Jennifer Maas Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer A sequel to Amazon’s “Road House” movie is in the works. Per Amazon MGM Studios, the first film “has attracted nearly 80 million worldwide viewers to-date.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Grand Theft Auto 6″ has been slated for a fall 2025 release by Rockstar Games. The news was announced Thursday when Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive reported its fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2024 earnings, revealing the company posted a $2.9 billion loss for the Jan. 1-March 31 period.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Microsoft‘s Activision has launched a new internal, standalone studio with one mission: creating a new narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise. Titled Elsewhere Entertainment, the studio will be headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, with additional staff in the United States.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The actors behind the iconic Weasley Twins will be around to stir up trouble on Food Network‘s new “Harry Potter“-themed competition, “Wizards of Baking.” Variety has learned exclusively that James and Oliver Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley throughout Warner Bros.’ eight-film “Harry Potter” franchise, will be hosting “Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking.” The project, which will air on Food Network and be available to stream on Max, was announced by Warner Bros Discovery U.S. networks chief Kathleen Finch during the company’s upfront presentation in New York City Wednesday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery kept up with TV upfronts week’s biggest trend at their presentation out of The Theater at Madison Square Garden Tuesday: Promoting not just its TV slate as a prime ad-buying opportunity — but also its film franchises. First up from CEO David Zaslav’s team, WB Discovery revenue and strategy chief Bruce Campbell addressed the Madison Avenue crowd following a sizzle featuring top WBD IP and brands across film and TV series.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Food Network has a new magical treat in store for viewers this holiday season: The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel has ordered a baking competition inspired by the beloved “Harry Potter” franchise.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The theme of Disney‘s 2024 upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday was “connections” — and not just because of the running bit started by “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Rob McElhenney, which involved their constant replaying of a five-second ad spot that said “Connections!” with a Disneyified logo and voiceover. No, the symbol of unity across Disney’s brands was made up of a slew of announcements from Marvel, and about such other high-wattage projects as “Star Wars,” “The Bear,” “Only Murders in the Building,” the “Wizards of Waverly Place” sequel series, “9-1-1,” Ryan Murphy’s new slate of FX titles and more franchises with intersecting talent. Disney kicked off the event when Oscar-winning “Poor Things” star Emma Stone introduced the Mouse House’s big boss, Bob Iger — a job like that would traditionally go to a top ABC star.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer A sequel to Amazon’s “Road House” movie is in the works with Jake Gyllenhaal reprising his leading role as Dalton. While Amazon is keeping quiet on any other details for now, it still made sure to give the news of the high-profile project it’s due with Amazon MGM Studio chief Jennifer Salke revealing it at the top of its first-ever upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Game developers that have worked on Sid Meier’s “Civilization,” “XCOM” and “The Sims” have launched their own life sim-focused venture, Midsummer Studios, with backing from investors including Trevor Noah’s Day Zero Productions. Founded by Firaxis Games vets Jake Solomon (creative director) and Will Miller (game director), as well as chief operating officer and chief financial officer Nelsie Birch, Midsummer launches with $6 million raised in seed funding led by Transcend Fund, along with Tirta Ventures, Betaworks Ventures, 1Up Ventures, F4 Fund, Krafton and Day Zero Productions.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer When NBCUniversal kicks off TV’s traditional week of upfront presentations on Monday, picket-free sidewalks outside Radio City Music Hall will be a sight for sore eyes following last year’s noisy protests in the first weeks of what proved to be the nation’s “hot labor summer.” Hosting a programming presentation at a megawatt New York City venue like Radio City or Javits Center is stressful enough. Executives are eager to return to business as usual in wooing Madison Avenue.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nebula is aiming to break into the big-league movie biz with the launch of Nebula Motion Pictures, the new studio arm of the creator-community-focused indie streaming service, and tapping director and cinematographer Valentina Vee as the company’s director of motion pictures. Under her new overall deal, which marks the first pact of this kind for Nebula, Vee will move in-house at Nebula and focus on the formation of the new film studio alongside Nebula Production vice president Trenton Waterson, an alum of Marvel Studios, to build and scale Nebula Pictures.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix is teaming up with Roblox to launch its own “digital theme park” on the online gaming platform. Dubbed “Nextworld,” the web-based universe will feature characters and content from Netflix IP including “Stranger Things,” “One Piece,” “Cobra Kai” and “Rebel Moon.” The offering debuts in early access Wednesday on Roblox.