Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Jim Carrey’s Grinch, Kate Hudson’s Grove, and RoboCop.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Jim Carrey in talks to return for Universal’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas sequel.
Warner Bros. picks up memoir My What If Year with America Ferrera producing.
Apple Original Films will adapt Little Santa.
AMC is developing Andrew Mayne’s The Naturalist book series as a procedural.
Peacock orders Dungeon Crawler Carl from Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door.
Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media moves to Netflix with a new overall deal.
Quinta Brunson signs a multi-year overall deal with Disney’s 20th Television.
Kate Hudson and Ana de Armas will star in the erotic thriller Palm Grove.
Jeff Daniels joins Brendan Fraser in the cosmic sci-fi thriller Starman.
James Wan will direct episodes of Amazon’s RoboCop remake series.
Netflix launches its landmark French distribution partnership with TF1.
HBO Max names Guillermo Farré Original Production Chief in Spain.
Jakarta launches a production tax rebate offering up to 50% refunds.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Pickleball, Ben Stiller’s new sports film.
78% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
What happens after the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes? Ron Howard may have the answer.
Jim Carrey is officially in talks to reprise his iconic take on the classic Dr. Seuss character in a sequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) for Universal Pictures.
Howard’s live-action adaptation was a huge success, becoming the highest-grossing film domestically that year, bringing in $260M at the box office. Yet it was Carrey’s over-the-top portrayal that made the film a holiday staple in so many homes. Gross and gangly, manic and unpredictable, Carrey’s rapid-fire improvisation, sarcastic one-liners, and boundless physicality made his Grinch one of the most unforgettable all-in live-action character performances of all time.
For his second go, hopefully, he won’t have to spend eight grueling hours in the makeup chair.
Curb Your Enthusiasm writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer, and David Mandel are penning the screenplay with no word on a title or plot details for now.
4x Adaptations:
Warner Bros. My What If Year
Apple’s Little Santa
AMC’s The Naturalist
Full breakdown of each and more here.
New Deals:
Disney is losing Sinners director Ryan Coogler and his Proximity Media, who have signed a new overall deal with Netflix to develop an upcoming series. Coogler’s previous five-year TV deal with the Mouse House has just ended, with the Oscar-winning writer still finishing up for them The X-Files reboot and live-action adaptation of Southern Bastards.
When Disney loses one A-list talent, they gain another, no problem. Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson has signed a multi-year overall deal with Disney Television Studios’ 20th Television. Brunson and her Fifth Chance Productions will develop, write, and produce projects for Disney platforms. Since 2022, Brunson has been in an overall deal with Warner Bros TV, where she will continue to work on her hit ABC sitcom.
Mini Tidbits:
Curry Barker’s (Dir: Obsession) next film will be with Universal. No surprise, as Universal’s arthouse studio Focus Features has made nearly $300M on Obsession. No word on the new film’s plot, but Blumhouse Atomic Monster is the prod co.
The Television Academy has recruited Emmy winners Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear) and Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere) to present the nominations for the 78th Emmy Awards in a ceremony on July 8.
Amazon MGM Studios appoints Randi Chugerman as Head of Series Casting. Chugerman was most recently at Sony Pictures as the SVP of Talent and Casting and Talent Development.
AGBO (Prod Co: Everything Everywhere All At Once) names Michael Disco as President, Kassee Whiting as EVP, and Alessandra Mamán as SVP of their Film and Television department.
Brian Johnson, the legendary special effects pioneer of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and the Alien franchise, dies at 86.
All My Children actor Paul Avery has sadly passed away, along with his wife Sheila, in a devastating New Jersey house fire.
Trailer:
Universal Illumination’s Minions & Monsters
Release: Jul. 1
Netflix’s Outer Banks (S5)
Release: Aug. 20
First Look:
Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams
Apple TV’s Brothers
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson
Release: Sept. 23
Release Dates:
Black Bear’s Wicker
Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage
Premiere: Sundance
Limited: Oct 23
Wide Release: Oct. 30
Paramount’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Dir: Siân Heder (CODA)
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones
Release: Nov. 12, 2027
Prime’s Esports World Cup Level Up (S2)
Dir: R.J. Cutler (Netflix’s Martha)
Release: Jun. 26
NBC’s The Traitors: New Blood
Host: Alan Cumming
Release: Sept. 17
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Kate Hudson and Ana de Armas star in the erotic thriller Palm Grove.
The plot so far is razor-thin: in a rich Miami neighborhood, a wife uncovers her husband’s double.
Dream scenario: Hudson as the picture-perfect wife who sees her husband with Armas and thinks he’s cheating, and discovers something much worse: Armas is a liaison/leader of an underground cult doing something nefarious.
Hudson can play dreamy as easily as she can play damaged. Just check her out in Song Sung Blue, where she rockets into both energies (we interviewed her for the role here).
And Armas has never been better when she’s wrapped up in a high-wire game of seduction. Her scene in the last James Bond movie with Daniel Craig is one of the few good moments in the film.
Whatever these two have in store, with director Kornél Mundruczó (White God) helming and It’s What’s Inside actor James Morosini (Dir/wri: I Love My Dad) scripting and Chernin (Backrooms, Apex) producing, this should get snapped up by a studio in no time.
