| | | | | | What's news: The WGA West has canceled its annual awards show due an internal strike. HBO Max and Paramount+ will be combined. Wuthering Heights is racing towards $200m. Olivia Dean won big at the BRIT Awards. And Zendaya and Tom Holland are apparently married. — Abid Rahman
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David Ellison Talks WBD Deal, HBO Plans ►"This is not about consolidation, this is about reinventing the business." David Ellison wants to forge a modern media and entertainment empire, and Warner Bros. Discovery will become its centerpiece. The CEO of Paramount on Monday spoke for the first time about the $110b mega-deal, which will see the smaller company, backed by tens of billions from his father Larry Ellison and tens of billions in debt from a consortium of lenders, swallow the larger one. Ellison confirmed that once the deal closes, the plan is to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into one major streaming platform. And he committed to 45 day theatrical windows, before sending films premium video on demand, echoing commitments made by Netflix. The story.
—Ted's talking. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has also been speaking out about why the streaming giant dramatically pulled out of a deal for the WB portion of WBD. Speaking to Bloomberg over the weekned, Sarandos revealed that the prospect of Donald Trump weighing in on Netflix's bid wasn't a consideration as the streamer wasn't interested in CNN at all. Sarandos also said the bid process opened a deep dialogue with theater owners, something he hadn't had to do before. "One thing that’s been great about it is getting to know and having open dialogue with the theater owners. I really didn’t have much reason to before,” he said. “We’ve figured out some really creative things to do together, as you saw with Stranger Things and KPop Demon Hunters. We have One Piece in theaters next week in the U.S. and Japan. I think we’re going find a bunch of cool things to do together going forward. I could see us doing things that we haven’t done before." The story.
—Long road ahead. State attorneys general. Foreign approvals. Consumer lawsuits. Even without the Justice Department stepping in, THR's Winston Cho writes that Paramount still faces several roadblocks to completing its acquisition of WBD. The story.
—"How the f*** do I get out of this?" John Oliver isn’t what you might say thrilled about getting a new “business daddy.” That’s how he’s referred to whatever company happens to own HBO, home of his late-night show Last Week Tonight, over the years, from AT&T to WBD. On Sunday’s episode, he said. "It turns out we might be getting a new business daddy,” he said, before showing a news clip recapping recent events. “Yeah, not great news. In fact, if I may quote anyone who’s ever accidentally sat on their Roku remote, ‘Oh shit, I’m in Paramount now, how the fuck do I get out of this?'" The recap. |
Actor Awards 2026 ►🏆 Congratulations to all! 🏆 Sinners won the top film award Sunday night at 32nd annual Actor Awards (formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards). The movie’s cast took home the award for best performance by an ensemble in a film. In addition, Michael B. Jordan won for his leading role in Ryan Coogler’s film. Also in the film categories, Jessie Buckley won best leading actress for Hamnet, while Sean Penn was named best supporting actor for his role in One Battle After Another. Amy Madigan won the supporting actress nod for Weapons. In the TV categories, The Studio was named best comedy series ensemble, with Seth Rogen winning best actor in a comedy series. He also accepted the best actress in a comedy series nod on behalf of Catherine O’Hara, who died in January, giving a touching tribute to his late co-star. The winners.
—Timmy goes all Spursy. Despite critical acclaim and early awards accolades for his starring role in Marty Supreme, Timothée Chalamet suffered his second best actor loss at a high-profile Oscar precursor award show in a week. Additionally, Marty Supreme overall was shut out at the Actor Awards. Frankenstein also went home empty-handed. Weapons‘ Amy Madigan was somewhat surprise winner, though she won the Critics Choice supporting actress award, triumphing over fellow nominees Wunmi Mosaku, who won the best supporting actress BAFTA Award, and Teyana Taylor, who won the Golden Globe. The snubs and surprises.
—"Sinners makes a stand, but will it carry over to the Oscars?" THR's executive editor for awards coverage Scott Feinberg dissects Sunday night's Actor Awards and what it means for the Academy Awards race. The analysis.
—Wait, what? It appears Zendaya and Tom Holland already tied the knot, according to stylist Law Roach. During an interview with Access Hollywood at the 2026 Actor Awards on Sunday, the Euphoria star’s longtime stylist said, “The wedding has already happened. You missed it.” When asked, “Is that true?” Roach confirmed, “It’s very true,” with a laugh. The story.
