| | | | | | What's news: CBS has given a series order to The Gates, the first Black soap in 35 years. Jonathan Bailey is in talks to star in Jurassic World. Marvel has laid off 15 people. Tyler Perry has signed a new content deal with BET. Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor are set to make their Broadway debuts in Romeo + Juliet. ABC has renewed The Rookie. — Abid Rahman
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'Rust' Armorer Sentenced to 18-Month Prison Term ►First conviction. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the Rust armorer who loaded the live round into the gun Alec Baldwin was holding when it discharged and killed the film’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, will serve 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. The decision from Santa Fe judge Mary Sommer comes after a jury found Gutierrez-Reed guilty, making her the first crewmember to be convicted for their role in the accidental death of Hutchins. During the hearing, Sommer spoke about the lack of remorse Gutierrez-Reed expressed from phone calls that were monitored while she was awaiting sentencing. The story.
—Downsizing. Layoffs occurred on Monday at Marvel Entertainment in New York and Marvel Studios in Burbank. Around 15 people were affected, including junior level employees in production and development. No further layoffs are anticipated beyond those announced on Monday. The job cuts come as Marvel refocuses its slate after a content boom as it ramped up to produce numerous films and TV shows a year to feed Disney+. The story.
—🤝 Content deal 🤝 Tyler Perry and BET have signed a new, multi-year content partnership that will see Perry create and produce hundreds more hours of programming for BET and its streaming service, BET+. The deal, which runs through 2028, extends and builds on a relationship that dates back to 2017, when Perry entered into a similar partnership with the conglomerate then known as Viacom (now Paramount Global). Perry also expressed interest in buying a majority stake in BET when Paramount considered spinning it off last year. The story.
—Familiar face. Comcast is bringing on Wonya Lucas, the former CEO of Hallmark Media and TV One, as a board member. The company disclosed the addition of Lucas in a securities filing, noting that she will be considered an independent director. Lucas, a veteran TV executive who worked at CNN and The Weather Channel before running TV One and later Hallmark, stepped down as CEO of Hallmark parent company Crown Media Holdings last year. The story.
—Snafu. CBS has apologized for a timing mixup that cut off the final moments of a Billy Joel concert special for many viewers Sunday night. Viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones missed the final two minutes of Billy Joel: The 100th — Live at Madison Square Garden when the program cut abruptly to local news telecasts. Joel was singing the final verse of “Piano Man” when the screen went black and then cut to local newscasts. CBS blamed a timing error for the snafu and says it will re-air the special Friday. The story. |
Cannes Directors' Fortnight Lineup Unveiled ►Voilà! The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section has unveiled its lineup for the 2024 festival, which will open with This Life of Mine, the final feature from the late French director Sophie Fillières. There are four U.S. titles in the feature section of the non-competitive sidebar: Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point, Carson Lund’s Eephus, India Donaldson’s Good One and Gazer from Ryan J. Sloan. The lineup.
—Beginning of the end. Before closing the chapter on performing as Childish Gambino, Donald Glover is releasing two final albums under the moniker. A day after making a surprise appearance during Tyler, the Creator’s headlining set at Coachella, Glover shared the news of upcoming music during an Instagram Gilga Radio livestream that aired on Sunday night. Bando Stone & the New World was the first of the two albums to be officially announced during the livestream, which was said to be “available this summer” in a mock radio ad. The story.
—For the ages. Classics like Notorious B.I.G.'s album Ready to Die, Green Day's Dookie as well as Bill Withers’ hit song “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Gene Autry’s “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” will join the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. On Tuesday, Carla Hayden, the librarian of Congress, announced that 25 recordings are entering the prestigious club this year. The story.
—"The Youth Are Fucked." Rachel Zegler and Kit Connor will make their Broadway debuts in a new production of Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet this fall. The production will feature music by Grammy Award winner Jack Antonoff, who is also making his Broadway debut, movement by Sonya Tayeh (Moulin Rouge! The Musical) and direction by Sam Gold. Exact dates and a theater have yet to be announced, but tickets are set to go on sale in May. The story.
