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Studiocanal & Hachette Livre Unveil Adaptation Joint Venture On Screen

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Studiocanal and French publishing company Hachette Livre have announced a strategic book-to-screen adaptation joint venture called On Screen.

The companies, which are both controlled by the Bolloré Group following their 2024 spin-off from Vivendi, will develop film and television adaptations from Hachette Livre’s catalogue under the partnership.

Hachette Livre, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, is France’s biggest publisher while ranking second in the UK, and third in Spain and the U.S.

It owns the rights to literary IPs such as the Astérix comic book series and the Enid Blyton estate as well as the work of best-selling authors such as James Patterson, Stephenie Meyer and Michael Connelly. Its publishing houses include Éditions Grasset, Fayard, Calmann-Lévy, Larousse, Hatier, Dunod, Le Livre de Poche in France as well as Hachette UK and the Hachette Book Group in the U.S.

News of the partnership comes at a tumultuous time for Hachette Livre in France, following the ousting in April of Oliver Nora as CEO of Grasset to be replaced by Jean-Christophe Thiery, whose career is tied to billionaire Bolloré Group founder Vincent Bolloré.

Nora’s sudden firing, after more than 25 years in the role, prompted the departure of 130 of its top authors, including Virginie Despentes, Frédéric Beigbeder, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Vanessa Springora, who accused Bolloré of attacking “editorial independence and creative freedom” in an open letter.

In a release on Tuesday, Studiocanal and Hachette said their new joint venture comes at a time when book adaptations account for 40% of the top 100 global box-office but less than 10% of total film production.

They added that the partnership built on their existing strategy in the space, which also featured the launch of Studiocanal Stories in 2024, a dedicated label focused on developing adaptations from literary IP, and tapping into the pan-European studio’s know-how demonstrated by the global success of Paddington.

“By bringing in such complementary expertise, we are strengthening Hachette Livre’s strategic goals and further supporting the work carried out by our talented teams across the Group. This alliance reinforces our commitment to storytelling in all its forms, ensuring our content resonates across every platform,” Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Lagardère.

Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada added: “It marks an important step in our strategy to develop premium content from strong intellectual property. By working more closely upstream, we will be able to tell these stories in a different way and make them travel globally”.

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Robert Pattinson’s Batman Would Be Tough to Exist in James Gunn’s DCU

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Robert Pattinson doesn’t see his version of Batman interacting with other DC superheroes within James Gunn‘s cinematic universe.

While Batman and Superman have one of the most famous friendships in DC Comics, the Primetime star recently explained to LADbible why it would be “tough” for director Matt Reeves’ version of Bruce Wayne to exist in Gunn’s DCU, such as with David Corenswet’s Superman.

“I think it would be kind of tough to have this version of Bruce outside of that world. It’s one of the only characters, I guess because of the length of the shoots but also it’s such a specific kind of [style], the tone of it gets inside you,” Pattinson said. “I remember that happened to me the last time I did it, it took a while. You’re just in the dark, the whole time. Both mood-wise and light-wise, I can’t see anything for like months. It does affect you; like you feel strange afterwards.”

Reeves’ The Batman, released in 2022, is a darker take on the iconic character, as it’s a grounded psychological crime noir rather than a typical superhero action pic. The film sees Pattinson’s Batman investigate Gotham’s hidden corruption after a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures.

Pattinson reprised his character for Reeves’ The Batman Part II, which is currently in production and set to hit theaters on Feb. 18, 2028.

The Odyssey actor recently teased to Collider that the sequel is “a real left turn from the first” movie, adding that “it’s so ambitious.”

“The first one was a different take on a Batman movie, and this one is another… It’s a real left turn from the first one, but somehow it keeps elements of the kind of feel of it,” he explained. “But it just feels really ambitious, and I’m excited to see how it turns out.”

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Bill Gates Warns AI Could “Cause A Billion Deaths”

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As Trump brushes off the need for additional guardrails around artificial intelligence, Bill Gates is sounding the alarm.

In a recent interview, the Microsoft co-founder urged the U.S. government to implement regulations around the development of AI, following a meeting with CEOs of several of biggest AI companies, who agreed it’s necessary to slow down the pace of the growing tech.

“No one thinks self-regulation is enough,” he said on NBC News’ Meet the Press. “You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like. And that has to be a required thing. And it will be a little bit of overhead for the industry, but not a dramatic slowing of what they’re doing.”

Gates added, “AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths. You know, so even though it’s pretty hard to get to 100%, there’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”

Following recent warnings from those working in AI, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order this month to fast-track stringent oversight and control of AI. Convening “a group of world-leading experts” within the next 60 days, the order lays out a discussion of “safety plans” and “an emergency shutoff, or ‘kill switch,’ for frontier models.”

On a federal level, Trump has brushed off concerns about AI as “a hoax,” insisting the U.S. government “already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power” over AI companies.

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Jeff Probst Says “Nothing Changed” On ‘Survivor’ After CBS Scrapped DEI

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Although Paramount was one of several companies to roll back their DEI initiative when Trump was re-elected, Survivor continues to operate by it.

Host Jeff Probst recently noted that “nothing has changed” with how the reality competition series approaches diversity, equity and inclusion, noting that it was “one of the biggest positive changes ever” for the CBS show that launched in 2000.

“And if you watch our show, you know that we’re so diverse — and it’s not just skin color or ethnicity. It goes much deeper than that. It’s one of the biggest positive changes ever,” he told The New York Times. “Our stories are so much more interesting now because we have people from completely different walks of life.”

Probst continued, “I feel no pressure. No one ever says, can you count the numbers again? But Jesse Tannenbaum, who runs our casting team, knows: There’s no stopping, not because we’re told to do it. This is what we need. We need diversity. It’s for narrative. All those differences matter in the story when you throw people together and force them to rely on each other while conspiring against each other. The more diverse, the more interesting.”

In 2020, Paramount implemented a DEI initiative to make CBS and its other brands more inclusive, which the company rolled back last year amid the Trump administration’s attacks on such programs. Months later, Skydance pledged there would be no DEI policies under the Ellison’s reign as they sought the FCC’s approval of the merger.

Following its milestone 50th season, Probst returns to host Survivor for Season 51, airing Wednesdays at 8pm ET/PT on CBS and streaming live on Paramount+.

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