Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Matt Damon + Ben Affleck, Angel Studios = ANGX, Bérénice Bejo = Alice Guy-Blaché.
Let’s go!
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Ben Affleck and Matt Damon do a bad thing in Netflix’s The Rip.
They play two cops who steal $20M of drug money.
There are a few things I like about this. One is that the time frame, at least from the trailer, makes it seem like this is all happening in a single night. That means we’re guaranteed messy decision-making. Kind of like Training Day, where we get to see things go wrong in real time.
The other standout element is that we have never seen Affleck and Damon play villains together. It’s even a rare thing to see them play villains separately.
Of course, Damon’s best role is as the quasi-villain Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley. His character in that film is driven by the desire to fit in, and so he becomes a shapeshifting monster to reflect what he believes others want to see.
Affleck’s most morally corrupt role is in a film called Runner Runner (2013). He plays an online gambler who stacks the odds in his favor and lures Justin Timberlake to join his nefarious ways offshore.
Together in The Rip, director Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces) seems to weaponize their well-worn chemistry.
Netflix releases Jan 16, 2026.
For More:
The Rip trailer.
The Talented Mr. Ripley trailer.
Runner Runner trailer.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Legendary Entertainment picks up film rights for Alchemised, a dark fantasy novel.
Angel Studios (Sound of Freedom) goes public via SPAC merger.
Netflix CPO Eunice Kim exits after 4 years.
Paramount hires ex-Meta exec Dane Glasgow as new Chief Product Officer.
ABC developing Austin-set workplace comedy All’s Fine.
Vimeo sells for $1.3bn to a tech buyer.
Bérénice Bejo to play pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché for HBO.
Zooey Deschanel leads indie comedy Heather of the Valley.
John Ortiz upped to series regular on Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey.
Aimee Garcia joins AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City S3.
Lou Ferrigno to star in cannibal horror The Hermit.
Lulu Wang (Dir: A24’s The Farewell), next film Audition stars Lucy Liu and Charles Melton.
Andrea Iervolino adds Giorgio Armani biopic to his growing slate.
Sony Pictures International & Webtoon board Boulevard.
Vietnam’s Face Off 8 crosses $8.8M.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Legendary Entertainment (A Minecraft Movie), in a whopping seven-figure deal, has acquired the movie rights to Alchemised, a dark fantasy novel from author SenLinYu, yet to be published.
Logline:
Harry Potter meets Handmaid’s Tale.
The author’s stories started off as fun fanfictions but quickly grew viral online, amassing over 20M individual downloads.
This record-breaking offer comes shortly after Legendary finalized a three-year output deal with Paramount. Alchemised is due to hit shelves on Sept. 23rd.
Angel Studios flies. By the time you read this, the folks at faith-tilting Angel Studios (distributor: Sound of Freedom, The Chosen) will be ringing the bell at the NYSE. They’ll be trading under the symbol ANGX. They’re going public through a SPAC merger. As part of the terms, they’ll get a $100M credit facility with Trinity Capital ($2.3bn assets under management).
The company will now be worth $1.6bn as it is merging with Southport Acquisition Corp.
Mini Tidbits:
It’s now going to be easier to buy ads on Netflix. To reach those 94M+ ad-tier users, Netflix has signed a partnership with Amazon to use its Demand-Side Platform (DSP). Amazon is the king of this with their new DSP launching less than a year ago.
After four years, Eunice Kim, Netflix’s Chief Product Officer, is exiting the company. After a decade working for YouTube and Google Play, Kim oversaw the company’s consumer product innovation team. She is leaving just after Netflix introduced its first user interface update in over ten years.
One company loses, another gains. Paramount has brought on Dane Glasgow as the company’s new Chief Product Officer. The former Meta exec will watch over Paramount’s product vision and audience engagement strategies across all platforms.
Letterman TV expands its offerings with over 1,800 Late Night with David Letterman episodes set to start streaming today on Samsung TV Plus. It will apparently feature unreleased BTS content.
