What Cruise's New WB Deal Really Means

►"It never hurts to have a very close relationship with the biggest movie star in the world." Tom Cruise setting up shop at Warner Bros. is certainly a coup for the studio, and WBD CEO David Zaslav in particular, even if the pact doesn’t actually bind the actor to do anything for the company. THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters reports on how the star’s WB deal came together — and why it is both more and less than it appears. The story.

—Let's gooooooo!!!! Staying with Cruise, Top Gun 3 is in the works at his old home, Paramount. Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger is penning a script for the threequel, and sources say Maverick director Joe Kosinski would also return to direct. The intent is to reunite Cruise with his next gen Maverick co-stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell. While some could view the Top Gun news as a tit-for-tat in the war for Cruise headlines, the reality is this sequel has quietly been in development since late fall. The story. 

David Gordon Green Exits 'Exorcist' Sequel

►More problems. Universal and Blumhouse are searching for a new director for The Exorcist: Deceiver, with David Gordon Green departing the sequel to The Exorcist: Believer as he focuses on his production of Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller, as well as season four of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones. Deceiver was set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025, but is now off the release schedule. Universal shelled out $400m for the rights to the iconic horror franchise and planned a trilogy, but Believer topped out at a disappointing $136.2m globally. The story.

—The big reveal. A monster movie from Scream filmmakers Radio Silence is coming into focus. Universal revealed Thursday that the feature is titled Abigail, and also shared the first trailer. It will open in theaters April 19. Melissa Barrera, who was fired from Scream VII for social media posts amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, is among the cast of Abigail. Other stars include Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, William Catlett, Kevin Durand and the late Euphoria actor Angus Cloud, who died in July. The story. 

—Stone the bleeding crows! Apple Original Films has nabbed Guy Ritchie’s next movie, Fountain of Youth. The film, penned by James Vanderbilt, follows two estranged siblings (played by John Krasinski and Natalie Portman) who partner on a global heist to find the mythological Fountain of Youth. The project comes from a first-look deal between Apple and Skydance Media, with Vinson Films and Project X Entertainment also on board to produce. The story. 

—Storm chasing. Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam McKay is set to produce Stormbound, an upcoming Imax feature doc about storm chasers. Imax will finance the pic now in production from McKay’s Hyperobject Industries. Miko Lim will direct the film using proprietary Imax film and digital cameras ahead of a planned 2025 release. Stormbound follows the life of storm chaser Jeff Gammons during the peak storm season in the U.S. The story. 

—📅 Date set 📅 The Michael Jackson biopic Michael has been dated for a global release on April 18, 2025. Lionsgate is behind the project, which will be directed by Antoine Fuqua and star Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson as the King of Pop. Graham King, a seasoned hand at biopics with the Oscar-winning Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody under his belt, is producing. Universal Pictures has international rights for the film, excluding Japan. The story. 

—🎭 Excellent character name 🎭 Nick Frost has joined the cast of Universal's live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon. The Brit actor, known for starring in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, will play Gobber the Belch, the trusted friend and adviser of Stoick. Dean DeBlois, who co-wrote and directed the original animated trilogy, is steering the new feature, returning as writer, director and producer. The story. 

How Carjacking and Crime Upended S8 of 'Queer Eye'

►"I don’t think I will ever go back again." THR's Chris Gardner reports that a series of harrowing incidents on location in New Orleans — including the carjacking of a production vehicle in which a production assistant was pulled from a luxury SUV — rattled the Queer Eye cast and crew, leading to a security overhaul, a shortened eighth season, and a threat of walkouts by the Fab 5. The story. 

—"It’s time to say goodbye." The forthcoming seventh season of The Good Doctor will be its final one, ABC announced Thursday. The medical drama, a co-production of Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature, is slated to premiere Feb. 20. The Good Doctor is the second long-running ABC drama slated to end this season. Station 19, the first responder-focused spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy, will also close out its run with a seventh season. The story. 

—Best Laid plans. Peacock has handed out a straight-to-series order for Laid, a comedy starring Everything Everywhere All at Once star Stephanie Hsu. Nahnatchka Khan (Always Be My Maybe) and Sally Bradford McKenna (Son of Zorn) are writing and exec producing the series for Universal Television, where the former’s Fierce Baby is based with an overall deal. Laid revolves around a woman who finds out that her former lovers are dying in unusual ways. The story. 

—🎭 We have our Dina 🎭 Isabela Merced is the latest actor to join season two of The Last of Us. The Sicario: Day of the Soldado star has been cast as Dina in the HBO drama, a character known to fans from The Last of Us: Part II game. Merced joins two other major cast additions that were announced by the production this week: Young Mazino as Jesse, and Kaitlyn Dever as Abby. The story.

—Gen Z comedy. FX has ordered a pilot for Snowflakes, a comedy about a group of twentysomethings. The project comes from writers Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw and has assembled a creative team that also includes director Jonathan Krisel and EPs Nick Kroll, Karey Dornetto and Alicia Van Couvering. The pilot order comes as FX prepares to say goodbye to What We Do in the Shadows, which will end with its upcoming sixth season. Animated series Archer and the critical favorite Reservation Dogs also bowed out in 2023. The story. 

