Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Sandra Bullock’s City, David Ellison’s Game, and a son-in-law.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Sony is reteaming Sandra Bullock with The Lost City writer-producer Dana Fox.
Warner Bros. developing Game of Thrones movie w/ Beau Willimon writing.
Paramount Skydance was placed on CreditWatch negative by S&P.
Ari Aster’s Square Peg signs a 2-year TV producing and dev deal with Media Res.
Physical creator Annie Weisman signs first-look deal with Apple TV+.
David Zaslav sold $114M worth of WBD stock.
Charlotte Rampling cast in Bertrand Bonello (The Beast)’s next film, Santo Subito!
David Oyelowo will play Long John Silver in a Treasure Island series for MGM+.
Prime Video cast Maisy Stella & Tatum Grace Hopkins in Life is Strange series.
Canal+ acquired The Widow Killer for five territories.
James Schamus (former Focus Features CEO) co-wrote Netflix’s The Son-in-Law.
Rich Spirit picked up Sundance title If I Go Will They Miss Me for nearly $1M.
Andrew Young (prod: Freaky Friday) has died at 58.
Banijay and RedBird IMI’s All3Media completed an $8bn merger.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Psycho was the remake starring Vince Vaughn.
56% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
The day after David Ellison announced GOT was his fav HBO show, Warner Bros. is making a prequel movie. No word on plot but the film will follow Aegon I, the first king on the iron throne, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, whose lineage spawned the Targaryens.
Beau Willimon has been tapped to write. This marks a massive win for the writer, who started his career when his play Farragut North which was adapted into the Gosling/Clooney political thriller The Ides of March. Later, he was tapped to write 73 episodes of House of Cards. And later 6 episodes of Andor, which many have lauded as the greatest Star Wars media since the original trilogy.
Willimon has a great way of telling sprawling, complex political stories that are Shakespearean.
Sandra Bullock is ready for her close up. Here’s the breakdown of her new studio film:
Studio: Sony
Wri/Prod: Dana Fox (The Lost City, starring Bullock + Tatum)
Star/Prod: Bullock
No word on plot details, but their last film together, The Lost City, was a fun, turn your brain off action comedy that cleared $192M (and was profitable!) Sounds like a winning combo.
Paramount Skydance goes negative. As the company is saddled with massive debt ($13.7bn) it was downgraded to “CreditWatch with negative implications” by credit ratings agency, S&P.
However, if the merger with WBD closes, S&P will re-assess, stating:
“We believe the acquisition of WBD will materially improve the company’s business profile by significantly expanding the breadth and depth of its content and IP; however, it will also increase its exposure to linear TV.”
Full breakdown on their downgrade here.
Ari Aster turns to TV. Lighting up your nightmares on the small screen, Aster and his company, Square Peg, signed a two-year deal with Media Res (The Morning Show, Pachinko) to produce and develop series.
This is a major step in terms of auteur filmmaking. Like Fincher, sliding into directing the first two episodes of Netflix’s House of Cards or Steven Soderbergh with The Knick.
Whatever Aster and co. make is going to be psychologically penetrating. And so dread-inducing, you’ll be glad you can watch it with the lights on.
Tidbits:
Showrunner Annie Weisman, the creator behind the Rose Byrne-led dramedy series Physical, signs a first look multi-year deal with Apple TV. Weisman’s contract extension comes just weeks before the premiere of her new Apple thriller series Imperfect Women starring Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Moss, and Kate Mara as three lifelong friends torn apart by crime.
David Zaslav is cashing in on some of his WBD stock, $114M to be exact. With the new PSKY/WBD merger agreement coinciding with the last Q4 numbers, it cleared the way for him to legally sell these shares. He is supposed to make a total of $600-700M when the deal closes. SEC filing here.
Mini Tidbits:
Fifth Season (Severance) and their longtime non-scripted EVP Mary Liso (History Channel’s Gettysburg) have launched Quite Contrary Pictures. Like the Emmy-winning Gettysburg, Quite Contrary will focus on a doc slate including docuseries and reality TV.
Even the luxury cinema chains are taking hits. iPic Theaters has filed for bankruptcy for a second time after reporting a significant decrease in ticket sales. Potential layoffs and theater closures are unknown at this time.
