| | | | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover star is the funniest man in the world, Conan O'Brien. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! bombed at the box office. Former MSNBC chief Rashida Jones will lead Piers Morgan's media company. Daryl Hannah has slammed her portrayal in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Byron Allen has acquired a stake in Starz. And we have great news on Monsters Inc. 3, Incredibles 3 and Coco 2. — Abid Rahman
Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
Conan: The Oscars Interview ►On the cover. Conan O’Brien’s first go at hosting the Academy Awards in 2025 was quite well-received. So much so, he signed on for his encore two weeks later. “I don’t watch a lot of those things, but I just remember thinking, ‘Is this the greatest Oscars ever?'” says John Mulaney of that night. Ahead of O'Brien's second stint fronting the entertainment industry's biggest event, the man Stephen Colbert calls "the patron saint of ex-talk show hosts," spoke to THR's Mikey O'Connell about the late night crisis, still sweating every joke and dancing with disaster by hosting the Oscars — again. The cover story. |
Is Hollywood Dying? ►"We have to find ways to bring predictability back to our industry." In a guest column for THR, Dick Lippin, the founder, chairman and CEO of Hollywood public relations agency The Lippin Group, admits that the entertainment industry he's worked in for over 40 years doesn’t exist anymore. But he sees reason for optimism now, too. The column.
—"I don’t recall." Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, had a tough day in court on Friday as he reportedly struggled to stay awake while on the witness stand in the trial over his former Malibu mansion. Appearing during the second week of the trial in a L.A. courtroom, the rapper-producer-designer “repeatedly yawned, closed his eyes for long stretches and at times seemed to catch his head falling forward,” according to reports. “I don’t recall,” the rapper answered when attorneys questioned him about the work done on the mansion, which was designed by legendary Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and “gutted” by the rapper as he attempted to transform the architectural marvel into a disaster. Ye bought the estate for $57m in 2021 and sold it at a massive loss, unloading the estate for $21m in 2024. The story.
—Shooting. A woman has been taken into custody after firing shots into the home of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky on Sunday afternoon, according to multiple reports. Citing a law enforcement source, the LAT reported that the woman fired several shots into the Beverly Hills mansion, with a round penetrating a wall of the home. The woman, who is said to be 30 years old, reportedly fired the shots from her car, a white Tesla, across the street and then fled the scene. A call was made to 911, with police responding around 1:21 p.m. Officers followed the suspect to a parking lot in Sherman Oaks, where she was arrested. According to an LAPD radio dispatch cited by the LAT, the woman fired off “approximately 10 shots.” The story.
—"The choice to portray me as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident." Daryl Hannah has responded to how she’s being portrayed in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, saying it’s “appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show.” In the FX series, Hannah is played by Dree Hemingway, and her tumultuous relationship with JFK Jr. (played by star Paul Anthony Kelly) has been chronicled throughout the season’s early episodes. In a NYT opinion piece published on Friday — the morning after the release of the sixth episode, “The Wedding,” which centered around the top-secret wedding between JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (played by star Sarah Pidgeon) — Hannah is condemning the series and its portrayal of her. The story. |
Rashida Jones to Lead Piers Morgan's Media Company ►Empire building. Piers Morgan is expanding his growing digital media empire, and he is turning to a fellow cable news veteran to help him do it. Morgan, the provocative former newspaper editor-turned TV personality, has hired Rashida Jones, the former president of MSNBC, to become CEO of his company Uncensored. The hiring of Jones comes as Uncensored raises fresh capital from Raine Ventures, Antenna Group and Reuben Brothers, the investment firm led by David and Simon Reuben. Uncensored is said to have been seeking about $30m in the latest investment round, as it seeks to create a new media empire. The story.
—Synergy incoming. After it was announced that Paramount Skydance acquired Warner Bros. Discovery last week, Hollywood is anticipating some big changes. And one of those changes will involve redundant assets including real estate. Paramount’s most notable properties are the legendary studios in Burbank and Hollywood, for now, the company's plan is to keep both studios operating. However, the goal is to eventually consolidate many of the studio operations around the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank to eliminate redundancies with the Paramount lot on Melrose Avenue. The story.
—🤝 Starz in his eyes. 🤝 Byron Allen is back in the media M&A business. The mogul, whose Allen Media Group owns The Weather Channel, a production company, local TV stations and streaming platforms, is buying a 10.7 percent stake in the premium pay-TV brand Starz through his investment firm and family office Allen Family Capital. Allen is paying $25m for the stake, acquiring it from the investment fund Liberty 77, led by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Starz, of course, was spun out from Lionsgate last year. Mnuchin had been a major investor in that company, and joined Lionsgate’s board earlier this year. His interest, however, seems to be on the studio, not in the pay-TV and streaming business that Starz is in, hence the sale. The story.
