Donald Glover and Maya Erskine’s Marriage Story; Disney, Warners, and Fox Team Up; Jeremy Renner, Back from the Dead

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( February 07, 2024 What's news: It’s magazine day! McDonald’s fends off Byron Allen’s $100 million suit. How Netflix decided to body slam Vince McMahon. Elon Musk Backs Gina Carano’s ‘Mandalorian’ Battle. Deadpool creator rides off into early retirement. Apple (finally) claims 2023 Sundance darling starring Lily Gladstone. AMC bets big on past success. Trouble in the Charmed coven. — [Julian Sancton]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. A Marriage Story (With Baggage) ►Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. For the cover of this week’s issue, [Lacey Rose]( spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s Donald Glover and Maya Erskine about their onscreen chemistry, offscreen relationships, reinventing 2005’s sexy spy thriller that made Brangelina a thing — and why things didn’t work out with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Glover’s original co-creator and co-star: “It might’ve just been cultural,” Glover says. “They don’t really do writers rooms in the U.K.” [The story.]( —Curb’s Long Game. As Larry David’s HBO comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm returns for its 12th and final season, THR’s chief TV critic [Daniel Fienberg]( reflects on a series that vacillated between inspired and tired but never lost its grumpy grip on small-screen culture: “Perhaps the most surprising thing about the new season — which premiered Feb. 4 — is that, despite the show having no mysteries that require solving and no loose ends to tie up, there actually is a whiff of finality about it.” [The story.]( Disney, Warners and Fox Join Forces for Sports Streaming ► Team of Rivals In a blockbuster agreement that Disney CEO Bob Iger says is “an important step forward for the media business,” The Walt Disney Co., Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery will team up on a new company that combines streaming sports rights. The untitled streaming platform will offer live linear channels like ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS, and games and other sports rights from all three media giants on a nonexclusive basis. Pricing is still TBD, but it is expected to launch in the fall, in time for the NFL season. The story. [The story.]( —Shooting the Messenger. THR’s [Lachlan Cartwright]( investigates the sudden death of The Messenger, the news site that flamed out in spectacular fashion last week — less than a year after it made wild predictions of generating $100 million in revenue attracting 100 million readers staffed by a newsroom of 550 journalists. [The story.]( —How Vince McMahon Got TKO’d THR’s [Alex Weprin]( has the blow-by-blow of the WWE founder’s downfall. Following a sex trafficking lawsuit targeting McMahon, Netflix — which had inked a $5 billion deal with WWE — went into damage control mode. The business ramifications of the lawsuit became clear quickly, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. “He’s not there. He’s gone,” said Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria. [The story.]( Gina Carano Sues Disney Over ‘Mandalorian’ Firing ►And you'll never guess who's footing the bill. In an escalation of a standoff over her firing from The Mandalorian, Gina Carano is suing Disney and Lucasfilm for discrimination and wrongful termination in a lawsuit that opens another front in the battlefield for influence over Hollywood that has drawn in corporate America. Musk, making good on a promise to pay the legal costs for users who claim they have been discriminated against due to their activity on his platform, is helping fund the suit through X. [The story.]( —Not so fast food. McDonald’s has defeated a $100 million lawsuit brought by entertainment mogul Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group accusing the fast food giant of lying when it pledged to increase national ad spending with Black-owned outlets near the height of the Black Lives Matter movement. A Los Angeles judge on Sunday dismissed the suit, finding that McDonald’s will likely win the case if it’s allowed to proceed since the company still has more time to live up to its vow. [The story.]( Jeremy Renner on “Dying and Coming Back” To Life ►"I'm allowing my body always to dictate what I can and cannot do." Ahead of his first Super Bowl ad — an action-packed spot for Silk — Jeremy Renner tells THR about his miraculous recovery from the horrific snowplow accident on New Year’s Day that shattered 38 bones and left his life in limbo. The ad also features his daughter, whom he credits as the main force that pulled away from death’s door. Renner spoke about the inspiration behind the ad, the joy it has given him to defy doctors’ grim prognoses and his plans for the future, including a possible return to the Marvel franchise. (And what he imagines his X-ray looks like now.) [The story.]( —“Should I continue to do this, or should I pivot?” Usher, who is headlining Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, tells THR’s [Mesfin Fekadu]( he previously had thoughts of leaving the music industry. But the 45-year-old superstar, who released his first album 30 years ago, pressed on and told himself, “No, I want to do what I really love.” That’s when he launched his Las Vegas residency, which became a white-hot success that brought his career to new heights. [The story.]