—Night’s best-dressed. From stars who channeled the requested dressing theme to those who opted for alternate inspirations, THR's Laurie Brookins picks out 10 looks that ruled the 2026 Actor Awards. The looks. |
Busy Awards Weekend With PGAs, Image, Eddies and More ►🏆 It's a lock? 🏆 The 2026 Producers Guild Awards were handed out on Saturday, with One Battle After Another continuing its winning streak and taking home the night’s top award. The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures has historically served as the best predictor of who will win best picture at the Oscars, because of the similar membership size between PGA and the Academy, and both of their use of the weighted preferential ballot. The winners.
—🏆 Domination. 🏆 Sinners dominated the 2026 NAACP Image Awards on Saturday, winning 13 awards after scoring a leading 18 nominations, including best motion picture. Additionally, star Michael B. Jordan took home the NAACP Image Awards’ top honor of entertainer of the year. The film racked up 10 awards across various non-televised ceremonies earlier this week. During Saturday’s broadcast ceremony, airing live on BET and CBS from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Sinners picked up three more, for best motion picture, best actor and breakthrough performer. The winners.
—🏆 Usual suspects. 🏆 A slew of top Oscar contenders won ACE Eddie Awards for the best in editing on Friday night, affirming their positioning as top Oscar contenders as final Academy voting has just gotten underway. When it came to top best-picture candidates One Battle After Another and Sinners, at least, the American Cinema Editors guild did not have to decide, with OBAA’s Andy Jurgensen and Sinners’ Michael P. Shawver, respectively, winning the theatrical comedy and theatrical drama categories. The winners.
—🏆 Fantastic Four-sight? 🏆 One Battle After Another, Frankenstein and The Fantastic Four: First Steps were the big winners at the Art Directors Guild awards Saturday night, winning the top three live-action awards in production design. KPop Demon Hunters landed the prize for best production design in an animated film. Fantastic Four may be in the strongest position to win the Oscar: The fantasy winner has nabbed the Academy Award in three of the past four years. The winners.
—🏆 Sinners again! 🏆 Sinners was the biggest winner at the 16th annual Guild of Music Supervisors Awards in Los Angeles Saturday night, with “I Lied to You” winning best song written and/or recorded for a film, while the movie’s music supervisor Niki Sherrod won for best music supervision in major budget films. The winners.
—🏆 ¡No hay justicia Oliver! 🏆 Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s Basque family drama Sundays beat out Oliver Laxe’s Oscar-nominated techno-tracked dystopian drama Sirāt to take top prize at the Goya Awards, Spain’s top film honors. Sundays won best picture, director, best actress for star Patricia López Arnaíz, and best original screenplay, alongside a supporting actress win for Nagore Aramburu. Los ganadores.
—🏆 Streak continues, innit. 🏆 The evening belonged to Olivia Dean at the 2026 BRIT Awards. The Grammy-winning Dean continued her storming run of form with BRIT Award wins for the coveted artist of the year award and album of the year, as well as best pop act and, alongside Sam Fender, song of the year for their hit “Rein Me In.” The winners. |
WGA Awards L.A. Ceremony Canceled Amid Strike ►✊ Internal strife. ✊ The Writers Guild of America West has canceled its annual awards show set to take place on March 8 amid its own staff striking, alleging that management committed unfair labor practices amid first contract negotiations. In a letter sent to presenters and participants of the 2026 awards ceremony, and obtained by THR, WGAW president Michele Mulroney wrote in part, “I am writing to share the news that the 2026 Writers Guild Awards Los Angeles ceremony will be cancelled. An alternative celebration for this year’s Los Angeles-based nominees will be scheduled at a later date.” The story.
—Ouch. Seth Rogen refrenced the WGA strike news during the 2026 Actor Awards. While on stage accepting the best comedy actor prize, Rogen joked that SAG-AFTRA was “able to pay your own employees enough to keep the award show from being canceled." The story.
—The latest. Shia LaBeouf has been arrested again in New Orleans. According to Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office records, LaBeouf was taken into custody Saturday and charged with one additional misdemeanor count of simple battery in connection with his arrest from earlier this month. The Transformers star’s attorney, Sarah Chervinsky, said that after learning New Orleans police had issued a new arrest warrant Friday, LaBeouf voluntarily turned himself in to the Orleans Parish jail. The story.