—He's big, he's massive. Reacher began its second season with big viewing-time numbers, cementing its status as one of the most popular shows on Amazon’s Prime Video. The series based on Lee Child’s novels had 1.69b minutes of watch time for the week of Dec. 11-17; season two’s first three episodes debuted on Dec. 15. The figures for Reacher put the series in second place overall in Nielsen’s streaming rankings for the week. Netflix’s movie Leave the World Behind repeated as the overall No. 1 title. The streaming rankings. 

Stealing Jokes Is Taboo, So Why Do Comedians Keep Doing It?

►"Reputation is everything for a comedian, even if they’re multimillionaires." In early January, comedian Katt Williams went on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast and took aim at Cedric the Entertainer for stealing "my very best joke." For THR, Eric Spitznagel writes that Williams' accusation prompts a debate about what matters — and doesn't — when a gag is stolen. The story. 

—"There’s a lot of greats that make rookie moves." Jo Koy says he’s giving himself an A-plus for hosting the Golden Globes just days after he received backlash. In a new interview, the comedian also addressed a comment perceived as a slight to his writing team, the Taylor Swift joke that fell flat and the criticism over his Barbie gag that many deemed sexist. The story. 

—He'll be fine. Apple CEO Tim Cook received a pay cut for the tech giant's latest fiscal year following shareholder guidance and a “recommendation” from the executive himself. Cook’s pay package hit $63.2m after rising to $99.4m during the 2022 fiscal year. For the latest fiscal year, Cook earned a $3m base salary, while he received another $47m from stock awards. Beyond that, he made $10.7m from non-equity compensation and $2.5m in other compensation, mostly in the form of security costs. The story. 

—More layoffs. Amazon-owned Audible is laying off 5 percent of its staff. In a memo to employees Thursday, Audible CEO Bob Carrigan said that while the business had a strong 2023 and is in “good shape,” the company plans to get “leaner and more efficient” going forward. The layoffs follow Amazon's announcement of cutting hundreds of jobs in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios division. The story.  

Hollywood Stars Show Support For South Africa's Genocide Case Against Israel

►Video series. More than two dozen prominent names from the acting world — including Susan Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, Paapa Essiedu, Cynthia Nixon, Indya Moore, Alia Shawkat, Steve Coogan, Khalid Abdalla, Tobias Menzies, Charles Dance, Carice van Houten and Lena Headey — have contributed to a series of videos supporting South Africa’s historic case charging Israel with genocide over its war in Gaza at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Israel denies the genocide accusation and is set to present its defense on Friday. The story. 

—Investigation launched. Filmmaker Vincent Gallo has been accused of making sexually explicit and threatening comments in auditions with actresses for an upcoming film. Rolling Stone reports that two actresses who auditioned to play victim roles in The Policeman, a film starring Gallo as so-called “Golden State Killer” Joseph James DeAngelo, filed complaints to actors union SAG-AFTRA after comments that Gallo allegedly made during the casting process. SAG-AFTRA responded by launching an investigation into casting for the film. The story. 

—"The government and the National Assembly must not remain silent on this tragic incident." Clad in black suits as a mark of respect for the late Parasite actor Lee Sun-kyun, Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho and other prominent Korean film figures gathered for a solemn press conference in Seoul on Friday, where they sternly called for an investigation into the police handling of Lee’s case that would tragically end in the actor’s death on Dec. 27 by apparent suicide. The group also demanded a probe into media leaks related to Lee's case. The story.

THR's Animation Roundtable

►"I really love going to fantastical places." THR's award-winning Roundtable Series continues, next up is the Animation Roundtable. Seth Rogen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Kemp Powers (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Karen Ryan (Nimona), Benjamin Renner (Migration), Peter Sohn (Elemental) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (Wish) spoke to THR's Carolyn Giardina over Zoom about their AI fears, false Hollywood tropes and theatrical’s challenges. The roundtable.

—🏆 Competitive year 🏆 Netflix's Nimona leads the 51st Annie Awards feature competition with nine nominations, including best feature, direction and writing. In the top category for best feature, also nominated is Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron, Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume and Paramount and Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Pixar’s Elemental earned a total of six nominations, though it was snubbed in the top category. The nominees. 

—🏆 Going for that first win 🏆 Rodrigo Prieto (Killers of the Flower Moon), Robbie Ryan (Poor Things), Edward Lachman (El Conde), Matthew Libatique (Maestro) and Hoyte van Hoytema (Oppenheimer) are the nominees in the feature competition of the 2024 American Society of Cinematographers Awards. All five Oscar-nominated DPs have been previously nominated in this ASC category and each are seeking their first win. The awards will be held March 3 at the Beverly Hilton. The nominees.

