Author: Deadline

Wednesday brought the first look at Coyote vs. Acme, the long-anticipated Looney Tunes live-action/animated hybrid, which hits theaters August 28. SNL alum Will Forte stars in the film, from director Dave Green, playing an attorney representing Wile E. Coyote in a court case against Acme Corp. While Warner Bros. long ago completed and tested the film, also starring John Cena and Lana Condor, they shelved it all the way back in the fall of 2023 amid rampant cost-cutting efforts led by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The move ignited outrage not only among the film’s key creatives, but across…

The critics are weighing in on big-budget Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which releases globally this weekend. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, the movie covers the Jackson 5 period in the early ’60s through to the iconic singer’s early solo career. The ‘King Of Pop’ is played by his nephew Jaafar Jackson in his film debut with support from Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo, and more. While the film is seemingly on course to do some strong box office and can call on a huge built-in fan base, the Lionsgate musical is encountering some…

EXCLUSIVE: Bill Nighy has joined the starry cast of Morten Tyldum’s Ibelin, re-telling the inspirational true story of late disabled Norwegian gamer Mats Steen, as production gets underway in Norway. The Oscar-nominated actor (Living) joins previously announced cast members Charlie Plummer, Stephen Graham, Toni Collette, Isabela Merced, and Maisy Stella. Further cast additions include Ekow Quartey (The Arbiter), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Barry), Ivanna Sakhno (M3gan 2.0, John Bradley (Game of Thrones) Jax James (Grantchester), and newcomer Clodagh Bhalla. Kirby Howell-Baptiste, John Bradley, Ekow Quartey, Jax James, Ivanna Sakhno Larry Fields, Rachel Sherlock, Arthur John Wilson, Matt Nalton, Alexandra Arnold Born with Duchenne…

It was announced during Disney’s presentation at Cinemacon that Joe and Anthony Russo’s theatrical re-release of Avengers: Endgame will feature previously unreleased footage, but there was no signal of what that footage might entail.  Saturday night at the Sands Film Festival in St Andrews, Scotland, however, Joe Russo revealed, during a session with Deadline’s Mike Fleming and Angela Russo-Otstot, Chief Creative Officer at the Russos’ AGBO, exactly what audiences can expect to see on the big screen on Sept. 25 when Endgame is re-released.  “It’s critically important to re-release the movie, and, in fact, we’ll be re-releasing the film with footage…

With the AI discourse spreading in Hollywood, Reese Witherspoon seems intent on making a seat for women at the table. The Oscar winner and Hello Sunshine co-founder recently explained why she’s taken it upon herself to “learn as much as I possibly can about AI,” claiming that women’s jobs are three times as likely to be automated by AI. “We don’t want to be left behind. So…do you want to learn with me?” Witherspoon captioned a video in part. “I think it’s time to learn about AI,” she prefaced in the clip. “I was with about 10 women at a…

EXCLUSIVE: Longtime Disney exec Brigham Taylor (The Jungle Book, 2016), indie producer Dave Hunter (Nitro Circus: The Movie), former SPC, Samuel Goldwyn and Epix exec Ian Puente and indie producer Tom Goodall have joined forces to launch Utah-based InTension Industries, a production company focused on thrillers and genre projects. Taylor, a former executive at Disney Motion Pictures, produced the Jon Favreau-directed The Jungle Book and Christopher Robin, and most recently the indie feature Tokyo Cowboy. Puente previously held executive roles at Sony Pictures Classics, Samuel Goldwyn Films and Epix, where he worked across legal, business affairs, and acquisitions on a…

Paramount on Thursday released the official trailer for Street Fighter, the Kitao Sakurai-directed adaptation of the classic Capcom video game. The studio rolled out the ambitious-looking footage ahead of its presentation at CinemaCon, where it will show off the pic to cinema execs this morning ahead of its October 16 release in theaters. Andrew Koji, Noah Centineo, Jason Momoa, Roman Reigns and Orville Peck are among the tough guys leading the charge in the movie, based on the game. Launched in 1987, Street Fighter is a series of fighting games revolving around intense one-on-one battles between a diverse cast of martial artists.…

EXCLUSIVE: South Africa-set action-comedy Boyz Trip has added Osas Ighodaro (Tinsel), Woody McClain (Power Book II: Ghost), Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Hotel Rwanda), record producer and songwriter Honorable C.N.O.T.E. and Peter Lee (Invasion). They join the previously announced Rome Flynn, Algee Smith, Desi Banks and Siv Ngesi to round out the cast of the movie directed by Kyle Scott. Emmy-nominated composers Kareem James and Marcus Ash have also joined. The story is by Scott, who will also executive-produce for KeyScott Entertainment and Canyon View Media, with Autumn Bailey-Ford producing for Autumn Bailey Entertainment. The film is currently shooting in Cape Town, South Africa.  Additional announced international cast includes Ama…

Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has confirmed layoffs affecting up to 1,000 employees in the company’s streamlined marketing and brand organization. The top exec, who was officially named Bob Iger’s successor in February, conveyed the news to employees Tuesday in a memo. (Read it in full below.) Word of the cutbacks surfaced last week and reflect consolidation in the company’s marketing areas. In January, the company upped veteran exec Asad Ayaz to Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, after announcing a plan to consolidate marketing at the film, TV and streaming operations and eliminate duplication. The moves could affect as many as 1,000…

In this life, you can rest assured there will be taxes, death, and there will be more over-adrenalized filings in the long legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over the making of It Ends With Us and the digital blast radius that allegedly followed. Now, less than six weeks before the trial in Lively’s recently trimmed multi-million dollar case against her IEWU co-star/director and his Wayfarer Studios brass kicks off on May 18 in federal court in New York City, the docket is filling up fast. In one particular instance, with retaliation, breach of contract, and aiding and abetting…