The Martian all over again. Jeff Daniels is joining Brendan Fraser in cosmic sci-fi thriller Starman from Josh Wakely, the creator of the Emmy-winning Netflix series Beat Bugs.
Daniels will play Ed Watkins, a co-founder of a revolutionary company he built alongside genius technologist Tom Adams (Fraser), who is launching a historic expedition to Mars that goes anywhere but according to plan.
The new role places Daniels almost exactly where he was eleven years ago in Ridley Scott’s The Martian, where he played a NASA director forced to make impossible calls, steering life-or-death decisions while coordinating a high-stakes rescue mission to bring home an astronaut stranded on Mars.
If I got lost in space, I’d certainly want Daniels over in mission control. Cameras will pick up on Starman this summer.
Tidbits:
Charles Melton (Beef S2) joins the cast of The Daniels’ (Dirs: Everything Everywhere All at Once) next film. Matt Damon and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) also star. It’s an anti-time-travel sci-fi action-comedy that spans two timelines (‘80s and present day). Melton portrayed a charmingly oblivious high school football star-turned-nobody in Beef S2. His playfulness will be perfect for The Daniels’ new film. Releasing November 2027.
Twilight producer Imprint Entertainment’s animated movie Groove Tails attracts quite a groovy ensemble voice cast. Following a young mouse with dreams of becoming a world-famous dancer, Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid), Alan Ritchson (Reacher), Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver), and Ludacris will bring the musical film to life.
Manny Jacinto (Star Wars: The Acolyte) joins the cast of Prime Video’s Fallout S3. The third season of the show will follow the titular characters as they get caught in the middle of a brewing war for New Vegas.
Mini Tidbits:
Tracy Letts joins the cast of Netflix’s The God of the Woods, a book-to-TV series adaptation from Sony Pictures TV studios. Check out full details here.
Adeline Rudolph (Kitana in Mortal Kombat II) joins Netflix’s 13 Going On 30 reboot.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
The classic film-focused Lumière Festival will honor cult-loved directors Joel and Ethan Coen. From the snowy dark crime comedy Fargo (1996) to the wacky world of “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski (1998), the brothers’ unparalleled creativity has cemented their place in film history, a legacy the festival will celebrate this October.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
James Wan will direct key episodes of Amazon’s RoboCop remake series. Along with building upon the premise of the original film of a cyborg cop who’s part man, part machine, the show will debut a new cyborg lawman named Marc Skyle, who starts off not as a police officer but as a soldier. Peter Ocko (EP: Lodge 49) is the showrunner.
Paul Verhoeven’s OG 1987 film explored corporate control, media saturation, and technological advancement. This message feels all the more relevant now with AI mainlined into modern life (you catch Apple’s keynote?!). The boardroom scene in the original film, where a killing machine malfunctions, resulting in shooting down an innocent person, is a segment that can give us a glimpse of what Wan’s dystopia could be. Wan’s horror background makes him the perfect fit to portray the futuristic world. Not only does RoboCop have the potential to be a sci-fi action series with horror elements, but there are also possibilities of body horror and psychological horror.
Tidbits:
The film adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard’s play Ages of the Moon has wrapped production. Starring Steve Buscemi and Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall), who also directs, the film is a story of two heartbroken lifelong friends confronting their pasts through laughs and tears while exploring the depths of their bond more than they ever have before. Liam Neeson is an EP.
NY-based Obscured Releasing (Blue Film) scores U.S. distribution for satirical comedy Lady (trailer). Like a mashup of The Favourite (2018) and spoof Fackham Hall (2025), the absurdist period movie follows Fleabag actress Sian Clifford as the aristocratic Lady Isabella, whose overwhelming self-obsession takes her life in a surreal direction. Lady marks the feature-film debut of BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Samuel Abrahams (Connect), with Obscured planning a US theatrical release this fall.
Alessio Liguori (Dir: In the Trap) is directing Moriarty Rising: A Sherlock Holmes Tale, exploring the origins of Sherlock Holmes’ arch-nemesis. The production is described as “dual-format”, meaning that the project will function both as a premium vertical series and a feature film.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The future of European TV may just be Netflix.
A year after announcing a potential partnership, Netflix is officially launching its landmark distribution collaboration with France’s leading broadcaster TF1. The streaming giant is officially integrating TF1 into the platform. Subscribers will be able to watch live channels and on-demand programming at no additional cost to their subscription without ever leaving Netflix.
Including major sporting events and access to channels: TF1, TMC, TFX, and TF1 Séries Films, and Netflix will supply distribution, while the broadcaster will retain responsibility for programming and advertising sales, effective immediately.
While there are growing concerns around the globe about streaming and platforms like YouTube overtaking traditional broadcasting, TF1 is embracing the changing times.
Mini Tidbits:
HBO Max appoints Movistar Plus+ (the largest premium streaming in Spain) chief Guillermo Farré (Producer: Sirât) as Original Production Chief in Spain. Farré joined Warner Media in 2012 and worked at the company for a decade before Movistar Plus+.
Jakarta reveals a tax rebate program that allows national film productions to receive up to a 50% tax refund.
VVS Films (Canadian Distribution: A24’s The Smashing Machine) promotes Claire Peace-McConnell as their Vice President, Theatrical Distribution.
ON THIS DAY
1978. Zoë Saldaña born in Passaic, New Jersey.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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