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What's news: The Obama's Higher Ground is transitioning to becoming an indie production company. Hulu is bringing four more podcasts to the platform. A24’s pricey Elden Ring movie has rounded out its cast. And L.A.'s ongoing film and TV production crisis is becoming a key issue in the city's mayoral race. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
'Mario' and 'Mary' Easily Scare Off 'Mummy'►Buried. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Project Hail Mary continue to rule the box office, while new horror pic Lee Cronin’s The Mummy opened in third place domestically with an estimated $13.5m. The Blumhouse and Atomic Monster production made up some ground overseas with $17.5m in ticket sales for a worldwide start of $34m against a modest $22m net budget.
Universal and Illumination Galaxy stayed atop the North American chart in its third weekend with a better-than-expected $35m as it cleared the $350m mark domestically. Overseas, it pulled in another $83.2m to finish Sunday with a foreign tally of $392.2m and $747.5m globally. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that the Mario franchise has now earned a combined $2b globally to put it at No. 10 on the list of the top-grossing animated franchises of all time after already becoming the top Hollywood animated film of the year so far.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Hail Mary continues its remarkable journey, falling only 15 percent in its fifth weekend to an estimated $20.4m for a domestic cume of $285m and a staggering $573.1m globally. The sleeper hit returned to Imax and other premium large format screens this weekend, several days after star/producer Ryan Gosling and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller showed up at CinemaCon to thank theater owners and announce that Amazon is extending the film’s exclusive run in cinemas. The box office report. |
L.A. Production Crisis Now Mayoral Race Flashpoint►"Pratt’s pressure is a reminder that L.A. shooting is all too often unwelcoming and prohibitive." THR's Gary Baum reports that Los Angeles’ film and TV production crisis, which has battered the entertainment industry’s working classes, is emerging as a key issue in the city’s mayoral campaign. Suddenly, each of the top contenders — Karen Bass, Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt — is proclaiming they’re the one who is serious about solving it, and one of the punching bags is the city’s film permitting office, FilmLA. The story.
—"It’s helpful to have chief film liaisons who can really triage issues." In a followup to the previous story, Gary Baum spoke to Mayor Karen Bass' new film czar Steve Kang. The seasoned community affairs executive spoke with THR about the on-a-deadline diplomacy of collaborating with producers who are burning budget by the minute, fellow municipal bureaucrats with their own fiefdoms and other stakeholders, from NIMBY residents to small-business owners. The interview.
—Terrifying. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody star Dylan Sprouse and his wife, Barbara Palvin, encountered an alleged trespasser at their Hollywood Hills home early Friday. According to reports, Palvin called 911 around 12:30 a.m. after she noticed a man on their property and reported a possible burglary. Sprouse then tackled the suspect on the lawn and held him at gunpoint until police arrived. Authorities took the man, whose identity has not yet been revealed, into custody on outstanding warrants. He did not enter the couple’s home, and no injuries were reported. The story.
—"Here come the ugly parts of what healing actually looks like." Taylor Frankie Paul has reacted to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office announcing they are not filing charges against her following two separate investigations into domestic violence allegations. Paul acknowledged that she’s still feeling the emotional effects of all that’s transpired and shared some symbolism she saw in the timing of learning the charges were dropped. The story. |
Marshall: ESPN Pulled Doc Hour Before Broadcast►"I’m extremely disappointed." Director Frank Marshall says his documentary Rachel, Breathe was pulled from ESPN2 shortly before it was supposed to air Sunday night due to a disagreement with the network over rights to the project. “I’m sad to report that RACHEL, BREATHE , will not premiere on ESPN2 today,” Marshall posted on X on Sunday. “After several days of negotiations that should have been very simple and were not about money, but rights, the ESPN lawyers stopped talking to us an hour before broadcast and said, ‘sign it now or we are pulling the show.'" Marshall directed and was a producer on the doc which is "an intimate exploration of the transformative power of running through the miraculous story of marathoner Rachel Foster." The story.
—Getting ready to mingle. The Obama's production company Higher Ground is transitioning to an independent operation following eight years at Netflix. Barack Obama shared the news at an event held Saturday in Philadelphia. Speaking on separate panels, both Barack and Michelle Obama talked about their work with Higher Ground. The former president said that after eight years of working exclusively with Netflix and being “very grateful for the launch that happened,” the Obamas are “in the process now of transitioning to a more independent [company] where we can work with a bunch of different studios.” The Obamas inked their producing deal with Netflix in 2018. In 2024, Higher Ground and Netflix extended their partnership, with the former transitioning to a multiyear first-look deal for all of its film and TV projects. The story.
