Provident Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

For the first time this year, CBS did not order any pilots during the traditional pilot season window. And it may not be the last.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Fifth Season film head Alexis Garcia has launched CAT5, an action film label that will be backed by his former employers, who are among other investors and partners to be announced at later date. As one of its first projects, CAT5 has signed on to co-finance Black Bear’s Levon’s Trade. The film is in production, with David Ayer-directing the Jason Statham vehicle that was adapted from the Chuck Dixon novel by Sylvester Stallone, with revisions by Ayer. Garcia joins as an executive producer. The film is in production in London and slated for wide theatrical release in the U.S. by Amazon MGM Studios on January 17, 2025.

EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s Kung Fu Panda 4 crossed the $500M mark globally this past weekend, reaching the milestone on a staggered release pattern that has worked well for the partners in the past (think Puss in Boots: The Last Wish). Through Wednesday, it’s at $324M international box office and $509M worldwide.

Apple‘s fiscal Q2 numbers beat Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom line in a market that was waiting for them with some trepidation — mainly news of iPhone sales in China. The dip there was less than anticipated. The stock is up more than 7% in after-hours trading.

10x Grammy nominee Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion) has found her newest film role in Universal Pictures‘ coming-of-age musical from director Michel Gondry and producer Pharrell Williams, the studio announced on Thursday.

CBS today became the first broadcast network to present its fall schedule. And, in line with CBS’ new strategy for long-term development and planning, the network announced its schedule for the entire 2024-25 season. It is contingent on IATSE making a new deal with the studios to avoid a strike. At the unveiling of the schedule, George Cheeks, President and CEO of CBS, said that they have contingency plans should a work stoppage occur but wouldn’t elaborate further. “If we need to delay, we are ready,” he said.

CBS has released videos teasing what’s ahead from various new shows including Matlock, NCIS: Origins, and the new Big Bang Theory/Sheldon Universe prequel series, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.

Tom Selleck may have warned CBS earlier this year that there are an “awful lot of people” who aren’t ready to say goodbye to Blue Bloods, but there are no plans to extend the police procedural beyond its 14th and final season.

CBS is bringing back Hollywood Squares.

No second chances are coming for So Help Me Todd, CSI: Vegas and NCIS: Hawaii. But good news for CSI fans: there is another iteration in active development.

CBS has ordered its first new series for the 2025-26 broadcast season. The network has given a green light to Fire Country spinoff Sheriff Country, headlined by Morena Baccarin. The series order was announced Thursday during CBS’ presentation in Los Angeles.

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Walter Hauser is having quite a week. After being tapped for the role of Captain Ed in the untitled Naked Gun reboot from Paramount Pictures, as we were also first to report, we now hear the actor has come aboard aboard Marvel Studios‘ The Fantastic Four in an undisclosed role.

EXCLUSIVE: Following a competitive auction that saw several studios chasing the package, A24 has landed the action thriller Onslaught with Adam Wingard on board to direct. The film is reuniting writers Wingard and Simon Barrett and returning to Wingard’s roots where they made a name for themselves with films like You’re Next and The Guest..

Rounding out the series regular cast of the Ryan Murphy ABC drama series Dr. Odyssey is Sean Teale (Skins, Reign). He joins previously announced stars Joshua Jackson, Don Johnson and Phillipa Soo.

EXCLUSIVE: Having found success on so many fronts throughout her career, former UFC champion and WWE star Ronda Rousey has now found a new challenge to tackle and that is the role of screenwriter. Sources tell Deadline, Rousey has closed a deal to adapt the script for her own biopic at Netflix that would be based on both her memoirs, My Fight/Your Fight and Our Fight, which she co-wrote with her sister, Maria Burns Ortiz. While their deal isn’t closed, sources say Chernin Entertainment is expected to produce.

Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament is back. While studios during Covid wildly embraced the theatrical day-and-date model when cinemas were closed, they soon realized there’s nothing more profitable than a theatrical release and the downstreams that come with it. If anything, theatrical is the advertisement for a movie’s longevity in subsequent home entertainment windows. Entering the conversation in 2023 were the streamers, such as Apple, who have also realized the necessity of theatrical to eventize their movies. The financial data pulled together here for Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament is culled by seasoned and trusted sources.

