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Ben Shapiro Issues Statement On ‘Pawn Shop’ Production Shutdown

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Ben Shapiro has officially responded to the recent shutdown of production on his immigration-themed Daily Wire movie Pawn Shop, which is now back in production in Livingston, Montana.

In an appearance on his podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, Shapiro said, “Let us be clear: there’s only one reason the city commissioners ruled they were going to stop our production on the street: politics, pure and simple, and they pretty much admitted it. One commissioner named Cindy Daniels said, quote, ‘I’m not willing to sacrifice the resources of the safety, the security of the mental health of our community. Absolutely not. This wasn’t a Hallmark film. This wasn’t, you know, Christmastime in Livingston, and it wasn’t a romantic story.’”

To that assertion, Shapiro replied, “Well, I mean, I wasn’t aware that we had to fulfill your idea of what the story required. In fact, I’m fairly certain the First Amendment says precisely the opposite of that… That is content discrimination openly performed and a violation of the First Amendment.”

The conservative political commentator later said: “These people are not even hiding the ball. These censorious jackasses just want things they do not like barred by law. It is that simple. They don’t give a sh*t about free speech. They don’t like free speech. Free speech is just for them. It is not for the people who oppose them.”

Alluding to “made up stories” regarding his production “from a bunch of left-wing protesters,” Shapiro said that the more they’re entertained, “the more justified our mission proves itself to be. We are obviously right over the target. When you try to shout us down, you only make us more powerful. Your antics are not going to work. The film will be completed and it will be released and it will be highly successful. We call those feathers in our cap. Trophies over our mantle.”

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Michael Johnston Teases “Incredible Queer” Project

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Coming off his breakout role this year, Michael Johnston is teasing what’s next.

The Obsession star, who is openly gay, recently teased an upcoming role in “a really incredibly queer story,” which includes a “steamy moment” on screen for LGBTQ fans.

“There will be a really incredible queer story in my future, and I’m so excited to play it and to have my steamy moment,” Johnston told Attitude.

Johnston previously noted that after the success of Obsession, he’s able to “choose what I want to do,” explaining that he’s “definitely looking forward to playing a really intentional queer role, story that’s really meaningful.”

Following his 2015-’17 run as Corey Bryant on MTV’s Teen Wolf, Johnston recalled he “still wasn’t comfortable with my sexuality at the time, but I had no idea the impact that just being myself and playing this character authentically would have. I got thousands of messages from people thanking me and telling me how they feel better about themselves. They were able to come out to their parents.

“The impact that I made just from doing something that scared me and being brave… and not only that was really cool, but also kind of helped me learn how to accept myself, so that’s something I’m really looking forward to,” added Johnston. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll write it myself.”

Johnston, who made his breakout performance as the toxically hopeless romantic Bear in Curry Barker’s Obsession, has most recently been in talks to join Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz in the upcoming fourth installment of The Mummy.

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Skydance & The Warner Bros: Films That Are Ready, In The Works Or On Fire

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Heavy hang the heads who wear the crowns, and that goes for Skydance Pictures Co-Chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, who’ll be tasked with getting under the hood and tuning up the incoming Warner Bros. theatrical 2027-2029 slates.

The first fire to put out: ensuring that Barbie 2 becomes a reality with its original franchise director Greta Gerwig and leads Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. There are other projects to look at as well, read the Jonah Hill directed reportedly finished comedy The Cut Off which was originally dated against The Odyssey this year and then undated. What’s up with that movie?

One of the next big auteur swings greenlit by the previous regime was director Baz Luhrmann’s next project Jehanne d’Arc. The director is currently waiting on a new draft of the script in hopes of a spring start.

While we’ve told you about the dated titles that Warners is delivering to the new Skydance, some of these are in various forms of production and development, read: the Sept. 8, 2028 dated New Line Weapons prequel, Gladys. That one is awaiting a final draft before attaching a director.

Going back to the desert days of Hollywood, it’s prime for any new administration to go through the previous regimes’ pickings and determine whether there are horses still worth getting behind. This went on when Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy arrived at Warner Bros. in June 2022 (the shot Batgirl was shelved, while WBD CEO David Zaslav wrote down and sold Coyote vs. Acme) and it occurred when Goldberg and Greenstein arrived at Paramount in the late summer of 2025 (read: one of the most prolific projects from the previous Brian Robbins regime which didn’t move to a greenlight was was the R-Rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Last Ronin. In exchange, a new live-action feature of the sword carrying reptiles is in the works aimed at families).

And despite the recent bomb that is Warners’ $160M Tom Cruise political satire, Digger, Skydance co-CEO David Ellison says he’s not anti-big swing. At Tuesday’s Day One Skydance presser, he reminded everyone that Sinners was his favorite movie from last year.

In addition to franchises, “We’re going to make a complete diverse slate,” asserted Ellison. “One of the things I’m a big believer in is original storytelling.”

