Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Keanu Reeves' Good Fortune, Family Guy’s Bad Resources, and a Tempest.
Let’s go!
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Good fortune is exactly what Aziz Ansari needs right now.
After his breakout series Master of None made waves in 2015-2021, Ansari has been chasing that high ever since. I give you this preface to explain how badly Ansari needs a win.
The premise of Lionsgate’s Good Fortune, which Ansari directs, writes, and stars in, is a bit simple: a put-upon door dasher (Ansari) meets a guardian angel (Keanu Reeves) who lets him switch lives with wealthy Hollywood socialite Jeff (Seth Rogen). The angel believes that he will teach a lesson with the life switch, but it doesn't work.
I think Keanu Reeves puts it very bluntly in the trailer:
“I tried to show him that wealth would solve all of his problems… it seems to have solved most of his problems.”
The beauty is the dumbness of this. Reeves’ angel’s scheme backfires, proving that some things in life are just better with money.
Which makes it all the more hilarious when we catch a glimpse in the trailer of Reeves as a capitalist fallen angel, a chainsmoking fast-food attendant.
Premiering at TIFF.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Hulu and 20th TV are developing Please See HR, from Family Guy writers.
YouTube hits $9.8B in Q2 ad revenue, up 13%.
Booster Gold pilot moving forward at HBO from Our Flag Means Death creator.
Lilo & Stitch 2 in the works, written by original Stitch director Chris Sanders.
Sony signs first-look deal with Aevitas, reps 100+ NYT bestselling authors.
Chad Stahelski to direct Calexit adaptation of dystopian comic.
Netflix is adapting Extraordinary Attorney Woo for U.S. audiences.
Hans Zimmer will score Euphoria S3.
Jessica Chastain to star in Apple TV+ limited series The Savant.
Ike Barinholtz is in talks to play Elon Musk in Artificial.
Skyler Gisondo may play Ben Stiller’s son again in the Meet the Parents sequel.
NYFF opens with Guadagnino’s After the Hunt.
Canal+ finalizes MultiChoice deal, expanding African TV footprint.
BBC and BritBox are developing a mystery series, The Detection Club.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Hulu and 20th Television are developing Please See HR, a workplace comedy, from Family Guy writing duo Evan Waite and Alec Sulkin. The series will focus on the HR dept of a shady for-profit healthcare provider.
Waite will write and EP, with Sulkin overseeing.
These guys can write jokes and are willing to toe the line of being inappropriate. There's a dept to file a complaint, but the name escapes me.
Q2 2025 has been great for YouTube. Here’s the latest, with the change from last year:
$9.8bn ad revenue
↑ 13% from last year
(Netflix projects $9bn in ad rev for all of 2025)
12.8% Total TV Usage (Nielsen)
↑ 6.7% since last Quarter
54% larger share than Netflix
YouTube has 1bn hours of content consumed daily. 2.7bn monthly active users (125M paid), with 200M daily views on YT shorts.
Tidbits:
HBO Max’s Booster Gold series is moving forward with Our Flag Means Death creator David Jenkins writing the pilot and possibly showrunning. Based on the DC Comics character, the show follows Michael “Booster” Carter, a time traveler from the future who uses tech from his time to be a superhero in our time. HBO has always seemed up for some capeshit (Watchmen, Penguin), but now with Booster Gold and Lanterns in the wings, they have established themselves as a strong ally for Gunn's DCU.
Stitch is writing Lilo & Stitch 2. Chris Sanders (Dir: The Wild Robot, 2002’s Lilo & Stitch), who voiced Stitch in the 2002 animated film and the new live-action, will write Lilo & Stitch 2 (adorable? clip).
Sony Pictures Entertainment has brought on longtime Disney and Fox exec, Eric Marcotte as EVP of Corporate Strategy. Former CFO of Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, DJ Jacobs, will act as the new EVP of business operations for SPE.
100 NY Times bestsellers, meet Sony. Sony’s big three (Columbia Pictures, 3000 Pictures, and Sony TV) have partnered with Aevitas Creative Management in a first-look deal. The management company reps, author of Hulu’s Tiny Little Things, Cheryl Strayed, and Lynn Steger Strong, with the latter about to release her highly anticipated forthcoming fourth novel, The Float Test.
