Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
David Zaslav’s figure, Paramount’s Suit and Pawfect.
Let’s go!
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The Industry will be moderating a live Q&A in NYC with Asa Butterfield (Sex Education, Hugo), Jaeden Martell (It, Y2K), and director Oscar Boyson (prod: Good Time, Uncut Gems) for the theatrical release of his directorial debut: Our Hero, Balthazar (premiere: Tribeca).
Synopsis:
A wealthy New York City teenager who, eager to impress his activist crush, follows an online connection to Texas, where he believes he can stop an act of extreme violence.
Boyson has been influenced by working with the Safdie brothers. But his film is not derivative. It’s a wholly original adrenaline shot of performative masculinity gone haywire in a world that begs kids to become desensitized way too quickly.
Butterfield is sensational, and we can’t wait to talk with him and Boyson about how they pulled off the landmark performance of his post-child acting career.
Event Details
Date: Saturday, March 28th
Time: 7pm
Location: Regal Union Square (NYC)
Click here to secure your spot - https://www.regmovies.com/movies/our-hero-balthazar-live-qa-w-cast-filmmakers
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
David Zaslav and the WBD execs will receive massive nine-figure payouts.
Paramount Skydance president Jeff Shell countersues after $150M lawsuit.
Debra O’Connell named Chairman of Disney Entertainment TV.
Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy return for A Quiet Place Part III.
Marion Cotillard and Walton Goggins will star in Job.
Erin Doherty joins Warner Bros.’ untitled Nancy Meyers comedy.
Patrick Wilson boards The Last of Us S3.
Noomi Rapace joins Netflix’s Assassin’s Creed.
Jackie Chan launches sales title Pawfect Agents at Filmart.
Gaumont reports a mixed 2025 financial year.
Yesterday’s correct answer: EEAAO won Best Picture and premiered at SXSW.
43% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Warner Bros. Discovery is awarding some massive executive payouts once the Paramount deal closes. We now have concrete numbers:
David Zaslav (CEO)
$551.5M total
+ a possible $335.4M in tax reimbursement, declining over time
$34.2M cash
$517.3M equity
Gunnar Wiedenfels (CFO)
$120M total
Remember, he was set to be CEO of the WBD Global Networks spinoff
Bruce Campbell (CRO, CSO)
$121.5M
JB Perrette (CEO: streaming and games)
$142M
Gerhard Zeiler (President: International)
$82.6M
Full SEC filing here.
Paramount Skydance’s President Jeff Shell has countersued after being sued for $150M. Shell, former CEO of NBCUniversal, is punching back after being sued by Robert James “R.J.” Cipriani (AP on Jason Statham’s Wild Card). Cipriani alleged that Shell baited him into thinking that he would help him produce the English language version of Roku’s Serenata De Las Estrellas.
The larger issue at hand, though, is that it seems Shell shared financial details about Paramount deals (UFC, South Park) with Cipriani before they closed, which Shell now says is completely false. This threatens his position as President at PSKY.
Just a day out of Josh D’Amaro officially starting his role as Disney’s new CEO, the incoming CCO Dana Walden has set their new senior leadership team.
Former ABC president, Debra O’Connell, has been named Chairman of Disney Entertainment Television. This means she’ll be able to greenlight any show outside of FX.
Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman will remain with the studio, and Craig Erwich will continue to lead Hulu Originals, ABC Entertainment, and 20th Television. Some have pointed to him as the decision maker who cancelled the Buffy Hulu reboot last week.
Also, games and digital entertainment are now under Disney Entertainment. That’ll make the cross-pollination of IP more seamless. But also, devalues the entire film and TV side of things.
Renewal:
Free Bert (for S2)
Shoot dates:
Lionsgate’s The Housemaid 2
Shooting this fall
Trailer:
Universal’s Minions & Monsters
Cast announcement for Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Trey Parker, Bobby Moynihan
Release: July 1
First look:
Dune: Part 3
Character posters (including for Robert Pattinson and Anya Taylor-Joy)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Time to revisit the silent apocalypse. Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy are set to return to the A Quiet Place franchise. John Krasinski will write, produce, and direct A Quiet Place Part III.
This will be the fourth installment in the noiseless apocalyptic world following an alien invasion. The first three films have grossed over $900M worldwide on a combined budget of $145M, making it one of the most successful horror film franchises of the 21st Century.
Jack O’Connell (Sinners, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple) and Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Terminator) have also been cast. These two are fond of surviving in the apocalyptic world. No word on their roles, but they both excel at playing villains. Clarke’s AI John Connor is a crazed maniac, and O’Connell’s vampire in Sinners is devilishly charming.
While much of the franchise has centered on running away from the alien creatures, this new installment may shift the focus toward something even more unsettling: the brutality of human survival. A Quiet Place: Part III is set for a July 2027 release.
Marion Cotillard and Walton Goggins will play a married couple in Job, whose conflict is literally biblical.
Based on the biblical story of a man losing his family, his wealth, and his health, this reinterpretation follows a married couple who tries to stage a contentious version of the story. The film will also intercut scenes of ancient times with God and Satan.
By god, we hope that Cotillard and Goggins will also get to play the roles of God and Satan. Cotillard as God would be sublime, and Goggins as Satan would be wicked casting.
The last time we saw anything like this attempted on screen was Last Days in the Desert (2015), where Ewan McGregor played Jesus and Satan.
