MGM Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

“I want you to be nice until it’s time to not be nice,” Patrick Swayze’s James Dalton says in the original Road House from 1989.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Comic book author Brian Michael Bendis has set a first-look deal with Amazon is already developing three TV series under the new pact based on his previous works: “Jinx,” “Murder Inc.” and “Pearl.” “Jinx” is a crime-ridden love story unfolding on a high stakes treasure hunt, per Amazon’s series description. Our players are: Jinx Alameda, a bounty hunter at the top of her game who’s tired of her grimy life; Goldfish, a charming con man and wanted felon who falls head over heels for Jinx; and Columbia, Goldfish’s loose-cannon partner, who has big criminal dreams.

Prime Video has handed a series order to Benito Skinner’s Overcompensating. The series, which has been in development at Amazon since November 2022, hails from Skinner, who also stars, Jonah Hill’s Strong Baby productions and A24. English singer-songwriter Charli XCX will produce original music for the series, which is co-produced by A24 and Amazon MGM Studios.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Amazon Prime Video has ordered a drama series based on the comic book “El Gato Negro” by Richard Dominguez, Variety has learned. The series, currently titled “El Gato,” will be shot in both English and Spanish. Diego Boneta is attached to star, with Eric Carrasco adapting the comic book for the screen.

Diego Boneta (Luis Miguel: The Series, Father of the Bride) is set to lead the newly greenlit bilingual series El Gato (w/t), based on the comic book series El Gato Negro by Richard Dominguez. Production is anticipated to begin this spring in Mexico.

William Earl The upcoming Lucasfilm theatrical release “The Mandalorian & Grogu” is one of 15 films to secure an estimated $61 million in 2024 production tax incentives through California’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program. The California Film Commission touted Disney’s “Mandalorian & Grogu” as the biggest-budget movie to ever qualify for state’s tax program, which distributes $330 million annually in state tax credits to TV and film productions.

EXCLUSIVE: America Ferrera‘s hot streak continues, as the Barbie Oscar nom has been set to executive produce and star in Naked by the Window, a series adaptation of the book by Robert Katz, which has landed at Amazon MGM Studios for development following a bidding war.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios is opening their $15M Sundance pick-up, My Old Ass, on Aug. 2 in a limited rollout.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Wings of Fire” animated series based on the books of the same name is in development at Amazon MGM Studios, Variety has learned exclusively. Fans of the books by author Tui T. Sutherland will no doubt rejoice, as this is now the second attempt to adapt the books for the screen.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and Glen Powell are among the 30 presenters announced for the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards, set to take place on Saturday. Additionally, Emmy and SAG Award winner Jennifer Aniston will present the 59th SAG Life Achievement Award to the legendary actor, singer, producer, writer and director Barbra Streisand.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has signed an exclusive overall deal with Gary “Gaz” Alazraki’s Maquina Vega. Under the deal, Alazraki is set to produce, write and direct series for Amazon MGM Studios.

Honestly, you might not find a bigger fan of the original “Road House” than this writer. I adore everything about that film, and I watch it multiple times a year.

Tatiana Siegel Hollywood loves a bare-knuckle brawl. And the town got a battle royal with “Road House.” The reboot of the 1989 cult favorite, which launches on Amazon Prime on March 8, sparked a fierce fight behind the scenes over its release. While studio-filmmaker standoffs are not uncommon, this one featured such subplots as the involvement of a notorious private investigator, a producer given the heave-ho, a cameo from Ari Emanuel and a director going scorched-earth.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has acquired Burn Night, a package from Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell and writer Chris Sparling. 

Amazon MGM Studios has a new head of global formats.

EXCLUSIVE: The long-in-development Masters of the Universe reimagining from Mattel looks to be gaining some momentum as sources tell Deadline Travis Knight is in final negotiations to direct. Insiders say his deal has still not closed at that other elements on the project are still coming together but all signs are pointing to Knight being the top choice to direct. Chris Butler to rewrite the script from an initial draft written by David Callaham, and Aaron and Adam Nee. Amazon MGM Studios in final negotiations for rights to the project and Mattel’s Robbie Brenner and Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal to produce.

