Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Bros., TIFF’s City, and a Dangerously Funny feature.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Paramount is preparing a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
TIFF’s Motor City draws acquisition offers from Lionsgate and more.
AMC Networks extends Netflix licensing deal.
Freida McFadden’s Dear Debbie heads to Amazon MGM.
Imagine Entertainment is developing a Dangerously Funny feature.
Paramount launches Paramount Sports Entertainment.
Warner Bros. names Gary Wordham as president of Physical Production.
HBO confirms Big Little Lies S3 with Francesca Sloane (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) as showrunner.
Idris Elba will star in and direct Apple Original Films’ This is How it Goes.
Prime Video orders Joel Kinnaman–led detective drama Bishop.
Ricky Gervais returns to animation with Netflix’s Alley Cats.
Matthew Rhys (The Americans) joins Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent S2.
Funny or Die & Riverside team on Hookers, a high-concept fishing comedy.
Marco Bellocchio (85) will direct Falcon, an auto titan biopic.
Diego Luna & Gael García Bernal produce Jawbone for Universal International.
Studiocanal names Paul Gilbert SVP of English-language series.
Liam Neeson will produce The Lost Children of Tuam.
BBC announces two new dramas: The Hairdresser Mysteries and The Detection Club.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Who can compete against Netflix (value: $528bn)?
Paramount, a Skydance Corporation (value: $29bn), is going to try. Paramount is readying a bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (value: $65bn).
Luckily, Skydance CEO David Ellison’s father is Larry Ellison (net worth: $393bn). Larry controls 77.5% of Skydance.
Even though WBD is going to split, Paramount is looking to preempt this and pick up the entire company.
This is a scary proposition as they’re likely to merge the two companies, cutting a ton of jobs to create “cost efficiencies.” And thus, one of the legacy studios, with 7x straight box office hits opening at $40M+ domestic, will be swallowed up.
We’re starting to see how Paramount is folding into Skydance. A lot of folks are getting the axe. But Skydance’s firm commitment to theatrical is a beacon of hope, and maybe they’d keep the studio units separate while combining the streaming platforms, which would net over 200M combined streaming subs. Although that would be a far cry from Netflix’s 300 M+.
Even if this bid comes to fruition, there will be issues with regulatory approval. Even though there’s no broadcast network, combining Paramount’s CBS and WBD’s CNN may be tricky.
TIFF may be seeing a second acquisition with Motor City (Spotlight). The film is directed by Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry) and stars Alan Ritchson, Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, and Pablo Schreiber.
Offers have come in from:
Lionsgate
Samuel Goldwyn
IFC Films
Briarcliff
The film has very little dialogue and a whole lot of action. And with a really fun style, it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.
There has just been one other buy at TIFF: Row K’s pick up of Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire. Also, Focus Features is in talks to acquire a horror film.
AMC Networks extends its content licensing deal with Netflix. This will continue to supply top AMC shows to Netflix, including the upcoming Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order (release: Oct 26).
Other shows include:
Interview with the Vampire S2
Release: Sept. 30
Dark Winds S3
Release: Oct
Daryl Dixon S2
Release: Oct
Orphan Black
AMC's shows on Netflix have hit 210M global views in the last year.
Tidbits:
Freida McFadden’s three’s company. The acclaimed author’s next novel, Dear Debbie, is being adapted for TV at Amazon MGM Studios with You producer Gina Girolamo. The story follows a brilliant mother and wife and is the third of McFadden’s works to be adapted. This announcement comes just before the December release of the Paul Feig-directed adaptation of The Housemaid, as well as her Gone Girl x Fight Club unreliable narrator book Never Lie, which is currently in production with Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment.
Imagine Entertainment is developing Dangerously Funny, a narrative feature about comedy pioneers Tom and Dick Smothers, best known as The Smothers Brothers. The film will explore their off-kilter comedy rise and their groundbreaking clash with CBS censors and beef with two sitting US presidents. Based on David Bianculli’s book (with an incredibly long name), Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Get a load of these brothers.
