Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Netflix’s Secret, Fanning’s Flame and a Portal to Hell.
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Rebecca Hall attached to lead Netflix’s The Secret of Secrets (author: Dan Brown).
State AGs may sue to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger this week.
Elle Fanning and Julianne Moore will star in Rebecca Miller’s new film.
Ariana Grande exits American Horror Story Season 13.
Myanmar drama Fruit Gathering wins the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Department M acquires a significant stake in Neon.
Cineverse acquires Slamdance’s Portal to Hell, starring Richard Kind.
Stefano Mordini will direct a biopic about CERN physicist Fabiola Gianotti.
All3Media CEO Louise Pedersen exits following its Banijay merger.
Friday’s correct answer: Actor. It was Paul Feig’s first profession in the industry.
36% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Robert Langdon may have found a new face. Netflix’s series adaptation of Dan Brown’s newest novel The Secret of Secrets is in talks with The Gilded Age’s Morgan Spector to step into the role of famed religious symbologist Robert Langdon. If cast, Spector would succeed Tom Hanks, who portrayed Langdon across Ron Howard’s three film adaptations The Da Vinci Code (2006), Angels & Demons (2009), and Inferno (2016).
While Spector’s Gilded Age character George Russell is more concerned with expanding his railroad empire than his academic pursuits, both men can be just as gritty as they are dapper when they find themselves in over their heads. Rebecca Hall (The Town) is also in talks to star as the female lead opposite Spector.
The Oregon attorney general’s office has withdrawn its request for a 60-day delay in the upcoming completion of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. Meanwhile, California, New York, and other state AGs will likely file a lawsuit this week to stop the merger.
The combined company has been approved in 20 countries internationally (China and Australia but not the UK). If California doesn’t play ball, David Ellison (CEO: PSKY) has threatened to move the studio out of the state, which would be a massive economic blow.
Mini Tidbits:
Letterboxd’s four favorites: Netflix, Sony, Paramount, and Versant. These parties, and more, are in talks to buy the hugely viral film-centered platform from the majority owner, Canadian holding company Tiny.
Scripps Local Media’s 54 stations return to DirecTV after a five-week blackout over a dispute over retransmission rates.
Donald Iwerks, who spent more than six decades as a camera technician at The Walt Disney Company, died at 96. He also founded his own studio, Iwerks Entertainment, and was the model for the hands of the Abraham Lincoln Audio-Animatronics figure in Disneyland.
Renewal:
Prime Video’s House of David (renewed for S3)
Trailer:
AMC+’s Mayfair Witches S3
Cast: Alexandra Daddario
Release: 2027
First Look:
Disney’s Avengers: Doomsday
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans
Release: Dec 18
Release Dates Pushed:
Amazon MGM’s How to Rob a Bank
Dir: David Leitch
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Pete Davidson
Release: Sept 4 → Nov 13
Black Bear’s Wife & Dog
Dir: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike
Release: Oct 23, 2026 → Feb 19, 2027
TriStar Pictures’ The Nightingale
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning
Release: Feb 12, 2027 → March 19, 2027
Release Dates:
Focus Features’ Obsession
Dir: Curry Barker
Cast: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette
Peacock Release: July 17 (63-day theatrical run)
CBS’ Boston Blue S2
Cast: Donnie Wahlberg, Sonequa Martin-Green
Release: Oct 9
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Before there was “Goodnight stars, goodnight air” there was Margaret Wise Brown. Julianne Moore and Elle Fanning are attached to star in Moonsong: A Life In Seven Verses, a feature biopic about the beloved children’s author behind bedtime classics like Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.
Much like the ambitious and fierce new mother Fanning portrayed in her freshly Emmy-nominated series Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Brown was known for her fiery temperament, boundless imagination, and refusal to conform. Fanning would be a terrific fit as a young Brown, an outsider who completely revolutionized children’s literature alongside her trailblazing editor Ursula Nordstrom.
Just as children’s book publisher Ursula Nordstrom sought out and championed new minds and fresh ideas, Moore’s Oscar-nominated performance in Boogie Nights (1997) or her role as the complicated matriarch in The Kids Are All Right (2010) showcase the actress’ ability to play someone who can recognize the potential and brilliance where others may overlook it.
Maggie’s Plan filmmaker Rebecca Miller is attached to direct and write Moonsong, reuniting her with the subject of her acclaimed documentary series Mr. Scorsese who is on board to produce. No plot or character descriptions have been shared, but Fanning and Moore on screen together could bring the same warmth and wonder to Brown’s story that she brought to generations of readers.
Mini Tidbits:
Chris Kattan (Hotel Transylvania 2) joins indie horror feature Trash Queen. No info on Kattan’s role or the plot of the film, but we know that the film will be a female-led horror comedy. Kattan thrives in the genre, just look at his performance in House on Haunted Hill (1999), where he was a terrified caretaker and the comic relief of the film.
Wicked actress Ariana Grande is putting acting on pause, exiting American Horror Story season 13 due to conflicting schedules with her ongoing Eternal Sunshine tour. The FX anthology series will return this September.
