Tom Hanks Noir
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Tom Hanks, Sydney Sweeney, and a Count.
Let’s go!
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Enjoyed A24’s The Brutalist? We’re doing a workshop with the director, Brady Corbet:
https://theindustry.co/p/how-to-direct-an-oscar-winning-performance
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Apple TV+ greenlights Berlin Noir series with Tom Hanks' Playtone and Conclave writer Peter Straughan.
Sydney Sweeney to star and produce Split Fiction, based on a sci-fi video game.
Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, produced by Steven Spielberg, sets an awards season release via Focus Features.
Peacock hits $1.2bn in Q1 revenue, narrowing losses as subscribers climb to 41M.
YouTube ad revenue soars to $8.93bn.
Blumhouse TV acquires Marisha Pessl’s Darkly for series adaptation, Jamie Lee Curtis to EP.
McKenna Grace joins Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Paapa Essiedu (Snape in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot) is cast in the Channel 4 drama series, Falling.
Cannes Market: The Third Parent and I Am A Monster land sales reps.
Two Cannes Un Certain Regard films secure international sales reps: A Poet and The Last One for the Road.
Nadav Lapid’s Yes! added to Directors' Fortnight.
Jay Duplass' The Baltimorons acquired by IFC Films following SXSW Audience Award win.
Quiver picks up Guy Pearce’s gritty prison drama Inside.
Magnolia grabs buzzy Sundance title Plainclothes.
Asghar Farhadi (dir: A Separation) next film is Parallel Tales starring Vincent Cassel and Isabelle Huppert.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Apple TV+ has officially greenlit a TV adaptation of the late great Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir books with a seriously high-profile team attached. The project has been in the works since 2012, with Conclave’s Oscar-winning scribe Peter Straughan, Doctor Who producer Bad Wolf, and Tom Hanks’ Playtone (Masters of the Air, Band of Brothers) making it happen. Playtone is drawn to gritty historical dramas that follow strong male characters in times of grave distress, with this new show falling right in line.
The untitled drama is based on Kerr’s last book, Metropolis, a period detective origin story following Gunther Berlin as he joins the elite Berlin Murder Squad amid an intense investigation of a serial killer targeting outsiders.
With the massive success of the Gary Oldman spy show Slow Horses, Apple seems like the perfect place for a sophisticated espionage drama.
Sydney Sweeney will star in and EP a film adaptation of the hit co-op fantasy sci-fi video game Split Fiction, directed by Jon M. Chu (Wicked) and written by Deadpool & Wolverine screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Split Fiction, Hazelight Studios’ new game, has only been out for a bit over a month, but its option has already led to a bidding war between studios. It follows two writers thrust into a virtual reality that makes their stories a reality.
Hazelight has always had a prestige with their co-op-focused games. In 2021, It Takes Two won many awards, including game of the year. The studio’s next follow-up was always going to make an impact, but Split Fiction has gone far beyond blockbuster success using the medium to truly innovate and improve on gameplay.
Focus Features is releasing Chloe Zhao’s (dir: Nomadland, Eternals) new film Hamnet on Nov 27 (limited release) and Dec 12 (wide). The Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg-produced movie centers on William Shakespeare and his wife in 16th-century England during his writing of Hamlet. A far cry from Shakespeare in Love (winner of 7 Academy Awards), the novel on which the book is based takes the point of view of Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, as she deals with the grief of losing her son.
If Zhao taps into the aesthetic of her bleakly beautiful and stoic Best Picture winner Nomadland (trailer) with the unlimited resources of an Amblin project, it may be the type of big-budget film this director deserves.
Comcast’s Peacock flies to $1.2 bn. Here are the earnings stats for the NBCUniversal streamer:
Year-over-year gains:
$1.2bn revenue (up 16%)
41M subs (up 5M from last quarter)
Losses:
-$215 M (down from $639M loss from 2024)
-199K broadband subs (up from -139K last quarter)
Peacock’s parent company, Comcast, is doing decent, $29.89 bn revenue (down .6% from last year) plus a 12.5% gain in Net income.
Perhaps their cable spinoff network (Spin-Co), coming in late 2025, will save the day, or else it's off to another M&A/Bundle.
