Good morning: In today’s edition of The Industry, we look at:
Lionsgate’s Luck, Paramount’s Offer, and The Gallerist.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Lionsgate is rebooting Leprechaun.
Paramount offers AMC & Regal 3-year deals promising 30 films/year.
Starz Q2 revenue falls 4% to $307.9M as net loss widens to $189.4M.
They Will Kill You director Kirill Sokolov will helm Netflix’s teleportation film Blur.
Netflix develops a multi-era NY Yankees series w/ Jason Bateman producing.
Disney begins production on Hidden Heroes: A Descendants Story.
Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers join the writing teams for Avengers: Doomsday.
The Odyssey becomes the highest-grossing IMAX film ever.
Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie join Heated Rivalry S2.
Mason Gooding and Emily Rudd will lead Paramount’s Crawl sequel.
Blue Finch takes international sales on Danny DeVito-produced Drag.
Roadside Attractions and Vertical acquire The Gallerist starring Natalie Portman.
Bella Thorne will write and direct the upcoming Spring Breakers sequel.
Friday’s correct answer: Ready Player One and Doctor Sleep both have scenes at the Overlook Hotel.
66% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Your worst Irish nightmare. Lionsgate is rebooting the comedy-horror cult classic Leprechaun with a script from Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (Wri: The Collector).
The franchise has been one of horror’s most peculiar series, starting with Leprechaun (1993, trailer) starring Jennifer Aniston. The original film made $8.5M with a $900,000 budget, spawning seven more films over the course of three decades.
Lionsgate already had a stab at revitalizing the series with a more serious look with Leprechaun: Origins (2014), which wasn’t loved by the fans or the critics.
With studios turning their old horror IP into franchise-best performers like 2025’s Final Destination: Bloodlines ($317.9M WW) and 2023’s Evil Dead Rise ($147M WW), it seems like Lionsgate is attempting to have another go with the iconic Irish monster.
It will be crucial for Lionsgate to understand what made the original film so charming to its audiences – the ridiculous camp and personality of Leprechaun himself. Evil Dead Burn (2026) has only grossed $63.6M worldwide, showing that even recognizable horror IPs can struggle.
Paramount doubles down on its commitment to 30 films/year, post-merger with WBD: they’ve offered a 3-year contract to the two largest theater chains in the US:
AMC Theatres
9600 screens worldwide
Regal Cinemas
5386 screens in the US
Paramount has also said they would give these films an exclusive 45-day theatrical window, with 90 days until they go to streaming.
That tracks, as the CEOs of AMC and Regal each announced last week they support the WBD/PSKY merger, despite much of the industry being against the deal.
But whether or not this merger goes through is now in question, with an antitrust trial kicking off in March 2027.
The bigger question: can PSKY/WBD pull off this volume?
Together, the two studios released 17 films in 2025, with only four playing longer than 45 days in theaters (MI8, F1, Sinners, One Battle After Another).
Starz Q2 2026 earnings. Their fifth quarter since the split with Lionsgate is continuing the bad news:
$307.9M revenue
↓4%
$87M Linear Revenue (↓12%)
$221.1M streaming revenue
Flat
$189.4M net loss*
vs. $42.5M loss last year
Starz ended Q2 with $565.5M net debt, an 8% increase since last quarter.
*One note: they exited their Pay 2 deal with Universal, which cost them $147M. Without that charge, they would have “only” lost $42.2M.
Tidbits:
Kirill Sokolov Will Kill You. The director of Warner Bros.’ recent bloody stylized action horror film They Will Kill You starring Zazie Beetz has lined up his next film, Netflix’s Blur. It follows a daughter and her mom who get wrapped up in teleportation. That sounds like a fun streaming watch. Sadly, I didn’t really connect with the sister-sister story in They Will Kill You, although the action was fun. Sokolov has an excellent filmic style; we just hope he gets paired with someone strong on story.
Netflix is taking on the pinstripes in a new scripted series about the New York Yankees. From Josh Wakely, the creator of Netflix’s Beat Bugs. The MLB drama will take place across several eras of the historic team. Despite his lifelong allegiance to the LA Dodgers, Jason Bateman is continuing his partnership with Netflix (Black Rabbit, Ozark, Arrested Development revival) with his Aggregate Films attached to produce.
Disney’s Descendants universe is expanding with Hidden Heroes: A Descendants Story, which is now in production. While the original films followed the descendants of famous Disney villains, this film will follow the offspring of a few beloved sidekick characters, including the daughter of Genie from Aladdin, the daughter of Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove, and the son of Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast. The story will take place in a secret training facility where descendants of sidekicks are challenged to join heroes as their partners.
Mini Tidbits:
Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (Wri: Spider-Man: Brand New Day) are working on Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. They join a roster of writers that includes Stephen McFeely (Wri: Avengers: Endgame) and Michael Waldron (Wri: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness).
Psych writer-producer Andy Berman is returning to USA Network with a new procedural, Sherlock’s Secretary.
The Odyssey is now the highest-grossing IMAX film of all time, making $289M, passing the $256M landmark set by James Cameron’s Avatar (2009).
SS Rajamouli’s (Dir: Baahubali) Telugu film Varanasi will be the second film shot entirely on IMAX after The Odyssey.
