| | | | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is the supremely talented Naomi Ackie. Alex Cooper is taking Call Her Daddy to SiriusXM. Condé Nast has inked a multiyear partnership with OpenAI. Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck. Focus Features has acquired Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. Travis Kelce has landed his first movie role. Mike Greenberg is the new host of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
Who's Afraid of Naomi Ackie? Meet Hollywood's New Femme Fatale ►On the cover. How — and whether — you are currently familiar with Naomi Ackie will depend on your viewing habits. Some first noticed her in Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World, others remember her poignant turn on Master of None’s third season or her starring role in 2022’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody. But she is, without question, entering the biggest moment of her career. With Ackie's terrifyingly bold performance in Zoë Kravitz’s horror thriller Blink Twice, THR's Seija Rankin writes that the British actress is about to go from a face you know to a name you won’t forget. The cover story. |
The Obamas Bring Down the House at the DNC ►"Kamala Harris is more than ready for this moment." Speeches from Dem heavy-hitters Barack and Michelle Obama as well as a memorable address from Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff were the highlights of another star-packed night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The former first lady's "Black jobs" zinger created a major moment of the 2024 convention, while the former two-term president had the DNC in stitches after calling out Trump's "weird obsession" with crowd sizes 🤏. The recap.
—Lil’ John! Timbaland! Petey Pablo! Oh my! On what was a raucous, joyous night inside the DNC, the roll call set social media abuzz with the innovative use of a live DJ and music to introduce each state and territory. DJ Cassidy took on the role of setting up each state and territory with short intro music, as each representative got a chance to talk up their home before declaring their delegates. Stealing the show, though, was Georgia, which flexed by having Lil Jon perform “Turn Down for What” live inside the United Center. The playlist.
—"You don’t want to overdo the Hollywood." THR's Katie Kilkenny talked to political insiders on how the Harris-Walz campaign is cautiously deploying celebrities. With both political and Hollywood stars swarming the DNC, strategists and observers weigh in on how Democrats will use their Hollywood supporters: "It is going to have to be a delicate balance." The story.
—"Just because someone is a fan of your work, it doesn’t mean they will listen to you when it comes time to vote." THR's Rebecca Keegan spoke to Greg Proppe, a longtime social impact adviser to stars like John Legend and Kerry Washington, who has been tapped to help manage Hollywood’s support for Kamala Harris. Proppe offers his take on the Harris-Walz campaign’s strategy for harnessing star power. The interview.
—Protests. A pro-Palestine protester disrupted a live broadcast of The Late Show in Chicago on Tuesday night, interrupting an interview between host Stephen Colbert and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. During Pelosi's interview with Colbert, a woman in the audience at the Auditorium Theatre shouted “Free Palestine!” and questioned U.S. support for Israel. As well as the protester inside the theater, a group of protesters outside chanted "Nancy, Nancy, you can’t hide." The story. |
How to Make a TV Studio Disappear ►Keep calm and carry on. To help save $500m, Paramount Global shuttered Paramount TV Studios, the producer of Amazon’s Reacher and Apple’s Time Bandits. The move shocked Hollywood, and led to job losses, but THR's Rick Porter writes that the company still has two television studios left, and the shutdown won’t affect, at least in the immediate aftermath, Paramount+, the streaming platform that Paramount is looking to make sustainably profitable. The analysis.
—🤝 The break-up 🤝 Alex Cooper, the world’s most popular female podcaster, has struck a new deal to take her Call Her Daddy show and burgeoning podcast collective over to SiriusXM starting in 2025. The agreement is worth $125m and covers a little over three years. The move represents a major poach by the SiriusXM Podcast Network, as Cooper has been Spotify's No. 2 original behind the Joe Rogan Experience. Yet, Cooper’s work won’t be exclusive — Call Her Daddy will still be available to stream on all platforms, including Spotify. The story.
—Grim. Time Magazine is cutting 22 roles across departments, including editorial, technology, sales and marketing and Time Studios. In a memo to staff announcing the layoffs Tuesday, Time CEO Jessica Sibley cited business challenges, including lower advertising budgets, competition and shifts in consumer behavior, and a shift to focus on higher growth coverage areas, which include climate, AI and health. The story.
—🤝 Grimmer 🤝 Condé Nast is the latest media organization to strike a multiyear partnership with OpenAI. As part of the partnership, content from Vogue, The New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, Wired, Bon Appétit and more will be used within OpenAI products, including ChatGPT and the company’s Search GPT prototype, a new search feature which offers direct links to news stories. The company plans to eventually integrate it directly into ChatGPT. The story.
—Breaking records. Cole Escola’s Oh Mary! broke the house record at the Lyceum Theatre last week, bringing in $1.06m and besting its own record from July 21. The production, written and starring Escola as a reimagined Mary Todd Lincoln, played to 100 percent capacity last week, as it has for the majority of its run. The show previously broke the record with a gross of $1.05m and has extended its previously limited run through Nov. 10. The revival of The Wiz went out on a high on its final week on Broadway, bringing in $1.94m, the highest total of its run, and playing to just over 100 percent capacity. The story.