Q1 2025 has been great for YouTube. Here’s the latest, with the change from last year:
$8.93bn ad revenue
↑ 10% from last year
(Netflix projects $9bn in ad rev for all of 2025)
12% Total TV Usage (Nielsen)
↑ 8.1% since last Quarter
51.9% larger share than Netflix
Some believe YouTube poses the biggest existential threat to the streaming companies. YouTube has the largest share of streaming, with 1bn hours of content consumed daily. 2.7bn monthly active users (125M paid), user-generated content, premium video channels including Starz, with whom they’ve extended their bundle deal, and ABC, AMC, BBC, Disney, ESPN, FX, Paramount, plus the NFL.
But the streamers are also playing a different game with premium content and using YouTube engagement on trailers to drive people to their platforms.
Tidbit:
Blumhouse Television has acquired rights to Marisha Pessl’s bestseller Darkly for a series adaptation, EP’d by Jamie Lee Curtis via Comet Pictures. The psychological YA thriller follows teen Dia Gannon as she joins a mysterious internship at a defunct game empire. A writer is being sought to adapt the project. This will be Curtis’ third venture with Blumhouse, her most recent being the syrup heist series The Sticky.
Trailers:
Love, Death + Robots (Season 4)
Dir: David Fincher (Ep 1)
Cast: MrBeast, John Oliver, Amy Sedaris, Kevin Hart, John Boyega
Release date: May 15
Trailer with crazy cats, autonomous appliances, and a bunch of dystopia
Netflix’s She the People
Dir/Co-Writer: Tyler Perry
Pt 1 release date: May 22
Pt 2 release date: Aug 14
Trailer Lt. Governor jokes ensue
Apple TV+’s Fountain of Youth
Dir: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Natalie Portman, John Krasinski
Release date: May 23rd
National Treasure-esque Trailer
If you notice the quote ripped from Bond’s Spectre, drop us a line
Plus a little treat of Nicolas Cage’s The Surfer (clip).
Mini Tidbit:
NBC is developing a Royal Pains reboot, with Mark Feuerstein returning as Hank Lawson. Original creators Andrew Lenchewski and Michael Rauch are also on board as EPs.
The Golden Globes will be held on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
May the odds be ever in McKenna Grace’s favor.
The Gifted (2017) actress is joining the cast of the prequel film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping as Maysilee Donner (casting teaser), District 12’s token mean girl and a fellow tribute alongside.
You’ve probably seen Grace in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (out March 22), she plays the daughter of the didactic, nerdish, and altogether hilarious Egon Spengler (played by Ramis, clip). She is pitch-perfect, conveying a quietly intense meekness prone to wonder. Check out her deadpan jokes throughout Ghostbusters: Afterlife here.
She’s been typecast a lot as meek (check out her Emmy-nominated guest appearance on The Handmaid's Tale), so we’re looking forward to her taking on a character with an aggressive bite.
Filming for Hunger Games is expected to begin in a few weeks. The anticipated adaptation comes from returning franchise director Francis Lawrence, with the film set for a Nov. 20th, 2026 premiere.
Tidbits:
In two roles that could not be more different… Paapa Essiedu is leading the Channel 4 drama series Falling as a Catholic priest shortly following him landing the role of Snape in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series. Falling comes from Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne and It’s a Sin director Peter Hoar, following Essiedu’s character unfortunately falling in love with a devout nun played by Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty). The Channel 4 mini-series is currently in pre-production.
The Bunker, a sci-fi horror film starring the late Tony Todd, has been acquired by Electric Entertainment for North American release. Directed by Brian Hanson, it follows a scientist questioning her mission to stop an alien invasion. Todd was best known for his roles in Candyman and Final Destination, sadly he passed away last year. The Bunker will be a swan song for a horror movie fixture. Trailer here.
Willa Holland (Legion) and Paul Sparks (House of Cards) lead The Mortuary Assistant, a feature film adaptation of the hit horror game, now in production in Missouri. Directed by Jeremiah Kipp and produced by Epic Pictures' Dread label, the film expands the spooky night shift gameplay made famous by Five Nights at Freddy's and the like. Game trailer.
