| | | | What's news: Spotify hit 226m premium subscribers. LeBron James' SpringHill is looking to produce a NBA version of docuseries Quarterback. Amazon MGM Studios won the rights to adapt Glossy. Tyler Perry has signed a first-look feature pact with Netflix. Ava DuVernay’s film Origin will be competing this awards season as an original screenplay. — Abid Rahman
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WGA East Explains Why It Hasn't Made Israel-Hamas Statement ►"We realize this will strike some of you as inadequate." The WGA East is offering an explanation for why it hasn’t made a statement about Hamas’ attack on Israel, while also emphasizing that it stands against antisemitism and Islamophobia, amid criticism of the WGA's silence. In a message sent to members on Monday, top leaders of the union noted that a recent restructuring of the guild had led to a change in policy on public statements. The organization pointed out this referendum was spurred by the fact that journalists now make up 40 percent of its membership. The story.
—"Shocked and appalled by the lack of courage." The Screenwriters of Guild of Israel has sharply criticized the WGA for failing to weigh in on the Hamas terrorist attacks. “Your silence is loud and clear and completely contrasted by the loud support demanded from the SGI and their members just a few weeks ago,” the guild said in a statement. The story.
—"No hostage can be left behind." A long list of Hollywood stars and executives have signed a letter thanking President Joe Biden for his leadership amid the Israel–Hamas war, and asked him to keep his focus on the hostages in Gaza. Bradley Cooper, Courteney Cox, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Zack Snyder and Shawn Levy are just some of the celebrities who added their names to the document circulated by a group of Hollywood leaders who launched a website called No Hostage Left Behind. Those who are actively involved in the coalition include Gal Gadot and Amy Schumer. The story.
—"The report left readers with an incorrect impression." The New York Times has said it was wrong to “heavily” rely on claims by terrorist group Hamas that Israel was to blame for the Oct. 17 Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, without first verifying those claims. The NYT is the latest major media outlet to concede that its early and fast-shifting reporting on the deadly Gaza hospital blast relied on Palestinian sources, where follow-up coverage and investigations revealed the cause was a misfired rocket aimed at Israel. The story. |
'Mission: Impossible 8' Delayed Till 2025 ►New name, new date. The next Mission: Impossible movie is departing the 2024 box office calendar. Paramount and Skydance have pushed back the film back to May 23, 2025, off its previous date of June 28, 2024. The eighth installment in the Tom Cruise action spy franchise also appears to be dropping the second half of its previous title, Dead Reckoning, Part Two, with a new title expected to be announced at a later date. The story.
—Can't stop, won't stop. The ever-busy Tyler Perry has signed a multiyear, first-look feature pact with Netflix, with the multihyphenate planning to write, direct and produce films for the streamer. Perry is already working with Netflix on several titles, including Six Triple Eight, a World War II period film. Perry previously worked with Netflix on his period drama A Jazzman’s Blues, thriller A Fall From Grace and A Madea Homecoming — the 12th installment in his Madea film franchise. The story.
—The original path. THR's Scott Feinberg has the scoop that Ava DuVernay’s film Origin will be competing this awards season as an original screenplay, not an adapted screenplay. The drama was inspired by but is not an adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 best-selling book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent. DuVernay's portrait of the genesis of Wilkerson's book was deemed original by the WGA, and the film's backers, including distributor Neon, plan to campaign for it everywhere accordingly. The story.
—Another major win. THR's Lacey Rose has the scoop on A24 outbidding stiff competition for the rights to turn true-crime podcast The Girlfriends, from iHeartPodcasts and Novel, into a television series. The weekly podcast, which launched in the summer, tells the real-life story of a group of women who band together to put a murderous ex behind bars. And though details of the TV version are being kept under wraps, Michael Showalter and his Semi-Formal Productions are already attached. The story.
—Glossiest. In another competitive Hollywood bidding war, Amazon MGM Studios won the rights to adapt Glossy, about the millennium beauty brand and its female founder Emily Weiss. The book, from journalist and author Marisa Meltzer, became an instant bestseller when it was released in early September. Per multiple sources, Pet Sematary’s Lindsey Anderson Beer and her production company LAB Brew are attached to produce what’s expected to be an ongoing series at the streaming service, should it move forward. The story. |
'Reservation Dogs' Star Slams 'Killers of the Flower Moon' ►"Being Native, watching this movie was fucking hellfire." Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs slammed Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon for "painting Native folks as helpless victims without agency." Jacobs took to social media to excoriate the veteran filmmaker for his revisionist Western true-crime epic, and its depiction of the Osage people as tragic victims. The story.
—"There are too many damn long movies these days." Alexander Payne has waded into the debate about film runtimes. The Sideways director was speaking at the Middleburg Film Festival on Saturday to promote his new film, The Holdovers, when he criticized overly long runtimes. Payne didn’t cite any particular offender, but his comments came on the opening weekend of Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour drama Killers of the Flower Moon. The story.
—"It’s an open season on queer and trans bodies." Todd Haynes says LGBTQ people in the U.S. are currently living in a “culture that just seems to be becoming more infantile in every conceivable way” and that has resulted in an “open season on queer and trans bodies, identities and youth.” The May December director spoke about the differences and similarities of the queer experience in his early career and now while accepting the Queer Visionary Award at 2023's NewFest in New York. The story.
