EXCLUSIVE: Milo Manheim, the 25-year-old L.A. native recently tapped to co-lead Disney’s live-action Tangled, has landed a lead role in Michael Showalter’s redo of rom-com Serendipity for Amazon MGM Studios and Miramax.

No word yet on the role Manheim will play. We announced the project in August; Showalter described this as not a straight remake or reboot of Serendipity, but rather a contemporary “rebuttal” of the original film centered on new characters.

Written by the original’s Marc Klein, the new Serendipity will be produced by Showalter and Jordana Mollick for Semi-Formal Productions, alongside Simon Fields, who produced the original. Jonathan Glickman, Alexandra Loewy, and Thom Zadra are exec producing for Miramax, alongside Klein.

Emily Crook is overseeing the project for Semi-Formal, which is under a multi-year, first-look film deal with Amazon MGM, while Arianna D’Andrea will oversee for Miramax.

Directed by Peter Chelsom and starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, 2001’s Serendipity centers on a couple of strangers who fall for each other one Christmas night in New York, despite being engaged to other people. Separating, their potential future together is left unresolved — until, seven years later, each begins searching for the other.

Miramax released the film to major success — a worldwide gross exceeding $77 million — at a much different moment for the rom-com. Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy and Simon Fields produced.

No word yet on whether the new take will be for theaters or streaming. But the original just celebrated its 25th anniversary with a screening at Wollman Rink, the Central Park ice skating venue that played a memorable supporting role.

Recently seen starring in the Paramount+ series School Spirits and Eli Roth’s horror flick Thanksgiving, Manheim is among the latest crop of young talents emerging from the world of Disney Channel to lead major studio projects. He’s best known for starring in their Zombies franchise, having also taken on roles in the likes of Prom Pact, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., and Camp Rock 3.

Manheim remains in the Disney family today, as he’s currently set to star opposite Teagan Croft, in the lead role of charming thief Flynn Rider, in the studio’s live-action Tangled, heading to theaters on March 31, 2028. He is repped by Framework Entertainment, CAA, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris O’Donnell has launched Lone Cypress Entertainment, a new production company backed with capital for development and production. The company’s first project is the film Kilkenny, starring P.J. Byrne (The Rainmaker, The Five-Star Weekend) and directed by Jay Duplass (Somebody Somewhere, The Baltimorons)

O’Donnell revealed that Lone Cypress is an engine for the company to “assemble great teams and share in our success” from digital series to TV and films. Through the production company, he touts that they will be able to “invest in ideas and help writers package their projects from the earliest stages, whether that’s a pitch, short story, article, book, or spec.”

Jay Lavender, O’Donnell’s producing partner, will develop and produce projects across genres and formats. O’Donnell, who currently stars in and executive produces Ryan Murphy’s hit ABC series, 9-1-1: Nashville, says his own experiences early in his career helped inspire the company.

“When we wrapped NCIS: Los Angeles after 14 seasons, it coincided with our business being in the midst of great disruption,” O’Donnell shared. “As I thought about the next chapter of my career, I kept coming back to the desire to work on unique projects with talented people.”

He added, “When I was starting out, I was fortunate to work with incredible actors and directors who took me under their wings and taught me the ins and outs of the business from performing to promoting. Part of my inspiration for creating Lone Cypress is to give back to the next generation of talent. At the same time, there are so many talented actors and filmmakers I came up with and who blazed the trail before me that I would love to collaborate with.”

Lone Cypress’ first project will be the film Kilkenny, which will be set in Ireland. Plot details are under wraps. Byrne and Duplass are writing the script from a story by Byrne and Andrew Muscato. O’Donnell will produce alongside Lavender, Muscato, Byrne, and Duplass.

“Kilkenny is a perfect example of a talent-driven Lone Cypress project,” said O’Donnell. “I’ve been friends with P.J. for almost thirty years and have been thrilled to watch his career take off. I called P.J. when we started the company and told him I wanted to produce something together. P.J. hit it off with Jay and Andrew on the upcoming I Play Rocky and wanted to work with them again. He brought us their treatment about two unforgettable characters, and I was in immediately.”

