Behind Neon's Banner Year and Rivalry with A24; George R.R. Martin Blasts 'HOTD' Changes; 'Beetlejuice 2' Eyes $100M+ Opening; 'Joker: Folie à Deux' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 05, 2024 What's news: Hulu has renewed Only Murders in the Building. Netflix is developing a Twilight animated series. Alfred Molina and Geena Davis topline the Duffer Brothers' next Netflix series. Charter Spectrum has inked a multiyear deal with AMC Networks. Alison Brie will play Evil-Lyn in Amazon's Masters of the Universe movie. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Behind Neon's Banner Year and Rivalry with A24 ►Running the table. In just seven years, Neon, THR’s Indie Distributor of the Year, has become the go-to home of boundary-pushing filmmakers. The studio is enjoying a stellar 2024, and is behind summer box-office sensation Longlegs and Sean Baker's Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( spoke to Neon founder and CEO Tom Quinn about the studio's meteoric rise, its unerring ability to pick winners, rivalry with A24 and why he doesn’t let dust-ups with talent get him down. [The interview.]( —Apology. THR's [Kim Masters]( reports that WME’s Brandt Joel met by Zoom with agents in the motion picture and talent departments to apologize for and clarify the comment that he posted and then removed from an unofficial WME WhatsApp group chat. Reacting to the news of the killing of six Israeli hostages, Joel had texted "Screw the left kill all." Joel told the Zoom group he wanted to address what had happened, expressed remorse for what he had done, said he deeply regretted it and holds himself responsible. Kim reports that in the aftermath of the text’s fallout, Mahershala Ali has been reassigned and may be leaving the agency. [The story.]( —Russian disinfo campaign. The Department of Justice announced charges on Wednesday against two Russian state media employees for funneling $10m to an unidentified media company in the U.S. The DOJ describes the company as a “Tennessee-based online content creation company” which publishes pro-Russian English-language videos and information on TikTok, YouTube, X and other social media. The description matches that of Tenet Media, which funds videos made by conservative influencers such as Dave Rubin, Tim Pool and Benny Johnson. [The story.]( —"I understand that [working with him] started a lot of conversations." Katy Perry has addressed the backlash she has received over working with producer Dr. Luke on her new album. While appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the singer was asked about working with Dr. Luke, after he had been in a legal battle for nine years with singer Kesha, who alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted by the producer. "[Dr. Luke] was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. But the reality is, it comes from me,” Perry said. [The story.]( 'Megalopolis' Finds a Fall Guy for AI Trailer Snafu ►"They threw Eddie under the bus." Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Megalopolis finally arrives in theaters on Sept. 27, but the journey has been filled with drama, with the most recent being the snafu over the film's trailer, which was pulled by distributor Lionsgate after just one day, when it was revealed that the critics’ quotes being cited in the teaser were bogus. Lionsgate fired Eddie Egan, a longtime marketing consultant, for the debacle, but insiders tell THR the trailer was almost certainly vetted by a half-dozen others, including top brass at the studio and its marketing team, none of whom spotted the error. [The story.]( —"I expect we’re going to prevail." As Live Nation contends with the DOJ lawsuit seeking to break up the company, CFO Joe Berchtold expressed optimism about the suit and the future of the business. Speaking at Wednesday's Bank of America conference, Berchtold was bullish about the company's prospects, saying, "I don’t expect we’re going to have major changes to how we operate through the process. We have to go through the DOJ, but you know, I can’t ultimately control some of the politics, so we’ll just continue to build each of the businesses to best we can." [The story.]( —"We’re looking into what we can recreate." Warner Bros. Discovery may have sold (or more accurately given away) its stake in The CW two years ago, but the company is trying to bring back one of the broadcast network’s hallmarks: A tonnage of output for the WB TV studio. At the Bank of America conference Wednesday, WBD CFO Gunnar Weidenfels said that when Channing Dungey adds oversight of the company’s TV networks at the end of this year, she will look for opportunities to create synergies between the studio and the channels. [The story.]