Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
ESPN’s Original, LOTR goes BIG, and an Imposter.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
ESPN Originals’ latest is Saban, a 6-part doc series on Nick Saban.
LOTR trilogy 25th anniversary re-release hits $10.5M worldwide.
A24’s Marty Supreme crosses $100M worldwide.
Lumière Awards: The Stranger (François Ozon) takes top prize.
Roger Allers (The Lion King director) dies at 76.
Designer Valentino Garavani dies at 93.
Blue Finch Films buys worldwide sales rights to sci-fi Imposters (SXSW 2026).
Harper Steele joins Berlinale doc What Will I Become? as EP.
The Last of Us director Peter Hoar is developing a Blake’s 7 reboot.
Netflix starts filming Argentine comedy Felicidades.
UK/Ireland: Signature Entertainment acquires What We Hide (McKenna Grace).
BAFTA names Lisa Campbell executive director of programs.
TrustNordisk takes international sales on Hans Christian Andersen biopic.
Disney Latin America production VP Leonardo Aranguibel exits.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
“There will never be another Nick Saban”.
ESPN is teaming with Words + Pictures on Saban (teaser), a six-part documentary series chronicling the life and career of college football’s most successful coach.
The series will dig into his 17 seasons at the University of Alabama, where he won six national championships and turned the Crimson Tide into a modern dynasty. Featuring never-before-seen footage and interviews, the doc will follow his storied career coaching for several high-profile colleges and mentoring some of the best-known coaches in football today.
The premiere date has not yet been revealed.
Mini Tidbits:
The Lord of the Rings trilogy’s 25th-anniversary re-release grossed $10.5M worldwide, prompting renewed runs as New Line and Warner Bros. ready The Hunt for Gollum hype machine.
A24’s Marty Supreme tops $100M worldwide. It carries a $70M budget, so it hasn’t recouped yet, but strong word of mouth, awards momentum, and upcoming international releases will keep moving the needle.
Amazon MGM has cut actor Timothy Busfield from You Deserve Each Other, after reported child sexual abuse charges. His court hearing is set for January 20.
Trailers:
Paramount+’s The Madison
Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Will Arnett
Release Date: March 14, 2026
Abramorama’s Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It (Doc)
Release: February 20, 2026
Zee Studios’ Do Deewane Seher Mein
Release: February 20, 2026 (India theatrical)
Why Do I See You In Everything?
Release: February 1, 2026 (IFFR premiere)
Sky’s Prisoner
Writer - Matt Charman - (co-writer: Bridge of Spies - 2015)
Release: TBA
Live Air Date:
Netflix’s Skyscraper Live
Alex Honnold (Free Solo) live climb event
January 23rd (5pm PT)
FESTIVALS
The Lumière Awards, generally regarded as the equivalent of France’s Golden Globes, announced their winners:
Best Film, Best Actor, Best Cinematography
The Stranger
Dir/Wri: François Ozon
Actor: Benjamin Voisin
DP: Manuel Dacosse
Best Direction, Male Revelation
Nouvelle Vague
Dir: Richard Linklater
Actor: Guillaume Marbeck
Full list of winners here (in French, if you’re feeling bold or have a translator).
Sales agents board festival films:
Home Bitter Home
Sales Agent: Mad World (My Father and Qaddafi)
Dir: Georges Hachem (Nar Men Nar)
Prod. Comp: Stray Bee Productions
Premiere: Rotterdam
Synopsis:
Five Lebanese artists in their 30s navigate personal struggles amid Beirut’s ongoing crises, exploring their complex relationship with a beloved yet chaotic hometown.
Atlas of the Universe
Int. Sales Agent: Pluto Film (To Kill a Mongolian Horse)
Dir: Paul Negoescu (Men of Deeds)
Wri: Mihai Mincan (2025 TIFF title Milk Teeth)
Premiering at Berlinale’s Generation K+ program
Synopsis:
A 10-year-old boy who embarks on a journey to find his missing shoe.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Roger Allers, the Oscar and Tony-nominated director behind Disney’s The Lion King, died Saturday at 76.
A key figure in Disney’s animation renaissance, he also worked on Aladdin (trailer), Beauty and the Beast (trailer), and later projects, including Open Season and The Prophet.
But his crowning jewel of achievement was the original The Lion King (trailer). Borrowing heavily from Hamlet, it is a story of betrayal, revenge, and ultimately the unbreakable powers of friendship. Hakuna matata!
