Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Adam Sandler’s Up, Michael Bay’s comic, and Lady.
Let’s go!
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Cannes Day 2 solidified Jane Schoenbrun as one of the most interesting up-and-coming filmmakers. Following their breakout sophomore feature, I Saw the TV Glow, they return to Cannes with Mubi’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which premiered yesterday in Un Certain Regard. It’s a campy, goofy, seductive, and incredibly powerful vision of an indie screenwriter (Hannah Einbinder) whose sexual frustrations are explored and exploded by embracing the genre tropes of horror films, embodied by a Norma Desmond-like Gillian Anderson. If that sounds peculiar, it is. But the film manages to find emotional resonance in the oddest, yet most familiar of places. Some scenes would make David Cronenberg smile.
The other discovery is first-time actor Talha Akdogan, who plays Barry Keoghan’s son in Butterfly Jam, which premiered yesterday in Directors’ Fortnight. Akdogan is a teenager growing up with a father whose refusal to grow up sparks his own maturity. Watching Akdogan’s eyes subtly fall as Keoghan makes a fool of himself carried much of the emotional weight of the film.
Two major films premiere at Cannes today: Mubi’s Fatherland from director Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War - Best Director Award at Cannes), starring Sandra Hüller. And Parallel Tales from director, writer Asghar Farhadi (2x Oscar winner for A Separation and The Salesman), starring Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel, and Catherine Deneuve.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Adam Sandler writes Grown Ups 3 for Netflix.
Michael Bay directs Netflix’s medieval-fantasy comic adaptation Barbaric.
Netflix expands its Harlan Coben partnership with Myron Bolitar.
Netflix greenlights Kim Kardashian and Emma Roberts’ Calabasas Confidential.
Dan Levy signs a Netflix first-look deal.
Ben Stiller joins Netflix’s angel romance A Matter of Time.
David Jonsson cast in Halina Reijn’s new A24 film Please.
John Sayles returns with Amy Madigan and Chris Cooper in I Passed This Way.
HanWay sells Sundance winner Lady to Cohen Media Group.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Both the Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery upfronts were held today, featuring major announcements for their future film and TV lineup.
One of the biggest pieces of news to come from the Netflix side was yet another project from the longstanding partnership between Adam Sandler and the streamer, Grown Ups 3.
13 years after the second film, the Sandman is writing a script with Happy Gilmore 2 director Kyle Newacheck already attached. Guess it was time for another ridiculous friend group reunion, no word yet on which of Sandler’s famous friends will be joining.
Grown Ups 2 (2013, trailer).
Two New Book Adaptation Series:
Netflix’s next book adaptation has Michael Bay directing, Sam Claflin attached to star, and is one of the most popular medieval-fantasy comics around. Barbaric, based on the Vault Comics of the same name, follows a barbarian cursed to only his violence for good, a redemption story with co-showrunners Sheldon Turner (wri: Up in the Air) and Robert Rovner (prod: CW’s Supergirl) on board.
The 10-year, over-10 series-spanning partnership between Netflix and author Harlan Coben is expanding with the greenlight of his next series, Myron Bolitar. From Emmy winner David E. Kelley (wri. Big Little Lies) and Kyle Long (wri: Suits), the drama follows a retired basketball star who reinvents himself as a sports agent using his charm and sometimes his own sanity to get what his clients want.
Leads of The Pitt, Noah Wyle, and Katherine LaNasa surprised the WB Upfront stage with a major pre-production teaser ahead of its third season. Following the summer-set episodes, the new season will take place in early November before the holidays.
Netflix Upfront Greenlight announcements:
Scripted romance drama series Calabasas Confidential
E.P.(s): Kim Kardashian, Emma Roberts
Untitled Nick Cannon docuseries
Release: Winter 2026
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
Moving from Fox Sports
Airing Feb. 1-2 2027
CNN Upfront Greenlight announcements:
Mind vs/+ Machine: The Human Story of A.I.
Dir: Steve James (Hoop Dreams)
E.P: Alex Gibney (Dir: Taxi to the Dark Side)
Release: 2027
Netflix Renewals:
Love Is Blind for S11
Set in Boston
Release: Fall 2026
My Life With the Walter Boys for S4
Release date for S3 and S4: TBA
Running Point for S3
Cast: Kate Hudson, Justin Theroux
Big Mistakes
Wri(s): Dan Levy, Rachel Sennott
Levy also signed a new first-look series deal with the streamer
CNN Renewals:
Eva Longoria: Searching for France for S2
Release: 2027
Apple renewal:
Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles for S2
Cast: Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer
From David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies) and (newly promoted) EP Eva Anderson
Trailers/Clips:
Netflix’s East of Eden
Cast: Florence Pugh
Wri/EP: Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick)
Release: Fall 2026
Netflix’s The Hawk
Cast: Will Ferrell
Release: July 16
HBO Max’s Stuart Fails To Save the Universe
Cast: Kevin Sussman
Release: July 23
Laika Studios’ Wildwood
Dir: Travis Knight (Dir: Kubo and the Two Strings)
Release: Oct. 23
Lightbox’s Gabin
Dir: Maxence Voiseux (Les héritiers)
Premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sidebar
Tangles
Premiere: Cannes
Cast: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen
Int. Sales Rep: Charades (The Testament of Ann Lee)
First Look:
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender S2
Release: June 25
Release Dates:
Netflix’s Bridgerton S5
Release: Early 2027
Marking the first time in the series history of two years with consecutive seasons
Netflix’s Quarterback S3
Release: July 14
Netflix’s A Different World sequel series
Release: Fall 2026
Sony’s The Legend of Zelda
Release: May 7, 2027
Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast
Dir: David Ayer (Wri. Training Day)
Cast: Brad Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Anna Lambe (True Detective)
Release: Sept. 25
CBS’ Big Brother S28
Release: July 9
Mini Tidbits:
After a decade with the company, Prodigy Public Relations has upped Taylor Shannon to EVP of its Film department. At Prodigy, Shannon most recently worked on upcoming titles like the SXSW dark comedy Kill Me and the Nicolas Cage thriller Mandy.