—✊ Talks extended. ✊ SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s studios and streamers have extended negotiations on their next film and television deal one more week, the parties disclosed Friday. The performers union and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of companies like Netflix and Paramount, issued a short joint press release noting that their talks would continue. Both remain under media blackout during the negotiations, which began Feb. 9. The story.
—✊ Priorities approved. ✊ Members of the Writers Guild of America have approved a slate of contract priorities in upcoming labor negotiations with studios and streamers that includes shoring up the union’s health plan, expanding AI protections and improving compensation. More than 97 percent of participating union members voted to approve the bargaining slate ahead of negotiations starting with the AMPTP on March 16, the union said on Friday. The story.
—Right royal breakup. Netflix has exited as a partner to Meghan Markle's As Ever lifestyle brand. The split comes about seven months after the streamer downgraded Markle’s production deal from an overall to a first-look. Officially, at the time, Netflix said it had “extended its creative partnership” with Archewell Productions, the Sussex's media company. In reality, the new pact was a much lighter arrangement compared with the splashy (and very expensive) one that birthed Harry & Meghan, Polo and With Love, Meghan, among other projects. The story. |
'Monsters, Inc. 3' in the Works; 'Incredibles 3' Set for 2028 ►Woof! Pixar has dropped some huge news related to some of its most beloved movie franchises. Parents of the world will rejoice at the news that the Disney-owned animated studio is developing a third Monsters, Inc. film. In a revealing profile in the Wall Street Journal, Pixar also revealed that Incredibles and Coco are getting sequels: Incredibles 3 is set to release in 2028, while Coco 2 is expected in 2029. The story.
—"It's dead, sadly." Fans of Disney‘s 1970s animated feature Robin Hood aren’t likely to be feeling particularly merry after the latest update about a potential live-action remake. During a recent Reddit AMA, filmmaker Carlos López Estrada said that the studio was not moving forward with his planned photorealistic musical. THR exclusively reported in April 2020 that Estrada was in early development on the movie for streaming service Disney+ after deals were finalized prior to the industry shutting down amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 The controversial Melania Trump documentary Melania will debut March 9 on Amazon Prime Video after quietly winding down its run in theaters, where it has earned north of $16.4m domestically. Melania is one of the most expensive docs in history. Amazon MGM Studios ponied up $40m for rights to the project, and is counting on the film to serve up presidential-sized viewership numbers on Prime Video. The story. |
'Hoppers' Redeems Pixar With Big $46M U.S. Opening ►More good news for Pixar! THR's Pamela McClintock writes that Pixar has good reason to be jumping for joy over the opening of Hoppers, which easily topped the weekend box office with a domestic haul of $46m and $88m globally, the biggest launch for an original animated film since the studio’s Coco was released in 2017. The international portion of Hoppers ’ total worldwide gross was $42m from 88 markets. Pixar, whose core mission is to tell original stories, used to be able to do no wrong. But in recent years, Pixar has taken a drubbing for films that stalled out theatrically, excluding franchise installments such as 2024 blockbuster Inside Out 2 — not to mention the impact of the pandemic on the entire animation market.
Warner Bros., however, found itself in the opposite position of having to go on the defensive over the weekend as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! bombed with a third-place domestic debut of $7.3m. Overseas was just as weak; It limped to $6.3m from 78 markets for a worldwide launch of $13m against a net budget of $80 million before marketing. Heading into the weekend, the studio stuck with its forecast of $16m-plus even after the film received lukewarm reviews.
From Spyglass and Paramount, Scream 7 surprised in beating The Bride! despite falling a steep 72 percent or more to $17.1m in its second outing. Internationally, the slasher installment took in another $15.6m for a global cume of nearly $150m through Sunday. The box office report. |
'OBAA,' 'Sinners' Dominate Weekend of Awards ►🏆 Frontrunners flex. 🏆 The 2026 Writers Guild Awards were handed out Sunday in New York. Sinners took the prize for best original screenplay. One Battle After Another took home the award for best adapted screenplay. The Writers Guild Awards’ adapted screenplay category features the same nominees as the Oscars’ adapted screenplay category. The Oscars’ original screenplay category, however, features some different selections from the Writers Guild nominees. The winners.
