Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Behemoth! Shifter. First Communion.
Let’s go!
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Yesterday was kind of heavy, with Sam Neill’s passing. So today, here are some new and notable trailers:
Searchlight’s Behemoth!
Dir/Wri: Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Will Arnett
Release: Dec 4th
Synopsis:
A gifted cellist, Alex Serian (Pascal), returns home to LA after 20 years on the road. Music, which has been the constant, all-consuming river of his life, begins to carry Alex on an adventure that will change him forever.
This has prestige written all over it. The trailer dips into the world of Tár (2022) and Netflix’s Maestro (2023). Gilroy has a special talent for ripping men who wish to be immortalized down to psychological ribbons.
Netflix’s The Whisper Man
Dir: James Ashcroft (The Rule of Jenny Pen).
Cast: Robert De Niro, Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan
Release: Aug 28th
Synopsis:
When his eight-year-old son is abducted, a widowed crime writer looks to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for help, only to discover a connection with the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as “The Whisper Man.”
Falling somewhere between Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners and The Black Phone, this somewhat recycled plot is elevated by an extremely talented cast. Scott, for one, has been in the horror realm recently with Neon’s Hokum. And the director James Ashcroft has a great eye.
Apple’s Mayday
Dir: Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Kenneth Branagh
Streaming: Sept 4
Synopsis:
Lieutenant Troy Brennan’s (Reynolds) reconnaissance mission over Soviet territory goes awry, forcing him to crash-land and survive in Russian wilderness while evading capture or rescue.
This is a fun buddy action comedy. Reynolds and Branagh are mismatched enough to drive each propulsive scene. This could have made a mint at the box office, but Apple is sending it straight to streaming.
For More:
A teenage coming-of-age story, filtered through the minds of creators Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho. FX’s The Shards trailer.
Ok, so it’s a bit like Julia Ducournau’s Raw. But Fantasia Fest’s Ferine is still a fun, pulpy watch. Here’s the trailer.
Oh, and here’s the final trailer for The Dog Stars, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Jacob Elordi.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Hulu is developing sci-fi series Shifter, w/ Adam Scott and the Severance writers.
Warner Bros. signs a first-look deal with Backrooms producer Chris Ferguson.
James DeMonaco will direct Miramax’s dystopian thriller Vigilant.
The WGA files a separate lawsuit to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
Carey Mulligan joins Billie Eilish in Sarah Polley’s The Bell Jar.
Steve Buscemi joins FX’s series adaptation of video-game franchise Far Cry.
Garrett Wareing & Amanda Fix star in The Conjuring: First Communion prequel.
Ellen Burstyn will receive Venice’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Abramorama nabs Alex Gibney doc Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie.
1-2 Special acquires Cannes Best Screenplay winner A Man of His Time.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Untamed, Sam Neill’s Netflix show.
42% got it correct.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Another season of Severance can’t come soon enough, but Hulu’s Shifter might be the next best thing. Reuniting actor Adam Scott with Severance writers Ezra Claytan Daniels and Eli Jorné, the new sci-fi series is based on a graphic novel by Koren Shadmi.
Set in the near future in an underground industry of “Shifters”, the series will follow Rose, an aspiring actress who uses a facial implant to become anyone for hire. Rose has made a name for herself as one of the best, slowly losing herself and blurring the line between performance and identity. Daniels and Jorné will write and EP alongside Scott via his Great Scott Productions.
The news of the upcoming series comes just ahead of filming for season three of Severance, with the gang returning to Lumon later this summer.
WGA tosses its lawsuit into the ring to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. This is a separate lawsuit from the one filed Monday by the 12 states and focuses more on the labor impact, like PSKY’s proposed $6bn in “cost savings,” which means a mass reduction in staff.
Separately, a federal court will have a preliminary injunction hearing for the 12-state AG lawsuit this Thursday.
Tidbits:
Weapons out, Backrooms in. Warner Bros. inks a first-look deal with Chris Ferguson (Prod: Longlegs, Backrooms) and his studio Oddfellows. Warner’s needed another big-name horror producer in-house after their deal with Weapons producer J. D. Lifshitz ended in 2025. As part of the deal, Warner Bros. will have access to Ferguson’s Vancouver studio.
James DeMonaco (Dir: The Purge) will direct Miramax’s thriller Vigilant. The film follows what happens after a pilot program begins giving cash rewards to people who hunt down wanted criminals. The film very much feels like it is in the same vein as The Purge franchise. We know DeMonaco can create dystopian cityscapes that blend a realistic future with hyper-violent what-ifs.
Mini Tidbits:
Netflix acquires YouTube variety show Good Mythical Morning (19.6M subs). The show follows Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal as they face off in crazy challenges and games.
Tubi has brought on Shannon Olivas as Head of Communications and Publicity.
