Tina Fey Makes Me Laugh
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Tina Fey, Jason Bourne, and a singing shark.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Tina Fey and Steve Carell have us in stitches in Netflix’s Four Seasons.
The Jason Bourne rights revert back to the Ludlum estate. Netflix and Apple are in discussions to acquire.
PT Anderson’s much-awaited new film, One Battle After Another, gives us a glimpse.
Apple is losing $1bn/year on Apple TV+.
Lionsgate just promoted Joel Meyer to EVP of worldwide TV production.
David Simon (creator: The Wire) has secured a two-year first-look deal with HBO.
Meet the Parents 4 finds a director
Sydney Sweeney stars in WB’s Reddit-inspired I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl.
Companion actor Rupert Friend is set to join the haunting serial killer thriller Edge of Normal.
Regé-Jean Page is set to star in a new adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Hot Docs has found an executive director in TIFF alum Diana Sanchez.
Film Movement takes North American rights for Berlin Film Festival’s Living the Land.
Oscilloscope buys Venice doc Mistress Dispeller.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
There is so much comedic royalty in the Four Seasons trailer.
The cast is incredible for the upcoming Netflix comedy series based on the 1981 Alan Alda film, which follows three couples navigating the fallout after one pair announces their divorce during a group vacation.
The Couples:
Kate (Tina Fey) and Jack (Will Forte)
Nick (Steve Carell) and Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver)
Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani)
Fey co-creates, co-showruns, writes, EPs, and stars in the show alongside fellow SNL alum Will Forte and Steve Carell. The series explores how the group’s dynamic unravels and reshapes over the course of four seasonal getaways.
The trailer looks like such a fun time. A special shout out to Steve Carell screaming in agony after he steps on an urchin.
Streaming May 1 on Netflix.
Universal’s agreement for the Jason Bourne rights, which they secured in 2008, is currently expiring.
They have reverted back to the Ludlum estate (author: Bourne Identity). And WME is shopping the rights to the highest bidders.
So far, these are the interested parties:
Apple
Skydance
Netflix
Universal
We haven’t had a Jason Bourne film in almost a decade. Universal’s Edward Berger (dir: Conclave) Bourne film seems to be stopped.
We love the films and hope the next studio can keep Bourne on the run.
We have our first glimpse at PT Anderson’s much-awaited new film, One Battle After Another.
Here’s the synopsis:
When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunites to rescue one of their own's daughter.
The film is based on Thomas Pynchon’s (author: Inherent Vice) Vineland.
Not much is offered in the teaser, but we glimpse a mean-as-nails Sean Penn catching Chase Infiniti (Presumed Innocent) and a watchful Leo sporting a rifle.
Warner Bros.'s new release date is September 26. Here’s the quick teaser.
Apple is the most valuable company in the world. So it tracks that all its subscription services would be doing very well. And they are, except for Apple TV+.
Here’s what we know:
$1bn/year in losses
45M subs
$5bn/year spent on content since launch in 2019
Here’s how Apple TV+ sub numbers stack:
301.6M subs - Netflix
124.6M subs - Disney +
116.9M subs - Warner Bros. Discovery
77.5M subs - Paramount+
53.6M subs - Hulu
45M subs - Apple
36M subs - Peacock
CEO Tim Cook has come down pretty hard on this division, and $500M was cut from the budget in 2024.
But Apple TV+ has a larger problem: high churn. After 6 months, over 65% of subscribers cancel. We would love to see a world where Apple finances 300x $1M indie films for the price of F1 and amass a big library, which would reduce their churn. But alas, that is not their strategy.
Tidbits:
David Simon (creator: The Wire) has secured a two-year first-look deal with HBO and a premium script deal with Sony Pictures Television. Known for writing, producing, and showrunning acclaimed shows like The Wire and The Corner, Simon’s work has earned Emmys, Peabody Awards, and a MacArthur grant. He also just signed with Gersh, meaning a new series could be coming shortly.
FX has signed an overall deal with Dave Andron, one of the network’s leading creators. Andron is the co-creator, writer and EP of Snowfall (2017 - 2023) and an EP and writer on Justified (2010 - 2015). Next up he will be working on the Snowfall spinoff series.
Disney's Shareholder Round-Up: Avatar: Fire and Ash - CEO Bob Iger, claims the first cut he has seen was "breathtaking” in theaters Dec 19th. Coco 2 - A sequel to the lovely Day of the Dead-focused animated feature is in development, shooting for a 2029 release.
John Hamburg (writer: Meet the Parents, Zoolander) is set to direct a fourth Meet the Parents film for Universal, with original stars Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, and Blythe Danner returning.
Mini Tidbit:
AMC’s The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 2. Trailer. Relead date: May 4th.
Double Lionsgate, Margaret Atwood, and a baseball film:
https://theindustry.co/p/double-lionsgate-and-a-baseball
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Sydney Sweeney will star and produce the thriller I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl for Warner Bros.
Eric Roth (writer: Forrest Gump, Dune: Part One) is adapting the 2021 Reddit post by a high school English teacher, Joe Cote.
The story centers on a drifter (Sweeney) who impersonates a missing girl ten years after she went missing to rob her family, only to realize it’s a terrible mistake. The drifter plans to convince the family she is their missing child and stay just for one night — but she soon uncovers the truth about the girl’s sinister disappearance…
Sweeney has produced several of her most recent films through her Fifty-Fifty Film banner, like her sinister horror, Immaculate, and hit rom-com Anyone But You (2023). The closest she’s been to the thriller genre is the claustrophobic HBO film Reality, where she’s accused of stealing government secrets. Missing Girl seems like it will drive her to a far creepier performance.
