Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Hugh Jackman’s Pirate, Elisabeth Moss’ Fantasy, and a Rubber Hut.
Let’s go!
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While we wait for Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pirates of the Caribbean sequel to materialize at Disney, a new pirate project is on the horizon:
Treasure Island starring Hugh Jackman as Long John Silver, directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Jack Thorne (Adolescence).
That triple threat will likely birth a darker, more psychological tale than the previous dozen film incarnations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel.
This film follows a young boy who uncovers a map to buried treasure and embarks on a perilous sea voyage, only to find himself in a deadly battle of wits with the pirate Long John Silver.
With Thorne writing, we know this young boy will endure a painful maturation process by pretending to be adult in the only way he knows how: violence. This is endemic in the boys in Thorne’s Adolescence and his recent adaptation of Lord of the Flies.
Historically, there have been many incarnations of the role of Long John Silver, from Orson Welles’ cynical pirate to Charlton Heston’s brawny buccaneer to Anthony Quinn’s German space pirate.
Hugh Jackman could give a more stylized and silly performance; we saw this type of enormous energy burn bright in Song Sung Blue. Or he could be a more sullen pirate, a la Logan (2017), whose tendencies toward self-destruction would perhaps prove to the young boy that survival is no substitute for manhood.
Whatever way it goes, and whatever studio takes this, the triple dynamic of Jackman, Scott, and Thorne has a wild alchemy.
For More:
Into the mind of Jack Thorne? Here’s our Lord of the Flies interview with him.
Hugh Jackman as a pirate? He previously played Blackbeard in Warner Bros.’ Pan (2015), as a crazed dictator (clip).
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller produce Universal’s high school sci-fi comedy.
Universal TV adapts Catherine Adel West’s thriller Strangers Behind Closed Doors.
Elisabeth Moss stars in and produces Emma Straub adaptation American Fantasy.
ABC develops Isabella Maldonado crime novel A Forgotten Kill.
Amazon MGM develops a live-action Jem and the Holograms adaptation.
Heather Tilert is promoted to VP of Kids & Family Series at Netflix.
Hulu greenlights Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion sequel for 2027.
Lauren LaVera (Terrifier franchise) leads new horror-thriller Red Wedding.
Paul Walter Hauser and Michael Peña join Craig Zobel thriller Turpentine.
Michael Imperioli joins Grace Van Patten comedy Rubber Hut.
SXSW’s Son of a Bikram gets film and TV adaptations.
Focus Features’ Obsession becomes the top-grossing festival acquisition.
BBC and BritBox cast Edward Bluemel as young Hercule Poirot in Hercule.
Yesterday’s correct answer: State of Play - Jason Bateman and David Harbour film.
53% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The next project from the Project Hail Mary (2026) duo is a high school comedy. Phil Lord and Chris Miller are producing a high-concept comedy film for Universal. The project is I Promise We’re Cool, a high school comedy with a sci-fi twist.
This is great because there could have been an entire alternative-universe movie in Project Hail Mary (2026) about Gosling as a burned-out high school teacher. Or maybe that’s just Half Nelson (2006).
Either way, Lord and Miller know how to do a high school comedy right – their depiction of a modern high school in 21 Jump Street was hilarious.
Charlie Hall (The Sex Lives of College Girls) is writing the script, and Max Tzannes (Dir: Found Footage: The Making of the Patterson Project) is on board to direct the film.
Three book adaptations:
Universal Television (The Gilded Age) scoops up twisty thriller novel Strangers Behind Closed Doors from Catherine Adel West ahead of its publication. After a woman vanishes from Chicago’s most exclusive hotel, a detective discovers the case is just a tiny part of something far bigger than anyone could’ve imagined. Filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee (Harlem) will direct, and LaToya Morgan (The Walking Dead) is on board to produce through her first-look deal with UTV.
Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) is starring in a film adaptation of Emma Straub’s NYT bestseller American Fantasy. The film follows Annie, a recently divorced woman who boards a cruise, only to find all five members of her favorite 90s boy band. The book was optioned by Moss and Lindsey McManus’ (Producer: AppleTV’s Shining Girls) production company Love & Squalor Pictures. After years of visceral and tense performances in The Invisible Man (2020) and The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-2025), we’re excited for Moss to do something lighter.
A series adaptation of the crime novel A Forgotten Kill is in development from ABC, based on Isabella Maldonado’s novel, on a mismatched task force whose clashing styles and unexpected chemistry give them a major leg up in solving crimes for the NYPD. EP’d by Justin Hartley’s Change Up Productions (NBC’s This Is Us), whose biggest project is the Hartley-led CBS series Tracker, another book adaptation that similarly focuses on a different crime-heavy mystery every episode.
Tidbits:
Amazon MGM Studios is developing a live-action adaptation of the iconic 1980s animated series Jem and the Holograms (Theme). The original show followed a small-town teenager who suddenly becomes a global pop star by using a holographic robot her father secretly created. The 1988 finale was the most-watched syndicated kids’ program throughout the 1990s.
A new prod co, Pasta & Tacos Productions, has launched. They’ve produced SXSW’s Chili Finger starring Judy Greer and Bryan Cranston and almost half a dozen new projects. Co-founded by Bri Hennessey (Former: Manager of Scripted TV at Village Roadshow).
Heather Tilert, the Director of Preschool Series at Netflix, has been promoted to VP of Kids & Family Series.
