Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Denzel Washington’s Flood, Austin Butler’s Enemies, and a very sweet scheme.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Netflix’s ad-supported tier hits 170M viewers.
Netflix greenlights Here Comes the Flood with Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson.
Jamie Foxx stars in Fight for 84, as the U.S. Olympic boxing team coach.
Dan Levy returns to TV with an untitled Netflix family crime comedy.
Taylor Sheridan writes F.A.S.T. for Warner Bros., releasing April 2027.
Max rebrands again… back to HBO Max.
Rachel Brosnahan is Lois Lane in the trailer for Superman: Legacy.
Shailene Woodley stars in A Beautiful Journey as a mermaid.
Neon signs first-look deal with Osgood Perkins (dir: Longlegs)
A24 picks up Austin Butler & Jeremy Allen White thriller Enemies.
Miramax will remake Thailand's smash hit, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.
Kevin Smith’s Dogma gets repped for 4K rerelease by Goodfellas.
Bad Boys directors to helm Riders Republic, Ubisoft’s extreme sports adaptation for Gaumont.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Netflix’s Upfront revealed they’ve grown their ad-supported tier to 170M viewers (vs. Disney’s 164M) with an engagement of 41 hrs/month (vs. Disney+’s 19hrs/month).
It also led to a flurry of new Netflix original films, shows, and renewals.
Films:
Cast: Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, Daisy Edgar-Jones
Dir/Prod: Fernando Meirelles (City of God)
Writer/Prod: Simon Kinberg (the last 3 X-Men)
Synopsis:
A bank guard, a teller, and a master thief in a deadly game of cons and double crosses.
Cast: Jamie Foxx
Dir: Andrés Baiz (Narcos)
Writer: Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton), John Gatins (Flight), and Andy Weiss (White Boy Rick).
Synopsis:
After the US Olympic Boxing Team is tragically killed in a plane crash in 1980, a new coach (Foxx) is brought in to rebuild the team from scratch.
Plus, trailer for Tyler Perry’s Straw, which stars Oscar-nominee Taraji P. Henson as an unhinged bank robber, hitting Netflix June 6th.
New Series:
Untitled Dan Levy family crime comedy series
Showrunner/co-creator/Star: Levy
Co-creator: Rachel Sennott (Bottoms)
Cast: Taylor Ortega (Another Simple Favor) and Laurie Metcalf (Hacks).
All Sinners Bleed
Creator/Dir: Joe Robert Cole (Writer: Black Panther 1 & 2)
EP: Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Obama’s Higher Ground
The Body
Creator/Dir: Quinn Shephard (dir/wri: Zoey Deutch’s Not Okay)
EP: Peter Cherin and Amy Israel’s North Road, Riley Keough’s Felix Cupla
Synopsis:
After a dance-team initiation gone wrong, a group of badly behaved Catholic school girls begin having prophetic visions that set off mass hysteria in their town.
Plus, Prime Time, a new docu-series on 2x winning Super Bowl player Deion Sanders.
Show renewals:
The Four Seasons (for Season 2)
The Diplomat (for Season 4)
Forever (for Season 2)
Bridgerton (for Seasons 5 and 6)
Season 4 premieres in 2026
My Life With The Walter Boys (for Season 3)
Survival Of The Thickest (for a final Season 3)
Taylor Sheridan, king of Paramount+ with seven series (Yellowstone, 1883, 1823, Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness, Landman), has landed a film deal with Warner Bros. He writes F.A.S.T.
Here’s the synopsis:
A former U.S. special forces officer (Brandon Sklenar) is recruited by the government's Drug Enforcement Agency to lead a take-down of drug dealers who are protected by the CIA.
Beasts of the Southern Wild/Mare of Eastown DP Ben Richardson makes his directorial debut.
Warner Bros. is releasing in April 2027.
Tidbits:
At Warner Bros. Discovery’s upfront, the surprise reveal was a rebrand reversal: Max is once again HBO Max. A re-re brand if you will. Also, Warner Bros. Discovery has launched “WBD Storyverse,” allowing advertisers to use iconic characters from its vast library, like Batman, Harry Potter, and Friends, for commercials. Can't wait for Harry Potter to sell me Cheerios.
Renowned management company Entertainment 360 (Client: Blake Lively, Cynthia Erivo, Anne Hathaway, Barry Keoghan) brings on Eva Dickerman (clients: Ayo Edebiri, Lionel Boyce) as a partner. She’s hyper entrepreneurial and brings over her client roster from Range Media Partners.
Marvel’s Ironheart drops its first trailer ahead of its June 24 Disney+ debut. Starring Dominique Thorne, the Chicago-set series pits tech vs. magic as Riri Williams faces off with Anthony Ramos’ The Hood. Streaming June 24th. Elevator job interview trailer.