Allers was a true master, blending classical storytelling clarity with some of the best animation in Disney’s prime.
He will be missed.
Tidbits:
Legendary Italian courtier Valentino Garavani has died at 93. From his elegant eveningwear to his revered signature Valentino red, he built a fashion empire designing everyone from English royalty to Hollywood icons like Elizabeth Taylor (Night Watch costume). He made appearances himself in The Devil Wears Prada (scene), Zoolander 2 (2016), and the 2008 documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor (trailer), among others. More than a designer, Valentino was a curator of fantasy and romance; his legacy is stitched into cinema, and he leaves behind a vision of beauty that will never fade.
Mini Tidbit:
Blue Finch Films (The Beach Bum) has acquired worldwide rights to sci-fi thriller Imposters, the SXSW 2026 debut from filmmaker Caleb Phillips. The film follows a couple whose search for their abducted infant leads to disturbing doubts about the child’s identity.
Emmy-winning writer and producer Harper Steele (Will and Harper) has joined the Berlinale premiering documentary What Will I Become? as an EP. The doc examines the transmasculine community’s vulnerability through personal storytelling.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Multitude Productions has launched with The Last of Us director Peter Hoar and is developing a Blake’s 7 reboot.
Blake’s 7 is a British science-fiction TV series that aired on the BBC from 1978 to 1981. It follows political dissident Roj Blake and a small group of criminals, rebels, and outcasts fighting the authoritarian Terran Federation. The company is betting on a lower budget, British genre IP. Watch the very retro intro.
Multitude Productions has also optioned Patrick Carman’s teen thriller Skeleton Creek book series.
Multitude is also working on adapting Luke Rhinehart’s gambling series The Search for the Dice Man. A sequel to Paramount’s own Dice Man project.
UK Distributor picks up:
What We Hide
UK and Irish Distributor: Signature Entertainment (Luc Besson’s Dracula)
Dir: Dan Kay (I.T.)
Prod. Comp: Vaneast Pictures (The Confession)
Cast: McKenna Grace (Five Nights at Freddy’s 2), Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), Jesse Williams (Grey’s Anatomy)
Synopsis:
After their mother suffers a fatal overdose, two sisters fear that the foster system will separate them and decide to hide the body. But their lie may be discovered and they must decide how far they are willing to go to keep their secret.
Tidbit:
Netflix has begun filming Argentine comedy Felicidades (Congratulations) based on the hugely successful play about a birthday celebration that spirals into chaos. Led by one of Argentina’s most influential actor-producers, Adrián Suar (Mazel Tov), alongside actress Griselda Siciliani (Envious), Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia (The Day of the Beast) is on board to direct the adaptation. Felicidades has the makings to be the newest great local Spanish comedy in the works. Production is ongoing in Buenos Aires.
Mini Tidbits:
Acclaimed Swedish screenwriter Camilla Läckberg (The Ice Princess) is back writing and executive producing Netflix’s The Glass Dome (trailer). Dubbed the Queen of Noir, her crime-fighting novels have sold millions of copies all over the world. All six episodes of her newest drama are available on Kino Lorber’s streaming service MHz Choice.
BAFTA has appointed Lisa Campbell as executive director of programs. She joins from ITN this spring and will oversee talent, outreach, and other initiatives. Campbell previously ran the Edinburgh International Television Festival and The TV Foundation, bringing a lot of talent development experience.
Beta Film’s upcoming slate of high-profile Spanish series gets picked up by German broadcaster SWR (Carol) and German-French broadcaster ARTE (dist. Breaking Bad). From long-running series like Velvet to new projects like the comedy drama Perfect Life, a big win for the major German distributor.
Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore’s short story Shasti (Punishment) is set to be adapted by Bangladeshi director Leesa Gazi (Rising Silence). The psychological drama follows a murder that causes a media frenzy and the rigged trial that follows. Production is set to begin this fall.
TrustNordisk (My First Love) has taken international sales rights to My Fairytale Life, the next feature from Nikolaj Arcel, following the success of his previous film, Magnolia’s The Promised Land, starring Mads Mikkelsen. His new film is a biopic centering on Hans Christian Andersen (writer of The Ugly Duckling).
Disney Latin America’s production VP, Leonardo Aranguibel, is leaving the company after twenty years. Aranguibel was hugely instrumental in getting local adaptations of huge shows like Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy, as well as helping the expansion of Disney Latin America.
ON THIS DAY
1968. Bonnie and Clyde premieres in Paris.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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