Mini Tidbits:
Paramount is all in on sports. Their new division, Paramount Sports Entertainment, will house Skydance Sports and develop both scripted and unscripted programming. Skydance Media’s former president, Jesse Sisgold, will lead the new division.
Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has named Gary Wordham as its new president of Physical Production. He held the position for eighteen years at Universal Pictures, where he was responsible for overseeing the scheduling and day-to-day operations of the studio. He starts at WB next month.
The long-awaited third season of HBO’s Big Little Lies, after much speculation, has been announced. Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-creator Francesca Sloane has joined as showrunner and EP and will pen the pilot episode of its third season. Sloane has just finalized a two-year deal with the streamer.
Liam Neeson is set to produce The Lost Children of Tuam, a film that adapts Dan Barry’s 2017 New York Times article about Catherine Corless’ discovery of mass child burials at a Galway home. Andrew Bennett (God’s Creatures) and Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones) are set to star.
David Weitzner, a legendary Hollywood marketing executive behind campaigns for Star Wars, E.T., This Is Spinal Tap, and more, has died at 86. A longtime USC adjunct professor, he shaped film marketing at Fox, Universal, and Embassy, later consulting for global brands and mentoring students. Sad to see he won’t see the new return of Spinal Tap since it was one of his greatest works. He will be missed.
Renewals:
Apple TV+’s Foundation (renewed for S4)
Apple TV+’s Berlin ER (renewed for S2)
Delays:
Prime’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Production for Season 2 delayed w/ no start date
Amazon MGM Studios’ Highlander
Production pushed to 2026
Reason: Lead Henry Cavill injured during prep
Trailers:
Black Bear’s Christy
Star: Sydney Sweeney
Release: Nov 7
Decorado (animated)
Premiere: Fantastic Fest
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Idris Elba seems very comfortable in the director’s chair.
He will star in and direct Apple Original Films’ adaptation of Neil LaBute’s This Is How It Goes, with a screenplay by Nathaniel Price (Tin Star). The psychological thriller follows a couple who reconnect with an old acquaintance under tense, unsettling circumstances.
Elba previously performed in the 2005 West End production of the same name, but now takes on a new role for the film.
Back in 2018, Elba made his debut as a director with Yardie and has two more features (Above the Below, Infernus) on the way. With Elba’s sharp direction, not to mention his familiarity with the subject matter, this is yet another great step for Elba and a hair-raising continuation of their collaboration with Apple.
Tidbits:
Prime Video has ordered a Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad) led detective drama series, Bishop. Kinnaman will play detective Bishop Graves, hunting a killer tied to his powerful father. Currently in production. Kinnaman has a great ability to brood, perfect for a pensive private eye.
Ricky Gervais will return to animation with Netflix’s Alley Cats, a 6x15-minute adult comedy about feral British cats. The first look has an interesting animation style that reminds me of 90s cartoons. It's set to start streaming sometime in 2026.
Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole is Amazon MGM’s newest addition to submarine thriller Subversion, joining an ensemble led by Chris Hemsworth. The Gangs of London actor’s role has not yet been disclosed, while the action feature has just begun filming.
Matthew Rhys (The Americans) joins Rachel Brosnahan (Superman) and Jack Reynor (Midsommar) in Presumed Innocent season 2 on Apple TV+. The new season casts Rhys as the husband of Brosnahan’s character, a prosecutor, while Reynor plays her client. Trailer for Season 1.
Indie romcom Cheap AF sees an unlikely reunion between Katherine McNamara and Alberto Rosende. Both are best known for Freeform’s supernatural fantasy series Shadowhunters (trailer). A social media-influenced wedding gone wrong story, Cheap AF is filming in Seattle.