Sony’s anime streaming service/theatrical distributor Crunchyroll (Solo Leveling - ReAwakening ) has jumped from 15M to 17M subs.
Premiere dates:
HBO Max’s Task
Creator: Brad Inglesby (Mare of Easttown)
Star: Mark Ruffalo
Premiere: September
HBO Max’s A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms
Source Material author: George R.R. Martin
Premiere: 2026 (pushed from late 2025)
CNN Films will release I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not in 2026, a candid documentary directed by Marina Zenovich (Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind). The film explores Chase’s comedic legacy and notorious personality.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Rachel Brosnahan shines in the new trailer for Gunn's Superman; she embodies the power and journalistic prowess of Pulitzer-winning reporter Lois Lane.
Brosnahan, who won two Golden Globes for her portrayal of the wildly witty, vivacious Mrs. Maisel on the Amazon Studios series, which ran five seasons, is now launching into the world of superhero heroines with her upcoming role in James Gunn’s Superman.
Brosnahan explained:
“We’ve been talking a lot about where this project fits into the canon of the Supermans that we know. So hopefully, this’ll be… we’ll be putting our own stamp on things.”
Brosnahan has been putting her own stamp on things ever since her wildly vulnerable portrayal of a call girl who gets torn apart by DC corruption while on the path to righteousness in House of Cards. The subplot was so compelling that it consumed the story with its own narrative gravity (“ask me what I want to order” clip).
James Gunn's new DC Universe relies heavily on Superman (David Corenswet), and Brosnahan's casting inspires some confidence that the new films might be steering away from the grays and darker tones of their predecessors. Superman: Legacy will be released on July 11, 2025.
Shailene Woodley will play a mermaid. If you’re thinking she’s diverged into Disney, that would be wrong. She stars in A Beautiful Journey (co-prod co: Anonymous Content). She will play a former swimming champ working at an aquarium as a mermaid, struggling to support her young son after they get evicted. We love seeing Woodley deal with profound stress, like in her recent role as Paul Dano’s supportive yet skeptical wife in Dumb Money. This feels far grittier than her usual fare, and we feel she’s quite capable.
Tidbits:
Veronica Cartwright, acclaimed for horror classics like Alien and The Birds, returns to the genre in The Ruse, delivering a career-best performance as a dementia-stricken musician. Directed by Stevan Mena, the film blends psychological suspense and supernatural terror. The Ruse opens in select theaters Friday, May 16.
Minnie Driver in Paris! Driver, who was sensational in Good Will Hunting and recently appeared in The Beekeeper (clip), joins Netflix’s Emily in Paris season 5. She is slated to play a friend of Sylvie (who runs the luxury marketing firm), who is part of the royal family by marriage. We look forward to her take on pompousness.
Amanda Arcuri and Caroline Rhea join CBS’ Sheriff Country, a Fire Country spinoff starring Morena Baccarin. Premiering in 2025–26, the series follows a small-town sheriff balancing crime, family, and past secrets.
Russell Crowe stars as Soviet engineer-turned-CIA asset Adolf Tolkachev in Billion Dollar Spy, a Cold War thriller now filming in Hungary under director Amma Asante. Based on the true story and book by David E. Hoffman, the film also stars Vera Farmiga, and Justin Theroux. The first look gives us a classic spy bench scene.
Tinsel Town starring Kiefer Sutherland and Rebel Wilson has sold to 8 territories, including Spain. It follows a washed-up Hollywood action hero who takes a role in a small English village's quirky Christmas pantomime, where he finds unexpected inspiration through the show's straight-talking dance instructor. The show will premiere during Christmas on Sky.
FESTIVALS
The Dude Where’s My Car of heaven movies, Dogma (1999), was acquired by sales rep Goodfellas (Megalopolis) for the 4K re-release. The original film was directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks) and starred:
Ben Affleck (fallen angel)
Matt Damon (fallen angel)
Alan Rickman (a seraph)
Salma Hayek (muse named Serendipity)
Chris Rock (the Thirteenth Apostle)
Here’s the trailer for the original.
Plus a couple more Cannes Market projects, including one about Guillermo Del Toro: https://theindustry.co/p/cannes-market-2025
Berlin Competition film What Does That Nature Say to You by Dir: Hong Sang-Soo (A Traveler's Needs starring Isabelle Huppert), gets sold to 5 territories, including the UK.
Here’s the synopsis:
A young poet drops his girlfriend off at her parents' house and is amazed by its size. He bumps into her father, meets her mother and sister, and they all end up spending a long day together; fueled by conversation, food and libations.
The film is getting US distribution by Cinema Guild (trailer).