( —"DirecTV continues to misrepresent the facts around our ongoing negotiations." Disney is striking back at DirecTV following the satellite TV provider’s call with media and analysts Tuesday, in which the company outlined its position in the carriage dispute. DirecTV CFO Ray Carpenter said Tuesday that the company is asking for more flexible options for its customers, including “skinny, genre-based” packages. Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairmen, Disney Entertainment, and Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN, said that was not the case. [The story.]( —🤝 Renewal 🤝 Charter Spectrum has inked a multiyear deal with AMC Networks, which owns AMC, IFC, BBC America, We TV and Sundance TV, as well as streaming services like AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, and ALLBLK. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Charter and AMC say that the new agreement will see AMC+ (more than $40 per month) made available to Spectrum TV Select customers at no extra charge. [The story.]( —✊ Solidarity ✊ Around 40 Hollywood writers have joined a hotel union boycott of two Los Angeles hotels, the Cameo Beverly Hills by Hilton and the Beverly Hills Marriott. The Good Place creator Mike Schur, Emily in Paris writer and co-executive producer Grant Sloss, The Simpsons writer and executive producer Ian Maxtone-Graham and Abbott Elementary supervising producer and writer Brittani Nichols are among the scribes that joined the campaign, spearheaded by the major Los Angeles-area hospitality union Unite Here Local 11. [The story.]( George R.R. Martin Blasts 'HOTD' Changes, Details Problems ►Trouble in Westeros. George R.R Martin has made good on his promise to detail “everything wrong” with HBO’s House of the Dragon. The author and HOTD executive producer has posted a candid chronicle of his concern about the fantasy drama, giving readers a rare glimpse of behind-the-scenes creative friction of a major TV series. Martin essentially said on his blog that co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal has made a key change from the book Fire & Blood that the author strongly disagreed with. In Martin’s view, this change has already weakened the adaptation in season two and will cause much greater problems in seasons three and four. [The story.]( —No-brainer. Only Murders in the Building has been renewed at Hulu for a fifth season. Season four is currently dropping weekly episodes on the streamer every Tuesday, leading up to the finale on Oct. 29. OMITB's fifth installment will have 10 episodes, as previous seasons have. Season three of the show received 21 Emmy nominations, the most for the series to date. The show has consistently received positive reviews. Its most recent installment has a 97 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. [The story.]( —Sumptuous menu. Netflix is leaning into Chef’s Table. The culinary doc will launch two new installments later this year, with a third due in 2025. First up is a spinoff titled Chef’s Table: Noodles, which will profile four chefs — Evan Funke, Guirong Wei, Peppe Guida and Nite Yun — and premiere Oct. 2. A seventh season of the main series will follow on Nov. 27, focusing on chefs Nok Suntaranon, Kwame Onwuachi, Ángel León and Norma Listman and Saqib Keval. Next year, Netflix will stream Chef’s Table: Legends, which “pay tribute to the culinary legends who have shaped the modern world of food as we know it.” Legends will coincide with the 10th anniversary of Chef’s Table , which debuted in April 2015. [The story.]( 'Twilight' Animated Series a Go at Netflix ►Love never dies. Twilight is set for an animated adaptation at Netflix. The streamer has given a straight-to-series order and begun development on a show based on Midnight Sun, author Stephenie Meyer’s companion novel to her mega-selling Twilight series. The book is a retelling of the events of Twilight from vampire Edward Cullen’s point of view; the main series is told from the perspective of Bella Swan, the human object of Edward’s fascination. Lionsgate Television, which began early development on a Twilight TV project last year, will produce the series. Lionsgate’s film division released the four Twilight movies. [The story.]( —🎭 A-list names 🎭 Netflix and Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have revealed the cast for the brothers’ next series. The show, titled The Boroughs, has cast Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters and Bill Pullman. Details on their roles are being kept under wraps for now, save for their character names: Sam (Molina), Renee (Davis), Judy (Woodard), Wally (O’Hare), Art (Peters) and Jack (Pullman). Additionally, Ben Taylor has joined The Boroughs as an executive producer and will direct several episodes, including the series premiere. [The story.]