| | | | | | What's news: Joe Biden has signed with CAA. Neil Gaiman is being sued for sexual assault. Spotify reported its first full-year profit, ever. Netflix has revealed its content slates for India and Korea. The late Anita Bryant is getting the documentary treatment. Mel B is replacing Heidi Klum as a judge on America's Got Talent. — Abid Rahman
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How Emilia Pérez Is Being Removed from the 'Emilia Pérez' Oscar Campaign ►Disaster. This week, Emilia Pérez best actress Oscar nominee Karla Sofía Gascón was expected to fly in to Los Angeles from her home in Spain for a busy week awards campaigning. On Feb. 6, she was to be seated with her writer/director, Jacques Audiard, and costars, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña, at the AFI Awards luncheon. On the evening of Feb. 7, she and her colleagues would have reconvened at the Critics Choice Awards. And there are events set for Feb. 8 and 9, too. Scratch all that. THR's Scott Feinberg has learned that the film's embattled star will no longer be coming to the U.S. amid the racism scandal engulfing Gascón and that the actress' relationship with Netflix is tense. The story.
—State of the Oscar race. With Emilia Perez shrouded in scandal, Scott updates his Feinberg Forecast. Currently projected to win the most awards: The Brutalist and A Complete Unknown (four each), Emilia Perez (three), and Anora and The Substance (two each). The forecast.
—All set. With less than a month to go until the Academy Awards, the show’s executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive producer Katy Mullan have announced the members of their production team for the telecast, which will be hosted by Conan O’Brien. Returning to the telecast are Rob Paine as co-executive producer, Taryn Hurd and Sarah Levine Hall as producers, Mandy Moore as supervising choreographer and Bob Dickinson and Noah Mitz as lighting designer. The 2025 Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The story. |
The Baldoni-Lively Battle Hits the Courtroom ►It never ends for us. The first hearing in the high-stakes legal saga between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively was held Monday in court in New York City over how much Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman can share his case to the press. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ordered the attorneys to comply with a federal court rule barring lawyers from making statements to the press that could prejudice the case. The court issued the order after Freedman claimed he was facing a potential gag order proposed by Lively’s legal team. However, Michael Gottlieb, representing the actress, said he was not seeking a full gag order but rather a court order to comply with existing rules dictating trial publicity. The story.
—Guilty. In one of the most prominent #MeToo cases in the French film industry, director Christophe Ruggia has been found guilty of the sexual assault of Portrait of a Lady on Fire actress Adèle Haenel. Ruggia was given a two-year custodial sentence to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet and an additional two-year suspended sentence. Haenel first went public with her sexual assault allegation against Ruggia in 2019 in an interview with French investigative website Mediapart. She accused the director of sexual assault and molestation over the course of three years, starting when she was 12, and he was 36, and Ruggia cast her in his 2001 feature The Devils. The story.
—Suit filed. Neil Gaiman, the best-selling fantasy author whose works have birthed several hit TV shows, has been sued for sexual assault by a woman who says he raped her multiple times while she worked for his family as a live-in nanny. Scarlett Pavlovich, in a lawsuit filed on Monday in Wisconsin federal court, brings claims for sexual assault, battery and human trafficking, which center around allegations that he coerced her into forced sexual encounters with him as a condition of her employment. Gaiman has maintained that the sexual encounters were consensual. The story. |
Joe Biden Signs With CAA ►"We are profoundly honored to partner with him again." Joe Biden has signed with Creative Artists Agency for representation as he begins his post-presidential era. The Century City-based mega agency already reps his White House predecessor via Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, as well as Democratic-leaning pols like Joe Manchin, Susan Rice, Beto O’Rourke and many others across the aisle as part of its speakers bureau. CAA co-chairs Richard Lovett, Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane have been among Hollywood’s prominent backers of Biden and Kamala Harris’ re-election campaign as well as other Democratic candidates. The story.
—Welcome! Peter Kiefer has joined THR as writer-at-large. In his new role, which is effective immediately, Peter will cover Hollywood’s agencies and studios while also writing broader insider profiles and investigative pieces on industry personalities and institutions. He will also write deep-dive features on politics, real estate, tech and other topics. Peter, who is based in Los Angeles, will report to THR co-editor-in-chief Maer Roshan. The story.
