9 Apr 2015
We will be taking a new approach and truly trying to keep these more brief in nature, providing links to articles that will provide longer and more detailed information.
The Briefs we will be providing briefs come out of the studios or independent project development on a daily basis and summarizing them in daily posts. These will be a quick way to attempt to keep everyone updated on movement of projects. This post is updated throughout the day. So check back for the latest updates.
NON-SPECIFIC (OR MULTIPLE ENTITES)
- THR Exclusive: Disney-Discovery? Fox-Viacom? Michael Wolff Predicts M&A Mania and a New Wave of Consolidation
- Deadline Ratings: Survivor Ratings Top The Voice & Idol, Black-ish Falls, SVU Rises
- SWB: Three-Year Showdate & 2016 Plan Revealed by Oscars
- Emmy Award-winning actor Ricahrd Dysart, best known for playing the cantankerous senior partner Leland McKenzie in the long-running NBC drama L.A. Law has died at age 86. Dysart passed away Sunday at his Santa Monica home after suffering a long illness. Dysart had a very long list of credits behind him from film, stage and television. See THR coverage of his death for more specifics. Dysart is survived by his wife, Kathryn Jacobi, stepson Arie, daughter-in-law Jeannine Jacobi, mother-in-law Lenore, brother and sister-in-law Nadine and John Jacobi and grandchildren Abby and Levi. A private memorial is being planned. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, an outdoor theater in Topanga Canyon in the Los Angeles area.
- THR: NYC’s Michael’s Restaurant: Awkward Run-Ins, Big Deals Revealed by 27 VIPS in Dishy Oral History
- THR Exclusive: Robert De Niro’s Private Office, Where He doesn’t Surf the Internet
- Deadline Exclusive: John Oliver’s Edward Snowden Interview: Part 2
- THR: Eddie Aiona, Prop Master for Clint Eastwood, Dies at 83
- THR Guest Column: “I Adore You, Too, David Carr”: Tom Arnold Pens Heartbreaking Tribute to His Late Best Friend
- Deadline: The Price of Success: Hit Shows Bracing for Cast Exits & Untimely Cancellations – Many hit shows have cast members contracts up and show renewals are still up in the air, including popular shows like CBS’ Criminal Minds (where five of the main cast are up for contract renewals), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Ted Danson’s contract is up for renewal), ABC’s Castle (both Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic up for renewal), Fox’s Bones (David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel are up for renewal); ABC’s The Middle lost Charlie McDermott wo went to take on the lead role in CBS’ pilot Super Clyde. Read more at the Deadline article link (above).
- THR Podcast: Oscars: What’s the Ideal Size of the Best Picture Category?
- Mamma Mia! will take its final bow on September 5th at the Shubert-owned Broadhurst Theater on Broadway. Produced by Judy Craymer, the show has run 14 years, from October 5, 2001 at the Winter Garden Theater until November 2013 when it moved to the Broadhurst. Delighting audiences with 5,765 performances, the play became the eighth longest running show on Broadway. Broadway run alone has grossed over $600 Mil according to the trade group Broadway League and worldwide it has grossed $2 Bil, having 49 productions on every continent, excepting Antartica. Produced by Craymer with Richard East, Björn Ulvaeus (for Littlestar) in association with Universal, Mamma Mia! is was written by Catherine Johnson, scored by ABBA’s Benny Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus with Stig Anderson and additional material by Martin Koch. Staged by Phyllida Lloyd and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast, designed by Mark Thompson and lit by Howard Harrison.
- Deadline Exclusive: Musical Pitch for Josh Gad, Jeremy Garlick Gets Toes Tapping Around Town
ABC/DISNEY/AMC FAMILY/LIFETIME
- Variety Box Office: Avengers: Age of Ultron Eyes $200 Million-Plus Debut
- THR Box Office Milestone: Furious 7 Blasts Past $500M
- SWB: CSI Vet Wallace Langham To Guest Star in Top-Secret ABC’s ‘Castle’ Season 7 Finale
- THR: Marvel, ABC Plotting Agents of SHIELD Spinoff
- Guillermo del Toro is directing and producing for Disney a supernatural family movie, The Haunted Mansion and is currently in talks with Ryan Gosling to play in the film that is being scripted by D.V. De Vincentis.
- THR ESQ.: Richard Dreyfuss Sues Disney Over What About Bob?
AMC NETWORKS/AMC ENTERTAINMENT/A&E/IFC
CBS/CW/CBSFILMS/SHOWTIME/Pop
- SWB: UpFronts: Pop Unveils Plans including a Reality Series Starring John Legend; Tyra Banks Will Host Daytime Emmys & More
- CBS Television Distribution has renewed both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! for another two seasons, with their respective hosts signing new deals taking them through the 2017-2018 season. Wheel of Fortune will be picked up through it’s 35th season and Jeopardy! through it’s 34th season. Both game shows hail from Sony Pictures Television, with Wheel of Fortune being the number one syndicated game show, earning seven Emmy’s and Jeopardy! is the number two syndicated game show and holds the Guinness World Records title for holding 31 Emmy’s the most by any game show. Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White all have inked new deals with their respective series.
