Author: Deadline

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison said he’s confident the combination with Warner Bros Discovery “does not pose any legal issues, and we will complete it and bring these two companies together.” “I know this additional uncertainty has been challenging, and I want to thank you for your continued patience, commitment and collective contributions,” he said in a memo to staff Monday obtained by Deadline (read it in full below). “For now, it remains business as usual. Paramount and WBD are separate companies operating independently, and our focus remains on serving our audiences, supporting one another and executing our strategy.” The…

Last weekend brought you the most-watched shows on Netflix, today we bring you the films. Netflix took a major transparency step in December 2023, when it went further than any competitor by releasing an extensive list of its most-watched films and shows. At the time, Netflix said that this would give creators and investors “deeper insights into our audiences,” allowing the industry to pore over its viewing data every six months. Until now. Netflix revealed this month that it will stop publishing its biannual What We Watched reports, replacing them with yearly insights. The streamer’s report for the first half…

Jim Carrey has paid tribute to his The Mask director Chuck Russell, who died Wednesday at the age of 74. “I consider it a privilege to have worked with Chuck Russell, who during the shooting of The Mask, created an ebullient, childlike atmosphere of wonder and camaraderie on his set,” Carrey said in a statement. “The entire cast and crew were touched and inspired by his playfulness. “Every one of us,” he continued, “has been many years blessed by that buoyant and timeless moment. I consider The Mask one of the jewels of my creative life. Thank you, Chuck.” The…

The Black List and the Athens Film Office are teaming to accept submissions starting today for the 2027 Owl Screenwriting Workshop, which is set for January 12-15 in the Greek capital. The workshop is an intensive, residential development program curated to accelerate bold, audience-driven feature films and television projects positioned for the international market. It is designed specifically for screenwriters with demonstrated early-career success who are prepared to scale their work to an international level. Submitting writers must have at least one professional, distributed credit in feature film or television, and the submitted script must be in English or translated…

The Brussels-based International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), representing exhibitors in 39 European territories, has said the European Commission’s conditions for its recent approval of Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery should have gone further. The body was reacting to the EC’s announcement Wednesday that it had approved Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) on the condition that divests its stake in United International Pictures (UIP), the film distribution venture it currently jointly owns with Universal Pictures.  “UNIC welcomes the Commission’s decision to require the divestment of Paramount’s stake in UIP and additional requirements. While it addresses an…

50/50 filmmaker Jonathan Levine is in talks to direct Paramount Tom Cruise Days of Thunder sequel. This is the first major sign of the highly anticipated project moving forward with the Melrose lot after producer Jerry Bruckheimer spoke about a follow-up to the NASCAR movie during the F1 press tour (that car movie an enormous hit, the biggest sports movie ever with over $634M WW). Also there was news about Tom Cruise being in talks with Paramount on a sequel two years ago. Will Staples wrote the screenplay. Cruise will produce with Bruckheimer. As everyone knows, the last time Paramount…

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award nominee June Squibb (Eleanor the Great) is set to star opposite Emmy winner Alex Borstein in Turn the Lights Back On, an indie dramedy that we announced in June. Based on true events and inspired by experiences many families faced during the Covid era, Turn the Lights Back On centers on a family forced to confront decades of unresolved tensions while facing an unprecedented moment in modern history. The film, marking the feature debut of writer-director Dave Pantano, is described as being in the spirit of titles such as Little Miss Sunshine, August: Osage County and The Brothers McMullen. Borstein plays Emma, an exhausted elementary…

EXCLUSIVE: Chicago-area 4th grader Theo Leber has landed a starring role opposite Dwayne Johnson in Lizard Music, Benny Safdie’s adaptation of the 1976 novel by Daniel Pinkwater for Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists. The 10-year-old comes to the potentially career-making opportunity following a months-long casting process. Lizard Music marks his feature debut. A live-action/CGI hybrid, Safdie’s film follows a boy (Leber) left to his own devices who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open. His search for answers leads him to an eccentric and whimsical old man nicknamed The…

Luke Wilson is sharing an update on The Family Stone sequel that Tom Bezucha is writing.

Director S.S. Rajamouli‘s Varanasi is getting a first look at Priyanka Chopra in her new role. Two new stills from the upcoming film have been released, featuring Chopra as Mandakini. The new images were dropped as a celebration of Chopra’s birthday on Saturday, July 18. Varanasi takes place over thousands of years and in locations around the world, from Antarctica to Africa to the titular city in India. The action-adventure film stars Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran and is the follow-up to Rajamouli’s last feature, RRR, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the acclaimed…