Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Laura Dern’s Demons, Andy Samberg’s afterlife, and a Kockroach.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Sony’s new series on a Jeffrey Epstein reporter stars Laura Dern.
Focus Features acquires 42.6 Years, a cryogenic rom-com starring Andy Samberg.
20th Century Studios is developing The Marriage Bargain.
Global streaming revenue hit $150B in 2025.
Sophie Turner’s minor injury has temporarily paused Prime Video’s Tomb Raider.
The White Lotus Season 4 added Heather Graham and Rosie Perez.
Alec Baldwin joins crime drama Kockroach.
Stellan Skarsgård boarded Dakota Fanning’s Apple thriller series.
Rich Spirit (The Apprentice) picks up Sundance’s Hot Water.
Nas will EP Eli Roth’s horror film Ice Cream Man.
Netflix opens its new Warsaw office in Poland.
Yesterday’s correct answer: The Exorcist, the highest-grossing horror film, w/ inflation.
68% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Sony’s Epstein files. Sony is making a series centering on the reporter whose years-long reporting led to the arrest of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The team is fantastic:
Star/EP: Laura Dern
EP: Adam McKay
Writer/Co-showrunner: Sharon Hoffman (Netflix’s Pieces of Her)
Co-showrunner: Eileen Myers (writer: Masters of Sex, Prod: Netflix’s The Night Agent)
Dern will play the reporter, Julie K. Brown, the author of the book on which the series is based, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story.
It’s actually not the first time Dern has played a woman investigating a man and a woman abusing underage girls. In HBO’s The Tale (trailer), she played documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox, who investigates her own story of abuse. Dern was raw and personal, and the entire film is like her exploring an open wound.
No word on which streamer will snap this up, but it will no doubt be gripping.
Focus Features picks up 42.6 Years, a fun rom-com starring Andy Samberg. We love the team:
Star/Story By/Prod: Samberg
Cast: Annette Bening
Dir: Tyler Nilson + Michael Schwartz (The Peanut Butter Falcon)
Writer/Story: Seth Reiss (The Menu)
Acquired property from Amazon MGM
Synopsis:
After waking up from a failed experimental lifesaving procedure in which he was cryogenically frozen for 42.6 years, a young man realizes he wants his ex-girlfriend back. He’ll have to overcome the fact that while he hasn’t aged a day.
Samberg is great at being in temporal predicaments; he handles them gracefully and foolishly (Palm Springs trailer). And if you really want a deep dive on that film, voila: read our full breakdown of why it’s two-thirds brilliant here.
Universal is handling international distribution.
Tidbit:
20th Century Studios is developing The Marriage Bargain, a film adaptation of the viral romantic comedy and debut novel of Jennifer Probst. It marks the first project from Entangled Publishing’s production arm Premeditated Productions co-founded by Sherryl Clark (prod: The Gorge). The story follows a bookstore owner who enters a marriage of convenience with a billionaire to protect her family home, only to have their arrangement complicated as real emotions unexpectedly emerge. Those emotionals always find a sneaky way of entering in!
Mini Tidbit:
As is fairly obvious by Netflix’s dominance, streaming is booming. A new report lists global streaming revenue at $150bn for 2025 (Netflix makes up 30% of this). Global rev is projected to hit $200bn by 2030.
Two medical emergencies:
Lara Croft is down. Sophie Turner has sustained a minor injury on the set of Prime’s Tomb Raider, and production will be paused temporarily.
Rich Gelfond (CEO: IMAX) is taking a leave of absence. He is out with pneumonia.
Two obits:
The founder of Vestron Video, Austin Furst, has passed away at 82. He helped shape the home video boom in the 80s and brought independent films like Dirty Dancing (1987) into living rooms nationwide.
Dialogue coach Robert Hinkle has died at 95. Responsible for crafting the iconic southern accents of stars like Rock Hudson and Paul Newman, a legend behind the scenes, his work has left a lasting mark on cinema.
Renewals:
BBC and Britbox’s Lynley (for S2)
ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy (for S23)
Trailer:
HBO’s Euphoria (S3)
Release: April 12
Neon’s I Love Boosters
Release: May 22nd
Paramount’s PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie
Release: Aug 14
The first film made $144M WW
Capelight Pictures’ The Gentleman
Cast: Ron Perlman
Digital Release: April 14th
Netflix Jr.’s Danny Go! (YouTube kids show they acquired)
Release: April 6
Release dates:
Lionsgate’s The Housemaid 2
Cast: Sydney Sweeney and Kirsten Dunst
Release: Dec. 17, 2027
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
People keep on checking into The White Lotus.
The fourth season of HBO’s anthology drama series has added Heather Graham and Rosie Perez (Do the Right Thing), joining stars like Helena Bonham Carter and Kumail Nanjiani.
