Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Hollywood director Rob Reiner. Searchlight’s Barn 8. And Dennis Rodman in Vegas.
Let’s go.
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It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that Rob Reiner has died at 78.
From our understanding, Reiner and his wife, Michele (70), were killed in their home in LA.
This is a tragic loss for the film community.
Reiner was one of those rare filmmakers who had a film to comfort you in every particular mood you were in, no matter your age.
His breathtaking command over genres spanned:
Mocumentary: This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Family Adventure Comedy: The Princess Bride (1987)
Rom-Com: When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Psychological Horror: Misery (1990)
Legal Drama: A Few Good Men (1992)
I can’t think of another filmmaker who released five classics in less than a decade.
The iconic lines in Reiner’s cinema will live on:
“These go to 11.”
“Mawwiage”
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
“I’m your number one fan.”
“You can’t handle the truth!”
Above all, Reiner had a true love for his characters.
It was felt in the serendipitous ways that love weasels into Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal’s lives in When Harry Met Sally. Or the comforting absurdity of Wallace Shawn's reasoning that the glass in front of him is poisoned in The Princess Bride. Or even how much Tom Cruise refuses to give up in A Few Good Men.
Each character in Reiner’s films can’t help but sweep up a little piece of your heart. Watching one of his films, whether it was the first time or the hundredth, is like stepping into a world where people are allowed to be messy, silly, lovable, and deeply human.
Thanks for everything, Rob.
For More:
The Battle of Wits clip from The Princess Bride.
I’ll have what she’s having, clip.
Before directing, Reiner starred in all 9 seasons of CBS’s All in the Family. Here’s a fun clip.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Taika Waititi directs the film Barn 8, a satirical novel adaptation for Searchlight.
Netflix acquires film rights to Torso, with Roy Lee and Zach Cregger developing.
Paramount in talks with Ian Tuason (A24’s Undertone) to direct Paranormal Activity reboot.
Natasha Lyonne’s Animal House has promoted Max Ferguson to Head of Dev.
Fifth Season alum Caroline Vanstrom has joined Joe Hipps’ Cut To.
Producer and three-time Oscar winner Arthur Cohn has died at 98.
LaKeith Stanfield plays Dennis Rodman in Lionsgate’s biopic 48 Hours in Vegas.
Peter Greene (The Usual Suspects) dies at 60.
Sharon Stone & Ed Helms join Babies, co-starring Seth Rogen.
Kristen Stewart says Apple TV+ has greenlit The Challenger. She plays Sally Ride.
Freddie Highmore will star in and produce Sony rom-com Life on Other Planets.
Wim Wenders named Jury President of the 76th Berlin Film Festival.
Film Movement acquires North American rights to animated feature Bouchra.
Obscured Releasing acquires North American rights to Westhampton.
Neon CMO Christian Parkes is departing the studio after nearly a decade.
Jeff Wexler, legendary sound mixer (Almost Famous), dies at 78.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Searchlight taps Taika Waititi to direct Barn 8, adapting Deb Olin Unferth’s satirical novel into a film. With a script by Jessica Gao (creator: She-Hulk), the story follows two federal egg auditors who plan a radical heist to liberate a million chickens from a factory farm.
It seems like a perfect match for Waititi’s absurdist humor with heart. You can read more about Taika over the last couple of years here.
Netflix has picked up the movie rights to the famous graphic novel Torso. After an intense bidding war, the adaptation has quite a team developing it with Vertigo Entertainment’s (Companion) Roy Lee and Zach Cregger (dir: Weapons) producing.
The period serial killer tale feels a little outside of the stylistic tendencies of Cregger, but with him producing, we feel like it’s in steady hands.
Tidbits:
Paramount’s reboot of Paranormal Activity is nearing a director deal with Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason, looking likely. Tuason broke out with Undertone, a sound-driven paranormal thriller that won Fantasia’s Canadian audience award and sold to A24 and is now playing at Sundance.
Natasha Lyonne’s production company Animal House (Peacock’s Poker Face) has promoted executive Max Ferguson to Head of Development. The company (led by Ferguson) is currently working on Lyonne’s directorial feature Uncanny Valley.
Fifth Season alum Caroline Vanstrom (Nine Perfect Strangers) has joined Joe Hipps’ Cut To (Netflix/A24’s upcoming Trigger Point) as a producer. Launched after Hipps’ exit from Fifth Season last fall, the banner recently struck a deal with A24 and has quickly become a major player in high-profile film negotiations.
Obits:
Arthur Cohn, Swiss-born independent producer and three-time Oscar-winning documentarian, died at 98. Known for backing bold new directors, he guided multiple foreign-language Oscar winners, including The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Black and White in Color, and Dangerous Moves.
Longtime film producer Brad Luff (Siren) has sadly passed away. Luff worked in high-profile positions at Original Film, Sony, Dimension Films, Universal, Warner Bros, and most recently for Fox’s Tubi.
Mini Tidbit:
Zoo Billion Dollars: China has propelled Zootopia 2 past the coveted $1bn mark in just 17 days. It is only the ninth biggest domestic release this year, with just $236M, but nearly $500M from China; its performance alone likely guarantees a third film.
Hallmark+ has greenlit a When Calls the Heart prequel series, Hope Valley: 1874. The prequel show “explores the early days of the Hope Valley settlement,” led by Head of Programming Michelle Vicary. Debuting in March 2026, production begins next week.
Google has allegedly taken down any AI videos using Disney characters (e.g., Elsa from Frozen, Moana, Mickey Mouse, Marvel characters, etc.). This was in response to Disney’s Cease-and-Desist letter.