—🏆 Going down to the wire. 🏆 OBAA's Michael Bauman won the American Society of Cinematographers’ top prize for work on a theatrical feature-film, setting him up as the front-runner to win the Academy Award. To this point, the race has been considered a nailbiter: Bauman also won the BAFTA, Train Dreams’ Adolpho Veloso won the Spirit Award, and Sinners’ Autumn Durald Arkapaw dominated the critics’ awards circuit (she’d be the first woman ever to win the cinematography Oscar). The winners.
—🏆 One win after another. 🏆 OBAA Colin Anderson has taken the prize for camera operator of the year in film for his work on the epic, whose tableaux went from armed border areas to desert highway chases. The Society of Camera Operators honor comes on the heels of a slew of technical prizes for the movie, including from the American Cinema Editors, the Art Directors Guild and the British Society of Cinematographers; the American Society of Cinematographers decides Sunday. The award was announced in a livestreamed ceremony Saturday night. The winners.
—🏆 ¡Justicia para Sirat! 🏆 Motion Picture Sound Editors on Sunday announced the winners for the 73rd annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards, which honor outstanding achievement in sound editing, sound design, music editing and Foley artistry in film, TV and gaming. In the TV categories, Adolescence, Alien: Earth and Love, Death + Robots scored wins, while in the film categories, Sirat, Sinners and Frankenstein were honored. Zootopia 2 received an animation win, while Deaf President Now! won in the documentary category. The winners.
—🏆 Sounds good! 🏆 F1: The Movie, KPop Demon Hunters and Becoming Led Zeppelin were among the motion picture winners at Saturday night’s Cinema Audio Society Awards. Elsewhere in the television categories, The Studio, Adolescence and The Pitt picked up prizes. The winners. |
Broadcast TV Scorecard 2026 ►Steady as she goes. After a rebound season last year, the big four broadcast networks have largely stayed the course in 2025-26. Stability is the play across the big four broadcasters (as it has been for quite some time), and that doesn’t look to change too much going into 2026-27. THR's Rick Porter keeps you up to date with which series will return for the 2026-27 season and which ones are on the way out. The scorecard.
—🎭 It’s a Song-Covey sister reunion. 🎭 To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before star Lana Condor is set to reprise her role of Lara Jean Covey in XO, Kitty. Condor’s set to appear in season three of the Netflix series, a spinoff of To All The Boys, the streamer announced Friday. Condor led the three-film franchise. Her onscreen love interest from the films, Peter Kavinsky, played by Noah Centino, appeared in the previous season of XO, Kitty. The romantic dramedy follows the youngest Song Covey sister, Kitty, played by Anna Cathcart, as she navigates her teenage years full of love and friendship while attending Korean Independent School of Seoul, often called KISS. The story.
—🤝 TV rights sold! 🤝 The award-winning podcast Wisecrack could be headed for another medium. Universal Studio Group’s UCP has landed rights to adapt the podcast — which won podcast of the year honors at the Ambie Awards in February — for a scripted series. The studio won out over other bidders in a competitive situation. Eli Jorné will adapt Wisecrack and serve as an executive producer on the TV project. Wisecrack tells the wild true story of comedian Edd Hedges, “who returned to his hometown for a charity gig, only to find himself headlining the most terrifying night of his life,” the logline reads. The story.
—Don't send Nermal to Abu Dhabi right now! Paramount+ is betting that viewers are clamoring for more Garfield. After 2024’s The Garfield Movie and 2021’s Garfield Originals, the streamer has greenlit a new animated series starring the cartoon cat. Garfield himself will be voiced by Saturday Night and Fargo actor Lamorne Morris. The untitled series will be produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios and executive produced by Dave H. Johnson and John Trabbic III, who co-executive produced Nickelodeon’s Middlemost Post. The story.
—🤝 Rights deal. 🤝 Most Valuable Promotions, the boxing and combat sports promotion founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, is launching a dedicated women’s boxing platform. The new promotion, called MVPW, has already secured a multi-year rights deal with ESPN, as the sports media giant expands its roster of women’s sports coverage. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The story. |
How 'Testaments' Brings a "Beautiful Darkness" to 'Handmaid's Tale' Universe ►Growing up Gilead. In a dramatic departure from its predecessor The Handmaid's Tale, Hulu and MGM's coming-of-age Margaret Atwood adaptation The Testaments feels significantly lighter, even bordering on whimsical — before the cracks of resistance emerge. For THR, Max Gao spoke to creator Bruce Miller about show that debuts on April 8, revealing he has no interest retreading old ground. The interview.