We’re learning more about the upcoming sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Thania Garcia Pearl Jam has simultaneously announced a world tour and the arrival of their twelfth studio effort, “Dark Matter,” slated for release on April 19. The band shared the set’s electrifying title track on Tuesday morning. The 35-date worldwide tour will launch in May, just a few weeks after the release of “Dark Matter,” and hit nine countries and 25 cities, starting with the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Todd Longwell Investing in a film and TV production facility is a tricky business. The industry is fickle under the best of circumstances, and if you’re looking to build a soundstage complex in a region that uses its tax incentive to attract projects, there’s always the possibility that politicians will repeal it in the next legislative session, effectively shutting down your studio.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Have The Plastics met their match? It’s too soon to tell, but Paramount’s “Mean Girls” musical is virtually tied with Amazon MGM’s “The Beekeeper” for first place in this unusually close box office battle. Amazon MGM is reporting that “The Beekeeper” claimed the top spot with $7.4 million from 3,337 theaters in its third weekend of release. Meanwhile, Paramount is reporting that the “Mean Girls” musical has earned $7.3 million from 3,544 venues and could win the weekend for the third time… once final numbers are tabulated on Monday.

J. Kim Murphy With no new wide releases this weekend, theater traffic is reaching a near halt to mark the end of January. “Mean Girls” looks to lead domestic charts once again, while the crop of freshly Oscar-nominated features look to extend their big screen runs armed with renewed new awards buzz.

In a weekend without any studio wide entries — all due to the strikes– the overall theatrical marketplace is bound to reach some sort of low: Either lower than 2023’s bottom of $51.8M for all movies (Sept. 22-24) or lower than 2022’s floor of $35M (Jan. 28-30). After last weekend saw a 2024 YTD low for 2024 YTD of $67.2M, per Comscore, -11% from a year ago, this weekend will plunge to further depths.

EXCLUSIVE: In an arguable first for a Disney+ movie, Disney is contemplating a theatrical release for the Daisy Ridley starring, Joachim Rønning directed feature take of Glenn Stout’s Young Woman and the Sea after the picture scored quite well.

Angelique Jackson Amazon MGM Studios is in final negotiations to acquire Megan Park’s sophomore feature “My Old Ass,” starring Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella, following its Sundance Film Festival debut. The high-concept film — which was produced by LuckyChap’s Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, with Indian Paintbrush’s Steven Rales — made its world premiere on Saturday night in a sold-out screening at the Eccles Theatre in Park City, UT. The deal is for roughly $15 million.

EXCLUSIVE: In another big Sundance deal upwards of $15 million, Amazon MGM is in final negotiations to acquire the Sundance buzz title My Old Ass. This was a hotly contested deal that today had several suitors in the mix for a crowd pleasing coming of age film that has garnered strong reviews and reaction since it launched in the Premieres category on January 20 at the Eccles Theatre.

Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, the suspense thriller, Blink Twice (ne Pussy Island), is getting a global theatrical release from Amazon MGM Studios on Aug. 23.

American Fiction, a new film based upon the book ‘Erasure’ by Percival Everett. Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody, Keith David, Issa Rae and Sterling K.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has launched development on Razzlekhan, a new film inspired by a 2022 article in the New York Times, which Hannah Marks (Don’t Make Me Go) will direct from her own script.

EXCLUSIVE: In a lucrative pact, Amazon MGM Studios has landed U.S. theatrical rights to Levon’s Trade, with Prime Video taking streaming rights in a slew of major international territories, we can reveal.

Chris Pratt will be working with a familiar face on one of his next movies!

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has just landed a big sci-fi film package which they’re setting a global theatrical release on, and that’s Mercy, starring Chris Pratt, directed by Timur Bekmambetov and produced by Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning producer Charles Roven. I understand the deal closed in the last week with a spring start of production planned.

EXCLUSIVE: Three-time Best Picture nominated producer Robert Lorenz (American Sniper) is set to direct airplane thriller Papa Alpha Heavy for former MGM exec Eric Paquette, Aaron Barnett, and Brian O’Shea’s The Exchange.

Nominations were revealed Thursday for the 55th NAACP Image Awards, with newly minted Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, Emmy winners Ayo Edebiri and Keke Palmer, and Victoria Monét and Usher among those scoring multiple nominations.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Judge Judy Sheindlin is heading back to linear TV — again. Amazon MGM Studios and Sox Entertainment have scored a multi-year broadcast syndication deal with station groups in more than 100 U.S. broadcast markets, including Nexstar, Sunbeam, Cox Media, Weigel and Mission Broadcasting, to premiere repeats of Amazon Freevee’s “Judy Justice” in syndication.

Primetime Emmy nominee Tessa Thompson‘s Viva Maude has closed a multiyear first-look film deal with Amazon MGM Studios.

Prime Video has revealed that Season 3 of Reacher will be based on the book Persuader, the 7th book in the Jack Reacher series, written by Lee Child.