FESTIVALS
A new feature documentary, Say Hello to Our Good Friend Paul Shaffer, will chronicle the life and career of musician and TV personality Paul Shaffer.
Best known for his decades as David Letterman’s bandleader, he began his early career as the musical director of Toronto’s 1972 Godspell.
The doc, in which Shaffer is involved, will spotlight his musical career and impact as a nightly staple on American television. Launching at the TIFF market.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Funny or Die and Riverside Entertainment are teaming for Hookers, a high-concept fishing comedy to be directed by the Tribeca Prize-winning Daniel Robbins (Bad Shabbos).
It follows a washed-up TV fishing legend, his eccentric son, and their battle to keep their lake away from a real estate mogul. Riverside developed the script, with Funny or Die joining as co-producer. Best known as a Will Ferrell-supported vehicle for early internet sketch, Funny or Die also expanded into feature-length films, with the most recent being Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
Casting has not been announced, but here's hoping they reel in a big one.
Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot), a six-time Oscar nominee, co-directs Standing Bear with Andrew Troy (Midnight in the Orange Grove). Sheridan’s Hell’s Kitchen Limited co-produces, bringing the weight of his prestige to the project, which is currently a little light on details. It focuses on the real-life Ponca chief Standing Bear (Chaske Spencer) and his experience in the Trail of Tears.
This project has apparently been very hard won, with Sheridan apparently spending over a decade developing the project and securing tribal and governmental support.
Andor’s Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle) are set to produce the ominous Jawbone, a coming-of-age series adaptation of Monica Ojeda’s horror novel. For Universal International Studios (Too Much), this will mark the first time the actor duo has produced on the same project since the Amazon docuseries Pan y Circo (2020, trailer) via their joint production company, La Corriente del Golfo.
Mini Tidbits:
85 years young, Italian director Marco Bellocchio (Fists in the Pocket, The Traitor) is embarking on a bold new project, a biopic titled Falcon. The film chronicles auto exec Sergio Marchionne’s rise from Fiat savior to corporate legend, a man Bellocchio sees as “a tragic winner”.
West Wing and The Pitt EP John Wells is set to produce Netflix’s new series Unaccustomed Earth, which stars Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto (Latika!) and Indian actor Siddharth (Chithha). The series will follow a family in an insular Indian-American community in Massachusetts.
Independent LA-based producer Niels Juul (Ferrari, Killers of the Flower Moon) is expanding to Italy; he’s opening Rome/Milan offices and plans to produce 4–6 features yearly. His first project in development is a biopic about singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
France’s Studiocanal brings on Paul Gilbert as new SVP of English-language series. A former Sky Studios commissioning editor, Gilbert EP’d the BAFTA-winning The Lazarus Project (2022-23). In his new role, he will work through the company’s new production arm, leading development of a series hailing from both the U.K. and the U.S.
After the outrage over the cancellation of the Doctor Who series, the BBC is making up for it with two new dramas. The upcoming 1970s-set cozy crime show The Hairdresser Mysteries will star Bridget Jones’ Diary actress Sally Phillips as a high-end hairdresser who, after buying a small village salon, gets involved in the town's secrets. Both BBC shows, The Hairdresser Mysteries and the previously announced The Detection Club, a weekly Agatha Christie-style mystery show, are expected to premiere sometime in 2026.
Mini Tidbit:
Ambleside, a new period romance feature, has been acquired by the recently launched Vaneast Pictures (What We Hide) for worldwide sales rights. A forbidden romance divided by classes that has taken five years to complete is led by Nocturnal Animals’ Ellie Bamber.
The U.K.’s largest production and distribution company, All3Media (The Traitors), is parting ways with Seven Studios (AMC’s Nautilus). Seven Studios was originally launched with financial backing from the UK giant back in 2015.
The French adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera has been picked up by 18 territories, including Switzerland. The film is in production.
ON THIS DAY
1986. Blue Velvet premieres at TIFF.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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