| | | | | | What's news: Apple TV+ will appear on Amazon Prime Video's channels. A24 has picked up U.S. distribution rights to Pillion. Broadway theaters will dim their lights in honor of Gavin Creel, Adrian Bailey and Maggie Smith after a backlash. CBS News is in crisis over the Ta-Nehisi Coates interview. Sean Combs' lawyers are accusing the government of misconduct related to leaking evidence. WGA West has slapped Millennium Pictures with a do-not-work order. — Abid Rahman
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THR's 50 Most Influential Influencers ►The creator A-list. From staggeringly talented TikTokers to the Instagram stars we can’t look away from, these are the names who will (and should) be dominating the business of new and old media and who make THR’s inaugural content creators power list. The list.
—"Everything is becoming really fragmented and niche while algorithms are more competitive." For THR, Taylor Lorenz surveys the creator landscape in 2024. Taylor writes that the roaring influencer ecosystem could exceed half a trillion dollars by 2027 — but its biggest stars say it’s tougher than ever to stay on top. The analysis.
—THR's Top Business Managers of 2024. They work your money. Be nice to them. And take their advice. These top 40 financial advisers — with high-profile clients from Beyoncé to Angelina Jolie, Steve Martin to Jordan Peele — can help you weather any storm. The list. |
Why Disney Is Shrinking Its TV Kingdom ►The new reality. Disney’s decision to shut down its ABC Signature TV studio marks the second such move by a media conglomerate in the past two months, following Paramount Global closing Paramount Television Studios. It’s another sign of the contraction-minded times — but also an echo of a move Disney made four years ago in the wake of its purchase of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets for $71.3b. THR's Rick Porter writes that by scrapping ABC Signature, Disney is doubling down on the hitmaking mainstay that is 20th TV while continuing to offload costs and staff. The analysis.
—🤝 Streaming deal 🤝 In a surprise move, Apple and Amazon have cut a deal that will bring the Apple TV+ to Amazon’s Prime Video channels. The deal will see Apple TV+ join streaming services like Max, Paramount+, AMC+ and Starz as a subscription add-on for Prime Video subscribers. Apple TV+ will cost $9.99 per month, and as with other streaming add-ons for Prime Video, users will be able to watch all their content within the Prime Video app. Apple TV+ will be added later this month. Prime Video chief Mike Hopkins announced the deal at the Bloomberg Screentime Conference Wednesday evening. The story.
—🤝 New head, new deal 🤝 Color Force’s TV business has both a new chief and an even longer term home. The company behind recent series Clipped and American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez has tapped Checka Propper as its new head of TV. In the role, she’ll oversee Color Force’s extensive television slate, and work closely with FX, where the company has renewed its exclusive producing deal through 2027. Propper comes by way of David E. Kelley Productions, where she spearheaded the company’s non-writing slate as its executive vice president. The story.
—"This is an extension of what has been built over the last 10 years." New York Yankees legend and Fox Sports analyst Derek Jeter has quietly launched a production company, Cap 2 Productions — a reference to his number with the Yankees, and his role as captain of the team. Speaking to THR's Alex Weprin, Jeter hopes that Cap 2 will take full advantage of the burgeoning interest in sports-related content from TV channels and streaming services. Jeter frames the company as an expansion of what he did with The Players’ Tribune , the athlete-focused digital publication that he co-founded with Jaymee Messler in 2014. The story.
—Do-not-work order. The WGA West has ordered its members to cease working with The Expendables producer Millennium Pictures, citing that the company is not a signatory to its current union agreement. According to the union, the company was a signatory to the WGA West’s 2020 and previous contracts but is not a signatory to its 2023 contract, whose term is three years. The union alleges that "The Guild has had to bring a significant number of claims against Millennium over the years for the company’s failure to pay writers initial compensation and residuals." The story. |
Did Zachary Levi Commit "Career Suicide" After Backing Trump? ►"It didn’t happen for him, and he’s bitter about that." When Zachary Levi stood onstage at a Sept. 28 rally in Michigan and endorsed Donald Trump, he declared it an act of “career suicide” that would end his chances of working again in “very, very liberal” Hollywood. A closer look at Levi's career and the box office performance of his recent work suggests it's business rather than politics that will determine his Hollywood future. The story.
