Exec Shuffle For 4/4/16: Lionsgate Partnering with Kevin Hart, David Kosse Named President of STX Int’l, WWE Inks Deal with Snapchat
In other news, Mattel places content production under one umbrella with a new division, Paramount gets a new President of Domestic Distribution, Bond movie producer Barbara Broccoli has been named BAFTA’s VP for Film, and plenty more. Click the link to read on. (SSN)
CW President Mark Pedowitz Signs Deal to Stay With Network
Exec has signed a deal to continue as president of the broadcast network. Specifics of the agreement are not known, but it covers multiple years. Since joining the CW, Pedowitz has pushed to broaden its audience, shifting away from the targeted focus on young female viewers favored by his predecessor, Dawn Ostroff. In 2011, when Pedowitz took over the network, the CW’s audience was 70% female and 30% male. This season, the audience is 52% female and 48% male. (VAR)
John Steinbeck Heirs Now Feuding Over Steven Spielberg ‘Grapes of Wrath’ Adaptation
Over the years, major Hollywood studios have flirted with making new adaptations of the author’s major works. But the long-running, messy dispute among his heirs has provided a headache for any film producer daring to move forward. On Friday, new court papers were filed that put alleged interference on movie deals front-and-center, including a Steven Spielberg adaptation of Grapes of Wrath potentially starring Daniel Day-Lewis. (HESQ)
Warner Bros. ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Movie Takes a Big Step Forward
Goosebumps director Rob Letterman has been hired to helm the adaptation, will be working from a screenplay by David Leslie Jones. This is the script that previously went under the name Chainmail and was actually originally based on another, more obscure property by D&D creator Gary Gygax. (EMP)
What Was Rumored Has Now Been Confirmed: Dave Bautista Joins the Cast Of ‘Blade Runner 2’
Guardians of the Galaxy and Spectre star will join Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford and Robin Wright in an important supporting role in Alcon Entertainment’s sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece. Director Denis Villeneuve is directing from a script by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in July. (SF)
Today In TV Adaptation News: ‘Speedy Gonzales’ Eyed As Animated Feature At Warner Bros.
The fastest mouse in all of Mexico may be on its way to the big screen, as the beloved Looney Tunes mouse who can outrun the fastest of cats and whose Arriba! Arriba! Andale! Andale! cry was a Saturday morning staple for kids growing up in the 1960s, is being eyed as an animated feature at the studio with Mexico’s own beloved filmmaker/actor Eugenio Derbez voicing the mouse. (DH)
‘Blue Ruin’ & ‘Green Room’ Director Jeremy Saulnier Reportedly Directing Post-Edward Snowden Thriller ‘Defection’
Director is reportedly slated to helm the film for 20th Century Fox, based on the 1973 book The Defection of A.J. Lewinter by Robert Littell. Black List script by Ken Nolan follows an intelligence contractor who defects to North Korea, taking a mysterious bag with him, with the CIA hiring an expert trained during the Cold War to help with the case. (TP)
Following In the Footsteps Of AMC and Now BCC America, HBO Will Have Its Own Post-‘Game Of Thrones’ Talk Show
After the Thrones, a weekly show that takes a lively, humorous and sophisticated look at the hit series, will debut this month, after the April 24th season premiere of Season Six. The first show to spring from HBO’s new partnership with Bill Simmons, show will be hosted by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan from The Ringer, Simmons’ new content site. (CS)
Your Creative Calendar For April: 99 Things To Do, Hear and See This Month
Winter is not coming for a while, but its most famous prognosticator, Game of Thrones, is indeed coming back soon and welcoming us into full-throttle springtime. It won’t be alone either. HBO’s unstoppable Sunday night also features Veep and Silicon Valley. Along with these stellar shows, April will be showering us all with the first Key& Peele movie, new music from M83 and Katy B, and a bingeable bundle of new Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episodes. (FCC)
Trailer Buzz: ‘Swiss Army Man’
A24 has released the first look at the Sundance Film Festival Directing Prize winner, starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheiner. It hits theaters in limited release June 17th. (IW)