| | | | What's news: Squid Game star O Yeong-su's sexual misconduct trial starts in Seoul. Ratings for the Grammys reached a three-year high for CBS. George Clooney will direct and produce political series The Department for Showtime. Matthew McConaughey is in talks to star in a Yellowstone spin-off series. Sony is making a sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer. — Abid Rahman |
Inside the Implosion of Justin Roiland's Empire ►"The reason that I posted my DMs was to add to the mountain of evidence and the pattern of behavior." To legions of Rick and Morty fans, co-creator Justin Roiland was a quirky genius whose career was suddenly derailed by allegations of domestic violence. In the wake of Adult Swim and Hulu severing ties with Roiland, colleagues tell THR's Lacey Rose and Katie Kilkenny that his behavior has been troubling for years. The story.
—"I am sorry. I think I behaved badly." Squid Game star O Yeong-su appeared to acknowledge some guilt as he spoke to the press while entering the courtroom Friday for the first day of his sexual misconduct trial in Seoul, South Korea. The 78-year-old Golden Globe-winner was indicted by local prosecutors in November for allegedly inappropriately touching a young actress while the two were on tour for a play in 2017. The story.
—Mixed bag. The Grammys reached a three-year viewership high for CBS on Sunday night, but as with most awards shows, the ratings are still well below pre-pandemic levels. The 2023 event delivered 12.4m viewers, according to time zone-adjusted fast national ratings from Nielsen and including streaming on Paramount+ and CBS apps. That’s a nearly 30 percent improvement on the 9.59m people who watched the 2022 awards — though the latter figure is a TV only audience. The story.
—That's a bold strategy, Cotton. AMC Theatres is following the lead of concerts and sporting events by adopting a ticket pricing strategy based around seating sightlines. AMC patrons attending cinemas after 4 p.m. will be able to pay three different prices — Value Sightline, Standard Sightline and Preferred Sightline — based on their proximity to the screen. The company says Standard Sightline seats will be the most common in auditoriums and available for the traditional cost of a movie ticket. The story. |
Showtime Bets on Franchises ►Going full Yellowstone. Chris McCarthy, the Paramount Global exec who was handed oversight of Showtime last year, is doubling down on his franchise plans for the network. The exec who is credited with growing the Yellowstone franchise for the streamer is expanding two of Showtime’s prized dramas — Dexter and Billions — with multiple offshoots in the works. The network also announced a straight-to-series order for the Homeland-like political thriller The Department, which counts George Clooney as an exec producer and director. The story.
—Drama at the ranch! More big news from Paramount, Matthew McConaughey is in talks with Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan for another spinoff series. The negotiations are described as ongoing with no deal yet struck. The spinoff comes on the heels of the news that Paramount Network may be moving to end Yellowstone early due to scheduling battles with star Kevin Costner. The story.
—Well that's alright, alright, alright mama. The very busy McConaughey will voice Elvis Presley in Netflix’s adult animated action comedy series Agent Elvis. Ordered to series in August 2019, the series follows Presley as he is inducted into a secret government spy program. Priscilla Presley and John Eddie will serve as co-creators and EPs, and Archer veteran Mike Arnold will write and serve as showrunner. Agent Elvis hails from Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures TV and Authentic Brands Group. The trailer. |
Amid Strong Doc Demand, ABC News Studios Breaks Out ►Success story. Launched last year, ABC News Studios has already become profitable after feeding a host of feature films and docuseries to ABC, Disney+, Hulu, Nat Geo, and other platforms. With premieres at Sundance and SXSW, a growing slate and profitability, THR's Alex Weprin writes that the in-house studio is a textbook example of media companies adapting to a streaming-first world. The story.
—Still happening. Jeremy Renner shared an update on his Disney+ series Rennervations. The actor, who was critically injured in a New Year’s Day snowplow accident, took to Instagram Monday to say that the show is set to hit the streamer “as soon as I’m back on my feet.” The four-part nonfiction series, which follows Renner as he travels the world to help others by “reimagining unique purpose-built vehicles to meet a community’s needs,” was initially expected to debut in early 2023. The story.
—Do The Faculty next! Sony Pictures is moving forward with another sequel for the teen horror franchise I Know What You Did Last Summer, with original stars Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. in talks to return. The project, which dips into the late ’90s nostalgia, is in the earliest stages of development, and talent deals have yet to be fully hammered out. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Thor: Love and Thunder) is on board to direct the follow-up to the 1997 slasher film. The story.
—'24 for Brady. Tom Brady will make his on-air debut for Fox Sports beginning with the NFL's 2024 season. Brady, who officially retired from the NFL on Feb. 1, had signed a broadcast deal with Fox Corp. a year ago. The rich, multi-year deal specified that he would join the network’s NFL broadcast booth whenever he decides to retire. The story. |
Netflix Buys Prince Andrew Movie, Rufus Sewell to Star ►Is he sweating now? Netflix has acquired Scoop, a feature film based on the story behind Prince Andrew's infamous car crash interview on the BBC’s flagship news show Newsnight in 2019. Now in production, the film will star Rufus Sewell as the disgraced prince and Gillian Anderson as journalist Emily Maitlis. Emmy and BAFTA winner Philip Martin will direct with Keeley Hawes and Billie Piper co-starring. The story.
