Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Leo’s Heat, Paramount’s Paranormal, and a Deep Cut.
Let’s go!
If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Leonardo DiCaprio officially boards Heat 2.
Paranormal Activity 8 moves ahead at Paramount with Atomic Monster.
Netflix teams w/ Martin Scorsese on 8-episode Vegas drama from Billions creators.
Jon M. Chu inks a three-year first-look deal at Paramount.
Tig Notaro and Zack Snyder develop Deviants, a period comedy.
David Heyman’s Heyday Films boards Chloe Benjamin’s Under Story.
Paramount’s breakup fee in its WBD bid rises from $2.1B to $5B.
BET names Louis Carr president as BET Studios becomes a CBS Studios label.
Peacock & Sky reunite for comedy with Tina Fey’s new sitcom, The Cliffhanger.
Taron Egerton leads horror-thriller Alpha, acquired by Netflix UK.
Scarlett Johansson in final talks for Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II.
Charlie Plummer joins Angelina Jolie in mafia thriller Sunny.
Sean Durkin’s Deep Cuts (A24) now stars Cailee Spaeny and Drew Starkey.
Film Indie Spirit noms announced, Peter Hujar’s Day leads with five.
Steve Zahn’s She Dances (premiere: Tribeca) sells to new distributor EKKL.
Sundance CCO Tammie Rosen passes at 49.
Canton Entertainment sets Lucille, the first authorized B.B. King biopic.
BBC announces Hamburg Days, a Beatles biopic chronicling 1960–62.
HBO Max continues its global rollout, launching in the U.K. and Ireland.
Studiocanal and Heyday Films are developing a Mr. Men & Little Miss feature.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Leonardo DiCaprio locks Heat 2. His casting in the Michael Mann-directed sequel is now official, yet his character is still unknown. Check out our deep dive into how it could play out, with Christian Bale also slated to be in the cast: https://theindustry.co/p/christian-bale-vs-leonardo-dicaprio
Separately, DiCaprio confirmed that he will not be in:
Director: David Fincher
Star: Brad Pitt
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Lead Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan
Studio: Netflix
The film is a sequel of sorts to Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (trailer).
Paranormal Activity 8 is happening. Paramount (responsible for the first 7) is teaming with Atomic Monster (Saw, The Conjuring, Insidious). Atomic Monster had never been a part of this series, but through their merger with Blumhouse, they now get in on the action.
The series, which was held up as the prime example of how low-budget horror could earn insane multiples on its budget, has been in a relative slump after the 5th film in 2014 became the first one not to make $100M worldwide:
Paranormal Activity (2007)
$15K budget
$107.9M domestic
$193.4M worldwide
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
$3M budget
$84.8M domestic
$177.5M worldwide
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
$5M budget
$104M domestic
$207M worldwide
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
$5M budget
$53.9 domestic
$142.8M worldwide
The Marked Ones (2014)
$5M budget
$32.7 domestic
$90.9M worldwide
The Ghost Dimension (2015)
$10M budget
$18.3M domestic
$78.9M worldwide
Next of Kin (2021)
Domestic release cancelled - straight to Paramount+
So why greenlit a new one, after Next of Kin (2021) suffered from a COVID theatrical cancellation?
Simply, horror franchises are pulling in extraordinary numbers. Originals like Sinners and Weapons are easily sliding into the top spots of the highest-grossing horrors of all time. And even legacy horror series like Final Destination are seeing their new incarnations top the entire series in box-office returns.
There’s nothing scary about that.
Netflix is back with Scorsese. I can’t think of anyone who knows Vegas better than Martin Scorsese (Casino) and Ocean’s Thirteen writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien.
The streamer has ordered an eight-episode untitled drama focused on the president of the hottest hotel/casino on the Strip, whose back-door negotiations and high-stakes power plays reflect the city’s dangerous glamor. Koppelman and Levien are currently writing and on board as showrunners, marking their return to TV since their co-created Billions ended in 2023.
The duo is also EPing alongside Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions. No word on when production will begin.
