Matthew McConaughey & Woody Harrelson Pause
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Apple TV+’s first look film deal, Punisher’s Spidey sense, and Owen Wilson.
Let’s go!
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THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Matthew McConaughey & Woody Harrelson's Apple TV+ series paused after showrunner exits.
Chernin Entertainment inks first-look film deal with Apple TV+.
Jon Bernthal’s Punisher joins Spider-Man 4 in MCU crossover.
FilmLA secures 5-year contract renewal .
King Charles & Idris Elba are producing The King’s Trust doc for Netflix.
Dave Bautista is in talks to join Road House 2 with Jake Gyllenhaal.
Russell Crowe boards Highlander reboot with Henry Cavill.
Abigail Breslin leads indie dramedy A Good Fight.
Owen Wilson returns for Meet the Parents 4.
Black Yellow Road wins Best Film at the Shanghai Film Festival.
Vue Lumière acquires Berlinale’s Köln 75 and Sundance’s Brides.
Fred Goss makes his feature debut with Suburban Psycho.
U.K. unveils $100M Screen Growth Package to boost film & TV industry.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
A True Bro-tective Bummer: The internet went ablaze when it was announced that Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson will team up with Jason Winer (dir: 21 eps Modern Family) for a ten-episode series where they are playing brothers for Apple TV+.
Now, sadly, that's been put on pause with Winer's exit as showrunner, citing the dreaded creative differences. Lee Eisenberg (writer: Good Boys) is being eyed to man the reshoots and step in as showrunner, but so far not confirmed, thus the pause.
True Detective fans know that the two Texas-born actors' chemistry is unmatched, though darker in scope.
We don't know when this show will air, but it should start shooting again in Texas sometime this year.
Chernin Entertainment, a sci-fi-focused production company, signs a first-look deal with Apple TV+ for film. Chernin Entertainment is behind:
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Hidden Figures (2016)
Oblivion (2013)
The partnership makes sense given Apple’s slate leans more sci-fi. Helped by the fact that on the TV side, Chernin already has a first look partnership with Jason Momoa’s Chief of War, being the most recent collaboration. Given Apple TV+’s pivot to being a streaming-first company (pending an earth-shattering theatrical release of F1), it’ll be a little sad to see Chernin’s best movies relegated to streaming only.
One mark of validation that Chernin’s films can perform well on streaming was their recent Back in Action (2025, starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx), which is now Netflix’s 6th most popular movie of all time with 147.2M views.
Known killer of more than 100 people joins Spider-Man: Brand New Day. You heard right, the Punisher is Peter Parker's newest buddy.
Jon Bernthal, fresh off a mostly successful Disney reboot of Daredevil, is not only getting his Punisher Disney+ special, but he is also heading to the big screen. It has been reported that he has joined the 4th Spider movie, potentially building on Daredevil's Season 1 cliffhanger that New York has outlawed vigilantism.
The question is, how is Disney going to mix Punisher's ultra-violence with our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man? -Clip
Tidbit:
FilmLA, the organization that issues the filming permits in Los Angeles, has won a 5-year contract renewal from the LA Board of Public Works. This is a bit contentious, as many disapprove of the cumbersome nature of their permitting process. And while it can be a headache to work with them, we like the quarterly reports that they put together on the production levels in LA. It’s a very accurate barometer. FilmLA will continue with its job until June 2030.
Alfonso Cuarón is no longer in the running to direct the new James Bond movie. This new film is shaping up fast after Amazon bought the rights to make Bond films. Other directors who are pitching the new producers (David Heyman, Amy Pascal) are Denis Villeneuve, Edward Berger, Jonathan Nolan, Edgar Wright, and Paul King.
Meghan Markle isn’t the only Royal on Netflix. King Charles and Idris Elba are partnering to produce a documentary exploring The King’s Trust, a UK-based charity founded by Charles to help vulnerable youth. Elba greatly benefited from the charity, which helped start his acting journey. The doc will launch on Netflix in 2026.
Trailers:
Guns & Moses
Co-starring Christopher Lloyd
Release date: July 18th
Cineverse’s The Toxic Avenger
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood
Red Band Trailer
Release date: Aug 29
AMC’s The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (Season 3)
Release date: Sept 7th
Starz’s Power Book IV: Force (Season 3)
Release date: Fall
Crunchyroll’s Hotel Inhumans
Release date: July
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Give Bautista something to punch: Dave Bautista has received an offer to join Road House 2, though talks have not officially begun.
The sequel to Amazon MGM Studios’ hit reboot will again star Jake Gyllenhaal, with Guy Ritchie directing. Bautista is another one of the illustrious school of Cena, a wrestler who can surprisingly act and is pretty funny to boot.
Getting his big start as Drax the destroyer in Guardians of The Galaxy he showed a great aptitude for comedy, later on retiring that character (and the five hours of makeup) making a pivot to other comedies like Glass Onion, but also back to sci-fi with more serious roles in Blade Runner 2049 and using his unique physiology to portray a Harkonnen in Dune.
Now, of course, Roadhouse is in his orbit, we already know the man can fight, put him back in the ring.