FESTIVALS
Cannes Market heats up with more projects:
The Third Parent
Cast: Rob Lowe, Crispin Glover, Roselyn Sanchez
Prod: Gary Michael Walters (EP: Nightcrawler, Whiplash, Drive)
US Distributor: Bleecker Street
International Sales Rep: HanWay Films (Shame, La Cocina)
Synopsis:
Amidst the 4th of July celebration, a disturbing figure named Tommy Taffy emerges, disguising himself as a human to infiltrate a suburban neighborhood and impose authoritarian rule over an unsuspecting family.
I am A Monster
Cast: Sadie Soverall (Saltburn), Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms)
Prod: Jacob Perlin (Swan Song), Robert Walak (EP: Shame)
International Sales Rep: AGC
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA
Dir: Léo Berne
EP/Co-Financier: Film 4
Synopsis:
After her mother's death, 18-year-old Mila discovers she can see an invisible parasite that feeds on human sorrow. She and her friend Dawn must protect her sister Luna from the demon's attack.
Genre: action fantasy.
Full Cannes Market films here:
https://theindustry.co/p/cannes-market-2025
A number of films at the Cannes Film Festival have snagged sales reps:
A Poet (Un Certain Regard)
Sales Rep: Luxbox (All We Imagine as Light, Kontinental '25)
Magellan (Cannes Premiere)
Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal
Sales Rep: Luxbox
The Last One for the Road (Un Certain Regard)
Sales Rep: Lucky Number (The Blue Trail)
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight adds Yes! The film is directd by Nadav Lapid. We loved his The Kindergarten Teacher (2014), which was later adapted into an English-language film starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
The Duplas brothers Moronic Christmas: IFC Films and Sapan Studio have acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Jay Duplass’ The Baltimorons, a heartfelt comedy that won the SXSW Audience Award and will hit theaters later this year. Marking Duplass' return to directing features, the film follows a newly sober man’s offbeat Christmas Eve adventure through Baltimore with his emergency dentist. First look above.
We love a prison triangle. Quiver Distribution (Daisy Ridley’s Cleaner) has picked up Inside, which will have its North American premiere at the Spotlight section of the Tribeca Film Festival. Oscar-nominee Guy Pearce and Emmy-winner Cosmo Jarvis play a soon-to-be-paroled convict and Australia's most despised criminal. They ensnare a teenager transferred from a juvenile prison to their adult facility. Check out the trailer. Release date June 20th.
Magnolia Pictures picks up Sundance U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, Plainclothes.
Synopsis:
A promising undercover agent assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies professional orders when he falls in love with a target.
Maria Dizzia co-stars. Release date Fall 2025.
Tidbits:
Sony’s Screen Gems is rebooting Urban Legend, the 1998 slasher set on a college campus where murders mimicked classic urban myths. Shanrah Wakefield will write, with horror veteran Gary Dauberman producing. The reboot will explore urban legends in a post-digital age. Plot details remain mostly under wraps. Original trailer.
Oscilloscope’s Venice-premiering doc Mistress Dispeller will release in NYC on Oct 22nd and LA on Oct 24th.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Asghar Farhadi (dir: A Separation) is a powerful filmmaker. His next movie, Parallel Tales, has no plot details available but a killer cast:
Vincent Cassel, Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve
Co-Prod Co: Anonymous Content
French Distributor: Memento Films (A Separation, The Worst Person in the World)
Farhadi likes his first acts long. To really build up our desire to dig in and align with these characters right up until we feel like nothing is going to happen, and then they explode and rip us apart.
We look forward to him returning with a tremendously strong French cast. Shooting in Paris in the fall with a spring 2026 release date.
From two-time Palme d’Or winner Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror), The Count of Monte Cristo (trailer), lands with Mediawan for key licensing deals. The highly anticipated epic series is led by Sam Claflin (Peaky Blinders) in the titular role and Ana Girardot (The Returned) in a lushly lensed adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ universally beloved adventure novel. After record-breaking success for its Italian premiere on Rai1, the prestige series will play on the closing night of Canneseries.
ON THIS DAY
2021. Nomadland wins the Oscar for Best Film.
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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