Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Jack Black’s Attack, Ben Stiller’s back, and a snack.
Let’s go!
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This is not the Anaconda reboot we thought we’d be getting, and honestly, that's a breath of fresh air.
In a meta twist, Sony’s reboot of the beloved 90s film follows two friends, Paul Rudd and Jack Black, as they decide to remake the snake horror classic on an “indie” budget. Only during filming, they realize a real giant snake slithers among the trees, and blood and guts follow.
It’s a weird mix of gross-out horror and surprising jokes that we haven't really seen since another Jack Black vehicle, Tropic Thunder.
Yes, this is dumb, yes, I am sure there are horror fans out there in mourning, but this is a type of film that we have really been missing, and I actually think this could bring people to the theater on Hissmas day.
TLDR: This is a reboot of Anaconda, where two guys try to reboot Anaconda, but the snake is real, thus leading to a reboot of Anaconda.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Ben Stiller, Jessica Chastain star in Apple TV+ limited series The Off Weeks.
Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show pulled off air.
Netflix acquires thriller spec Blink of an Eye.
Amazon MGM Global TV chief Vernon Sanders to exit.
New Line picks up rom-com spec from Sas Goldberg & Ana Nogueira.
Plan B will adapt Mark Ronson's memoir.
Prime Video expands The Summer I Turned Pretty into feature film.
Nicole Kidman & Elle Fanning reteam for A24 series Discretion.
Paul Walter Hauser joins Sony’s Resident Evil reboot.
Rob Lowe to star in ABC comedy The Ram.
Billie Lourd joins Netflix’s Monster: Lizzie Borden as Emma Borden.
Tony Hale, Dianne Wiest & Lois Smith guest on Elsbeth S3.
Giovanni Ribisi joins Jon Hamm in MGM+’s American Hostage.
TIFF hit Erupcja acquired by 1-2 Special (Urchin).
Cineverse & Bloody Disgusting acquire horror Pig Hill for Screambox.
Voltage takes international on slasher The Him.
Spain selects Cannes Jury Prize-winner Sirāt as Oscar entry. France selects Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident.
MGM+ & BBC adapt Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities starring Kit Harington.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Ben Stiller stars in an Apple TV+ series. Ok, it’s not Severance Season 3, although we’d love a cameo after he stepped away.
Stiller will star in the limited series The Off Weeks, along with Jessica Chastain.
Synopsis:
Gus Adler (Stiller), a divorced professor, juggles shared custody of his children while pursuing a passionate romance with an enigmatic woman, leading to mounting tensions between his parental duties and personal desires.
It’s odd to see Stiller back in this type of story. Although it reads as a '90s Stiller rom-com, Apple is billing it as a drama.
Stiller and Chastain will both EP The Off Weeks, which will start filming shortly. Created by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You).
Tidbits:
Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show has been taken off the air. The network ABC (owner: Disney) removed the show after FCC chairman Brendan Carr expressed his displeasure over Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk. This is abhorrent, and the center needs to stand up to preserve free speech in this country.
Netflix has acquired Blink of an Eye, a thriller spec from Chris Roach and Jillian Jacobs, the team behind this year's revenge thriller Drop. Details have not been revealed, but Drop was a big hit at SXSW with a modest theatrical debut, and these tense stories seem purely aimed at streaming.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Head of Global TV, Vernon Sanders, is leaving the company after over seven years. Sanders has overseen global series like The Boys, Jack Ryan, Fallout, Jury Duty, and many more. The announcement comes just a few months after the exit of Sanders’ boss, Jennifer Salke, who also left the company.
Oscar and Grammy-winning musician Mark Ronson is getting his memoir turned into a feature film from Brad Pitt’s Plan B. His coming-of-age book, Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City covers everything from his early days to producing Lady Gaga’s “Shallow”, Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken”, and working with artists like Bruno Mars and Amy Winehouse. Ronson’s memoir was published this week.
