for witty but emotionally guarded teens, making the health-class assignment from hell feel right in her wheelhouse.

Amazon MGM Studios has picked up Egg Baby to release worldwide.

Tidbits:

Samantha Morton (Morvern Callar) joins the cast of Amazon crime thriller Dirty, starring Phoebe Dynevor (Fair Play). The show follows trainee detective Eva Bennett (Dynevor), who joins a new homicide investigation led by her estranged mother and legendary detective Lois Mercer (Morton). Matt Charman (Wri: Bridge of Spies) will write and produce the new crime series.

Young actress Millicent Simmonds first blew audiences away in the A Quiet Place films, but now she will both star and write Grace, a crime thriller feature. The film marks the first project from Inevitable Foundation’s Inevitable Studios, which aims to craft stories through a unique disability lens. Details are being kept under wraps, but Grace is centered on a deaf teenager who begins to unravel the violent secrets of her family’s past. Shooting will begin early 2027, marking a major step up for Simmonds in her career both in front of and behind the camera.

Mini Tidbits: