Village Roadshow Widens Legal Fight

The latest in the battle that kicked off over The Matrix Resurrections...

Winston Cho writes: Village Roadshow seeks an order allowing it to co-invest and co-own projects based on movies it shares the rights to — and to prevent Warner Bros. from breaching their contract to promote HBO Max. Behind the war of words.

Elsewhere in film...

► Warner Bros. plots LOTR return to theaters. The studio's animated film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which explores the fortress of Helm's Deep, will arrive in theaters on April 12, 2024. 

► AMC Theatres expands again. The exhibition giant has reached a lease agreement with GW Properties to take over and reopen AMC Evanston 12 in the Chicago area.

► DC Comics plans Wonder Twins movie. The studio has hired Adam Sztykiel, who worked on the upcoming Black Adam, to write and direct an original live-action feature for HBO Max.

► Universal adds to cast for Violent Night. John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Alex Hassell and Alexis Louder have joined David Harbour in the studio's Christmas action pic.

Film Review: Uncharted

Starring: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg I 53% RT Score I Feb. 18 theatrical bow

"Resembling the love child of Tomb Raider, Raiders of the Lost Ark and National Treasure, Uncharted definitely feels like a video game adaptation." —
THR's Frank Scheck.

► Picturestart, Nancy Kerrigan partner for figure skating drama. The Eric Feig-led outfit closed a deal with Ashleigh Powell, the writer behind Disney's The Nutcracker, to pen the screenplay for Fire & Ice.

► BBC Studios promotes Rebecca Glashow. The exec will become CEO of global distribution, overseeing content sales, direct to consumer and more.

► Disney+ adds to Culprits. Gemma Arterton, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Niamh Algar have joined the main cast of the upcoming U.K. original series, which has now started shooting.

*Your Oscars hosts: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. It has been 35 years since as many as three people hosted Hollywood's biggest night. Story.



The film and TV tax credit race is getting even more competitive. California’s legislature is poised to pass an extension to its incentives program through 2030, but other states are sweetening their deals to lure more production away from the Golden State. Story.

In TV...

► HBO returns to The Gilded Age. The speedy pickup comes just three weeks after the Julian Fellowes period drama launched following nearly a decade of development that started at NBC. Story.

► Netflix inks overall deal with Maid creator. Molly Smith Metzler signed a multiple-year pact with the streaming giant, will create more socially conscious originals.

► ABC looks at This Is Us writers. Three members of the show’s writing and producing team — Kay Oyegun, David Windsor and Casey Johnson — have scored pilot orders for their next projects.

► Friends re-released in China, but LGBTQ storylines get censored. The classic sitcom has an enormous following in China and many local fans have flocked to social media to express their outrage over the cuts.

► HBO’s Carl Icahn doc director on negotiating terms with financier. Bruce David Klein says one takeaway from the film is that "if you have a problem with what Carl does, you should look to the system." Q&A.

*Trailer watch: Netflix unveils season two of Bridgerton ... Focus Features debuts Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Yes, I Did Say That

"They didn’t realize what that show was and what it could do. The amount of letters, DMs, people on the street, and women that look like us — like, that love for the show, it meant something to people. It was a big mistake." — Zoe Kravitz, speaking to Elle about the cancellation of Hulu's High Fidelity.

THR Icon: At 90, Marla Gibbs looks back on career as a sitcom queen. The TV legend reflects on her groundbreaking career, the secret to her peerless comedic timing and why she didn’t quit her job at United Airlines until season three of The Jeffersons. Full feature.

What else we're reading...

— "A Hollywood union tried to promote diversity. Then things got complicated." "The story of what happened when costumers tried to instigate reform." [Los Angeles Times]

— "Cryptonomicon." "A weird form of speculative fervor had gripped my generation, even those of us who had always ignored or resented the idea of 'the market.'" [Harper's]

— "​​Morgan Wallen is not on an apology tour." "Those outside his fan base see his recuperation as a sign that country music hasn’t yet changed as much as it should." [New Yorker]

— "Why couldn’t anybody cancel Dolce & Gabbana?" "The very expensive work-arounds of a fashion pariah." [New York]

— "That vacation home listed on Airbnb might be owned by Wall Street." "Investment firms Saluda Grade and WEG Capital enter the market for short-term rentals, as tourists and remote workers boost demand." [Wall Street Journal]

Today in 1985: The Breakfast Club hits theaters — "this film is not only about high school detention, it is similar to it." Flashback review.

Today's birthdays: Megan Thee Stallion, 27, Natalie Morales, 37, Alex Borstein, 51, Christopher McDonald, 66, Matt Groening, 68, Jane Seymour, 71