Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Disney lets go, Plan B’s silence and a Dark Objet.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Disney is laying off several hundred employees across Pixar, Nat Geo, and ESPN.
Sony, Annapurna, and Plan B are adapting bestselling thriller The Silent Patient.
A-CAP’s Film Finances will acquire CAC Group’s Media Guarantors.
Amazon MGM officially orders RoboCop series.
Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to TV in AMC+’s thriller series Kill Jackie.
Joseph Lee joins Imogen Poots in Prime Video’s Sex Criminals.
June Squibb cast in COVID-era indie dramedy Turn the Lights Back On.
Will Forte in talks to join Kenneth Branagh in A24’s buddy comedy Goblin.
Corey Stoll and Ralph Ineson cast in Apple TV’s Monsterverse series.
TIFF Platform expands to 12 films and gains a new pathway to Oscars.
Ava DuVernay’s 14th will close NYFF.
Quiver picks up Bella Ramsey-led coming-of-age dramedy Sunny Dancer.
Oscilloscope acquires North American rights to Locarno selection Objet a.
Moses Bwayo directs Kenyan refugee-camp soccer doc Champions of Nowhere.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Moonraker, not a Norman Jewison film.
71% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Disney isn’t the happiest place on Earth for a few hundred employees, who are being laid off across:
Pixar (≈150 cuts)
Production and operations
Nat Geo
On the Disney Entertainment Television side
ESPN
On-air talent
Layoffs connected to ESPN’s acquisition of NFL Network
ABC
The Pixar cuts are happening as Toy Story 5 is set to hit $1bn by next weekend, and in the aftermath of two back-to-back films that underperformed, Hoppers ($389.5M WW on a $150M budget) and Elio ($154M WW on a $300M budget).
This past April, Disney let go 1000 staffers amid new CEO Josh D’Amaro’s streamlining push.
At the same time, Disney signed a deal with Kraft Heinz (yes, the ketchup). So we now expect to see more product placement across Disney film and TV. Splat!
Sony Pictures, Annapurna (American Hustle), and Brad Pitt’s Plan B (F1) are finally bringing Alex Michaelides’ bestselling psychological thriller The Silent Patient to the screen, adapting one of modern fiction’s most unforgettable mysteries.
The novel follows Alicia Berenson, a celebrated painter who murders her husband and then falls completely silent, refusing to utter another word. Her motives are unknown; the story is a blend of Hitchcockian suspense with a complex unreliable narrator that quickly shot Michaelides’ novel into a global phenomenon.
From Colleen Hoover’s It Ends with Us to the upcoming Fanning sisters-led adaptation of The Nightingale, Sony Pictures is steadily building a reputation for high-profile literary adaptations.
The merger is complete! Ok, not the PSKY WBD ordeal, but from two goliath film guarantors working in completion bonds:
A-CAP’s Film Finances (sister company: STX Entertainment)
Films: Fargo, Black Swan, Pulp Fiction, The Whale
Will acquire:
CAC Group’s Media Guarantors
Films: Roofman, Over Your Dead Body
Media Guarantors founder Fred Milstein will serve as CEO. Film Finances President Greg Trattner will take over as Executive Chairman of the merged companies, which are now controlled under A-CAP.
Mini Tidbits:
FOX One got a big FIFA boost. They gained 2.8M sign-ups in June. Many records were broken during the five-week run of the World Cup, with the final match between Spain and Argentina reaching 62.8M viewers in the US on Fox and Telemundo.
The DGA has officially set the timeline for its 2027 awards season, with the 79th Annual DGA Awards set for Jan. 30, 2027. See the full schedule here.
Amazon MGM officially orders the RoboCop remake series. More here.
Ryan Reynolds confirms that another Deadpool film is in the works at Marvel Studios.
Avengers: Doomsday already earned $16.5M in advance ticket sales after the first day of availability.
Trailers:
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Cast: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Mark Ruffalo
Release: July 31
IFC’s The Stunt Driver
Cast: Jay Baruchel, Ben Foster, Ed Helms
Release: Sept 25
HBO Max’s Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks
Release: Aug 4
Universal Pictures’ Other Mommy
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass
Release: Oct 9
Disney+’s Camp Rock 3
Cast: Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas
Release: Aug 14
First Look:
Bleecker Street’s Tender Loving Care
Dir: Mike Leigh
Release: Dec 4
Release Dates:
Disney+’s UK 20/20
Release: July 30
Bleecker Street’s HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL
Release: July 24
Universal Pictures’ Snoop
Dir: Craig Brewer (Song Sung Blue)
Prod: Snoop Dogg, Brian Grazer
Release: Aug 6, 2027
Production Wrapped:
Indie Thriller Runaway
Cast: Josh Duhamel, Summer H. Howell, James Franco
Filming dates: June 22, 2026 – July 20, 2026.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Wednesday) is returning to the small screen in AMC+’s Kill Jackie, a series adaptation of Aidan Truhen’s thriller The Price You Pay. Zeta-Jones will play Jackie Price, a wealthy woman traveling the world and mastering the art of exploiting tax loopholes to stay afloat after fleeing her dangerous past as an international cocaine dealer.
The role recalls her iconic Oscar-winning turn as the glamorous, fiery, and resourceful Velma Kelly in Chicago (2002), a woman who, despite spending time behind bars, always managed to land on her feet and come out on top.
This time, however, Zeta-Jones is on the other side of the chase: instead of outsmarting the justice system after the fact, she’s evading both law enforcement and a relentless team of hitmen tasked with killing her.
