David Ellison Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Farrelly is looking to get back in to the genre that helped launch his career as sources tell Deadline the Oscar-winner is partnering with Skydance on the new action-comedy Balls Up that he will direct from a script by Deadpool scribes Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese.

Top Gun: Maverick scored six Oscar nominations this morning including best picture, along with adapted screenplay by Ehren Kruger & Eric Warren Singer, sound, film editing, visual effects and original song for the Lady Gaga tune Hold My Hand. The film’s emergence as a best picture threat might have seemed an impossible mission, in that a summer movie that grosses nearly $1.5 billion worldwide moves popcorn, not Oscar voters. This Paramount Pictures film has proven to be the exception and one big reason is this: if Tom Cruise didn’t rescue the theatrical box office business following the Covid pandemic, he certainly pulled it out of a nosedive. While Cruise did not get nominated for best actor, he is squarely in the mix as producer, alongside first time Oscar nominee and hitmaking stalwart Jerry Bruckheimer, Christopher McQuarrie (a double nominee counting the adapted screenplay category) and Skydance principal David Ellison.

Dexter Fletcher was at the Critics Choice Awards and dropped a hint that his latest film Ghosted could be dropping in April.

EXCLUSIVE: Siobhan Murphy (Murdoch Mysteries) is set to recur in the Amazon Original series Cross. She will star opposite Aldis Hodge, who brings to life the titular Alex Cross.

EXCLUSIVE: A slew have just boarded Paramount’s upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts including Peter Dinklage (as the voice of Scourge), Liza Koshy (as the voice of Arcee), John DiMaggio (as the voice of Stratosphere), David Sobolov (as Rhinox/Battletrap), Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (as Nightbird), Cristo Fernández (as Wheeljack), and Tobe Nwigwe (as Reek).

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s Alex Cross series has found its opening director.

EXCLUSIVE: Maggie Q, Zoe Colletti, Van Crosby and Ciaran Hinds have rounded out the cast of Apple Original Films and Skydance Media’s action comedy The Family Plan starring Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan. Simon Cellan Jones, who recently collaborated with Wahlberg on Arthur the King, will direct.

The NFL and its NFL Films subsidiary have formed a joint venture with Skydance Sports to create a multi-sport production studio.

There’s a change at the top of Skydance Television.

America’s Cup and Skydance Sports are exclusively partnering for an “all-access, behind-the-scenes” documentary series on the next America’s Cup race, and they’ve enlisted some Oscar-winning talent to help steer the craft.

EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Monaghan is set to co-star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Apple Original Films and Skydance Media’s action comedy The Family Plan. Simon Cellan Jones, who recently collaborated with Wahlberg on Arthur the King, will direct.

David Ellison’s Skydance has secured a $400 million investment to expand its operations, particularly its animation, sports and interactive ambitions, pushing the company’s valuation above $4 billion. The investment came from investment firm KKR and joined by the Ellison Family (who remain the company’s majority shareholders), as well as other existing backers supporting the “Top Gun: Maverick” studio.

Skydance Media said today it’s completed a $400 million strategic investment round led by KKR, a first-time investor, and joined by the Ellison family, who remain majority shareholders. Existing investors RedBird Capital Partners and Tencent also participated in the fundraise, which values Skydance at over $4 billion.

EXCLUSIVE: In what is turning into one of the more hotter projects in town, Skydance’s The Gorge starring Miles Teller, looks to have found its distributor and Teller’s co-star. Sources tell Deadline, Apple Original Films have come on to the pic with SAG Award-winner Anya Taylor-Joy set to star alongside Miles Teller in the genre-bending love story. Scott Derrickson is on board to direct with Zach Dean penning the script, which he sold on spec to Skydance last year. In addition to starring, Teller will serve as executive producer on the film.

Michaela Zee editor The third season of Tom Clancy’s political action thriller series “Jack Ryan” is set to premiere on Prime Video Dec. 21. Starring John Krasinski as Jack Ryan, the eight-episode season follows Ryan on the run after being implicated in a larger conspiracy. While trying to stay alive as the CIA and an international rogue faction hunt him down, Ryan must also prevent a massive global conflict. Wendell Pierce and Michael Kelly return for the third season, with new series regulars Nina Hoss and Betty Gabriel joining the cast. “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” is co-produced by Amazon Studios, Paramount Television Studios and Skydance Television. The series is executive produced by Andrew Form, Allyson Seeger, Krasinski, Vaun Wilmott, Brad Fuller and Michael Bay. Tom Clancy and Skydance Television’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bill Bost serve as executive producers on the third season, along with Mace Neufeld and Carlton Cuse.

Prime Video has set a December premiere date for Season 3 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. All eight episodes of the series, starring and executive produced by John Krasinski, will launch on Wednesday, December 21, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

“Heart of Stone” got its first sneak peek as part of Netflix’s Tudum event, with Gadot hyping the “extremely epic” film alongside co-stars Jamie Dornan and Alia Bhatt. Action thrillers have been a big part of Tudum, which showcases the streamer’s upcoming original series and films.

Skydance will no longer move forward with a film called “Dallas Sting” meant to star Matthew McConaughey after an investigation into the film’s true story uncovered disturbing allegations, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.The film from director Kari Skogland (Marvel’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”) was meant to kick off production in six weeks and had nearly completed casting. “Dallas Sting” is the true story of a high school girls soccer team that in 1984 went to China and managed to beat some of the best women’s teams in the world from China, Australia, Japan and finally Italy in a championship game.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Make no mistake: CJ ENM is on the move. The South Korean conglomerate that has done as much as any company to build out the nation’s entertainment ecosystem is actively looking to expand its “production capability and competency.” That’s the word from Kang Ho-sung, CEO of the cluster of film, TV and music companies that now share the CJ ENM banner. Kang gave a rare, extensive interview to Variety on Aug. 21 in downtown Los Angeles on the sidelines of CJ ENM’s KCON LA pop culture convention, which brought in close to 100,000 fans from across the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief South Korea’s leading entertainment group CJ ENM has appointed Steve W. Chung as its global chief growth officer. He will be based in Los Angeles. Previously, Chung served as chief growth officer at Fox Corporation. Prior to that Chung was the founder and CEO of Frankly, a publicly-traded media tech company based in San Francisco. He was also a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and an executive producer in China.  Chung currently serves as a board member of the non-profit National Asia Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) and received his B.A from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

EXCLUSIVE: After a very eventful summer that included the blockbuster phenomenon Top Gun: Maverick,  Miles Teller looks to have found his next event pic and is reuniting with a familiar friend for it. Sources tell Deadline, Teller is in final negotiations to star in Skydance’s upcoming film, The Gorge, with Scott Derrickson directing the pic, which is based on spec script by The Tomorrow War scribe Zach Dean. Skydance produced Top Gun: Maverick, which starred Tom Cruise and Teller and which just passed the $1.4 billion global box-office milestone.

Carson Burton Zac Efron is heading to Vietnam in the first trailer for “The Greatest Beer Run Ever.”Apple TV+ dropped the trailer for its upcoming true-life war comedy starring Efron, Russell Crowe and Bill Murray. The film, which is based on a true story, follows Efron as John “Chickie” Donohue. Set in 1967, Donohue leaves New York to track down his army friends in Vietnam and share a few beers with them to show that they have support from the American people.

Toronto in the hopes that this true story can inspire audiences the way Farrelly’s last film did. Farrelly co-wrote the script with Brian Currie and Pete Jones based on the book “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty and War” by Joanna Molloy and the real John “Chickie” Donohue, whose book was a New York Times best seller in 2020.

Written by David Coggeshall, who is writing the film “Matchbox” for Skydance and Mattel, “The Family Plan,” tells the story of a suburban dad who must take his family on the run when his past catches up to him. Simon Cellan Jones will direct after previously collaborating with Wahlberg in “Arthur the King.”Wahlberg will produce with Stephen Levinson through his Municipal Pictures banner along with Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger.This year, Apple became the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar with the Sundance acquisition “CODA,”  Upcoming features from Apple include “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly’s “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” starring Zac Efron and Russell Crowe; “Raymond & Ray,” starring Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke; “Spirited,” a modern musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol” starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer; and the recently announced “Causeway,” a new film starring and produced by Jennifer Lawrence and directed by Lila Neugebauer that will get a theatrical and streaming release later this year.Wahlberg is repped by WME and Leverage.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple Original Films And Skydance Media’s partnership looks to be building on its already strong slate with another A-list star at the center of it. Sources tell Deadline, Apple has landed The Family Plan, a new action-comedy feature from Skydance Media, starring Academy Award-nominee Mark Wahlberg with Simon Cellan Jones directing. The film will reunite Wahlberg with director Jones following their recent collaboration on Arthur the King.

EXCLUSIVE: A documentary series about the rivalry between the Mexican and American national men’s soccer/football teams is kicking off at Amazon.

EXCLUSIVE: DJ Cotrona, who starred in the TV adaptation of Dusk Till Dawn, is set to reunite with Robert Rodriguez in the Netflix, Skydance and Spyglass Spy Kids sequel. He is set to join Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Billy Magnussen, Everly Carganilla and newcomer Connor Esterson in the latest installment with Rodriguez directing, writing and producing the film.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticFull disclosure: I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe that “Luck” — the first feature-length toon from David Ellison-backed Skydance Animation — represents a force for good in the world. It’s not easy developing both a pipeline and a project that could compete with the Disneys and DreamWorks out there.

EXCLUSIVE: Matthew McConaughey is set to star in Dallas Sting, the fact-based story of how a group of Dallas high school girls headed to China in 1984 as the ultimate underdog and beat some of the best women’s teams from China, Australia and Italy. The film was developed by Skydance and Berlanti Schechter Productions. Apple, which has an overall deal with Skydance, has first bite at the film and I expect a deal to happen before production begins this fall in New Orleans.

EXCLUSIVE: Holt McCallany (Mindhunter) has signed on for a role in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part Two. He joins an ensemble led by Tom Cruise, which also includes Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham and Pom Klementieff, as previously announced.

previously announced cast members Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Everly Carganilla and Connor Esterson. The project will be headed by the original franchise’s creator and director Robert Rodriguez, who is also producing and writing alongside Racer Max.

EXCLUSIVE: Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die) is set to star in Netflix’s upcoming reboot of the popular franchise, Deadline has learned. He joins previously announced cast members Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Everly Carganilla, and Connor Esterson.

EXCLUSIVE: Happy Endings alum Adam Pally has joined the cast of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s untitled spy adventure Netflix series in a key recurring role.

EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Green (The Outpost) is the latest addition to the cast of Ben Affleck’s Nike drama for Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures, in which Affleck will star opposite his Good Will Hunting collaborator Matt Damon.

Robert Rodriguez has found his new “Spy Kids” (and their parents). Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Everly Carganilla and newcomer Connor Esterson have been cast as the franchise’s new family.

EXCLUSIVE: It looks like Spy Kids creator Robert Rodriguez has found his new spy family for his family adventure franchise. Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Everly Carganilla and newcomer Connor Esterson are set to star in the upcoming film from Netflix, Skydance and Spyglass.