Tidbits:
Despite the success of Netflix’s Adolescence, actress Erin Doherty is looking for something a little more lighthearted. Warner Bros’ new untitled Nancy Meyers comedy feature will follow a once romantically involved director and producer who must work together on a high-stakes production years after their public breakup. Doherty’s role is unknown, but she’s joining a fun ensemble made up of Penélope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Jude Law, and Owen Wilson.
Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) joins the cast of HBO’s The Last of Us S3. The third season of the fungi zombie apocalypse will have Wilson play Jerry Anderson, the lead doctor among the survivor group Fireflies, and a father to Abby Anderson (Kaitlyn Dever). Patrick Wilson is great at playing morally complex characters, villains who are both compassionate and menacing, like his portrayal of Ocean Master in the Aquaman franchise (very soggy clip).
An Angel is coming to BBC’s House of Games. Michael Sheen, best known for his role as angel Aziraphale in Good Omens, is set to host the British quiz show that Richard Osman fronted for the last decade. Though it is indeed large shoes to fill, we hope to see the same amount of crazy energy that he’s shown playing a nightclub owner, Zuse, in Tron: Legacy (2010).
Mini Tidbits:
Your first SNL UK host is… an American? Tina Fey, who arguably knows SNL better than anyone, making it okay, will host the inaugural episode on Mar. 21. European-born actors Jamie Dornan (Belfast) and Riz Ahmed (Relay) will follow her in the coming weeks.
Benjamin Bratt joins the cast of Amazon MGM’s Ally Clark. The new thriller will follow an investigator who tries to get to the bottom of her friend’s death by looking into a dangerous global conglomerate. He will be acting alongside Viola Davis and Jason Clarke. No info on his role.
Noomi Rapace joins the Netflix live-action adaptation of Assassin’s Creed. Based on the action-adventure game series of the same name, the show will be centered on the secret war between the Assassins Order and the Knights Templar throughout history. We hope to see her in parkour action, jumping off of buildings like her role in What Happened to Monday? (2017).
Amazon MGM’s romcom Goodbye Girl adds actor Eli Brown (Gossip Girl). Brown most recently was a part of Bob Dylan’s posse, portraying renowned guitarist Mike Bloomfield in A Complete Unknown (2024). In Goodbye Girl he’ll star alongside Kiernan Shipka as a professional heartbreaker who accidentally falls in love. Filming is ongoing in New Orleans.
The titular star of NBC’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Jane Levy, is returning to the network for its new half-hour, multi-cam comedy. Set in the world of detectives, in a recurring role alongside Jake Johnson and Keith David, Levy will play a resourceful and smart investigative journalist.
Three Obits:
Movie historian and a champion of silent films, John Bengtson, has died at 68 from ALS. He had an incredible eye for detail, scouting the filming locations of some of cinema’s most iconic silent movies. His trio of renowned books, Silent Traces, Silent Echoes, and Silent Visions, takes a special look at the impact of stars like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and the evolution of Hollywood. Bengtson’s Silent Locations website link.
Trailblazing model and actress Judy Pace has died. Historically, the first Black bachelorette contestant on The Dating Game, Pace put her name on the map by joining the cast of the primetime soap opera Peyton Place. Shortly after, she starred in the Emmy-winning ABC TV movie Brian’s Song (1971) and continued to steadily act in both TV and film for the next decade.
Matt Clark (Back to the Future Part III) has passed away at 89. He had a career that spanned over 40 years, and he acted in various westerns and television dramas like ABC’s Grace Under Fire.
FESTIVALS
DreamQuil premiered yesterday at SXSW. It is the most interesting film I’ve seen so far at the festival, and viscerally gets across this idea:
If we outsource the most mundane tasks of our lives to machines, we lose our humanity.
The film is wonderfully stylised, with nods to Total Recall and Stepford Wives. But wholly its own creation.
I chatted with the star, Elizabeth Banks, who told me she stopped starring in rom-coms so she could play more interesting characters—mission accomplished.
Tidbits:
Jackie Chan is teaming up with some animals to solve a crime. No, really, he’s starring in Pawfect Agents about a retired agent (Chan) who teams with a robot spy dog to return China’s most prized possession after it gets stolen. Chan, like Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, is amazing at physical comedy that blends incredible action. Cappu Films is the worldwide sales rep.
Next week’s Series Mania is unveiling a new set of rules for international TV. The new legal framework will streamline administrative procedures, making it easier to access funding and share revenue for TV co-productions and international partnerships.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS / INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
French studio Gaumont (dist. The Wizard of the Kremlin) delivered a mixed financial picture for 2025. While revenue remained steady, The Intouchables company recorded losses tied largely to a decline in its animation division and fewer new projects on its slate.
Here’s their performance stacked against how they did last year
$172M total revenue
↓ 19.5%
$26.8M feature film production & distribution revenue
↓ 23%
$93.7M investments in film and TV production
↑ 24%
Founded in 1895, they’re still a strong supporter of Film and TV
$12.5M total sales to streamers
↓ 64%
$17M total international sales
↓ 9%
Once an animated powerhouse, behind shows like Netflix sitcom F Is for Family (2015-21), and kids series Stillwater (2015-25), one of Gaumont’s most anticipated upcoming titles is Paul McCartney’s 3D animated film High in the Clouds, set to premiere in 2027.
Mini Tidbit:
Director Ian Tuason of A24’s Undertone (2026) is teasing a trilogy. Tuason said that he already has plans for two sequels. The minimalist horror film was a surprise box office success, grossing $9.3M so far on a $500K budget.
ON THIS DAY
1960. Breathless is released in France.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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