—🤝 Court vision. 🤝 Tyrese Haliburton, the Indiana Pacers star point guard, is launching a production company. The two-time NBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist's Zero Doubt Creative has signed a multiyear production and development partnership with Brent Montgomery‘s Wheelhouse Sports. The two companies will collaborate on original entertainment and branded content. Some of the Zero Doubt/Wheelhouse stuff will be pitched for sale across the broader landscape, other content will be for Haliburton’s YouTube and social media channels. The story. |
The Last Time Everyone Watched the Same Thing►"Broadcast and cable outlets were arguably at their peak in terms of reach." At the 2014 Oscars, best supporting actor nominee Bradley Cooper took a selfie with host Ellen DeGeneres and a bunch of A-listers, among them Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Lupita Nyong’o and Jennifer Lawrence. DeGeneres’ Twitter account posted it immediately afterward, and it became the most retweeted post in the platform’s history at the time. The selfie was an instantly viral moment in a telecast that drew the Academy Awards’ largest audience in 14 years — 43.74m people. No one knew it at the time, but 2014 marked the peak of a monoculture that no longer exists. THR's Rick Porter writes that the numbers show a long decay ever since. The analysis.
—This can't be good. Americans no longer turn to TV and newspapers as their primary source of news, instead turning to online opinion personalities and comedians, particularly those on the right, gaining steam among people who voted in the last presidential election. That is the finding of a new poll conducted by Ipsos for the Jordan Center for Journalism Innovation and Advocacy at the University of Mississippi. The poll actually found the conservative politicians and cabinet members, including Trump, were the top news influencers. When politicos were excluded, Joe Rogan led the list, followed by Fox News personalities Greg Gutfeld and Sean Hannity, and then TuckerCarlson and Ben Shapiro. The only three influencers to crack 10 percent were Trump, Rogan, and JD Vance. The story.
—🤝 Ramping up. 🤝 Hulu is bringing four more podcasts to the platform, as the streamer leans more into the growing medium. The newly licensed titles include the comedy podcast Handsome, hosted by Tig Notaro; Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin; as well as three podcasts based around television shows: The New Girl rewatch podcast The Mess Around, hosted by Hannah Simone and Lamorne Morris; Prison Breaking, based on the TV show Prison Break; and That Was Us, hosted by This Is Us stars Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown and Chris Sullivan. The story.
—New pod. 99% Invisible creator Roman Mars is hosting a new series about the objects that shaped the history of America. The show, A History of the United States in 100 Objects, is produced by SiriusXM and BBC Studios, and will see Mars uncover the stories behind objects such as a gold coin from a shipwreck in 1857 that led to a financial panic, an antebellum schoolbook that became a tool for Black liberation and a small screw that shows how the U.S. created a hidden industrial empire. The story. |
CinemaCon's Winners and Losers►Marvel soars, DC slips. The 2026 edition of CinemaCon was one for the ages. Avengers: Doomsday dropped a nuke. Tom Cruise finally aged. And David Ellison tried his best at a charm offensive. THR's James Hibberd goes inside the biggest news and boos from 2026's news-stuffed exhibitor conference. The story.
—🎭 All filled out. 🎭 A24’s adaptation of Bandai Namco Entertainment’s video game Elden Ring, its most ambitious feature movie project to date, has rounded out its cast as it begins production. Tom Burke, Havana Rose Liu, Sonoya Mizuno, Jonathan Pryce, Ruby Cruz, John Hodgkinson, Jefferson Hall, Emma Laird and Peter Serafinowicz have been added to the call sheet, which already includes Kit Connor, Ben Whishaw and Cailee Spaeny. Nick Offerman is also in the cast. Alex Garland, who wrote and directed Civil War, which held the title as A24’s most expensive production for a spell before being supplanted by Marty Supreme, wrote the script and is directing the production, which gets underway this week in the U.K. The story.
—🎭 Touch of class. 🎭 The Batman: Part II is looking to add another star to its stacked cast. Charles Dance is in talks to play Harvey Dent’s father in the upcoming sequel to 2022’s The Batman. Robert Pattinson is back to lead the film as the Dark Knight with Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent, and Scarlett Johansson as Dent’s wife. Matt Reeves returns to direct the movie, which is aiming to begin production next month, and co-wrote the script with Mattson Tomlin. The story.