—🎭 Loaded with talent 🎭 Olivia Colman and Woody Harrelson are set to lead Girl from the North Country, the next A-list feature project from The Banshees of Inisherin producer Blueprint Pictures. Based on the Tony-winning show inspired by the music of Bob Dylan, playwright Conor McPherson will write and direct, with Black-ish's Chlöe Bailey and rising British actor Tosin Cole also in the cast. The story.
—🎭 Sibling sleuthing 🎭 Evan Rachel Wood, Josh Gad and Anthony Carrigan are set to star in Alex Winter’s murder mystery The Adults. The feature is about a sister and brother, played by Wood and Gad, whose lives are upended when they discover a dead body, long buried in their parent’s basement. Rocket Science will open sales to international buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market for the siblings drama penned by screenwriter Michael M.B. Galvin. The story.
—🎭 Cast filling out 🎭 THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Severance star Dichen Lachman joining the cast of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The new Apes movie is set many years after the conclusion of 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes. It is unclear who Dichen is playing. The screenplay is by Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Patrick Aison. Shooting is underway in Australia with Freya Allan, Owen Teague, William H. Macy and Kevin Durand among the key players. The story. |
Meta-Within Deal: How the FTC Won When it Lost ►Preserving future competition. THR's Winston Cho looks at how the FTC’s lawsuit to block Facebook parent company Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality app developer Within presented the court with a legal question that used to exist on the periphery of antitrust law and is now critical to the government’s efforts to rein in big tech: How to assess proposed deals by dominant firms in nascent markets. The analysis.
—Busy, busy. Pamela Anderson is set to show off her plants and legumes after Food Network Canada ordered the series Pamela’s Cooking With Love. The eight-episode series commissioned by Corus Studios will see the Anderson working with chefs on plant-based menus and preparing meals for her family and friends at her home. The series news follows another collaboration, Pamela’s Garden of Eden, a home renovation show, being renewed for a second season of eight episodes. The story.
—"Well, you know, I’ve been better." Salman Rushdie has spoken publicly for the first time about being repeatedly stabbed during a horrific attack in Western New York last August. In a new interview, the celebrated author gave an update on his various injuries, and whether he can still type. He also revealed that he was having trouble sleeping due to nightmares about the incident. The story.
—"My entire life I wanted to do comedy and people wouldn’t give me comedies." Salma Hayek Pinault has spoken out about how being typecast in sexualized roles early in her career limited her opportunities to star in comedies. In a new interview, the actress reflected on how following her breakthrough role in the 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn, in which she wore a bikini with a snake draped around her neck, she continued to be typecast in similar roles. The story. |
'Ant-Man 3' First Reactions ►"Phase Five has begun!" The first social media reactions to Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania dropped on Monday night following the film's world premiere in Los Angeles. Critics, bloggers and podcasters took to Twitter, Instagram and other platforms to share their thoughts and the consensus seems to be that Jonathan Majors is rather good as Kang. The official review embargo for Ant-Man 3 breaks on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 9:00 a.m. PT. The reaction.
In other news...
—Penske Media makes strategic investment in Vox Media
—Crooked Media staff unionize with Writers Guild East
—Samantha Bee to host Canadian Screen Awards special
—Janet Jackson, The Beach Boys set for Hollywood Bowl’s 2023 summer schedule
—Verve aims for commercial endorsements with new hire
—Chris Spadaccini to lead marketing at The CW
—Dominic Pagone to lead communications at Paramount TV Studios
—Zedd's striking Beverly Hills mansion finally sells to Kenya Barris
What else we're reading...
—Jennifer Calfas and Alyssa Lukpat talk to the Beyoncé superfans who refuse to be defeated by Ticketmaster [WSJ]
—With Beyoncé losing out on the Grammy for album of the year again, Helena Andrews-Dyer writes that the singer is being punished for being too good [WaPo]
—Joe Coscarelli looks into how Questlove pulled off the Grammys’ crowd-pleasing hip-hop tribute [NYT]
—Paul Moore has the oral history on the Battle of Helm's Deep from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the greatest battle scene ever seen in cinema (yes, it is) [Inverse]
—Rong-Gong Lin II writes that an earthquake the size of Turkey’s would bring massive devastation and death to Southern California [LAT]
Today...
...in 1974, Warner Bros. unleashed a 125-minute, R-rated Western from Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles. The film went on to be nominated for three Oscars at the 47th Academy Awards. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Chris Rock (58), Ashton Kutcher (45), Dee Rees (46), Eddie Izzard (61), Essence Atkins (51), James Spader (63), Tina Majorino (38), Deborah Ann Woll (38), Ruby O. Fee (27), Victor Webster (50), Robyn Lively (51), Cerina Vincent (44), Tegan Moss (38), Jason Gedrick (58), Tom Glynn-Carney (28), Eric Godon (64), John Posey (67), Stephen Colletti (37), Matty Matheson (41), Jihae (34), Robert Smigel (63), Emo Philips (67), Michael McGreevey (75), Lee Joon (35) |
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