“One of the areas to be very cautious about is doing anything that jeopardizes the quality of these pictures, and anything that would jeopardize the quality of the marketing campaigns,” said Ellison, who believes that there’s a way for this two-headed monster of a studio to win, specifically the pro-forma content spend of $30 billion-plus annually, despite the burden of $79B in net debt.

Those are hard numbers for some financial analysts to wrap their heads around, but Ellison and his new co-CEO Ynon Kriez are out to prove to the town that their anomaly of a merger can indeed keep both legacy studios alive and grow product while paying down debt. While co-financing is always a solution, particularly on risky bets, it remains to be seen whether the new Paramount-Warner Bros. sometimes takes the easy way out. How’s that? Rather than risk a $300M feature gamble in production cost and marketing, will they simply accept the stage AGs’ penalties and shell out $30M for any film they’re unable to deliver in a 30-picture slate? It’s a cheaper alternative.

Ellison also underscored yesterday that when he took the reigns of Paramount a year ago, they overdelivered on synergies with $2.7B while doubling the slate to 15 films annually and greenlighting four new series.

For the many who feared the consolidation of the two historic studios, what should come as some balm is that with Warner Bros operating separately from Paramount Pictures under Jesse Ehrman and Mike Ireland, the two studios will respectively be able to compete against each other on projects.

“But there will be coordination,” emphasized Kriez in that regard.

He expounded, “The plan is to keep the studios independent creatively, so that each will have its own slate, its own relationship, same opportunities, and then we will choreograph the release schedule, and optimize it by genre and by audience demographic to achieve the best for the company as a whole.”

While we’ve told you what has been dated before, below is a sampling based on our previous reports of the kit and caboodle that’s coming Goldberg and Greenstein’s way. We’ve sussed what is ready and real on the 2027 and 2028 slates. Excluded from this list are myriad lit acquisitions made during the previous De Luca and Abdy regime.

PRIORITY
Barbie 2
Ideally Greta Gerwig return to direct and co write with Noah Baumbach and Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling returning to star in a sequel to Warner Bros’ highest grossing movie ever at $1.44B.

FINISHED (or nearing finish for release).

Clayface (Oct. 23) (DC)

The Cat in the Hat (Nov. 6)

Cut Off
Jonah Hill directed comedy which he stars in with Kristin Wiig

Dune: Part Three (Dec. 18)

Animal Friends (Jan. 22, 2027)

Remain (Feb. 5, 2027)
M. Night Shyamalan just screened at BeyondFest.

Panic Carefully (April 9, 2027)

F.A.S.T (May 14, 2027)

POST-PRODUCTION

The Revenge of La Llorona (Feb. 27, 2027)

Godzilla x Kong: Supernova (March 26, 2027)

Bad Fairies (May 21, 2027)

Man of Tomorrow (July 9, 2027)
-James Gunn’s sequel to Superman.

A Minecraft Movie Squared (July 23, 2027)
Jared Hess returns to direct.

Shiver (Aug. 13)

The Conjuring: First Communion (Sept. 10, 2027)

The Great Beyond (Oct. 1, 2027)
-J.J. Abrams’ Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega original sci-fi film.

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (Dec. 17, 2027 release)
-Directed by Andy Serkis off a screenplay by Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Phoebe Gittens and Arty Papageorgiou.

Evil Dead Wrath (April 7, 2028)

IN PRODUCTION

Untitled Ocean’s Prequel (June 25, 2027)
-Bradley Cooper co-wrote, directs, produces and stars alongside Margot Robbie, who produces via LuckyChap.

Margie Claus (Nov. 12, 2027)

Untitled Nancy Meyers Movie (Dec. 25, 2027)
-Nancy Meyers directing from her own script
-Owen Wilson, Jude Law, Kieran Culkin and Erin Doherty star

The Batman Part II (Feb. 18, 2028) (DC)
Matt Reeves directed production is paused.

The Lunar Chronicles (Nov. 3, 2028)
animated

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (May 17, 2028)
Jon Chu’s animated feature take of the classic Dr. Seuss children’s book.

Hello Kitty (July 21, 2028)
animated

Dynamic Duo (Sept. 22, 2028) (DC)
animation with puppets

PRE-PRODUCTION

Final Destination 7 (New Line) (May 12, 2028)
Michael Blanchart directing.

–Nasty (Clockwork)
Mary Bronstein directed Jenna Ortega and Rose Byrne off Isabella Jarosz screenplay. LuckyChap producing.

Sean Baker’s Ti Amo! (Clockwork)

Jehanne d’Arc (Nov. 22, 2028)
-Baz Luhrmann directing
-Schuyler Weiss and Catherine Martin producing. Currently awaiting next draft.

GREENLIT
By previous administration

Gremlins 3 (Oct. 6, 2028)
Chris Columbus directing. Awaiting rewrites.