There is not yet a production status or a director attached to I Pretended to be a Missing Girl.
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Companion actor Rupert Friend is set to join Chloë Grace Moretz (Carrie) in a haunting serial killer thriller Edge of Normal, the first English-language feature film from director Carlotta Pereda (Piggy).
Here’s the synopsis:
Reeve LeClaire (Moretz) is still haunted from when she was held captive as a teenager by a sadistic man, but when her psychiatrist (Friend) asks her to mentor a newly rescued survivor, she’s pulled into a chilling game of cat-and-mouse.
Friend’s role as the CIA operative Peter Quinn in the universally acclaimed thriller series Homeland (2011-2020) thrust him into the spotlight in the early 2010s and became his longest-running character. Friend will next be seen in this summer’s blockbuster Jurassic World: Rebirth and in Wes Anderson’s, a director he frequents, in The Phoenician Scheme on May 30th.
From XYZ Films, Edge of Normal is expected to begin filming later this spring.
Bridgerton heartthrob Regé-Jean Page is set to star and produce a feature adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo with his A Mighty Stranger production banner and with independent studio Department M. While there have been several iterations of the classic novel, Page shared:
“We’re so excited to be bringing The Count Of Monte Cristo to global audiences, unlocking the depths of (author) Alexandre Dumas’ work in ways not seen yet.”
The film does not yet have a release date or an announced director attached.
Tidbits:
Wings Hauser, an actor known for Vice Squad and The Young and the Restless, died March 15 at 78. With a 58-year career in film, TV, and music. He leaves behind numerous projects and a lasting legacy in entertainment.
Dexter: New Blood actor David Magidoff is tapped to reprise his role as Iron Lake Police Department’s Teddy Reed in Showtime’s limited series Dexter’s Resurrection. The show is set to premiere early this summer on Paramount+.
J. Alphonse Nicholson joins HBO’s Lanterns as young John Senior, the father of the newest lantern recruit.
FESTIVALS
Film Movement takes North American rights for Berlin Film Festival’s 2025 Best Director winner, Living the Land, retitled The Wind is Unstoppable, from Chinese director Meng Huo.
Synopsis for this epic family tale:
In 1991 rural China, as villagers migrate to cities for better opportunities, 10-year-old Chuang remains in his hometown. The third child of his family navigates life during a time of sweeping national changes.
They will be released in 2026.
The financially struggling Hot Docs has found an executive director in Diana Sanchez. She has a strong pedigree as the former senior director of film and international programmer at TIFF.
She takes over from Interim executive director Janice Dawe, who replaced Marie Nelson, who became Hot Docs president in June 2023. Last year, Hot Docs reduced from 14 to three board members and closed its Toronto cinema for summer. The festival plunged into chaos as artistic director Hussain Currimbhoy and 10 programmers resigned last March due to the ongoing post-pandemic financial distress.
Hot Docs is the largest documentary festival in North America, championing the likes of Erroll Morris, Werner Herzog, and Barbara Kopple (Shut Up and Sing).
We look forward to Sanchez staging the 2025 festival, which runs from April 24 to May 4.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Japan’s Sharknado!!! Utopia has acquired North American rights for the wonderfully ridiculous B-movie Hot Spring Shark Attack. The film is chock full of CGI sharks, singing sharks, and sharks in a bathtub (trailer). This Japanese thriller-comedy is directed by Morihito Inoue. It had an incredible audience reception at the 2024 Tokyo International Shark Film Festival and will make its American debut at the 2025 Chattanooga Film Festival, with a summer release and a shark-themed party planned.
Oscilloscope buys Mistress Dispeller. The doc premiered at Venice in the Orizzonti section.
Here’s the official synopsis:
The work of a Chinese woman who practices unorthodox techniques to repair marital infidelity.
From Venice’s description:
Teacher Wang operates far outside the boundaries of conventional couples’ therapy. She fabricates scenarios in order to meet the husband and his mistress so she can understand their points of view. She’s a keen student of emotional triggers and doesn’t hesitate to employ small manipulations towards achieving the larger goal of reuniting the spouses.
Anonymous Content served as one of the production companies. Check out the trailer here. Releasing theatrically later this year.
Tidbits:
Founded by Yellowstone EP Bob Yari, Magenta Light Studios (Strange Darling) has struck a first-look deal with producer Yasmine Golchan (Crash) for their first project, a series adaptation of the Ghost Hunters novels. The four-part book series follows teen investigators who solve supernatural mysteries.
Indie studio Sister (Kaos, Chernobyl) has promoted exec Chris Fry to managing director. He will now be responsible for the execution and delivery of the company’s TV slate, working closely with the creative, production, and business teams. Upcoming for Fry includes David Ireland’s Cold Water for ITV starring Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead).
Loretta Ramos has been named Senior Director of the Screamwriting Fellowship, a horror-focused initiative by Blumhouse, K Period Media, and the Sundance Institute. With a background in producing and talent development, Ramos will oversee the invite-only program supporting underrepresented writers through mentorship, intensives, and year-round guidance.
Disney+ is set to release Call My Agent Berlin, the German adaptation of one of the most popular French series (trailer). This sharp dramedy plunges into the cutthroat world of talent management, kicking off the series with the sudden death of the founder. The series stars Moritz Bleibtreu (Manni in Run Lola Run) and Iris Berben (Triangle of Sadness). Premieres this fall.
ON THIS DAY
1940 Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, premieres in Miami, Florida (Oscar - Best Picture 1941).
That’s all for the week! See you Monday
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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Some hot tidbits today! Thanks!