—"It was his voice that made me want to play the role." THR's Lexi Carson spoke to Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette star Alessandro Nivola about episode six of the buzzy FX show. The Tony nominee, who plays Calvin Klein, breaks down his pivotal moment with Sarah Pidgeon as CBK in "The Wedding," and dished on how he brought the iconic designer to the screen. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"So his moral integrity will hinge on the outcome of what has happened to his wife." Lexi also spoke to Ashton Kutcher about the season finale of FX's other heater, The Beauty. The actor reacts to his character's about-face and shares his hopes to stay in the Ryan Murphy universe. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"We certainly end the season in a propulsive way that paints us into a corner and demands us coming back for season two." How much of Yellowstone will loom over Marshals? The second episode of the new CBS series starring Luke Grimes gave viewers a good idea of how Marshals plans to walk that line. THR's Jackie Strause writes the sequel-spinoff to the Dutton flagship revisited some of the biggest family secrets that could threaten to expose Kayce. Warning: Spoilers! The recap. |
Maggie Gyllenhaal Loved Those 'The Bride!' Test Screenings ►"The fantasy of it being some horrible thing is inaccurate." THR's David Canfield spoke to Maggie Gyllenhaal about her new film, The Bride! The Oscar-nominated filmmaker sets the record straight on making her movie as a “dare,” her conversations with Warner Bros. and being the studio’s first release since the Paramount acquisition news. The interview.
—"Global entertainment actually looking like it's from the globe is such a win." THR's Brian Davids spoke to Priyanka Chopra Jonas on her new movie, The Bluff. The Indian actress discusses playing an all-too-rare female pirate in the feature, shares her approach to stunt work, as well as the practical differences between Indian and American cinema. The interview.
In other news...
—Stranger Things hairstylist launches a new haircare collection
—Inside the star-studded opening of Zero Bond Las Vegas at Wynn
—Beverly Hills Hotel to unveil first additions in decades with 5 new spaces
—WME contemporary music head Lucy Dickins departs agency
—Country Joe McDonald, ’60s rock star, proud protest counterculture icon, dies at 84
—Corey Parker, Will & Grace actor, dies at 60
—Jeremy Larner, Oscar-winning screenwriter on Robert Redford’s The Candidate, dies at 88
—James G. Robinson, producer and Morgan Creek co-founder, dies at 90
What else we're reading...
—Juliet Chung looks into the very singular way MacKenzie Scott is (rapidly) giving away her billions [WSJ]
—Fascinating Rebecca Jennings story about the Gen Z founders behind the app Quittr, that is trying to get young men to quit porn [Intelligencer]
—Natalie Korach reports on CBS News staffers' worries that under Bari Weiss the network’s editorial priorities are mirroring The Free Press, particularly in its coverage of Zohran Mamdani [Status]
—Jacob Shamsian goes inside Jeffrey Epstein's attempts to take control of ailing media billionaire Mort Zuckerman's finances in the 2010s [Business Insider]
—The Bellingcat team present video that shows it was a U.S. Tomahawk missile strike next to a girls’ school in Iran that killed over 100 [Bellingcat]
Today...
...in 1933, the RKO Radio production of Christopher Strong, featuring a star-turn by Katharine Hepburn, premiered in New York. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Oscar Isaac (47), Juliette Binoche (62), Brittany Snow (40), Matthew Gray Gubler (46), Linda Fiorentino (68), Ornella Muti (71), Shad "Bow Wow" Moss (39), Katherine Parkinson (48), Charly Jordan (27), Kerr Smith (54), Finn Carter (66), Jean Louisa Kelly (54), Rupert Evans (49), Joyce Van Patten (92), Tobias Jelinek (49), Joe Gilgun (42), Jayne Taini (74), Luis Armand Garcia (34), Rodney A. Grant (67), Maite Perroni (43), Alexandra Essoe (34), Christian Friedel (47), Chaske Spencer (51), Kirk B.R. Woller (64), Trish Van Devere (85), Kurt Wimmer (62), K. Trevor Wilson (45), Cierra Ramirez (31), Bobby Campo (43), Emmanuel Lewis (55) |
| Alan Trustman, who wrote the screenplays for The Thomas Crown Affair and Bullitt, back-to-back 1968 films that starred Steve McQueen in two of his most memorable roles, has died. He was 95. The obituary. |
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