ABC is developing a workplace comedy titled All’s Fine, from Big Little Lies writer David E. Kelley. Set in a food truck park in Austin, Texas, following a group of hardscrabble chefs the show will be produced by Kelley, Caroline Fox (prod. Night Court), and Chrissy Teigen on behalf of Huntley Productions (Freeform’s Chrissy & Dave Dine Out).
Curtis Brown Heritage, a part of UTA, has signed on JRR Tolkien's estate, best known as the late creator of The Lord of the Rings. Joining Heritage’s roster alongside Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide) and A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh). This has been a process started by the current owner, Embracer Group, who bought the rights for LOTR $395M three years ago.
Blue Ant Media, Blue Ant Studios, and Big Media are producing Wild Science, a six-part natural history series. The series will explore various wild adaptations across land and sea. Filming is currently underway in Prague and London.
Warner Bros. Discovery may split as soon as April 2026, according to CEO David Zaslav.
Vimeo is acquired for $1.3bn by a tech firm. Congrats to our friends at Vimeo!
Trailers:
Hulu’s Murdaugh: Death in the Family
Release: Oct 15
1-2 Special’s Urchin
Dir: Harris Dickinson
Premiere: Cannes
Release: Oct 17
Coyotes
Cast: Justin Long
Premiere: Fantastic Fest
FX’s English Teacher (S2)
Release: Sept 25
Release dates:
Netflix’s Victoria Beckham (doc)
Release: Oct 9
Renewals:
Prime’s Overcompensating (for S2)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
The world’s first female director is getting her moment in front of the camera. The Artist’s Bérénice Bejo is set to star as Alice Guy-Blaché (born 1873), a French film director and industry pioneer. The series, Alice, is in development with HBO Max and France Télévisions (The Bureau).
Bejo’s new lead role marks a return to period storytelling that the actress has always handled with nuance, like in the 2016 post-WWII film Sweet Dreams (Fai bei sogni, scene) or her Oscar-nominated turn in The Artist (2011, scene) as a literal classic Hollywood dancer. But in Alice, her character is no longer operating within a fictional narrative; she’s embodying a real trailblazer whose life helped shape cinema itself.
From Belle Époque, Paris, to early Hollywood, the new six-part biographical drama series charts the remarkable life of a filmmaker who helped define the grammar of modern cinema with films like La Fée aux Choux (1896) and A Fool and His Money (1912).
Alice has begun filming throughout France, Belgium, and Canada.
The selective Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) is set to lead indie comedy Heather of the Valley alongside Babes actress Michelle Buteau.
They play former classmates who bond over their shared love of the romantic period TV show, Scotlander. Next thing they know, they are catapulted into 18th-century Scotland.
The whimsical and silly Deschanel seems perfectly fit for this type of film, which will be her first role since the animated hit Trolls Band Together (2023). Heather of the Valley will begin production in Spring 2026.
Mini Tidbits:
Apple TV+’s Bad Monkey returns for its second season with John Ortiz (American Fiction) getting promoted to series regular. The Bill Lawrence and Vince Vaughn comedy sees Ortiz returning as the loyal best friend and solid Key West police detective.
Starz’s prequel series Power: Origins casts Spencer Moore (Creed III) to portray the younger version of the original protagonist Omari Hardwick’s character, James. And The Watchers’ Charlie Mann will play Joseph Skiora’s character James’s former friend Tommy in the upcoming mothership Power series.
Aimee Garcia (Lucifer, Dexter) joins AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3. She will have a bigger role playing a charismatic leader of a splinter group. Season 2 Trailer.
Indie romance drama I’ve Got You announces its cast. Newcomer Madeline Popovich, involved in Hulu’s upcoming Murdaugh: Death in the Family mini series, is set to lead the new drama. I’ve Got You is set to begin production in California’s Sierra Nevada region.
