Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Monsters, Warner’s Witness, and an iron box.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Paramount/Skydance preps bid for Warner Bros. Discovery at an estimated $22–24/share.
Paramount acquires Here Be Monsters (Prod: Ridley Scott’s Scott Free).
BoulderLight Pictures (Weapons) launch new genre label for Paramount.
Christopher Nolan elected President of the DGA.
HBO developing WitSec series.
Alison Brie’s FX witness protection series adds Pablo Schreiber.
Léa Seydoux to star in Marie Kreutzer’s Gentle Monster.
Jessica Chastain & Octavia Spencer reunite for holiday film Deck the Y’Alls.
Guillermo del Toro producing Netflix horror The Boy in the Iron Box.
Samuel Goldwyn Films picks up US rights for Mads Mikkelsen’s The Last Viking.
Singapore selects Stranger Eyes as Oscar entry.
Mia Wasikowska leads The Killings: Parrish Station (Stan Original/ITV).
ITV developing Adultery starring Dominic Cooper.
Netflix hires Syeda Irtizaali (ex-BBC) as Director of Unscripted.
Screen Australia unveils $12.8M slate across 46 projects.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Paramount is readying a bid to acquire Warner Bros. We covered this last week, but there’s been some updates:
Paramount, a Skydance Corporation (value: $29bn), may be bidding between $22-$24/share. This would put their bid anywhere from $54.5bn - $59.5bn. While also taking in WBD’s $30bn in debt.
If this comes to fruition, this would 3x the value of Paramount.
The bid would be 70-80% cash, with backing from Skydance CEO David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison (net worth: $393bn).
We’ll see what happens here. Netflix is also said to be contemplating a bid.
Paramount is going fishing for more than WBD. They’ve been on a massive acquisition spree (grabbing up South Park, UFC, a new Timothée Chalamet film, a partnership with Will Smith, and The Duffer Brothers).
Next up, they’ve acquired the film Here Be Monsters. The team is very strong:
Dir/co-writer: Joachim Rønning (Tron: Ares, Maleficent 2)
Prod Co: Ridley Scott’s Scott Free
Script Revisions: Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
No word on plot, but it’s a sea-based survival thriller that mixes Alien and The Thing.
And Paramount is bringing on BoulderLight Pictures (JD Lifshitz and Raphael Margules), the producing duo behind Weapons. As soon as their contract with Warner ends in January, they will be launching a new high-concept label for Paramount. Still no word on whether Zach Creggar will still work with them as their go-to producers. But anyone involved with Weapons was red hot the past few months, looks like they are getting a deal that emphasizes creativity above all else. Honestly, with a rumored merger in talks, it might not be long before they are working with Warner again.
The DGA just got a blockbuster upgrade. Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) has been named the new president of the Directors Guild of America, representing the almost 20,000-member union. A member since 2001, the 2x Oscar winner called the title “one of the greatest honors of my career”. Who knew boardrooms could be so cinematic?
In case you’ve had trouble checking your local theater’s showtimes, tickets have officially gone on sale for Taylor Swift’s theatrical event, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl. The behind-the-scenes film is tied directly to her 12th studio album, both debuting on Oct. 3rd in over 600 theaters across North America.
A tale of two witnesses:
HBO is developing a TV adaptation of Pete Earley and Gerald Shur’s nonfiction book WitSec: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program. The series follows a disillusioned DOJ lawyer and mob hitman who form a tenuous alliance in the rogue origins of witness protection. Writers Justin Piasecki (Relay) and David Kob (Foundation) are balancing this with each working on other major projects at Amazon, MGM, and Apple TV+, respectively.
Alison Brie's Untitled Witness Protection project for FX adds to its cast:
Pablo Schreiber (Motor City)
Zoë Chao (The Roses)
Jamie Neumann (The Deuce)
Antonella Rose (Fear the Walking Dead)
Not to be confused with HBO's other Witness Protection show, Brie's series follows D.C. madam Remy (Brie), who enters witness protection in Maine with her daughter (Rose).
Mini Tidbits:
Warner Bros.’ Nicole Woods has joined 3D tech company RealD as VP of Cinema and Content Partnerships, Americas. The longtime distribution exec will work to expand premium 3D content availability across North and South America.
Tom Holland has been injured on the set of Spiderman: Brand New Day. Luckily, it's just a small concussion, and he will be back filming after resting for a couple of days.
Trailers:
Dear Stranger
Cast: Nishijima Hidetoshi (Lead in Drive My Car)
Winner: Busan International Film Festival
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele
Premiere: Cannes Official Selection
Sold to 14 territories, including France.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Léa Seydoux is a gentle monster. She will star in Gentle Monster from director Marie Kreutzer.
If you’re not familiar with Kreutzer’s work, her previous is Corsage (2022), where it won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Best Performance Prize for star Vicky Krieps. In that film, Krieps played an enfant terrible, forced under the thumb of an aristocratic husband (watch her go wild in the trailer).
So look past the vague synopsis for Gentle Monster:
Renowned pianist (Seydoux) relocates with her family to the countryside, where she uncovers a life-shattering truth that forces her to confront the complexities of love, trust, and deception.
Seydoux is one of the most capable actresses of her generation. And we know she’ll give this character the flair and the fire she deserves. While also digging into the deep well of despair that she demonstrates so beautifully in the final moments of The Beast (2023). No spoilers, but if you’ve seen the film, you’ll know what I mean.