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Creator of “The Walking Dead” franchise Skybound Entertainment has tapped Activision Blizzard vet Kaleb Ruel as vice president of marketing for its in-house video game studio. During his tenure at Activision Blizzard, Ruel was a key part of the record-breaking launch of “Diablo IV,” which marked the fastest-selling game in Blizzard’s history at $666 million in sales within its first five days.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. will release the first of its new batch of “The Lord of the Rings” films in 2026, which will focus on Andy Serkis’s Gollum. Original “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy filmmaker Peter Jackson and his partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are producing the movie and “will be involved every step of the way” on the movie, Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer New transmedia company Iconic Arts launched Tuesday with $3.1 million in financing at a $20 million pre-seed valuation. The entertainment studio boasts support from screenwriter Eric Roth, Grammy winning artist Will.i.am and exec vets of Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment and JP Morgan.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Microsoft‘s Xbox will shut down four studios run by its Bethesda Softworks publisher, including Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Studios, Tango Gameworks and Roundhouse Games. Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty announced the restructuring in a memo to staff Tuesday, writing that the closures were “grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades.” “We are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games,” Booty wrote.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer EA reported its fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2024 earnings Tuesday, revealing results that matched the video game company’s own guidance and analysts’ estimates, but forecasts for harder quarters ahead. Full game sales between Jan 1 and March 31 of this year were $333 million (down from $372 million in the comparable Q4 fiscal 2023 quarter), while live services and “other” revenue totaled $1.45 billion (down from $1.5 billion a year ago, and from last quarter’s record growth of $1.7 billion). Profit for the quarter was $182 million compared to a loss of $12 million in Q4 2023.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Food Network has renewed “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” for Season 2 ahead of the new primetime competition’s first season finale. Hosted by Esther Choi and Michael Symon, “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” follows 24 talented and fearless chefs who take on 24 food challenges in 24 consecutive, non-stop hours, per Food Network’s description for the series.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Cinemart, the production company behind Amazon’s “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets” and Netflix’s “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” has signed an overall deal with Banijay‘s Truly Original. Under the new pact, The Cinemart will expand its development and production operations in premium documentaries and other genres of unscripted programming through Truly Original, a subsidiary of Banijay backed by co-CEOs Steven Weinstock and Glenda Hersh.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company is shrinking the MCU with a new mission to drop the number of Marvel TV series to two a year and the film output to no more than three movies per year. Iger said this is part of Disney’s overall strategy to reduce output and focus on quality, a strategy “that’s particularly true with Marvel.” On the TV side, Iger says that a portion of the upcoming series set for release are “a vestige of basically a desire in the past to increase volume.” “We’re slowly going to decrease volume and go to probably about two TV series a year instead of what had become four and reduce our film output from maybe four a year to two, or a maximum of three.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nintendo will make a formal announcement about its next gaming console, the follow-up to the 8-year-old Nintendo Switch, by the end of March 2025. The company revealed this plan in a post on X Tuesday, just as it unveiled its latest earnings results and a weak outlook for its new fiscal year 2025.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer When Amazon‘s “The Boys” debuts its fourth season next month, things are shaping up to be crazier than the time they blew up a whale and that other time they blew up a giant penis, as it seems Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr) are ready to burn their whole lives down — and take everyone else with them. In “The Boys” Season 4 trailer, Butcher reveals to Hughie (Jack Quaid), Starlight (Erin Moriarty) and the rest of the Boys that time is running out for him, and with the few numbered days he and his weakened heart have left, he’s looking to unleash a deadly virus on the supe community.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Funko enters the AAA gaming space this fall with “Funko Fusion,” its co-op action game that mashes up characters from “Jurassic World,” “Back to the Future” and more beloved NBCUniversal IP into Funko Pop! format. Per the game makers: “‘Funko Fusion’ is an action-adventure, single player and online co-op experience that pays tribute to NBCUniversal’s deep roster of beloved worlds and the irreverent Funko Pop! interpretations of the figures who inhabit them.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Roku reported its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing the company reached 81.6 million active accounts, an increase of 1.6 million from the previous quarter, and streaming hours rose to 30.8 billion, up from 29.1 million in Q4 2023. Wall Street forecast a loss per share of 61 cents on $848.62 million in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG, formerly Refinitiv. Roku reported adjusted loss per share of 35 cents on $882 million in revenue (+19% year over year).

