Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Mark Ruffalo’s epic, Glenn Powell’s sci-fi, and a Last Fix.
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Should you give your heart to your enemy?
That’s the core question at the center of All That’s Left of You, Jordan’s shortlisted Oscar entry.
We sat down with Mark Ruffalo, executive producer, to discuss the film.
He shared:
“It’s this epic that spans multi-generations and gives us a history lesson from the people… I was struck by just this phenomenal sense of humanity and grace.”
The film tracks a Palestinian family from 1948 to 2022, over the course of various Israeli occupations. Each punctures a hole in the fabric of this family. With the trauma reaching a fever pitch when their son is killed.
But instead of hardening, the parents turn towards grace. And in a beautiful moment, they choose to save the lives of six people.
Ruffalo expanded:
“I hadn’t seen anything quite like it. I was so moved by it many, many times, it was complicated, and it was messy… Hanaan [the mother] decides what to do with this tragedy, to make it mean something.”
And that’s the beautiful message of the film. We carry pain like baggage. And rather than spread it like a cancer to those we come into contact with, we can decide to stop taking an eye for an eye.
The ultimate power we have is our humanity.
For More:
Full interview with Mark Ruffalo and the film’s director, writer, and lead actress, Cherien Dabis. Plus trailer:
https://theindustry.co/p/mark-ruffalo-interview-oscar-shortlisted
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Netflix & Sony ink the first-ever worldwide Pay-1 deal ($7bn–$8bn).
A judge blocks Paramount’s effort to fast-track discovery tied to WBD value.
FilmLA reports Q4 on-location shoot days down 21.1% YoY.
Glenn Powell’s next film is Amazon MGM’s Tesseract.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group President Ron Schwartz exits after 27 years.
Hans Zimmer will score HBO’s Harry Potter series.
Former Paramount co-CEO Brian Robbins launches prod company building family franchises for Sony.
Banijay initiates arbitration against Sony over The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Starz acquires U.S. rights to Sky Studios’ Amadeus.
Anne Hathaway will star and EP Paramount+ limited series Fear Not.
Apple TV+ orders an untitled thriller series starring and EP’d by Dakota Fanning.
Cate Blanchett will reprise Valka in live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2.
Antonio Banderas + Danny Trejo team for Armadillo United.
Adria Arjona joins Kingsley Ben-Adir in seductive thriller Scorn.
Sundance appoints David Linde as CEO.
Michael Angelo Covino’s (Splitsville) new film is The Last Fix (Netflix).
Greenwich acquires NA rights to Telluride doc Peter Asher: Everywhere Man.
Strand Releasing acquires NA theatrical rights to Vampires of the Velvet Lounge.
The Ink Factory wraps a Chinese-language adaptation of The Night Manager.
Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín launch pijama, a $100 flat-fee TVOD platform.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Netflix & Sony team up for the first-ever worldwide Pay-1 deal worth $7bn-$8bn. This means that once Sony’s films finish playing in theaters and on home entertainment, they will be available on Netflix in every country (minus China + Russia). The agreement will kick off later this year, with full worldwide availability starting early 2029 and running through 2032.
This is massive for Netflix, as they’re expanding their moat to include library titles like Spider-Man, Bad Boys, Terminator, Ghostbusters, Jumanji, The Three Stooges, Men in Black, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And, of course, their upcoming theatrical titles, which Netflix will purchase for a fee based on box-office performance.
If Netflix wins out in acquiring Warner Bros., a similar arrangement would be a dream scenario: preserving the WB films’ theatrical run. Of course, in all likelihood, Netflix would cut WB’s theatrical window.
And Netflix seems to be getting closer to winning Warner Bros., with a judge stopping Paramount’s attempt to expedite information on how WBD valued its linear spinoff segment.
Film & TV production in LA continues to crater. FilmLA’s latest data shows a seismic drop in on-location filming last quarter.
Here’s the breakdown:
Q4 On-Location Shoot Days 2024 → 2025
Total: 5,860 → 4,625 Shoot Days (SD)
↓21.1%TV: 1,596 → 1,247 SD
↓21.9%Feature Films: 589 → 473 SD
↓19.7%TV Pilots: 24 → 9 SD
↓62.5%
With TV down 50.1% from its 2021 peak, FilmLA is not seeing the trickle-down effect of the CA Tax Credit doubling to $750M annually.
Read the full FilmLA report here.
Glenn Powell’s next big film is Amazon MGM’s Tesseract. Sam Esmail (Leave the World Behind) will write and direct. United Artists is the prod co.
No word on plot, but it’s sci-fi, of course. Possible title clues: In geometry, a tesseract is a 4D hypercube with 24 faces and 32 edges. In A Wrinkle in Time, a tesseract is the device that allows for time travel throughout the universe by folding the spacetime fabric.