Calexit, the politically charged comic from Black Mask Studios, is being developed into a feature film by Chad Stahelski (dir: John Wick). Co-creator Matteo Pizzolo wrote the script, which follows resistance fighters in a dystopian California under martial law.
Netflix is adapting its South Korean TV show about an autistic savant, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, for US audiences. The show follows a brilliant attorney who tackles challenges in and out of the courtroom (trailer). Leila Gerstein (consulting prod: The Handmaid’s Tale, creator: Hulu’s Saint X) will tackle the adaptation for Jerry Bruckheimer Television. Very similar to ABC’s The Good Doctor.
Mini Tidbits:
Roku has acquired the doc Super Bowl Champions: The 2024 Philadelphia Eagles from NFL Films. Roku Sports is a big segment of platform engagement, so this tracks.
Hans Zimmer has joined Euphoria season 3 as part of the music team. The show's edgy high school drama was responsible for blowing up the careers of Zendaya. Perhaps Hans can bring back the intensity.
In Skydance’s road to appease the FCC and complete the Paramount merger, they have agreed to install a two-year ombudsman at CBS News. Separately, Paramount has eliminated DEI programs.
The Writers Guild of America West has found a new president in screenwriter Michele Mulroney (Power Rangers). Mulroney will have the responsibility of leading the WGA West through its 2026 contract negotiations, the first with major film and TV studios since the 148-day strike in 2023.
Renewals:
Apple TV+’s Stick (renewed for Season 2).
Netflix’s Wednesday (for Season 3).
Release dates:
Apple TV+’s Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost
Dir: Ben Stiller
Doc on Stiller’s parents
Release date: Oct 17
Hulu’s Only Murders In the Building (Season 5)
Cast: Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez
Release date: September 9
Lionsgate’s Michael
Release date: April 24, 2026
Trailers:
Angel Studios The Senior
Star: Michael Chiklis
Cancellations:
Tazbah Chavez (dir: Reservation Dogs) pilot for NBC has been cancelled. It was set to be an untitled Native American community center comedy.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Sal Saperstein may play Elon Musk. Remember the guy from Apple TV+’s The Studio that gets a shout-out from every single Golden Globes speech? That actor is Ike Barinholtz, in talks to play Musk in Amazon MGM’s Artificial directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) and co-starring Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov (Anora).
Barinholtz has a frantic comedic energy that could tilt his rendition of Musk to pure satire.
This film follows OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during the tumultuous days when he is fired and then rehired. Cooper Hoffman also joins the cast.
Tidbits:
Jessica Chastain is set to produce and star in The Savant, a limited series from Apple TV+. Chastain will play a razor-sharp investigator tasked with going undercover to identify domestic terrorists before they act. I’d watch any Chastain-led project. See first look images here. First two episodes out September 26th.
He was great as Jimmy Olsen in Superman; now, Skyler Gisondo could be a Focker. Skyler Gisondo is in talks to play Ben Stiller and Teri Polo’s son in the next Meet the Parents film, joining returning stars and Ariana Grande. This is not new for Gisondo who previously played Stiller’s son in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. I guess I can see the resemblance?
Tom Segura’s (Netflix’s Bad Thoughts) first feature El Tigre, has cast Luke Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums). The R-rated comedy follows a man (Seguara) mistaken for a missing cartel leader in Mexico. Wilson plays his best friend, wrapped up in the entire ordeal. The tone is Scarface meets Hulu’s Dave.
Bunny-Man starring Mike Tyson, Bella Thorne & James Franco adds Giancarlo Giannini (everyone’s friend Mathis in Casino Royale) to the cast. This is being set up to be Italy’s first superhero franchise from producer Andrea Iervolino (Ferrari).
Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran will star in Chatlines, a British LGBTQ+ sci-fi film about two terminally ill men bonding via a mysterious video chat app. Directed by Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, this has a certain Black Mirror sheen to it. Currently in production!
Lioness’ Laysla De Oliveira has been cast in the upcoming rodeo drama, Cowboy, the directorial debut of Cameron Duddy, a veteran music video director and bass player for country band Midland. The film will center on rodeo athletes navigating risk, the exact type of grounded storytelling with an emotional nuance that Oliveira has shown in her past work.
Mason Thames (How To Train Your Dragon) joins The Shitheads, a wild road trip comedy starring Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Peter Dinklage. Directed by Macon Blair, the film follows two misfits transporting a rebellious teen to rehab. Thames really impressed everyone in HTTYD he captured the essence of the animated Hiccup but gave him a bit more grounded realism.
