Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Apple TV+’s Smoke, Jonah Hill’s Cut Off, and a dream eater.
Let’s go!
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There’s something primordial about Dennis Lehane’s Apple TV+ show Smoke.
It’s Taron Egerton’s bottled rage, it’s John Leguizamo's turn as a rancid saint, and above all else, the harrowing proximity we feel to fire.
I sat down with Lehane (creator: Smoke, Blackbird, author: Mystic River) to discuss how he concocted one of the wildest shows in recent memory.
He told me, unsurprisingly, that he shares thematic interests with Cormac McCarthy (author: The Road, Blood Meridian):
“‘I got to have, blood, sweat, and fury… I create what I call my sympathetic monsters.”
That monster in Lehane’s Smoke is the lead, Taron Egerton. He plays a charming (à la Kingsman) arson investigator who fancies himself king of the world, a persona that we learn is pure vapor.
Lehane explained:
“The central kind of paradoxical performative masculinity of this main guy... That level of denial, that level of creating personas was to me, very interesting.”
A standout moment in Lehane’s series comes early on when Egerton drops his good guy persona and gives his wife one of the nastiest snarls ever committed to screen. It reveals, true to the show's title, that he’s a hothead.
Lehane continued:
“I wanted to look at people spinning within those orbits, and people rushing towards their own self-destruction and the attraction of self-destruction moths to flames.”
Lehane’s Smoke isn’t just about an arson investigator; it’s about the peril of believing the fiction you perform, and how self-delusion can burn hotter than any fire.
For More:
My full interview with Lehane + Smoke trailer.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Kristen Wiig & Jonah Hill team for Warner Bros. comedy Cut Off, with Hill directing.
AMC Networks’ streaming revenue is up.
Netflix buys Kevin Hart–John Cena action-comedy pitch The Leading Man.
Apple TV+ & A24 are developing a Lena Dunham–Emily Ratajkowski series.
New Final Destination in the works.
WGA expels The Sympathizer’s Park Chan-wook & Don McKellar.
Sebastian Stan to play Frankenstein & monster in Radu Jude’s Frankenstein in Romania.
Pedro Pascal replaces Oscar Isaac in Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth.
Nationwide dog casting for Air Bud Returns.
TIFF Wavelengths lineup revealed; BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions to screen.
WB Discovery acquires broadcast rights to Willem Dafoe’s The Birthday Party.
Will Gluck to direct romcom One Night Only.
New Line is developing a Space Invaders movie.
Eli Roth acquires Dream Eater; Oct. 24 release.
Vertical acquires Motherland.
Sony is producing a Thai remake of 50 First Dates.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Kristen Wiig will star opposite Jonah Hill in Warner Bros.’ comedy Cut Off, following two wealthy siblings cut off from parental funds, which Hill will also be directing.
Production begins this fall, and it will be using the new CA tax credits.
After his turn to directing, we haven't seen as much of Hill in comedies; the last project of his was You People for Netflix. Wiig has always been a comedy dynamo, and it will be exciting to see how the two improv proficient actors will play off of each other (like when they appeared on SNL together).
Shooting for a release on July 17th.
AMC Networks (parent company: Sundance TV and IFC Films) Q2 2025 revenue losses, compared with last year:
$600M revenue
↓ 4%
$123 M ad revenue
↓ 18%
$50M net income
↑ 272% (last year’s net income was down because of charges related to the purchase of BBC America)
↑ 200K subs from last quarter
10.4M total
The company lost 200K subs last quarter so this zeros out
This was the fourth quarter in a row that revenue and ad revenue declined. The bright side: streaming revenue is up 12% to $169M with AMC+’s price hike. We’ve seen these price hikes across the industry as a great lever to increase top-line growth.
Action star vs. secret agent. Netflix buys a pitch for The Leading Man, starring and produced by Kevin Hart and John Cena.
Logline:
When a self-absorbed movie star (Cena) discovers that his co-star/man in the chair (Hart) is an actual agent, he’s forced to swallow his pride and accept that action stars aren’t really action heroes…while trying to save the world.
This is a fun combo platter of the work they’ve been doing. Hart has a couple of agent roles (Central Intelligence, The Man From Toronto), although notably in both, he’s an everyman forced to become a secret agent. And Cena just played a self-absorbed actor in Ricky Stanicky (trailer).
