Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Longlegs, Seyfried’s Octet, and a Prisoner.
Let’s go!
If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Osgood Perkins is developing a new Longlegs feature for Paramount.
ABC’s The Rookie: North is the network’s strongest new pilot.
New Jersey production is surging, up 45%.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Octet casts Amanda Seyfried and Rachel Zegler.
Patrick Schwarzenegger stars w/ Phoebe Dynevor in 20th Century’s Beach Read.
Cate Blanchett is set to play Martha Stewart in the biopic Good Thing.
Adria Arjona has joined the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow.
Michelle Monaghan cast in Apple TV’s Your Friends & Neighbors.
Tom McCarthy’s Sony drama adds Zach Woods, Michael Chernus.
Dan Stevens has joined Dexter: Resurrection S2 as the Five Borough Killer.
Doug Liman’s Bitcoin, starring Gal Gadot + Casey Affleck, at Cannes Market.
Questlove’s Earth, Wind & Fire doc will open this year’s Tribeca Festival.
Juan Devis is the new president of Film Independent.
Maya Erskine makes feature directing debut with A24 teen comedy.
Janus Films acquires Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai and the Prisoner (premiere: Cannes).
Berlin Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters lands UK distribution with Curzon.
SXSW title Chili Fingers acquired by Signature Entertainment for the UK.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Rodriguez enrolled in a drug trial to fund his first film.
64% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
A Longlegs film… from Paramount. Director Osgood Perkins is working on a new Longlegs feature film with Nicolas Cage returning as the star, with Paramount financing and distributing.
That’s a big twist because Neon distributed the original film in 2024, which took a massive $128M at the box office worldwide on a $10M budget.
However, many indie horror films have moved from an independent distributor to a bigger studio setting before, most notably James Wan’s Insidious franchise, which was initially released under FilmDistrict but later picked up by Sony Pictures, and the Paranormal Activity franchise, which started as a small film with a $200K budget, but was expanded by Paramount Pictures.
Osgood Perkins holds a first-look deal with Neon, but this does not necessarily prevent Longlegs from moving to Paramount. First-look agreements typically grant the original distributor the right of first refusal, meaning Neon may have passed on the sequel or chose not to match the scale required for a studio-backed follow-up.
This could mean we're getting a bigger, deeper dive into the Longlegs universe, with Paramount attempting to build a horror franchise around the brand.
Tidbits:
Lip Sync Productions, the UK-based film investor behind the award-winning film The Brutalist, is in serious hot water. HM Revenue & Customs claims the company is responsible for a “deliberate” failure to pay a $19M tax bill between 2019 and 2023. This case comes almost exactly a year after the collapse of sister company Lipsync Post, which was also named one of the UK’s top tax defaulters.
The pilot for The Rookie spinoff, The Rookie: North, is panning out as ABC’s strongest contender for its next pickup. Starring Top Gun: Maverick’s Jay Ellis, the pilot maintains the middle-aged rookie cop premise, but set in the rural forest. The potential series order comes along with ABC renewing all its current scripted shows.
Disney isn’t the happiest place on Earth for roughly 1,000 employees, who are being laid off across TV, film, ESPN, marketing, and corporate divisions amid new CEO Josh D’Amaro’s streamlining push. Marvel Studios has been among the hardest hit, with 8% of staff, specifically in visual development, being let go. As well as the home entertainment team.
Move over L.A. Move over NYC. New Jersey is emerging as a fast-rising production hub, with shoot counts up 45% year-over-year and production spending up 37% in Q1 2026. Good for the Garden State.
Renewals:
Paramount+’s The Madison (for S3)
Prime’s Young Sherlock (for S2)
Trailers:
Paramount’s Passenger
Director: André Øvredal (The Autopsy of Jane Doe)
Release: May 22
The Mountain
EP: Taika Waititi
Premiere: TIFF Centerpiece
Release: April 24
Stolen Kingdom (doc)
Topic: Million-dollar Disney World theft
Release: May 21
Colony
Dir: Yeon Sang-ho
Premiere: Cannes Midnight section
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Lin-Manuel Miranda knows a thing or two about putting together an ensemble.
The Hamilton scribe and tick tick… Boom! director’s newest movie, Octet, is a film adaptation of Dave Malloy’s musical of the same name. The cast is made up of:
Amanda Seyfried
Rachel Zegler
Tramell Tillman (Severance)
Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary, the original cast of Broadway’s Dreamgirls)
Jonathan Groff (Broadway’s Hamilton, Netflix’s Mindhunter)
Synopsis:
Follows eight internet-obsessed people who meet in a church basement, lock their phones in a box, and struggle with digital dependency using only their voices.
While the premise doesn’t overly excite me, such a strong group of actors, each possessing otherworldly singing voices, makes this worth tuning in for.
Tidbit:
A casting has never made more sense. Cate Blanchett is officially playing Martha Stewart in her biopic titled Good Thing. The eight-time Oscar nominee’s entire career has been built on portraying strong, powerful women, making someone like Stewart, the ultimate lifestyle mogul or original influencer, if you will, a role that feels almost tailor-made for Blanchett. Her unforgettable performance as the world-renowned composer in Tár (2022), a meticulous, exacting woman obsessed with control and perfection, qualities that, while more extreme, closely mirror Stewart’s formidable persona.