—Move to suppress evidence. Sean Combs, who’s facing sex trafficking and racketeering charges, is accusing the government of vast misconduct related to leaking evidence to the media that he says prevents him from receiving a fair trial. Lawyers for Combs, in a bid to get a hearing on the issue filed on Wednesday, seek a court order that would keep a potential jury from considering such evidence, including hotel surveillance footage of him violently assaulting the singer Cassie, or the dismissal of all charges if it’s proven that the government was the source of the leak. The video published by CNN was part of a seven-month campaign initiated by prosecutors and federal law enforcement agents to “raise public hostility against Mr. Combs in advance of trial,” they claim. The story.
—"Out of spite and to punish." Lawyers for a former employee who accused Garth Brooks of raping her at a Los Angeles Hotel in 2019 have slammed the country music singer for revealing her real name in a court filing. "Garth Brooks just revealed his true self," lawyers for the accuser, led by Douglas H. Wigdor of Wigdor LLP, said in a statement on Wednesday. In an Oct. 3 lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the accuser, identified only as “Jane Roe,” alleged sexual assault, battery and violations of California laws providing protections from intimidation and coercion after the 2019 hotel incident. The story.
—"I think they made a mistake here." Shari Redstone, the chair of Paramount Global, is backing CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil after a contentious interview last week with author Ta-Nehisi Coates. "I frankly think Tony did a great job with that interview," Redstone said on Wednesday during a panel at Advertising Week. "I was very proud of the work that he did. Yes, as hard as it was for me to go against this company, I think they made a mistake here." Redstone's comments come after CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark told staff that the interview did not meet the network’s editorial standards. The story.
—"Wendy is an outstanding, accomplished leader." Paramount Co-CEO George Cheeks also addressed the CBS Mornings Coates interview on Wednesday, saying that the company needs to have “substantive dialogue” about perceptions of bias and "inconsistent treatment." In a statement backing CBS News execs, Cheeks wrote that an editorial meeting should be called to talk about the standards for fairness and objectivity set within the news division. But he added that hosts should still be allowed to ask tough questions. "Our hosts and correspondents will continue to ask the toughest questions on the most important and complex issues," Cheeks wrote. The story. |
Broadway Will Dim All Theater Lights For Trio After Outcry ►"This makes no sense." Following outrage from members of the theater community, all Broadway theaters will dim their lights in honor of Gavin Creel, as well as for Adrian Bailey and Dame Maggie Smith. The committee of Broadway theater owners also said they are also “reviewing their current dimming policy and procedures,” following the broader scrutiny on the process. Creel, a Tony-Award winning actor and frequent Broadway performer, died Sept. 30 at the age of 48 following a recent cancer diagnosis. After his sudden passing, The Broadway League announced that select Broadway theaters, rather than all 41, would briefly dim their lights in his memory. The story.
—The greatest showman. Hugh Jackman will perform a 12-show concert series at Radio City Music Hall in 2025. The show, entitled From New York With Love, will start on Jan. 24, 2025, with one weekend of shows per month in April, May, June and July. The final shows are scheduled to take place Aug. 15 and 16. Jackman announced the news on social media in a video with his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star Ryan Reynolds. The story. |
Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling's 'Pillion' Lands A24 ►Kinky bikers. A24 has picked up U.S. distribution rights to Pillion, the debut feature from British director Harry Lighton and Poor Things producers Element Pictures. The film stars Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård and is described as a "funny, filthy romance." In Pillion, Skarsgård plays Ray, an "impossibly handsome leader of a bike gang" who takes on Colin, a weedy wallflower, to be his new submissive and introduces him to a community of kinky, queer bikers. But as Colin dives deeper into Ray’s world, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is really for him. The story.
—🎭 Mahhhhh wives 🎭 Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike are set to inhabit an alternate society in the Netflix romantic-comedy feature Ladies First. The Beautiful Game filmmaker Thea Sharrock is helming the project that adapts director Eleonore Pourriat’s French-language movie Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile. Katie Silberman, Natalie Krinsky and Cinco Paul penned the script for the new film. Ladies First follows a womanizer who gets a shock when he is suddenly living in a world dominated by women, with an opinionated female counterpart adding to the complications. The story.
—🎭 Gronk plays hockey 🎭 Mickey Rourke and former NFL star Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski have nabbed starring roles in writer/director Tom DeNucci’s sports comedy The Roaring Game. Also joining the Verdi Productions pic in key roles is William Forsythe and Vanessa Angel. The Roaring Game centers on Rickey, a high school janitor who loses everything when his girlfriend, Kelly, is selected to play hockey for Team USA and compete in the World Games. The story.