—🎭 Trautman found, finally! 🎭 David Harbour is a late addition to the cast of John Rambo, Lionsgate and Millennium Media’s action feature being directed by Jalmari Helander, the helmer behind the grimy and gritty Sisu movies. In a key role, Harbour is playing Major Trautman, Rambo’s commanding officer. An origin story that takes place before the events of First Blood, the Sylvester Stallone-starring movie that kicked off the Rambo franchise, John Rambo stars Noah Centineo as the titular character, who will one day become the one man army. The story. |
Wyle on His Dark 'Pitt' S2 Journey►"If the one everybody looks to for help and guidance is the one that’s in the most trouble, who does he turn to?" THR's resident Pitt Crew member Hilary Lewis spoke to Noah Wyle about the season two finale of The Pitt. The star, who also serves as a writer, director and executive producer on the hit HBO Max drama, talks about the significance of that final scene as well as where his character goes from here and the storytelling approach heading into season three. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"Anytime in my life when I’m leading up to something exciting, I just get paralyzed with dread — and then once it aired, it was really fun." THR's David Canfield spoke to Euphoria actress Martha Kelly about the second episode of season three of the HBO drama. The Emmy nominee breaks down Laurie's journey in season three so far, why she's having more fun this time around and what her endgame is with Rue and Alamo. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"Did I expect this film to go this far? Yes, because it is good. Like you just know. And there’s something special about this film." THR's Brande Victorian spoke to Danielle Brooks about her latest film project, If I Go Will They Miss Me. The actress, who received the Art of Light Award during the Miami Film Festival for her role in the Walter Thompson-Hernández feature, discusses the indie and how it inspired her to make her own short. The interview. |
'Beef' Breakout Accidentally Manifested Her Role in S2►"We all have these petty sides to ourselves, and it’s very refreshing to see these characters amplify that pettiness." THR's Nicole Fell spoke to Seoyeon Jang, the breakout star of the second season of Netflix's Beef. The 31-year-old British-Korean actress, who got her start as a K-pop idol trainee turned K-drama star, loves how messy the anthology characters get to be. The interview.
—"It just goes to show that real life is so much more interesting than anything my writer brain can come up with." Nicole also spoke to Beef star Charles Melton and creator Lee Sung Jin. The creator of the award-winning Netflix anthology series shares how an overheard argument inspired the show’s latest installment. The interview. |
TV Review: 'Kevin'
►"An amiable hangout comedy, with a feline twist." THR's Angie Han reviews Amazon Prime Video's Kevin. An all-star voice cast featuring in this animated series set at a pet shelter in Astoria, Queens. Featuring the voices of Jason Schwartzman, Amy Sedaris, John Waters, Whoopi Goldberg, Aparna Nancherla, Gil Ozeri and Aubrey Plaza. Created by Aubrey Plaza and Joe Wengert. The review.
In other news...
—Jill Biden tried to win a role on Heated Rivalry — but she was outbid
—Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn reveals cancer diagnosis
—Natalie Portman pregnant with third child
—Andrew Lloyd Webber reveals he’s a recovering alcoholic
—Nathalie Baye, French actress known for Downton Abbey and Catch Me If You Can, dies at 77
—Nadia Farès, The Crimson Rivers actress, dies at 57
What else we're reading...
—Ahead of the release of Michael, Nicholas Barber wonders whether the Michael Jackson biopic will tell the full story about the pop icon [BBC]
—Jesse Hassenger looks at Hollywood's push for "screenmaxxing," ramping up Imax as well as new formats like HDR by Barco and Disney's "InfinityVision" [Guardian]
—Drew Harwell and Jeremy B. Merrill reveal that neo-Nazi streamer Nick Fuentes has made a staggering $900,000 from "superchats" since Trump came to power for the second time [Washington Post]
—Josh Dawsey and Annie Linskey have a frightening behind-the-scenes look at the Trump White House, where a small group of incompetent yes-men are too scared to tell the president how badly his Iran War is going [WSJ]
—Sarah Fitzpatrick proves that we are living in the dumbest timeline, with this jaw-dropping story about FBI Director Kash Patel [Atlantic]
Today...
...in 1937, David O. Selznick premiered A Star Is Born, featuring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, in Los Angeles. The film went on to earn seven Oscar nominations at the 10th Academy Awards, winning for original story. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Jessica Lange (77), Andy Serkis (62), Shemar Moore (56), Killer Mike (51), Tan France (43), Billy Magnussen (41), Veronica Cartwright (77), Crispin Glover (62), Carlos Valdes (37), Joey Lawrence (50), Carmen Electra (54), Ruth Connell (47), George Takei (89), Scott Cooper (56), John Patrick Amedori (39), Miranda Kerr (43), Georgina Rylance (47), B.J. Britt (44), Woo-hee Chun (39), Mike Pniewski (65), Yuji Okumoto (67), David Matranga (51), Felix Mallard (28), Duncan Trussell (52)
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Patrick Muldoon, the veteran actor who starred in the cult film Starship Troopers as well as on the TV shows Days of Our Lives and Melrose Place, has died. He was 57. The obituary.
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