Perry Halts $800M Studio Expansion Over OpenAI's Sora 

►"Jobs are going to be lost." Tyler Perry had been planning a $800m expansion of his studio in Atlanta. Now, however, those ambitions are on hold — thanks to the rapid developments Perry is seeing with AI, including OpenAI’s new text-to-video model Sora, which debuted Feb. 15 and stunned Hollywood. THR's Katie Kilkenny spoke to Perry on Thursday about the new tools, noting that his productions might not have to travel to locations or build sets with the assistance of the technology: "Actually seeing the capabilities, it was mind-blowing." The interview.

—Huge stake. The Reddit IPO appears set to move forward, with the tech platform filing its form S-1 with the SEC on Thursday. The form revealed new details on Reddit's ownership, which includes a sizable stake controlled by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who controls 8.7 percent of the company’s stock. That makes Altman the third-largest shareholder in Reddit, behind only the Newhouse family’s Advance, which owns just over 30 percent of the company, and China’s Tencent, which owns 11 percent of the company. The story. 

—Banner year. Live Nation said it had its biggest year ever in 2023, in terms of both ticket sales and attendance. For the full year, the entertainment giant, which also owns Ticketmaster, said concert attendance was up 20 percent compared to the prior year, with more than 145m fans attending more than 50,000 events. Ticketmaster sold 620m tickets, up 13 percent from 2022. Across 2023, which included tours from mega artists such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, total revenue was up 36 percent, to reach $22.7b, and operating income increased 46 percent, to $1.07b. The results.

—"We see each house as a house of stories." Global luxury powerhouse LVMH has announced that it will be expanding into entertainment. The new division, 22 Montaigne, will explore opportunities for the LVMH brands like Dior, Tiffany & Co. and its namesake brands Louis Vuitton and ​​Moët, to collaborate with entertainment creators, producers and distributors on film, TV and audio projects. The story. 

—Arrested. A producer involved in some of Japan’s highest-grossing anime blockbusters including Your Name, Weathering With You and Suzume, was arrested in Tokyo this week on suspicion of creating child pornography. Koichiro Ito, 52, stands accused of coercing a 15-year-old girl he met over social media into sending him nude selfies in September 2021, Japanese media reported Thursday. The story. 

Cruise to Star In Iñárritu's Next Movie

►Awards play. Tom Cruise will star in the new feature from Alejandro González Iñárritu. Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment are in talks to acquire the package, which marks Iñárritu’s first English-language film since the Leonardo DiCaprio starrer The Revenant nearly a decade ago. Plot details are being kept under wraps for the feature project that was written by Iñárritu, Sabina Berman, Alexander Dinelaris and Nicolás Giacobone. The story. 

—Finally! WB's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has become the first Hollywood conglomerate to turn a streaming profit for a full year. For the year 2023, the company reported a streaming profit of $103m, compared with a loss of nearly $2.1b for all of 2022. WBD ended 2023 with a total of 97.7m streaming subscribers. The company's ad revenue and studios unit profit fell, but CEO David Zaslav said the company plans to roll out Max in key international markets and that 2024 revenues will benefit from a "more robust creative pipeline." The results. 

—"We’ve not been shy about our excitement around Harry Potter."  The Harry Potter TV series is moving forward, with WBD now targeting a 2026 debut for the high-profile project. The date was revealed Friday morning by Zaslav on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. Zaslav also said that he met just a few weeks ago with Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling in London. The story. 

'True Detective' Renewed for S5 

►Quick as you like. Hot on the heels of its season four finale, HBO has handed out a fifth-season renewal for its anthology series True Detective. Additionally, Night Country showrunner Issa López has signed an overall deal with HBO and will return to steer the fifth season after taking over the franchise from creator Nic Pizzolatto. López will also create and develop new projects for HBO. Night Country ranks as the most watched season of True Detective, topping the first season of the anthology. The story. 

—He's back (for more). Paramount+ has renewed the Frasier revival for a second season. The sitcom — which stars Kelsey Grammer picking up his curmudgeonly character first introduced in NBC’s Cheers — returned last year, nearly 20 years after the original series ended. Reviews for the first season were decidedly mixed from critics and fans. The revival also stars Jack Cutmore-Scott, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Toks Olagundoye, Jess Salgueiro and Anders Keith. Season one also featured guest appearances from original series cast, such as Bebe Neuwirth and Peri Gilpin. The story. 

—🎭 Heading back to college 🎭 In-demand Glen Powell will star in Chad Powers, a Hulu comedy series about a disgraced college football quarterback who disguises himself and walks on to another school’s team. Powell also co-created the Ted Lasso-ish series with Michael Waldron, the creator of Loki and writer of the next two Avengers movies. It’s based on an episode of ESPN+’s Eli’s Places, in which former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning goes undercover as a walk-on prospect named Chad Powers at Penn State. The story. 

—🎭 Award-winning addition 🎭 Troy Kotsur has joined the cast of Apple TV+'s Foundation for season three. The Oscar-winning CODA star will play Preem Palver, the leader of a planet of psychics in the sci-fi epic. Based on Issac Asimov’s novels, Foundation is from showrunner David S. Goyer and stars Lee Pace and Jared Harris. The story. 