Russell Crowe is joining Henry Cavill in Chad Stahelski’s Highlander reboot, playing the mentor role made famous by Sean Connery in the 1986 original. The Amazon MGM project, now set to begin filming in September, will blend Stahelski’s Wick-signature action style with the sword fighting that made Highlander famous. Russell Crowe, looking great for 61 with that beard, can now take on the Hollywood tradition of playing characters that pass the torch to the younger generation with their wisdom.
Abigail Breslin is set to lead the new indie dramedy A Good Fight from writer-director Robert Rippberger (Those Who Walk Away).
In the early 2000s, Breslin was Hollywood’s go-to adorably charming yet genuinely impressive child actress in films like M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs (2002) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006), earning an Oscar nomination for the latter when she was just nine years old. Breslin continued acting across genres but in mostly supportive roles, like in the Zombieland franchise and opposite Matt Damon in the crime drama Stillwater (2021).
A Good Fight centers Breslin in a romantic triangle where she’s caught between two journalists who work for her college paper. The challenge for child actors is finding a role that breaks them out of the mold of their youth. Jacob Tremblay is about to have his moment with the upcoming Sovereign. We hope Breslin gets hers too.
Owen Wilson is returning for the fourth Meet the Parents film. In the trilogy, he played the ex-boyfriend of Ben Stiller’s girlfriend-turned-wife. Wilson had a unique ability to get under Stiller’s skin for being overly accomplished, overly worldly, and overly sophisticated. Pretty much everyone’s nightmare (clip). We’ve been liking Wilson’s comeback as of recent. If you haven’t watched Apple TV+’s new show Stick, it’s worth giving a shot. Wilson plays a down-on-his-luck ex-pro golfer who finds redemption (trailer). It’s a bit of typecasting for sure, but watching Wilson’s eyes gleam with an idea after he’s been beaten down is always a treat.
Mini Tidbits:
Character actor and comedian Gailard Sartain (Mississippi Burning) has passed away following a long illness. His most memorable performance was as The Big Bopper in The Buddy Holly Story (1978, scene).
Justified’s Timothy Olyphant joins Peacock’s star-studded series adaptation of The Five Star Weekend. Olyphant will have a series regular role in the Nantucket drama alongside Jennifer Garner and Regina Hall, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s popular 2023 novel.
Jack Betts, veteran character actor best known for Spider-Man and spaghetti Westerns, has passed away at 96. He also appeared in Friends, Frasier, and Everybody Loves Raymond. A beloved character actor, he will be missed.
Severance casting tape.
FESTIVALS
The Shanghai International Film Festival has awarded its top prize for Best Film to Black Yellow Road.
Synopsis:
A poetic narration of a veteran carpet weaver's forbidden love with a man, and the farewell and regrets she experiences after her encounter.
Makes a beautiful setting for a dimly lit dance scene (first look photo).
Full list of winners here.
Vue Lumière, the hot new UK distributor, which picked up the most intense film I saw at Sundance this year, The Thing with Feathers (2025) starring Benedict Cumberbatch, has acquired two new films for UK/Irish distribution:
Köln 75
Premiere: Berlinale Special
Dir: Ido Fluk (The Ticket)
Release date: Autumn
Brides
Premiere: Sundance
Dir: Nadia Fall
Release date: September
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Regular sitcom director Fred Goss (Modern Family, Community, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and New Girl) is making his feature directorial debut with Suburban Psycho, a comedy in association with Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s Rough House Pictures (The Righteous Gemstones).
Official Logline:
When two lifelong friends suspect their beloved best friend is the infamous Infinity Killer, they become reluctant detectives, uncovering dark truths hidden in plain sight.
Similarly to the silliness of Suburban Psycho, in a season two episode that Goss directed of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, unserious cops (Andy Samberg and Terry Crews) are investigating an attempted murder at a chocolate milk shop (scene).
Written and starring Jeff Howard (The Trust) and BJ Bales (Bombshell), they’ll share the screen with an ensemble of Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars), Ron Perlman, Dennis Haysbert (24), and Malin Akerman (Watchmen), among others.
Suburban Psycho has wrapped production in South Carolina.
The U.K. will receive a significant funding boost of £75M ($100M) for the film and TV industry in an effort to provide a boost to the broader economy. This “Screen Growth Package” will expand the U.K. Global Screen Fund to £18M ($24M) annually over the next four years. A considerable amount will go to expanding the BFI Film Academy ($13.5 M), with the package also supporting the British Film Commission, the CoSTAR programme, and businesses involved in motion capture tech.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she wants:
“To cement the U.K. as the best place on Earth to make film and television.”
From Barbie to Saltburn to Wicked to Killing Eve and Adolescence, it seems the U.K.’s already stellar track record will only continue to grow from here.
Mini Tidbit:
The forever feuding Tom and Jerry travel through time in Warner Bros. Pictures China’s Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass (trailer). The animated feature will make its world premiere at the ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival and premiere in theaters in China on Aug. 9th.
ON THIS DAY
1989. Batman premieres.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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