—"Make it even beastier." A pair of high-profile media veterans are taking charge at The Daily Beast. IAC says that it has formed a "strategic partnership" in the publication with Ben Sherwood, the former president of Disney’s TV group (and the former president of ABC News) as well as Joanna Coles, the former chief content officer for Hearst and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan. Sherwood will be The Daily Beast's CEO and publisher, with Coles serving as its chief content and creative officer. The story.
—"It’s very bittersweet." Crystal Kung Minkoff will exit the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after three seasons, the reality star announced Monday. Minkoff was the first Asian American housewife on Bravo's L.A.-based Housewives series. In her video, she noted that "being the first Asian American on Beverly Hills was a lot of weight on my shoulders that I have since just have really understood the magnitude of what that meant for people." The story. |
THR 'Con Queen' Probe Gets Apple Docuseries Treatment ►Wild story. Original, and incredible, reporting by THR's Scott Johnson is getting the true-crime docuseries treatment at Apple TV+. The streaming giant has picked up the three-parter Hollywood Con Queen from director Chris Smith, based in part on Johnson’s book Hollywood Con Queen: The Hunt for an Evil Genius from Harper Collins. The docuseries, to premiere May 8, promises an in-depth exploration of a mysterious Indonesian man and the masquerade behind his elaborate Con Queen scam. The story.
—"This will not be the last time that we're working together." CNN limited series King Charles televised its final episode last week, with co-hosts Charles Barkley and Gayle King signing off with thanks for staff and compliments for each other. A CNN spokesperson noted that the show was announced as a limited series, with a defined end date of spring 2024. The program was the brainchild of former CNN CEO Chris Licht, who hired his former CBS News colleague King and partnered her with the infamously outspoken Barkley to discuss news of the week. The story.
—"A new and fresh perspective." CBS has handed out a formal series order to The Gates, the first Black daytime soap opera in 35 years. The network on Monday announced that the series, following the lives of a wealthy Black family in a posh, gated community, will debut in January 2025. The specific time period, launch date and other details will be revealed later. The official series pickup comes a month after CBS announced it was teaming with the NAACP to develop The Gates, with the news marking a show of confidence in the script. Michele Val Jean will serve as showrunner. The story.
—The veteran. ABC has renewed its drama series The Rookie for a seventh season in 2024-25. The police procedural starring Nathan Fillion — which passed the 100-episode mark earlier this season — continues to draw decent-sized audiences for the network, even as it has outlived its title. The Rookie is so named because at the show’s outset, Fillion's John Nolan is the oldest rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department. The story.
—No-brainer. Disney has renewed Tamron Hall's eponymous daytime talk show for a sixth season, with both ABC's local TV stations and ABC stations owned by Hearst, Scripps, Nexstar, Tegna, Gray and AMG on board. Hall, a former anchor for MSNBC and NBC's Today show, left the company in 2017 and launched her talk show in 2019. The show has had success at Disney (the company notes that it is the second-longest running talk show it has produced), and last scored a renewal in 2021, when it nabbed a two-season pickup. The story.
—"It’s become increasingly more difficult, if not impossible, to launch obscure product on broadcast TV." After setting streaming records for months on end last year, Suits is heading to a new — or rather, old — frontier: broadcast syndication. The former USA Network series will make its over-the-air debut in the fall on the Fox-owned MyNetwork TV programming service. All nine seasons (134 episodes in total) will be available via the service, which covers about 97 percent of TV homes in the U.S. Suits currently streams on Netflix and Peacock. The story. |
'Jurassic World' Eyes Jonathan Bailey for Lead ►🎭 In demand 🎭 Universal is looking to stay in business with Jonathan Bailey, one of the stars of its upcoming Wicked films. The Brit actor is in early talks for a leading role in the studio’s new take on Jurassic World. Scarlett Johansson is already on the call sheet for the feature, which has Gareth Edwards directing and a script from Jurassic Park scribe David Koepp. Bailey's other recent credits include the streaming series Bridgerton and Fellow Travelers. The story.