( —🎭 Top Guy 🎭 AMC Networks has found its next star in the Anne Rice Immortal Universe. Aussie actor Nicholas Denton has been cast as lead Guy Anatole in The Talamasca, a character who is “brilliant, handsome and sharp on the surface, but he’s always known his mind works a little differently.” Described as a drama focused on the secretive society called The Talamasca that is featured in many of Rice’s novels, the six-episode season will focus on the men and women responsible for tracking and containing the witches, vampires and other creatures scattered around the globe. Greenlit in June, the show is the third series in the franchise and joins Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. [The story.]( 'Beetlejuice 2' Eyes Near-Record $100M-$110M Opening ►It's (almost) showtime! Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is expected to gross anywhere from $100m to $110m in its domestic debut, based on tracking data and advanced ticket sales. Warner Bros. is remaining more conservative in sticking with $80m-plus. If tracking is correct, the fantasy horror-comedy will boast the second-best September opening of all time behind New Line and Warner Bros. blockbuster 2017’s It, which launched to $123m in early September 2017, not adjusted for inflation. [The box office report.]( —🎭 Annie goes evil 🎭 Alison Brie has nabbed the key villain role of Evil-Lyn in Amazon MGM Studios and Mattel Films’ live-action take on Masters of the Universe. The actress, currently seen on Peacock’s thriller limited series Apples Never Fall, joins Nicholas Galitzine and Camila Mendes in the adaptation of the popular toy brand first introduced in the 1980s. Galitzine leads the series as He-Man, while Mendes is on the call sheet for the role of Teela, the captain of the royal guard and possible romantic interest. In the director’s chair the feature has sitting Travis Knight, the founder of stop-motion powerhouse Laika, who helmed the company’s Kubo and the Two Strings. [The story.]( —🎭 One more 🎭 Deadpool & Wolverine star Morena Baccarin has joined Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa in The Wrecking Crew, an action comedy from Amazon MGM Studios. Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Frankie Adams, Miyavi, Stephen Root and Claes Bang are already on the call sheet for the feature, which will have Ángel Manuel Soto in the director’s chair when cameras roll in October in New Zealand. [The story.]( —Sold! Netflix has picked up director Stephen Chbosky’s feature comedy Nonnas, which stars Vince Vaughn, Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire and Brenda Vaccaro. The feature portrays a man after the loss of his mother opening up an Italian restaurant with a group of local grandmothers as chefs. Chbosky wrote the screenplay for Disney’s live action Beauty and the Beast and the film adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder, and directed the screen adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen and penned and directed the film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. [The story.]( 'The Apprentice' Producers Explain Need For Kickstarter Campaign ►"We wanted to do whatever we could to make sure that the movie was seen." This week, the filmmakers behind Donald Trump origin movie The Apprentice launched a Kickstarter campaign to assist with the October theatrical release of the film with a goal of raising $100,000. A day later, it had already topped that goal, raising more than $139,000 for the campaign, dubbed “Release The Apprentice.” THR's [Mia Galuppo]( spoke to producers Daniel Bekerman and Amy Baer about the impetus behind the Kickstarter campaign, Trump’s threats, and their hopes for the film. [The interview.]( —Hopping that border fence. In more good news for The Apprentice, the film is heading north for a screening in Toronto — but not at the film festival directly. The movie never got an official invite to screen at the Toronto Film Festival, and is set for the Atlantic Film Festival for its Canadian fest premiere later in September. But TIFF goers will still be able to see The Apprentice, as producers have moved fast to organize a private invite-only screening during TIFF on Sept. 5. [The story.]( Film Review: 'Joker: Folie à Deux' ►"Funny odd, not funny ha-ha." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews Todd Phillips' Venice competition entry, Joker: Folie à Deux. The filmmaker follows his neo-noir psychodrama with another probe into the title character’s tormented mind, this time with splashy musical numbers, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. [The review.]