A federal judge will allow Donald Trump to again amend his defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, as the publication has moved to dismiss the litigation.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday gave Trump until August 27 to file the new complaint.

Trump sued the Times in September, taking particular issue with the premise that Trump’s celebrity fame was due to Mark Burnett and NBC’s The Apprentice. It cited an article from Susanne Craig and Ross Buettner, also named as defendants, and their book Lucky Loser. Their article was headlined, “The Star-Making Machine That Created ‘Donald Trump.’” Penguin Random House also is a defendant in the case, as is Peter Baker, who wrote a piece headlined, “For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a
Moment of Judgment.”

.Merryday tossed out Trump’s original lawsuit, but allowed the president to refile. He filed an amended complaint in October, pointing out individual passages in the book and Times articles. Among those cited: “Mark Burnett’s The Apprentice fortified Trump’s fact-free bubble, while also making it national and bankable in ways that Trump never did on his own.”

The Times and other defendants moved to dismiss the new complaint, arguing that the case was filed in an improper venue, Florida, rather than New York, and that Trump failed to “plausibly allege actual malice.” It also noted that “many of the challenged statements express the authors’ subjective interpretations of undisputed facts, which are not capable of being proven false.”

A hearing on the motion to dismiss was held last week, and the judge noted that Trump’s team asked for time to “cure any . . . deficiencies” by showing “why the Challenged Statements are not substantially true, along with additional facts and innuendo by Defendants to show why the Challenged Statements are defamatory, and additional evidence of actual malice for each Defendant.”

On Truth Social on Monday, Trump wrote that the Times “just failed again in their desperate attempt to have our powerful Defamation Lawsuit against them dropped. As we requested, the Highly Respected Judge has called for an updated complaint, which will lay out, in extreme detail, all the ways in which The Times has repeatedly and consistently acted, with actual malice in defaming me, my family, our Great MAGA Movement, and America, itself. We will continue to hold The Times and their ‘comrades’ in the Mainstream Media accountable for publishing, promoting, and dealing in Fake News.”

Charlie Stadtlander, spokesperson for The Times, said in a statement that the judge’s decision “makes no statement in support of the frivolous accusations in Mr. Trump’s earlier complaint. To the contrary, the judge simply gives him yet another chance to draft a complaint that demonstrates any legal merit. The president has had this chance twice previously and failed each time. The Times stands by our journalism, and the president’s legal pleadings will not change that or deter further reporting. We will continue to defend our reporters’ constitutionally protected rights — and the public’s right to know — and are confident in the laws that underpin them.”

Focus Features has taken North America and Latin America on Studiocanal’s Elsinore, from director Simon Stone, and starring Andrew Scott for a limited launch on Nov. 20 before expanding over Thanksgiving and throughout December.

StudioCanal, which handles global sales, will retain the feature in their markets of UK, France, Italy (Lucky Red), Germany, Poland, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand.

The pic follows the true story of Ian Charleson, a gifted actor whose greatest challenge becomes his greatest triumph. Facing his own mortality with unflinching honesty, wit, and grace, Charleson delivers a courageous performance on stage at London’s National Theatre that becomes a source of healing and inspiration for those around him.

Elsinore was penned by Stephen Beresford (Pride), also stars Academy Award Winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Lost Daughter) Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, David Dawson, Monica Dolan, Matthew Beard, Joe Locke, Georgie Glen, Sadie Soverall, Adeel Akhtar, Dickie Beau with Juliet Stevenson and Peter Mullan. Pic is produced by StudioCanal, LD Entertainment, Lucky Red and Magnolia Mae Films.

Stone previously directed The Daughter and The Dig. Producers are Andrea Occhipinti of Lucky Red (Il Divo, Everybody Knows), Gabrielle Tana and Carolyn Marks Blackwood of Magnolia Mae Films (The Dig, Philomena); Pete Shilaimon and Mickey Liddell of LD Entertainment (Jackie, Anthropoid) and Stefano Massenzi and Scott. 

On deck for the rest of Focus Features’ year are Robert Eggers’ Christmas Day release, Werwulf, The Uprising from Paul Greengrass; and Georgia Oakley’s highly anticipated new take on Jane Austen’s beloved classic, Sense and Sensibility.

Stone is represented by CAA and Stacey Testro International. Beresford is represented by Independent Talent Group. Scott is represented by United Agents, CAA, Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Colman is represented by United Agents, Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole, and Narrative. Piper is represented by UTA and Curtis Brown Group. Flynn is represented by CAA and United Agents.

Tony Gilroy‘s Pedro Pascal starrer Behemoth! will have its world premiere as the centerpiece selection of the 2026 New York Film Festival.

The Searchlight film, set to hit theaters in December, stars Pascal as a cellist, a former child prodigy from a well-known musical family, who has left his position with a Chicago orchestra, fleeing a bad relationship (Olivia Wilde), and returned to Los Angeles to record film scores and deal with family business. The cast also includes Eva Victor, Alexa Swinton, Kaya Ralls, Erik Griffin, JoBeth Williams, Margarita Levieva, Hank Azaria and Will Arnett.

The NY Film Festival calls the movie, “a thundering, savvy tribute to the power of music.”

The film is the Oscar-nominated Gilroy’s first feature since wrapping his Emmy-nominated, Peabody-winning Andor series for Disney+, the second season of which released in 2025.

“I have been orbiting NYFF for the great majority of my life,” the writer-director said in a statement. “I was baptized by Fitzcarraldo. I was tending bar across the street and a customer tipped me a single ticket. It was a bad seat to the most remarkable screening I’d ever attended. There were many memorable nights to follow. The centerpiece invitation is a fantasy I’ve conjured more times than I care to admit. NYFF has always been the benchmark for me; the opportunity to premiere a film I cannot wait to show, in that hall, to that audience, feels every bit as thrilling as I’d imagined. I’m honored.”

NY Film Festival artistic director Dennis Lim added, “We are delighted to present the world premiere of Tony Gilroy’s anticipated return to the big screen as this year’s NYFF centerpiece. There is so much to savor in this immaculately crafted film, from its creative use of music to its note-perfect ensemble cast. Holding it all together is a tour de force by Pedro Pascal, one of the performances of the year from one of our true movie stars.”

The 64th New York Film Festival, which will open with the North American premiere of James Gray’s Paper Tiger and close with the world premiere of Ava DuVernay’s 14th, is set to run from Sept. 25-Oct. 12.