Maya Rudolph Is Hiding in Plain Sight

►On the cover. Maya Rudolph has found success, and comfort, playing a succession of divas, from her memorable comedic turns as Beyoncé, Donatella and Liza on Saturday Night Live to her upcoming role of a billionaire divorcée on the Apple TV+ comedy Loot. THR's Lacey Rose profiles Rudolph, who opens up on love, loss and using her larger-than-life characters as a shield: "I enjoy the armor." The cover story.

—Bursting through the $400m barrier. Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick continues to speed past box office milestones. On Monday — its 18th day in release — the sequel passed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to become the top-grossing domestic film of 2022 so far with $401.8 million in ticket sales. Maverick is now the No. 2 film of the pandemic era domestically after Spider-Man: No Way Home ($573 million). The story. 

—Seismic. In its most expansive move into live sports yet, tech giant Apple will become the exclusive home for Major League Soccer matches globally beginning in 2023. Apple will launch a new MLS streaming service that will include every game, with “a broad selection” of matches and Leagues Cup available as part of the Apple TV+ subscription. Some games will also stream for free. The story.

—"I was so lost, and I was addicted to cocaine." Bradley Cooper dropped by the SmartLess podcast and opened up to hosts and old friends Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. The nine-time Academy Award nominee covered a lot of ground in the interview including his past struggles with addiction, his exit from Alias exit, fatherhood and how recovery, and Arnett, changed the trajectory of his life. The story. 

No One Is Fired in Hollywood, So Why Was Peter Rice?

►"This guy just doesn’t know how to be graceful." THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters writes that after the baffling ouster of the Disney content chief Peter Rice, CEO Bob Chapek may be thankful that he has a respected — and feared — exec in Dana Walden to put to rest any backlash from his creative partners. The analysis. 

—On to better things. Pamela Adlon has zeroed in on her first post-Better Things project. The Emmy-winning talent will make her feature directorial debut on an untitled pregnancy comedy for FilmNation Entertainment and Range Media Partners from a script by Josh Rabinowitz and Broad City's Ilana Glazer, who will also star. The story. 

—Must-see. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Corey Hawkins will star in Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ play Topdog/Underdog on Broadway this fall. Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, the limited 16-week engagement — which doubles as the 20th anniversary of its original Broadway run — will open on Oct. 20 at the John Golden Theatre, with previews set to begin Sept. 27. The story.  

—Blue man group. THR's Carolyn Giardina has the scoop on Chris Miller, the Oscar-nominated helmer of 2011’s Puss in Boots, landing the director gig for Paramount and Nickelodeon's untitled Smurfs musical. The film, written by Team America's Pam Brady, is slated for a Dec. 20, 2024 theatrical release. The story. 

Amazon Looks to Books for Originals Success

►Back to the company roots. Lacking the volume of Netflix and the legacy IP of the studio streamers, THR's Rick Porter writes that Amazon Prime Video is busy mining best-selling novel series for hits as its most-viewed titles in the Nielsen-counted era — Reacher and The Wheel of Time — set the stage for its big Lord of the Rings swing. The analysis.  

—Drive to survive. Neill Blomkamp's Gran Turismo movie will drive into theaters on Aug. 11, 2023, Sony and PlayStation Productions announced Tuesday. No cast has yet been announced for the adaptation of the popular racing game but the preliminary logline for the film describes it as a wish-fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player who won a series of Nissan competitions before becoming an actual professional race car driver. The story. 

—Coming home. Bill Prady, the co-creator of The Big Bang Theory, is returning to Warner Bros. Television after signing a new multiple-year, first-look deal with the studio that Prady had called home until 2020 when he signed with Netflix. Under the deal, Prady and his Pine Tree Entertainment banner will develop new scripted programs for multiple platforms. The story.

—Expanding TV presence. Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will executive produce a new children’s animation series in the works from Headline Studio at Advance, a production company owned by the Newhouse family’s Advance holding firm. No network or streaming is attached as of now. The story. 

'Squid Game' Reality Series Coming to Netflix

►Life imitating art. Netflix is staging a real-life Squid Game series that’s billed as "the biggest reality competition ever." The streamer announced a reality TV production based on its global dystopian smash at the Banff World Media Festival on Tuesday.

While the stakes won’t be life or death (presumably), Squid Game: The Challenge will have 456 players competing in a series of games for the chance to win $4.56 million. Netflix claims the payout is the largest cash prize in TV history, and that the show will have the largest competition cast ever assembled. The story.

