Motion Picture: Paramount-WBD Merger Gets Endorsement From Lionsgate CEO, Jenna Ortega’s Comedy ‘The Gallerist’ Gets U.S. Distribution
Greta Lee - Tim P. Whitby
Action/Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi: Greta Lee’s long-awaited Netflix thriller The Last House finally made its streaming debut. The film undoubtedly evokes the isolation of Covid-19 with solid performances from Lee and Wagner Moura. The film, “despite its sci-fi and horror elements, is as much a psychological chamber drama and survival thriller about four people using their wits and dwindling resources to stay alive, even as their close-knit ties start fraying.” Critics and audiences seem to be receiving the project well, as its debut in the Netflix top 10 was mainly positive reviews.
John David Washington is set to star in the supernatural horror thriller Mime for Screen Gems. Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Nanny, Nikyatu Jusu, will direct the feature. Plot details are being kept quiet. Stephen Herman writes the spec screenplay, based on his original idea. Producing are Matt Tolmach, who packaged the project, as well as The Black Phone filmmaker Scott Derrickson via his Crooked Highway banner. Washington will also produce along with Tolmach’s partner Camila Grove.
Jaafar Jackson is set to join Will Smith in the highly anticipated thriller Supermax. Smith and I Play Rocky star AnnaSophia Robb were earlier announced to play two FBI agents investigating a murder inside a notorious maximum-security prison, in the film from Amazon MGM Studios and Miramax. After his breakthrough role in box-office darling Michael, Jaafar Jackson is joining in an unspecified role in Supermax, which was written by David Weil and David J. Rosen of Hunter and Invasion TV drama fame. The action thriller is expected to start production shortly, ahead of a planned play on the Prime Video streaming platform.
Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has confirmed he won’t be in Marvel's Blade. Ali stated in an interview, “I’ve been doing this professionally for pushing 30 years now, and one thing I’ve learned is that what is for you is for you and what is not is not,” Ali said in the new interview. “For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it. So I have to move on … Again, you had me under contract; they have billions of dollars, if they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie. So we’re not doing the movie … But I feel ready to move on from the Blade prison inquestions. Those questions are for them. They didn’t want to do it, so they should answer that question.” Marvel first announced Ali would take on the role of Blade at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. The company brought Bassam Tariq to direct, but he left the film in 2022, reportedly over creative differences, just two months before the project was to begin shooting. Ali and Tariq have now re-teamed for a different project, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.
Drama/Musical/Comedy: Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) and Natalie Portman’s RMC comedy The Gallerist gets U.S. distribution. The Cathy Yan-directed absurdist comedy The Galleriststarring Jenna Ortega and Natalie Portman has its U.S. distribution rights acquired by Roadside Attractions and Vertical. The pic world premiered at Sundance earlier this year. The pic is set for a Dec. 4 theatrical release. The feature is written by James Pedersen (High Heat), produced by Ash Sarohia (Killing Gunther), Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman (May December, Arco), Jonathan King (Spotlight, Roma, Dreamgirls), Tom McCarthy (Stillwater, The Loudest Voice), Rae Baron (Stillwater, Alaska Daily) and Zola Elgart Glassman (High Heat). The deal was negotiated by Roadside Attractions Co-President Howard.
John Legend is set to play Harry Belafonte alongside Cynthia Erivo in Bill Condon’s The Road Home. The film is currently shooting in South Africa. “Bill Condon's ambitious music-driven drama about the political firestorm that followed the creation of Paul Simon's classic 1980s album, Graceland.” The story unfolds through the perspective of exiled South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela (Thabo Rametsi), who is forced to choose between his mentor, the movement leader Archbishop Trevor Huddleston (Guy Pearce), who declares a boycott of Simon, and his own conviction that the music itself can serve the struggle.
Paramount is hard at work on an animated Bollywood film from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. Nitya Mehra is attached to direct the feature that has set Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman to write the script. The film Diya centers on an Indian American teen girl in New Jersey who unexpectedly finds herself transported into the world of a Bollywood musical.
Dwayne Johnson spoke out on the mixed-to-negative reviews of his live-action adaptation of Moana. The Golden Globe nominee said in a recent interview, “If you love it, great. If you don’t, no problem.” Johnson, who voiced Maui in the original 2016 animated versiway—ason, shared that the first couple of reviews were amazing for the film, then critics shifted their tune. He claimed, “Our first two reviews came out. I’ll never forget it… They were amazing. I was like, wow,” the actor recalled, before adding that then “it went another way — as sometimes happens. That’s just the way it goes because we’re in this business.” Johnson said he’s proud of what they made and that the Samoan people have representation on the big screen.