—🎭 Another star in the mix 🎭 Eva Longoria has joined the upcoming season of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. She will appear as a recurring character who becomes integral to the twists and turns of the season’s investigation. Otherwise, her storyline is being kept under wraps. The Flamin’ Hot director is the second new character to be announced for the comedy’s next installment, joining Molly Shannon. The story. 

—🎭 Suiting up 🎭 Suits: LA has found another of its lead actors. Former Walking Dead regular Josh McDermitt has boarded the NBC pilot, a spinoff of the former USA Network series turned Netflix breakout. McDermitt will star opposite the previously cast Stephen Amell in the legal drama, which comes from Suits creator Aaron Korsh and UCP, which produced the original series. The story. 

—Back on top. For the first time since the show became exclusive to Peacock, The Office has made the weekly streaming rankings. The comedy series racked up 602m minutes of viewing time for the week of Jan. 22-28, good enough for ninth place among library series. It’s the first appearance for The Office — which was a regular entrant in the early days of the Nielsen rankings — since it left Netflix for Peacock at the beginning of 2021. At the top of the rankings for the week is Griselda, Netflix’s drama about the infamous drug queenpin starring Sofía Vergara. The streaming rankings. 

Film Review: 'A Family'  

►"Harrowing but absorbing." THR's Leslie Felperin reviews Christine Angot's A Family. Like many of her books, the French writer turned filmmaker explores the damage done by the abuse inflicted on Angot as an adolescent by her father. The review. 

—"Making it up as it goes along." Leslie reviews Hong Sang-soo's Berlinale competition entry A Traveler's Needs. The wistful drama is the third feature collaboration between French icon Isabelle Huppert and the South Korean auteur. The review. 

—"Strikingly enigmatic." THR's Sheri Linden reviews Lin Jianjie's Brief History of a Family. Taking its European bow at Berlin after a premiere at Sundance, Lin’s first feature focuses on a teenage boy, his parents and the classmate who becomes their surrogate second son. The review. 

—"Hard-hitting and heavy-handed." THR's Jordan Mintzer reviews Meryam Joobeur's Berlinale competition entry Who Do I Belong To. Joobeur, whose 2020 short Brotherhood was nominated for an Oscar, unveils her first feature to compete in Berlin, a drama about radical Islam. The review. 

—"Powerful if you have the patience." Jordan reviews Min Bahadur Bham's Berlinale competition entry Shambhala. The Nepalese writer-director's second feature follows a newlywedded woman who crosses the Himalayas in search of her fleeing husband. 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 Glen Powell, Dennis Quad and True Detective. There's a WTF segment on what's going on with Amazon's ad-supported streamer Freevee and another segment on late-night TV with the return of Last Week Tonight and Jon Stewart at The Daily Show. Amy Schumer drops by for a chat about the second season of her Hulu show, Life & Beth. And in this week's Critic's Corner, Dan offers his thoughts on FX’s Shogun, Apple’s Constellation, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and AMC’s The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. Listen here.

—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this live episode, Scott spoke to America Ferrera. The trailblazing actress, producer, director and activist reflects on the unlikely path to her breakthrough role in the indie film Real Women Have Curves; becoming the first Latina ever to win the best actress in a comedy series Emmy for Ugly Betty; and landing a best supporting actress Oscar nom for Barbie. Listen here.

—It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode, Seth spoke to Stephan Elliott. The Aussie writer-director reveals all the secrets of making his 1994 indie comedy smash Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Listen here.

In other news...

—Harvey Keitel relives Nazi death camp survival in Tattooist of Auschwitz trailer

—Theo James takes on a criminal empire in The Gentlemen trailer

—James Gunn shares first Superman: Legacy cast photo

—Eva Mendes to release debut children’s book

—A24’s Civil War set for SXSW

—Mae Martin to host Canadian Screen Awards special

—Kent Melton, character sculptor for Aladdin, The Lion King and Coraline, dies at 68

​​​What else we're reading...

—Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller's investigation into child influencers is a chilling must-read and will make you want to delete Instagram forever [NYT]

—David Smith talks to Billy Dee Williams about his new memoir, which covers his career, Star Wars and why he's never had any interest in being political [Guardian]

—With A24 leaning into releasing more broadly appealing films, Felix Gillette considers what's behind this play for the mainstream and whether the studio can succeed [Bloomberg]

—Lindsey Adler and Andrew Beaton report on the fiasco of the MLB uniforms produced by Nike and Fanatics that are almost see-through in the crotch area [WSJ]

—Here's your Friday list: "Jack McCoy’s 13 best episodes of Law & Order" [Vulture]

Today...  

...in 1940, Walt Disney brought Pinocchio to theaters nationwide. The classic animated feature went on to score two wins at the 13th Academy Awards, for original score and the original song "When You Wish Upon a Star." The original review.

Today's birthdays: Niecy Nash (54), Aziz Ansari (41), Emily Blunt (41), Dakota Fanning (30), Emilia Jones (22), Kelly Macdonald (48), Samara Weaving (32), Josh Gad (43), Patricia Richardson (73), Kristin Davis (59), Paula Beer (29), Callan Mulvey (49), Lorne Balfe (48), Triptii Dimri (30), Emily Cox (39), Álvaro Morte (49), Matteo van der Grijn (43), Marie-Josée Croze (54), Adam Hann-Byrd (42), Tommi Rose (23), Tye White (40), David Warshofsky (63), Little Simz (30), Phoebe Miu (33)