TIFF Halts Screenings of Russian Doc After Threats; Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan; 'Joker 2' Tracking for $70M-Plus Opening; 'The Penguin' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( September 13, 2024 What's news: Francis Ford Coppola is suing Variety. Sundance is a step closer to finding a home for the film festival in 2027 and beyond. The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive has resigned. Netflix won the bidding war for Silicon Valley drama Thumblite. The MTV VMAs scored its biggest audience in four years. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. TIFF Halts Screenings of Russian Doc After Threats ►"This is an unprecedented move for TIFF." The Toronto Film Festival has announced it will halt the screening of the controversial documentary Russians at War after it had “been made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety.” Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova is behind the doc, a first-person account of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. On Sept. 10, around 400 Ukrainian Torontonians protested the plan to screen the film outside TIFF Lightbox. [The story.]( —Messy. A dispute over whether Francis Ford Coppola exhibited unprofessional behavior on the Megalopolis set is intensifying, with multiple parties filing crisscrossing lawsuits. On Wednesday, Coppola sued Variety for defamation. He denied claims that there weren’t any of the traditional checks and balances in place to protect against sexual harassment, and accused the publication of falsifying the statements. This followed one of the extras on Monday filing a lawsuit detailing claims of sexual harassment against the director. The lawsuits were filed with Megalopolis set to be released in roughly two weeks. [The story.]( —"Kamala era." Taylor Swift's key phrase took over digital billboards in New York’s Times Square and on the Las Vegas strip Friday in a marketing push from the Democratic National Committee, spurred on by the singer's endorsement of Kamala Harris. “We’re In Our Kamala Era!” and “A New Way Forward…. Ready for It?” — the latter, referencing Swift’s song from her Reputation album — were emblazoned across multiple sky-high digital billboards. [The story.]( —"Nobody’s eating cats, nobody’s eating dogs." John Legend addressed Donald Trump's attack on Haitian immigrants in the singer’s hometown of Springfield, Ohio. During the presidential debate on Tuesday, the former president attacked Haitian immigrants in Springfield, suggesting that "they’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there." On Instagram, Legend spoke at length about the realities of his hometown and debunked some racist misconceptions. [The story.]( Why Hollywood Keeps Quitting on Harry and Meghan ►Expanding membership. Looks like Harry and Meghan have done it again — they’ve chewed up yet another American adviser. Josh Kettler, the Santa Barbara-based consultant who’d been serving as chief of staff to the Duke and Duchess, reportedly resigned in August — after just three months on the job — becoming the latest member of the ever-expanding “Sussex Survivors Club,” as some former employees have taken to calling themselves. Kettler joins in Toya Holness, Christine Weil Schirmer, Samantha Cohen, Keleigh Thomas Morgan, Catherine St-Laurent, Mandana Dayani, Ben Browning and Fara Taylor in the SSC. [The story.]( —Final 3. Sundance is a step closer to finding a new (or familiar) home for the film festival in 2027 and beyond. The Sundance Institute has confirmed the three cities moving on to the finalist phase of its review process to secure a long-term host location: Boulder, Colorado; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Salt Lake City/Park City, Utah. Up next, those cities will move into a “concluding review process” with a decision expected in the first quarter of next year, following the 2025 edition of the festival. Sundance remains in Park City for 2025 and 2026. [The story.]( —Uh-oh. The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video game division at Megan Ellison's Annapurna, has resigned, according to a report from Bloomberg. On Sept. 6, Annapurna said that its president, Nathan Gary, who also oversaw the company’s video game operations, would be exiting along with the co-heads of Annapurna’s indie gaming division, Deborah Mars and Nathan Vell. This week, Bloomberg reports that Gary and the staffers in the company’s gaming division, over two dozen in total, resigned after negotiations to spin off the video game division from the larger company fell through. [The story.]( —"Forget about Georgia." New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to ramp up TV and film production in the state, and in a conversation Thursday afternoon, said that she is more than willing to make the case to the entertainment community herself. Over lunch at the Paley Center for Media in New York, Hochul said that she met with Disney CEO Bob Iger on Wednesday in an effort to persuade him to bring more projects and jobs to the state. [The story.]( Tim Robinson Comedy Snags HBO Series Order ►YESSS!!!! HBO has placed a series order for The Chair Company, a comedy series co-created by and starring Tim Robinson, the comic genius behind Netflix’s Emmy-winning sketch show I Think You Should Leave. Zach Kanin co-created the show with Robinson; both will write and executive produce. Adam McKay and Todd Schulman also executive produce via their HyperObject Industries, along with Igor Srubshchik. Chair Company will follow a man named William Ronald Trosper (Robinson) who, after an embarrassing incident at work, finds himself investigating a far-reaching conspiracy. [The story.]