Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Press, Will Smith’s Deal. And a tiff at TIFF.
Let’s go!
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We Are Doing a TIFF Event.
Are you going to be at TIFF this year? Come and say hello!
We will be moderating a panel, State of the Independent Industry, this Friday from 2:30pm - 3:15pm at Oretta King West (633 King St. West).
The panel includes studio executive turned indie producer Ashley Schlaifer (prod: Netflix’s Train Dreams) and Marc Iserlis, Head of Film at Republic (platform: Eli Roth and Robert Rodriguez’s new production companies).
Come say hello. We'd love to meet you. If you have any questions about the event or would like to connect at TIFF, email me gabriel.miller@theindustry.co
Paramount is set to acquire The Free Press…
Here is why this is important to everyone.
The media world has changed dramatically over the last five years. And we are all consuming news differently as a result.
So it is no surprise that today we learned that Paramount is close to finalizing a deal to acquire The Free Press for $200 million, according to some sources. But I'm not so convinced of that number.
The Free Press launched here on Substack in 2021 after former New York Times journalist Bari Weiss left The Times to start something of her own.
Now, this deal with Paramount is not just a landmark deal for new media companies (of which we include ourselves) but also for readers, as this could change the fundamental business model that many traditional media companies rely on, namely, ad revenue from the almighty page view.
But with the shift to newsletters and email delivery, the focus for publications is less on getting people to click and more on getting readers to engage with the content. This will result in fewer "thin" articles and clickbait titles that are obviously designed to drive page views and ad revenue, not engagement.
This is a win for readers. It is also a win for these newsletter-first new media companies. But it is also a win for advertisers, as having access to an engaged audience that trusts the writers becomes an increasingly powerful tool to get in front of the right people.
Paramount and the company’s new leader, David Ellison, son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison (founder: Oracle), has obviously seen the value of The Free Press and its email list.
But he is not the only tech giant to see the shift.
Jeff Bezos (love him or hate him) is believed to be a big reader of The Free Press and is said to have made business decisions based on what he saw happening in the new media space.
This is why we've seen publications such as Puck, The Ankler, and The Industry (yes, that's us) make massive inroads into the traditional media space in a very short period of time.
So, at the end of the day, this is a big win for readers as much as it is for independent media companies.
If you have thoughts of your own, please leave a comment below or reply to this email.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Paramount inks first-look deal with Will Smith.
WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels is in talks to sell 20% of Discovery Global.
Lionsgate is remaking Magic with Sam Raimi.
Netflix acquires Bao Nguyen’s Sundance doc The Stringer.
M88 co-founder exits to form venture with top clients (Michael B. Jordan).
Angelina Jolie is producing a biopic on a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Justin Manfredi leaves Apple TV+ for Lionsgate Worldwide TV marketing.
Peacock renews The Paper (S2).
Sophie Turner confirmed as Lara Croft in Prime Video’s Tomb Raider series.
Jeremy Irons returns for The Beekeeper 2.
Ed Harris joins Dutton Ranch.
Apple’s Cape Fear adds Ron Perlman.
William Shatner stars in the holiday dramedy Family Tree.
YouTuber Curry Barker lands Blumhouse deal for Anything But Ghosts.
Hyde Park Int’l picks up Duplass Brothers’ The Baltimorons for global sales.
WBD appoints Karin Lindström as VP Programming Nordics.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Will Smith ride or die.
David Ellison, now charging full steam ahead with Paramount, has inked a first-look deal with Will Smith.
Even after the slap, Ellison has every reason to believe that this partnership, focused on four-quadrant movies, will generate money. Smith’s latest film, Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024), made $405M on a $100M budget. That was a legacy series, though, so we’ll see where things fare with the two originals announced:
Sugar Bandits
Based on: Devils in Exile (author: Chuck Hogan)
Synopsis:
A former Special Forces soldier joins an elite vigilante squad aiming to wipe out the drug trade in Boston, but he soon learns things are not what they seem.
Rabbit Hole
Wri: Jon Spaihts (Dune, Doctor Strange)
We believe this may be the synopsis:
A "reimagining" of the 1979 sci-fi film (trailer) about a crew that finds a lost ship inside a black hole.
This has been in the works for a while, but was announced following Paramount’s string of new deals, including a first-look with The Duffer Brothers.