—In the black! Spotify reported its first full-year profit early on Tuesday and highlighted that it signed up an additional 35m monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2024. The audio giant reported 675m monthly active users, the largest Q4 increase in Spotify’s history. Paid subscribers grew by 11 percent year over year to 63m. Both figures came in above Spotify’s guidance. Total revenue grew 16 percent year over year to $4.34b in the final quarter of the year. Quarterly operating income finished at a high of $493m, with Spotify’s first full year of operating income hitting $1.45b. The results.
—Boffo. Fox reported a blowout earnings report Tuesday, with the 2024 presidential election and a stacked live sports schedule seeing quarterly revenue rise by 20 percent year over year to $5.1b and net income more than doubling to $388m. Advertising revenue topped $2.4b in the latest quarter, an increase of more than $400m year over year. The earnings report comes one quarter after Fox reported a huge fiscal first quarter, thanks in large part to the 2024 election, which drove political advertising. Tubi, Fox’s free streaming service, also saw substantial growth. The results.
—Getting testy. Sony is ramping up its dispute with CBS over the syndicated game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. In a letter sent to CBS on Monday, Sony Pictures Television says it will take over distribution of the two shows beginning Feb. 10 — which would mark an end to a more than 40-year agreement between the two companies that has seen CBS’ syndication arm handle distribution. Sony is also seeking to file an amended complaint in its October 2024 lawsuit against CBS that alleges the latter has breached its contract in the U.S. and entered into unauthorized syndication deals for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in other countries. The story.
—🤝 Resolved! 🤝 Nielsen and Paramount have settled a months-long contract dispute. The two companies have signed a new, multiyear deal under which Nielsen will provide a host of ratings and analytics services across Paramount Global‘s linear network and streaming portfolio. The two companies had been at odds since October, when their previous contract expired. The story. |
Juliette Binoche to Head 2025 Cannes Jury ►"I was born at the Festival de Cannes." French star Juliette Binoche has been named the president of the international jury for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The actress succeeds Barbie director Greta Gerwig in the presidential post and will oversee the group of film professionals picking this year’s Palme d’Or winner. Binoche made her Cannes debut exactly 40 years ago, with the premiere of André Téchiné’s Rendez-vous in 1985. It was her first major film role and made her a star. The story.
—🎭 Crime always pays 🎭 Zac Efron will star opposite Will Ferrell in an untitled comedy Nicholas Stoller is directing for Amazon MGM. Stoller also wrote the script, which at one point was titled Judgement Day. The story follows a young convict fresh out of prison who takes a reality TV courtroom hostage, blaming the megalomaniac TV judge, played by Ferrell, for a past ruling that the convict feels ruined his life. Efron will star as the convict. The story.
—🎭 Lovely jubbly 🎭 James Norton, Paddy Considine and Pip Torrens have joined the ensemble cast for Guy Ritchie’s Wife & Dog, which has started production for Black Bear. Cosmo Jarvis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike and Anthony Hopkins were earlier announced for the movie that sees Ritchie return to the colorful, back-stabbing world of the British aristocracy. Ritchie also wrote the screenplay and he produces alongside long-time partner Ivan Atkinson and Black Bear’s John Friedberg. The story.
—In the works. Anita Bryant is getting the documentary treatment. The news comes on the heels of her death on Dec. 16 at age 84. Bryant rose to fame as a pop singer and Oklahoma beauty queen. Later she became known as the face of Florida citrus by helping promote orange juice in television commercials and print ads, before seeing her popularity plummet as she morphed into an anti-gay activist. The doc comes from Trojan Horse Media, director Kareem Tabsch and producer Alex Fumero. Titled Save Our Children, the film will focus on Florida’s role in the national fight for gay rights by exploring how the 1977 crusade, led by Bryant, sparked the political battle over LGBTQ rights. The story. |
'Buffy' Reboot With SMG in the Works at Hulu ►Resurrection. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot is in the offing. Hulu is developing a follow-up to the cult favorite series, with original star Sarah Michelle Gellar attached. The new project comes from writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman and 20th Television and is described as “the next chapter in the Buffyverse.” Oscar winner Chloé Zhao is set to direct. Sources say the new Buffy would focus on a younger Slayer and that Gellar’s Buffy Summers would not be the central character. Although Buffy lore dictated that only one Slayer could exist at a time, its final season upended that notion with the awakening of hundreds of potential Slayers for the show’s endgame. The story.
