First Pass

94 stories from 15 sources

Franchise expansion meets streaming pressure and creative repositioning

Day’s Recap

Supporting Articles

Netflix is laying off about 1,000 employees while removing several senior leaders in content and film. Executives reassured investors that the company remains healthy, but the cuts point to pressure across product, technology, legal and content operations.

9:00 AMThe Verge

Several Marvel post-credits scenes introduced characters, conflicts, or alternate realities that have not yet received follow-up. The unresolved teases span the studio’s Multiverse Saga and remain unanswered as new projects continue to arrive.

6:16 PMPolygon

Disney Plus is developing a new “Darkwing Duck” series, bringing back crime fighter Drake Mallard. The project revives the animated character roughly 35 years after the original show debuted.

7:33 PMPolygon

Aaron Paul has a brief cameo in DC’s ‘Clayface,’ the studio’s first R-rated horror film. Director James Watkins has explained why the ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Westworld’ actor appears in the movie.

8:26 PMIGN

“Clayface” reaches toward body horror through its mutable, mud-like protagonist and grotesque physical imagery. The review finds that the film approaches this territory too cautiously to fully realize its premise.

12:37 PMNPR Arts

Macklemore launched a new tour with public support for Palestine, saying that “being human is not complicated.” The tour is explicitly framed around the Free Palestine message.

7:25 PMAl Jazeera

Other Developments

A curated list of other prominent stories from this day.

Bill Maher’s recent White House dinner with President Trump, Kid Rock and Stephen A. Smith has complicated his public posture toward Trumpworld. Trump has suggested that Maher’s on-air criticism is largely performative and that the HBO host ultimately likes him.

10:27 PMVariety

Kartik Aaryan’s upcoming action drama ‘Captain India’ is set during the Houthi conflict in Yemen and draws on a real humanitarian evacuation. Aaryan plays a pilot who leads the rescue, marking his first role as an aviator, with Shimit Amin directing.

10:26 PMVariety

Kenneth Atchity, the producer of ‘The Meg’ and a veteran literary agent, has died at 82. He produced more than 30 films, wrote over 20 books, negotiated publishing and entertainment deals, and published hundreds of titles through Story Merchant Books.

8:59 PMVariety

Zendaya is reportedly planning a Best Actress Oscar campaign for her performance as Chani in “Dune: Part III.” The move sets the category in which the film will position her during awards season.

6:18 PMIGN

Sacha Baron Cohen has revived Ali G for a new film, “Ali G: Who Iz I?,” opening in theaters before its Oct. 30 release on Amazon Prime. In discussing the character and his political work, Cohen said Donald Trump has “elements of brilliance” and was too easily dismissed as unintelligent.

6:18 PMVariety

A follow-up to Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” is reportedly in development with Aaron Guzikowski, writer of “Prisoners,” attached. The project would continue the story of the 2017 film.

6:15 PMIGN

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