O’Donnell is repped by Gersh, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer.

Remember “Roma”?

The 2018 black-and-white Mexican autofiction was Best Picture-bound with nine nominations, eventually winning three, including Best International Feature and two for its director and cinematographer Alfonso Cuarón. Nearly a decade ago, streamer Netflix was poised to win its first Best Picture Oscar.

But Academy voters instead rallied behind a popular but less critically hailed movie from Universal, Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book,” starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen as a Black musician and his driver touring the South. That award season, the antipathy toward Netflix was palpable. Academy governor Steven Spielberg championed “Green Book” behind the scenes and argued that Netflix films should qualify for Emmys and not Oscars.

At the Governors Ball after the Oscars, there was a sense of relief.

Year after year, Netflix’s crack awards team has racked up multiple nominations, only to lose out on Best Picture. Since 2019, nine movies have lost that gold statue, including Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” and Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” which scandal derailed. Netflix’s two Best Picture nods last year, lauded period narratives “Train Dreams” and “Frankenstein,” were beaten by Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” from Warner Bros.

For some time, many Hollywood players have been negative toward Netflix, mostly because of the widely-held belief that Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos was out to kill theaters. Over time, he has tried to communicate his love of cinema, along with his preference for the streaming model over theatrical.

This year, after Netflix chased and lost the Warner Bros. merger, the mood changed within the industry. In the wake of Sarandos’ learning experience looking under the hood at Warners’ numbers, he has made a decisive U-turn to embrace theatrical runs — mostly for likely Oscar contenders.

Why? There’s money to be made. Filmmakers to be wooed. And Oscars to be won.

This weekend marks the start of that pivot, as Javier Calvó and Javier Ambrossi’s (Los Javis) $17-million Cannes Best Director-winning period gay epic “La Bola Negra” hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on October 16.

This isn’t a “Knives Out” or post-Netflix “KPop Demon Hunters” theater stunt. This is the first time that Netflix will not only be fully reporting box office numbers, but supporting a traditional platform release along the way — like A24 or Sony Pictures Classics — rolling out to four theaters and expanding to six to ten, then 30 in its third week.

By November 6, the movie will be playing in more than 75 markets. Of course, playability will determine how wide it goes until it hits Netflix on December 2. If theaters still want to play it, they can.

Coming off warm receptions at the fall festivals, including the predictive People’s Choice Award at Toronto, “La Bola Negra” has momentum. It will be at the top of awards voters’ screener piles. It’s not only the frontrunner in the International Feature race, but has shots at Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Score, Song, Supporting Actor and Actress, as well as craft nominations. It could land 9 or ten nods. (Now that Oscar rules allow two nominations for a single performer in a category, Penélope Cruz could land nominations for both “The Invite” and “La Bola Negra.”)

The movie is breaking box office records in Spain, climbing week after week.

Netflix has other fish to fry this year. Korea’s Oscar entry, Lee Chang-dong’s Venice Silver Bear-winning “Possible Love,” also came out ahead at the fall festivals and is in the running for International, Picture, and Best Actress for Jeon Do-yeon. Year-end critics groups will likely give it some love.

The two Netflix titles will vie in the international category with Neon’s Palme d’Or-winner “Fjord” and “All of a Sudden” and MUBI’s “Fatherland” and “Minotaur.” The shortlist of 15 is the first stop, announced December 15.

Where the David Fincher-directed Quentin Tarantino-scripted sequel “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” starring Brad Pitt, winds up with Oscar voters is anyone’s guess. While Fincher has been tinkering in the editing room, Netflix confirms an IMAX-exclusive run for two weeks starting November 25, 2026, ahead of its December 23 streaming date.

We’ll see if Netflix fares a tad better with Oscar wins this year. The tide, it seems, may have turned.