Jon & Erich Hoeber (writers: Red 1, 2 & Meg 1, 2) created the pitch from the comic book series.
Disney Jr. announced a new children's series based on some of their biggest IPs:
Marvel’s Avengers: Mightiest Friends (Marvel)
Cars: Lightning Racers
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+
Disney Jr. Ariel – The Little Mermaid
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures
If you have a kid and or are a kid, you now have just as many options as the rest of us.
Tidbits:
Apple TV+ and A24 are in the early stages of a new untitled series set to explore modern motherhood, with Lena Dunham on board to EP. In addition to producing, Emily Ratajkowski is attached to lead the series, making a reunion between the model turned actress and Dunham, who just worked together on the Netflix series Too Much. Plot details under wraps.
We’re getting a new Final Destination movie. New Line’s previous Final Destination Bloodlines was a series best both from a financial standpoint, earning $100M more than any other film in the series, with $285M WW. These horror films are creatively genius, hooking into our underlying fears and phobias that death abounds in the ordinary. The original producing team is back on board with Lori Evans Taylor (FD Bloodlines) co-writing. The loss is that the only recurring character, fan-favorite Tony Todd, passed away last year.
WGA is not sympathetic. The creators/writers of HBO’s The Sympathizer, Park Chan-wook (dir: Oldboy) and Don McKellar, have been expelled from the guild. This means that they won’t be able to work with any WGA signatories like HBO, Netflix, and Disney. Their next film won’t be affected, the Chan-wook-directed/McKellar-written No Other Choice from Neon.
Tom Cruise’s Deeper is stalled. The original supernatural thriller, directed by Doug Liman and written by Max Landis (Bright), once attached to Warner Bros., is not moving forward as the current budget of $275M is higher than what WB is willing to pay. For context, WB’s top budgeted film this year is Superman at $225M.
Zach Cregger's got a great DCU pitch: The buzzy Weapons director has long been touting his “Henchman” script, though he hasn't yet pitched it to Gunn, and it sounds great. Potentially based on a popular Batman Animated series episode, it would follow a low-level Gotham crook who incapacitates Batman, gaining notoriety. He apparently wrote this even before Barbarian or Weapons, and has been sitting on it for years. Take the call, James!
Orion Pictures (Nickel Boys) has scored the movie adaptation of Aleshea Harris’ award-winning play Is God Is, with a release date of May 15th, 2026. Marking the playwright’s directorial debut, the film is a revenge quest between burned sisters.
The internet was abuzz from the Spider-Man “leaks". We got a good look at his new costume, and it created quite a bit of hype. Seems like it was a bit of guerrilla marketing via Disney.
Confirmed: SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher will not be running for re-election. Sean Astin (LOTR’s Samwise Gamgee) is running and will likely replace her.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is wrapped.
Renewals:
Netflix’s One Piece (renewed for Season 3)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Feeling Alive: Sebastian Stan will star in Radu Jude’s upcoming Frankenstein in Romania, playing both Victor Frankenstein and his monster.
Stan, who is Romanian-born, is a perfect choice for a double role like this. He has recently done a horror centering on a self-made transformation of sorts in A Different Man. Jude pitched the project after the two discussed collaborating, blending the Frankenstein myth with the real history of a secret CIA prison in Romania. Jude already seems to have monsters on the brain, as his highly stylized period piece, Dracula, just released this week - trailer.
Let’s hope he’s not planning some backdoor Dark Universe?
Pedro Pascal is replacing Oscar Isaac in Tony Gilroy’s first post-Andor film, Behemoth! Which follows a Cellist returning to LA and is told through a series of flashbacks. Isaac exited due to scheduling conflicts, with production beginning this fall. It's just a shame that Oscar Isaac, a musician himself, really captured the heartbreak of it all in the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis; I see the vision in that casting. Oh well, Pedro's good too.
Mini Tidbits:
Do you have a dog? Can they shoot three pointers? If yes, you may be in luck, as a nationwide search has begun to cast the titular role in Air Bud Returns. The next film will be written and directed by the original Air Bud creator, Robert Vince. In theaters next summer.
Cyclops steps back into focus. Twenty years since Paradise actor James Marsden (clips) portrayed the comic book favorite (X-Men, 2000, 2003, 2006), his reprisal of the role in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday felt like a “homecoming”. Doomsday will play in theaters everywhere Dec. 2026.