Graham started her career doing edgy sweetheart roles (Boogie Nights, The Hangover), but has since moved into horror (They Will Kill You, Prime’s Carrie, Suitable Flesh). Her ability to play in both zones will serve well in Mike White’s Saint-Tropez-set Season 4. We just hope she doesn’t end up dead. The White Lotus S4 is expected to premiere spring 2027.
Alec Baldwin joins the cast of Kockroach, a crime drama from director Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic) based on William Lashner’s novel of the same name. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Taron Egerton, and Zazie Beetz.
“In the vein of Goodfellas and Scarface”, the story follows an outsider who infiltrates New York’s criminal underworld, working his way to the top until he becomes the most powerful crime boss in all of the city.
While all character descriptions are currently unknown, Kockroach may allow Baldwin to tap into some of the cathartic energy after being dragged into the legal depths of hell after Rust. Because we need him doing more of this (The Departed clip) and less of this (reality show trailer).
Tidbit:
Stellan Skarsgård is keeping it in the Fanning family. Fresh off sharing the screen with Elle Fanning in the Oscar-winning Sentimental Value, Skarsgård is now joining Dakota Fanning in Apple TV’s upcoming untitled thriller series. The Dune actor will play the head of a powerful international conglomerate that puts Fanning as an undercover agent in a compromising position. It seems like a role well within Skarsgård’s wheelhouse, an authoritative figure whose commanding presence masks a self-serving agenda. Production has not yet started.
Mini Tidbits:
The Penguin’s Berto Colón has been cast in Dutton Ranch, the newest Yellowstone spinoff series for Paramount+. Best known as Sofia Falcone’s trusted right-hand, Colón will show off a softer side as a quiet but formidable cowboy in the new series. Dutton Ranch premieres May 15th.
Amazon MGM’s newest holiday feature, Clashing Through the Snow, adds some interesting new cast members. Queer Eye’s resident fashion guru Tan France will be joining comedians Andrew Schulz (Netflix’s Life) and Zarna Garg (A Nice Indian Boy) in what is described as Gen Z’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Production is ongoing.
Krys Marshall is cast in Toy Story 5. She will play an adult who must pull her kid away from the scariest toy on the block: a screen. She’s recently been popping up all over streaming TV, Apple TV’s For All Mankind, Apple TV’s Bad Monkey, and Hulu’s Paradise.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Rich Spirit (The Apprentice) picks up Sundance’s Hot Water. The film has a killer team of producers: Josh Peters (prod: Didi, EP: The Last Showgirl) and Max Walker-Silverman (dir: Rebuilding).
Synopsis:
After he’s kicked out of his Indiana high school, an American kid and his Lebanese mom hit the road west.
Releasing later this year.
Mini Tidbits:
LA Emmy-winning documentarian Jack Baric’s (PBS’ Bloody Thursday) new film More Than A Dream is centered on the silver medal-winning Croatian basketball team. They made history as the country’s Olympic debut at the 1992 Summer games with the film set to premiere at the LA28 Olympics. Production is set to begin this May.
Grammy-winning rapper Nas will EP Ice Cream Man, from Eli Roth’s banner The Horror Section. This is part of an investment that Nas’ prod co, Mass Appeal (Showtime’s Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men), made in Eli Roth’s company. Apparently, Nas really likes horror films. The earliest tip-off was his acting in this Funny or Die parody horror.
Kani Releasing (Desert of Namibia) picks up North American rights for South Korean filmmaker Syeyoung Park’s The Fin, a dystopian film which premiered at Locarno. Set in a future re-unified Korea, the country post-war wrestles with a revolt of mutated laborers called omegas. On a micro budget of under €25,000, this is a huge win for a brand-new director. Trailer.
Production and finance company 1Community (Nonnas) has brought on Thomas Adam as Director of Development for feature films. He previously held the position at MRC, working on major films like Lionsgate’s Knives Out and Amazon/MGM’s Saltburn.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Your Honor’s next home is Latin America, as Brazil’s Teleimage has secured rights to produce the 14th international adaptation of the series. The courtroom drama, originally from Israel, was remade in the U.S. by Showtime, starring Bryan Cranston as the respected judge caught in a moral crisis.
U.S. and Canada co-production Bee My Love is the first completed project from the recently launched Precious Metal Productions. The film follows a private chef competing for her dream job who uses her mother’s recipes as a source of inspiration. The film will premiere on the Great American Family channel in the U.S. in April and on Canada’s Super Channel in May.
Netflix has officially opened its new Warsaw office in Poland, its only technology hub outside the U.S. The office will focus on expanding both tech and regional content, with an upcoming slate led by Poland’s first medical procedural drama, Anesthesia, and musical biopic Less of a Stranger.
ON THIS DAY
1983. Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life is released in the US.
Written by Gabriel Miller and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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