Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Actor Sam Neill, Paramount’s Street, and a Bagworm.
Let’s go!
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Passion has no limits.
Sam Neill, the wonderful actor who captivated us in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, has passed away at 78.
I’ve been grappling with his death all day. Not because I was the number one Jurassic Park fan in the world. Although I deeply loved the magic that those films brought to my life as a kid, and boy, did Sam Neill’s charm and reverence for an extinct species make an impression on me.
Before I wanted to be a filmmaker, I wanted to be a paleontologist.
But as I grew up and out of that phase, I grew into watching more Sam Neill films.
He’d crop up where you’d least expect him, like in a four-and-a-half-hour Wim Wenders road trip movie, Until the End of the World (1991), which I saw right before I took my own road trip through the country when COVID hit in March 2020.
Neill was able to play the courageous protector facing dinosaurs with as much passion as he did a real lover, in one of the greatest, strangest, darkest films of the 20th Century, Possession (1981). Although it is Isabelle Adjani who gets the attention (and in fact she won Cannes Best Actress), it is Neill who must shepherd the burden of her mounting terror and insanity. And to watch this prim businessman be pushed to the brink was its own horrific delight.
And talk about range, in the same year as the original Jurassic, Neill starred in Jane Campion’s Oscar darling The Piano (1993) as the deeply controlling colonial settler Alisdair Stewart. A character both incredibly despicable and somehow sympathetic all at once.
Just earlier this year, Neill shared the joyful news that he had beaten stage 3 blood cancer. Though his final curtain call came far sooner than the world wanted, his legacy will be fossilized not in sandstone but in celluloid.
For More:
Loved Neill in Peaky Blinders? We did too. Read our companion piece here.
“More like a 6-foot turkey” Jurassic Park - Scene
Possession - Trailer
A 4K restoration of Palme d’Or-winning The Piano (trailer) will screen at Lincoln Center next week.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Paramount acquires the original A Nightmare on Elm Street screenplay.
Twelve states sue to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
Marvel Studios is developing a Nova film with Michael Waldron attached.
TriStar Pictures adapts Trevor Henderson’s viral horror character Cartoon Cat.
California Film Commission director Colleen Bell steps down.
Tyriq Withers and Isabel May will star in Amazon MGM romcom Love Love.
Mae Whitman and Emily Meade will lead Prohibition-era comedy Whisper Sisters.
Michael Douglas’ son, Dylan, makes his feature acting debut in Killing Hitler.
Oscilloscope Laboratories acquires SXSW body-horror comedy Bagworm.
Cinema Guild acquires Hong Sang-soo’s Nowhere to Lay My Eyes.
Friday’s correct answer: Cannes, where The Da Vinci Code premiered.
44% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Will Freddy Krueger become the face of Paramount’s horror label?
Paramount takes the rights to adapt the original screenplay of A Nightmare on Elm Street. With J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules (Prods: Zach Cregger’s Weapons) EPing the new project as part of the new horror banner, Paramount Primal, that they launched after completing their deal with Warner Bros.
The original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is a slasher horror classic that follows a group of teenagers trying to escape an undead entity named Freddy Krueger, who seeks revenge against their parents, who burned him alive. The film was followed by eight sequels and reboots, and was one of the key pieces of IP for New Line Cinema, which owned the films’ rights at the time.
Paramount is on the lookout for its next billion-dollar horror IP. The A Quiet Place trilogy has garnered more than $893M worldwide, and the Smile franchise grossed $335M worldwide with only a $45M budget for both films. With the legal issues out of the way and Weapons producers producing for Paramount Primal, the iconic Freddy Krueger is a perfect calling card of their new label.
But is A Nightmare on Elm Street still relevant today? The original film touched on generational sin and teenage angst, turning sleep and dreams into something terrifying. With social media making teens more anxious and sleep-deprived than ever, a Freddy Krueger haunting them in the 2020s doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
The moment has come. 12 states have filed a lawsuit to block the Paramount Warner Bros. merger.
The leader, CA Attorney General Rob Bonta, stated that a combined PSKY WBD would lead to:
“Higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.”
Here are their main points about the magnitude of the combined companies:
27% market share for theatrical films
4 studios would control 86% of market
30% share of blockbusters
4 studios would control 90% of market
27% market for basic cable
At the same time, David Ellison is trying to win favor in the film industry by backing a federal film tax incentive.
Read the full 12-state lawsuit here.
Here are the full details on Paramount’s plan for Warner Bros.
Also, David Zaslav sold $59M worth of Warner Bros. Discovery stock.
Tidbits:
MCU’s new star. Marvel Studios is developing a Nova film with writer-director Michael Waldron (Showrunner: Chad Powers) attached. Nova is a Marvel cosmic superhero who is a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Nova Corps. The organization made an appearance in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), but the stellar main character Nova was never mentioned in the MCU. With superhero fatigue, this seems like a difficult moment for Nova to arrive at Marvel. But Nova could serve as the key to the MCU's outer-space storyline, which was largely unexplored after Guardians of the Galaxy.