New Line picks up a rom-com spec script. The plot is under wraps, but the team is not:
Wri: Sas Goldberg (1 ep, Only Murders in the Building, Story editor: The Shrink Next Door)
Wri: Ana Nogueira (2026’s Supergirl)
Dir: Jason Orley (Prime’s I Want You Back) (attached)
Prod: Alex Saks (The Florida Project)
Mini Tidbits:
Nickelodeon’s A PAW Patrol Christmas will air Nov. 28 on CBS and Paramount+. The ultra-popular children's show could be a new holiday tradition for you and your family, if you have kids.
Popular children's author Jerry Spinelli’s latest novel, Dead Wednesday, is getting the film adaptation treatment. The coming-of-age book follows a group of eighth graders who “disappear” for a day. Alex Haughey (dir. Under the Influence) will direct the film that has not yet begun production.
BookTok fans are over the moon today. The Summer I Turned Pretty (trailer), Prime Video’s show adaptation, is getting a feature film installment announced shortly after the airing of its viral series finale. Based on Jenny Han’s trilogy of books, the author will be directing the upcoming film.
Fresh off Emmy domination, Seth Rogen is bringing back the muppets with a 2026 Disney+ Muppets Show special starring Sabrina Carpenter.
Emmy-winning writer and producer John Masius (prod. St. Elsewhere) has passed away. Masius created CBS’s Touched by an Angel and NBC’s Providence, just two of the shows in his long catalog of work on network television.
Renewals:
Paramount+’s Tulsa King (for S4)
Amazon’s We Were Liars (for S2)
CBS’s DMV (7 more eps for S1)
Trailers:
Paramount+’s Ozzy: No Escape From Now
Release: Oct 7
Netflix’s Victoria Beckham
Release: Oct 9
First look:
Disney’s Star Wars: Starfighter
Release: May 28, 2027
Release date:
Universal’s Miami Vice Reboot
Dir: Joseph Kosinski
Release: August 6, 2027
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning have become an unexpected duo. The actresses have joined the A24 series Discretion, marking their fourth project as costars.
After starring in films like Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled (2017) remake and A24’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties (2017), Kidman and Fanning will next appear in the Apple and A24 drama series Margo’s Got Money Problems, which’ll be released early next year.
The freshly announced A24 show, Discretion, will take place in Dallas, following a corporate attorney based on The Husbands author Chandler Baker’s short story.
Paul Walter Hauser horror. The actor, mostly known for drama and comedy, has been cast in Sony’s upcoming iteration of Resident Evil from Zach Cregger (dir: Weapons).
No word on the plot of his role, but Hauser was masterful in Apple TV+’s Blackbird as a killer of young girls. In that role, he had a childish demeanor that could bubble over into spitefulness.
That’ll lend itself well to Resident Evil, which requires the characters to have a heightened paranoia.
Sony’s Resident Evil reboot will release Sept 2026.
Tidbits:
Rob Lowe will headline ABC’s comedy The Ram, playing a sports talk host who falls for his new producer. Writers/EP include Betsy Thomas (My Boys), Bob Fisher (Wedding Crashers), and Rob Greenberg (How I Met Your Mother). Lowe, last seen in 9-1-1: Lone Star and Unstable, absolutely has the vibe and face of a talk show host, and he has the charm to play some will they? Won’t they?
The highly anticipated Lizzie Borden-centered fourth Monster season casts Billie Lourd (The Last Showgirl), a frequent Ryan Murphy collaborator. Lourd previously starred in several seasons of American Horror Story as well as the Murphy-created Fox series Scream Queens. In the new Netflix season, the actress will play Lizzie’s older sister Emma opposite Ella Beatty (FX’s Feud: Capote VS the Swans). Monster: Lizzie Borden is expected in late 2026.
