Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Netflix’s Saga, Carl Weathers’ sock, and a Petunia.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Netflix & BBC co-produce two-season Peaky Blinders sequel.
NBCUniversal and YouTube TV extend carriage deal long-term.
Canada’s Blue Ant Media acquires MagellanTV in $12M deal.
Stephan James cast as Carl Weathers in Amazon MGM’s I Play Rocky.
William H. Macy joins erotic thriller Eternity.
Frank Lammers to headline €15M pirate drama Salé.
Louis Tomlinson & Zayn Malik reunite for Netflix road trip docuseries.
Netflix finalizes cast for The Age of Innocence series adaptation.
Super Troopers 3 adds three to the cast.
IFC’s Good Boy sells to 27 territories.
Alec C. Cohen directs indie drama Petunia.
Kunal Nayyar’s producing partner launches indie shingle Hiro’s Omakase.
Venice Horizons winner On the Road sells to three international territories.
Nicole Wallace signs talent holding deal with Amazon MGM after Culpa Mia success.
Showtime picks up British dramas The Guest and Coldwater.
Signature Entertainment acquires U.K./Ireland rights to Justin Long’s horror Coyotes.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The Shelby saga continues.
Netflix and the BBC are co-producing a two-season sequel series to Peaky Blinders, with show creator Steven Knight back at the helm and Cillian Murphy attached as an EP. (It is currently unknown if he will again reprise his role as the antihero Tommy Shelby.)
The six-episode seasons will follow a new generation of Birmingham gangsters set to directly follow the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie that is expected to be released next year.
A section of the logline reads:
“This is a city of unprecedented opportunity and danger: with the Shelby family right at its blood-soaked heart.”
I’m sure a few details will be released prior to the movie coming out, yet it is still an exciting announcement for fans anxiously waiting for more razor-sharp schemes and good ole Birmingham grit.
Mini Tidbit:
Hulu will replace Star, the international content hub under Disney+, starting October 8th. This is all part of Disney’s consolidation efforts now that they own 100% of Hulu. This will help them reduce churn. Our full detailed breakdown from last month:
https://theindustry.co/p/disney-up-sony-down
NBCUniversal and YouTube TV have come to an agreement to extend their deal long-term. This means that the 10M NBCU YouTube TV customers will be able to see their channel uninterrupted. No deal has been hashed out as of yet between YouTube TV and Univision, the largest Spanish-language broadcaster.
Canada’s Blue Ant Media has acquired MagellanTV, a doc video service, in a $12M deal. Founded by National Geographic and PBS veterans Greg Diefenbach and Thomas Lucas, Magellan is best known for Wild El Salvador: In the Shadows of the Volcanoes (clip).
Trailers:
Prime’s Maxton Hall (S2)
Trailer (German-language)
Release: Nov 7
ID’s The Secrets We Bury
Release: Dec 16
Vertical’s Last Days
Dir: Justin Lin
Release: Oct 24
Release date:
Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part III
Release pushed: July 9th → July 30 2027
Netflix‘s Boss Baby: Back In Business
Linear release: Oct. 3 on Nickelodeon
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Amazon MGM Studios’ I Play Rocky finally finds its Carl Weathers in Stephan James (Race).
The Peter Farrelly film explores the making of the Best Picture-winning Rocky (1977) and the behind-the-scenes struggles of bringing Sylvester Stallone’s vision to life. James will star as a young Weathers, who portrayed the iconic Rocky opponent to Apollo Creed.
While most know James for his profoundly heartbreaking and vulnerable performance in Barry Jenkins’ acclaimed adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), the Canadian actor has a different range he can channel for his newest project. In Race (2016, trailer), James took on Olympic hero Jesse Owens, where he combined athletic precision, confidence, indisputable charisma, and showmanship, all qualities essential in portraying Weathers’ Apollo Creed.
I Play Rocky is still in pre-production. Rocky will be played by Anthony Ippolito.
William H. Macy (Fargo) has joined the erotic thriller Eternity.
Now filming in Italy with Meadow Williams (Den of Thieves) and Nolan Gerard Funk (The Flight Attendant).
The story follows conman Calvin Wells (Funk), who targets widow Katrine Winters (Williams) aboard her superyacht, only to uncover dark secrets beneath the waves.
We don’t yet have info on Macy’s part, but the Oscar-nominated character actor is capable of playing layered, morally complex characters. Probably best known for his bumbling car salesman who botches a hit in Fargo, he also played the alcoholic patriarch of the equally screwed up Gallagher family in Shameless. And don’t snooze on him in Train Dreams as the folksy wise man.
Whatever he brings to Eternity, if Macy is in it, I’ll give it a look.