—🎭 Two more 🎭 Catalina Sandino Moreno and Néstor Carbonell have joined the high-profile cast of RIP, a crime thriller starring and produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The Grey's Joe Carnahan is helming the feature that already has Sasha Calle and singer-turned-actress Teyana Taylor on the call sheet. It begins production later this month in Miami and Los Angeles. The feature is being produced by Artists Equity, the artist-led studio founded by Affleck and Damon. The story.
—"Call Disney. Call Bob Iger!" Chris Pine has offered his thoughts on the news that another Princess Diaries film is in the works. In media appearances on Tuesday, Pine addressed the big announcement that Anne Hathaway will return to star in a Princess Diaries 3. Pine starred alongside Hathaway in The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement, which marked his film debut at the time. Despite his excitement about the news, Pine admitted that he has no details to share about the film. In the franchise, Pine portrayed Nicholas Devereaux, who fell in love with Hathaway’s Mia Thermopolis. They professed their love to each other at the end of the 2004 sequel. The story. |
Aaron Pierre to Lead HBO's 'Lanterns' ►🎭 Rebel yell 🎭 Aaron Pierre, the star of Netflix’s Rebel Ridge, has nabbed the plum part of Green Lantern John Stewart in DC Studios’ and HBO’s much-ballyhooed series Lanterns. The casting caps one of the more scrutinized actor searches in some time. Not only is the show the first major TV endeavor from DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran, but the role of Stewart carries much significance, as the fan-favorite character was one of DC’s first Black superheroes. THR's Borys Kit and Aaron Couch report that the intense casting process came down to Pierre and The Piano Lesson star Stephan James. Both participated in screen tests, with the actors squaring off against the already cast Kyle Chandler on Thursday and Friday. The story.
—Christmas comes early. The third season of Reacher isn’t set to premiere until next year, but Amazon Prime Video has renewed the hit show for a fourth season. The pickup comes months ahead of season three’s debut, which is set for sometime in 2025. That Amazon would want to keep Reacher going is no surprise: The show based on Lee Child’s novels about freelance problem-solver Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is one of the biggest on the platform. Season two, which premiered in December 2023, was the most viewed release of that year on Prime Video. A spinoff series focusing on Maria Sten's character, Frances Neagley, is also on the way. The story.
—No more mystery. Max has canceled its animated series Velma after two seasons. The show’s second season debuted in April, and a Halloween special that premiered on Oct. 3 marks the final outing for the show. Velma, created by Charlie Grandy, is a more adult-oriented prequel/reimagining of the brainy Scooby-Doo character. Mindy Kaling (who’s also an executive producer) voices Velma, who’s haunted by the disappearance of her mother and dealing with the perils of being a teenager along with solving mysteries. The story.
—Forced abdication. The Serpent Queen will not be returning for a third season at Starz. The news comes a little more than a month after the season two finale aired in August. The Serpent Queen, based on the book Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France by Leonie Frieda, is about the life of Catherine de’ Medici, the 16th century Queen of France. The show, created by Justin Haythe, starred Samantha Morton as Catherine, in addition to Amrita Acharia, Enzo Cilenti, Ruby Bentall, Nicholas Burns, Beth Goddard, Raza Jaffrey and Danny Kirrane. The story. |
ESPN Hires Cam Newton as 'First Take' Regular ►Newtonian flow. THR's Alex Weprin has the scoop on ESPN signing up Cam Newton, with the former Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots quarterback set to serve as a commentator for the company, primarily on First Take. Newton will make his First Take debut on Oct. 11 during a live taping at Tennessee State University as part of the program’s HBCU roadshow. The morning show, hosted by Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim, has become a staple of ESPN’s lineup during the 10 a.m. to noon hours. Other First Take commentators include Shannon Sharpe and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. The story.
—Calma, Emmanuel. The Mayor of Rome has told Emmanuel Macron to "relax" over Netflix's Emily in Paris heading to the Eternal City for its fifth season, after the French president said he planned to “fight hard” to keep the popular show in the City of Light. "You really cannot intimidate or interfere with Netflix production plans for the next season of Emily in Paris. It is just not done," Roberto Gualtieri told THR Roma. The story.
—European union. The BBC and German and French public broadcasters ZDF and France Television are joining forces for The Lady Grace Mysteries, a new live-action tween series based on the best-selling book franchise written by Patricia Finney, Sara Volger and Jan Burchett. The book series tells the story of Lady Grace Cavendish, an orphan raised to be a lady-in-waiting at the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I, who becomes the world’s first female teenage detective. First published in 2004, 12 Lady Grace Mystery books have been published to date, in multiple international editions, and sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide. The story.