Renewals:
Apple TV+’s Down Cemetery Road (for S2)
Cast: Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson
HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry (for S2)
Cancellations:
Disney+’s Holes series
Our full breakdown on what could have been
Trailers:
HBO Max released its slate trailer for 2026. Not quite as good as those old Cinemascapes videos, but still thrilling.
For your convenience, we’ve cued up the exact tidbits of each of their shows:
Euphoria S3
Half Man
Star/Creator: Richard Gadd
Rooster
Cast: Steve Carell
Untitled Larry David Project
Cast: Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld
DTF St. Louis
Cast: Jason Bateman, David Harbour
Lanterns
Cast: Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre
The Pitt (S2)
The Industry (S4)
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Full trailer here.
Some more trailers:
Angel Studios’ Animal Farm
Dir: Andy Serkis
Voice Cast: Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson
Release date: May 1
Neon’s Alpha
Release: March 27th
Fox’s Best Medicine
Release: Jan 6
Awards Dates:
Emmys noms announced
July 8th
Emmys Artisan category noms announced
July 15th
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta) will play basketball legend Dennis Rodman in Lionsgate’s biopic 48 Hours in Vegas, inspired by Rodman’s infamous 1998 NBA Finals trip to Las Vegas.
The story follows Rodman through a surreal, chaotic whirlwind of excess, celebrity, and rebellion, leaning into the mythology of what may or may not have happened during that brief but legendary detour.
The stories are pretty wild with parties and hiding from Michael Jordan, who was sent to retrieve Rodman for the big game.
Stanfield has cultivated quite a persona among his acting choices of oddball characters like the spacey but wise Darius from Atlanta -clip all seemingly blending to make a perfect archetype for Rodman and his mythos, not to mention his pretty out there style of dress.
Stanfield is probably the only person weird enough to play Rodman right.
One of cinema’s greatest villains, infamous character actor Peter Greene, has sadly passed away at 60.
He brought a level of authentic fear and menace as the main antagonist Dorian Tyrell opposite the wacky Jim Carrey in the otherwise fanciful comedy The Mask (1994). Greene had a remarkable year shortly after traumatizing people for generations as the horrifically memorable and sadistic security guard in Quentin Tarantino’s Palme d’Or-winning Pulp Fiction (1994).
With other iconic roles like in The Usual Suspects (1995, scene), Blue Streak (1999, scene), and Training Day (2001), he may have been typecast as a villain, but he was damn good at it.
Oscar nominees Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct), David Strathairn (Good Night, And Good Luck), Ed Helms (The Hangover), and Tony nominee Ashley Park (Emily in Paris) join Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen in Babies.
Synopsis:
Struggling with the decision of whether or not to bring a child into the world, Annie (Kendrick) and her husband Aaron (Rogen) become instant co-parents when their newly-divorced friend moves into their home with her 3-year-old.
Written and directed by Seth Rogen’s wife, Lauren Miller Rogen. Currently shooting in LA.
According to Kristen Stewart, her Apple TV series has been greenlit:
The Challenger (mini-series)
Starring/EP: Kristen Stewart (TV debut)
Showrunner: Maggie Cohn (writer/EP: The Staircase)
EP: Steven Spielberg
Here’s the official synopsis:
A group of astronauts, including the first woman and LGBTQ+ member, first Black and Asian Americans, and a married couple become the top crew for NASA’s space shuttle program. Tragedy strikes, and Ride investigates the Challenger disaster.
Stewart plays Sally Ride, who shares a lot of DNA.
Tidbit:
Freddie Highmore is set to star in Sony Pictures’ romantic comedy Life on Other Planets, written by Eternity scribe Pat Cunnane. The film follows a socially awkward astronomer whose search for extraterrestrial life collides with an unexpected romance, not far off from his acclaimed role in The Good Doctor as the autistic and brilliant doctor. Highmore will also produce via his Alfresco Pictures banner, continuing his steady transition from television roles into feature-driven, star-shaping projects.
Mini Tidbit:
A merge of the Taylor Sheridan universe. Yellowstone’s Hassie Harrison and 1923 actor Brandon Sklenar star in The Rescue, a western thriller from Paramount. One of the first films to come out of the Skydance-Paramount merger, with shooting set to start this summer.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Wim Wenders (Dir: Paris, Texas) was named the new Jury President of the Berlin Film Festival.
Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle stated:
“His insatiable curiosity and deep mastery of film language are evident in every work.
The 76th Berlinale Film Festival runs Feb 12-22.
Costume Designers Guild Awards Noms can be found here:
https://costumedesignersguild.com/28th-cdga-nominations/
Scripts:
Read Neon’s triple Cannes prize winner The Secret Agent, screenplay written by Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Mubi’s Cannes Official Selection Sound of Falling, written by Mascha Schilinski & Louise Peter.
Plus three more prospective Oscar scripts:
https://theindustry.co/p/prospective-best-screenplay-academy-dbf
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Sam A. Davis (DP: Focus Features’ Dìdi) has directed the stunning and lovable short film The Singers. Premiere: SXSW + Tribeca.
Davis’s short takes us to a tattered bar in the middle of nowhere America, where the dollar bills hang on the wall like old memories. And old men with war scars mutter stories into drinks.
The real magic happens when these men enter a contest for $100 and a six-pack that transforms them from sultry to angelic. Trailer.
Davis has a real talent for casting faces and upending expectations. He was previously nominated for an Academy Award for producing Disney+’s short Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (2023).
Uwe Boll (House of the Dead) is rebooting the 1920s-based video game…
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