Milana Vayntrub Joins Amazon MGM Studios’ Upcoming ‘Project Hail Mary’ Movie

EXCLUSIVE: Following the huge success of Michael Showalter‘s Prime Video rom-com The Idea of You, Showalter and Jordana Mollick‘s Semi-Formal Productions has entered into a multi-year first-look film deal with Amazon MGM Studios, Deadline can exclusively reveal.

Amazon MGM Studios has landed I Used to Eat Brains, Now I Eat Kale, a zombie feature package based on the same-name adventure-comedy short story from Adam and Daniel Cooper, aka The Cooper Twins.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Scarlett Johansson confirmed to ComicBook.com that she is, in fact, headlining the next “Jurassic World” movie, which is being directed by “Rogue One” and “Godzilla” filmmaker Gareth Edwards from a script penned by David Koepp. The screenwriter is returning to the dinosaur franchise after having penned Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” (1993) and “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997). “I am an enormous ‘Jurassic Park’ fan,” Johansson said.

In the latest executive shuffle at Paramount Global, home entertainment chief Bob Buchi is exiting and will be replaced by Amazon MGM digital distribution exec Andres Alvarez.

These days, no IP is too good not to capitalize on, not even “Spaceballs.” Variety reports that Amazon MGM Studios has a sequel of the 1987 sci-fi spoof in development with Josh Gad set to star. Gad also leads producers on the project along with the original director, Mel Brooks.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has closed a multiyear overall writing deal with Oscar nominated American Sniper screenwriter Jason Hall.  

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Wahlberg (The Family Plan) and Paul Walter Hauser (The Instigators) are set to team on Balls Up, an action comedy that Peter Farrelly will direct for Amazon MGM Studios.

Katcy Stephan A “Spaceballs” sequel is in development at Amazon MGM Studios. Josh Gad is set to star, and will produce alongside Mel Brooks. Josh Greenbaum will direct the film from a screenplay by Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez, and Gad, while Kevin Salter will executive produce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kitano Takeshi, one of the biggest names in contemporary Japanese cinema, is directing an untitled movie for Amazon MGM Studios. Other details of the movie, such as cast and synopsis were also scant. Amazon said only that it, “will produce globally acclaimed Japanese director Takeshi Kitano’s feature film.

Josh Gad is attached to produce and star in a Spaceballs sequel in early development at Amazon MGM Studios, which Mel Brooks will also produce, Deadline can confirm.

Air fryers have without a doubt changed people's habits when it comes to creating delicious meals in the kitchen in recent years. While the table top appliances are so easy to use, it can be difficult to think up of interesting yet straightforward recipes suitable for the air fryer.

EXCLUSIVE: Rahul Kohli (The Fall of the House of Usher) has joined Prime Video‘s We Were Liars as a series regular, Deadline has learned.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Former Berlanti Prods. exec Ryan Lindenberg, who played a hand in the creation of hits such as The CW’s “All American,” Netflix’s “You” and NBC’s “Blindspot,” has joined 5X Media as a scripted partner/producer.

Selome Hailu Amazon MGM Studios has given a pilot order to “The Nightbeast,” a horror comedy starring Tatiana Maslany. In “The Nightbeast,” per the official logline, “a young mother unsatisfied with her seemingly perfect suburban life begins an affair with the boogeyman in her son’s closet — a surprisingly sexy man called the Nightbeast.

Tatiana Maslany is set to star in The Nightbeast, a pilot for Amazon MGM Studios from Leah Rachel (Chambers) and Travis Jackson (Hemlock Grove).

Latasha Gillespie is stepping down from her post as Global Head of DEIA for Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video effective August 29 after seven years at Amazon, the last five at the film and TV studio. She will be succeed by Amanda Baker-Lane, who has worked in the DEIA space for more than 14 years, the last 9 ½ of them in various roles at Amazon, most recently Head of DEIA Product and Strategy under Gillespie.

Angelique Jackson Amazon MGM Studios announced that Latasha Gillespie is departing her role as Global Head of DEIA. She will be replaced by Amanda Baker-Lane who previously served as the studio’s head of DEIA product and strategy.

EXCLUSIVE: Kristen Stewart will make her TV series-starring debut in The Challenger, a limited series in which she’ll play Sally Ride, the astronaut and physicist who became the first American woman to fly in space. She did this as part of a NASA space shuttle astronaut class of 1978 that was the first to be diversified and not comprised of all white men.  

A murder mystery involving sheep detectives? It may end up one of Amazon MGM‘s biggest hits in 2026. Deadline reports that the studio has their cast lined for up “Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie,” a live-action comedy helmed by “Minions” vet Kyle Balda.

Katcy Stephan Amazon MGM Studios’ “Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie” has wrapped principal photography and landed a worldwide theatrical release date of Feb. 20, 2026. The live-action comedy stars Hugh Jackman, flanked by an ensemble cast including Emma Thompson (“Matilda the Musical”), Nicholas Braun (“Succession”), Nicholas Galitzine (“The Idea of You”), Molly Gordon (“Theater Camp”), Hong Chau (“The Whale”), Tosin Cole (“Till”), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (“Wonka”), Conleth Hill (“Game of Thrones”) and Mandeep Dhillon (“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”).