Tidbits:
Riding the broomstick of success all the way to Paramount. Jon M. Chu (Wicked) has inked a three-year first-look deal with Paramount, giving the mega studio exclusive access to his upcoming projects. The Crazy Rich Asians (2018) director is currently working on a Dr. Seuss adaptation of Oh the Places You’ll Go for Warner Bros., where he previously had a production deal. Chu’s smash sequel Wicked: For Good grossed $230M globally in its opening weekend, and Paramount is only getting bigger with plans to spend $1.5bn over the next year following their much-reported merger with Skydance. Seems like a partnership we could’ve predicted.
Comedian and Actress Tig Notaro has partnered with slow-mo-centric director Zack Snyder. Their second collab after Notaro unexpectedly went viral as Marianne in Army of the Dead -clip. The reaction inspired her pitch for Deviants, an old-time period piece centered on a gaggle of “hot lesbians.” Snyder immediately agreed, and they’re now scripting and beginning development. Will this end up being Snyder’s return to action after noticeably smaller than The Last Photograph, which shot last August?
Warner Bros. has a good feeling about author Chloe Benjamin. The writer behind NYT bestseller The Immortalists, her next book Under Story, is being developed by David Heyman via his Heyday Films (Harry Potter franchise… and now 007) ahead of its publication by almost a year. The story centers on biologist Laurel Salter confronting a mysterious phenomenon in Antarctica, facing love and loss. Under Story hits shelves in September 2026.
Peacock and Sky are coming together for the sake of comedy. Their collaboration was successful in the drama space with The Day of the Jackal, and now they are teaming up with Tina Fey, who’s working on a sitcom titled The Cliffhanger that’s in its early stages. Since 30 Rock ended back in 2013, Fey co-created Netflix’s The Four Seasons earlier this year.
Mini Tidbits:
Paramount’s latest bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is unknown (some are pegging it at $70bn), but we’ve just learned that the breakup fee if they exit the deal has been upped from $2.1bn to $5bn.
BET has tapped Louis Carr as its new president, capping his 39-year tenure. As BET Studios transitions into a CBS Studios label, he’ll retain his Media Sales role while succeeding longtime president Scott Mills.
Tanner Foust (Top Gear) and Emelia Hartford (Gran Turismo) are launching Driven is a new car-focused streaming service. It will start with a beta test before rolling out as an ad-supported platform featuring original series, master classes, and curated creator content, with hopes to launch fully in 2026.
Comcast has approved the spinoff of its cable-network catalog into Versant Media Group, a new publicly traded company. The move aims to let Versant operate as a standalone media company, separating its cable and digital properties from Comcast’s remaining businesses.
One of the doctors charged in the death of Matthew Perry, for illegally dosing him with ketamine, Salvador Plasencia, has been sentenced to 30 months, after originally being charged with 120 years.
Renewals:
Hulu’s Chad Powers (for S2)
CBS’s Boston Blue (for S2)
CBS’s Sheriff Country (for S2)
Trailers:
Hulu’s A Thousand Blows (S2)
Release: Jan 9
Searchlight’s Ready or Not 2
Cast: Samara Weaving
WW Box Office of first one: $57.6M on a $6M budget
Release: April 10, 2026
Mubi’s My Father’s Shadow
Release: Feb 6
Netflix’s Emily in Paris (S5)
Release: Dec 18
Sony Pictures Classics’ The President’s Cake
Oscar week release: Dec 12
First look:
Apple TV+’s Your Friends & Neighbors (S2)
Star: Jon Hamm
FX’s The Beauty
Cast: Bella Hadid, Vincent D’Onofrio
Co-Creator: Ryan Murphy
Release: Jan 21
HBO’s The Comeback (S3)
Newly cast: Andrew Scott
Release: March 2026
Release dates:
HBO’s Euphoria (S3)
Release: April 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Taron Egerton’s Alpha dog. Egerton is cast in Alpha, a horror film, whose script has just been picked up by Netflix UK.
Synopsis:
Follows a mild-mannered American analyst (Egerton) who climbs the ranks of a ruthless London investment firm, only to discover a horror more frightening than the industry itself: the insatiable monster awakening within him.
