What's news: Not sure anyone wanted a new Lost Boys movie but we're getting one from Warners. Robert Durst has been convicted. Dan Levy has signed a rich overall deal with Netflix. Matthew Fox is returning to TV. Plus: LeVar Burton is putting Jeopardy! behind him — Abid Rahman
'Lost Boys' Found at Warners
►Vamping it up. All those people who lament the lack of original ideas in Hollywood look away now as THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Warner Bros. rebooting The Lost Boys.
The studio is gearing up for a brand-new, reimagined take on Joel Schumacher's 1987 teen vampire classic with Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) and Jaeden Martell (It) in the leads and Randy McKinnon, who is already working on DC's Static Shock project, writing the screenplay. Most interestingly Brit director Jonathan Entwistle (behind the excellent The End of the F***ing World and I Am Not Okay with This) is on board to direct. The story.
—Pandemic pay cuts. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch and his father, chairman Rupert Murdoch, each saw their compensation packages fall in 2021 due to pandemic-spurred pay cuts. Don't fret though! Rupert still took home $31.1 million, with Lachlan seeing a package valued at $27.7 million. Those are down from $34 million and $29.1 million the year prior. My guess is, they should be fine. The story.
—More Rupert, with a dash of Piers. A British news channel showdown may be on after all, with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp revealing plans to launch a network called talkTV in 2022 and signing up Piers Morgan as its first outside big-name talking head. The story.
—With a paddle and an overall deal. Schitt’s Creek creator and star Dan Levy has inked a rich new multiple-year overall film and TV deal with Netflix. The film component will begin immediately, while the TV side will begin in July 2022, after his three-year deal with Disney-backed ABC Signature expires. Sources tell THR's Lesley Goldberg that the deal, which is for three or four years, is valued at significantly more than Levy’s TV-only Disney pact. The story.
When Stars Sue Studios
►The truth about profit participation cases.Dale Kinsella and Nick Soltman, two of the top litigators in Hollywood focused on profit participation cases for actors, directors, and producers against studios, discuss the five biggest misconceptions about these lawsuits. Even those closest to Hollywood dealmaking don't always have a clear picture of these types of disputes. The guest column.
—On the move.Family Guy's entire back catalog is moving to FXX. Nineteen seasons, that's 369 episodes, of the animated Fox comedy are joining the cable network’s lineup starting on Monday. The story.
—Always classy. LeVar Burton is done with campaigning to be the full-time Jeopardy! host, even though the public still wants it to happen. Burton dropped by The Daily Show, where he told host Trevor Noah that he was deeply touched by the enormous bout of support he received in the ultimately farcical and rigged selection process. The story.
—"I didn’t think I was going to survive." Lady Gaga’s dog walker Ryan Fischer sat down for his first television interview to explain what happened the harrowing night he was shot during a robbery when two of the singer’s French bulldogs were stolen. The story.
Review: 'The Morning Show' Season 2
►"Not an awful show, but prone to misguided choices." THR's chief TV critic reviews the second season of The Morning Show, Apple's glossy big budget media drama starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Billy Crudup and Steve Carell. "The Morning Show isn’t awful, but it does awful things. The second season, through eight episodes — all 10 were sent to critics, but I ran out of either time or interest— hasn’t improved from an already inconsistent first season." Yikes. The review.
—"My bliss has always been connecting with people." One of the Star Wars galaxy’s leaders is moving on to her next adventure. Lynne Hale, the longtime head of publicity and communications at Lucasfilm who worked closely with founder George Lucas, will retire at the end of 2021 after 35 years with the company. The story.
—Once was lost, but now he's found. Matthew Fox is returning to TV more than a decade after Lost. Fox and Downton Abbey alum Joanne Froggatt will lead the cast for Peacock's Last Light, a five-episode limited series based on a thriller novel by Alex Scarrow. The story.
—That twist. The always excellent Richard Newby has been ruminating on James Wan's Malignant and the twist ending that has shaken social media to its core (well at least Film Twitter). The analysis.
►She's all that. Addison Rae is everywhere at the moment, much to the chagrin of a growing number of Twitter haters. The breakout TikTok star toplines Netflix's He's All That, and THR's J. Clara Chan writes that months before the Aug. 27 premiere of teen comedy, the Rae’s team had already begun talks about a larger partnership with the streamer.
Rae's nonexclusive pact for features will more than triple her He’s All That salary, which one source puts in the low-six-figure range. The story.
—Evading the dictatorship. Burmese director Na Gyi, whose new film What Happened to the Wolf? had its world premiere at the Oldenberg Film Festival this week, speaks to THR's Scott Roxborough about hiding in his country, on the run from the military junta who seized control of Myanmar earlier this year. The interview.
—Convicted. A Los Angeles jury convicted Robert Durst Friday of murdering his best friend 20 years ago in a case that took on new life after the New York real estate heir participated in an HBO documentary that connected him to the slaying linked to his wife’s 1982 disappearance. The story.
—No copyright infringement. Instagram has defeated a suit from users who say their embed feature flouts copyright laws by allowing third-party websites to display videos and images without a license. The story.
In other news...
—TIFF film review: Evan Jackson Leong’s Snakehead.
—"Police Raids On Movie Screenings. Censors Closing In. Hong Kong’s Filmmakers Fight to Stay Free" [Los Angeles Times]
—"Beyond Britney: Abuse, Exploitation, And Death Inside America’s Guardianship Industry" [BuzzFeed]
—"Weaving Goodbye: Will No Way Home Give Its Spider-men A Fitting Send-off?" [The Guardian]
—"For Jay Bakker, The Eyes of Tammy Faye Is Both Loving and Traumatic" [Vanity Fair]
—"How Our TV Obsession Shapes How We Eat, Dress, Travel and Live" [Wall Street Journal]
Today...
...in 1963, MGM opened producer-director Robert Wise’s The Haunting in theaters. The Brit horror film is routinely ranked amongst the genre's greatest and was given a Hollywood remake in 1999 starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson and Lili Taylor. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Billy Eichner (43), Jason Sudeikis (46), Aisha Tyler (51), Jada Pinkett Smith (50), James Marsden (48), Alison Lohman (42), Sepideh Moafi (36), Aidan Gallagher (18), Patrick Schwarzenegger (28), Beth Grant (72), Tim McInnerny (65), Holly Robinson Peete (57), Mark Romanek (62), Xzibit (47)
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