( —"There is no revisionist history." For fans of the beloved WB series Charmed (1998-2006), it’s edge-of-your-seat stuff: At a panel on the main stage at MegaCon Orlando on Sunday, Shannen Doherty sat next to two of her former Charmed castmates and read a heartfelt statement challenging the conspicuously absent fourth, Alyssa Milano. It’s a bit hard to follow, so best to click to directly to [Chris Gardner]( report. [The story.]( Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Says Goodbye to Marvel ►"Aches and pains." The 56-year-old comic book writer and artist tells THR why he's walking away sooner than he once expected and shares his excitement for all the "crazy shit" that's set to hit the big screen with this summer's Deadpool 3. “About 10 years ago, I really felt like I was in a groove, and in my mind, I was going to do this till I was 70,” Liefeld tells The Hollywood Reporter. “But the eyes and the hands, and the aches and the pains — they have a different timetable.” [The story.]( —Fancy that. Apple has landed the worldwide rights to Fancy Dance, starring Lily Gladstone, who recently landed an Oscar nomination for Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Helmed by Reservation Dogs writer and director Erica Tremblay, the film made a splash at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, leaving many wondering why a distribution deal had not materialized sooner for the well-reviewed film. [The story.]( —Face Melton. Charles Melton, who received widespread acclaim for his performance in Todd Haynes’ 2023 film May December, is in talks to join the cast of a new A24 war movie, sources tell THR. The film will be co-directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, from a script they co-wrote. Mendoza served as the military supervisor on Garland’s Civil War, which A24 is set to release in theaters April 12. [The story.]( —Tragedy on set. A member of the crew of the Marvel Studios series Wonder Man, whose name has not been made public, has died in an accident on set. The accident occurred Tuesday at Radford Studios, where the crewmember, a rigger, fell from the rafters. “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family and friends, and our support is behind the investigation into the circumstances of this accident,” Marvel Studios said in a statement. [The story.]( AMC Networks Lean on History in Pitch for the Future ►More of the same. At its meeting the Television Critics Association on Tuesday, AMC Networks hyped their marquee zombie franchise’s sixth spinoff, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. It wasn’t the only indication of how valuable past properties and players remain to the AMC brands. “Across our brands, we’re trying to do one thing and do it very well,” said AMC Studios president of entertainment Dan McDermott. [The story.]( —Dance with the Devil. AMC also announced that its acclaimed anthology The Terror will return for a third season. The new cycle, expected to air on the cabler in 2025, will be subtitled Devil in Silver, based the book of the same name by Victor LaValle about a man who “finds himself wrongfully committed to New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital.” The author will team with Chris Cantwell (AMC’s own Halt and Catch Fire) to write the six-episode season. [The story.]( —Sheridanverse, extended. Another Taylor Sheridan drama series is getting underway. Paramount+ announced that Landman has started production and revealed a more detailed description of the show and its cast. Landman stars Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton. The official description reads: “Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, Landman is a modern-day tale of fortune-seeking in the world of oil rigs.” The drama is co-created by Sheridan and Christian Wallace. [The story.]( In other news... —Legendary stunt performer Mickey Gilbert (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) [dies at 87](. —The sentencing of Jonathan Majors [has been delayed to April 8](. —Mariah Carey [reveals her next move](. —Kevin Spacey attempts a comeback... [as a morally bankrupt assassin](. —Wayne Brady [to Host GLAAD Media Awards](. —Emily Blunt says she was picking up dog poop when she [learned about her Oscar nom](. ​​​What else we're reading... —Ben Sisario and Heather Knight look into where elusive Grammy sensation Tracy Chapman has been all these years. [[New York Times]( —Matteo Wong marvels out prescient sci-fi author Neal Stephenson correctly was about our AI age. [[The Atlantic]( —Cécile Ducourtieux dives deep into Prince Harry's war against the British tabloids. [[Le Monde]( —Hailey Fuchs notes the suspicious timing Donald Trump's endorsement of Bud Light, right before a fundraiser with Anheuser-Busch lobbyist. [[Politico]( Today... ...in 1974, Warner Bros. unleashed a 125-minute, R-rated Western from Mel Brooks, Blazing Saddles. The film went on to be nominated for three Oscars at the 47th Academy Awards. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: James Spader (64), Chris Rock (59), Eddie Izzard (62), [Robert Smigel]( (64), Dee Rees (47), Ben Mezrich (55), Louisa Lytton (35), Garth Brooks (62), Matthew Stafford (36), Lee Bong-Ryun (43), Deborah Ann Woll (39), Essence Atkins (52), Nabhaan Rizwan (27) This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 The Hollywood Reporter, 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](