Trailers:
Prime Video India’s The Traitors India S2
Release: Aug 13
Black Bear Pictures’ The Rivals of Amziah King
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Kurt Russell
Release: Aug 14
Prime Video’s Gravesend S3
Cast: Shaquille O’Neal
Release: Oct 2026
Thomas Heise documentary Übergang
World Premiere: Aug 7
Celluloid Dreams’ Demons
World Premiere: Aug 13
First Look:
Oscilloscope’s Objet A
Cast: Louis Hofmann (Dark)
World Premiere: Aug 11
Release Dates:
Briarcliff Entertainment’s Nickels
Cast: Rob Riggle, Aaron Holiday
Release: Oct 2
Shoots:
Sony’s The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event
Dir: Sam Mendes
Abbey Road Shoot: Summer of 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
I Saw the TV Glow’s Justice Smith is stepping back into queer storytelling, set to join season two of Crave’s Heated Rivalry alongside Charlie Gillespie (One Night Only). The duo will play Troy and Harris, respectively, with Gillespie a professional hockey player and Smith his team’s social media manager.
Season two will draw from both the fifth and sixth novels in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, promising even more romantic tension than the beloved first season.
Now filming in Toronto, with S2 hitting HBO Max and Crave in spring 2027.
The Urban myth of sewer alligators is coming to the big screen. Mason Gooding (Scream 7) and Emily Rudd (Netflix’s One Piece) will star in Paramount’s sequel to director Alexandre Aja’s survival horror film Crawl (2019, trailer). The sequel will now have alligators in the streets and sewers of NYC after a hurricane hits the city.
It seems like a bit of typecasting for Gooding after Scream 7 and Heart Eyes, but there’s no denying he plays the role well.
The original film made $91.5M with a $14M budget, maximizing the terror of alligators that lurk under the murky waters during a Category 5 hurricane.
Tidbits:
Jason Clarke (Terminator Genisys) joins the cast of Amazon MGM action thriller Supermax, joining an ensemble cast that includes Will Smith and Jaafar Jackson (Michael). No info on his role. This David Gordon Green (Dir: Halloween sequel franchise) film will follow two FBI agents investigating a murder that took place in the world’s most secure prison.
Kate Beckinsale (Underworld franchise) and Dermot Mulroney (Anyone But You) join the cast of action thriller Drifter, directed by Randall Emmett (Dir: The Gentleman Thief starring John Travolta). The film follows an interim police chief determined to prove that she can fill her father’s shoes as she has to fight imposters posing as FBI agents in an isolated police station.
Lydia Peckham (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) joins the cast of Sony and Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda film. No word on her role, but we’d love to see her play Navi, a fairy navigator who helps Link along his journey. Her warm and grounding performance as Soona in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes makes her a perfect fit.
Mini Tidbit:
From reality TV to indie dramedy. Craig Conover, one of the stars of Bravo’s Southern Charm, has been cast in Caroline Fletcher, a film following a young girl who pulls off an elaborate scheme when her torn-apart family is threatened. No word on Conover’s role.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Drag, which premiered at SXSW and is produced by Danny DeVito’s Jersey Films 2nd Avenue, now has an international sales rep. Blue Finch Films (Oddity, Redux Redux) will launch Drag at the TIFF market.
Synopsis:
Two burglars (Lucy DeVito and Lizzy Caplan) face disaster during a simple home heist when one suffers a back injury. As the clock ticks and pain sets in, their escape becomes increasingly chaotic.
Part of the genius of producing this film is keeping 95% of it in a single location. This elevates the entire premise, making it more hilarious, more claustrophobic, and more silly, accentuating the physical comedy.
Want the full scoop? I interviewed Danny DeVito and his kids for 45 minutes at SXSW. Enjoy!
Briarcliff is releasing in the US on Jan 29th.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
After 6.5 months, The Gallerist, starring Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, and Zach Galifianakis, has been picked up. Roadside Attractions and Vertical came to the rescue as the film got mixed reviews out of Sundance.
For me, it’s a beautifully bombastic farce about what is real and unreal.
Through Cathy Yan’s (Dir: Dead Pigs, Birds of Prey) high-intensity cinema and frenzied, floating camera moves, the unreal comes from the wacky circumstances in which Portman and Ortega find themselves. But the real is more lacerating: a portrait of an artist subjugated by those who control her: the audiences who lap up cheap spectacle, the buyers, and the gallery heads who change and pervert her artistic vision.
During the Q&A, writer James Pedersen shared:
“I’m fascinated by violent crime and money laundering. And in a world where our art and our commerce are getting increasingly more extreme I thought why not put it in a literal setting and see how those things comedically interact with each other”
Portman summed it up best:
“As artists we’re taking something from our souls and it becomes a commodity and there’s a magic to that, and there’s a horror to that.”
This is a zany one, with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Charli xcx, and Sterling K. Brown also starring. Releasing December 4th.
Not long after her casting announcement, former Disney star Bella Thorne will now also write and direct the upcoming Spring Breakers sequel.
Ahead of the release of her feature-length directorial debut Color Your Hurt, a coming-of-age thriller about a young gay man living in a hostile Bible Belt town, her sophomore go will share Thorne’s interest in rebellion and pushing boundaries. While very different on the surface, Thorne was offered the additional roles on set after producers saw an early cut of her film and thought she could bring a similarly provocative energy to Spring Breakers 2.
ON THIS DAY
1950. Sunset Boulevard premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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