Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Sean Penn’s Friends, Amazon’s Shots, and Pulp.
Let’s go!
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In honor of Flag Day this past weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing filmmakers Andrew and Melissa Shea, who shared what inspired them to make their doc, Flag Day.
It’s a wonderfully warm documentary about how people from all walks of life create the tapestry of the small town of Three Oaks, MI. From an octogenarian school bus driver to prom queens to local heroes, the people of this town come together to create the largest Flag Day celebration in America.
The paradox of the film: the years it took to get to know their subjects, and the 6 days it took to shoot.
Full interview + trailer here.
Two months after securing his third Academy Award, Sean Penn is stepping back from acting as he prepares for his seventh feature as a director, a politically charged drama centered on the January 6 Capitol riot for Warner Bros.
Penn will write and direct the untitled feature, with Bradley Cooper being eyed for the leading role as a cop who gets mixed up in the 2021 riots.
Cooper’s character may be similar to Penn’s most recent in PTA’s One Battle After Another as the deeply insecure and cruel military officer Lockjaw. Or it could share DNA with his psychologically burned to the brim EMT in Vertical’s Asphalt City (2023).
Penn’s new film is described as “an unexpected story about friendship,” which is vague enough for me to imagine that, within this setting, both friends will push each other to the brink of madness. Much like in Asphalt City and even his brief but wild romance in OBAA with Teyana Taylor.
But beyond drawing from the great films he has been in, Penn would be wise to study his own: Into the Wild (2007).
That’s a film that forces you to think it’s about isolation, when the true message is about friendship, ending with the quote:
“Happiness is only real when shared.”
Penn and Cooper feel like a natural pairing, and if they can carve a personal, heartfelt story about connection and retribution against this political backdrop, it will be one to watch.
Shooting mid-2027.
For More:
Asphalt City trailer.
Into the Wild trailer.
OBAA trailer.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Hulu develops high-end NYC real estate drama The Pinnacle.
Republic Pictures picks up sports doc Mighty Mary, narrated by Hugh Jackman.
UCP and UIS merge into Universal Global Television, led by Beatrice Springborn.
Sony Pictures will distribute Greta Gerwig’s Narnia internationally.
Amazon MGM picks up Jason Momoa action-comedy Shots! Shots! Shots!
LaKeith Stanfield joins Netflix’s Monsanto courtroom drama.
Ariana Greenblatt will star in romcom Egg Baby for Amazon MGM.
Samantha Morton joins Phoebe Dynevor in Amazon crime thriller Dirty.
Mubi acquires Garth Jennings’ Pulp reunion-tour doc for worldwide distribution.
BBC Studios is developing a live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service series.
Yesterday’s correct answer: 2005, The Comeback S1 release year.
57% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Hulu is developing a series based on the world of high-end New York real estate, The Pinnacle, EP by George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth (It’s Complicated). The show follows an ambitious real estate agent as he tries to secure a permanent place in New York’s super-rich circles.
Paramount Pictures’ Republic Pictures picks up Mighty Mary, a sports documentary from Skydance Sports and Olympian turned filmmaker Mary Mazzio (Underwater Dreams). Narrated by Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Banks, the film follows the first all-women’s sailing team to compete for the America’s Cup. Premiering June 18th at the Nantucket Film Festival.
Universal Content Productions (UCP) and Universal International Studios (UIS) are combining to make one studio, Universal Global Television (UGT). The consolidation seemed inevitable, as former Pixar exec Beatrice Springborn was the president of both groups and will lead the now-merged UGT.
Mini Tidbits:
Sony Pictures will distribute Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew internationally. The domestic distribution of the original Netflix film will be handled by the streamer itself.
Amazon MGM picks up action-comedy Shots! Shots! Shots! starring Jason Momoa. The project was previously developed by Universal and is being described as a family-centric adventure that feels like a mixture of True Lies (1994) and Liam Neeson’s Taken.
Content Partners (Hollywood investment firm that owns The CSI franchise) gets a new funding deal from Carlyle Global Credit (Credit investment arm of The Carlyle Group).
“It’s astounding!” Las Vegas’ The Sphere has set The Rocky Horror Picture Show as their next movie experience in 2027 after The Wizard of Oz passed $400M in sales.
Renewals:
Apple TV’s The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy (for S4)
Prime Video’s Bloodaxe (for S2 ahead of its S1 2027 premiere)
Disney+’s Rivals (for S3)
Trailers:
DreamWorks’ Shrek 5
Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Zendaya
Release: Summer 2027
Netflix’s Heartstopper Forever
Release: Jul. 17
Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (S4)
Release: Jul. 23
National Geographic’s Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston
Release: Jul. 23
GKIDS’ Cocoon - One Summer of Girlhood
U.S. theatrical release: Sept. 4
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
LaKeith Stanfield (I Love Boosters) joins the new Netflix courtroom drama about the landmark legal trial against U.S. chemical company Monsanto.
Directed by John Lee Hancock (Dir: Netflix’s The Highwaymen), the untitled film will follow attorney Brent Wisner (Jonathan Bailey), who took a case against the chemical company Monsanto on behalf of Dewayne Lee Johnson (Stanfield), who used the company’s most popular pesticide, Roundup, at a high school. Wisner and Johnson won the seemingly impossible case, getting awarded $289M and the discovery that Roundup causes cancer.