Twisted holiday sequel Violent Night 2 adds internet influencer Andrew “King Bach” Bachelor and AEW wrestling champion Maxwell Friedman (aka MJF) to its cast. The two new additions are set to join David Harbour in the Universal Pictures and 87 North dark comedy set for a Dec. 4th premiere.
Lou Ferrigno, the original Incredible Hulk, will star in The Hermit, a horror about a cannibal pig farmer. At 73 years old, Ferrigno's latest project was Pacino biopic The Offer, which kicked off his most recent return.
Kiss my grits! A force on the stage and the screen, Polly Holliday (CBS’s Alice), the prolific actress, has passed away at 88. The Golden Globe and Tony winner was so beloved on the long-running sitcom that she even earned her own spinoff series, Flo (1980-81, theme). Her award-winning roles in theater and on the small screen have solidified her legacy.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
A powerhouse of talent is backing up filmmaker Lulu Wang’s feature adaptation of Audition, with Lucy Liu (Kill Bill) and Charles Melton (May December) leading the cast. Based on award-winning author Katie Kitamura’s book, it follows a famous actress whose life gets disrupted by a young man claiming to be her long-lost son.
Wang’s last feature, Sundance title The Farewell (2019, trailer), was a Chinese family drama that took a look at intimate familial dynamics. The darker Audition pivots to a more twisted psychological thriller dealing with consuming feelings of guilt and betrayal. Both movies, while different in tone and story, play into Wang’s fascination with identity and belonging.
Wang will pen the screenplay with the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Martyna Majok (Preparation for the Next Life). Laika Entertainment, the producer behind Coraline (2009) and Higher Ground, Obama’s production company, is also on board for Audition.
There is no release date set yet.
Another day, another Italian Icon biopic from legendary producer Andrea Iervolino. He will tackle Giorgio Armani, who had an interesting intersection with the film industry beyond red carpets. His work was seen on Richard Gere in American Gigolo, Christian Bale in The Dark Knight, and Jodie Foster in Elysium.
For those keeping track, Iervolino is working on biopics for:
Bruce McLaren, a famous F1 driver
Bugatti
Maserati
Ferrari vs. Mercedes
Maybe he’ll shoot at his new $300M studio in Tuscany that promises to offer a paradise for filmmakers looking to film period pieces in the rolling hills.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Sony Pictures International Productions (The Vault) gets the rights to the viral YA Wattpad book series Boulevard with Webtoon Productions. The first book is a forbidden romance story from writer Flor M. Salvador, whose online trilogy has generated over 140 M reads with a fourth on the way. Production on Boulevard is currently underway in Spain.
Former Warner Bros. International TV Production execs Jess Khanom and Rosemond Perdue have launched Rock and Rose Studios, an international content house. Based in London and LA, the new studio is lining up a number of female-led stories being developed for several international TV players.
Vietnam’s blockbuster Face Off 8: Embrace of Light will expand globally via 3388 Films. A family drama focused on a son interested in dance and his father’s conflicting ideals. It was one of Vietnam’s Top 5 highest-grossing films of 2025, earning $8.8M earlier this year. Trailer here.
France has a lot of good cinema this year. Here’s their international Oscars submission shortlist:
It Was Just An Accident
Dir: Jafar Panahi
Winner: Cannes Palme d’Or
US Distributor: Neon
Nouvelle Vague
Dir: Richard Linklater
Premiere: Cannes
Distributor: Netflix
A Private Life
Dir: Rebecca Zlotowski
Cast: Jodie Foster
Premiere: Cannes (Out of Competition)
Arco
Dir: Ugo Bienvenu
US Distributor: Neon
Premiere: Cannes (Special Screening)
The Little Sister
Dir: Hafsia Herzi
Premiere: Cannes
It looks like a Neon vs. Netflix battle. The last time France won the Oscar in this category was Indochine (1992).
ON THIS DAY
2005. Pride and Prejudice premieres at TIFF.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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