Dueling Thai Rescue Movies; 'Roe v. Wade' Film Firestorm; Sony, Weinstein Co. Layoffs; Stormy Arrested

What's news: Dueling Thai cave rescue movies are in the works. Plus: Comcast sweetens its offer for Sky, layoffs hit Sony Pictures and The Weinstein Co., an anti-abortion film creates a firestorm and counting down to Emmy noms. — Erik Hayden [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( July 12, 2018 What's news: Dueling Thai cave rescue movies are in the works. Plus: Comcast sweetens its offer for Sky, layoffs hit Sony Pictures and The Weinstein Co., an anti-abortion film creates a firestorm and counting down to Emmy noms. — Erik Hayden Sony's Weekend? Face off: Will Adam Sandler's animated Dracula draw blood from Dwayne Johnson's Skyscraper at the box office? Pamela McClintock forecasts: + Sony's Hotel Transylvania 3, which studio insiders say cost $80 million to produce before marketing, is set to debut stateside in the $38 million-$45 million range. + Legendary/Universal's Skyscraper, which cost the studios $129 million to produce before marketing, is projected to gross $33 million-$40 million. + Noted: The respective studios backing the two new titles are being more conservative in their estimates than the above tracking. [Full preview]( Elsewhere in film... ► Amid firestorm, Roe v. Wade film still seeks financing. Nick Loeb, who is the anti-abortion film’s co-director and arranged financing, is now making a last-ditch effort to raise $1 million to finish the film. + What potential investors are saying: One financier who was approached but declined to invest in the film about the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that guaranteed a woman's right to an abortion was turned off by the overt politics of the pitch. [Full story.]( ► Dueling Thai cave rescue movies in the works. A day after faith-based company Pure Flix revealed its project, Ivanhoe Pictures said that it had been selected by Thailand's Navy and government to develop a movie based on the rescue. + Director attached: Crazy Rich Asians helmer Jon M. Chu is working with Ivanhoe. Chu wrote on Twitter: "I refuse to let Hollywood #whitewashout the Thai Cave rescue story! No way. Not on our watch. That won’t happen or we’ll give them hell." [Details.]( ► Weinstein Co. buyer investigating David Glasser for interfering in sale. An attorney for buyer Lantern [claims]( that Glasser, possibly in concert with Viacom, impaired the closing of the sale: "It is our belief that he might have violated the stay and generally impaired the ability of Lantern to close the sale." + Weinstein Co. cuts 20+ jobs. The company is[laying off]( more than 20 employees in both New York City and Los Angeles as it heads toward finalizing its $289 million sale to Lantern Capital. Those being let go work in marketing, distribution and PR. ► Sony Pictures lays off marketing staff. The studio issued a new round of [pink slips]( as it began laying off about 25 staffers working in the theatrical marketing and distribution department. In a memo to staffers ^Trailer watch: Keira Knightley plays the title character in literary biopic [Colette]( (above), Michael Pena fights aliens in Netflix's [Extinction]( film (bought from Universal) and Sony unveils the teaser for [Goosebumps 2](. ► MGM finds director for RoboCop Returns. Neill Blomkamp, who directed such tech-heavy movies such as District 9 and Chappie, has been set [to helm]( the reboot. Justin Rhodes is rewriting the script. ► STXfilms casts Chadwick Boseman in action thriller. The Black Panther star [will play]( a disgraced NYPD detective who, after being thrust into a citywide manhunt for a cop killer, is given a shot at redemption. ► Paramount Players buys LeBron James comedy. The NBA star and his SpringHill Entertainment banner has sold a comedy pitch from writer Steve Mallory to the studio. He's in early talks [to act]( in the project also. ► Fox Searchlight enlisting Keri Russell for The Antlers. After landing a role in Star Wars: Episode IX, the actress is now [in talks]( to team with Guillermo del Toro for a supernatural horror thriller to shoot this fall. ► Universal's Jordan Peele film rounds out cast. Tim Heidecker is [joining]( Elisabeth Moss and Lupita Nyong’o in the filmmaker's Us, a follow-up to Get Out that aims to be just as provocative. ► Warner Bros.' The Meg gets China release. The film will open on Aug. 10. The studio may have been helped in [scoring]( the day-and-date release by the fact that the film has considerable Chinese involvement. ► AMBI Group's Waiting for Barbarians nabs Mark Rylance. The Oscar winner is set [to star]( in Ciro Guerra's adaptation of the 1980 novel. Filming is slated to begin this fall in Europe and North America. Stormy Daniels arrested at Ohio strip club. Lawyer Michael Avenatti is claiming the arrest — which occurred while Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was performing an act at a Columbus strip club — was a ["setup."]