What's news: The EU is probing the Paramount-WBD deal over Middle Eastern investment. Jeff Gaspin is exiting Netflix. Stranger Things: The First Shadow will end on Broadway and the West End. And Glenn Close and Ridley Scott are set to receive honorary Oscars. — Abid Rahman
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THR's Drama Actresses Emmy Roundtable
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►Does anybody ever "make it?" THR's award-winning Roundtable Series picks up speed as Emmy season gets serious (nomination-round voting begins today!). Next up in the series is the Drama Actresses Roundtable, with six leading ladies — Claire Danes (The Beast in Me), Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Sarah Pidgeon (Love Story), Chase Infiniti (The Testaments), Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus) and Kerry Washington (Imperfect Women) — sitting down with THR's Mikey O'Connell to discuss everything from red carpet insecurities to becoming a 420 meme. The roundtable.
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Can One of These Guys Save Hollywood?
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►"The problem for Hollywood is it now has to decide which of these supplicants can do the most for its interests." So we're all set for November, it's Xavier Becerra v. Steve Hilton in the fight to become the next governor of California. In what has become a crucial election for Hollywood, both candidates are promising to rebuild the entertainment industry. THR's Steven Zeitchik writes that is easier said than done. The analysis.
—🚨 HUGE. 🚨 In a significant move sure to attract the attention of Hollywood executives, the regulatory agency that oversees prediction markets is asking whether it should allow bets on reality shows, music competitions and other entertainment programming as they exist now. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public comment on its rules and definitions, a move that would codify the its oversight of things like sports bets on prediction markets, and allow it to ban other sorts of markets. The story.
—Another road bump. European Union regulators are investigating financing from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds for Paramount‘s $111b bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are collectively providing roughly $24b to help finance the merger, according to SEC filings. Under the foreign subsidies regulation, the EU is empowered to probe financial contributions of at least €250m granted by non-EU governments to companies operating in the region. The story.
—"By Paramount’s thinking, the issue doesn’t belong in the realm of antitrust." THR's Winston Cho dives into Paramount’s First Amendment case for why the company thinks it deserves to complete the deal to takeover WBD. As attorneys general aim to challenge the merger, Winston writes that David Ellison’s team is leaning on a free speech theory to help cross the finish line. The analysis.
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Why Hollywood's Unions Didn't Put Up a Fight With Studios This Year
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►"The big difference in 2026 is that [the AMPTP] came ready to talk about really what we needed and what they needed." What a difference three years makes. While 2023 marked the spiciest year in recent memory for Hollywood labor, with two major unions going on strike for more than 100 days each, 2026 was perhaps the sleepiest. THR's Katie Kilkenny looks at why the current negotiation cycle yielded four-year labor contracts with all major unions with so little fuss. The analysis.
—Moving on. Jeff Gaspin, vp unscripted series at the streamer, will step down effective July 1 after about 2.5 years with Netflix. He’ll move into a producing role, including on upcoming shows Monopoly and Physical 100: USA, and will continue to be involved in the dating show Age of Attraction, which he shepherded through development, and live events including the Actor Awards. Sources say Gaspin and Brandon Riegg, vp nonfiction series and sports, came to a joint decision that now was the right time for Gaspin to move into a more hands-on producing role. The story.
—Time is now. AMC Theatres is hoping to capitalize on this year’s box office momentum. The world’s largest movie theater chain, which had been working to reduce its debt load, disclosed Thursday that it closed a $150m at-the-market equity offering that it had launched in February. The exhibitor, which had soared as a memestock on the NYSE during the pandemic years, has seen its stock languish between $1.60 a share and $2.08 this year, but has been on a slight upswing. The story.
—🤝 Creator-led biz. 🤝 CAA and Integrated Media Company, an investment firm backed by TPG, are partnering to launch a $250m holding company that will roll up businesses that operate in the creator economy. The new joint venture is called Compound Creative Holdings and will be led by CAA veteran Tucker Brown as managing director. The story.