2026 Daytime Emmy Awards noms. Full list here.
Trailers:
Rubberhead: The Life & Monsters of Steve Johnson
Subject: Steve Johnson
World Premiere: July 23
Odysseus: The Fall
AI-generated film
Release Dates:
Bleecker Street’s doc Musk
Subject: Elon Musk
Release: Oct 16
Bleecker Street’s A Talent for Murder
Cast: Helen Mirren, Alden Ehrenreich
Release: Oct 23
Bleecker Street’s Tender Loving Care
Dir: Mike Leigh
Cast: Marion Bailey, Kate O’Flynn
Release: Dec 4
Bleecker Street’s Harmonia
Cast: Carrie Coon, Lily James
Release: Jan 8, 2027
A24’s Club Kid
Dir: Jordan Firstman
Cast: Firstman, Cara Delevingne
Release: Nov 6
Paramount’s Boys for Life
Dir: Tyler Falbo (Almost Friday TV)
Release: April 9, 2027
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
A perfect pairing of actress and author. Three-time Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan is set to star in The Bell Jar, Sarah Polley’s (dir. Women Talking) feature adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s autobiographical novel.
Mulligan will star alongside ten-time Grammy-winning global superstar Billie Eilish, making her feature-film acting debut as Esther Greenwood, a brilliant student and aspiring poet whose promising future begins to unravel amid her growing depression.
Mulligan feels like a natural fit for Plath’s world. My favorite role of hers, Cassie, from Emerald Fennell’s revenge thriller Promising Young Woman (2020), was brilliant and perceptive but trapped by a devouring pain she could never escape, with no amount of revenge able to heal her trauma.
Expected to play Esther’s mother, Mulligan will now be on the other side of the suffering. As an expert in the world of emotionally complex characters, she’ll serve as a strong anchor for Eilish in her acting debut.
Production began on The Bell Jar in Toronto earlier this summer, with Focus Features eyeing a 2027 premiere.
Steve Buscemi (Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire) joins FX’s series adaptation of the popular game franchise Far Cry. The show will follow a similar storyline to the games in which the playable character must team up with local rebel factions to overthrow a powerful enemy.
From oppressive dictators to crazy cult leaders, Far Cry villains have become the defining element of each installment. Buscemi is perfect for a villain role with his unpredictable, manic menace that hides behind a fast-mouthed persona. We can expect a tropical version of Tony Blundetto from The Sopranos, where Buscemi played a ruthless mobster with a subtle yet terrifying calm.
The series’s showrunner is Noah Hawley (FX’s Fargo).
The Conjuring is getting younger. New Line casts Garrett Wareing (The Long Walk) and Amanda Fix (Lowlifes) as the young Ed & Lorraine Warren in the prequel The Conjuring: First Communion.
Ed and Lorraine Warren were played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the original films. While Farmiga’s Lorraine was more maternal, Fix’s emotional intensity could portray a less seasoned exorcist. The physically expressive and versatile performance by Wareing could hint at a different take on a younger Ed Warren, one who is less composed than the reserved father figure portrayed by Patrick Wilson.
The prequel will take place before the events of the iconic first The Conjuring (2013) film. Releasing September 10, 2027.
Tidbit:
Blue Beetle returns
Rosario Dawson
Keith Carradine
All those casting tidbits here.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
While she just needs a Grammy to join the elite EGOT club, Ellen Burstyn is being honored by the Venice Film Festival with a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. The Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) actress will be presented the award during a screening of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new short film Flesh Impact, in which Burstyn stars alongside Dakota Johnson.
Anglo-French film company Alief acquires world sales rights for horror feature Godhead. The film tells the story of strange twins who proclaim that they are prophets to a suspicious priest. Premiering this weekend at Fantasia Fest.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Abramorama picks up North American rights to Oscar-winner Alex Gibney’s new doc Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie.
Synopsis:
Previously unseen footage captured by Salman Rushdie’s wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, documents his journey. Following not just his physical rehabilitation, but also the restoration of his spirit and optimism.
Like all of Gibney’s docs, including Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, it explores human cruelty and an enlightened response. Get this: Rushdie actually visited his attacker in prison.
Premiere: Sundance. Opening Sept 17th in NYC.
New York-based indie distributor 1-2 Special (Urchin) scored a major win, acquiring all North American rights to A Man of His Time (clip), winner of the Best Screenplay Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Inspired by the life of filmmaker Emmanuel Marre’s own great-grandfather, it follows a penniless man’s pursuit of acceptance within France’s Nazi-collaborating Vichy regime.
1-2 Special had a very successful time at Cannes, picking up Everytime (clip), winner of the top prize in the Un Certain Regard competition, as well as Critics’ Week Best Film winner La Gradiva (clip).
A Man of His Time will play in theaters later this year.
Mini Tidbit:
Jeff Barker, father of Curry Barker (Dir: Obsession), is writing and directing a horror short, Medium Rare, starring comedian Dane Cook. Horror filmmaking runs in the Barker family.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
The BBC’s commercial business is booming, thanks in large part to Bluey.
BBC Commercial reported a 9% increase in profits for 2025/26, with the global children’s phenomenon and BritBox International helping drive revenue growth. BBC Commercial, the broadcaster’s revenue-generating arm, brings in additional income through international sales, licensing, streaming, and merchandise, helping support the BBC to the tune of $505M this year.
At the same time, the BBC confirmed that future seasons of Doctor Who will be open to competitive bids from outside producers, yet they remain confident in their ability to obtain the rights and continue serving as the home of the long-running series for another 60 years.
Mini Tidbits:
Iceland’s Áróra
Portuguese series Cold Haven
Czech-Indian zombie romcom Cold Feet
All those tidbits and more here.
ON THIS DAY
1961. Forest Whitaker born in Longview, Texas.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Madelyn Menapace, and Tony Jaeyeong Jeong.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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