( —"Watch the world burn." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Asif Kapadia's Venice competition entry, 2073. The genre-bending film combines real archival footage and original interviews with a fictional dystopian narrative to issue a dire warning about impending global disaster, starring Samantha Morton, Naomi Ackie and Hector Hewer. [The review.]( —"Porn to be wild." Leslie reviews Giulia Louise Steigerwalt's Venice competition entry Diva Futura. Based on a memoir by Debora Attanasio, the film charts the rise of an adult entertainment studio through the 1980s and 1990s. [The review.]( —"Watchable at best." For THR, Caryn James reviews Jeremy Saulnier's Rebel Ridge. The latest action film from the director of Blue Ruin and Green Room pits an innocent ex-Marine (Aaron Pierre) against a corrupt sheriff in a small Louisiana town (Don Johnson). [The review.]( TV Review: 'Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist' ►"A terrific cast masks lapses in tone and focus." THR's [Dan Fienberg]( reviews Peacock's Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle lead a top-notch eight-episode ensemble drama that takes look at the bloody aftermath of a scheme tied to a 1970 Muhammad Ali comeback fight in Atlanta. [The review.]( —"Timely and gripping." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin's Venice competition entry The Quiet Son. In the fourth feature by the French filmmaking sisters, Vincent Lindon plays a father whose older son gets drawn into a group of extremist thugs. [The review.]( —"A hearty fanzine of a movie." Jordan reviews Alex Ross Perry's Pavements. Premiering in Venice, the latest from the director of Her Smell uses different formats and genres to explore the highs and lows of California indie rock band Pavement that was more respected than it was ever mainstream. [The review.]( In other news... —Taylor Sheridan’s [Landman trailer stars Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm and Demi Moore]( —Mike Leigh [reunites with Marianne Jean-Baptiste as angry sister in Hard Truths trailer]( —A Minecraft Movie teaser: [Jack Black takes Jason Momoa and Danielle Brooks under his wing]( —Niecy Nash-Betts [tracks a sinister killer in Grotesquerie trailer]( —Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story [new trailer dives into the murders and aftermath]( —Santa Barbara Film Fest: [Will Ferrell tapped for Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film]( —Oldenburg Film Festival [to honor German director Dominik Graf]( —Rodrigo Prieto [to receive distinguished filmmaker award from International Cinematographers Guild]( —Byron Allen [hires new CFO for The Weather Channel]( —Nikki Haley [joins PR and consulting giant Edelman as vice chair]( —How [to watch NFL games online without cable]( ​​​What else we're reading... —Adam Gabbatt looks at how Tucker Carlson, who is currently dabbling in Nazi revisionism, has the ear of Donald Trump [[Guardian]( —Paul M. Renfro, a professor of history, can't quite understand how bizarre the new Ronald Reagan movie is [[Slate]( —Max Read writes that Hollywood gave nerds exactly what they wanted, and as a result we’re trapped in the age of the “explainer movie” [[WaPo]( —Ashley Wong spoke to Billy McFarland who claims Fyre Festival II is happening, despite his spotty track record and debts totalling $26m [[WSJ]( —Zack Beauchamp explains the real reason Netanyahu won’t end the Gaza war [[Vox]( Today... ...in 2014, Eros Entertainment gave a limited release to sport biopic Mary Kom. The film starred Bollywood star and former Miss World Priyanka Chopra as Mary Kom, India’s 5-time world boxing champ. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Michael Keaton (73), Rose McGowan (51), Paddy Considine (51), [Werner Herzog]( (82), George Lazenby (85), Graham Yost (65), Vidhu Vinod Chopra (72), Emmy Raver-Lampman (36), Annabelle Wallis (40), Carice van Houten (48), Kat Graham (35), William Devane (85), Dennis Dugan (78), Erin Krakow (40), Laura Bertram (46), Glenn Fleshler (56), Debbie Turner (68), Kerry O'Malley (55), Gage Golightly (31), Skandar Keynes (33), Kristian Alfonso (61), Michael Horton (72), Celeste Loots (28), Park Ji-hwan (44), Brittany Furlan (38), Max Mittelman (34), Korrina Rico (37), Kim Hye-su (54), Phillip P. Keene (58), Joey Kern (48), Jonny Phillips (61), Johnny Sibilly (37), Lucy Decoutere (54) Eric Gilliland, the prolific TV writer and producer who worked on such classic sitcoms as Roseanne, The Wonder Years and That ’70s Show, has died. He was 62. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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