—Raw emotion. Britney Spears' never-before-seen audition for the 2004 tear-jerker The Notebook has been released. In the clip, the singer sobs as she reads lines for nearly three minutes with Ryan Gosling for co-lead of the romantic drama, a role she lost to Rachel McAdams. The 2002 tape was released online by The Daily Mail, which wrote that the video was hidden for decades by casting director Matthew Barry and noted there was an eBay listing in 2021 offering the tape for $1m. The story.
—Katniss heads to London. The first-ever live stage adaptation of Suzanne Collins' acclaimed novel The Hunger Games is set to make its debut in the fall of 2024. Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson has adapted the first novel in Collins’ series and the first film in Lionsgate’s dystopian franchise for its theatrical run. Matthew Dunster, who has helmed 2:22 – A Ghost Story and Hangmen, will direct the production. The story. |
WBD Bets Big on the NBA ►"We’re excited that the league is being innovative." THR's Alex Weprin writes that the NBA's first in-season tournament, combined with the launch of B/R Sports on Max, is making for a critical NBA season for WBD Sports, and that's before you factor in upcoming rights talks. The analysis.
—A-list backers. Lakers star LeBron James and his SpringHill Company is in talks with Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions and Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground for a series that would follow professional basketball players. The format would bring the same approach to the NBA that Omaha’s Quarterback brought to the NFL. The NBA is also expected to be involved in the show, much as NFL Films is a partner on Quarterback. The story.
—Profit at last! Spotify reported better-than-expected third-quarter subscriber gains and a surprise operating profit. The music streaming giant ended September with 226m paying premium subscribers, up from 220m as of the end of June, exceeding its forecast that it would reach 224m in the latest period. Spotify also reported that it hit 574m monthly active users as of the end of the third quarter, up from 551m at the end of the second quarter. The results.
—The decline continues. Verizon lost 78,000 net pay TV subscribers for its Fios consumer video service in the third quarter, ending it with just more than 3m, the telecom giant said on Tuesday. It had lost 69,000 users in its consumer division in the second quarter and lost 95,000 in the year-ago period. The results.
—New markets. Paramount+ has unveiled the rollout of premium and advertising subscription tiers in key international markets. The premium plan is set to launch in Australia, Canada, Brazil and Mexico on Nov. 16. Premium subscribers can use four concurrent streams and view content in premium quality formats, including 4K UHD, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The story. |
TV Review: 'Blue Eye Samurai' ►"Engrossing despite its limitations." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Netflix's Blue Eye Samurai. A mysterious swordmaster cuts a path of revenge through 17th-century Japan in an adult animated series created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green with a voice cast featuring Maya Erskine, Masi Oka, Brenda Song, Darren Barnet, Kenneth Branagh, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Randall Park. The review. In other news...
—Netflix’s Squid Game reality show trailer looks just like Squid Game
—Paris in Love S2 trailer: Paris Hilton opens up about motherhood and past trauma
—I Hate People, People Hate Me drops trailer, sets November release on CBC Gem
—Nancy Sinatra’s former Beverly Hills home sells, above asking, for $3m
—Mary Lou Retton is home and “in recovery mode”
—Neil Gaiman to be honored at The Art of Elysium benefit
—Bell Media to buy major outdoor billboard company for $410m
What else we're reading...
—Dan Kois talks to Killers of the Flower Moon’s author David Grann about the big changes the movie makes to the book [Slate]
—Consulting the polls, Ed Kilgore thinks that RFK Jr. might help Democrats win in 2024 after all [Intelligencer]
—Yair Rosenberg writes that the Hamas terrorist attacks should signal the end of Benjamin Netanyahu due to him failing to keep Israelis safe [Atlantic]
—Lionel Laurent reflects on the billion dollar bets that private equity firms Hipgnosis and Blackstone made on buying up bluechip music catalogs and suggests the artists got the best of these rich deals [Bloomberg]
—Chris Broughton talks to Amadeus star Tom Hulce and editor Michael Chandler about how they made Miloš Forman's Oscar best picture winner [Guardian]
Today...
...in 1962, political thriller The Manchurian Candidate hit theaters, eventually earning two Oscar noms at the 35th Academy Awards, hosted by the film’s star Frank Sinatra. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Drake (37), Zahn McClarnon (57), Kevin Kline (76), F. Murray Abraham (84), BD Wong (63), Raúl Esparza (53), Martin Campbell (80), Ashton Sanders (28), David Castañeda (34), Adrienne Houghton (40), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (37), Eliza Taylor (34), Shenae Grimes-Beech (34), Jemima Rooper (42), Isidora Goreshter (42), Dervla Kirwan (52), Jacqueline McKenzie (56), Jackie Debatin (53), Casey Wilson (43), Paola Lázaro (29), John Kassir (66), Karen Austin (68), Emily Barclay (39), Raelee Hill (51), Amy Bailey (48), Hudson Yang (20), Kirby Bliss Blanton (33), Catherine Sutherland (49), Burgess Jenkins (50), Dave Callaham (46), Wendy Neuss (69), Kate Miller (54), Chris Cafero (35) |
| Elizabeth Hoffman, who portrayed Beatrice Reed Ventnor, the mother of the daughters played by Swoosie Kurtz, Sela Ward, Patricia Kalember and Julianne Phillips during the entire six-season run of the NBC drama Sisters, has died. She was 97. The obituary. |
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