—🏆 Publicity kings 🏆 The Publicists of the International Cinematographers Guild have announced their nominees for the Maxwell Weinberg Award for a motion picture publicity campaign. The nominees are Air (Amazon MGM Studios), Barbie (WB), John Wick: Chapter 4 (Lionsgate), The Little Mermaid (Disney), Maestro (Netflix), Oppenheimer (Universal), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount/Nickelodeon). The nominees. 

—Worthy recipients. The African American Film Critics Association has revealed its 2024 Special Achievement honorees, who will be celebrated at the organization’s 7th annual AAFCA Special Achievement Award luncheon on March 3 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Killers of the Flower Moon will receive the Stanley & Karen Kramer Social Justice Award and Jamie Foxx and Datari Turner, the producing team behind Foxxhole Productions, will receive the AAFCA’s Producers Award for their films They Cloned Tyrone, Story Ave and The Burial. The story. 

The Making of 'Oppenheimer'

►How Nolan blew up the screen. THR's Beatrice Verhoeven spoke to the creative team behind Oppenheimer, including director Christopher Nolan, producer Emma Thomas and stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr. about how they made the Oscar contender. The acclaimed biopic about the father of the A-bomb fused history and drama — along with old-fashioned practical effects — to assemble one of the most explosive films in years. The story. 

—"Fails to inspire much intrigue." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews F. Gary Gray's Lift. The Straight Outta Compton director helms a Netflix feature starring Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D'Onofrio and Sam Worthington about an alliance between an internationally wanted thief and an Interpol officer. The review.

—"Masquerading as a good film." THR's Frank Scheck reviews Thomas Vincent's Role Play. Kaley Cuoco plays a veteran assassin living a double life as a suburban wife and mother in this Amazon Prime Video action-comedy, co-starring David Oyelowo, Connie Nielsen and Bill Nighy. The review. 

Thank Pod It's Friday

►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.

—TV's Top 5. THR's Lesley Goldberg and Dan Fienberg break down the latest TV news. This week's episode begins with the headlines, with news on The Last of Us, The White Lotus, Tina Fey, Stephanie Hsu, NCIS, Big Little Lies and Bookie. There's a segment on Disney+'s The Mandalorian getting the feature film treatment and what it means for the future of the show. There's a section on the flurry of recent cancellations. THR ’s awards editor Tyler Coates drops by for a chat about the Emmys ahead of Monday's show. And Dan offers his thoughts on Marvel’s Echo, HBO’s True Detective, AMC’s Monsieur Spade and Peacock’s Ted. Listen here.

—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to Danielle Brooks. The Grammy winner and Tony and Emmy nominee reflects on her path from Greenville, South Carolina to Juilliard to Netflix's Orange Is the New Black and Broadway, overcoming impostor syndrome and her fateful Zoom with Oprah to star in The Color Purple. Listen here.

In other news...

—Curb Your Enthusiasm final season trailer released — and it’s pretty, pretty good

—Halo season two trailer shows dark space action

—Mr. & Mrs. Smith trailer: Donald Glover, Maya Erskine see romantic sparks and bullets fly

—Disney+ releases first look at Daniel Brühl as Karl Lagerfeld in Kaiser Karl series

—Kelvin Harrison Jr., Aaron Pierre duel as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in Genius: MLK/X trailer

—Ike Barinholtz brings the light in latest Orion and the Dark trailer

—Dolby Atmos, Barco, Christie, Imax Laser Projection to be honored at Academy’s SciTech Awards

—THR names Lachlan Cartwright as special correspondent

—Toronto Film Fest names Jennifer Frees chief business and marketing officer

—Reggie Wells, Oprah Winfrey’s longtime makeup artist, dies at 76

​​​What else we're reading...

—With stellar ratings for the Trump town hall, Fox News insiders tell Brian Stelter that the network is reluctantly falling in line behind the "monster we created" [VF]

—Chas Danner and Nia Prater wonder how on earth the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could go missing for days [Intelligencer]

—Roslyn Sulcas talks to Clive Owen about his intriguing new AMC show Monsieur Spade, in which the Brit actor plays detective Sam Spade enjoying retirement in the South of France [NYT]

—Timothy Noah read all of "wife guy" Bill Ackman's 5,000+ word tweets trying to make sense of the billionaire's week long meltdown on social media [New Republic]

—Here's your Friday list: "The 50 greatest sports movies of all time" [Vulture]

Today...  

...in 1971, in the 9:30 p.m. time slot, the first episode of Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear's All in the Family debuted on CBS. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Issa Rae (39), Sam Richardson (40), Rob Zombie (59), Mary Harron (71), Simon Russell Beale (63), Howard Stern (70), Oliver Platt (64), Rachael Harris (56), Anthony Andrews (76), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (39), Agustín Pardella (30), Hannah Gadsby (46), Clare Holman (60), Simon Halls (60), Shirley Eaton (87), Valerie Domínguez (43), Alexandra Wentworth (59), Olivier Martinez (58), Debra Feuer (65), Will Rothhaar (37), Matt Malloy (60), Sarah Utterback (42), Jason Sklar (52)