—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Warner Music Group has acquired the AI detection company Sureel. WMG and Sureel didn’t disclose any financial details of the acquisition, though the companies confirmed Sureel will continue to operate as a standalone company. WMG is hoping the deal will help the music company and its artists and songwriters better track how their works are being used to train AI models, and when their works appear in AI tracks. The story.
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Film Academy Reveals Honorary Awards, Thalberg Honorees
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►🏆 Well deserved! 🏆 The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted to present actress Glenn Close, animator Floyd Norman and director-producer Ridley Scott with honorary awards and producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 17th annual Governors Awards, the organization announced Wednesday. The honorees — who were selected in the final decision made by the 55 governors who served on the Academy’s board during the 2025-2026 term — will be fêted at a black-tie ceremony at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood in L.A. on Nov. 15. The story.
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'24 Jump Street' in the Works
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►🎭 Not a fake sequel! 🎭 Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are back on the beat with 24 Jump Street (not 23, in case you're wondering). The latest sequel in the comedy film franchise is in the works at Sony, with Hill, Tatum and Ice Cube in talks to return. Rodney Rothman will direct the movie from a script he wrote with Hill and Meghan Malloy. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who helmed 2012’s 21 Jump Street and 2014 sequel 22 Jump Street, will return as producers alongside Neal H. Moritz. The story.
—🎭 Legends only. 🎭 Oliver Stone has quietly wrapped production on drama White Lies, and a few key past collaborators have revealed to be part of the cast. Wall Street's Michael Douglas and Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July's Willem Dafoe are on the call sheet as are Ellen Barkin and Homer Gere, all who joined the previously-reported Josh Hartnett, who is toplining the indie, and Yvonne Chapman. The feature marks the first narrative movie in over a decade for Stone. The story.
—🎭 Filling out. 🎭 Amazon MGM Studios‘ Hello & Paris is welcoming additional castmembers. Phil Dunster, Gemma Chan, Aisling Bea and Marianne Jean-Baptiste have joined the cast of the forthcoming romantic comedy feature from writer-director Elizabeth Chomko. Javier Bardem, Kate Hudson and Steve Zahn were previously announced to star in Hello & Paris, which is loosely inspired by author Deborah McKinlay’s 2014 novel, That Part Was True. The story.
—🎭 He's so hot right now. 🎭 Nicholas Galitzine will star as male supermodel Hoyt Richards in a new feature film project, with Gus Van Sant in talks to direct. Details about the story are being kept under wraps, but Richards is famed for being the highest paid male model in the late 1980s. More recently, Richards has been making headlines for the new HBO docuseries Bring Me the Beauties, about his time trapped in a cult. The story.
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NBA Scores Largest Game 3 Audience Since Jordan Era
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►Woof! Monday’s NBA Finals telecast drew the largest TV audience for a finals game three in almost 30 years. ABC and ESPN‘s broadcast of the Spurs’ 115-111 victory over the Knicks averaged 23.79m viewers, including 1.1m for an alternate telecast on ESPN. The last time the third game of the series had more viewers was back in 1998, when Michael Jordan and the Bulls put their infamous 96-54 beatdown of the Jazz en route to a second three-peat as NBA champions. Monday’s game peaked with 26.3m viewers at 11:15 p.m. ET, the closing minutes of the contest. The story.
—🎭 FIFTEEN! 🎭 Pretty much every one who’s ever worked in Hollywood has now been cast in Netflix‘s live-action Scooby-Doo series, Scooby-Doo: Origins. OK, so that’s a bit of a stretch, but on Wednesday, the streamer announced 15 more actors for the show — all humans, no dogs. Joining the cast are Rusty Schwimmer, Peter Macon, Maxwell Simkins, Jona Xiao, Dani Deetté, Elysée Sanvillé, Alex Isles, Avery Kristen Pohl, Pamela Mitchell, Ross Kimball, Sara Gilbert, Wynn Everett, Sauriyan Sapkota, Bruce McGill and Sherilyn Fenn. The story.
