Sony’s Profit… and a Problem
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Sony Pictures earns $354M in Q4 profit (↑70%).
Sony acquires hotly anticipated restaurant novel Aftertaste
Warner Bros. adapts viral rom-com novel Summer in the City.
The Williams sisters produce tennis biopic The Match.
Bob Odenkirk doesn’t pull any punches in Nobody 2 (Aug 15)
Naomi Watts plays Jackie Kennedy in American Love Story.
Daniel Day-Lewis stars in son’s directorial debut Anemone (Oct 3).
Krysten Ritter returns in Daredevil: Born Again S2.
Kelvin Harrison Jr. joins Hunger Games prequel.
Michael Cera launches his directorial debut at Cannes Market.
Actor Tim Blake Nelson directs Amanda Seyfried in prison romance.
Robert Benton (Dir: Kramer vs. Kramer, co-writer: Bonnie and Clyde) passes away at 92.
Vertical acquires Eye For An Eye, a horror film.
Alexandre O. Philippe (Lynch/Oz) directs a doc on Kim Novak and Vertigo.
Jordan ups film tax rebate to 45% for productions over $10M.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Sony Pictures Entertainment Q4 2024 results. Plus the delta from last year:
$2.7 bn revenue
No change
$354M profit
↑ 70%
For the full year SPE’s operating income was $774M (↓ 4%).
Paddington in Peru helped boost theater revenue, while Venom 3 was the top-performing film of the fiscal year with $479M.
Sony, the only major Hollywood studio headquartered outside the U.S., acknowledged the impact of tariffs, expressing uncertainty around their severity and the possible impact on future quarters.
Tidbit:
Just a week out from its publication date, Sony scored the film rights to Aftertaste, a novel set in the world of NYC restaurants from rising literary talent Daria Lavelle, which centers on a man who can taste ghosts' favorite food. The debut novel from Lavelle is one of the most anticipated releases of the year and will be hitting shelves on May 20th. Seems like a combo of Ghost (1990) and The Bear.
Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema is adapting Alex Aster’s viral novel Summer in the City. The novel follows a screenwriter and a big-time tech CEO who go from lovers to enemies and back to lovers again. No writer, director, or cast is currently attached. But the power dynamic is interesting and might lead to some fiery on-screen chemistry.
Nonnas writer Liz Macie is working again with One Community (Nonnas, Just Mercy) alongside the Williams sisters to adapt a real-life tennis story titled The Match. The film is based on the 2004 novel The Match: Althea Gibson & Angela Buxton: How Two Outsiders - One Black, the Other Jewish - Forged a Friendship and Made Sports History, written by Bruce Schoenfeld. With Challengers earning nearly $100M worldwide last year, there may be a larger appetite for tennis films.
David O. Russell's upcoming Amazon MGM Studios film Madden centers on iconic coach and broadcaster John Madden. Check Nicolas Cage as John Madden and Christian Bale as Al Davis in this first look photo.
New Series:
ABC’s 9-1-1: Nashville (premiering in the fall)
CW’s Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent
FX/Hulu release date calendar:
The Bear (Season 4)
Starring: Jeremy Allen White
Creator: Christopher Storer
Premiere Date: June 25 on Hulu
Alien: Earth
Starring: Sydney Chandler
Creator: Noah Hawley
Premiere Date: August 12 on FX & Hulu (first two episodes)
The Lowdown
Starring: Ethan Hawke
Creator: Sterlin Harjo
Premiere Date: September 23 on FX
Chad Powers
Star: Glen Powell
Creator: Glen Powell & Michael Waldron
Premiere Date: September 30, 2025 on Hulu (first two episodes)
Mini Tidbits:
After two decades as a motion picture agent, Harley Copen is leaving CAA for 3 Arts Entertainment. The successful, mostly comedy-based, management and production company has previously backed shows like The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Netflix picks up Sundance music doc Selena Y Los Dinos (2025) for $6M - $7M. Releasing in the winter.
Disney’s viewership for their ad-supported tier jumps 4% to 164M viewers across all three of their streaming platforms (Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+).