Comps: American Psycho + American Werewolf in London.
Egerton is absurdly good at masquerading as the ultimate alpha dog while hiding something sinister. Just watch Apple TV+’s Smoke (for a deep dive, check out our interview with the show’s creator, Dennis Lehane: https://theindustry.co/p/apples-smoke-jonah-hills-fire
Egerton should have no problem going full Bateman.
Aperture Entertainment (My Friend Dahmer) and Safehouse (Novocaine) are producing, with actor Hal Ozsan writing.
Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) is in final talks to join Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II alongside Robert Pattinson.
Plot details and her role remain tightly guarded, but the film begins shooting in the spring. There are quite a few roles that Johansson might fit, but her gravitas, smoky voice, and (usually) red hair could make her a great Poison Ivy.
Johansson is aligning this with Mike Flanagan’s new Exorcist film and her growing slate, which includes Jurassic World: Rebirth’s sequel.
Tidbits:
The Long Walk standout Charlie Plummer joins Angelina Jolie in high-stakes mafia thriller Sunny. The young actor has been steadily working in mostly indie projects, consistently giving impressive performances like his heartbreaking turn in Lean on Pete (2017, trailer) as a lonely foster kid whose deepest bond in life is with an aging racehorse.
As the cast expands, the question of Whodunnit deepens. The upcoming indie mystery romcom, Whodunnit, led by Lana Condor (Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) adds five to its cast.
Jack Whitehall (Jungle Cruise)
Robbie Amell (Upload)
Lizze Broadway (Gen V)
Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost)
Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat)
Not a murder mystery but a mystery surrounding an unknown father, Whodunnit follows Condor’s Tess, a clueless young woman who has just discovered she’s pregnant. The film is currently in production in Oregon.
Some deep cuts with Deep Cuts. The cast of Sean Durkin’s (Dir: Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Iron Claw) new film has been changed.
New Cast: Cailee Spaeny (Alien: Romulus) and Drew Starkey (Queer)
Former Cast: Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler
Studio: A24
Producer: Eli Bush (Lady Bird, Uncut Gems)
Producer: Josh Safdie (Good Time)
Source material: newly released novel
Synopsis:
Two music-obsessed twentysomethings navigate the messy realities of ambition, belonging and adulthood over the course of era-defining decades.
Durkin is quite good at depicting relationships where people cannibalize each other. Production kicks off in Feb 2026.
Mini Tidbits:
The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage is leading a new PBS Masterpiece and ITV police procedural, Winter, based on the French crime series Balthazar. Armitage will play the brilliant forensic pathologist Dr. Ethan Winter, who could solve any murder, no matter how complex.
WWE Superstar CM Punk seems like a fitting addition to Netflix’s The Bodyguard, a new romcom led by Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki. His role is unknown, yet he most recently lent his voice to Zootopia 2 as a zebra police officer.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Remember when we interviewed Steve Zahn about his beautiful Tribeca film, She Dances, starring him and Ethan Hawke?
Well, it has just sold (one of the rare Tribeca films to do so).
The North American rights pickup is by EKKL. That’s a new distribution company from Michael Scott (not: The Office). Scott produced God’s Not Dead 1-4. He’s in the faith-based/inspirational stories space.
She Dances doesn’t fully live there; instead, the beauty of the film lies in how the fragile shell we put up to mask tragedy gradually comes down, step by step, until both characters realize the way through their sorrow is to form a shared language of solace and joy.
Releasing in theaters March 2026.
RIP Sundance’s Tammie Rosen (CCO: Sundance), age 49.
Sundance said in their statement:
“Under her stewardship, Sundance Institute’s story was told with heart and authenticity because, quite simply, she embodied the joy and power of our mission.”
On a personal note, The Industry’s first year at Sundance, we applied an hour after the deadline. She had a good sense of humor about it and pushed through our request.
Thanks, Tammie, you’ll be missed.
Tidbit:
Willy Wonka meets Knives Out…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Industry to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.