Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Trump’s Tariffs, Homer’s Doughnuts, and a Poser.
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
After 20 years, The Simpsons will return to theaters in 2027.
President re-ups call for a 100% tariff on foreign-made films.
Comcast elevates Michael J. Cavanagh to co-CEO.
Amazon MGM buys untitled WAGs comedy from Morgan Lehmann.
Netflix orders YA drama Poser.
Prime Video adapting Dan Turèll’s Murder in the Dark into series.
Peacock adapting Vigilante podcast from Patrick Macmanus (Dr. Death).
ABC greenlights RJ Decker series.
Emma Thompson stars in Apple TV+’s Down Cemetery Road.
Bette Midler joins Jonah Hill in comedy Cut Off.
Patricia Clarkson joins Netflix’s Ransom Canyon S2.
Bill Murray leads golf travel show Off Course for BBC/Paramount+.
A24 picks up Michael Shanks’ new feature Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel.
Black Bear acquires Tuner for domestic release.
South Africa picks The Heart is a Muscle for Oscars. China selects blockbuster Dead to Rights.
Netflix orders George Kay’s The Case, a detective thriller.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
After 20 years, The Simpsons will finally return to theaters.
Disney has officially set July 23, 2027, for a new Simpsons movie, marking the franchise’s second big-screen outing.
The first Simpsons Movie (2007), directed by David Silverman, grossed $536M worldwide, and was a bit of a cultural phenomenon - trailer. I still get that Spider Pig song stuck in my head.
In the first movie, the stakes for Springfield were high, the entire town had become a quarantine zone due to pollution, and the president’s solution was to throw a big dome over Springfield, and then later a bomb. Even with the world ending being the forefront, the jokes still flowed, a mixture of slapstick and jokes aimed at long-time fans. Though at the center was a kernel of family love that really grounded the whole thing, it was unexpectedly special.
With the family hitting their 37th season, will this be as good as the first film, or could it signal a closing chapter?
The president re-launched his desire to implement a tariff against the film industry:
“I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”
He tweeted something identical last May. So what’s changed since then?
CA has doubled its state tax incentives to $750M/year
Hollywood’s special ambassadors, Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson, proposed a 120% tariff on any money a production receives from foreign tax incentives.
E.g., If a film gets $10M to shoot in Poland from the country’s tax credits, they would receive a US tariff of $12M
No material developments have been made on:
Commerce Department and U.S. trade representatives’ tariff plans
A $7.5bn federal tax credit proposed by the film industry
So that brings us right back to where we were in May. Here’s our deep dive into what 100% tariffs would mean for the film industry: https://theindustry.co/p/trumps-tariffs-bad-for-the-industryor
As of Jan. 1st, 2026, Michael J. Cavanagh will officially begin his new position as co-CEO of Comcast, joining long-time leader Brian Roberts, who will remain as executive chairman and co-CEO.
Cavanagh joined the company as CFO back in 2015 and has managed all areas of Comcast’s business, including its whopping $124 bn annual revenue. The leadership shift comes amid Comcast’s plan to spin off its several networks into one new public entity, (the heavily reported) Versant. Cavanagh has already played an instrumental role in the company’s structural transformation, with Versant Media Group set to launch by the end of the year, just before he takes on his new title.
Sony is spinning off Sony Financial Group. They’ll be listing the $9.5bn business on the Tokyo stock exchange. Sony Pictures Entertainment will now represent a larger portion of Sony. Moving from roughly 9% of Sony’s revenue to 11%. This slight shift indicates that Sony is becoming a more entertainment-focused company. Hopefully, increasing investment in the studio.
Mini Tidbits:
Amazon MGM has bought the rights to an untitled WAGs (wives and girlfriends of high-profile sports players) comedy. From rising screenwriter Morgan Lehmann (wri. Bless this Mess). The film is described as a female-driven sports comedy reminiscent of Miss Congeniality, but specific plot details are being kept under wraps.
YA hour-long drama series, Poser, has been picked up by Netflix, exploring the world of toxic female friendships. The eight-episode series comes from Lauren Iungerich, the co-creator of the streamer’s popular dramedy On My Block (2018-21). Her new show is the first project since Iungerich signed an overall deal with Netflix.
From Danish literary icon Dan Turèll, Murder In The Dark is getting the adaptation treatment from Prime Video. The four-part series will follow an unnamed retired journalist reprised by Michael Falch, who played the role in the 1986 film version. Filming is underway in Copenhagen.
James Gunn’s Superman has drawn 13M HBO Max viewers in just 10 days, the biggest release since Barbie. Giving the DCU another big win. Season 2 of Peacemaker delights viewers and sets up a Lex Luthor team-up in Superman’s sequel, Man of Tomorrow.
Patrick Macmanus (Showrunner: Dr. Death) is adapting Kast Media’s Vigilante podcast into a scripted Peacock series. The show follows Tim Miller, a renowned Texas search and rescue operative who, after 38 years, believes he’s solved his own daughter’s murder. Currently in production.
Paramount grabs another sports property: Zuffa Boxing. This is a new type of pro boxing owned by Ari Emanuel’s TKO Group (parent company: UFC and WWE) and Sela (Saudi Arabian entertainment company). Jan 2026 Paramount will distribute the matches. It will go well with their UFC line-up (their other TKO deal for $7.7bn).
Mitchell Schwenz is the new DGA Head of Comms. Since 2024, he has been the DGA’s director of PR.