Days of Our Lives acting coach Maria O’Brien has passed away at 75. The coach and longtime TV actress had a career that spanned six decades, making guest appearances in shows like Murder, She Wrote, Magnum PI, CHiPs, and many more. She will be missed.
Versant (owner: CNBC, MS Now) full year and Q4 results here.
Zootopia 2 will stream on Disney+ March 11th. That’s 105 days in theaters. Boom!
Roku adds Apple TV to its premium subscriptions hub.
Renewals:
Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie (for S2)
S1 premieres July 9th
NBC’s Destinations X (for S2)
Trailers:
Prime’s Full Speed: The Daytona 500
Release: March 5
AMC’s The Audacity
Cast: Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis
Creator: Jonathan Glatzer
Release: April 12
Peacock’s The Miniature Wife
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks
Release: April 9
Joint Venture’s Two Women
Winners Sundance 2025, World Dramatic Special Jury Prize
Release: April 25
Berlinale’s Trial of Hein
Opening Film: Perspectives
Sales Rep: Heretic (prod co: Triangle of Sadness)
First look:
Netflix’s Tyler Perry’s Where There’s Smoke
16 episode series
Synopsis:
Follow a crew of firefighters as they battle high-stakes emergencies... and the personal fires that await them at home.
First look here.
Release dates:
History Channel’s World War II With Tom Hanks
Premiere: Memorial Day (May 25)
Prime’s The Legend of Vox Machina (S4)
Release: June 3rd
Paramount’s Scary Movie
Release: June 5 (moved one week earlier)
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
We’re salivating over director Bertrand Bonello (The Beast)’s next film, Santo Subito! Currently shooting in Rome. The cast includes Mark Ruffalo as a priest who must untangle myth and faith, while leading an investigation on whether to elevate a deceased Pope to sainthood.
He seems to play well in things driven by steadfast beliefs that get tainted (Spotlight, and the more extreme I Know This Much is True).
Charlotte Rampling just joined the cast - she plays a philosopher who traded intimate letters with the Pope. That’ll be sure to complicate Ruffalo’s journey. And we can see be sure that Rampling will be snide and hesitant to give up anything.
US Sales Rep: UTA + 2AM. International Sales Rep: Playtime.
Batten down the hatches, there’s a new Long John Silver on board. David Oyelowo (Selma) will sport a peg-leg and parrot on his shoulder in the upcoming series reimagining of Treasure Island, as the famous pirate set to navigate treacherous high seas and outwit a band of ruthless teenagers.
While Oyelowo has delivered intense performances like in Netflix’s The Gray Man (2022) or in HBO’s Nightingale, a full‑on swashbuckling villain like Long John Silver would be a notable first in that terrifying realm for the actor.
For MGM+ U.S. and Paramount+ U.K., the six-part coming-of-age adventure series is just beginning filming.
Tidbits:
Empire City from Dir: Michael Matthews (Love & Monsters) and starring Gerard Butler and Hayley Atwell adds Michael Imperioli who will play the mayor who responds to a hostage crisis. Danny Huston (Birth) joins as the snarling heir to a vast fortune whose secrets will be exposed. The film centers on a firefighter and his NYPD wife who must fight and navigate through a landmark building to rescue hostages during a crisis. Filming just wrapped.
Prime Video has found its leads for another video game adaptation, this time Life is Strange, an emotional choice-driven narrative game about a teen who can rewind time. Maisy Stella and Tatum Grace Hopkins will play the leads and Charlie Covell will serve as showrunner with LuckyChap, Story Kitchen, and Square Enix producing. Original game trailer.
More casting tidbits:
HBO’s The Gilded Age
Fox’s Baywatch
NBC’s Puzzled
All those casting tidbits and more here.
FESTIVALS
Canal+ makes the latest buy of the now-concluded London TV Screenings:
The Widow Killer (German series)
Synopsis:
Follows a rookie Czech detective who is forced to team with a Gestapo agent to track down a serial killer in German-occupied Prague during World War II.
Canal+ bought for 5 territories, including Belgium and the Netherlands.
Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, has his contract renewed for 2027 and 2028. He’s been great at programming a festival that both attracts bigger studio pics and also cultivates new artistic voices. Last year’s lineup had some incredible cinema.
Sundance CDMX is back for its 3rd edition. Running from April 30 to May 3, Mexico City-centered Sundance brings films from around the world to the famous Cinépolis Diana theater. More info here.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
James Schamus (former Focus Features CEO) is getting back into writing.
Schamus co-wrote the new Netflix film, The Son-in-Law, a Mexican tragicomedy which follows José Sánchez, a man born a hustler with a great mustache who turns into a ruthless political strategist.
Over the years, Schamus has written or co-written:
Indignation (2016)
Hulk (2003)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
The Ice Storm (1997)
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Schamus has a way of letting his characters wiggle into moral questions of character so this feels like a good fit. Produced with the Larraín brothers’ Fabula (Maria, Jackie). Releasing May 1.
Distributor Rich Spirit (The Apprentice) has picked up Sundance’s If I Go Will They Miss Me for nearly $1M. The film is based on the 2022 short (video) and won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.
Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Lil Ant struggles to connect with his father when he begins to see surreal, almost spectral visions of boys drifting around his neighborhood. Their presence reveals a link between father and son, laying bare the threads that bind family, legacy, and place.
This is a big win for producer Josh Peters (prod: Didi, EP: The Last Showgirl) who also produced Sundance’s Josephine starring Channing Tatum at Sundance, which just scored a large deal. Releasing this fall.
Tidbits:
Hamnet producer Hera Pictures announces Martha Hood (The Banshees of Inisherin) as Head of Development of Film. In her new leadership position she’ll identify bold, new projects for Hera to take on. Next for Hood she’ll EP the thriller The Return of Stanley Atwell, starring Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) and written by Steven Soderbergh.
Andrew Young has died at 58. He produced Freaky Friday (2003), Bad Santa 2 (2016), Cruella (2021), and Freakier Friday (2025). We love that his aesthetic was kids/family fare that could skew dark. He even at one point had a first look-deal set up at Disney.
Saban Films picks up North American rights for Atlas King starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as a mob boss. The film centers on an ex-fighter who comes home to bury his friend and joins forces with his godson to plot a heist targeting Gooding Jr.’s mob boss. No word on release date.
Benny Boom, the director behind the Tupac Shakur drama All Eyes on Me (2017) has found his next musical drama with Greenlight. Told across two timelines, the film will follow a gifted rapper who uses his natural abilities to get him out of his dangerous home life. It’s in its early stages.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Banijay and RedBird IMI’s All3Media have completed a blockbuster merger to create an $8bn global TV production powerhouse. The combined Banijay will unite massive libraries spanning Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, The Traitors, MasterChef, and more. The merged company combines scripted and unscripted hits from across the globe, generating roughly $5.1bn in annual revenue with over 260,000 hours of content.
An unexpected but welcomed deal in the world of European indie production, it comes not long after joint-investment venture RedBird IMI acquired the U.K. based All3Media in 2024. The new Banijay now stands as the largest independent producer worldwide, with the merger signaling a real effort from global production companies to band together to compete with the industry dominating streaming giants.
After five years, BBC chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva announced she will step down in September, becoming the third senior executive to leave the broadcaster in a matter of months. Her exit comes at an up in the air time for the BBC, with the company currently restructuring its product and technology divisions while managing their extensive cost-cutting efforts. Former chief product officer, Storm Fagan has been appointed to take Tavaziva’s place this fall.
Mini Tidbits:
A modern family that are balloons? Yes, that’s the premise for the animated show Betty Balloon. LevelK (Sebastian) has just boarded as the sales rep for worldwide rights, the film will launch on Danish TV2 this October. Cute photo here.
Alberta will cut roughly $35M from its Film and Television Tax Credit budget. The move raises concerns about the stability of incentives that have attracted Hollywood productions like The Last of Us and MGM+’s The Magnificent Seven remake to film in Canada.
ON THIS DAY
1922. Nosferatu premieres at the Berlin Zoological Garden in Germany.
Written by Gabriel Miller and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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