Another Trevor Henderson monster film. Cartoon Cat, one of the most popular viral horror entities (drawing) created by Siren Head creator Trevor Henderson, is getting a feature adaptation by TriStar Pictures. Cartoon Cat is an ancient monster that uses old cartoons to seep into the minds of its victims and has often been referred to as the “king of creepypastas” by its fans. This acquisition is the second feature deal for Henderson, following a long 5-way studio bidding war for Siren Head in which Zach Cregger and Warner Bros. won.
Mini Tidbits:
HBO Max wants to turn docuseries U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team into an ongoing franchise, even though their World Cup run is over. Rand Getlin, the EP of the show, teased creating a similar series for the 2030 World Cup.
California Film Commission director Colleen Bell is stepping down after six years of working in the role. Bell oversaw the Commission during tumultuous times like the pandemic and the 2023 labor strike.
YouTube’s Alan’s Universe (101M Subscribers), created by American actor Alan Chikin Chow, is heading to Netflix. The popular YT series is a scripted high school anthology about love, friendship, and self-growth.
First Look:
Amazon Prime’s Carrie
Dir: Mike Flanagan
Release: Oct. 2026
Searchlight Pictures’ Behemoth!
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor
Dir: Tony Gilroy
Trailers:
Warner Bros. Digger
Cast: Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller
Dir: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Release: Oct. 2
Trailer breakdown - Cruise goes full Dr. Strangelove: https://theindustry.co/p/tom-cruises-dr-strangelove
Peacock’s Crystal Lake (Friday the 13th prequel series)
Cast: Linda Cardellini
Release: Oct. 15
Buffalo 8’s A Social Contract
Cast: Sean Astin
Release: Aug. 7
Netflix’s Mourinho
Release: Aug. 11
Release Dates:
Sony Pictures Animation’s The Haunting of Hotel Transylvania
Release: Oct. 8, 2027
Brainstorm Media’s Without Blood
Dir: Angelina Jolie
Cast: Salma Hayek Pinault
Release: Sept. 18 (premiered at TIFF 2024)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Tyriq Withers (Him) stars and EPs Amazon MGM romcom Love Love, alongside Isabel May (Paramount+’s 1883). The film follows a struggling tennis star who falls in love with a charismatic local ball boy at the US Open.
Joey Power (Dir: Banana Split) directs the film, which will start production this fall in New York.
Withers showed his charisma as a romantic lead in Universal Pictures’ Reminders of Him (2026) as a character who is gentle yet deeply emotional. The film has a strong dramatic tone of redemption and forgiveness to it, which Withers nailed with his intense performance. It would be interesting to see if he can play a lighter yet equally suave character in a romantic comedy.
Mae Whitman knows about sisterhood, but what does she know about bourbon? New half-hour comedy Whisper Sisters pilot has cast Whitman (Good Girls) and Emily Meade (The Leftovers) following the women as they navigate the male-dominated world of Kentucky bourbon during the Prohibition era.
Whitman’s chemistry with her fellow mothers-turned-robbers in NBC’s Good Girls, along with her beautifully realistic bond with Lauren Graham’s character in the Parenthood series, demonstrates the actress’s ability to make on-screen relationships feel authentic and lived in. Whisper Sisters will begin filming this summer in Kentucky.
Tidbits:
British singer-songwriter PinkPantheress (aka Victoria Walker) is joining the top-secret Daniels’ film at Universal alongside a growing cast led by Matt Damon. The “Stateside” singer has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the BRIT Producer of the Year Award and picking up two Grammy noms. Her addition poses even more questions as to what the EEAAO filmmakers have up their sleeves.
Dylan Douglas, the son of Hollywood legend Michael Douglas, gets his first movie role in the Jewish mobster film Killing Hitler. The film follows an American gangster named Ben who plans to assassinate Hitler in 1933 Berlin. Douglas will portray the early years of Ben, while the later years will be played by David Arquette (Scream franchise). It’s great to see Dylan picking up the acting mantle.
Obit:
Josh Grisetti, best known for his appearance in Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, dies at 44. He was also a prolific Broadway actor, performing in the musical Something Rotten!, which was nominated for 10 Tony Awards.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Oscilloscope Laboratories gets into body horror. They’ve just picked up North American rights to the SXSW indie horror drama/comedy Bagworm, the feature debut of director Oliver Bernsen.
The film follows a sexually frustrated hammer salesman whose life begins to collapse when he steps on a rusty nail.
We like this pickup for them. Oscilloscope tends to do more drama, but with the resurgence of horror they’re charging in with a strong entry.
South Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s new film Nowhere to Lay My Eyes has been acquired by Cinema Guild (U.S. Dist: On the Beach at Night Alone, Winner of Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival). This acquisition was made before the film’s premiere at the Locarno Film Festival next month.
Japan’s TBS and A. Smith & Co. Productions (Prod Co: American Ninja Warrior) is bringing a luck-based competition, Dumb Luck, to the U.S. Originally titled Kisuke, the series will follow a group of contestants as they try to overcome various obstacles based on pure luck.
ON THIS DAY
1969. Easy Rider is released.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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