Antonio Ferme

social editor @variety | nyc

[Antonio Ferme @antonio_ferme]

I spoke with several academics, scholars and Homerists about Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY.

The discourse they’re having is quite different than the online culture wars might suggest.

https://t.co/2SpF1p1uMH

[Variety @Variety]

Nielsen is acquiring digital media measurement firm DoubleVerify in an all-cash $2.15 billion deal, as the industry pushes for a unified system to measure audiences across streaming and linear TV.

The transaction, approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.

https://t.co/rOJJjc1zzg

[Antonio Ferme @antonio_ferme]

My full interview with Ryan Murphy from THE SHARDS premiere: https://t.co/hWdFcAxNv9

[Variety @Variety]

Ryan Murphy says he "demanded" his next two projects shoot in Los Angeles despite the lack of tax incentives, urging filmmakers to "figure out the economic troubles and how to make things in L.A."

"I think the mayor [Karen Bass] could do a much better job than she’s done, for one," the showrunner said at #TheShards premiere. "That’s also on the filmmakers to figure out the economic troubles and how to make things in L.A. so that our crews and cast can sleep in their home city, go home and have meals with their families. I have two things shooting, and they’re both going to be in L.A. I demanded that. I made that work economically. The most important thing to me is that it’s up to the individual showrunners and filmmakers to say, 'Hey, we want this.' In my experience, as long as you can figure out a will, there’s a way. And they’re the first people to say, 'Great, we’d love for it to shoot in L.A.' I don’t think that’s the obstacle. It’s always the tax credits."

https://t.co/ZITBYp4XUN

[Variety @Variety]

"Grown Ups 3" is officially in production at Netflix with the full original cast returning. The ensemble includes:

• Adam Sandler
• Kevin James
• Chris Rock
• David Spade
• Rob Schneider
• Salma Hayek Pinault
• Maya Rudolph
• Maria Bello
• Julie Bowen
• Deon Cole
• Jackie Sandler
• Shaquille O'Neal
• Colin Quinn
• Tim Meadows
• Cheri Oteri
• Ellen Cleghorne 
• Nick Swardson
• Jake Goldberg
• Alexys Nycole Sanchez
• Sadie Sandler
• Sunny Sandler
• Ada-Nicole Sanger
• Morgan Gingerich
• Kaleo Elam
• Nadji Jeter
• David Mattle
• Kamil McFadden

https://t.co/0DbwMzeKBV

[Yiyang Zhuge @ZhugeYY]

Here is my interview with Christopher Nolan: are you a bard for a civilization at dusk?

[Variety @Variety]

Vincent Pastore, the actor best known for playing Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on #TheSopranos, has died. He was 80.

Pastore was cast as a mobster several times throughout his career. He had small parts in early ‘90s crime dramas like “Carlito’s Way” and “Goodfellas.” He saw his stock rise with roles in the 1995 film “The Jerky Boys: The Movie” and HBO’s 1996 TV movie “Gotti.”

https://t.co/RxiHfINhxB

[Variety @Variety]

Samara Weaving has been cast in Marvel Studios’ “X-Men” reboot as Emma Frost.

Weaving most recently appeared in “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” and “Over Your Dead Body.” Other credits include “The Babysitter,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Scream VI” and “Bill & Ted Face the Music.”

https://t.co/grffu2czHn

[Variety @Variety]

Sicily is experiencing what Italian newspapers are calling the “Nolan effect”:

• After #TheOdyssey shot scenes on the island of Favignana off the west coast of Sicily — which stood in for Ithaca, the home of Odysseus — tourists have started flocking to the Mediterranean destination.

• “I’m expecting a significant increase in international tourism, especially from the U.S.,” Sicilia Film Commission chief Nicola Tarantino tells Variety, noting that this also happened recently with HBO’s “The White Lotus” Season 2, shot in 2022 in the Sicilian resort town of Taormina

• While “White Lotus” has so far resulted in $158M in tourism revenue windfall for Taormina, “The Odyssey” is expected to bring in roughly $287M haul over the next three years (and more than $500M in the long run)

https://t.co/RZSGBFax9P

[Variety @Variety]

Once immortal titans of nerdom, the big three — #Marvel, #StarWars and #DC — have recently lost their grip on the zeitgeist, especially in movie theaters:

“Streaming really destroyed a lot,” one fan told Variety at #ComicCon. “Too many streaming platforms, too many series, all at once.”

https://t.co/3MdodCpqcm

[Variety @Variety]

Zoe Saldaña says she "feels fantastic" that #Lioness and other Taylor Sheridan productions have "brought a lot of employment to the economy in Texas."

[Variety @Variety]

Zoe Saldaña says she's still "asking a lot of questions" about the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, cautioning people against listening to "the trolling noise" before feeling "educated enough to make a judgment" and amplifying "a very negative message that can actually become harmful":

"I am in a position right now of curiosity and asking a lot of questions. I do know a lot of people in all sides of the industry and all sides of this merger that I really respect. And before I make a judgment, I would first want to know their stance on it and how they see it. I do believe that not everything is as it may appear, and it's always good to reserve judgment until you feel educated enough to make a judgment. If a lot of us felt that way, we would be trolling a little less. If there's noise to not listen to, it's the trolling noise. It's doing the research on your own and trying to educate yourself and understand why something works and why it doesn't before we jump on on a headline or a sound bite and we amplify a very negative message that can actually become harmful."

[Variety @Variety]

AMC Theatres boss Adam Aron pushes for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger and writes: "It’s critical to the industry’s future that this transaction be completed as soon as possible."