Good news for The Conners fans. The Roseanne followup, which just marked its 100th episode, will be getting a seventh season. The renewal is being finalized, with a short order to wrap the story expected, sources said. I hear it will be around 6 episodes, and the main cast, including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert and Lecy Goranson, is expected to return.

Kevin Spacey on Thursday has vowed to respond to new allegations that are being put forth in the docuseries Spacey Unmasked, which will air in the UK on Channel 4 on May 6-7 and also in the U.S. via Max.

Louis Leterrier (Fast X) will direct and produce 11817, a sci-fi horror film scripted by Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying) that is being presented to buyers at Cannes by Rocket Science.

Partners Sony and Apollo have formally reached out to Paramount‘s special board committee asking to discuss a potential $26 billion offer, Deadline has learned. It comes as Par’s exclusive negotiating window with David Ellison‘s Skydance is set to expire.

EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas has boarded upcoming war crime drama Occupation from Ukrainian writer-director Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi (The Tribe). The project, which will be produced by Loveless and Leviathan producer Alexander Rodnyansky alongside Nick Shumaker for Anonymous Content, is being launched to buyers in Cannes this month with Goodfellas repping international sales rights and Anonymous Content and CAA Media Finance co-repping North American rights. 

UPDATED 10:00 a.m. PT: London’s Met Police is investigating comedian Dane Baptiste following a now-deleted death threat posted on Instagram that was aimed at a fellow comic.

A+E Networks executive David Bank has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer.

EXCLUSIVE: Jordan Peele‘ s Monkeypaw Productions is getting back on the documentary horse and is using his movie Nope as inspiration.

Saturday Night Live is closing out Season 49 with two three-peats.

Alex Ritman Kevin Spacey has gone on the attack against an upcoming docuseries about him that is due to air next week. The two-part “Spacey Unmasked,” which Variety revealed would broadcast in the U.K.

Sony Pictures Television has brought on Kate Gill as SVP, Comedy Development. In her new role, she will focus on developing new comedy series for all platforms for the U.S. scripted division. Reporting to Colin Davis, EVP, Comedy Development, Gill will be based in SPT’s Culver City, CA headquarters and starts her new role on May 13.

EXCLUSIVE: New Line‘s horror thriller Weapons has rounded out its cast with the addition of Benedict Wong (3 Body Problem), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives).

Jack Dunn Shonda Rhimes was honored at Variety’s Power of Women, presented by Lifetime, in New York on Thursday for her work with the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, a non-profit dance school that offers classes to disenfranchised communities. Rhimes was aware of Debbie Allen’s work from a young age, having been a fan of her 1980s TV show “Fame.” Years later, Rhimes’ eldest daughter took classes at the academy, and Rhimes and Allen became fast friends. Allen eventually became an executive producer, director and actor on “Grey’s Anatomy,” and in 2022, Rhimes opened a permanent location for DADA in Mid-City.

The Robin Wright (House of Cards)-led The Girlfriend has been ordered to series at Prime Video with Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon), Laurie Davidson (Mary and George), and Waleed Zuaiter (Gangs of London) also set to star. The series, to be directed by Wright, is based on Michelle Frances’ novel of the same name.

EXCLUSIVE: Josh Swindell, a former pro skater who is set to be the central subject of a forthcoming skating biopic from MindRiot Entertainment, has signed with The BKS Agency in London. 

EXCLUSIVE: Andy Garcia is set for a key role opposite Billy Bob Thornton in the Paramount+ drama Landman from Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace.

Anitta reflected on growing up in the Brazilian favelas and breaking the “rules” to achieve her dreams at Variety’s Power of Women Presented by Lifetime event on Thursday, held at New York’s Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The Brazilian superstar accepted her award from Bruna Marquezine, who celebrated Anitta’s “authenticity and fiery passion for music.” “You are an agent of change — a true ambassador of our culture around the world,” Marquezine said.

Universal Pictures has tapped renowned British filmmaker Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers) to write and direct a Leonardo da Vinci film based on Walter Isaacson‘s bestselling 2017 biography of the artist, Deadline can confirm.

Lifetime has set the premiere date and unveiled a trailer for The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, a two night documentary event that sheds new light on her life on the eve of the 30th anniversary of her tragic and untimely death.

EXCLUSIVE: Emily The Criminal, the 2022 crime thriller starring Aubrey Plaza, is the latest movie set to be turned into a television series.