The third season of the CBS dramedy series Elsbeth is expanding its cast. Tony Hale (Veep), Dianne Wiest (Practical Magic), and Lois Smith are set to guest star. Hale will play a paranoid FinTech CEO, and Wiest will play a Reverend Mother whose work gets disrupted. Smith, who is 94 and still working, will play a benefactor of a poetry journal. Elsbeth’s third season premieres Oct. 12th.
Mini Casting Tidbits:
Giovanni Ribisi
Chloe Bennet
And new Super Troopers
For those casting tidbits and more, click here.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Another TIFF acquisition, hurray!
TIFF Centerpiece Erupcja, a wild love story between a Polish florist and a British tourist (Charli XCX), has found North American distribution via 1-2 Special (Urchin). Plans to hit theaters in 2026.
We love to see new distributors like 1-2 Special and Row K (2x TIFF films: Dead Man’s Wire, Charlie Harper) stepping up and grabbing festival gems.
Two more acquisitions:
Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting have acquired U.S. rights to Kevin Lewis’ Pig Hill for Screambox. The FrightFest-premiered horror follows siblings investigating “pig people” folklore that proves terrifyingly real. Just the words pig people make my skin crawl.
Greenwich Entertainment grabs the rights for Soul of a Nation. Trailer. Releasing Oct 3 in NYC and Oct 10 in LA.
Tidbits:
Avenger, a podcast about Miriam Lewin’s harrowing true story, is being adapted into a feature film by Natalia Beristáin (Midnight Family). The podcast, previously directed by Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit), follows Lewin, who at 19 was kidnapped and jailed by the Argentinian army, but came out of the ordeal a determined journalist.
Voltage Pictures has acquired international rights to Joe Gossett’s high-concept slasher The Him, starring Chris Elliott (There’s Something About Mary), Mindy Cohn (Palm Royale), Ryan Phillippe (I Know What You Did Last Summer), and others. It follows a silent killer as he massacres a family hiding among their Halloween decorations. No confirmed release date, but they have got to be shooting for something in October, right?
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Spain’s pick is the end-of-the-world drama Sirāt (trailer) for the 2026 Oscars. From director Oliver Laxe (Cannes title Fire Will Come), the feature follows a family in search of their lost daughter. It won 3rd place at Cannes this year and is being distributed by Neon domestically.
France selects Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident (trailer) as its official selection for the Best International Feature Film category. The Cannes Palme d’Or winner is a revenge tale following a man who believes he has found the same man who tortured him during his prison sentence. Neon acquired the film shortly after its Cannes premiere. This is a big win for the film, beating out Netflix’s Nouvelle Vague.
Denmark chose the Sundance-winning documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin (trailer) from filmmaker David Borenstein (Can’t Feel Nothing) for the Oscars. The film follows a school teacher in Russia who has pushed back against Putin’s propaganda. Denmark has frequently made the official five, so moving forward with a political documentary, while interesting, could stand out from other countries.
The final Oscar nominations will be announced on Jan. 22nd for the 98th Academy Awards.
29 countries have made Oscar submissions. Full breakdown here:
https://theindustry.co/p/oscars-2026-international-feature
MGM+ (U.S.) and BBC (U.K.) have picked up a four-part limited series adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, starring Kit Harington. The story follows Lucie Manette (Mirren Mack), whose world shifts after learning her father may be alive in Paris. She’s drawn into a fraught triangle between idealistic Charles Darnay (François Civil) and troubled lawyer Sydney Carton (Harington). This is a very who's who interpretation of a tale often talked about but never fully captured on film.
Mini Tidbits:
Kristen Stewart’s deals
Micro-dramas’ billions
Canal+’s hub
For all that and more click here.
ON THIS DAY
1951. A Streetcar Named Desire premieres at the Warner Theatre, NYC.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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Jimmy Kimmel was allowed his free speech. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have consequences that go along with it. That applies to everything that comes out of your mouth always. If you tell your wife you hate her…. Free speech…. If she leaves you …. consequences !!!!