Universal Acquires Westbrook Studios Action Comedy ‘Regulators,’ Starring Nicky Jam

California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's reelection campaign put up a billboard in Austin, Texas, promoting his state's abortion access for women. The billboard, placed just south of Stassney Lane in South Austin, features a woman sitting with her arms crossed over her knees looking toward a pro-abortion message that reads, "Need an abortion? California is ready to help."  The advertisement also includes California's abortion resources website and a Bible verse.  "Love your neighbor as yourself.There is no greater commitment than these," the billboard reads, quoting Mark 12:31.

The 11th annual Action Icon Awards luncheon, celebrating pioneering stuntwomen and action-oriented female trailblazers, will be held Oct. 16 at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City. The event benefits Diamond in the RAW, a non-profit organization devoted to empowering and transforming the lives of foster care and at-risk teenage girls.

last month optioned the rights to “Fairy Tale” and is both developing the feature and will also write the script, direct and produce. Greg Goodman will also produce.“Fairy Tale” is a dark fantasy novel from the master of horror as published by Scribner in September, and it follows a 17-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a terrifying world where good and evil are at war.

EXCLUSIVE: It’s a fairy-tale ending for Universal Pictures, which emerged from a heated auction to win Fairy Tale, an adaptation of the new Stephen King bestseller that Paul Greengrass will adapt and direct.

“Obliterated,” the upcoming Netflix action-comedy series from the creators of “Cobra Kai,” is adding to its cast. Joining previously announced series regulars (Shelley Hennig, Nick Zano, Paola Lázaro, Eugene Kim, Alyson Gorske, Terrence Terrell, Kimi Rutledge and C. Thomas Howell) in recurring roles are Carl Lumbly, David Costabile, Costa Ronin, Lindsey Kraft, Tobias Jelinek and Minnie Mills.“Obliterated” “tells the story of an elite special forces team who thwarts a deadly threat to Las Vegas.

This, as one of the surprised bad guys says in this new Violent Night trailer, is not your typical mall Santa.

Production is underway on filmmaker Richard Linklater’s next film “Hitman” in New Orleans, and Retta (“Good Girls”), Molly Bernard (“Younger”) and Austin Amelio (“The Walking Dead”) have been added to the ensemble opposite Glen Powell and Adria Arjona (“Morbius”).Based on an article in Texas Monthly, the screenplay hails from Linklater and “Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Powell and tells the true story of “the most sought-after hitman in New Orleans, but if you pay him to rub out a cheating spouse or a sadistic boss, you’d better watch out: he works for the cops.”The official synopsis continues, “When he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (Arjona) trying to get away from an abusive boyfriend, he finds himself living the life of one of his false personas, falling for the woman and flirting with becoming a criminal himself.”The production announcement and additional casting were announced by AGC Studios Chariman and CEO Stuart Ford, whose company will co-finance “Hitman” with leading indie financiers Shivani Rawat’s ShivHans Pictures and Monarch Media.The action comedy is produced by Linklater and Michael Blizzard for Detour Pictures, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman for Aggregate Films, and Powell for BarnStorm Productions in association with Cinetic Media.Powell and Linklater – both Texas natives – first worked together on “Everybody Wants Some!!” (in which Amelio also starred), and this marks yet another genre shift for a filmmaker who’s made a career out of being a chameleon.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing British podcast studio Novel has made its next big play by signing Universal Studio Group Acquisitions exec Neil Krishnan to oversee a push into TV and film.

With a smorgasbord of greatest hits past and perhaps present, Saturday Night Live went successfully mega-meta tonight in the sometime bubbling over cold open of its Season 48 debut.

Wilson Chapman editor After a summer filled with cast exits and goodbyes, “Saturday Night Live” opened its 48th Season by poking fun at both frequent target President Trump and its own rebuilding period. The sketch starred the premiere’s host Miles Teller and cast member Andrew Dismukes as sports stars and brother’s Peyton and Eli Manning, in a parody of their “Monday Night Football” commentary show “Manningcast.” However, instead of analyzing the plays of a football game, the two instead turned their insight into the opening sketch of “Saturday Night Live’s” new season. At the top of the sketch, Teller as Peyton addressed the shakeups that the series has gone through other the summer, which saw eight cast members — Chris Redd, Alex Moffat, Aristotle Athari, Melissa Villasenor, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Kyle Mooney — announce their departures from the long-running sketch comedy series. “There are a lot of changes at the show, which could be exciting,” Teller said. “Let’s see what they came up with.”

BFI’s “Baz Luhrmann in conversation” event in London.“There are two great American gestures, I think. The two that really fascinate me are the ‘big sell’ – the ability to sell well, and the other is the gesture of the new,” Luhrmann explained.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The FX comedy pilot “English Teacher” has found its main cast, Variety has learned exclusively. Stephanie Koenig (“Lessons in Chemistry,” “The Offer”), Enrico Colantoni (“Just Shoot Me,” “Station Eleven”), and Julian Sergi (“Ramy,” “War Dogs”) have all joined as series regulars. Carmen Christopher (“The Bear,” “Killing It”), Jordan Firstman (“Big Mouth,” “Ms. Marvel”), Yissendy Trinidad (“Babylon,” “You’re Not Alone”) and Langston Kerman (“Insecure,” “The Boys”) will all appear in recurring roles. “English Teacher” was originally ordered to pilot in June. Production is now underway. Brian Jordan Alvarez wrote the pilot and stars as Evan, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. The show follows him and his fellow teachers “trying to balance the competing demands of the students and their parents in a world where the rules seem to change every day.” Alvarez is also an executive producer on the pilot along with Paul Simms, who is currently an executive producer on the FX shows “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Atlanta.”

.ET exclusively debuts the trailer for the upcoming horror-comedy, which stars Nicole Byer, Harvey Guillén, Jessica Lowe, and Andrew Lewis Caldwell as a group of 30-something childhood besties who wake up on Halloween to realize that their future-predicting game of M.A.S.H. (Mansion-Apartment-Shack-House, for those who didn't grow up playing) from 2002 is starting to come true for them in hilarious and disturbing ways.From Byer's character's wish to have the world's longest fingernails — and marry *NSYNC's Joey Fatone! — to having 100 kids with the hometown loser, to leading a cult, there's plenty of madness in store for the four friends, not to mention hilarious cameos from stars like James Austin Johnson, Nikki Glaser, Kathy Griffin, Nicole Richie, Ken Marino, and Rob Riggle.Check out the full trailer below: premieres Saturday, Oct.

Brilliance,” one that at one point had the “King Richard” actor attached to star. Plot details for “Regulators” are being kept under wraps.

Meryl Streep is honoring her longtime friend Robert De Niro.