—Shabash! Netflix has unveiled its 2025 India content slate targeting the country's rapidly expanding streaming market. The streamer's latest India lineup, shared Monday in Mumbai, is both sizable and diverse, spanning a plethora of genres across six feature films, 14 series and five unscripted titles — but it’s also more targeted than in recent years — Netflix released as many as 40 original Indian titles in 2021. The lineup is headlined by Aryan Khan’s grand Bollywood-themed series, The Bads of Bollywood, and Siddharth Anand’s high-stakes drama, Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins, as well as rom-coms, crime shows and live broadcasts of WWE with Hindi commentary. The lineup.
—Daebak! On Tuesday, Netflix followed up by revealing its full Korean slate of films and series for 2025, with the streamer cranking up the production of K-content to feed insatiable global demand. In the scripted sphere, Netflix will debut a whopping 21 series in 2025. Of course, the crown jewel is the third and final season of Squid Game, that launches on June 27. Other highlights include the lavish period drama Dear Hongrang; the pulsating medical drama The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call; the Hospital Playlist spinoff Resident Playbook; the 80s set comedy Aema; and the action thriller Trigger. The lineup.
—All change. America’s Got Talent will make a significant change to its judges’ lineup for its forthcoming 20th season. Heidi Klum is departing the show, with former judge Mel B returning to take Klum’s place alongside fellow judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and Sofía Vergara and host Terry Crews. Mel B previously was a judge on the NBC series from 2013-18 and on spinoff AGT: Fantasy League in 2024. AGT is set to premiere on May 27, with live shows beginning in August. The story. |
Film Review: 'Bubble & Squeak' ►"A bit that goes on for too long." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Evan Twohy's Bubble & Squeak. In Twohy's debut feature, a couple (Himesh Patel and Sarah Goldberg) accused of smuggling cabbages into a fictional country where they are banned must travel through a fanciful woodland to evade authorities. The review.
—"A valuable PSA and a quirky crowdpleaser about death." THR's Daniel Fienberg reviews Tony Benna's André Is an Idiot. In his Sundance audience award winner, the director follows his friend André Ricciardi from cancer diagnosis to treatment as he muses on mortality, family and at least one bad choice. The review.
In other news...
—The Fantastic Four are ready to clobber Galactus in first trailer
—Final Destination Bloodlines trailer brings horror franchise back to life after 14 years
—Cobra Kai to close with one final clash in trailer for S6 Part III episodes
—Surface S2 trailer: Gugu Mbatha-Raw goes “back to where it all started”
—CAA’s Hildy Gottlieb to retire after nearly five-decade Hollywood run
—Lil Nas X joins Crush music management roster
—Doris Brynner, longtime head of Dior home furnishings, dies at 93
—Sal Maida, bassist with Roxy Music and Milk ’N’ Cookies, dies at 76
—Lee Joo Sil, Squid Game actor, dies at 80
What else we're reading...
—Isaac Chotiner digs into how Trump is transforming executive power [New Yorker]
—With the release of DeepSeek, and the subsequent meltdown in Silicon Valley, Jo Ellison wonders whether we have hit peak tech bro [FT]
—Chris Lee talks to the folks at BoulderLight Pictures, who with horror hits like Barbarian and now Companion have seemingly figured out this Hollywood thing [Vulture]
—Christian Paz looks at how Democratic Gen Z activists lost the Gen Z vote [Vox]
—As the video game The Sims turns 25, the game designer Will Wright explains to Zachary Small how The Sims was a sandbox for the American dream [NYT]
Today...
...in 2011, Screen Gems released Christian E. Christiansen's The Roommate in theaters. The college-set psychological thriller film starred Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly and Cam Gigandet and solid box office success, making over $50m. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Alice Cooper (77), Lawrence Sher (55), Patrick Whitesell (60), Natalie Imbruglia (50), Hannibal Buress (42), Jenette Goldstein (65), Rob Corddry (54), Lewis Tan (38), Linda Bassett (75), Michael Beck (76), Charlie Barnett (37), Tabitha Brown (46), Lauren Ash (42), Gabrielle Anwar (55), Brandy Ledford (56), Ben Robson (41), Eric Guilmette (31), Patrick Bergin (74), Kyla Kenedy (22), Christine Nguyen (45), Natalie Krill (42), Katy Selverstone (59), Andrew Terraciano (22), Mari Yamamoto (39), Chris Ivery (57), Ella Rumpf (30), Clint Black (63), Nicolle Wallace (53) |
| Olga James, the singer, actress and nightclub performer who portrayed the jilted sweetheart of Harry Belafonte’s character in the landmark Otto Preminger-directed film musical Carmen Jones, has died. She was 95. The obituary. |
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