Fremantle is handling sales, with Kill Jackie airing on Prime Video in Europe.
Joseph Lee (Netflix’s Beef S1) joins the cast of Amazon Prime Video’s Sex Criminals. Based on the comic book of the same name, the show will follow Suze (Imogen Poots) and Jon (John Reynolds), who discover that they can stop time while having sex and decide to rob a bank.
Lee will play Detective Franklin, an investigator who also has the ability to stop time.
In Beef, we saw Lee as a rich stay-at-home husband who was lovable but suffocatingly oblivious, and we can’t deny the fact that seeing him get robbed was one of the most interesting sequences of the show. It’d be a fun reversal to see him as a charismatic antagonist leading the chase. His physical presence and charisma tell us that he can ace the part.
Oscar-nominated legend June Squibb isn’t slowing down. The Eleanor the Great actress is joining Alex Borstein in the indie dramedy Turn the Lights Back On, a story inspired by the real-life experiences of families during the COVID era.
Described as being in the vein of Little Miss Sunshine, Squibb headlined her own indie dramedy last year in Scarlett Johansson’s Cannes-premiering directorial debut Eleanor the Great (2025).
While each is completely different, Eleanor carried a similar balance of lighthearted humor with serious grief, with Squibb as the titular 90-something woman who unknowingly convinces a support group she was a Holocaust survivor.
Filming on Turn the Lights Back On is expected to begin later this year.
Tidbit:
The Four Seasons’ Will Forte is in talks to join the cast of A24’s Goblin, an offbeat buddy comedy joining Skyler Gisondo and Kenneth Branagh, the latter providing the voice of the titular green critter. Forte’s role is unknown, but after eight seasons on SNL, The Last Man on Earth actor has experienced his fair share of puppetry. Despite not knowing how he’ll play a part in the absurd hijinks expected to come from a goblin-human friendship, his knack for eccentric, over-the-top comedy with genuine heart makes him a perfect fit for Goblin.
Actress Kaylee Hottle, most known for her performance as Jia from Godzilla vs. Kong films, has tragically died at 18. Her big break came in 2021 in Godzilla vs. Kong when she played Jia, a small girl and Skull Island native who could communicate with King Kong through sign language. Her performance conveyed both compassion and emotional depth. Rest in Peace, Kaylee.
Casting Tidbits:
AnnaSophia Robb
Corey Stoll
Ed Harris
All those and more here.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
TIFF Platform, the only juried competition program at the Toronto International Film Festival, has expanded to 12 films (see them all here).
Under the new rules of the 99th Oscars, TIFF Platform was also selected as one of the six international film festivals that grant its winner eligibility to enter the Best International Feature Film race, even if the films are not chosen as the country’s official submission. This could mean that films not selected by their countries’ national selection committees can still have a pathway into the category. It does not mean that the film will receive an automatic nomination.
Most notable films in this year’s slate include Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize-winning director Amanda Kernell’s Brace Your Heart and Berlinale FIPRESCI Prize-winning director Ferit Karahan’s Djinn Wedding. Miwa Nishikawa’s Children Untold will open.
NYFF will close with Ava DuVernay’s (Selma, Origin) new doc 14th. This will explore the Equal Protection and Citizenship Clauses. DuVernay’s ability to weave history and politics into compelling cinema is no small feat, with 14th a clear continuation of the conversations she began through her filmography over a decade ago. Streaming on Netflix this fall.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Quiver (distributor: Cleaner starring Daisy Ridley) picks up North American rights for Sunny Dancer, starring Bella Ramsey, Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer).
The coming-of-age dramedy follows Ivy, a teen in cancer remission, reluctantly attending a summer camp.
First launching at Cannes 2024, Sunny Dancer is a deeply personal coming-of-age comedy romance reminiscent of director George Jaques' debut film Black Dog (2023), a reflective road trip story between two teenage boys who build an unlikely friendship.
Sunny Dancer is getting a theatrical release later this year. Here’s the trailer.
Oscilloscope picks up North American rights to Objet a starring Louis Hofmann (Dark).
Synopsis:
Follows two hand surgeons with differing desires, before one suffers an accident that forces her to slow down.
The film will premiere at Locarno.
Tidbit:
There have been some crazy incidents on Grey’s Anatomy, but nothing quite like a body swap. Morenike Joela Evans (dir. Grey’s Anatomy, iCarly) is directing the feature film Switch, a romcom following a black woman and white man who switch bodies and must spend a week in each other’s lives. The twice Emmy-nominated director joins the gender-swap comedy just ahead of filming.
Mini Tidbits:
Woody Harrelson’s doc
Black Bear
Richard M. Rawlings Jr. RIP
All those tidbits here.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Moses Bwayo, co-director of Nat Geo’s Bobi Wine: The People’s President, which plays like a Ugandan version of Navalny, is directing a new film.
Champions of Nowhere is a doc that centers on a Kenyan soccer league that springs up in a refugee camp.
Bwayo feels uniquely suited for this; he’s able to find hope in the grimmest of places. This is part of a 3-picture deal from Pierce Capital Entertainment (EP: The Brutalist, The Wizard of the Kremlin) and FilmCrew Media (Nawi).
Mini Tidbit:
All3Media International’s Sales Manager of Finished Programs, Jonathan Hughes, is exiting the company. He is now joining ITV Studios (Prod Co: The Chase) as the Vice President, Germany and Benelux Sales.
ON THIS DAY
1934. Louise Fletcher born in Birmingham, Alabama.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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