—Still got it. The milestone 50th edition of Survivor pulled in solid ratings numbers Wednesday night — as did another show that debuted in the early 2000s, ABC’s revival of Scrubs. The supersized Survivor 50 premiere averaged 5.06m viewers over its three hours. That’s the biggest same-day audience for Survivor episode since the penultimate episode of season 45 in December 2023. The show also delivered CBS’ best Wednesday night performance since May 2022’s season 42 finale of Survivor. The premiere also posted a 0.95 rating among adults 18-49 (equivalent to about 1.29m people in that age range) — the best night one showing for Survivor since November 2021 — and a 1.22 rating among adults 25-54 (about 1.53m viewers in that demo). The ratings. |
'Scream 7' Scares Up Record $64M U.S. Opening ►More good news for Paramount. Scream 7 blew past all expectations at the weekend box office, where the Spyglass Media/Paramount pic easily opened to a franchise-best $64.1m domestically and $33.1m overseas for a global start of $97.2m. In North America, it’s the biggest launch ever for a horror title going out in February and the biggest debut of 2025 so far, not adjusted for inflation.
THR's Pamela McClintock writes that the droves of moviegoers rushing to see Scream 7 prove once again why many genre titles are generally review-proof. The pic — whose major coup was getting Neve Campbell to return after sitting out the last installment — currently sits at a series-worst 33 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the RT audience score is a good-enough 78 percent (studios generally want to see 80 percent and above). And it earned a B- CinemaScore.
Among holdovers, Sony Picture Animated’ GOAT fell a scant 29 percent to an estimated $12m for a second-place finish. Wuthering Heights is racing toward the $200m mark globally. In North America, it followed in third place with an estimated $6.9m for a domestic tally of $73.9m. It is notably bigger overseas, where it took in another $15.6m this weekend for a foreign tally of $119.7m and a worldwide total north of $194m. The box office report.
—Trending down. Pegasus 3 kept its grip on the China box office this past weekend, adding $49.5m to push its cumulative haul to $529.6m, according to data from Artisan Gateway covering Feb. 27–March 1. The racing comedy’s healthy hold solidifies its status as the clear engine of the market so far this year — but the rest of the field is running on fumes relative to past Chinese New Year tentpoles. Total weekend ticket sales came to just $107.9m, and China’s cumulative 2026 box office now stands at $1.41b, a 55.9 percent decline compared to the same point in 2025. The China box office report. |
TV Review: 'Marshals' ►"Not exactly a fresh start." THR's Angie Han reviews CBS' Marshals. In this Yellowstone spinoff, Luke Grimes stars in the crime procedural, which follows federal law enforcement as they solve cases and chase bad guys in the mountains of Montana. Also starring Logan Marshall-Green, Gil Birmingham, Arielle Kebbel, Ash Santos, Tatanka Means and Mo Brings Plenty. Created by Spencer Hudnut. The review.
In other news...
—Scary Movie 6 gets political in first trailer
—Dish TV owner EchoStar loses 168,000 pay-TV subs in Q4
—The 10 best spas in Southern California
What else we're reading...
—Zachary Basu reports that Donald "The Dove" Trump ordered more airstrikes in 2025 (so not including 2026!) than Joe Biden did in 4 years as president [Axios]
—Peter Campbell, Marianna Giusti and Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli report on the mad scramble to get out of Dubai and Doha as the bombs rain down [FT]
—Matthew Martin and Manal Albarakati report that Riyadh has become a transit hub for the super rich trying to escape Dubai and Doha with private jet costs hitting $350,000 [Semafor]
—Cora Engelbrecht talks to Mehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of It Was Just an Accident, about his recent prison experience in Iran [New Yorker]
—Ulysse Bellier reports on the turmoil inside CBS News as American media feels the pressure under Trump [AFP]
Today...
...in 1933, RKO Radio Pictures' epic production of King Kong, starring Fay Wray, made its world premiere in New York City. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Jon Bon Jovi (64), Chris Martin (49), Daniel Craig (58), Bryce Dallas Howard (45), Nathalie Emmanuel (37), Rebel Wilson (46), Method Man (55), Heather McComb (49), Pilou Asbæk (44), Olwen Fouéré (72), Robert Iler (41), Ian Sinclair (42), Ethan Peck (40), Gates McFadden (77), Michelle C. Bonilla (54), T'Nia Miller (41), Becky G (29), Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (46), Esther Povitsky (38), Blake Anderson (42), Maisie Richardson-Sellers (34), Laraine Newman (74), Kim Young-dae (30), Alexander Armstrong (56), Richard Ruccolo (54), Tiger Shroff (36), Philip Granger (62), Kofi Siriboe (32), Jeff Wadlow (50) |
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