—Going back. Nate Bargatze is bringing his comedy back to Netflix. The streamer formally announced it has inked a two-special deal with the world’s top earning comic, whose last special made a major splash at Amazon Prime Video. The news comes as Bargatze continues to be in heavy demand across the entertainment landscape. In fact, in the last month alone, he’s hosted Saturday Night Live (for a second time) and announced an hour-long, holiday-themed CBS variety show, which is being produced by SNL’s Lorne Michaels and his Broadway Video. The story. |
Brett Goldstein F@$king Loves This! ►"People talking about their process is disgusting. Just shut up and do the work." THR's Mikey O'Connell spoke to the always busy Brett Goldstein. The once and future Ted Lasso star discusses his dark turn on season two of Apple TV+'s Shrinking, bombing on the stand-up stage in front of film execs and finding happiness in his unrelenting schedule. The interview.
—"I felt like I was in a movie." THR's Seth Abramovitch spoke to Eden Golan, Israel's representative at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Golan discusses the huge controversy around this year's Eurovision, having to get extra security in Sweden and getting a call of support from Gal Gadot. The interview.
—"Honestly, the last five years have been so crazy." THR's Brian Davids spoke to Rachel Sennott about his new film, Saturday Night. The in-demand actor and comedian, who plays Rosie Shuster — writer and former wife to Lorne Michaels — in the hotly anticipated film, also discusses how she has steered her young career through COVID and two strikes: "That was an interesting era." The interview. |
Film Review: 'Blitz' ►"Over-familiar tropes dull the impact." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Steve McQueen's Blitz. The Apple TV+ drama feature, starring Saoirse Ronan and Harris Dickinson, centers on a young boy and his mother trying to find their way back to one another amid the bombing of the city. The review.
—"Evasive to the point of utter boredom." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Peacock's Teacup. Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman and Chaske Spencer star in this James Wan-produced eight-episode horror adaptation of Robert McCammon's novel about several families facing an unknowable evil force. The review.
In other news...
—Lashana Lynch hunts down assassin Eddie Redmayne in The Day of the Jackal trailer
—Sex Lives of College Girls sets return date, debuts S3 teaser
—Korean writer Han Kang wins Nobel Prize for Literature
—Taylor Swift donates $5m to Feeding America for hurricane relief, org says
—Pharrell Williams, Colman Domingo, LeBron James, A$AP Rocky and Lewis Hamilton announced as Met Gala chairs
—Lee Daniels, Aly and AJ Michalka to be honored at The Art of Elysium’s Heaven Gala
What else we're reading...
—Irie Sentner and Andrew Howard report that some Republicans are trying to course correct as Milton misinformation overwhelms the GOP [Politico]
—Alexis Soloski talked to Alfonso Cuarón about his intriguing new Apple TV+ thriller series, Disclaimer [NYT]
—Matt Stieb talked to social media influencer Caroline Calloway who has decided to ride out Hurricane Milton from her Sarasota home and make content [Intelligencer]
—Cory Weinberg has a jaw-dropping report on OpenAI projecting not to make a profit till 2029, and set on making total losses of $44b between 2023 and 2028 [Information]
—The crisis at CBS News grows, Justin Baragona reports that in a staff meeting, Tony Dokoupil openly admitted violating network standards during his infamous interview Ta-Nehisi Coates [Zeteo]
Today...
...in 2014, Sony Pictures Classics released Damien Chazelle's Whiplash in theaters. After winning the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for drama at Sundance earlier that year, the film was a big critical and box office success and was nominated for five Oscars, winning three. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Dan Stevens (42), Charles Dance (78), Peter Coyote (83), Sarah Lancashire (60), S.S. Rajamouli (51), Mario Lopez (51), Michael Giacchino (57), Tim Miller (60), Morgan Neville (57), Mya (45), Bradley Whitford (65), Wendi McLendon-Covey (55), Emer Kenny (35), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (46), Manu Bennett (55), Rose McIver (36), Bai Ling (58), Aimee Teegarden (35), Lucy Griffiths (38), Marc Menchaca (49), Joelle Carter (52), Bae Suzy (30), Kyle Allen (30), Rebecca Pidgeon (59), Chiaki Kuriyama (40), Maggie Elizabeth Jones (21), Jodi Benson (63), Amanda Burton (68), Julia Sweeney (65), Amanda Ryan (53), Ben Vereen (78), Andrea Navedo (55), Chad Willett (53), Tony Pitts (62), Vico Ortiz (33), Heather Decksheimer (34) |
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