Well, on the bright side of things, the autumn box office should continue at a great hum this weekend thanks to Amazon MGM Studio’s feature take of Colleen Hoover thriller, Verity, starring Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, and Josh Hartnett. The domestic outlook is $30M+ at 3,510 theaters with the definite potential to over perform given how there’s walk-up business from Hoover-philes. The Michael Showalter directed thriller has a shot at $20M-$25M in 70 offshore territories sans Japan, South Korea Taiwan, Vietnam and CIS in this suite, for a $50M-$55M+ global start. Previews stateside start today on Verity at 2PM.

Meanwhile, light candles and say prayers for Warner Bros/Legendary Entertainment’s Tom Cruise starring, Alejandro Iñárritu directed Digger. Many are bracing for what could be one of Tom Cruise’s lowest wide openings at the box office during the millennium. Warners believes the movie can get to $12M-$15M at 3,300 theaters, others believe it’s lucky to break $10M at the domestic box office. Seventy-three foreign territories except Poland, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand (no China release) are expected to deliver another $15M-$20M abroad at 14,000+ screens, for a $35M WW global start at the high-end for the reported net $125M production (rumors out there is that the movie was much higher between $140M-$150M). Unlike the Dune franchise, Legendary didn’t co-finance this, but they did produce Digger. Previews start at 2PM in North America with tickets on sale in Imax, Dolby Cinema, VistaVision, PLFs, and motion seats.

Digger was shot at Leavesden with UK tax credits. Global marketing spend is approaching $100M. To say that the movie is divisive is an understatement with some critics hailing the brilliance of the polemic movie in its Doctor Strangelove satire while others were simply impatient while watching it. Current Rotten Tomatoes critical score is 52% and know that Cruise has had lower ratings (2017’s The Mummy was 15% Rotten with reviewers; 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was 37% Rotten). Warners in a last minute marketing salvo is leaning into selling the controversy of the film with a final spot, this tweet having clocked 2.2 million views:

Talia Ryder is the latest star lacing up their dance shoes for Tom Holland’s Fred Astaire biopic.

The Sony production about the legendary dancer and actor of Hollywood’s Golden Age has already tapped Margaret Qualley to play Adele Astaire, Fred’s older sister and Broadway partner, and Sabrina Carpenter as Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire’s frequent film co-star. Ryder, a classically trained dancer, will play June Allyson, a dancer and MGM actress who was originally set to star opposite Astaire in the musical film Royal Wedding.

Paddington filmmaker Paul King is directing from a screenplay he wrote with Steven Levenson based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley.

Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor produce for Pascal Pictures along with Ben Holden and Josh Hyams for Lightbulb Pictures and Holland for Billy17. Steven Levenson and King penned the script based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley.

The film has support from some Astaire family members, including Fred’s daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie. Her son, Tyler McKenzie, serves as a consultant and co-producer.

Ryder‘s onscreen credits include a breakout in Sundance indie Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, where she appeared opposite Qualley. As for musical cred, Ryder had a role in Steven Speilberg’s adaptation of West Side Story and began her career in Broadway‘s Matilda the Musical.

Ryder, who is repped by UTA, LBI and Vainshtein Law, will next be seen in Amazon MGM’s 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank and the second season of Amazon Prime’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Jimmy Kimmel has had an incredibly busy year after being pulled off the air last September by ABC and becoming a free-speech hero in the process.

Last month, it emerged that he was in talks to renew his deal with Disney ahead of his contract expiring in May.

Dana Walden, President and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Company, was asked at the Bloomberg Screentime event why isn’t renewing Jimmy Kimmel Live! a “no-brainer”, particularly as his ratings have grown after CBS axed The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Walden admitted late-night was a “very challenging day part”.

“That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television. Obviously, there’s a YouTube channel [and] millions of people are watching on demand the parts of that show. That is not a lucrative opportunity for a very premium talk show. So, we’re trying to make sense of the business while also honoring a deep partnership.”

Late-night budgets are coming down; Colbert was asked to reduce the budget of The Late Show before it was canned by CBS and Late Night with Seth Meyers has seen a number of cuts including its band and a new schedule that saw him take off a large part of the summer.

Disney is clearing trying to cut costs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! but is walking a tightrope to keep one of its most loyal company men – Kimmel appears every year at its Upfronts among other corporate gigs – happy.

“I love Jimmy. We have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney, and again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both what does Jimmy want, what’s the right thing to do, and what’s the right thing for our business?,” Walden said.

There have been a few suggestions; Kimmel started taking the summers off in 2020 but the show continues with guest hosts, so taking the whole summer off is one suggestion. This week he is in Brooklyn for one of his regular New York trips, which is an expensive move given that he brings his entire 200-strong team with him. That is another option to cut, although it’s also tricky as these shows tend to perform well and bring A-list stars such as Robert DeNiro, who appeared with a baseball bat acting as FCC boss Brendan Carr, Billy Crystal, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Kimmel has previously said that there’s no reasons for late-night to cost as much as it does. “I don’t think there’s a reason for these shows to go away. I think there are different. There are ways. These shows started out because they were a way to get high priced talent for almost free. That was the whole trick. That was the whole reason they started these shows. It was deemed to be promotional. So, the idea that these shows need to cost $120M is crazy,” he said.

Kimmel and his wife Molly McNearney, who is also an exec producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, discussed the topic of retirement recently on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.

Shepard asked Kimmel if he would regret retirement. “I know people who’ve been in that situation,” said Kimmel, who has hosted JKL! since 2003. “It’s funny. People make a big show of like ‘I’m done and I’m tired of doing this,’ and then they make a lesser comeback trying to do the same thing. That’s always a bummer. I always look at that and go, ‘Oh, is that going to be me?’”