Mini Tidbits:
Sacha Baron Cohen's total transformation into ultra-muscular (photo) to play Mephisto in Marvel’s Ironheart.
Christopher Meloni (Man of Steel) will star as an NFL head coach in Dan Fogelman’s upcoming unnamed Hulu sports drama. Produced with Skydance Sports.
Meryl Streep reprising the role of Miranda Priestly (e.g., Anna Wintour) in Devil Wears Prada 2 (photo).
FESTIVALS
NYFF. Venice. TIFF. Updates abound as we head into fall festival season.
NYFF:
The opening night film is set to be:
Amazon MGM’s After the Hunt
Dir: Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me By Your Name)
Cast: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield
Premiering first at Venice Out of Competition.
Venice:
Three titles are picked up by sales agents:
Nuestra Tierra (out of competition doc)
Dir: Lucrecia Martel, twice nominated for the Palme d’Or (The Headless Woman, The Holy Girl)
International Sales Rep: The Match Factory (The Substance, Perfect Day)
Domestic Sales Rep: Cinetic (Hit Man, Greenbook)
Synopsis:
Follows the murder of an indigenous community's leader, Javier Chocobar. And how his killers lived as free men for nearly a decade. A lacerating doc on colonialism.
Girl (Official Selection)
Dir/Wri: Shu Qi (Actress: The Transporter, trailer)
Worldwide Sales Rep (minus Asia): Goodfellas (Megalopolis)
Synopsis:
Hsiao-lee, a young girl, finds solace in her friendship with Li-li, who embodies the dreams Hsiao-lee had suppressed. However, Hsiao-lee’s aspirations are challenged by her mother’s past, which mirrors her own struggles and traps her in a cycle of despair.
Roqia (International Critics Week)
Sales Rep: Alpha Violet (Sujo)
Synopsis:
After a 1993 crash, amnesiac Ahmed returns home bandaged. His child fears him, and nightly visitors speak in strange tongues. His neighbor makes him uncomfortable, leaving him questioning everything.
TIFF Discovery adds a horror film starring Willem Dafoe and a fishing town turned drug den story starring Sean Astin: https://theindustry.co/p/the-tiff-2025-lineup
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
France’s Canal+ Group (Paddington) is furthering its takeover of African content with the finalization of an anti-trust approval to acquire MultiChoice Group, a South African pay TV company.
Canal+ is expanding on its already owned third of the African company with this deal, including maintaining local funding for general entertainment and sports content.
None other than the queen of mystery herself, Agatha Christie, is being fictionalized in a new TV series titled The Detection Club from the BBC and Britbox International.
Formed nearly 100 years ago, the secretive and exclusive Detection Club was made up of writers who would meet regularly to assist each other with their stories. Shooting next summer in the UK.
Tidbits:
HBO Max has appointed Sasha Breslau and Alessandro Volpato to lead content acquisitions in the UK/Ireland and Italy. These hires have people hopeful that Sky's long-lasting partnership with HBO will stay intact even amidst internal shakeups.
Well Go USA acquired North American rights to The Forbidden City, an Italian Kung Fu movie set in Rome. It follows a woman (Liu Yaxi) as she carves across Italy in search of her father's killer, but falls in love with a local. The trailer looks cool, but the tone feels a bit off-kilter.
UK-based ITV Studios has taken a majority stake in seasoned producer César Benítez’s production banner Plano a Piano (Netflix’s Valeria). Given the rise of the Spanish language scripted market, this is a bountiful partnership for both Piano and ITV, which will now work along the latter’s studio in Spain.
Upcoming Korean spy thriller Tempest is coming to Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the U.S. The nine-part series sees My Love From the Star actress Gianna Jun alongside John Cho (Star Trek) and Michael Gaston (First Reformed) centered on a multinational conspiracy threatening stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The Vietnam-based Skyline Media has secured multi-territory deals for the global launch of The Bride, a horror co-production from director Lee Thongkham (The Maid). This news comes ahead of its theatrical rollout, first premiering in Vietnam on Aug. 29th.
Head of International Sales for Mediawan (dist. The Count of Monte Cristo), Randall Broman. Broman has been the most involved with Unifrance, where he held a VP role.
ON THIS DAY
1998. Saving Private Ryan is released.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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Absolute fire !