—Ka-ching! Netflix saw a more than 150 percent increase in ad sales commitment after this year’s upfront, compared to last year, the streamer said Tuesday. The commitments included buys from advertisers in all key categories, Netflix said, and include partnerships for Squid Game, Wednesday, Outer Banks, Happy Gilmore 2, Ginny & Georgia, and Love is Blind as well as deals around the new live events, including WWE Raw, and the live telecasts of the Christmas Day NFL games, which kick off for the first time this year. This was the first time that Netflix had a physical event in New York during upfronts week. The story. |
Jennifer Lopez Files for Divorce From Ben Affleck ►Love is not real. Bennifer 2.0 is no more. One of Hollywood’s most famous A-list couples have split for a second time as Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck on Tuesday in L.A. County Superior Court. Lopez listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024, though she filed today, on Aug. 20, the second anniversary of their ceremony in Georgia, an extravagant wedding that followed a quickie Las Vegas elopement in July 2022. The story. |
'It Ends With Us' Should Have Warned Audiences Ahead of Time ►"[The film] ultimately fails the survivors it is supposed to advocate for." In a guest column for THR, Bridgette Stumpf, the founder and executive director of Network for Victim Recovery of DC, writes that movies should learn from TV shows — and do a better job alerting audiences when projects like It Ends With Us contain sensitive content about domestic violence. The column.
—Snapped up. Focus Features has picked up the worldwide rights to Nomadland director Chloé Zhao’s next movie, Hamnet, which stars Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn. Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions and Zhao’s Book of Shadows are backing the feature based on Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel of the same name about William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, as she mourns the loss of her son, Hamnet. The story.
—Powering up. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Wes Ball is set to direct an adaptation of Reikon’s popular video game Ruiner for Universal, with Michael Arlen Ross on board to pen a screenplay. The Ruiner video game is set in the year 2091 in the cyber metropolis Rengkok, and follows a wired psychopath who fights against a corrupt system to uncover the truth and retrieve his kidnapped brother. Universal has a track record with video game adaptations, having had box office success with The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Five Nights at Freddy’s. The story. |
Will a 'Rush Hour' Sequel Resurrect Brett Ratner? ►Limbo. THR's Mia Galuppo and Borys Kit report that multiple studios have been approached about Rush Hour 4, the next installment of the successful action comedy franchise. But getting the movie made would mean working with Brett Ratner, a filmmaker who hasn’t shot a feature since he faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment in 2017. The story.
—🎭 Movie star! 🎭 Travis Kelce has landed his first movie project as an actor. The Kansas Chiefs star is attached to star in Loose Cannons, an action comedy that is in the process of being set up at Lionsgate. Chad Stahelski, the John Wick filmmaker who has a first-look deal with Lionsgate, is producing with Jason Spitz, his partner at 87Eleven Entertainment, as well as Alex Young. Tim Dowling, whose credits include Adam Sandler comedy Just Go With It, wrote the script. The story.
—🎭 Five more 🎭 Temuera Morrison, Zack Morris, David Field, Pacharo Mzembe and Gideon Mzembe have joined the cast of Amazon MGM Studios' period feature The Bluff starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The film centers on a former pirate (Chopra Jonas) who attempts to keep her family safe when she is confronted with her dangerous past. Frank E. Flowers directs the film from a script he co-wrote with Joe Ballarini. The project will debut on Prime Video on a yet-to-be-announced release date. The story. |
Anya Taylor-Joy to Star in 'How to Kill Your Family' ►🎭 Return to the small screen 🎭 Anya Taylor-Joy is set to play the lead role of the murderous Grace Bernard in Netflix's adaptation of Bella Mackie's novel How To Kill Your Family. The Furiosa star previously led the hit chess drama The Queen’s Gambit for Netflix. Mackie serves as co-executive producer on the eight-episode series from Sid Gentle Films Ltd, which also produced Killing Eve. The story.
—Bloody hell! Netflix revealed a slate of upcoming titles at the Edinburgh TV Festival, including docuseries on Victoria Beckham and British boy band Take That. The streamer also announced a doc on the 7/7 London bombings, revealed more details on its docuseries on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and confirmed renewals of Black Doves, a Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw spy thriller, as well as season two of Love is Blind: UK. The story.
—🎭 Suiting up 🎭 Suits star Patrick J. Adams is the latest actor to join Paramount's nextYellowstone-verse installment, The Madison. Adams is set to play a young investment banker on the show from Taylor Sheridan, which stars Pfeiffer. The Madison is described as a heartfelt study of grief and human connection, following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana. The story.