Greenlights:
ABC’s RJ Decker greenlit for full season following pilot order. This hails from Rob Doherty (creator/showrunner: CBS’s Elementary starring Lucy Liu). The series centers on a “disgraced newspaper photographer and ex-con who starts over as a private investigator.”
PBS’ Reading Room returns as a digital series for Sony’s Kidzuko YT channel.
Cancellations:
Hulu’s Mid Century Modern (cancelled after 1 season)
Trailers:
Netflix’s Jay Kelly
Cast: George Clooney and Adam Sandler
Theatrical release date: Nov 14
Netflix release: Dec 5
Disney’s Zootopia 2
Release date: Nov 26
MSNBC’s Andrew Young: The Dirty Work
Release: Oct 17th
The Vile
Prod: Roy Lee (Barbarian)
Premiere: BFI London
Wonder Projects’ upcoming Original Films & Series
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Emma Thompson goes True Detective. She stars in Apple TV+’s Down Cemetery Road series as a private investigator tasked with finding a missing girl who disappears after her home explodes.
Thompson just played a quasi-amateur detective in Vertical’s latest Dead of Winter (trailer). But the tone of that film is pretty morose. The Apple TV+ series is effervescent.
In Down Cemetery Road , Thompson keeps a straight face as the world around her seems to get increasingly zany (trailer). Her brand of stand-offishness, fine-tuned in the last two Bridget Jones films, always lets you know she’s in on the joke.
Release date Oct 29.
Tidbits:
Oscar-nominated Bette Midler (Hocus Pocus) will star in Cut Off with Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig. A comedy about two wealthy siblings who are suddenly cut off financially by their parents and are forced to adapt to a new, less extravagant lifestyle. Midler will be playing the matriarch of the family, dealing out the punishment.
The sophomore season of Netflix’s western Ransom Canyon adds Patricia Clarkson (Far from Heaven) as a guest star. While the actress has not really ventured into westerns, she did play a prominent role in one of the streamer’s first big hits in the final season of House of Cards (scenes). Production is currently underway in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Kristin Chenoweth is fully embracing the multi-cam sitcom life as she is set to lead a new untitled comedy with NBC and writer Alissa Neubauer (Call Me Kat). Chenoweth will play the director of a local church choir, where she’ll be singing her way towards redemption.
Shame’s Nicole Beharie is joining Netflix’s All the Sinners Bleed in a series regular role. Best known as Michael Fassbender's date in Shame, who gives him a tough time (clip). In the Netflix drama, Beharie will play a supportive girlfriend. The series is set to premiere late next year.
Bill Murray goes unscripted. Well, that’s most of his roles. But he’s actually leading BBC and Paramount+’s Off Course. It’s a travel golf show that shows some of the most beautiful courses in Ireland (first look image). Murray started off as a caddie in Chicago (actually, so did I), and of course, some of his best film moments are from Caddyshack (gopher scene).
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
A24 takes Neon director’s next film. After his successful debut, the Sundance body-horror, Together, director Michael Shanks’ next project, Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel, is now in the very capable hands of A24.
Shanks’ character-driven Together (trailer) dissected (in a very graphic way) the complexities of human connection and the fragile architecture of relationships. While not science fiction like his new feature, Shanks demonstrated his willingness to take storytelling to the extreme, fully embracing unflinching intensity and raw intimacy, a boldness that could thrive within the sci-fi genre.
All we know of his “mind-bending” feature Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel is that it’s centered on a man who wakes up in a mysterious hotel room and must escape. While the script does sound pretty Neon-esque, A24 won the rights in a heated bidding, with production set to begin shortly.
Black Bear buys another one of its films for domestic release. Black Bear, the financier, production company, and now domestic film distributor (recently announcing a bold 12 films/year releasing in the US), has picked up another one of its festival titles, Tuner.
The film premiered at Telluride and played at TIFF. It is directed by Daniel Roher (Navalny) and stars Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman.
Synopsis:
A talented piano tuner’s meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.
It’s always great to see a prolific doc director hit their first narrative film in such a big way. Black Bear served as the prod co/financier. No word on release date
Tidbits:
Outlander’s Steven Cree is writing and starring in Ben & Lucy, an addiction drama feature worlds different from the 18th-century Scottish Starz show that put him on the map (scene). Cree is partnering with Finite Films & TV (Good Grief) with the film following a middle-aged comedian, Ben (Cree), and his estranged daughter Lucy, who is beginning to fall into the same patterns of addiction. Set in Glasgow, the character study is currently in its pre-production stage.
Clever Creature, through its sister company Fast Motion Films, has optioned remake rights to three Roger and Julie Corman titles: The Haunting (1992) -Trailer, The Terror Within (1989) - Trailer, and Battle Queen 2020 (2001). Announced at the Toronto Film Festival, the deal was structured with ACE Film HK Limited Entertainment, with Hong Kong producer Mike Leeder brokering. Remakes will be released in both 2D theatrical and immersive formats. Clever Creature will lead international sales.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
South Africa picks The Heart is a Muscle (trailer), a multi-generational drama as their choice for the 98th Academy Awards. The feature-length debut from Cape Town filmmaker Imran Hamdulay, the film follows a man who, through his own self-reflection, learns how to become the father and husband he always wanted to be.
Summer blockbuster, Dead to Rights (trailer), is China’s official candidate for the International Feature category at the upcoming Oscars. Earning $417M at China’s box office, Dead to Rights is set during the chilling 1937 Nanjing Massacre, centered on a humble postman who secretly houses civilians and Chinese soldiers.
Tomorrow is the last day for countries to submit their official selections for representation at the Oscars.
A Korean remake of an Anne Hathaway/Robert De Niro film…
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