Sony Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Pat Sajak‘s final run on Wheel of Fortune is quickly coming to a close. After four decades as host of the iconic game show, Sajak’s final episode will air on Friday, June 7, Deadline has confirmed.

Naman Ramachandran Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Indian media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, is trimming the organization’s workforce by 15%. “In line with his overall strategic approach, the MD and CEO has initiated the process of rationalization of the workforce by 15%, that will prune the staff strength across the company to arrive at a streamlined team that is sharply focused on the set goals for the future,” Zee said in a statement on Friday.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television has finalized a new licensing deal with Paramount Global for comedy series The King of Queens to continue to be available on Paramount linear cable networks. The new pact also includes for the first time streaming rights on Paramount+ for all nine seasons and on Pluto TV for some (currently Seasons 1-3).

Kristen Dunst isn’t letting the pressures of Hollywood get to her.

EXCLUSIVE: Verve continues to bolster its core business with the hire of former A3 TV literary agent Jillian Holch,

Spider-Man film with Tobey Maguire – see what he had to say below.Raimi – who directed the original Spider-Man trilogy between 2000 and 2007 starring Tobey Maguire as the titular wall-crawling superhero – has been linked to rumours of a fourth film for some time now.While attending WonderCon recently, Raimi spoke with CBR about the rumours, saying that he’s read about fan speculation online, but that he hasn’t heard anything official from Marvel or Columbia Pictures."I haven't heard about that yet": Sam Raimi tells CBR's @djkevlar that fans shouldn't take those Spider-Man 4/Tobey Maguire rumors too seriously. pic.twitter.com/qbvrzKmAt0— CBR (@CBR) April 1, 2024“Well, I haven’t heard about that yet,” Raimi said. “I did read that, but I’m not actually working on it yet.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Rumors always seem to be swirling on social media that Sam Raimi is going to reunite with Tobey Maguire and direct a fourth “Spider-Man” movie. The duo jump-started a blockbuster age for comic book movies with 2002’s “Spider-Man” and delivered the genre one of its most acclaimed entries with 2004’s “Spider-Man 2.” Although 2007’s “Spider-Man 3” wasn’t a hit with critics, it still pulled in $895 million worldwide to become Raimi and Maguire’s biggest entry. There was a time when Raimi was developing a “Spider-Man 4” at Sony, with Tobey Maguire back in the title role.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures has raised Maia Eyre to SVP of Creative Development at Columbia Pictures.

Sony is opening Miramax’s Here stateside as a platform release, going ro NYC and LA on Nov. 15, then a limited break on Nov. 22, followed by a wide opening on Nov. 27.

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with an expansive retrospective titled The Lady with the Torch, mounted in collaboration with the studio’s parent company, Sony. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is set to celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with a retrospective featuring classic titles spawned by the Hollywood studio between the dawn of sound and the late 1950s. The Locarno retro, titled “The Lady With the Torch –– The Centenary of Columbia Pictures,” is being curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past and organized in partnership with Switzerland’s Cinémathèque Suisse.

The Jackson family feud is heating up…

Austin Butler is taking on a new role.

Katcy Stephan Sony Pictures has acquired Darren Aronofsky’s crime thriller “Caught Stealing,” which will star Austin Butler. The film follows Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild fight for survival in the downtown criminal underworld of ‘90s NYC. “I am excited to be teaming up with my old friends at Sony Pictures to bring Charlie’s adrenaline-soaked roller coaster ride to life.

EXCLUSIVE: After strong start to 2024 with Masters of the Air and Dune Part 2, Oscar-nominee Austin Butler is looking to build on that success and is teaming up with another Oscar-nominated director. Sources tell Deadline Butler is set to star in Academy Award nominee Darren Aronofsky’s (The Whale, Black Swan) crime thriller Caught Stealing for Sony Pictures. The studio recently landed the package which is based on the book by Charlie Huston. The script will be written by Huston with Protozoa producing.

Amazon shoppers are hailing a portable Bluetooth speaker they say is 'well worth the money' - so much so a shopper bought three.

Netflix has slotted Friday, April 12 for the premiere of Good Times, the animated series reboot of the late Norman Lear‘s groundbreaking TV sitcom. We’re also getting a first look in the trailer above.

The new trailer for Bad Boys 4 is out now!

