Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Amazon’s books, Netflix’s Monopoly, and a Silent Friend.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Nexstar and Sinclair restore Jimmy Kimmel Live! to their stations.
Amazon MGM is adapting two books: The Tiger Slam & Things We Never Got Over.
Fifth Season co-CEO Chris Rice steps down.
Netflix is developing a Monopoly-inspired game show.
Warner Bros. tops $4bn at the 2025 worldwide box office.
Michael Stuhlbarg is excellent in After the Hunt.
Terence Stamp’s final performance is in Priscilla Queen of the Desert 2.
Luke Wilson joins Will Ferrell’s Netflix golf comedy series.
Allison Janney & Bradley Whitford promoted to series regulars in Netflix’s The Diplomat S4.
San Sebastián's top prize winner is Los Domingos.
Silent Friend (Venice Critics Week winner) sells to 15 territories.
Genndy Tartakovsky shares concept footage for Black Knight.
Michael Almereyda will direct Zero K starring Caleb Landry Jones.
Hong Kong submits The Last Dance for Oscars.
Jia Zhangke (dir: Ash Is Purest White) preps new feature.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Amazon MGM is adapting two books.
Screenwriter Alex Convery is picked to pen the feature adaptation of The Tiger Slam by Kevin Cook, a novel chronicling the success of golfer Tiger Woods. Convery knows Amazon and knows athletes with his new job, coming not long after he wrote the script for the streamer’s Michael Jordan film Air (2023). Amazon landed the rights to The Tiger Slam earlier this year, with filming expected to begin sometime next year.
In the TV space, Amazon is adapting Things We Never Got Over, the bestselling romance novel from Lucy Score. The first book in Score’s Knockemout series, it follows a woman running away from both her fiancé and her entire life, and it’s only after falling for a local in a small town that she rediscovers who she is.
Jimmy Kimmel gets his audience back. His show, as of last Friday night, was restored to the two broadcasters that had originally pulled him:
Nexstar
Carries ABC on 32 local stations
11-12% of Kimmel’s audience
Sinclair
Carries ABC on 38 local stations
15% of Kimmel’s audience
Perhaps it’s the discussions they had with Disney. Or the fact that they saw Kimmel’s ratings were sky high, with his apology episode (our full breakdown) hitting 6.3M views. That’s 3.5x higher than his average of 1.77M/episode.
Tidbits:
After fifteen years, the co-CEO of Fifth Season (Severance), Chris Rice, is not renewing his contract with the premium film-TV studio. His longtime partner, Graham Taylor, will act as the sole CEO while Rice will remain with the company as an advisor, taking on more of a producing role, signing a first-look deal with Fifth Season.
Lyrical Media (Bruiser) has hired Jonathan Faust, an exec at The North Road Company (Netflix’s Bad Boy), as their new CFO. He will oversee Lyrical’s financing across their entire slate, including film, TV, video games, graphic novels, and more.
Netflix is working on a game show inspired by Monopoly, not much gameplay-wise has been established besides the brand, but I can’t wait to see who they cast for this guy.
Warner Bros. worldwide box office revenue hit $4bn. That’s more than any other studio. For a full breakdown of their latest film, PTA’s One Battle After Another, click here: https://theindustry.co/p/leonardo-dicaprios-box-office-battle
Renewals:
Netflix’s Haunted Hotel (for S2)
Trailers:
Disney+’s Star Wars: Visions Volume 3
Release: Oct 29
Clout (short film)
Star: Archie Yates (little boy in Jojo Rabbit)
Release:
BBC’s Film Club
Cast: Aimee Lou Wood (White Lotus S3), Owen Cooper (Adolescence)
Release: Oct 7
Release dates:
Sony’s The Social Reckoning (sequel to The Social Network)
Dir: Aaron Sorkin
Release: Oct 9, 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Michael Stuhlbarg’s performance in After the Hunt as Julia Roberts’ disregarded husband is transcendent. His dynamic with Roberts was my favorite part of the film, which premiered at Venice and just played at NYFF.
Stuhlbarg is so understimulated by Roberts, both philosophically and sexually, that his only joy is in listening to music at their apartment. And he plays this music ad infinitum at such a fever pitch as to provide himself with stimulation and to torment Roberts. His moves between aggression and sweetness throughout the film are shocking, thrilling, and well-calibrated.
It’s not his first turn in a Luca Guadagnino film.
He was sublime as a devastatingly transparent father to Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name, who details how we become emotionally bankrupt as we age (clip). Grab some tissues if you’re going to watch that…
Tidbits:
Priscilla Queen of the Desert 2 will be Terence Stamp’s (Superman II) swan song performance. Director Stephan Elliott revealed that the late Terence Stamp, who passed away at 87, spent his final months reprising his character Bernadette. Priscilla Queen of the Desert was a groundbreaking musical with a bold message, following a group of drag queens as they go on tour in a Winnebago named Priscilla. Production has since paused to mourn and assess how to integrate Stamp’s performance. Check out the original trailer here (yes, that’s Hugo Weaving & Guy Pearce).
Luke Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Old School) joins longtime collaborator Will Ferrell in Netflix’s untitled 10-episode golf comedy series. Ferrell stars as Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, a legendary golfer. Wilson plays a rival pro who twice bested Lonnie. This feels like Will Ferrell bread and butter a sports comedy about an ambitious guy with a silly nickname. However, it’s going to be strange to see an Adam McKay-less Will Ferrell project like that. Wilson has recently come back into the limelight with the recent revival of the borderline prophetic film Idiocracy.