—📅 Dated! 📅 FX has set a premiere date for The Shards. The drama, based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis and executive produced by Ryan Murphy, is set to debut Aug. 5 on FX and Hulu. The premiere date caps a winding road for The Shards, which Ellis initially developed at HBO in 2024. It stalled there before Murphy and FX rescued it in May 2025; a series order followed two months later. The novel is set in 1980s Los Angeles and takes inspiration from Ellis’ high school days. The story.
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Laurie, Alwyn Join BBC/MGM+'s Le Carré Adaptation 'Legacy of Spies'
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►🎭 Housewives faves. 🎭 Birthday boy Hugh Laurie and Joe Alwyn have joined Matthew Macfadyen, Charlie Hunnam and Daniel Brühl in the BBC and MGM+‘s John le Carré adaptation Legacy of Spies. Adapted from The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and drawing on material from his 2017 novel A Legacy of Spies, the eight-part drama is written by Stephen Cornwell and Clarissa Ingram. The show will mark spymaster George Smiley’s long-anticipated return to television with Macfadyen in the iconic role and Hunnam as Alec Leamas, Brühl as Jens Fiedler and Dan Stevens as Bill Haydon. Laurie will play Control and Alwyn joins as Jim Prideaux. The story.
—A little MCU help. Paramount+‘s legal thriller Discretion already has two A-list stars in Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. The series has now lined up a big-name director too. Fantastic Four: First Steps filmmaker Matt Shakman has signed on to direct the first four episodes of the series from A24. The Emmy nominee will also be an executive producer of Discretion. Paramount+ landed the show in October 2025 with a straight-to-series order following a bidding war for the project, which is based on a short story by Chandler Baker. The story.
—Another fixer upper. CBS Media Ventures is hoping Jonathan Scott can rehab daytime talk TV. Later this month, Scott, one of the Property Brothers (the other being his twin Drew), is taping a pilot episode of what is currently being called Better! With Jonathan Scott. We could probably do better(!) than that working title. Better! aims to “inspire audiences with fresh Ideas to live better, all while having fun doing it,” the logline reads. The story.
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How Pink's Tonys Opening Came Together
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►"And it’s just filling those in and having fun, and seeing what rhymes, and setting up Betsy Aidem to rhyme with 'The parts I played – I slayed ’em.'" The Tonys opening number Sunday saw Pink suspended from the rafters and lifting Neil Patrick Harris up in the air with her legs while belting, Megan Thee Stallion rapping about a best musical nominee and Lea Michele making jokes about not winning awards. And then there was the lyric now etched into popular culture: "Gitchie, gitchie Lesley Manville. Gitchie, gitchie Carrie Coon." THR's Caitlin Huston spoke to Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Mark Sonnenblick who wrote the opening number, who dish on how they convinced nominees to participate, that flying moment and getting certain jokes in the telecast. The interview.
—Awards bump. Leading into the Tonys, a number of nominees saw big box office bumps, with Cats: The Jellicle Ball jumping up $120,000 to reach just over $1m and The Lost Boys rising by $100,000 to reach close to $1.4m and Schmigadoon! jumping close to $100,000 to reach just over $950,000. But the biggest jump belonged to an older play, as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child skyrocketed $530,000 with the return of Tom Felton, who played Draco in the films, to the cast after a planned break. The play brought in $1.6m and played to 94 percent capacity. The Broadway box office report.
—The end is nigh. Stranger Things: The First Shadow will end its Broadway run in January 2027 and its London run in December. The special effects-filled play, produced by Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions, opened on Broadway in April 2025, after premiering in London in 2023. But it hasn’t been the same hit as the streaming series. The Broadway production, which is a prequel to the Netflix show, drew its highest grosses around the release of the show’s last season in late 2025 reaching a Christmas week high of $2.5m. In recent weeks, however, the show has been playing around 60 to 70 percent capacity. The story.