Wild Child Studios has hired Archer Gray’s Kelsey Jackson (prod. American Horror Story) as Head of Scripted. Jackson will oversee the On the End studio’s entire upcoming scripted slate.
The “Godfather of Reality TV,” John Barbour, has died at 93. The five-time Emmy award winner is best known for creating and co-hosting the NBC show Real People (1979-85).
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Ben Stiller, the guardian angel. Ben Stiller will lead the Netflix feature A Matter of Time, directed by Harry Bradbeer (Enola Holmes). The film will follow an unlikely angel who convinces a recluse to sacrifice himself for the greater good, only for his impending death to start a new romance. Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) and Bella Maclean (Sex Education) star alongside Stiller.
No info on Stiller’s role, but it would be hilarious to see him as an angel who ironically tries to get people to sacrifice themselves. The premise almost feels like a reversal of another Ben Stiller film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), where Stiller plays a man trying to search for the meaning of life away from his old, boring job and routine.
We would love to see his neurotic and deadpan charm shine through in this ironic role.
Tidbits:
David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) joins the cast of A24’s Please, directed by Halina Reijn (Babygirl). No info on his role or the film's plot as of yet. Alongside Jonsson are Grammy-nominee Gracie Abrams, Connor Storrie (Heated Rivalry), and Tom Burke (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga). Ever since his breakout role in HBO’s series Industry, Jonsson has been growing his career with films like Rye Lane (2023), The Long Walk (2025), and most notably Alien: Romulus (2024), which grossed more than $350M at the global box office. He excels in timid yet endearing roles, and we would love to see him in a raunchy, satirical comedy much like Reijn’s 2022 A24 film Bodies Bodies Bodies.
Mini Tidbits:
Breeda Wool (AWOL) and Natasha Halevi (B.C. Butcher) will lead the female-driven thriller Cottontail. A directorial debut for Sander Gusinow, the film will follow two sisters playing a game of survival when they run into an escaped convict amidst the search for abortion medication.
Rising Danish actor Casper Kjær Jensen (The Shadow in My Eye) is stepping into the shoes of beloved Scandinavian children’s writer Hans Christian Andersen in My Fairytale Life. The biopic will follow Andersen’s efforts to break into Copenhagen’s cultural elite before accidentally becoming a literary legend. His casting was unveiled at a presentation by the Nordic Film Institute at Cannes.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Distribution deals at Cannes:
Paris-based sales outfit Luxbox has secured a French distribution deal for I’ll Be Gone in June, a New Mexico-set coming-of-age film premiering in Cannes Un Certain Regard.
Dir/Wri: Katharina Rivilis
Prod: Wim Wenders (Dir: Paris, Texas)
France distribution: Nour Films (France dist: The Life of Chuck)
Seven new projects have been added to the Cannes Market, including one starring Scott Adkins and another from Black Bear. Check them out here.
The 2026 Student Academy Awards will be held at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 14.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT/ INTERNATIONAL NEWS
American indie legend John Sayles (Lone Star) is finally riding back into the saddle.
Sayles is set to direct from his own screenplay a film titled I Passed This Way starring the newly-minted Oscar winner Amy Madigan (Weapons) alongside frequent collaborator Chris Cooper (Lone Star, City of Hope, Amigo).
Thirteen years since his last feature, Go for Sisters (2013), the new Sayles project is based on the 1927 novella of the same name. Set in 1898, the film follows a legendary lawman and his deputy in a relentless pursuit of a thieving cowboy.
Shooting will begin this fall, while it’s currently being shopped to buyers at the Cannes market this week.
Isabelle Deluce (producer of Charlie Kaufman’s short film How to Shoot a Ghost) is producing Replacer, a feature film that counts Lilly Wachowski as an EP.
Synopsis:
Stranded in Montreal, Proxy (Halsey), a troubled DJ, meets an alluring artist and his group of friends who run an underground radio station. The station’s broadcast becomes warped by a mysterious signal hidden deep beneath the city’s subway system.
We love the idea of casting a popstar (Halsey) to explore the seductive allure of underground clubbing in a way that will tilt into psychosexual horror.
CAA and UTA are selling at the Cannes market.
Tidbits:
Alex Proyas (Dir: I, Robot) is set to direct historical epic The Hakim, based on the life of Bahrain leader Shaikh Isa Bin Ali Al Khalifa. The film will follow the legendary leader Shaikh Ali as he inherits Bahrain’s throne at 19 and struggles to lead his nation through economic collapse, natural disaster, and the discovery of oil that will transform the region. The film is produced by PG Entertainment UK. Casting is currently underway.
HanWay Films sells Sundance Jury Award winner Lady to Cohen Media Group (Franz) for U.S. distribution rights. The debut feature from Nigerian-born filmmaker Olive Nwosu follows a female cab driver on a quest for survival and sisterhood.
Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) has started production on his newest film, Gold Mountain, set during the American Gold Rush. A co-production between Fifth Season (Severance) and The Ink Factory (The Night Manager), production is underway in North Carolina.
Mini Tidbits:
Apple, International
Channel 4’s Wrong Move
Dead Man’s Wire producer
All those tidbits and more, here.
ON THIS DAY
1979. Tarkovsky’s Stalker is released.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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