Zoe Saldana - Jamie McCarthy
Industry: Zoe Saldaña is set to receive a special honor at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival. On Monday, August 10, 2026, Saldaña featured in a special conversation with the public after the festival bestowed upon her the Special Pardo, or Special Leopard, honor. Other names set to attend Locarno include Sandrine Kiberlain (Ni vue, ni connue), Valerio Mastandrea (Armony), Emmanuelle Devos (Demain je tombe amoureux), Kim Minhee (Nowhere to Lay My Eyes), Giulia Maenza (Alberi erranti), Alessandro Haber (Cercatori d’angeli), and Sara Serraiocco (Il Cileno). The 79th edition of the Locarno festival runs from August 5, 2026 to August 15, 2026.
Sundance festival director Eugene Hernandez has released a statement on the “unprecedented" work in the festival's move from Utah to Boulder, Colorado for 2027 and beyond. “Yes, a lot is changing,” Hernandez writes before diving into the details for next year’s fest, scheduled for January 21-31, 2027 (with online screenings set for the public from January 28-31, 2027 and a day earlier for industry and press).
And he’s right, with a new home base comes expected changes to venues and hotels and some unexpected ones with an expansion to the schedule and the resuscitation of the New Frontier program to spotlight tech-forward projects. Hernandez confirmed in his letter that all four of the fest’s central competition categories, U.S. dramatic, world cinema dramatic, U.S. documentary and world cinema documentary, will grow to 12 films each. Other sections like premieres, NEXT, midnight and family matinee “will also expand,” with details on those forthcoming. Also blooming: Beyond Film programming will be rebranded to Offscreen and expanded to include live podcast recordings.
Additionally, “New Frontier”, a category that has been described as the home for “cutting edge” films that land at the “intersection of art, cinematic storytelling and emerging technologies,” has been dormant in recent years. But it is being resuscitated for 2027 at a time when artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are the talk (horror?) of Hollywood. “Determined to stay with our community as we face the uncertainty of our times, New Frontier will return to the 2027 edition of the festival as New Frontier FLUX to activate inside the massive fluctuations of our biodigital realities,” Hernandez writes.
Diego Luna is set to receive an honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the Bosnian Film Festival. The Andor star will be presenting his latest directorial feature, a movie called Ashes, which had its world premiere in Cannes earlier this year. Also accepting the Heart of Sarajevo at the 32nd installment of the festival are British actress and Sarajevo jury president Emily Watson, as well as Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. Luna remarked last Monday, “It’s been many years since I’ve wanted to go to Sarajevo, so many colleagues have spoken beautifully about the festival and their personal experience there. I feel honored with the recognition of my work and very excited to share Ashes with the audience.”
Failed Los Angeles Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt claims to want to help President Donald Trump rebuild Hollywood. Just days after the deeply unpopular former Apprentice host swooped into Southern California for a behind-closed-doors RNC fundraiser, The Hills alum revealed online that he sat down with Trump to discuss a 25% federal tax credit for the admittedly ailing film and TV industry. “Working with the President on a 25% FEDERAL film tax credit to bring back Hollywood,” wrote Pratt with an accompanying picture with President Trump at the MAGA boss’ Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on August 4, 2026.
“While Gavin Newsom’s commissioner is actively outsourcing production jobs to Hungary, and his rogue AG is trying to destroy CA production companies, the adults in the room are actually trying to repatriate the most quintessential American industry,” Pratt wrote on IG and X with swipes at California’s $750 million incentives program and Golden State Attorney General Rob Bonta’s antitrust lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger.
“I’m committed to saving Hollywood, and I’m very grateful for the President’s remarkable generosity and focus on this issue. He is very passionate about revitalizing the entertainment industry, and we will not let Canada, or the UK, or Budapest steal our lunch anymore. Speaking of lunch…best clam chowder I ever had. We discussed several other very important topics, as well. I’m humbled and grateful for all the time and discussion from the President. Unlike many other cynical doomers out there, he refuses to write off California.”
Lionsgate CEO John Felthiemer endorsed the multi-billion dollar merger between Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers on Thursday, August 6, 2026. The CEO claimed “Uncertainty is the worst thing for our business, and uncertainty and delay is not good for anybody,” in response to a Wall Street analyst’s question during Lionsgate’s quarterly earningscall. “I’m in favor of this transaction, but most importantly, I’m in favor of certainty, and I’m getting all of the delay out of it.”
The $110 billion mega-deal breezed through regulatory review before hitting a major barrier in July, when the Writers Guild of America and 12 state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit. Following a judge’s initial rulings siding with the plaintiffs, a full trial has now been scheduled for March of 2027. The months-long delay, barring a settlement, has added to industry angst given how rapidly the marketplace keeps changing due to tech and audience shifts.
Feltheimer joins fellow deal supporters TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and the CEOs of major theater chains AMC and Regal, who have recently made their support on the matter public. On the other side, a number of A-listers have added their names to an anti-merger petition that has drawn more than 5,000 signatures, citing fears about potential mass layoffs and sensitivity around combining two major studios.
