Our biggest story of the week was about a movie nobody can see. Matthew Frank went inside the strange saga of Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Kendrick Lamar’s Paramount musical about slavery reparations — a film that he uncovered has a budget of $100 million, even as the studio leaves it undated.
Matthew spoke to insiders about the ballooning costs, creative conflicts and long delays on the project — which features original music by Lamar — and why its subject matter could become even more complicated as Paramount pursues Warner Bros. Discovery and David Ellison puts his stamp on the company.
Up North, Team Ankler is out in force at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Katey Rich and Christopher Rosen are sitting down with the fest’s top stars — Sebastian Stan, Naomi Watts, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott and more. Check out Austin Hargrave’s stunning portraits below and in our TIFF Dailies. Subscribe to @TheAnkler YouTube for Katey and Chris’ exclusive interviews and live daily updates — plus their live Emmy Awards watchalong on Monday starting at 4:30 p.m. PT — and follow our Instagram for everything happening behind the scenes (including cameos from Richard Rushfield and Sean McNulty). On Monday, don’t miss Katey’s Prestige Junkie Live on the TIFF stage with Cannes best director winners Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi — aka Los Javis — to discuss their Netflix drama, La Bola Negra.
Meanwhile, in the South of France: French President Emmanuel Macron invited some of Hollywood’s most powerful figures for a private summit on the future of cinema. Donna Langley, Ted Sarandos, Dana Walden, Tom Rothman — and our own Janice Min — flew in for the day’s sessions around the impact of AI and other forces threatening the art form. Claire Atkinson captured it all, including her own interview with George Clooney about Big Tech’s outsize influence on entertainment and media.
Back here in L.A., you’ll find The Ankler at Tuesday’s Unscripted Summit, where Like & Subscribe‘s Natalie Jarvey will sit one on one with Wheelhouse CEO Brent Montgomery and Elaine Low will lead a panel on microseries.
Now, ICYMI, the rest of our best of the week:
Series Business
↑ Mike Schur & J.J. Philbin: Streaming Rules ‘Broke’ Comedy Lesley Goldberg chats with the Dig duo, who explain streaming’s binge-or-die math, decline of the hangout show and the mystery engine powering Amy Poehler’s latest.
TV in 3: Spider-Man TV Is Alive — Sony and Amazon Weigh 4 New Scripts Lesley scoops post-Spider-Noir plans, the strange wait for Lanterns season 2 and P-Valley takes on Harry Potter.
Richard Rushfield
↑ The 6 Worst People You’ll Meet During Fall Festival Season A field guide to the scandal hunters, ovation timers and insta-critics preps you on the vile species drowning out the movies.
I Watched the Towers Fall. Hollywood Has Never Felt the Same Since In NYC 25 years ago for a wedding, Richard never shook the dread that followed — or the sense the culture and industry were forever changed by it.
NFL-Hallmark Meet Cute
↑ The NFL Has a Rom-Com Strategy Ashley Cullins goes inside Hallmark Channel’s three-movie experiment to super-serve the other half of the league’s 250 million fans.
Reel AI
↑ Yes, Robots Are Coming for Sports Amazon, Google and Apple have robotics divisions, and Erik Barmack believes they could build sports leagues they now spend billions to rent.
Prestige Junkie
↑ Andrew Garfield Played Sam Altman. Then Came the Peasants’ Revolt The actor tells Katey Rich about starring as OpenAI’s boss in Artificial before making The Uprising, opposite characters on the “what-it-is-to-be-a-human” spectrum:
7 Big TIFF Questions I’m Asking This Week The Oscar race is set to get noisy in Toronto. Here’s what Katey is watching — from Club Kid and I Play Rocky to Julianne Moore.
Final Emmys Picks: Widow’s Bay, The Pitt — and a Monster Upset Katey and Christopher Rosen dissect why the wild limited series race just might have one final surprise in store on Monday.
The Wakeup
Summer is in the books, and Sean dishes out his major takeaways — from which IP worked and which didn’t, to whether Hollywood will ever figure out comedy again:
Thursday → ☀️ Summer ’26 Box Office Winners, Losers & Lessons
Wednesday → ☀️ NETFLIX’s Next Big Theatrical Step
Sunday → ☀️ Box Office 🤏 to New Summer Record
Podcasts
Ankler Agenda
Janice takes Elaine and Sean inside President Macron’s summit, where Sarandos, Walden and more Hollywood power players attended — very quietly:
Like & Subscribe
New from Natalie Jarvey’s creator economy newsletter:
↑ Fox Bets on Josh Richards to Build Gen Z’s ‘Frat Pack’ — Inside the Deal
The Optionist
Andy Lewis’ latest IP picks:
↑ A Fresh Dark Academia Spin That Blends Buffy With Tell Me Lies
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