Stanfield excels at being a vulnerable victim, such as a man trapped inside his own head in Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). His performance changed the atmosphere of the film. He has a softness and an explosiveness that this role needs, and we think he is perfect for the courtroom drama.
Ariana Greenblatt is officially a parent to an Egg Baby.
From XYZ Films, comedy director Natalia Anderson (Black-ish) is directing Egg Baby, a new coming-of-age romcom.
The Now You See Me: Now You Don’t actress will play yet another angsty teenager, this time tasked with co-parenting an egg for her health class alongside the precious quarterback. From the anarchic Tiny Tina in the live-action Borderlands to her moody Barbie skeptic Sasha, Greenblatt has become Hollywood’s go-to actress for witty but emotionally guarded teens, making the health-class assignment from hell feel right in her wheelhouse.
Amazon MGM Studios has picked up Egg Baby to release worldwide.
Tidbits:
Samantha Morton (Morvern Callar) joins the cast of Amazon crime thriller Dirty, starring Phoebe Dynevor (Fair Play). The show follows trainee detective Eva Bennett (Dynevor), who joins a new homicide investigation led by her estranged mother and legendary detective Lois Mercer (Morton). Matt Charman (Wri: Bridge of Spies) will write and produce the new crime series.
Young actress Millicent Simmonds first blew audiences away in the A Quiet Place films, but now she will both star and write Grace, a crime thriller feature. The film marks the first project from Inevitable Foundation’s Inevitable Studios, which aims to craft stories through a unique disability lens. Details are being kept under wraps, but Grace is centered on a deaf teenager who begins to unravel the violent secrets of her family’s past. Shooting will begin early 2027, marking a major step up for Simmonds in her career both in front of and behind the camera.
Mini Tidbits:
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come) and Rudy Pankow (Reminders of Him) join supernatural romance Thud. The film follows the Grim Reaper and the Devil’s meet-cute at a three-day destination wedding, where they’ve each come to sow their own chaos. Gellar plays the Grim Reaper, and Pankow will play the Devil. The film is directed by Mali Elfman, the composer Danny Elfman’s daughter.
One of Heated Rivalry’s breakout actors, François Arnaud, is joining Hulu’s Count My Lies, set to share the screen alongside leading ladies Lindsay Lohan and Shailene Woodley. In a recurring role, he’ll play a good friend to Lohan’s gorgeous and wealthy Violet, who hires a compulsive liar (Woodley) as her family’s new nanny. The limited series is expected to drop later this year.
Dallas actor William Smithers has passed away at 98. While he didn’t shoot J.R., Smithers’ Jeremy Wendell was a powerful and diabolical oil tycoon, whose constant schemes made him one of Dallas’ most formidable men (scene). The character actor guest-starred on countless shows throughout the 70s and 80s, like Star Trek and Hawaii Five-0.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Sing director Garth Jennings is turning his attention from animated singing animals to documentary filmmaking with Pulp: What Do You Do for an Encore? Acquired by Mubi for worldwide distribution, the musical feature follows the iconic Britpop band Pulp during their acclaimed 2024 reunion tour and includes four decades of never-before-seen archival material.
While they are best known for their arthouse films, Mubi has built a strong documentary slate in recent years, like Steve McQueen’s Occupied City (2023), and the Martin Scorsese-narrated Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024). Pulp marks the studio’s first foray into music documentaries, set for a fall premiere exclusively on Mubi.
Tidbits:
Biographical dramas have become Alejandro Monteverde’s calling card. The Sound of Freedom director is set to write and direct a feature biopic on Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí. An incredibly influential figure in Spain, the film will explore the inner battles and spiritual revolution he experienced as he transformed Barcelona’s legendary skyline into what it is. After tackling child trafficking in Sound of Freedom (2023) and chronicling the life of Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini in Cabrini (2024), Monteverde has carved out a niche for faith-driven portraits of extraordinary real-life figures and true experiences.
New York-based indie studio Curious Gremlin (Our Hero, Balthazar) is developing a feature adaptation of author Ava Reid’s gothic Lady Macbeth. The feminist retelling of Shakespeare’s play is told from the overlooked lens of the famously complex Lady Macbeth herself. Oscar nominee Emma Donoghue, who beautifully adapted Room (2015), will pen the screenplay, and BAFTA-nominated Skogland (The Handmaid’s Tale) is attached to direct.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A collaboration we didn’t know we needed. Studio Ghibli’s beloved Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989, trailer) is being made into a live-action series by BBC Studios.
One of the lighter and more wholesome movies from Ghibli’s near-perfect resume, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the adorable titular young witch as she forges her own path by starting her own flying delivery service.
From BBC Studios Kids & Family and Japan’s Kadokawa Corporation, the first season will feature ten thirty-minute episodes.
New production banner titled Black Harbor launches in Vancouver. The founding partners include the location manager of A24’s Backrooms (2026), Jacob Bailey, and the line producer of Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs (2024), Jonathan J.J. Dubois. The company will focus on locally shooting international projects and overseeing the entire production of a project through to delivery.
Canadian animator and two-time Oscar nominee Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back) is making a Christmas special, The Anta Claus of the South Pole.
ON THIS DAY
1936. Ken Loach born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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