—🎭 Anti-Sonic found 🎭 Keanu Reeves is joining Sonic the Hedgehog 3, voicing the popular character named Shadow. The news comes on the heels of a jam-packed CinemaCon presentation from Paramount last week, when the studio debuted the first footage for Sonic 3. This included the revelation that Dr. Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey, was depressed and out of shape after the events of Sonic 2, but gets his groove back thanks to creating Shadow the Hedgehog, a character first introduced in the video games in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2. The story.
—"They haven't talked to any of us." The team behind the original 1999 film The Blair Witch Project didn’t know about the plan for a new movie in the horror franchise until it was announced during Lionsgate's CinemaCon presentation last week. But the filmmakers’ frustrations over their lack of involvement in the future of the series has been building for years. "It’s bittersweet, honestly," Ben Rock, production designer on the 1999 found-footage hit, tells THR's Ryan Gajewski about the planned reboot. The story.
—Move over Kidman, there's a new game in town. Nicole Kidman has reigned supreme at movie theaters since 2021, when she and AMC revealed an instantly meme-able "We Make Movies Better" campaign. Kidman might have some competition this summer as last week at CinemaCon, Marvel and Disney screened a spot that certainly felt like an in-theater PSA of sorts against cellphones as part of its Deadpool & Wolverine presentation. The story. |
Simpson's Lawyer Reverses Opinion on Payments to Goldman Family ►"I'm going to be hypertransparent." For THR, Kevin Dolak spoke to Malcolm LaVergne, O.J. Simpson’s longtime attorney, who was named executor of his will ahead of Simpson's death last week. LaVergne discussed his earlier remarks about money going to the families of murder victims Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. The interview.
In other news...
—Animal rescue gives couple new purpose in Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story trailer
—Stephen Colbert and Paul Giamatti conversation set for North to Shore Festival in New Jersey
—Inside the opening night of Mariah Carey’s Las Vegas residency
—Demi Moore to host amfAR’s 30th Cannes gala
—Social media star Anastasia “Stassie” Karanikolaou signs with WME
—Christie's to sell the art collection of Norman Lear
What else we're reading...
—In a lengthy, well-researched must-read piece, Daniel Bessner expounds on the existential threats facing Hollywood's film and television writers [Harper's]
—Dave Michaels and Anne Steele report that the DOJ is set to file antitrust suit against concert promoter and Ticketmaster-owner Live Nation [WSJ]
—Jake Kleinman serves up a solid hot take that Alex Garland's Civil War really is about whatever you want it to be about, as the filmmaker has always prioritized vibes over plot [Inverse]
—Rhea Mogul looks at India's controversial leader Narendra Modi as he gears up to campaign for what he hopes will be a transformative third term [CNN]
—Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek have five takeaways from the first day of Donald "Sleepy" Trump's New York criminal trial [NYT]
Today...
...in 2010, Lionsgate released Kick-Ass in theaters. Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of the Marvel comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. was a critical and commercial hit and proved to be a breakout film for star Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Anya Taylor-Joy (28), Malcolm McRae (30), Claire Foy (40), Ellen Barkin (70), Sadie Sink (22), Martin Lawrence (59), Jon Cryer (59), Shu Qi (50), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (77), Max Beesley (53), Cassandra Naud (32), Marshall R. Teague (71), Lukas Haas (48), Jack Cutmore-Scott (37), Phoebe Fox (37), Midori Francis (30), Belinda Stewart-Wilson (53), Jake Garber (59), Jay O. Sanders (71), Nikki Griffin (46), Billy West (72), Liliana Mumy (30), David Lyons (48), Sean Maher (49), Hayes MacArthur (47), Tom Segura (45), Michel Gill (64), Peter Billingsley (53), Russell Harvard (43), Hayley Squires (36), Tanya Moodie (52), Yorick van Wageningen (60), Lorraine Nicholson (34), Valentina Bellè (32), Lisette Olivera (25) |
| Ron Thompson, the unheralded actor who starred on Broadway for Charles Gordone in the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Place to Be Somebody and played father and son musicians for Ralph Bakshi in the animated cult classic American Pop, has died. He was 83. The obituary. |
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