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney deputy general counsel Jill Ratner has exited the Mouse House to join Sony Pictures Entertainment as executive vice president and general counsel. Beginning in her new role May 28, Ratner will be overseeing all SPE’s legal functions, compliance and labor relations, SPE music affairs, government/external affairs and corporate social responsibility teams. She will report directly to CEO Tony Vinciquerra.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Get your parasols out, because Netflix and Shondaland are launching a new “Bridgerton” fan event ahead of the show’s Season 3 premiere, and this one will encourage a great deal of strolling in the sun as you browse Regency-inspired merch. Per Netflix and Shondaland, on May 11 “a plaza in New York City will be transformed into the Bridgerton Promenade, a bustling Regency-era market reminiscent of the iconic ‘Bridgerton’ ‘Ton where fans are invited to immerse themselves into the world of ‘Bridgerton’ with interactive experiences, a showcase of the new products, photo opps, live merriment, exciting giveaways and more.” This marks “Bridgerton’s” second venture into live events, alongside the globe-trotting “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience,” which has been the site of nearly 50 proposals since it began touring.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Emily Henry‘s new romance novel, “Funny Story,” released April 23. “Happy Place” and “Book Lovers” author Emily Henry’s latest book “Funny Story” starts with its two leads, Daphne and Miles, sharing one very humorless tale: being left by their respective partners, Peter and Petra, a pair of childhood best friends who have realized their love for each other. And then Daphne gets kicked out of her house and has to move in with Miles, so Petra can move in with Peter.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Mattel Television Studios has tapped three new executives for key roles: Sidney Clifton as head of creative for animation, Cory Bennett Lewis as head of production, and Amy Suh as head of creative for live action, scripted and unscripted. The trio of execs will report directly to Mattel Television Studios chief Michelle Mendelovitz. “We are thrilled to welcome Sidney, Cory and Amy to Mattel,” Mendelovitz said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix reported its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing it added a whopping 9.33 million paid subscribers. Analysts consensus estimates were for Netflix to add 3.93 million paid subs globally in Q1 (to reach 264.21 million), according to StreetAccount. Per Netflix, it has now climbed to 269.60 million subs as of March 31.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Video game publishing giant Take-Two Interactive is laying off 5% of its workforce, approximately 600 employees, and canceling several projects currently in development as part of a cost-cutting initiative across the company behind “Grand Theft Auto.” Take-Two filed paperwork with the SEC Tuesday regarding the downsizing, which it says will be “largely complete” by the end of 2024. “The Company estimates that it will incur approximately $160 million to $200 million in total charges in connection with the Plan,” per Take-Two’s filing.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The “Jet Lag: The Game” creators Sam Denby, Ben Doyle and Adam Chase have set their next reality travel competition series, “The Getaway,” to debut this summer on indie streamer Nebula. The show, which unlike “Jet Lag” (where episodes drop later on YouTube) will be available exclusively on Nebula, follows six creators on a road trip through the American West as they compete in a game of social strategy and deception. While the majority of the details surrounding “The Getaway’s” format are being kept under wraps by Denby’s Wendover Productions, Variety has confirmed the cast includes Foreign Man in a Foreign Land, Matt Krol, Morning Brew’s Dan Toomey, Georgia Dow, Patrick “Patch” Lacey and Steven Bridges.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Buck Bothered and Bewildered,” the fourth episode of “9-1-1” Season 7 on ABC. Apart from a sticky synergy stunt at the Bachelor mansion, the 100th episode of “9-1-1” didn’t feature any emergencies that rival the most off-the-wall disasters the show has experienced during its seven-season run. But it did conclude with potentially the most shocking moment the Ryan Murphy-produced first-responder show has ever seen: a kiss between the ostensibly straight Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) and another male character.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Neal Freyman and Toby Howell’s “Morning Brew Daily” is coming to indie streamer Nebula in a deal that will see media company Morning Brew launch four news-focused channels on the platform. Beginning Monday, Nebula subscribers will have access to Morning Brew, “Morning Brew Daily,” “Good Work” and “Maxinomics.” Here are the descriptions for the respective channels, per Nebula: As part of the recent reveal of its upcoming slate, creator-owned platform Nebula announced plans for “Nebula News.” According to Nebula, the addition of Morning Brew’s content “signals the first of many channel expansions.” “Devin was integral behind the scenes to the development of Nebula’s early successes, so he has a better understanding than most of what we’re building and why,” Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Five months ago, I spoke with Chance Perdomo about the Season 1 finale of “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V,” and I could feel his excitement vibrating through the phone. While any young star is likely to be thrilled to speak about their latest project, this interview felt palpably important to Chance, as it was the first time the 27-year-old British-American actor had been able to even promote Amazon’s “Gen V” due to his commitment to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which concluded one week after the finale aired.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Selena Gomez is finally leaving her house. Following four seasons of her pandemic-born HBO Max show “Selena + Chef,” shot entirely in her own kitchen, the “Only Murders in the Building” star will join chefs in their own environment, rather than over Zoom, for the debut of her new series “Selena + Restaurant” May 2.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. and Legendary are hoping for a monster-sized opening weekend for “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and are tapping every method possible to pull in moviegoers, including partnering with Roblox to grab the attention of its young audience so that they will sway their parents to take them to the theater. Over the past two weeks, Warner Bros.