Diane Kruger stars in the Cannes Premiere (out of competition), Amrum. The film has just sold to 9 territories, including France. Warner Bros. Discovery has theatrical in Germany.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Osgood Perkins, he's a Keeper: Neon continues its collaboration with Osgood Perkins, inking a first look deal with him and his Chris Ferguson (Longlegs, The Monkey), his producing partner for their newly launched prod company Phobos. That means Neon will have a first look at distributing and repping internationally any films Perkins writes, directs, or produces.
This tracks as he’s making a gold mine for Neon with his last two films:
Longlegs (#2 top-grossing film for Neon)
Budget: <$10M
$74.3M domestic
$128M worldwide
The Monkey (#3 top-grossing film for Neon)
Budget: $10.5M
$39.7M domestic
$68.8M worldwide
Perkins + Neon’s latest film is Keeper, starring Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland. It follows a couple encountering a terrifying evil in a secluded cabin (1hr teaser trailer). Releasing October 3rd.
Jeff Wadlow, the horror director behind Blumhouse’s Imaginary (2024), will direct Devil’s Mouth for Amazon MGM. Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies) and Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) star.
Synopsis:
A group of college friends' Thailand adventure turns deadly when they become trapped in submerged caves with a dangerous predator. As oxygen runs low, past conflicts emerge in their desperate fight for survival.
This is classic creature horror in a contained setting. Wadlow’s previous Imaginary was great prep as that split open a house as a psychic space for childhood trauma.
A24 has acquired the Austin Butler and Jeremy Allen White film Enemies, a gritty crime drama from writer-director Henry Dunham, produced by Ari Aster’s Square Peg. The film, about a deadly cat-and-mouse clash between a detective and a contract killer, begins production in Chicago this summer. This is a huge win for Dunham, as this is his 2nd feature. His first film, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (trailer), premiered at TIFF and had pulled off hair-trigger tension between suspected killers. Fertile ground for him to build on in Enemies.
Miramax has acquired remake rights to the Thai hit How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies following a bidding war. The emotional comedy-drama grossed over $55M globally and earned critical acclaim. The heart of the original Thai film shares DNA with the end of Ozu’s Late Spring, where a grandma tells her daughter-in-law that she’s been a better family member to her than her own son. That line always devastated me. But in How to Make Millions, there’s a more nefarious twist: to get close to the elderly to win not just their affection but their property upon passing. We’re excited to see what Glickman and his team make of this. Original trailer.
Tidbits:
Spring Break forever! A sequel is happening for Spring Breakers, the early A24 film directed by Harmony Korine that was a satire of capitalism and hedonism writ large with gushy color palettes, girls gone wild, and an alien James Franco. For the sequel, Korine and A24 are out. Matthew Bright will direct, and Bella Thorne (Midnight Sun) and Grace Van Dien (Stranger Things) will star. Launching sales at Cannes.
New production company! Parallel 42, a prod co that focuses on genre horror, sci-fi and action in the film and TV space is founded by John Zois, who served as a President of Film and TV Production at Anton where he EP’d Greenland and Warren Goz (prod: Asphalt City), the CEO of north.five.six. Their most enticing project: one with director Brad Anderson (The Machinist).
Jack Fessenden (Foxhole, trailer) works in the territory of morality plays. His latest, Alfalfa, centers on a sprinkler contractor in a drought-stricken desert boomtown whose life converges with a criminal duo (Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips). Shooting in the fall in Utah.
Matt Leonard, former UTA Corporate Communications Manager, has joined TPG-backed Initial Group and Untitled Entertainment as VP of Corporate Communications. Based in LA, Leonard will lead strategic messaging and media relations.
Sundance’s Touch Me is picked up by Yellow Veil Pictures (Marion Cotillard’s The Ice Tower). The film earned some big, polarizing reactions from many, loving the premise of two best friends who get drug-addicted after an alien touches them. It’s sexy. Gooey. Bloody. No word on release date.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Bad Boys directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will helm a film adaptation of Ubisoft’s extreme sports game Riders Republic. Written by Noé Debré, the project is produced by Gaumont and Ubisoft Film & TV. Sales launched at Cannes. Expect wild stunts, humor, and snowy spectacle, I found their recent Bad Boys film strangely evocative. They imbue their camera with an experimental stylization that’s perfect for Riders Republic. Game trailer here.
Film Factory has acquired global sales rights to Operation Cronos, a thriller on Spain’s 2017 Barcelona terrorist attacks. Directed by Fernando González Molina, starring Eduard Fernández. The high-stakes drama begins filming Sept. 24 and promises a gripping, realistic portrayal of post-attack counterterror efforts.
Golden Network Asia has sold Jackie Chan’s new action thriller The Shadow’s Edge to major territories including Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Latin America. Directed by Larry Yang and filmed in Macau, the heist film stars Chan as a retired cop aiding young detectives. Post-production is underway, with global deals ongoing.
ON THIS DAY
1959. Black Orpheus wins the Palme d'Or.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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