—"I designed the Squid Game universe to reflect our nightmarish reality." In a guest column for THR, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk writes about how he created a story that knows no borders and how Netflix’s most-watched series ever proves that audiences are hungry for global content. The column.

—"We’re not doing some radical shift." During an incredibly newsy appearance at the Banff Media Festival, Netflix's global TV head Bela Bajaria talked with THR's editorial director Nekesa Mumbi Moody about how the streamer was "getting back to basics" as it reconsiders its business after a decline in subscribers. The story.  

—First look! On a big Thursday of news from Netflix, the streamer also released some first-look images of the second part of Stranger Things season four. The final two episodes drop July 1 and span nearly four hours — episode 8 runs 1 hour, 25 minutes and the season finale, episode 9, will be a whopping 2 hours and 20 minutes. The images. 

—No brainer. Also revealed at Banff, Netflix has renewed The Lincoln Lawyer for a second season. The renewal was considered a given after the series broke out on the streamer. Since launching May 13, Lincoln Lawyer has been on Netflix’s Global Top 10 and has made the chart in 90 countries with a cumulative 260.53 million hours viewed as of June 5. The story.

—Yet more Netflix news. Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Joey King are set to star in an untitled romantic comedy that Richard LaGravenese will direct and co-write for Netflix. While the logline details are vague, the streamer notes the feature project sees a surprising romance kick off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother and her movie star boss as they face the complications of love, sex and identity. The story.

Film Review: 'Father of the Bride'

►"Ties the familiar knot with a welcome twist." THR film critic Sheri Linden reviews Gaz Alazraki's Father of the Bride. In this HBO Max film, the latest feature adaptation of a 1949 novel, Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan play a Cuban American couple in Miami put their divorce on hold in order to plan their daughter’s wedding. The review. 

—"A smart film that draws some puzzling conclusions." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Kristy Guevara-Flanagan's Body Parts. The documentary chronicles the evolution of sex scenes in film and television. The review.

—"A documentary dork's delight." THR's Dan Fienberg reviews Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall's Subject. The filmmakers check in with the stars of documentaries including Hoop Dreams, The Staircase and The Wolfpack as the starting point for a conversation about depiction, exploitation and documentary ethics. The review.  

In other news...

—Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short try to clear their names in Only Murders in the Building S2 Trailer

—Guillermo Del Toro presents first look at Pinocchio

—Paramount Global says international boss Raffaele Annecchino is “on leave,” effective immediately

—Disney international chief signals price was too high to retain cricket streaming rights

—Disney+ could hit $1.8b in ad revenue by 2025, Netflix may reach $1.2b, analyst estimates

—Tico and Friends film adaptation in the works from Nippon Animation, Cyber Group Studios

—Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero sets U.S. theatrical release date

—Imagine Entertainment, Washington Post sign first-look film, TV deal

—Rob Delaney to publish memoir about losing his son to brain cancer

—Silver Lake leads $500m investment into soundstage firm’s expansion

What else we're reading...

—Jen Yamato has a great interview with Everything Everywhere All at Once's James Hong, who with nearly 700 screen credits is nowhere near calling it a day [LAT]

—Adrian Horton on how the criminally underrated TV drama P-Valley pulls off the pandemic storyline [Guardian]

—Christopher Palmeri and Lucas Shaw write that Disney losing IPL cricket could cost them a whopping 20m streaming subscribers [Bloomberg]

—Wait, what?: "China says it may have detected signals from alien civilizations" [Bloomberg]

—Jennifer Zhan has an important timeline Marilyn Monroe’s "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" dress that Kim K has now been accused of permanently damaging [Vulture]

Today...  

...in 1967, MGM unveiled the WWII thriller The Dirty Dozen, featuring a template that would be echoed in action films for decades. Robert Aldrich's film featured an ensemble cast that included Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker and Robert Webber. The original review. 

Today's birthdays: Courteney Cox (58), Jake Busey (51), Helen Hunt (59), Leah Remini (52), Neil Patrick Harris (49), Ice Cube (53), Julie Hagerty (67), Jim Belushi (68), Sterling Jerins (18), Chung-hoon Chung (52), Denzel Whitaker (32), Andy Tennant (67), Anthony Atamanuik (48), Michèle Laroque (62), John Toll (70), Rick Rosenthal (73), Dan Laustsen (68), Adam Rapp (54)