( —Topical. Netflix has won the bidding war, and given a straight-to-series order, to Thumblite, a drama set in Silicon Valley. The series comes from The Morning Show and Pachinko producer Media Res and creator Scott Z. Burns. NYU marketing professor and podcaster Scott Galloway is an executive producer. Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike will star and executive produce. Thumblite is described as "a corporate thriller" that examines "the schemes, rivalries, visions and obsessions of the power brokers and their underlings as they vie for control of the most powerful industry the world has ever known." [The story.]( —🎭 Heading to croc country 🎭 Deadloch is heading north. Amazon Prime Video's Aussie original hit crime comedy has begun production on its second season, and relocates the action from Tasmania to the sweltering heat and humidity of the Northern Territory. Stars Madeleine Sami and Kate Box return as odd couple detectives Eddie and Dulcie, but there's a slew of new characters. Joining the cast for season two are Steve Bisley, Jean Tong, Shari Sebbens, Genevieve Morris, Byron Coll, Nikki Britton, Anthony J Sharpe, Blake Pavey, Damien Garvey, Ngali Shaw, Bev Killick, Ling Cooper-Tang, Ursula Yovich, Syd Brisbane, Ines English and newcomer Lennox Monaghan. [The story.]( —Another one. Jessica Kirson is bringing her unfiltered humor to Hulu. Though a premiere date is being kept under wraps, the veteran comic has inked a deal for her next hour of standup. It marks Kirson’s second special. The news comes as Hulu makes an aggressive push into the standup space. The initiative, which is dubbed “Hularious,” kicks off in November with a new Jim Gaffigan special. From there, the streamer will roll out monthly specials, from acts including Bill Burr, Roy Wood Jr., Ilana Glazer, Atusko Okatsuka, Kirston and, assuming his deal closes, Sebastian Maniscalco. [The story.]( —Diminishing returns. Netflix released the first half of Emily in Paris' fourth season Aug. 15, and as a result got just over half of the tune-in for the show’s last full-season premiere. The dramedy starring Lily Collins gathered 792m minutes of viewing in the U.S. for its premiere week, according to Nielsen’s streaming ratings. That was good for third place among original series and ninth overall, but was also down 43 percent from the 1.39b minutes for the first week of season three’s release — which featured all 10 episodes of that installment, as opposed to five this time out. [The streaming rankings.]( —Swiftie bounce. The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards scored its biggest audience in four years. Wednesday’s show, which included a record fifth video of the year win for Taylor Swift, averaged 4.09m viewers across MTV, 11 other Paramount-owned cable channels and UniMas. That’s an 8 percent gain over the 2023 VMAs (3.78m viewers) and the best total for the VMAs since 2020; figures for both years include the main show, preshow and encore airings. The primary telecast improved by a larger margin, averaging 3.11m viewers across the 13 channels — up 25 percent from 2.49m a year ago. [The ratings.]( 'Joker 2' Tracking for $70M-Plus Opening ►Not great. Warner Bros. has its work cut out for it before Todd Phillips‘ divisive sequel Joker: Folie à Deux opens in North American theaters three weeks from now. The movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga is tracking for a domestic opening of $70m-plus, at least $10m behind tracking for the first Joker, which went on to shatter records in launching to $96.2m domestically in 2019. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that prerelease tracking is hardly an exact science, and numerous movies of late have opened well ahead of predictions. [The box office report.]( —📅 Moving up 📅 Universal has tinkered with the Thanksgiving 2025 release date for Wicked: Part Two. The second of the Wicked movies, based on the wildly popular Broadway musical, will move from Nov. 26, 2025, to Nov. 21, 2025, a Friday. That gives more time for word of mouth for the film to build and also distances the Universal tentpole from Disney’s Zootopia 2, which is set to hit theaters Nov. 26, 2025. [The story.]( —📅 Limited run 📅 Clint Eastwood‘s thriller Juror #2 will open in select theaters on Nov. 1, days after making its world premiere as the closing-night film of the 38th AFI Fest. The 94-year-old director’s new film stars Nicholas Hoult as a family man who, while serving as a juror on a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma he could use to influence the verdict and potentially convict, or free, the wrong killer. Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, Cedric Yarbrough, Leslie Bibb and Kiefer Sutherland also star. [The story.]( Meet the Couple Who Sued Disney Over Secretive Club 33 ►"It’s a cult, and Walt’s the messiah." Since 1967, Club 33 has served Disneyland's highest-rolling VIPs — an in-the-know oasis over the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that purports to make the happiest place on Earth even happier. Scott and Diana Anderson, who spent $400,000 fighting their expulsion from the ultra-exclusive Disneyland society, dish all the secrets to THR's [Seth Abramovitch]( — from using Walt's bathroom to Rebel Wilson's suspension to Tom Hanks' private Thanksgiving dinner. [The interview.]