Esmail’s sci-fi films and shows are so grounded that they appear almost as a thriller. So we can’t wait to see how he flattens this cube. And Powell, coming off a few goofier sci-fi projects, like The Running Man, could use this.
Tidbits:
After the success of Peacock’s All Her Fault, producer Carnival Films may have found its next big mystery. Carnival is adapting My Husband’s Wife from author Alice Feeney, the writer behind Netflix’s newest series His & Hers. The story follows a woman on the edge of her big break who discovers her husband has not only been cheating on her, but has left a trail of deception, lies, and hidden secrets that have slowly been corroding her marriage the whole time. My Husband’s Wife officially hits shelves Jan. 27th.
After a 27-year run, Ron Schwartz is departing his post as Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group President. In the three decades he’s worked with the studio, Schwartz was hugely influential in acquisitions like Summit Entertainment and Entertainment One, drastically expanding Lionsgate’s 20,000-title film and TV library. He will officially leave the company by the end of March.
Hans Zimmer is set to write the original score for HBO’s Harry Potter series. While he is best known for some of cinema’s greatest scores, including Dune, Interstellar, and my personal favorite, The Pirates of the Caribbean, Zimmer has also composed for television, including Netflix’s The Crown. With the anticipated Harry Potter series poised to be one of the decade’s biggest shows and the original franchise’s film score so beloved, this may be a feat only Zimmer can get done. Sorry, John Williams!
Mini Tidbits:
Brian Robbins (former Paramount co-CEO) is forming a new production company to help Sony Pictures make more family-friendly franchises. Remember Robbins, who got $18.6M in severance pay as Skydance came in, ran Nickelodeon, and was CCO of Movies and Kids & Family, Paramount+. He seeks to raise $100M for his new venture.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series is getting sued. Banijay has filed an arbitration against Sony, claiming rights to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy reverted after the 2018 film. Banijay’s Yellow Bird produced the original Swedish films and later partnered with Sony on the 2011 and 2018 English-language adaptations. Court talks should follow.
Disney has greenlit a third Phineas and Ferb movie for Disney+ and Disney Channel, with Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh returning as Phineas and Ferb. It’s going a bit It’s a Wonderful Life, and creating a time travel paradox, what if the boys never met? Most of the ensemble cast is set to return; production begins this year.
DDA (PR clients: Neon, Fifth Season) brings on Matt Andrée Wiltens as SVP of Entertainment and Strategy. He comes from Gersh as SVP and head of corporate comms. Ryan Smith joins as Dir of Domestic Film + Series. He previously was the Senior Director of PR at R&CPMK.
Star Wars Redux. Yesterday, Kathleen Kennedy officially exited as the overseer of all things Star Wars. David Filoni, CCO of Lucasfilm, will take over with GM Lynwen Brennan. Two upcoming Star Wars films Mandalorian and Grogu (dir: Jon Favreau) and Starfighter (dir: Shawn Levy) give us new hope. But the rogue Star Wars scripts by James Mangold, Donald Glover, Taika Waititi, Steve Soderbergh, Patty Jenkins, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy are effectively in limbo until Filoni or Brennan revive/kill them.
Netflix is bringing Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein back to theaters for a one-week North American run starting January 16. With some screenings on 35mm, this is par for the course for a film aiming for Awards season buzz. Go see it this weekend. It’s an interesting take on a well-known story.
Starz snaps up US rights for Sky Studios’ Amadeus. It’s the perfect fit. With that vulgar and raunchy, Starz “We’re All Adults Here” tone. Will Sharpe is Mozart. The 25-year-old titular character arrives in the city, no longer a child, and determined to carve his own path (trailer). Releasing this year.
Oscar nominations are coming! Danielle Brooks (Peacemaker) and Lewis Pullman (Thunderbolts) will announce the nominations for the 98th Oscar nominations next Thursday, Jan. 22nd, at 5:30 am PST.
Innovative Artists has dropped Timothy Busfield (Stripes) after his court appearance on child sex abuse charges from the set of Cleaning Lady; he denies allegations and is currently jailed without bond.
Renewals:
USA’s Everything on the Menu with Braun Strowman (S2)
Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars (for S3)
Trailers:
Netflix’s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast
Release: Feb 12
Warner Bros.’ The Bride
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale
Release: March 6 (theatrical)
Peacock’s Ted Season 2
Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Max Burkholder
Release: March 5
Diabolic
Cast: Elizabeth Cullen, Justin Long
Release: Feb 20
AMC’s Dark Winds Season 4
Cast: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon
Release: Feb 15
Lionsgate’s The Dreadful
Cast: Sophie Turner, Kit Harington
Release: Feb 20
First Looks:
Prime Video’s Tomb Raider
Cast: Sophie Turner, Walton Goggins
FX’s Love Story
Cast: Sarah Pidgeon, Paul Kelly
Channel 4’s Dirty Business (drama series)
Cast: David Thewlis
Release Dates:
Ricky
Release: March 20th, 2026
Prime Video’s Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association
Release: February 12, 2026
The Deb
Rebel Wilson
Release: April 9, 2026 (Pending Legal Battle)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
“Sympathy for the Devil”
Everyone is moving to TV! Ahead of a busy 2026, Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) is set to star and EP in Fear Not, a limited series from Paramount+ and Boardwalk Empire writer Bash Doran.
