Molly Shannon Inks First-Look Deal With HBO Max

EXCLUSIVE: The single-camera teen comedy Wild Life from Imagine Kids+Family has received a pilot order at HBO Max with rising star Izabella Alvarez (Euphoria, The Casagrandes) set as the show’s lead.

Universal Pictures has entered into a first-look production deal with “The Notebook” author Nicholas Sparks to bring three of his more recent novels to the big screen, starting with last year’s runaway hit “The Wish.” Sparks and Anonymous Content will partner to produce three feature films for Universal, each one based on one of his most recent books, though only a film based on “The Wish” was announced on Tuesday. Zack Hayden will produce “The Wish” on behalf of Anonymous Content with oversight by Anonymous Content CEO Dawn Olmstead and CCO David Levine, alongside Theresa Park, Sparks’ longtime literary agent and collaborator, and Universal Pictures’ Vice President of Production Development, Lexi Barta.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) has entered into a first-look production agreement with Universal Pictures, which will see him produce three features for the studio alongside Anonymous Content.

Manori Ravindran International Editor“Snowpiercer” producer Tomorrow Studios has struck a first-look deal with Frank Spotnitz’s London-based production company Big Light Prods.Under the deal, Tomorrow Studios will tap into Big Light’s network of established and emerging writers and its pursuit of IP for projects to produce together under one development slate.Big Light Prods. specializes in returning and limited dramas for the global market.

CNN Films and HBO Max have commissioned a new documentary about Little Richard, from Emmy-winning director Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight for Democracy) of Cortés Filmworks. The film, Little Richard: I Am Everything (w/t), will take a deep dive into the life and career of the iconic musician, who did what he felt, and felt what he did—”at all costs”—presenting never-seen-before archival footage, as well as interviews with loved ones, colleagues, contemporary musicians and historians.

Director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade won critical acclaim for his 2005 documentary “The Staircase”, chronicling the trial of novelist Michael Peterson, accused of murdering his wife in 2001.

EXCLUSIVE: 7M Films, a management company that represents social media stars and TikTok dancers and is at the center of a controversy accusing it of being cult-like, is set to be the subject of a new documentary series.

“Hacks,” the divine comedy from creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate has extended Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Ben Karlin and his Superego Industries’ first-look deal.

EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has wrapped on the female-driven survival thriller No Way Up, with Colm Meaney (Gangs of London) taking over the role originally to have been played by Kelsey Grammer. The Irish actor stars alongside BAFTA Award winner Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey), James Carroll Jordan (Kingsman: The Golden Circle), Sophie McIntosh (Brave New World), Will Attenborough (Dunkirk), Jeremias Amoore (Zero Chill), Manuel Pacific (Terminator: Dark Fate) and Grace Nettle (War of the Worlds).

The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival announced its 2022 lineup including Disney’s documentary Mija and the Warner Bros. Pictures/HBO Max film Father of the Bride bookending the celebration. LALIFF will run from June 1 to 5 at the TCL Chinese Theater and TCL Chinese 6 in Hollywood.

Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller is the latest DC Comics character getting the small screen treatment.

Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone’s indie studio Sister has entered a first-look deal with the new production company Wychwood Media, from Harry Potter filmmaker David Yates and his producing partner, Lewis Taylor. Under the pact, the pair will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted film, television and documentary content for Sister’s offices in both the U.S. and UK. Yates will also have the option to direct projects coming together through the deal.

Sister, the independent studio founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone, has entered into a first look deal with Wychwood Media, a new production company from Lewis Taylor and “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” director David Yates.Under the pact, Yates and Taylor will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted film, television, and documentary content for Sister for both its U.S. and UK offices.

EXCLUSIVE: The Goldbergs star Wendi McLendon-Covey has signed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the hit ABC comedy series. Under the pact, McLendon-Covey will develop for the studio across all platforms.

Hacks,” which premieres on the streamer May 12 with two episodes, followed by two more each week until June 2. Picking up after stand-up legend Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) lost her Vegas residency, she and young comedian Ava (Hannah Einbinder) travel across the country to workshop her new act.Additional cast includes Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Jane Adams, Christopher McDonald, Kaitlin Olson, Paul W. Downs, Poppy Liu, Rose Abdoo, Mark Indelicato, Meg Stalter, Angela E.

If you watched the first season of the Emmy-winning and critically-acclaimed HBO Max comedy series “Hacks”—and you probably should if you didn’t, it’s a great conflict between two generations of comedians—you probably remember that things ended on a cliffhanger. The dark mentorship between legendary Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young, entitled writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) is still very much touch and go.

is back with season 2. The HBO Max series starring Jean Smart is set to premiere almost exactly one year later, on May 12, 2022.

HBO Max has revealed that The Batman is proving to be a major hit on the streamer.

Here’s some great news as CinemaCon kicks off today, underscoring the value of a 45-day theatrical window.