( —"We both had a lot of fun playing with that sort of rub and frustration of a grounded-in-reality marriage that’s going through all these complications." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to Scoot McNairy about his new film, Speak No Evil. McNairy talks about reuniting with Halt and Catch Fire co-star Mackenzie Davis on the film, and what attracted him to the project. McNairy also discusses his other big films releasing this year, including playing Woody Guthrie in James Mangold's A Complete Unknown and a key supporting role in Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch. [The interview.]( TV Review: 'The Penguin' ►"More Sopranos than DC, but the makeup and the leading lady shine." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews HBO's The Penguin. Colin Farrell reprises his prosthetics-laden role as a mobster scheming his way up Gotham's criminal underbelly in an eight-episode extension of Matt Reeves' 2022 superhero film. [The story.]( —"Powerful stories, poorly told but well-performed." Dan reviews Starz's Three Women. Betty Gilpin, DeWanda Wise, Gabrielle Creevy and Shailene Woodley star in the series based on Lisa Taddeo's book about the unapologetic empowerment of female desire. [The review.]( —"Flies high." THR's Angie Han reviews Hulu's How to Die Alone. Insecure actress Natasha Rothwell created and stars in an Onyx Collective series about a JFK airport employee who tries to become a bolder version of herself after nearly perishing on her birthday. [The review.]( Film Review: 'Uglies' ►"Been there, Hunger Gamed that." THR's Frank Scheck reviews McG's Uglies. Based on the bestselling novel by Scott Westerfield, the Netflix film revolves around a young woman (Joey King) living in a society that mandates cosmetic surgery at age 16. [The review.]( —"We've played this one too many times before." Frank reviews J.J. Perry's The Killer's Game. Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews and Ben Kingsley star in the R-rated tale of a veteran hitman who orders a contract for his own murder after receiving a mistaken terminal diagnosis. [The review.]( —"A pretty good bet." Frank reviews Jake Remington's $$$. The gritty black-and-white feature revolves around unsavory characters who try to improve their lives by betting on horse races. [The review.]( —"A quirky, low-key delight." Frank reviews Max Train's James. This eccentric comedy, premiering at the Oldenburg Film Festival, concerns the nihilistic title character's relentless quest to find his stolen bicycle. [The review.]( "Still standing, just not saying a lot that’s new." THR's chief film critic [David Rooney]( reviews R.J. Cutler and David Furnish's Elton John: Never Too Late. The Disney+ doc surveys Elton John's heyday as he prepares for a farewell stadium show. [The review.]( In other news... —Bobby Moynihan, Chris Parnell [shoot indie movie in trailer for mockumentary Micro Budget]( —Salem’s Lot [trailer stars Lewis Pullman, Alfre Woodard in Stephen King adaptation]( —Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth [ignite romance in Netflix's Lonely Planet trailer]( —Zack Snyder’s [Twilight of the Gods trailer promises bloody vengeance]( —Tyler Perry [Netflix series Beauty in Black gets release date, trailer]( —Grey’s Anatomy [S21 sneak peek confirms return of Jackson Avery]( ​​​What else we're reading... —After the Project 2025 debacle, Michael Schaffer writes that the knives are out for the Heritage Foundation on the right [[Politico]( —With Chappell Roan going public with her fears over her rising fame, Spencer Kornhaber looks at the stars who came to hate their celebrity [[Atlantic]( —Zack Beauchamp explains how the GOP became the party of racist memes [[Vox]( —Matt Yan does the sums and looks into whether our favorite TV and movie characters in things like Friends, Breaking Bad and Twilight could afford their homes today [[NYT]( —Here's your Friday list: "All 20 Tim Burton movies, ranked from worst to best" [[IndieWire]( Today... ...in 2002, MGM unveiled the comedy Barbershop in theaters, where it would go on to gross $77m and launch a franchise of two theatrical sequels and one spinoff. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Jean Smart (73), Travis Knight (51), Colin Trevorrow (48), [Isiah Whitlock Jr.]( (70), Don Bluth (87), Marlyne Barrett (46), Aisha Dee (31), Frank Marshall (78), Jeff Ross (59), Lili Reinhart (28), Barbara Bain (93), Jacqueline Bisset (80), Louis Mandylor (58), Louise Lombard (54), Robbie Kay (29), Ann Dusenberry (71), Ben Savage (44), Mitch Holleman (30), Nikki Leigh (36), Chiara Aurelia (22), Geri Jewell (68), Vella Lovell (39), Christine Estabrook (72), Dominic Fumusa (55), Clyde Kusatsu (76), Demián Rugna (45), Ace Bhatti (55), Erin Way (37), J.G. Quintel (42), Zoe Buckman (39), Giles Panton (42), Taylor Black (33), Marcus Henderson (37), Nick Vallelonga (65) Chad McQueen, who followed his father, Steve McQueen, into acting and auto racing and portrayed the bully Dutch in the first two Karate Kid movies, has died. He was 63. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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