Gunnar Wiedenfels, CFO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is in early talks to sell 20% of Discovery Global. That’s the name of the new company that will result after WBD splits mid-2026.
Discovery Global will house:
CNN
TBS
Food Network
Cartoon Network
HGTV
Discovery+
TNT Sports (US)
No word yet on the buyers. However, Wiedenfels, who will become CEO of the new company, will need to take action to cover the $40bn in debt. They also have a TNT Sports App in the works.
Tidbits:
Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) and Roy Lee (Weapons) are producing Lionsgate’s remake of the 1978 ventriloquist dummy horror Magic. The original, directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins, centered on a ventriloquist unraveling under his dummy’s murderous influence. Lee is hot off Weapons, and Raimi is a legend; this could be great. Original trailer.
Netflix acquires one of the more divisive films to come out of Sundance this year, The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo. Documentarian Bao Nguyen takes a look at the truth behind the famous Vietnam War photograph, informally named “Napalm Girl”. Netflix also worked with Nguyen on his Emmy-nominated musical doc The Greatest Night in Pop (2024).
Vernon Sanders, Amazon’s Head of Global TV is now leading the unscripted division, MGM Alternative TV (Shark Tank, Survivor). We may expect to see some crossover between scripted and unscripted content. They’ve already done something similar by simultaneously commissioning a scripted and unscripted docuseries about Bryan Kohberger’s 2022 Idaho murders.
Mini Tidbits:
Phillip Sun, Co-Founder and President of M88, is taking his top clients with him to a new venture. Sun started M88 with indie legend Charles D. King (Judas and the Black Messiah). Sun’s clients include Michael B. Jordan, Gemma Chan, etc.
Angelina Jolie will produce the already completed biopic on Congolese human rights activist Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The biopic focuses on his life, which is devoted to helping survivors of sexual violence.
The current president of Disney Theatrical Group, Thomas Schumacher, will exit his role. For 40 years, Schumacher cemented Disney’s stage presence, producing 15 of the longest-running shows in Broadway’s history during his tenure.
Apple TV+’s head of series marketing, Justin Manfredi, is moving over to Lionsgate as the new executive VP of Worldwide Television Marketing. He will be replacing retiring studio veteran Suzy Feldman.
YouTube now has C-SPAN! The national politics network, best known for filming congressional hearings, will be distributed by YouTube TV and Hulu+Live TV.
The resurging Vice Media Group has just announced its new Chief Communications Officer in Emily Spence, a former MRC CCO.
Renewals:
Peacock’s The Paper - The Office spinoff (for Season 2)
History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers (for Season 12)
For those counting, it’s been off the air/road for 8 years
New Season trailer
Release Dates:
Lionsgate’s The Housemaid
Cast: Sydney Sweeney & Amanda Seyfried
Dir: Paul Feig
Release date moved up: Dec 25 → Dec 19
Peacock’s Bel-Air (S4)
Release: Nov 24
Gunn’s DCU has announced Superman 2 and their slate leading up to it:
Clayface — September 11, 2026
Supergirl — June 26, 2026
Man of Tomorrow — July 9, 2027 (Superman 2)
Trailers:
Netflix’s A House of Dynamite
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow
Release: Oct 10
Sony’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Release: Jan 16th, 2026
Apple TV+’s Slow Horses (S5)
Release: Sept 24
GKIDS’ Little Amélie
Premiere: Cannes
Annecy Animation Festival: Audience Award
Release: Oct. 31
HBO’s The Case Against Adnan Syed (Part 5)
Release: Sept 18
Neon’s Men of War
Release: Sept 9
Good Boy
Premiere: TIFF
Cast: Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough
Clip - Graham as a psycho kidnapper
First Look:
Poetic License
Dir: Maude Apatow
Premiere: TIFF
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Prime Video’s long-gestating Tomb Raider series has finally moved forward, with Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) confirmed as Lara Croft.
Turner essentially grew up on the set of Game of Thrones, and when that show ended, everyone wondered how she would make her next step. Unfortunately, her next major role was as Jean Grey in the increasingly bad series, culminating in Dark Phoenix (2019).
While no slight to her acting, being the star of that mess temporarily dragged her down with it. So what’s next for the English actress who is familiar with action and stunts? How about one of the most famous women from video games ever? Lara Croft is a cave-running, gun-toting, badass.