—🎭 Big catch 🎭 Beef's Maria Bello will star opposite Holt McCallany in Kevin Williamson's Netflix drama series The Waterfront. The Emmy nominee will play the matriarch of a family that runs a “crumbling fishing empire” in North Carolina. The Waterfront marks a return to NC for Dawson’s Creek creator Williamson, who shot his breakout series (though it was set in Massachusetts) in Wilmington. The story. |
How MrBallen Built a True-Crime Empire ►"I also just feel big connections with people I’m telling stories about." In the crowded true-crime media space, MrBallen has kept his approach pretty simple. He appears on his YouTube channel wearing a flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap in every video, speaking directly to his audience, as if he’s telling them a story. THR's Caitlin Huston spoke to the Navy SEAL turned YouTuber who leans on his family members (including two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists) to help source hitmaking stories. The interview.
—"Hularious." Hulu’s stand-up push continues with Ilana Glazer. The Broad City alum will debut her second special, Human Magic, on the platform Dec. 20. The hour was taped in early May in Toronto and will air internationally on Disney+. The new hour arrives a month after Jim Gaffigan’s November special, which will kick off Hulu’s monthly stand-up initiative, which it’s dubbed “Hularious.” The platform has also lined up hours from Bill Burr, Roy Wood Jr. and, pending deals, Sebastian Maniscalco, Atsuko Okatsuka and Jessica Kirson. The story.
—📅 Dated 📅 The second season of Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters series has a launch date: Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will release on Netflix on Sept. 19. This next installment in Murphy and Ian Brennan’s true-crime anthology series follows Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the miniseries about Jeffrey Dahmer, played by Evan Peters, that launched in 2022. After that series became a monster hit for the streamer, Netflix ordered two more installments and turned the series into an anthology that will tell "stories of other monstrous figures who have impacted society." The story.
—Upped. Mike Greenberg has been named host of ESPN‘s Sunday NFL Countdown. Greenberg currently hosts ESPN’s morning show, Get Up, and the Greeny radio show. He previously hosted NBA Countdown, SportsCenter and the Mike & Mike radio show with Mike Golic. He takes over the host role from Sam Ponder, who was fired last week, alongside football analyst Robert Griffin III. The decision to part ways with the two was described as being part of a cost-cutting move. The story.
—One off. Late Night With Seth Meyers will move into primetime for a night in September. Meyers will host an expanded version of his recurring “Closer Look” segment on Sept. 11, the night after a scheduled presidential debate. The special, titled "Closer Look Primetime," will take a deep dive into the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The story.
—"The boys talk candidly about how they grappled with the true cost of global fame." A docuseries on the global success of 1990s Irish boy band Boyzone is coming to Comcast's U.K. unit Sky. For the first time in 30 years, bandmembers Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Michael Graham have granted rare, exclusive interview access for the three-part show, revealing their personal experiences in the band that sold over 25m records worldwide. The story. |
Critic's Appreciation: Phil Donahue Transformed Daytime TV ►"Donahue roamed his soundstage with an eager microphone and a true-hearted intellectual curiosity about the subject at hand." In a tribute to Phil Donahue, who died Aug. 18 at age 88, THR critic Robyn Bahr remembers the intrepid host who reinvented the talk show genre, boldly normalizing ostensibly scandalous subjects and cultural entities. The critic's appreciation.
In other news...
—Rachel Zegler battles evil machines in trailer for A24 horror-comedy Y2K
—John David Washington wrestles with painful past in The Piano Lesson trailer
—Paramount+, Canal+ expand partnership in France
—Ethan Hawke to receive Lucca Film Festival’s Golden Panther Award
—Sky content team rejig expands remit of Meghan Lyvers as scripted head, Caroline Cooper as COO
—Beyoncé lauches whiskey brand SirDavis
—Shiloh Jolie officially drops Pitt surname
What else we're reading...
—Erich Schwartzel and Sara Ashley O’Brien go inside Matthew Perry's tragic quest to get well [WSJ]
—Tressie McMillan Cottom writes that Michelle Obama absolutely took Donald Trump apart with her searing DNC speech [NYT]
—Kevin Breuninger reports that Kamala Harris has raised nearly $500m in the past month [CNBC]
—Scaachi Koul writes that the drama over It Ends With Us has almost eclipsed the film itself [Slate]
—Kate McCusker looks into how Ireland became the world’s literary powerhouse [Guardian]
Today...
...in 1998, New Line unveiled Wesley Snipes’ R-rated Marvel adaptation Blade in theaters, where it would go on to be a late summer hit and gross $131m globally. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Kim Cattrall (68), Carrie-Anne Moss (57), Peter Weir (80), Bo Burnham (34), Cleo King (62), Hayden Panettiere (35), Alicia Witt (49), Laura Haddock (39), Nathan Jones (55), RJ Mitte (32), Patty McCormack (79), Loretta Devine (75), Thomas Beaudoin (43), Marc Evan Jackson (54), Elarica Johnson (35), Kate Robbins (66), Christian Navarro (33), Arielle Carver-O'Neill (32), John Brotherton (44), Mustafa Shakir (48), Quei Tann (24), Richmond Arquette (61), Dallas Liu (23), Cody Kasch (37), Kiami Davael (38), John Hollingworth (43), Harry Gilby (23), Eve Torres (40), Jade Chynoweth (26), Laura Morante (68), Melissa Schuman (40) |
| | | |