Netflix has promoted Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford to series regulars for Season 4 of The Diplomat. Janney, who was introduced as Vice President Grace Penn in Season 2, ascends to the presidency by the finale, with Whitford playing her husband, Todd. Season 3 follows Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) navigating the fallout of a presidential death. Season 3 premieres October 16, 2025. Season 3 trailer.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
San Sebastián Film Festival prize winners:
Golden Shell (top prize): Los domingos / Sundays
Synopsis:
A young woman named Ainara faces personal crossroads while exploring career possibilities, much to her family’s concern.
Silver Shell (Best Director), Jury Prize for Best Screenplay: Six jours ce printemps-là / Six Days in Spring
Synopsis:
A single mom takes her twins for a secret getaway to her former in-laws’ empty villa on the Riviera. What begins as an innocent spring break becomes a life-changing six days in the sun.
The Audience Award went to The Voice of Hind Rajab. The film also took 2nd at Venice. In another great moment for the film, it has been acquired for UK and Ireland distribution by Altitude (Moonlight, The Irishman, Talk to Me). Releasing in theatres on January 16, 2026.
Full list of San Sebastián winners here.
Another Venice Film gets picked up. Silent Friend, which won the Venice Critics Week Prize and a new talent award for one of the stars, has been picked up by 15 international territories, including Japan. The film co-stars Léa Seydoux with Tony Leung Chiu-wai (main character, In the Mood for Love). It is told from the POV of a lonely tree in a botanical garden. Whatever this is, we’re in for it! Trailer.
Festival trailer:
Zurich Film Festival’s Wolves
Plot: a nice Swiss girl gets romantic with a metal musician
Sales Rep: The Yellow Affair
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack) bets it all on black.
Genndy Tartakovsky got tired of the limbo his new film, Black Knight, has been going through. So he took a page from Deadpool and leaked some really impressive concept footage.
Conceived six years ago, the film failed to convince studios of its commercial potential despite a test reel, with Sony claiming it didn’t see an audience. With Tartakovsky’s recent R-rated comedy Fixed (which also had delays) landing him in the doghouse, his back is kind of up against the wall, and he decided to take his knocks and air out his grievances with the studio; it might work, as there has already been a flurry of fans.
Known more for his distinct, sharp anime style, it was really incredible to see that translate into 3D his dark adult storylines and stylized action scenes have already shown a lot of promise.
Check out the footage here.
Michael Almereyda’s movies are stranger than fiction. His next one, Zero K, has a sensational cast:
Caleb Landry Jones
Peter Sarsgaard
Andrea Riseborough
Here’s the synopsis:
A billionaire develops a way to preserve dead people until cures are found for the diseases that killed them.
The film is adapted from a Don DeLillo novel, and the two couldn’t be a better fit. Almereyda’s films are constantly experimental, playing with the form of cinema to spectacular effect. Like in Sundance 2015’s Experimenter, which showed Peter Sarsgaard as Stanley Milgram (of the Milgram shock experiments), whose direct-to-camera address put the viewer on trial (trailer). Almereyda’s Ethan Hawke-led, NYC-set Hamlet (2000) was a glorious re-interpretation of the Bard (trailer).
Zero K is set to shoot in early 2026 and is produced by RT Features (Ad Astra, I’m Still Here).
Tidbit:
Joseph R. Masefield, co-writer of Don’t Go in the House and sound editor on The Evil Dead, has died at 92. A true multihyphenate, he also worked on Imax films, acted occasionally, and was even compiling poetry late in life.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Hong Kong’s highest-grossing Chinese-language release, The Last Dance (trailer), is its official submission for the 98th Academy Awards International Feature Category. The family drama follows a wedding planner who pivots into the funeral business in a story about tradition and reconciliation.
Hong Kong has submitted an international film every year since 1959, but has yet to win. Maybe The Last Dance will be their chance.
37 countries have submitted to the Oscars so far. Check out the full list here: https://theindustry.co/p/oscars-2026-international-feature
Celebrated Chinese director Jia Zhangke (Ash Is Purest White) is gearing up to shoot his next (currently untitled) feature. Known for chronicling social change with poetic realism, his upcoming project departs from his historical “hometown trilogy” to capture the urgency of contemporary life. Wings International, the auteur’s production company, closed financing last month, and while the plot is being kept under wraps, filming will start this December.
Tidbits:
Australia’s Elevate Production Finance (EPF) has promoted Charles Auty as the new CEO. The company has backed films like Ron Howard’s Eden (2024) and the biographical music film Better Man (2024). Auty will aid in strengthening EPF’s position as a global financial partner to producers and investors worldwide.
Following the Skydance merger, Pam Kaufman is the newest senior exec to leave her position as the Paramount President and CEO of International Markets, Global Consumer Products, and Experiences. Her almost thirty years with the company were spent largely working on the marketing side of Nickelodeon, where she rose through the ranks and is credited with launching the kids’ cable channel into a global brand.
Hirokazu Kore-eda, director of Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters (2018), is kicking off production on a new film, Sheep in the Box. The film will center on a family that brings home a human-like robot as a son. Goodfellas (Nouvelle Vague, Megalopolis) and Gaga (Japan sales rep: Whiplash) are the sales reps.
ON THIS DAY
1991. My Own Private Idaho premieres.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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