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION (AOL, AMAZON, HULU, NETFLIX, YAHOO)
DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS (DISCOVERY CHANNEL)/TLC
DREAMWORKS /DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
FOX ENTERTAINMENT GROUP/FOX SEARCHLIGHT/NEW REGENCY
- Variety: At Last, A Good Look at Fantastic Four‘s’ The Thing
- THR Review: Louie Season 5: TV Review
- Variety Exclusive: Julianne Moore to Star in Nicole Holofcener’s Can You Ever Forgive Me
- THR, ESQ.: Fox Beats Napoleon Dynamite Producers on Appeal of Big Profits Ruling
LIONSGATE
- Emmett/Furla Films will continue to partner with Lionsgate, as well as it’s Grindstone Entertainment Group for another ten years, extending their deal for another ten movies, several of which will be released through Lionsgate’s Premiere label. Past resulting collaborations with Grindstone include Fire with Fire, Empire State and Frozen Ground. Projects in development or production that are slated as part of this partnership includes Bus 657 which stars Robert DeNiro and Kate Bosworth, directed by Scott Mann; The Extraction starring Bruce Willis, Kellan Lutz and Gina Carano; and Daughter of God which stars Keanu Reeves and Mira Sorvino. The Extraction, directed by Steven C. Miller will be released through Premiere.
MGM, ORION, UNITED ARTISTS
NBC/UNIVERSAL STUDIOS/USA NETWORK/COMCAST/E!/SyFy
- Variety Q&A: USA Network’s Chris McCumber Talks New Shows, More WWE and VOD Experiments – See Also Yesterday’s Brief’s Entry
SCRIPPS NETWORK
SONY/TRISTAR/COLUMBIA
- THR Exclusive: Police Clash With Activists Trying to Drop Interview DVDs Into North Korea Via Air Balloon
- Deadline Exclusive: Sony Nearing Amy Pascal’s First Major Deal: S.L. Knight Novel Maestra
TIME WARNER/WARNER BROS./HBO/ CNN/TURNER/TNT/TBS/NEWLINE
- SWB: ‘True Detective‘ Season 2 Trailer Released by HBO
- Deadline Review: Game of Thrones Season 5 Review: Bloodier & More Ruthless Than Ever
- Phil Lord and Chrostpher Miller are currently working on a treatment for Warner Bros. on a film project based on the DC-Comic superhero The Flash. The project is in early stages and whether they chose to direct the project is still unknown. Together, Lord and Miller have directed The Lego Movie, Batman Movie and The Lego Sequel, as well as 21 Jump Stret, 22 Jump Street franchise, and produced the 2009 animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (both 1 and 2) for Columbia Pictures.
TRIBUNE/WGN AMERICA
VIACOM/COMEDY CENTRAL/PARAMOUNT/MTV
- Deadline: Jon Stewart Explains Journalism to Rolling Stone Publisher Jann Wenner
- THR Exclusive: Hayden Christensen to Star in Paramount’s Marco Polo
INDIE
- Variety Exclusive: Backup Films Makes History With Neil Marshall-Produced Series Britannia
- THR Exclusive: Ryan Seacrest Prods., Endemol Shine Strike Mega-Deal
- Deadline Exclusive: Jennifer Garner to Star in EuropaCorp’s Nine Lives – set to star alongside Kevin Spacey, Christopher Walken and Robbie Amell about a workaholic businessman(Spacey) who has to figure out a way to redeem himself following an accident that leaves him trapped in the body of his family’s cat.
- Bold Films is financing a film that will look behind the scenes at prison life in Shot Caller, which will be jointly produced by Bold Films (Whiplash, Nightcrawler, Lost River) and Participant Media (Good Night, and Good Luck; Syriana; An Inconvenient Truth; Food, Inc.; The Help.) Writer/director Ric Roman Waugh (Snitch) went undercover as a volunteer parole agent in California in order to get a real-world perspective of prison and gangs that run the institutions. “No one knew I was a filmmaker,” said Waugh in a statement. “They just saw me as a rookie cop, so nothing was censored. What I quickly learned is the guards might control the doors and gates, but the gangs run the prisons, and they run the streets as well, directly ‘from’ prison.” Shot Caller will follow a newly released prison gang member who is forced, by the leaders of his gang, to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets in Southern California. Michael Litvak and Matthew Rhodes will produce along with Waugh and the project developer, Participant Media’s Jonathan King. Executive Producing will be Bold;’s Gary Michael Walters and Participant’s Jeff Skoll. Bold’s Lisa Zambri will oversee the project which begins production May 26.
- Deadline: Africa Project from Director Angelina Jolie on Shaky Ground As They Search for Partner