Young Schwarzenegger’s streak of romantic comedies. Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus) will star in 20th Century Studios’ Beach Read, opposite Phoebe Dynevor (Fair Play). Based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name, the film follows a struggling romance novelist who reconnects with her college rival and fellow author through a writing challenge over the summer. Director Yulin Kuang (wri. People We Meet on Vacation) will be adapting and directing the film.
Adria Arjona (Hit Man) joins James Gunn’s Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow. The role is kept under wraps, but she might be playing Maxima – an alien conqueror from the planet Almerac. The sequel will follow Superman (David Corenswet) and Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) teaming up to face the superintelligent cyborg Brainiac (Lars Eidinger).
Michelle Monaghan (The White Lotus) joins the cast of Apple TV’s Your Friends & Neighbors Season 3. No info on her role as of yet, but speculation suggests she might play a potential love interest for the protagonist, Andrew Cooper (Jon Hamm). The series follows Hamm, a suburban thief, as his new neighbor threatens to expose his secrets. Monaghan has a track record of entering an established series between seasons and leaving a distinctive mark – her portrayal of a famous actress, part of a “toxic trio,” in The White Lotus S3.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight line-up includes films starring Barry Keoghan, Monica Bellucci, Ayo Edebiri, Kenneth Branagh, and directed by Radu Jude and Quentin Dupieux. Full breakdown here.
Cannes Market:
Bitcoin
Dir: Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow)
Cast: Gal Gadot, Isla Fisher (Now You See Me), joining Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson
Prod. Comp/Int. Sales Rep: 193 (sales rep: Die My Love)
Follows a man’s quest to prove he created Bitcoin, a claim that puts his life in peril and sets off a high-stakes race between tech billionaires and world leaders with the financial system hanging in the balance.
Tidbit:
Oscar winner Questlove (dir. Summer of Soul) is back in the director’s chair for Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS. That’s the Weight of the World) set to open this year’s Tribeca Festival. Continuing its pattern of opening night films centered on musical legends (last year spotlighted Billy Joel), the doc will feature archival footage of the band, followed by a rocking live performance after the screening. Tribeca begins June 3.
Mini Tidbits:
Nonprofit Film Independent has finally named Juan Devis (prod. Artbound) as its new president. He was the former CCO of broadcasters PBS SoCal and KCET. In Devis’s role, he will oversee the lab mentorship programs, screening series, and the annual Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Cannes Un Certain Regard’s I’ll Be Gone in June picked up by Int. Sales Rep: Luxbox (Magellan). Wim Wenders is the producer.
Cannes Un Certain Regard’s Ulya picked up by Int. Sales Rep: B-Rated (Dark Star Pictures’ Buzzheart).
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
From a spy to A24’s newest director. Mr. & Mrs. Smith actress Maya Erskine is set to helm an untitled teen comedy with the studio. A24 has a long track record of backing not just first-time directors, but actors deciding to step behind the camera.
Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (2017)
Paul Dano’s Wildlife (2018)
Jonah Hill’s Mid90s (2018)
Jesse Eisenberg’s When You Finish Saving the World (2022)
With numerous TV credits under her belt, Erskine really broke out in Amazon Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith opposite Donald Glover, where she showcased a sharp, instinctive performance that could potentially hint at a strong eye for directing.
No word on the plot, but Emma Stone’s Fruit Tree is attached to produce.
Tidbit:
Janus Films (American Distributor of Oscar-nominated Drive My Car) acquires Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s The Samurai and the Prisoner, which is set to debut at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. Based on the novel of the same name, the film will follow a Japanese warlord who is besieged within the walls of his own castle. When mysterious murders start happening in his castle, he partners up with a brilliant yet dangerous prisoner in the dungeon to solve the case. Kurosawa is a Japanese Horror legend during the turn of the century who made films like Cure (1997), Pulse (2001), and Retribution (2006). We are excited to see what he can bring to a historical thriller genre.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Berlin 2025 Golden Bear (Top Prize) winner Yellow Letters gets picked up for UK distribution by Curzon as well as 12 other territories, including Australia and Canada. Directed by Ilker Çatak (SPC’s The Teacher’s Lounge).
Synopsis:
Life is good for Derya and Aziz, a celebrated artist couple from Turkey, until an incident at their play’s premiere. Suddenly targeted by the state and struggling to balance their ideals with life’s necessities, their marriage is pushed to a breaking point.
Tidbits:
Italy’s highest-grossing movie of all time Buen Camino (2025, trailer) will get a Spanish remake. The film follows a rich and self-indulgent father who travels through Spain’s famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage on a red Ferrari. The film made a whopping $82M at the Italian box office. Spain’s AF Films (Spanish production company of Above and Below) has acquired the rights to the comedy. With a more universal story, Buen Camino could prove that local comedies can cross borders to international audiences.
SXSW gem Chili Finger has been acquired by Signature Entertainment (Terrifier) for UK and Irish rights. The offbeat dark comedy starts with Judy Greer (13 Going On 30) discovering a severed finger in her bowl of chili, setting off a genre-bending, chaotic blackmail case. Greer shares the screen alongside heavy hitters Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, and Sean Astin, with Archstone Entertainment (American Dreamer) handling distribution elsewhere.
ON THIS DAY
2012. Girls premieres on HBO.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram
Want to advertise with us? Email: clarke.scott@theindustry.co