"The proposed Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger is poised to create a powerful combined company, one that will have the scale and the passion to deliver even more such films to theater screens the world over. It’s a move that is feared by some, but in our strongly held view, this instead is a step forward that should be welcomed and celebrated. Perhaps that’s why Paramount’s action to strengthen itself has already been cleared by competition authorities and regulators in the United States, Europe and throughout the world, as of this writing in some 65 countries globally already.
It’s critical to the industry’s future that this transaction be completed as soon as possible, so that we all can build on the momentum that finally — after six tough years — only recently has been established..."

Read the op-ed here: https://t.co/A4Agpo6hLP

[Variety @Variety]

Rick Moranis ended his acting retirement after nearly 30 years to reprise Lord Dark Helmet in "Spaceballs 2." Being on set again was "very strange" for him at first.

“Well, I kept having to pinch myself because I would look at Daphne [Zuniga] and Bill [Pullman] and George Wyner. And then there were all these young people. And I realized I was their age 39 years ago when we made this. And here we are now and my kids are the age of this. I felt like I was in a time warp, but I was in that outfit and wearing the helmet. And it just felt very strange to be honest with you. But it started to feel really good and I really started to love it." (via People)

https://t.co/gYKRPPRJGK

[Variety @Variety]

A group of former FCC officials are accusing Chairman Brendan Carr of trying to “censor Disney and ABC’s speech” after the agency launched an “unprecedented” early licensing review of eight ABC-owned TV stations:

• The officials are urging Carr to terminate the order, issued one day after President Trump called for Jimmy Kimmel's firing over a joke about Melania Trump

• “Through this proceeding, the FCC seeks to censor Disney’s and ABC’s speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don’t like at your peril,” they wrote in a filing issued on Tuesday. “This renewal proceeding is the latest attack in a sustained campaign by Chairman Carr and the Trump administration to threaten legal sanctions against licensees whose speech President Trump dislikes.”

https://t.co/9m2VWumdKX

[Variety @Variety]

“The Odyssey” is already one of the year’s biggest box office hits — and it still hasn’t opened in China, the world’s second-biggest moviegoing market:

• Tickets haven’t gone on sale yet in mainland China, though the ticketing agency Maoyan Pro notes the “want to see” registrations for “The Odyssey” surpassed 252,000 by July 24, ahead of every other upcoming Hollywood release that’s been tracked by the platform

• Nolan’s biggest movie in China is 2014’s sci-fi mind-bender “Interstellar” with $139M, while his recent efforts were only modest successes in the country, with “Oppenheimer” earning $61M, 2020’s time-bending “Tenet” generating $66M, and 2017’s war drama “Dunkirk” making $50M

https://t.co/91oAiwPBrF

[Variety @Variety]

“I Want Your Sex” director Gregg Araki says he’s seen the reports of Gen Z having less sex -- and he thinks younger people will “regret” not taking chances and “risking getting hurt”:

“I’m in my 60s now. You’re gonna turn around and you’re going to be 40, 50 like that. Will you regret not taking a chance, venturing out of your house, risking getting hurt, getting confused, getting your heart broken? Go out on a bad date, have that bad relationship, have that bad girlfriend. Be in love with the wrong person. That’s fucking life! That’s growing up! That’s how you learn about yourself.”

https://t.co/77oTXThH7c

[Variety @Variety]

“The Odyssey” scored an additional $90M during its second weekend at the domestic box office, inching past Sunday’s strong estimate of $87M:

• Globally, the Christopher Nolan film has soared past the $650M mark (above Sunday’s projection of $639M)

• Imax has contributed $140M of global ticket sales for “The Odyssey,” which is now the second-fastest title in the company’s history to surpass $100M, following 2019’s behemoth “Avengers: Endgame”

• “The Odyssey,” as well as next weekend’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” are basically assured to be the fourth and fifth 2026 releases to join the $1 billion club after “Toy Story 5” ($1.02B), “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($1.001B) and “Michael” ($1.001B)

https://t.co/Cz3DF8bV2y

[Variety @Variety]

Peacock will be bundled with YouTube Premium starting in early 2027, marking the NBC streamer’s biggest wholesale distribution deal to date:

• The bundle will be an addition to the existing alongside the existing YouTube Premium plan, which costs $15.99/month and includes ad-free YouTube, background play, offline downloads and YouTube Music

• Pricing has not been announced

https://t.co/MvF4FKY6gM

[Antonio Ferme @antonio_ferme]

RT @Variety: Jeff Hayes, the narrator and producer behind all eight “Dungeon Crawler Carl” books, has been cast as the voice of Princess Do…

[Variety @Variety]

With regulatory hurdles delaying Paramount’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, could the Ellisons walk away from the deal?

Here’s why Variety’s @xpangler says it's unlikely:

• Paramount would owe Warner Bros. Discovery a $7B breakup fee if it backed out

• David Ellison isn’t likely to walk away after Paramount paid $2.8B to outbid Netflix for WBD's studios and streaming assets

• The merger agreement runs through March 4, 2027, with an automatic extension to June 4, 2027, giving Ellison time to get the deal across the finish line

“You can be sure David Ellison will do whatever he can to have WBD sewn up before then,” Spangler concludes.

https://t.co/S7TKeQbUs5

[Variety @Variety]

An anonymous Oscar voter tells @ByClaytonDavis that Matt Damon "has to win" best actor for "The Odyssey."

Here's what Academy members are saying about Christopher Nolan's epic after the first FYC screenings: https://t.co/hMRYBynSp5