The Jetsons Live-Action Movie
-Jim Carrey starring
-Colin Trevorrow attached to direct

Sean Penn’s Untitled January 6th Movie (Clockwork)
-Penn writing, directing and producing
-Bradley Cooper to star

The Brigands of Rattle Creek (Clockwork)
Park Chan-Wook domestic acquisition

GREENLIGHT CANDIDATES (or nearing):

The Flood (Aug. 2028)
Zach Cregger’s next movie with New Line starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Gladys (Weapons prequel set for Sept. 8, 2028)
In rewrites

Matrix 5 – Drew Goddard writing. (a 2029 release candidate)

DEVELOPMENT

Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman Reimagining
-Tim Burton directing

Blow Up the Chat
– Temple Hill producing

Care Bears
-Josh Greenbaum directing
-Good Fear, GoldDay producing

City of Angels Reboot
-Ashley Avis writing and directing
-Atlas Entertainment, Perez Pictures producing

Constantine 2

The Executioner
-Peter Safran producing

Forbidden Planet
-Emma Watts producing

Frank Bullitt Movie
-Steven Spielberg directing

Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest (June 1, 2029)

The Goonies 2
-Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Holly Bario and Chris Columbus producing

Live-Action Hot Wheels Movie
– Bad Robot and Jon M. Chu’s Electric Somewhere producing
Last Friday
– Ice Cube starring

Meerkat Manor (Warner Bros. Pictures Animation)
– The Green Room producing

Shibumi
-87North producing

Space Invaders (New Line)
– Weed Road Pictures, Safehouse Pictures producing

Them! Remake
-Michael Giacchino directing

EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Batman Brave and the Bold (DC)

Crazy Rich Asians 2

Savage Hunters aka Deathstroke & Bane Movie (DC)

Live-Action Flintstones reboot
-Ryan Gosling’s Open Invite producing

Free Willy Reimagining
-AGBO producing

Get Smart Reboot
-John Mulaney to star
– Charles Roven and Andrew Lazar producing

The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past
– Stephen Colbert, Philippa Boyens and Peter McGee writing

Prehistoria (Warner Bros. Pictures Animation)
– Vivienne Medrano writing and directing

Powerpuff Girls

Live-Action Teen Titans (DC)

Swamp Thing (DC)

Wonder Woman reboot (DC)

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How ‘Chicago Fire’ Star Dermot Mulroney Exits Series

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The following reveals major plot points from tonight’s Chicago Fire Season 15 premiere.

NBC‘s Chicago Fire returned tonight with its fifteenth-season premiere, picking up after an intense Season 14 finale that left most of 51’s best with their lives on the line. While the team survived mostly unscathed, the series is looking different as showrunner Victor Teran takes the helm.

At the end of July, we confirmed the news that Dermot Mulroney would be leaving the hit series after two seasons playing Battalion Chief Dominic “Dom” Pascal. While Dom’s arrival was a bit rocky for 51, the evolution of the character really won the hearts of fans and show characters alike.

I can confirm Mulroney’s final episode was tonight’s premiere, however, the creators and writers of the show do like to surprise us now and then with appearances every now and again. Like Eamonn Walker, who portrayed Wallace Boden across the show’s first 12 seasons, made a guest appearance in Season 13.

Teran spoke to Deadline recently about the new season, and saying goodbye to Mulroney.

“We only have the one episode with him I’m sad to report. It’s just the premiere. But he plays a very critical role. We had a very hard task when when Boden left. Filling his shoes was going to be an impossible task. Dermot came in and did this incredible job, and provided a bridge to what the future is going to be,” Teran shared.

He continued, “For the first time in 15 seasons, there’s not going to be a Chief in the house. Severide [Taylor Kinney] is really going to be leading things, and that’s a new thing. We’ve been thinking about that for a while, and so we needed to close out Dermot to to give space for that.”

In the premiere of Season 15, it was also confirmed that Severide had chosen the job of Chief of Firehouse 51 over the inspector job that was also offered. However, he continues to wear his fire inspector hat, albeit privately, while trying to help Joe (Joe Minoso) prove his innocence following accusations he played a role in the Season 14 finale fire. In Dom’s last moments on the show, he gives Severide advice about treading lightly between his two passions or risk facing major consequences.

Following the news that Mulroney would be leaving Chicago Fire, he shared a statement.

“Loved every minute of it. Became friends with this incredible crew of people,” Mulroney said at a fan convention.

Mulroney also acknowledged the “incredible cast” he worked with and noted that they gave him “incredibly challenging scenes” throughout his time on the show.

Further, the actor said “they write the character off,” adding, “We gave it our all for two seasons.”

Mulroney was also a series regular on the Netflix drama series The Hunting Wives, playing Jed Banks. Mulroney revealed in May that production had concluded on the show’s second season, and yesterday, The Hunting Wives was renewed for a third season yesterday ahead of the Season 2 premiere. He also recently booked roles in two films: Moon People and the action pic Streets.

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