Tim Blake Nelson is rolling with the punches in Bang Bang, where he takes on the role of an aging boxer. The film has been picked up for North American rights by Sunrise Films (Distributor: Sew Torn).
Stacy rides again. Timothy Olyphant is saddling back up as James Stacy, the real-life TV cowboy he portrayed in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (clip), for David Fincher’s upcoming adaptation of Cliff Book. The anticipated Adventures of Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) hits theaters next July.
Anna Alarcón (Mamifera) will star in Liliana Torres’ Climacteric, a drama about a woman going through menopause from Edna Cine and Distinto Films, with Filmax handling Spanish distribution. Alacròn's costarring turn in Mamifera was a special jury prize winner at 2024 SXSW.
Two projects adding three to the cast:
CBS’s successful police procedural comedy, Elsbeth, for 3rd season:
Amy Sedaris (At Home with Amy Sedaris)
Andy Richter (Late Night with Conan O’Brien)
Lindsay Mendez (Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along)
Premieres Sept. 10th.
USA Network’s new drama adaptation, Anna Pigeon:
Jordan Sledz (Heartland)
Crystle Lightning (Ghosts)
Nikki Hallow (Amazon’s High School)
From Cineflix Studios (Apple TV+’s Tehran) and based on the series by Nevada Barr, Anna Pigeon is currently filming in Canada.
FESTIVALS
TIFF Wavelengths section, highlighting their picks of the best of international cinema from early-stage directors, includes:
Magellan
Cast: Gael García Bernal
Follows Magellan and Beatriz Barbosa's 1517 marriage in Seville
Premiere: Sundance (where it was pulled and re-stated)
Dir: Kahlil Joseph (Beyonce’s Lemonade)
OG financiers/prod company: Participant Media
New Prod Co: James Shani’s Rich Spirit (The Apprentice) and BN Media (the film’s production company)
Dry Leaf
Premiere: Locarno
Sales Rep: Heretic (Prod co for Triangle of Sadness, The Return)
Levers
Dir: Rhayne Vermette (DP: Sundance’s Dead Lover), Feature debut
Mare’s Nest
Sales Rep: Rediance (Prod co: Memoria, Grand Tour
Prod: Andrea Queralt (prod: Cannes 3rd place winner Sirât)
Seasons (2025)
Dir: Maureen Fazendeiro (Casting Dir/Wri: Cannes’ Grand Tour)
Full line-up here.
Plus, TIFF Classics' full offering here, including a 35MM print of Jaws.
Locarno:
A few pickups are happening at Locarno, which is in full swing.
Warner Bros. Discovery has picked up broadcast rights for The Birthday Party, starring Willem Dafoe as a 1970s Greek billionaire (Dafoe, Poster). The sales reps (Heretic, Bankside Films) have also sold it to 13 territories, including Switzerland.
Warner Bros Discovery has purchased the broadcast rights to the film, set to be launched after its theatrical run on HBO Europe and streaming platform Max.
MPM Premium (Sundance’s Cactus Pears) has picked up sales rights for Irkkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream. The film will premiere at Locarno’s Piazza Grande section and play at TIFF’s Centerpiece section.
Best Friends Forever (sales rep: UniversalLanguage, A Useful Ghost) has picked up Nina Roza. The film will premiere at Locarno’s first look section. The film just took two honors, for top recognition and for its creative promise for the festival’s Pro Awards.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Director Will Gluck is revitalizing the romcom, with his box office hit, Anyone But You (2023), just the beginning. Gluck is gearing up to direct his next feature, One Night Only, with Callum Turner (The Boys in the Boat) and A Complete Unknown’s Monica Barbaro attached as the leads.
The original script by Travis Braun topped the 2024 Blacklist and follows a pair of strangers who scramble to find someone to sleep with on the night of the year when premarital sex is legal.
Gluck, throughout his career, has carved out a distinct niche in romcoms, blending heightened chemistry and a self-aware sense of humor, going back to his breakout film Easy A (2010), his twist on The Scarlet Letter. He has a track record of taking rising talent like Emma Stone, Sydney Sweeney, or Glen Powell and turning them into defining faces of the modern romcom canon…
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