Daniel Day-Lewis is back on the big screen on October 3rd, starring in his son’s debut, Anemone. Focus Features releases. Full project details and first look photos here: https://theindustry.co/p/daniel-day-lewis-is-back
Snow White lands on PVOD 54 days after it’s premiere. Disney typically has a large 45-60 day exclusive window, but after the film performed poorly on the re-release earning a paltry $351/screen across 1330 theaters, this is the most strategic move. It will move to Disney+ sometime in June or July.
Prolific French actor Gérard Depardieu has received an 18-month suspended sentence for sexual assault, meaning he will not serve time in prison unless convicted of another crime.
Steve Pepoon, Emmy-winning Simpsons writer and co-creator of The Wild Thornberrys, has died at 68. A Kansas native, he wrote for ALF, Roseanne, Garry Shandling’s Show, and more.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Kate Mara vampire hunter. Mara will star in She Kills Them as a woman living a double life, by day struggling with her dating life and by night seducing vampires and killing them for the government. We like this role for her as Mara is able to flick on and off her intensity with the quickest of breaths. Look no further than how she works, Kevin Spacey in House of Cards (don’t let me keep you clip). Tea Shop Films (The Surfer) produces. No word on shoot dates.
Oh, and if you want to see a first look at Mara in Werner Herzog’s Bucking Fastard along with her sister Rooney Mara, check out this image.
Ryan Murphy’s American Love Story has cast Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy. The series follows the courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Kelly) and Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon), including their tragic deaths. Watts brings a poised vulnerability and a Mulholland Drive-like innocence that will echo Jackie’s charm. Watts is already deep in the Ryan Murphy world, previously starring in FX’s Swans.
Also, check her out in the new Hulu’s All’s Fair (also a Murphy production). She plays a power lawyer opposite Kim Kardashian (trailer) ready to employ a very dirty box of tricks to win big settlements for her divorce clients.
Waves’s Kelvin Harrison Jr. has been cast as the highly intelligent and resourceful Beetee Latier in the upcoming prequel film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. An elder Beetee was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), who, strangely enough, also played Harrison’s father in the 2018 Netflix movie Monster. This is now the second prior father and son duo, as Jesse Plemmons was announced to play a young Plutarch, who in the original trilogy was previously portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who starred as his father in PTA’s The Master (2012).
The anticipated Lionsgate adaptation and fifth feature in the franchise heads to theaters on Nov. 20th, 2026.
Tidbits:
Bob Odenkirk is back for Nobody 2. Watching Odenkirk transform from his scheming, squeamish portrayal of Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad to the ultimate revenge-seeking dad action-hero is just inspiring. This time he’s back for more as he tries to take his family on a vacation that gets… interrupted (trailer featuring a maniacal Sharon Stone). Universal releases Aug 15th.
The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey's next project will be Sunny Dancer, a coming-of-age dramedy from director George Jaques. Set for a 2026 theatrical release, the film follows Ivy, a teen in cancer remission, reluctantly attending a summer camp. Now filming in Scotland. First look.
Krysten Ritter is officially returning as Jessica Jones in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 on Disney+, as announced at Disney’s Upfronts. Jessica Jones, a superpowered detective, teamed up with Daredevil in their NY-centric team, The Defenders. Currently shooting.
FESTIVALS
Cannes Market additions. Click here for new projects, including Michael Cera’s directorial debut. A film starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Green. And one from Mandy’s Panos Cosmatos, whose blood-saturated imagery births new dimensions in cinema. His film stars Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, and now Elisabeth Olsen: https://theindustry.co/p/cannes-market-2025
The State of Animation, According to the Collision Awards Jury
Top artists and leaders in animation and motion design share their perspectives on industry trends.
The Collision Awards celebrates the creativity and technical talent among animators and motion designers in Digital Communication, Commercials, Television, Film, Experiential, Games & XR. Check out their recent trend report “Animation in Motion” to learn about the current state of the industry. How are teams actually using AI? What types of work are clients commissioning? Which styles are “in” and which are “out?” Some of the answers surprised us. And if you're making animation or motion graphics, enter before their deadline May 30th, 2025.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Three-time Academy Award winner Robert Benton has passed away at 92. He directed one of the best marital dramas of all time, Kramer vs. Kramer, which won five Oscars, including Best Picture. His career got supercharged when he co-wrote the script for Bonnie and Clyde (1967, trailer). It’s hard to understate the seismic impact that film had on the American film industry. Coupled with The Graduate (1967) those two works tore apart the stasis of the Hollywood studio system, ushering in the auteurs of the late 60s - early 80s.