Tidbits:
Frank Lammers (Undercover, Ferry) will headline Salé, a 17th-century pirate drama about a Dutch sea captain turned admiral. Two six-episode seasons are planned, budgeted at €15M each, filmed in Iceland and Morocco. With a planned Cannes run later this month, this is by far the most ambitious Iceland has been about getting into the film game.
Former One Direction members Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik will reunite for a Netflix road trip documentary series directed by Nicola Marsh (Child Star). The doc will follow their U.S. travels and address Liam Payne’s tragic death, alongside reflections on their careers. It is unfortunately not a full band reunion, though, because neither Harry Styles nor Niall Horan will appear. Set to debut sometime in 2026.
Netflix finalizes its cast for its new take on Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Age of Innocence from Chernin Entertainment (Ford v Ferrari). Joining as series regulars:
Fiona Glascott (Fantastic Beasts franchise)
Belinda Bromilow (The Great)
Emma Shipp (Rivals)
Filming for the gripping love story is expected to start sometime this fall.
Super Troopers 3 adds:
Lisa Gilroy (Jury Duty, The Studio)
Sakina Jaffrey (House of Cards, Billions)
Jon Rudnitsky (Saturday Night Live)
We still don’t know much about the plot, just that the majority of the original cast will be returning. Currently in production.
Mini Tidbits:
John Kim (Cruel Intentions) joins Perfect Girl, a K-pop thriller described as Scream meets Black Swan. Set in Thailand, the film follows a girl group battling for debut spots as mysterious attacks unfold. Kim will play Daniel, the boyfriend of a member of the group.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / FESTIVALS
A Very Good Boy. IFC’s $1M horror film Good Boy has sold to 27 international territories. That’s in addition to IFC already picking it up for all the English-speaking territories. Good Boy is on a roll. It was going to have a very small release. But then, the trailer blew up, and IFC decided to honor it with a nationwide rollout starting today, October 3.
Up-and-coming filmmaker Alec C. Cohen takes the helm of Petunia, an indie pet drama starring Charlie McDermott (The Middle) and Vanessa Marano (Gilmore Girls). The film follows a young couple who do everything they can to raise money for their beloved sick cats. With only a few short films on his resume, Cohen independently wrote, directed, financed, and produced this film, showcasing his unabridged commitment and versatility as a young filmmaker.
Big Bang Theory actor Kunal Nayyar’s longtime producing partner (Good Karma Productions), Jason Hiro Kim, is branching off on his own, launching a production company, Hiro’s Omakase. The indie company will focus on projects that bridge together the U.S., Japan, and Korea with an emphasis on empowering cross-cultural storytelling.
Venice Horizons’ On the Road, produced by Diego Luna, sells to three territories, including Germany. At Venice, the film won the Best Film award in the Horizons section as well as the Queer Lion.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The star of Prime Video’s Culpa Mia, Nicole Wallace, has signed a talent holding deal with Amazon MGM Studios, a rare move in the industry, highlighting the studio’s confidence in her star power.
The Spanish actress is next set to star as the lead in Jessica Yu’s (dir. Only Murders in the Building) upcoming original drama series Postcards From Italy.
The holding deal comes just off the heels of the incredible success of the Culpables franchise (Culpa Mia and Culpa Tuya), which broke records for Prime Video as the most-watched international originals for the past two years.
Check out the trailer for the final movie here.
Showtime is doubling down on British drama, acquiring The Guest and Coldwater from ITV Studios:
The Guest: A class drama exploring the unraveling of the lives of two families. Debuts October 17 on Paramount+.
Coldwater: follows a stay-at-home dad manipulated by a dangerous neighbor. Arrives early 2026.
British broadcaster ITV Studios is showcasing an extensive slate for Mipcom, the Cannes TV marketplace. Included are a trio of new dramas:
Sun-soaked crime caper Frauds
Starring Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker
Spy thriller Betrayal
Starring Shaun Evans (Magnolia Pictures’ Cashback)
Relationship drama Two Weeks in August
From prod. Company Various Artists Limited (HBO’s I May Destroy You)
A number of additional scripted as well as unscripted programs join ITV’s newest catalog.
Tidbits:
Death is indeed a Bitch. Banijay UK’s Conker Pictures, in a competitive negotiation, has obtained the rights to Death’s a Bitch to adapt into a series as their first project as a studio. The debut novel follows the sick Marcie and her older sister Aggie, who is offered a job by Death that could save her sister’s life.
Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Ireland rights for horror comedy Coyotes starring Justin Long (Barbarian). Directed by Colin Minihan (Grave Encounters, What Keeps You Alive), the film follows a Hollywood Hills family trapped during a raging wildfire while fending off savage coyotes (trailer).
Australia’s The Family Next Door (trailer) is coming to AMC in the US and ITV in the UK. The series also sold to 6 other territories. Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) stars.
ON THIS DAY
1941. The Maltese Falcon premieres in New York City.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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