Paramount+ has released the full-length trailer for the third season of the Jeremy Renner-led crime drama series “Mayor of Kingstown” ahead of its launch on June 2nd. It’s a good look at Jeremy Renner’s return to not only his role of Mike McLusky, but his return to work just over a year since sustaining life-threatening injuries from a snowcat accident. The series follows the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan, where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality, the series provides a stark look at t ..read more

Paramount is set to release the John Krasinski-directed fantasy comedy “IF” in a few weeks and if early tracking figures are correct – it’s going to be a bit of a monster. Ryan Reynolds and Krasinski co-star in the film about a child’s journey in rediscovering their imagination. It follows a young girl who has the ability to see people’s imaginary friends who have been left behind after their real-life pals grew up. She sets out to help them. THR reports that tracking figures are projecting a debut of at least $38-42 million, a high number for an original family film not based on existing IP ..read more

Hayley Atwell, Jonathan Bailey and Eddie Marsan have all joined the cast of the third season of Netflix’s “Heartstopper” series. Atwell will play Diane, aunt of Nick (Kit Connor) who takes him on a summer holiday to Menorca. Marsan will play Geoff, the wise and straight-talking therapist of Charlie (Joe Locke. Bailey has a cameo as Instagram-famous classicist Jack Maddox whom Charlie has a celebrity crush on. The British coming-of-age romance series, based on Alice Oseman’s webcomic, explores the blossoming relationship between Truham Grammar School students Charlie Spring (Locke) and Nick Nel ..read more

Amazon’s Audible and Pottermore Publishing are set to co-produce a brand-new audiobook series for J.K. Rowling’s original seven “Harry Potter’ books. The new versions will boast full-cast audio productions with over 100 actors involved. The plan is to “bring these iconic stories to life as never heard before.” Each of the seven English-language titles are to be released sequentially for a global audience, exclusively on Audible, with the first to release late 2025. The new versions will offer: “immersive audio entertainment through high-quality sound design in Dolby Atmos, stunning scoring, a ..read more

The New York Court of Appeals has overturned former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges in a 4-3 ruling. According to The Associated Press, the court found that the judge in Weinstein’s original trial had shown prejudice and improper rulings in their allowing women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case. As a result of this, the court has ordered a new trial. 72-year-old Weinstein has been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison for criminal sex acts in 2006 and 2013. He was first charged and arrested for rape in May 2018 foll ..read more

Lissette Feliciano (“Women Is Losers”) has been attached to write and direct a feature adaptation of the Broadway jukebox musical “On Your Feet” at Sony Pictures. Currently in early development, the project tells the true story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan – two Cuban immigrants who launched themselves to international musical stardom. The pair will produce alongside John and Jordan Davis. John Fox is executive producing. Premiering in 2015, the show follows Gloria’s early days in Miami, her breakthrough as lead singer of the Miami Sound Machine, and her return to the stage after a near-fatal ..read more

A busy day on the release date front. First up, Warner Bros. Pictures have moved up Ishana Night Shyamalan’s film “The Watchers” by a week, the film will now open on June 7th. The story a 28-year-old artist and three others who are stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland where they are stalked by mysterious creatures each night. Next, the Nick Jonas-led comedic drama “The Good Half” has been acquired by Utopia for a theatrical release this Summer on July 23rd & 25th through Fathom Events. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation has pushed back its new film “The Wild Robot” by ..read more

The new TV series adaptation of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” kids fantasy books has been a major success for The Roku Channel. Premiering on April 19th, the title has quickly became the most-watched on-demand title to ever debut on The Roku Channel – be it Roku Originals or acquired content. The streamer said “millions” had tuned in to watch the show on its opening weekend, but didn’t reveal any actual viewership figures. They did says the series had the most hours streamed, and highest reach, of any title in the platform’s history during an opening weekend. It also had the highest daily reach ..read more

Jennifer Aniston is set to produce a reimagining of the iconic 1980 office comedy feature “9 to 5” for 20th Century Studios. Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin starred in the original as secretaries who watch themselves passed over for promotions, and their getting ideas stolen in a culture of rampant sexual harassment. When their sexist, narcissistic, lying bigot of a boss (Dabney Coleman) blackmails one into sleeping with him, the trio kidnaps and keeps him tied up as they uncover his embezzlement scheme and a way to cash in. The original was such a hit and cultural touchstone it spawn ..read more

One of the more unfortunate trends of the past decade or so is that amongst casting directors and film studios, the size of an actor’s social media footprint has become as important – if not more so for smaller roles – than actual acting ability. It turns out it’s not just actors who are facing such a problem. A new feature piece over at THR goes into the pitfalls of directing a major movie these days and how things have worsened. It has always been known that a talented auteur can so easily go to ‘movie jail’ if a film they’ve directed doesn’t perform well enough for executives who care only ..read more