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UTA announced Eric Iverson as chief technology officer, where he will lead information-technology strategy — joining the company as artificial intelligence and other tech developments are threatening to disrupt the industry. Most recently, Iverson served as director of product strategy Amazon MGM Studios, where he led product, user experience and AI efforts, and before that was chief technologist for media and entertainment in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) division.

Ghostbusters movie, has said that the all-female reboot was “disappointing”.Hudson, who has reprised his role as Winston Zeddemore in the new Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, shared his opinion on the 2016 film in a recent interview.Speaking with The Independent, Hudson praised the film’s director and the cast, which featured Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, for their “brilliantly funny” performance. However, he did have some criticisms of the movie.“Fans were really invested in the story and the characters and I think it was disappointing.

Jaden Thompson Sony Pictures has just released the trailer for “Bad Boys 4,” starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The film’s official title is “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” This is the fourth film in the popular action-comedy franchise that debuted in 1995, when Smith and Lawrence first teamed up as Miami PD detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, who investigate illegal drug trading in Miami.

EXCLUSIVE: In the wake of the $216M-plus global grossing success of Anyone But You, Sony is going to keep this romcom train going. We hear that TriStar Pictures has preemptively acquired Brenda Hsueh’s high concept romantic comedy Man’s Best Friend.

EXCLUSIVE: Following a competitive auction, Sony Pictures has landed the highly-coveted spec How To Save A Marriage from Ross Evans with Robert Pattinson on board to produce. Evans penned the script and Pattinson’s producing partner Brighton McCloskey via their Icki Eneo Arlo banner will join as producer along with Geoff Shaevitz and Evan Silverberg via Entertainment 360.

Michael Jackson’s son, Bigi, has taken his grandmother to court in an attempt to prevent her from using funds from his father’s estate as part of a legal battle.Bigi – whose legal name is Prince Michael Jackson III, and is also known as Blanket – has requested that Katherine Jackson be prevented from using the funds to finance her legal battle against executors.Attorneys have said that Katherine’s legal services requests do not benefit the estate, so a judge should not approve them (per USA Today).It comes after reports emerged last week that the late pop legend’s son was filing a legal injunction against his grandmother.The filing was thought to be in response to Katherine’s opposition of the recent landmark deal the estate made with Sony to sell half of Michael’s music catalogue for $600million (£475million).The deal is expected to be the biggest-ever valuation of an artist’s music assets, with sources valuing it at between $1.2billion and $1.5billion in total (£950million – £1.19billion).Bigi previously claimed that he and Katherine presented their arguments against the deal, but ultimately the court ruled against them – which seemingly brought the legal issue to a close.However, a filing states that “despite the expense and long odds, Katherine decided to pursue an appeal.”The court filing said the Sony deal was “of paramount significance to Bigi, both financially and personally”, who has decided to move on from the court dispute.Katherine had previously told the court that Michael never wanted his music catalogue to be sold.Last week, Billboard reported that Katherine Jackson has received more than $55million (£43.5million) since the singer’s death in June 2009, according to claims from Michael Jackson’s estate

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is on top!

Jordan Moreau Ghostbusting is back at the box office! “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the fifth and latest movie in the frightening franchise, has made $4.7 million at the box office in Thursday previews. Sony and Columbia Pictures’ new movie, which reunites the original stars of the ’80s classic and the cast from the 2021 “Afterlife” sequel, is expected to top the box office this weekend with an opening between $43 million and $45 million. That launch is in line with the previous film that revived the franchise, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which had a $45 million opening amid the pandemic.

Two members of the Jackson family are in a bitter legal battle over Michael Jackson’s estate!

Mark Sutherland The IFPI Global Music Report has long been viewed as the definitive snapshot of the international music industry’s health (or otherwise). After all, the global recorded music industry trade body’s report has chronicled both the industry’s long, painful period of physical decline and celebrated its streaming-led return to growth.But the publication of its 2024 report — launched Thursday at a press conference in London — felt like one of those years when the numbers are slightly lagging behind the real story of what’s happening in the industry.The statistics, certainly, paint an almost across-the-board picture of a business in good health.

Rumored to be playing the next James Bond (by the same U.K. tabloid that said Cillian Murphy was the favorite last week and that Paul Mescal was a lock before that, insert eye roll here), Aaron Taylor Johnson is railing against Hollywood in a new Rolling Stone UK interview.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Sony will release a new animated short titled “The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story” on Sony Pictures Animation’s YouTube channel at 6 a.m. PT on March 27.