'Old' Gives M. Night Shyamalan Another Box Office No.1; Blumhouse Producing Vince McMahon Scripted Series; Venice Film Festival's Full Lineup

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( July 26, 2021 What's news: Producers behind Apple's The Morning Show are suing their insurers for COVID-19 related delays to season two. On Sunday we got the first trailer for Showtime's Dexter revival and also the first look at the final season of The Walking Dead. Plus: Howard the Duck turns 35 and THR speaks to the stars behind the bomb-turned-cult-classic — [Abid Rahman]( 'Old' Tops 'Snake Eyes' On Quiet Weekend ►Old is gold. M. Night Shyamalan scored another No.1 win at the domestic box office, where his thriller Old slithered past fellow new offering Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins to win the spoils on a quiet weekend at the domestic box office. Old, about a family whose tropical vacation turns into an age-accelerating nightmare, took in $16.5 million from 3,555 locations. Shyamalan's film debuted to $6.5 million internationally from 23 markets for a solid worldwide start of $23 million, writes THR's [Pamela McClintock](. The news is gloomier for Snake Eyes, which cost a reported $88 million to make before marketing and made an estimated $13.4 million from 3,521 locations in its opening weekend. The Henry Golding-fronted action film opened well behind the first two entries in the franchise based on the Hasbro military action toy. G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra debuted domestically to $54 million in 2009, while 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation started with $40 million. [The box office breakdown.]( —Living large on the Lido. Venice is looking to out-dazzle Cannes with its stellar full 2021 lineup. Among the films in the running for the Golden Lion are Jane Campion’s star-studded The Power of the Dog, Ana Lily Amirpour's Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Michel Franco's Sundown, Paul Schrader's The Card Counter and Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand Of God. [The full lineup.]( —Good morning to a $44m lawsuit. The producers behind Apple TV+'s The Morning Show are suing Chubb National Insurance over the interruption to Emmy-nominated series' second season caused by COVID-19. [The story.]( —Heel to face. A Vince McMahon scripted series is in the works from Blumhouse TV and WWE. The project will focus on the billionaire wrestling magnate's infamous 1990s trial for allegedly giving steroids to WWE talent. [The story](. —"Most epic premiere of 2021." Jungle Cruise, the big-budget adventure film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, started its journey to the big screen Saturday night at Disneyland, just feet away from where its namesake river boat ride has been running for more than 60 years. [The premiere](. Emmys: A Critic's Case for Changes ►Bad system. THR’s chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( makes the case for changes to the Emmys variety categories, with new performance categories for projects such as Hamilton and SNL, neither a movie nor a traditional series, that would open the restrictive acting races: "The TV Academy needs to do something about the variety fields, and they needed to have done it years ago." [The story.]( —First look. Showtime’s Dexter revival, officially titled Dexter: New Blood, debuted a trailer Sunday during a Comic-Con at Home session. Showtime has also set a Nov. 7 premiere date for the 10-episode revival, which picks up a decade after the original show’s finale. [The trailer.]( —"The beginning of the end." A trailer for the final season of The Walking Dead dropped Saturday during a panel for San Diego Comic-Con at Home. “If we live, we live for them. If we die, we die for them,” is among the ominous statements heard in the three-and-a-half-minute clip. [The trailer.]( —What the fuss is all about. The Japanese public may be deeply ambivalent about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but curiosity definitely won out for public broadcaster NHK during the Games’ opening ceremony on Friday. [The ratings](. —Folklore turns 1. Taylor Swift is celebrating the one-year anniversary of her Grammy-winning Folklore album with her fans in a special way: putting out an alternate, "original" version of the bonus track "The Lakes." [The story.]( Jackie Mason 1928-2021 ►The world according to Jackie. Jackie Mason, the former rabbi from a family of rabbis whose Borscht Belt style and issue-oriented comedy made him a popular and at times controversial performer, has died. He was 93. [The obituary.]( —Matt Ryan will be back! Swansea-born star Matt Ryan is hanging up the trenchcoat when he ends his run playing John Constantine on season six of Legends of Tomorrow, but he's not leaving the Arrowverse just yet. Speaking on Sunday during the show’s Comic-Con at Home panel, Ryan will remain part of the cast and play a new character in season seven. [The story.]( —Together again. Matt Damon is sharing details around how he wrote The Last Duel alongside his friend and fellow actor Ben Affleck, the first time the two have written together since their Oscar-winning work on Good Will Hunting. [The story](. —"Sometimes you have to bring the bad news." Steven Van Zandt says that spending decades as Bruce Springsteen’s righthand man helped him craft his on-screen performance as Silvio Dante, Tony Sopranos’ childhood friend and consigliere in The Sopranos. [The story.]( 'Howard the Duck' Turns 35: Revisiting the Notorious Bomb ►"Ishtar is Arabic for Howard the Duck." THR's [Ryan Parker]( goes deep on the 1986 George Lucas-produced Universal film Howard the Duck that was deeply loathed by what seemed like the entire U.S. population before becoming an improbable cult classic years later. Ryan speaks to stars Lea Thompson and Chip Zien about the film including how Robin Williams quit the role of voicing Howard within a week, asking patrons to leave the theater on opening day and how the onetime dumpster fire became a career highlight. [The story.]( —Snakes and doctors. After several weeks of dominance, China’s pseudo-propagandistic pandemic blockbuster Chinese Doctors was knocked off the top of the country’s theatrical box office over the weekend, with local animated sequel Green Snake making a solid $29.7 million debut. [The box office breakdown](. —Erales breaks silence. Top Chef season 18 winner Gabe Erales has issued an apology for his personal and professional conduct following news in early July that he was fired from Austin restaurant Comedor over violations of the company’s ethics policy around sexual harassment. [The story.]( In other news... —Lucifer season 6 to [premiere in September](. —Locarno Film Festival: Japanese anime Belle wins [inaugural kids award](. —[An L.A. real estate first]( Houses accept buyers’ Bitcoin and display NFT art. —[New Studio City townhouses]( draw digital creators thanks to hybrid zoning. —[Prosecutors air more claims in R. Kelly case]( one involving an underage boy. —[Rodney Alcala]( "The Dating Game Killer" serial murderer, dies at 77. —[From ice baths to oxygen chambers]( New Hollywood wellness centers offer recovery from grueling workouts. What else we're reading... —"Netflix Enters Middle Age. Brace for Speed Bumps." [[Bloomberg]( —"The Untold Story of El Chapo's Movie Dreams" [[Esquire]( —"Hosting the Olympics Is a Bad Deal" [[New York Times]( —"Tig Notaro Is a Comic, an Action Star, a Cartoon—What Next?" [[Daily Beast]( —"Gwyneth Paltrow’s ’90s Style Is Back. That’s Good for Goop." [[Wall Street Journal]( Today... ... in 2019, Columbia Pictures released Quentin Tarantino's ninth feature Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in North America. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt play a fading action star and his inseparable stunt double in the film, set at the time of the Manson murders. The movie would go on to make $375 million globally and score ten Academy Award nominations, winning two. [The original review](. Today's birthdays: Helen Mirren (76), Kate Beckinsale (48), [Jason Statham]( (54), Taylor Momsen (28), Thomasin McKenzie (21), Sandra Bullock (57), Olivia Williams (53), Cress Williams (51), Juliet Rylance (42), Francia Raisa (33), Mick Jagger (78), Danny Woodburn (57) This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Penske Media Corporation. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. Copyright © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 [View in Browser]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Your Privacy Rights]( | [Ad Choices]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Unsubscribe](