With a team like Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as writer and EP, fleshing out the story, expect quick wit and hopefully the adaptation that the video game seems to refine, but the film versions never quite seem to nail.
Tidbits:
Jackie Chan is back in action in the Chinese-language film The Shadow’s Edge. It’s a return to form as Chan, of course, originated as a Chinese action star, breaking out in Police Story (1985). The Shadow’s Edge will be released in the UK through Trinity CineAsia (Ne Zha 2) on Oct. 3. Trailer.
Jeremy Irons is back for Miramax and Amazon’s The Beekeeper 2. If you’ve seen the first film, you’ll remember he gives a method-actor-level performance. He explains Beekeepers as mythologically powerful men not to be trifled with. The rest of the movie races ahead, but when Irons learns his stepson has angered Jason Statham’s Beekeeper, time slows. And we feel his fear linger.
Westworld’s Ed Harris is the newest cast addition to the Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch (working title) that follows Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) on their new ranch. The four-time Oscar nominee will play the compassionate Everett McKinney, “a weathered veteran and veterinarian”. The role seems to be drastically different from the cold, menacing Man in Black (doppelganger scene) that brought an element of mystery to HBO’s Westworld. Dutton Ranch will drop on Paramount+ sometime in 2026.
Apple’s Cape Fear adds:
Ron Perlman
Ted Levine (Monk)
Margarita Levieva (Daredevil: Born Again)
The series starring Javier Bardem and Amy Adams is a long-form adaptation of 1991’s psychological thriller, which was in turn an adaptation of John D. Macdonald’s The Executioners. EP’d by both Scorsese and Spielberg, this is one to watch and will surely continue Apple's prestige TV domination.
K-pop singer Jeon Somi is making her acting debut in Perfect Girl, a horror film described as “Scream meets Black Swan”. After the widespread acclaim of Blackpink’s Lisa in the last season of White Lotus and major K-pop figure T.O.P. stealing scenes in Squid Game, I foresee many more Korean popstars giving acting a shot. Production will begin on Perfect Girl at the end of October.
Mini Tidbits:
William Shatner and Tom Bergeron (Gremlins) team on Family Tree, a holiday dramedy about estranged siblings reconciling. Bergeron is better known as the host of Dancing with the Stars, but playing off Shatner seems like a great way to make a debut.
From the therapy office to the classroom (and probably back to the therapy office). Shrinking’s Luke Tennie (scene) is joining the cast of Abbott Elementary as a new recurring teacher for its upcoming fifth season. On ABC Oct. 1st.
William Jackson, who was great in Midsommar (2019), is joining American Hostage, a 70s drama thriller series from MGM+. The anthology series will premiere Feb 2026.
FESTIVALS
The Voice of Hind Rajab shook Venice. Already, it was gaining momentum with Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix boarding as EPs days ago. Distributor Watermelon Pictures is following the same playbook as last year’s From Ground Zero. If you recall, Michael Moore joined as EP after a premiere at TIFF.
Vaneast Pictures (McKenna Grace’s What We Hide) has boarded TIFF’s Little Lorraine as worldwide sales rep. Latin artist turned actor J. Balvin will play an Interpol agent opposite Sean Astin (LOTR). Set in a remote mining and fishing town that becomes a hub for cocaine smuggling.
BFI London Film Festival drops its lineup. Some Cannes, Venice, and TIFF favorites are playing in the Galas section. Kicks off October 8.
TIFF Market:
Father Of Us
Cast: Christian Slater
Prod: Michael G. Nathanson (MGM President 1997-2005)
Sales Rep: International Film Trust (Samuel L. Jackson’s Cell)
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
YouTuber Curry Barker is already becoming a big name in horror.
Just 25 years old, his $800 film Milk & Serial garnered over 2 million views when it was posted just a year ago.
Since then things have really accelerated, his new film Obsession will premiere at TIFF’s Midnight Madness while his next project, Anything But Ghosts, has landed Blumhouse and Roy Lee as producers.
We have seen this with the Backrooms creator Kane Parsons, just 19, directing an A24 adaptation of his original series. YouTube is still a very untapped well when it comes to young talent, and it’s exciting to see what comes next.
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