The six-episode series will see Hathaway as Margy Palm, the last woman kidnapped by real-life prolific serial killer Stephen Morin. The Oscar winner has barely scratched the surface of TV with her only previous stint in Apple TV+’s WeCrashed (2022), which she also produced.
Hathaway will now be faced with portraying a deeply religious woman who navigates her morally fraught but unexpected bond with her dangerous captor. Fear Not is likely to begin filming this fall, with a 2027 premiere.
Apple TV has ordered a new untitled thriller series starring and EP’d by Dakota Fanning. Created and showrun by Alex Cary (Homeland), the project comes from Sony Pictures Television.
The series follows an undercover Treasury agent embedded inside a powerful international conglomerate. As she investigates its vast political and criminal reach, her mission becomes complicated when she develops feelings for the heir to the empire.
Fanning has recently delved into horror films that have been the rare exceptions that didn’t connect with audiences, including The Watchers (2024) and Vicious (2025), pushed to VOD. The past few years have been relatively quiet, especially compared to her sister Elle’s exploding career with Predator Badlands, and the upcoming Apple series Margot’s Got Money Trouble.
But Fanning was recently great in Peacock’s All Her Fault, showing off just a tinge of suburban arrogance rather than full-blown horror.
We look forward to seeing what she’ll do in this new series.
Everyone loves a spy thriller.
Tidbits:
Cate Blanchett is soaring back to How to Train Your Dragon territory. She is reprising her role as the beloved Valka from the animated films in the upcoming live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2, a rare chance to see her voice-acting transition from the recording studio to the big screen. The sequel hits theaters in summer 2027.
Antonio Banderas and Danny Trejo will star in Armadillo United, a feel-good fantasy sports drama about a youth soccer team chasing a World Cup dream. Longtime collaborators since Desperado, Spy Kids, and beyond, it will be cool to see the pair together for the first time in more than a decade! The project films in March in Austin, Brazil, and Spain.
Chris Messina is headed to Saint-Tropez! The Mindy Project actor is in final talks to join season four of The White Lotus alongside Hunger Games actor Alexander Ludwig and Disney star AJ Michalka. His involvement is not yet confirmed with the acclaimed HBO show still in the casting stage.
Adria Arjona loves herself a seductive thriller. The Splitsville actress is joining Kingsley Ben-Adir (Barbie) in Scorn from director Sarah-Violet Bliss (HBO Max’s Search Party). Like her recent turn in Richard Linklater’s Hitman, Arjona is continuing her streak of characters that flirt with danger. Scorn will start shooting in the U.K. by the end of the month.
Fox Entertainment and Fremantle are holding an open casting call for the upcoming Baywatch reboot. You can leave the mankini at home.
Mini Tidbits:
Tubi’s Original casts Sophia Bush
Little Women’s Eliza Scanlen's new psychological drama
Chris Sullivan in The Rookie
All those and more mini tidbits here: https://theindustry.co/p/little-women-the-rookie-tubi
FESTIVALS
Sundance has a new CEO. David Linde, former CEO of the recently shuttered Participant (An Inconvenient Truth, Spotlight, Roma), takes the post. He will helm a new era of Sundance, one that moves to Boulder, Colorado, in search of friendlier, less costly pastures.
Rotterdam:
Blue Finch Films (Sales Rep: Oddity, Redux Redux) picks up international sales rights for Rotterdam’s Bowels of Hell.
Rotterdam’s Tell Me What You Feel trailer.
Berlin:
Look, nothing is as scary as Indonesian Horror. Just check out Berlin’s Sleep No More (trailer). A doll factory becomes haunted. Perfect for Cineverse.
EFM is kicking off next month. First couple projects:
Eleven Days
Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Diego Luna, Jason Isaacs & Rhea Seehorn
Sales Rep: Lucky Number 8
Idea: One of the most harrowing prison sieges in American history
Fifteen Dogs (animation)
Prod Co: Copperheart Entertainment (Night of the Zoopocalypse)
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Netflix has lined up The Last Fix as the next feature from director Michael Angelo Covino (Splitsville). Covino will direct a script by Chuck MacLean (Apple TV+’s The Instigators), with Netflix moving quickly to take the spec off the market.
The comedy centers on a Boston political fixer who learns he has six months to live.
Covino will likely star in the film (as he did in Splitsville and The Climb) and whatever he gets into with that time left will most likely be wild infidelity and a sort of sad, sexual liberation. That’s on par with his hilarious and penetrating first two features.
Tidbits:
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way signs on to…
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