movies

Steven Zaillian & Richard Price Limited Series Getting Netflix Order

Published

2 hours ago

August 18, 2026

EXCLUSIVE: More than three years ago, Netflix swooped in to take Ripley, Steven Zaillian‘s limited series starring Andrew Scott, amid a programming strategy shift at Showtime, where the project had been set. The move was a success, with Ripley landing 13 Emmy nominations and winning four awards, including for Zaillian’s directing work.

Out of that relationship has come a second Zaillian limited series for Netflix. According to sources, the six-episode series has been greenlighted off multiple completed scripts, though I hear there may be some details, including rights, that are still being hammered out.

Zaillian co-wrote the crime/mystery drama, tentatively titled Ghettoside, with Richard Price. It is a follow-up to the duo’s 2016 HBO limited series The Night Of. The two executive produce with Zaillian’s frequent collaborator Garrett Basch (The Night Of, Ripley).

Details about the new Netflix series are sketchy; I hear the 2015 non-fiction book Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy is being used as source material.

Reps for Netflix declined comment.

When confirmed, the Netflix show will join Basch’s three current series, Very Young Frankenstein, Seven Sisters and The Lowdown, all at FX.

The Night Of earned 13 Emmy nominations. Its five wins include a Lead Actor In a Limited Series or Movie for star Riz Ahmed.

Zaillian is repped by WME and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman; Price is repped by UTA.

movies

Briarcliff Acquires North American Rights to Ukraine Doc Ash and Crayons

Published

5 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

qasimgillani

Ash and Crayons, a powerful documentary from Oscar-nominated documentarian Evgeny Afineevsky about Ukrainian children whose lives have been dramatically impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, has been acquired by Briarcliff Entertainment for a North American theatrical release on Nov. 20 — World Children’s Day — and robust impact and awards campaigns, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned.

Afineevsky, a Russian-born Israeli-American who has also made acclaimed docs about everything from the war in Syria (2017’s Cries from Syria) to the late Pope Francis (2020’s Francesco), has been a devoted chronicler of war in Ukraine for over a decade, dating back to 2015’s Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, for which he received his Oscar nomination, and its sequel, 2022’s Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom.

Ash and Crayons combines verité footage and animation created by Ukrainian artists to tell the stories of seven Ukrainian children as they exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of unimaginable horrors, from catastrophic injuries to forcible deportations. An early cut of the film was recognized with the prestigious Cinema for Peace Award in Berlin, which was presented to Afineevsky by Hillary Clinton.

Briarcliff is run by veteran film exec Tom Ortenberg (Crash and Spotlight), who tells THR, “All of us at Briarcliff are proud to be associated with such a strong and affecting film, and we look forward to bringing it to audiences this fall.”

Adds Kevin Goetz, one of the film’s producers, “We are so thrilled to have partners in Tom and Briarcliff who share our commitment to bringing these powerful and inspiring stories to the world. Evgeny is one of the great documentarians of our time. This is a film about hope and resilience, about seeing beyond the ‘ash,’ so to speak.”

Afineevsky himself states, “I am so honored to share the inspirational stories of these incredible children. As they have said to us, ‘Even broken crayons can color.’ I’m also extremely grateful for the hard work of 100-plus Ukrainian artists and industry professionals inside war-torn Ukraine, support of the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine and the Ukrainian State Film Agency (Derzhikino), as well as the support and expertise of my producers, Kevin Goetz and Galyna Sadomtseva-Nabaranchuk.”

movies

‘My Life With The Walter Boys’ Quietly Returns To Netflix For Season 3

Published

19 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

qasimgillani

My Life with the Walter Boys has made an understated return to Netflix with Season 3. Over its first 10 days or so on the streamer, the new episodes have managed to rank high on Netflix’s weekly English TV list but are overall lagging compared with Season 2.

The third season topped the charts the week of August 10 to 16 with 8.7 million views during its first full week on the streamer, slipping a bit from the 9 million it managed in its opening weekend.

It doesn’t necessarily bode well for Season 3 to have peaked in its first four days, suggesting interest in the series is waning. Particularly given Season 2 opened to 11.8 million views last year, which was up 57% from Season 1’s 7.5M views opening weekend. The series is already renewed for a fourth season, which is currently in production.

My Life with the Walter Boys still led the pack by quite a bit, though, with Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes in the No. 2 spot on the English TV list with 4.9 million views. That was followed by The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare at No. 3 with 3.6 million views.

Shane Gillis is gaining traction with his workplace sitcom Tires. Season 3 debuted in the No. 9 spot with 2.4 million views in its opening weekend. That is presumably much higher than Season 2, which did not make it onto the Top 10 rankings after its launch weekend and instead appeared for the first time in its first full week post-debut.

In the U.S. alone, Tires jumped from the No. 6 slot in Season 2 (with 1.5 million views) to third place in Season 3 with 2 million views — a 33% increase.

Elsewhere in TV, Harlan Coben’s I Will Find You is still putting up numbers. The series landed at No. 7 on the weekly rankings with 2.7 million views, boosting it to eighth place on the most popular list with 112.9 million views across nine weeks.

movies

David Heyman Inks First-Look Film Deal With Amazon MGM Studios

Published

26 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

qasimgillani

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has closed a first-look film deal with veteran producer David Heyman‘s Heyday Films. Heyman is already in business with the studio — along with Amy Pascal, he produces Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming Denis Villeneuve-directed James Bond film.

The anticipated 007 franchise reset, which has been the object of a global media frenzy, does not fall under the multi-year pact, which will give Amazon MGM Studios a first look at scripted and unscripted live-action and animated films that Heyman intends to produce.

Heyman is known for his three-decade-long association with Warner Bros. where he had been under a string of first-look deals. He is moving to Amazon MGM Studios after his most recent pact recently came to an end.

Warner Bros.’ talent roster has been under scrutiny in light of Paramount’s pending acquisition of parent Warner Bros. Discovery and the uncertainty surrounding it. On the TV side, Quinta Brunson recently moved to Disney’s 20th TV Television when her WBTV overall deal was up.

At Warner Bros., Heyman produced all eight Harry Potter and three Fantastic Beasts films as well as the Academy Award-nominated Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling; Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet; and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. On the TV side, he is executive producing the studio’s upcoming Harry Potter series for HBO Max.

Elsewhere, Heyman has produced such movies as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, and the Paul King-directed Paddington franchise. Coming up are Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun, starring Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, and Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial starring Andrew Garfield. Heyman is repped by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.