Benton broke down his influence:
“The French New Wave allowed us to write a more complex morality, more ambiguous characters, more sophisticated relationships.”
In Kramer vs. Kramer (one of 11 films he directed), Benton captured a devastating yet heart-warming portrait of a father (Dustin Hoffman) whose wife (Meryl Streep) divorces him and is thrust into the role of caretaker for his young son (trailer).
Modern cinema owes a great debt to Benton.
Tim Blake Nelson, who has a face you can’t forget (image), is also a director. His 6th feature is the new prison break thriller, The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd, starring Amanda Seyfried.
In the film, her character, a former teacher leaving an abusive marriage, starts work at a maximum security prison and falls in love with someone she would’ve never expected… an inmate.
Nelson shared:
“Getting to work with [Amanda] on Mona Fastvold’s film Ann Lee last summer confirmed for me what an extraordinary person she is aside from her great talent.”
Production is currently underway in Georgia.
Tidbits:
Independent Film Company (formerly IFC) acquires 100 Nights of Hero. It’s a dark fairy tale that centers on a charming house guest who stumbles into a castle inhabited by an innocent bride (Longlegs’ Maika Monroe) and a maid (Emma Corrin). Julia Jackman writes and directs. Her previous feature, Bonus Track (trailer) has a polite charm, and is an emotional fairy tale with very grounded visuals. It will be interesting to see how her new film plays out. No word on release date. Richard E. Grant and Felicity Jones also star.
Dogwoof scoops up international sales rights to Kim Novak’s Vertigo, a biopic doc from Alexandre O. Philippe, whose work is for film nerds, by a film nerd. Look no further than his previous Lynch/Oz (trailer) that dissected the crossover between the director and the famous film. Expect a blend of archival, V.O., and an interesting exploration of how Novak’s identity blurred with her iconic role in Vertigo.
Mediapro Studios (Midnight in Paris) has secured the film adaptation rights to action-packed adventure story The Museum of Cursed Artifacts, an upcoming novel by Evan Spiliotopoulos (2017’s Beauty and the Beast). The bidding for the anticipated novel was described as heavily competitive, but it is in its earliest stages with no directors or cast attached.
Industry veteran Alison Cohen has been brought on by Neon as General Counsel, President of Business & Legal Affairs. In her new position, Cohen will oversee activities in development, production, finance, acquisitions, and distribution. Previously, she worked for 16 years at FilmNation Entertainment, EPing several acclaimed films like Conclave (2024) and Promising Young Woman (2020).
Mini Tidbits:
Vertical has acquired Eye For An Eye, a horror film starring Whitney Peak and directed by Colin Tilley. Written by Elisa Victoria, the film follows a grieving teen haunted by a vengeful spirit. Release is on June 20 in select theaters and on demand
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Chile is coming into Cannes hot! Their first film making an appearance is The Wave (premiere section), a musical inspired by Chilean feminist protest from Oscar-winning filmmaker Sebastián Lelio (Gloria), which was picked up by FilmNation ahead of the festival.
Another Chilean title, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Un Certain Regard), is a LGBTQ-themed drama set in a desert mining town made by Chilean director Diego Céspedes in his feature debut. These two big titles are being heavily pushed to help Chile attract new international shoots and expand the reach of their films.
Familiar Touch premiered at Venice and won Best Debut Film, Best Director, and Best Actor in the Horizons sections. It is a shockingly meditative tale of an elderly woman in a retirement home who begins to understand life more deeply. As cliche as that sounds, the trailer is anything but.
Wadi Rum! Jordan, whose alien-like desert has hosted shoots like Dune 2 and The Martian, is boosting its tax incentive to 45%, so long as the production spends over $10M and incorporates cultural elements.
ON THIS DAY
1979. Stalker, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky is released.
See you tomorrow!
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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