( Comcast Sweetens Sky Offer Bidding war update: Now it is Brian Roberts' Comcast that has upped the bid for broadcaster Sky, offering $34 billion, topping Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox offer, Georg Szalai notes: + Premium: Comcast said in a filing that its new offer represents a 91.8 percent premium to where shares of Sky were trading Dec. 6, 2016, the last business day before 21st Century Fox first offered to purchase the 61 percent of the company it did not already own. + Savings: Comcast said it anticipates $500 million in revenue and cost synergies. A deal for Sky would expand Comcast’s international footprint to "more effectively compete in the rapidly changing and intensely competitive entertainment and communications landscape," the cable giant has said. + U.K. clears Fox bid. Fox now must decide whether to sweeten its offer for Sky to trump a higher bid from U.S. cable giant Comcast. Investors on Thursday seemed to bet that the Murdoch family will do so. [Comcast bid]( I [Fox clearance.]( Elsewhere in TV... *After Go90's collapse, who's buying "Snackable" TV now? Natalie Jarvey writes: When Verizon pulls the plug on its ambitious video streaming app go90 at the end of July, the telecom giant will join a list of companies that have failed to build businesses from short, "snackable" videos. [What's next.]( ► ABC Signature inks overall deal with SMILF creator. Frankie Shaw has [signed]( a two-year overall deal at the studio that co-produces her series. The pact will primarily be cable focused. ► Netflix inks overall deal with Money Heist creator. The streaming giant has [signed]( producer-writer Álex Pina, creator of the platform’s Spanish-language heist series La Casa de Papel, to an exclusive pact. ► FX unveils cast for Y: The Last Man drama. Diane Lane, Barry Keoghan, Imogen Poots, Lashana Lynch, Juliana Canfield and Marin Ireland [will star]( in Michael Green's adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan's comic series. ^About Hulu's Handmaid's Tale season 2 finale. Daniel Feinberg writes about "a polarizing finale, and I'm not talking about some viewers loving the finale and some viewers hating it (though I'm sure that's probably the case as well)." [Full column.]( ► Netflix comedy series enlists Christina Applegate. The former Married... With Children actress [will star]( in Dead to Me, a new dark comedy series from executive producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. ► NBC's America's Got Talent gets ratings win. A 2.1 Tuesday rating among adults 18-49 and 11.4 million viewers, [modest lifts]( from the previous week, that loomed over primetime on both broadcast and cable. ► Facebook Watch expands show slate. The social network has [inked deals]( with ABC Owned Stations, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, McClatchy, NowThis and TEGNA for a series of current-events shows. ► Being shopped: a "Stuttering John" Melendez series. The podcast host, who allegedly prank called President Trump on Air Force One, has inked [a deal]( for a docuseries with The Idea Factory. Awards Chatter podcast: Remembering Tab Hunter. Scott Feinberg looks back at his 2015 interview with the actor, who died July 8. Hunter spoke about what it was like making movies — and being gay — in the fifties, what happened after his star faded and how he hoped to be remembered. [Listen.]( Meet Comey's Book Agents Office visit: Keith Urbahn and Matt Latimer, founders of D.C.-based upstart agency Javelin, open up about their dream clients, the expectations for Sean Spicer's book and the perfect title for a Melania Trump memoir. [Full interview.]( What else we're reading... — "Game Change authors feuding over their shattered franchise." Paul Farhi reports: "Heilemann has made clear that his collaboration with Halperin is over and that Halperin won’t share in any advances or royalties from anything Heilemann produces." [[Washington Post](] — "Big advertisers embrace blockchain." Lara O’Reilly writes: "Blockchain’s secure, transparent nature has drawn interest from big consumer advertisers, who tend to be wary of digital ad agencies and tech vendors." [[Wall Street Journal](] — "Sumner, Shari, and the Greek tragedy set in a Delaware court." William D. Cohan's feature: "At the heart of the battle for the future of Viacom and CBS is, naturally, a thorny, roller-coaster father-daughter dynamic." [[Vanity Fair](] — "It’s time to make your own Dwayne Johnson movie." A staff chat: "The Rock can carry a blockbuster no matter what it’s about - just look at Skyscraper - so why not throw a few movie pitches out there?" [[The Ringer](] — "Why Across the Universe 'scared the shit out of people.'" Julie Taymor and Evan Rachel Wood "reflect on Taymor's reputation as 'difficult'" and on the 2007 "film's bungled marketing" in an interview with Gwynne Watkins. [[Vulture](] From the archives... + On July 12, 1991, Columbia brought John Singleton's R-rated drama Boyz n the Hood to theaters: "a booming, heart slam of a film." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Kristen Connolly, 38, Topher Grace, 40, Michelle Rodriguez, 40, Anna Friel, 42, Phil Lord, 43, Brian Grazer, 67, Ben Burtt, 70, Richard Simmons, 70. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( July 12, 2018