—Spring returns to Broadway. A revival of the Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s musical Spring Awakening will run Off-Broadway this fall at Studio Seaview. Danya Taymor, a Tony winner for her direction of The Outsiders, will direct. The production has not yet announced any casting and plans to hold open call auditions in July. Celia Rowlson-Hall will choreograph the revival, which will feature music supervision by Or Matias. The story.
— 🎭 Next up. 🎭 Tony winner Joshua Henry and Julia Harriman will star in The Conversation this fall, an original musical the duo co-wrote about long-term relationships. This marks Henry’s next project, after he completes his run in Ragtime this August. He won a Tony for his lead role in the musical. The Conversation, which features a book by Nick Green and direction by Tony-winner Kenny Leon, will begin previews on Nov. 17, ahead of a Dec. 7 opening night for a 10-week engagement at the Off-Broadway Astor Place Theatre. The story.
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Film Review: 'Playing POTUS'
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►"Entertaining, but plagued by gaps." THR's Daniel Fienberg reviews Josh Greenbaum's Playing POTUS. Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond and Keegan-Michael Key are among the stars discussing their takes on various occupants of the White House in this doc from the Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar filmmaker. The review.
—"New York, I love you but you're bringing me down." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Joshua Z Weinstein's Here I'm Alive. The second feature from the writer-director of Menashe chronicles a night in the life of several financially strapped New Yorkers glued to their screens. Starring Cheyenne Gallagher, Eddie Torrenegra, Caleb Zuzga, Krystaly Figueroa and Emira D’Spain. Written by Joshua Z Weinstein and Brian Perkins. The review.
In other news...
—Green Day’s concert offer leads to wild road trip in Nimrods trailer
—Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell expand Kenan & Kel brand into mobile games
—Jack White announces seventh album Frozen Charlotte
—Social media star Nailea Devora signs with CAA
—X-Men actor Tyler Mane reveals breast cancer diagnosis
What else we're reading...
—Tariq Panja and Rebecca R. Ruiz report on FIFA boss Gianni Infantino's years long bootlicking of Trump, that includes some easy breezy corruption of course [NYT]
—Hanna Flint looks into how Cape Fear's psychopath Max Cady became one of America's all-time greatest villains [BBC]
—Dan Diamond and Isaac Arnsdorf report that Trump has had a whopping 22 medical specialists assess him as part of his latest checkup [Washington Post]
—Kashmir Hill and Aric Toler have a wild (and incredibly grim) story about an innocent man being ambushed by livestreaming vigilantes [NYT]
—After all the Summer House drama, Kathryn VanArendonk reflects on reality TV's midlife crisis as everything seems less fun and more full of existential dread nowadays [Vulture]
Today...
...in 1993, Steven Spielberg ushered in a new franchise with the launch of Jurassic Park. The 126-minute film, which set fire to the summer box office that year, would spawn a series of tentpole films for Universal over the course of the next two decades. The original review.
Today's birthdays...
Hugh Laurie (67), Peter Dinklage (57), Anna Sawai (34), Joshua Jackson (48), Paapa Essiedu (36), Jimmy O. Yang (39), Jane Goldman (56), Ivana Baquero (32), Adrienne Barbeau (81), Charlie Tahan (28), Claire Holt (38), Clare Carey (59), Katelyn Nacon (27), Benedetta Porcaroli (28), Kenjiro Tsuda (55), Jefferson Brown (50), Shane Thomas Meier (49), Saxon Sharbino (27), Eugene Simon (34), Michael Swan (78), Sherman Howard (77), Alex Kendrick (56), John Tui (51), Peter Bergman (73), Simon Burnett (50), Go Kyung-pyo (36), Christina Crawford (87), Kim Hee-seon (49), Breanna Yde (23), Lenny Jacobson (52), María de Nati (29), Roscoe Orman (82)
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