Four obits:
Wai Ching Ho, who played Madame Gao in MCU’s Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The Defenders, dies at 82. She also voiced the stern Grandma Wu, who perfectly shifted the film’s atmosphere from comedy to drama in Pixar’s Turning Red (2022).
Randolph Mantooth, best known for his performance as an L.A. paramedic on NBC’s Emergency!, dies at 80. He also appeared in many daytime soap operas, such as The City, and earned four Soap Opera Digest Award nominations.
Peter Van Norden, the Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985) and The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) actor, dies at 75. He also had a prolific resume in theater throughout his career.
Antoinette Bower, best known for her performance as Sylvia in Star Trek: The Original Series, dies at 93. She also played Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother in the slasher classic Prom Night (1980) and appeared in the iconic “Probe 7, Over and Out” episode of The Twilight Zone.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Myanmar drama Fruit Gathering wins Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
The festival stated that the film:
“Oscillates in a captivating rhythm between tenderness and harshness while reflecting on how women’s desires survive in a country where intimacy and love between women remain socially unacceptable.”
Here is the trailer. Czech premiere: July 10
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
7-time Palme d’Or-winning studio Neon makes its next big move. The production company Department M (The Christophers) has acquired a significant stake in the distributor.
Department M was founded by the former president of the Russo Brothers’ AGBO (Avengers: Endgame), Mike Larocca (now on Neon’s board), and former New Regency president Michael Schaefer (now Neon’s Chief Content Officer). It was launched in 2024 with significant backing from Qatar-based investors. The deal with the indie prod co strengthens Neon’s already deep ties with Qatar, following Neon’s partnership with Qatar's film committee last year.
Taking a stake in the Anora studio gives Department M, which also produced the upcoming Regé-Jean Page-led The Count of Monte Cristo, direct access to quality distribution, marketing expertise, and credibility.
The investment will help Neon expand its reach as it launches a new TV division, Neon TV. As such, Department M’s Carina Sposato is now Neon’s EVP of TV.
It mirrors A24’s move from two years ago, involving a number of outside investors, like Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, investing $75M into the studio. The total investments have now led A24 to a $3.5bn valuation, majorly expanding their global scale.
We hope Neon can maintain its indie identity with the strengthened financial and strategic support.
Tidbits:
A famous footballer disappears. No, this is not World Cup coverage, but the seed that spurred The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel, which premiered at Tribeca last year. The doc follows 1970s and ‘80s football star Tony Powell, who dropped out of the public eye 35 years ago. The doc starts off as a sleek true crime thriller until it capsizes its own style to dig into the raw emotional territory of identity. It’s tragic and beautiful. Check out the trailer here. Now available on VOD.
Cineverse goes to hell. No, not really. But they did pick up Portal to Hell, a film that premiered at Slamdance, which features Richard Kind as the devil. It’s a delight to see the character actor featured in A Serious Man, Argo, and Beau Is Afraid take on pure pulpy fare. Keith David (Requiem for a Dream) also stars. Cineverse has a love affair with these gooey, squishy horror films, like The Toxic Avenger (2025) and, of course, Terrifier 3 (2024).
Barbara Ling, the Oscar-winning production designer of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), dies at 73. She also worked with director Joel Schumacher to recreate the vibrant yet comical cityscape of Gotham in Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). Her work in Tarantino’s love letter to 1969 Hollywood meticulously blended preexisting structures with miniatures and set design. For example, the Van Nuys drive-in theater was created by mixing miniature murals and VFX. Her final project was Michael (2026), directed by Antoine Fuqua, which faithfully recreated the pop-star glam of the 1970s and ‘80s.
Mini Tidbit:
I dreamed a dream. Anthony Hopkins is releasing an album, Life Is a Dream, on August 21st. Don’t worry, he’s not pulling a Joaquin Phoenix; these are classical music compositions he’s been working on for 6 decades. Want a taste? Here’s the first single.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Italian director Stefano Mordini takes on the God Particle. He will direct a biopic about Fabiola Gianotti, the particle physicist who was the Director-General of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), which operates the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile machine that smashes particles together.
Gianotti was one of the main people responsible for the discovery of the Higgs Boson, a particle which helped unlock our understanding of how the universe works.
Mordini’s previous film, The Lesson (2026), stars Matilda De Angelis (Citadel: Diana, Dracula) as a young lawyer defending a professor against a sexual assault charge from his university. But it plays like a pure high-stakes thriller (trailer). De Angelis would be great as a young Gianotti, who reached a pivotal point in her education when she turned from music and philosophy to experimental particle physics.
Tidbits:
Directing duo Chike Ozah and Coodie Simmons (Netflix’s Jeen-yuhs) are bringing the story of double threat Ernie Barnes to the big screen in a new doc. Who Is Ernie Barnes? will take a look through archival footage at the amazing life of Barnes, a professional offensive lineman and acclaimed painter. In select theaters, the doc will screen alongside a three-part “immersive experience” each highlighting a significant stage in Barnes’ career.
All3Media International (Dist: The Traitors) CEO Louise Pedersen leaves the company following its merger with Banijay Entertainment (Prod Co: MasterChef franchise). Cathy Payne will remain CEO of Banijay Rights and lead the combined global distribution business, bringing Banijay Rights and All3Media International together.
ON THIS DAY
1940. Patrick Stewart born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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