Production has just kicked off. Mk2 serves as international sales rep and financier.
Deck the Y’Alls isn’t just your typical city girl who spends the holidays in the country movie; it’s also a The Help (2011) reunion.
Oscar winners Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer team up once again, with the latter playing her overprotective (potential) mother-in-law, making Christmas anything but jolly. In The Help (scene), Chastain and Spencer defied the odds by forming an unlikely friendship that bridged social divides and became the heart of the story.
Hopefully, their new holiday dynamic rekindles the same spark that made their first collaboration so memorable. Filming on Deck the Y’Alls will take place in South Carolina early next year.
Tidbits:
Guillermo del Toro produces The Boy in the Iron Box for Netflix with long-time collaborator David Prior directing. An adaptation of Del Toro's own six-part Novella. The tale follows mercenaries who stumble on a chained box in a fortress, unleashing horrors. Rupert Friend (Companion, The Phoenician Scheme) stars as Liev, with Kevin Durand (The Strain, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) as a mercenary and Jaeden Martell (It) as the titular boy. Production begins in October.
Season two of Netflix’s Ransom Canyon casts Ben Robson (TNT’s Animal Kingdom) as a series regular in the Western drama. In both Animal Kingdom (scene) and his role on the History Channel’s Vikings (2015-16), Robson brings a fierce physicality with an unpredictable intensity that is likely to bring chaos to Texas Hill Country. Ransom Canyon’s second season is expected to drop on the streamer late next year.
Mini Tidbits:
Pretty Babies casts Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin actor Elias Kacavas. The indie drama follows two teenage girls chasing stardom in Hollywood who get trapped in the underbelly of the sex work industry. Kacavas’ role has not been disclosed, but production has recently wrapped in Oklahoma.
What do you know, another film about trying to make it in Hollywood… Coming-of-age drama Bound for Glory adds three to its cast:
Chris Kattan (SNL)
Blake Jenner (The Edge of Seventeen)
Jaime King (Sin City)
A film of friendship, romance, and unexpected luck, production is expected to begin next month.
‘Second chance’ at life film Last Shop on Walnut is led by Peter Lawson Jones (A Man Called Otto), comedic actress Kym Whitley (Happy Gilmore 2), and Broadway actor Donald Webber Jr. (Glengarry Glen Ross). Production has just begun on the drama in Cleveland.
FESTIVALS
San Sebastian Film Festival sees a bunch of pickups:
Redoubt starring Denis Lavant, which has just sold to 13 territories including the UK (Distributor: Kontinental '25). The film just premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Read my take on why Denis Lavant, the main actor in many films by Leos Carax. He may be the greatest living actor: https://theindustry.co/p/denis-lavant
Two other San Sebastian Film Festival pickups:
Bitters End (Japanese distributor: Oppenheimer) has picked up international sales rights on Sai: Disaster. Full film details here.
Maboroshi, a new sales company, has grabbed international rights to Before the Bright Day. Full film details here.
Tidbits:
Thailand's horrors are some of the scariest in the world. Fearfolks (Thai Distributor Neon’s Shelby Oaks) has unleashed a slate of 3x new horror films. Cher centers on evil forest nymphs out for revenge. Mutelu revolves around a young woman who has bad fortune until she discovers an amulet that allows her to steal others' good fortune. Rinrada follows a teen influencer who comes back to haunt those who drove her to suicide. The trio of films launches at the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) in Busan.
Dark Sky Films has acquired U.S. rights to Avalon Fast’s horror feature Camp right before its Fantastic Fest premiere. The film follows Emily, a grief-stricken counselor confronting trauma through working with children, but unfortunately, unveiling a curse. Starring Zola Grimmer and ensemble, Camp will also screen at Sitges, Brooklyn Horror, and SXSW Sydney festivals. Check out the first clip here.
Finecut (Korean Sales Rep: The Chaser, Steve Yeun’s Burning) picks up international sales rights on Wrangler, about a dog trainer with control issues. They also picked up The Mutation and Time of Cinema.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Samuel Goldwyn Films picks up US rights for Mads Mikkelsen in The Last Viking (Venice out of competition).
Synopsis:
A bank robber released from jail must unlock his traumatised brother's (Mikkelsen) memory to recover stolen loot.
This one is going to be zany with the poster image showing a fairly robust, yet clueless Mikkelsen. He tilted this direction in Another Round (distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films), which was funny, and then tragic, and then the most uplifting film in recent memory (final Mikkelsen dance scene).
No release date has been set.
Jaime Pressly (actress: NBC’s My Name Is Earl) has launched Liston James Productions and is developing R&R, a comedy series created by JJ Herz.
R&R follows sarcastic lesbian Rachel (Herz) and her twin Robbie (Kevin Iannucci), a neurotic romantic with Down syndrome. Pressly will also play their mother, Roda.
The proof-of-concept pilot, which premiered at SXSW 2025, has already won multiple awards and is screening at the Nashville Film Festival. A full pilot draft exists, with financing now underway.
Hot Docs hit River of Grass is picked up by Fourth Act Film (Hollywoodgate), which will handle a limited theatrical kicking off Oct 17th, and Grasshopper Film (Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude), which will handle digital.
Synopsis:
An ode to the Florida Everglades past and present, told through the prescient writings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and those who today call the region home.
At Hot Docs, the film won the Special Jury Prize for International. Check out the poster here.
Pamela Anderson has launched…
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