Richard Mettler, the film editor of Anthropoid (2016) starring Cillian Murphy and Desert Warrior (2025), dies at 56. He began his career editing music videos for Beyoncé and Drake.
Greenlit:
Hulu’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion sequel
Dir: Tim Federle (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series)
Cast: Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Alan Cumming
Release: 2027
Trailers:
Hulu’s They Fight
Cast: André Holland, Wendell Pierce
Release: July 17
Prime Video’s Manchester City soccer docu-series
AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City S3
Cast: Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Release: July 26
Hulu’s The Bear S5
Release: June 25
20th Century Studios’ The Dog Stars
Dir: Ridley Scott
Cast: Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley
Release: Aug 28
Prime Video’s Ride or Die
Cast: Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer
Release: July 15
Disney+’s and Hulu’s Adventure Time: Side Quests
Release: June 29
First look:
Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast
Cast: Brad Pitt
Release: September 25
Netflix’s Lupin Part 4
Cast: Omar Sy
Release: Oct 23
CBS’ Marshals S2
Cast: Luke Grimes, Logan Marshall-Green
Netflix’s Scooby-Doo: Origins
Cast: McKenna Grace
Release Dates:
Prime Video’s Karuppu
Worldwide Box Office: $35M
U.S. Release: June 12
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Lauren LaVera is the Final Girl. LaVera, most known for playing the final girl Sienna Shaw in The Terrifier franchise, will star in a new horror-thriller, Red Wedding.
The film follows a teenager and her stepmother who are kidnapped to a remote location. They begin to realize that their kidnappers are not the real threat when a murderous couple arrives and starts killing them off one by one.
LaVera managed to escape Art the Clown in Terrifier 2 and Terrifier 3. Let’s see if she can keep up her survival streak as the final girl.
Tidbits:
From one tight-knit Italian community to the next, Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) is among the new cast additions for Rubber Hut. The film follows an entrepreneurial ex-Pan Am stewardess (Grace Van Patten) who opens a drive-thru condom kiosk in her conservative, Catholic town. Imperioli could easily fall into either a disappointed Italian father or a creepy Italian customer. Only time will tell with production currently underway in Rhode Island.
Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of the Agatha Christie film Eleven Missing Days. Starring alongside Vincent Cassel and Felicity Jones, the noir mystery will look at the real-life disappearance of the famed author. While Allen’s role remains a mystery, hopefully, this world of secrets and deceit treats him kinder than Westeros. Filming will begin later this week in the UK.
Paul Walter Hauser and Michael Peña join thriller feature Turpentine, alongside Melissa McCarthy and Connor Storrie (Heated Rivalry). The film will follow a son who hires friends to rob his own parents to pay off a bookie. Craig Zobel (HBO’s The Penguin) will direct the feature with Rian Johnson’s production company, T-Street, to produce.
Mini Tidbits:
Kelsey Grammer (Cheers) joins the cast of the dog rescue film Ethan Almighty. Based on a true story, the film follows Ethan, an abused dog left for dead, whose miraculous recovery gained the attention of millions of people around America, even bringing legislative change in Kentucky. Grammer will play the governor of Kentucky.
Nicky Whelan (Hall Pass) joins Amazon MGM’s Honeymoon with Harry, starring Kevin Costner and Jake Gyllenhaal. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, the film will follow a rough-around-the-edges man (Gyllenhaal) who is forced to go on a trip with his fiancée’s overprotective father (Costner).
Danny Pino (FX’s Mayans M.C.) joins the cast of MGM+’s The Magnificent Seven as master manipulator Santiago “Santi” Vega.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
SXSW Special Jury Award-winning short Son of a Bikram (2026, trailer) is getting a film and TV series adaptation. Marginal MediaWorks (Prod: The Rose: Come Back to Me) is developing the longer-form treatment. The original short follows a hot yoga practitioner, Raag, whose life spirals into chaos when he learns that his hero, a yoga guru named Bikram, is his father.
Focus Features’ Obsession is now the top-grossing film acquired at a festival. It has hit $225.5M globally, besting Lionsgate’s Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004, $222.4M WW). Although with inflation, Fahrenheit 9/11 would be at $400M.
Ari Aster wrote a prequel script to his breakout film Hereditary (2018), but says that he doesn’t have any plans to shoot it as of now.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The BBC’s six-part series Hercule has found its titular sleuth in Killing Eve’s Edward Bluemel. The British actor will take on Agatha Christie’s legendary detective, Hercule Poirot, an iconic role played by dozens of actors from Kenneth Branagh to Albert Finney, who scored an Oscar nomination for his portrayal. The BBC’s new iteration is an origin story of sorts, following Poirot’s earliest cases in London. BritBox has joined Hercule as a co-producer that will stream the series in the U.S.
Two-time César Award nominee Vincent Garenq (Dir: Guilty) is making a film based on the true story of the decapitation of Samuel Paty. Forsaken will follow Paty, a 47-year-old French middle school teacher who was murdered in 2020 by an Islamic extremist after a student lied about a civics lesson he taught.
Netflix is making a Korean drama series Paper Man starring Park Hae-soo (Squid Game) and Claudia Kim (Avengers: Age of Ultron), following Cha Myung-jo, a meek worker who accidentally falls into a life of crime when he produces counterfeit banknotes. Coming to Netflix later this year.
ON THIS DAY
1961 Michael J. Fox born in Edmonton, Alberta.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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