North Road Company launch / Evans joins "Pain Hustlers" / "Night Sky" canceled / "Beauty and the Beast Live"

Plus today's calendar, "Rap Sh!t," "Black Cake" casting, "Lord of the Rings" teaser, "Unprecedented" doc, and more

Inside.com Part of   Network July 06, 2022

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Peter Chernin, co-founder of The Chernin Group, announced plans to roll three content studios up into a new mega-venture, known as The North Road Company. The new company will unite "Ford v. Ferrari" studio Chernin Entertainment; ESPYs producers Words + Pictures; and "Love is Blind" makers Red Arrow Studios. More: Chernin had previously backed Words + Pictures, which was launched with former ESPN executive Connor Schell; North Road picked up Red Arrow as its first acquisition for $180 million. The new company is apparently looking to make further acquisitions. North Road secured $800 million in total financing, mostly from the private equity firms Apollo and Providence Equity Partners. Chernin, who will serve as CEO of North Road, told THR that he planned to focus on producing original "high-quality content," as opposed to acquiring pre-existing brands. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

According to Deadline, Chris Evans is nearing a deal to join the cast of the Netflix drama "Pain Hustlers." Emily Blunt will star in the film as a high-school dropout and single mom who achieves financial success as a pharmaceutical rep, before finding herself at the center of a vast criminal conspiracy. More: "Harry Potter" and "Fantastic Beasts" vet David Yates is attached to direct the film, from a script by fiction writer Wells Tower. Production on the film is slated to begin in August. Evans will next be seen in the Netflix action-thriller "The Gray Man" opposite Ryan Gosling. DEADLINE

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DAILY CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, JULY 6 BIG BROTHER: In this reality competition mainstay, a group of HouseGuests live together under constant surveillance, never interacting with the outside world, for a shot at a $750,000 grand prize. The series returns to CBS (and Paramount+) on Wednesday night for its 24th season. Julie Chen Moonves hosts. [Paramount+] THE CHALLENGE: USA: Debut CBS reality competition series, spun off from MTV's "The Challenge." 14 cast members from previous CBS reality shows -- including "Survivor," "Big Brother," "Love Island," and "The Amazing Race" -- will face off series of brutal and constantly-evolving games for a shot at a $500,000 grand prize. The winners will then progress to "The Challenge: Global Championship," where they'll compete against top competitors from other countries. TJ Lavin hosts. [Paramount+] MAGGIE: Debut romantic comedy series from "Life in Pieces" vets Justin Adler and Maggie Mull, starring Rebecca Rittenhouse as a young psychic whose predictive powers make dating more complicated. All 13 Season 1 episodes come to Hulu today. [Hulu] GIRL IN THE PICTURE: True crime documentary from "Abducted in Plain Sight" vet Skye Borgman, examining the case of Sharon Marshall, a promising engineering student whose life was upended by her homicidal, fugitive father. The film is based on the books "A Beautiful Child" and "Finding Sharon" by investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck. [Netflix] HELLO, GOODBYE, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN: 2022 drama feature, based on the novel by Jennifer E. Smith, about a high school couple (Jordan Fisher and Talia Ryder) who revisit the major events of their relationship during one epic final date before college. Ayo Edebiri, Jennifer Robertson, Julia Benson, Sarah Grey, and Em Haine co-star. [Netflix] CONTROL Z: Spanish-language teen thriller series from Mexico, about anonymous hackers who trigger a crisis at the country's Colegio Nacional by revealing secrets about prominent students. The third and final season comes to Netflix today. [Netflix] UNCLE FROM ANOTHER WORLD: Debut anime series, based on the manga by Hotondoshindeiru, about a teen whose video game-loving uncle recovers from a 17-year coma with supernatural powers but no clue about life in today's world. [Netflix] KING OF STONKS: Six-part comedy-drama series from Germany, inspired by real events, starring Felix Armand as a greedy, power-hungry programmer who's willing to do whatever it takes to grow his startup fintech company, Cable Cash. The series comes from "How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)" vets Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. [Netflix] PJ MASKS: The animated Disney Channel series centers on three kids who transform into superheroes when they put on their pajamas and activate their special animal amulets. 8 new episodes, part of the show's 5th overall season, come to Disney+ today. [Disney+]

Amazon canceled the sci-fi drama series "Night Sky" after a single season. All eight episodes of the series -- which was co-produced with Legendary Television -- debuted on the Prime Video service on May 20. More: J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek co-star as a couple who discover a portal to a strange, deserted alien world in their backyard, and keep it as a secret between themselves for many years. As a marketing gimmick, Amazon beamed the show's pilot episode into space, setting a new record for the furthest from Earth that any TV show has been distributed, and making Prime Video the first streamer to beam content into the cosmos. "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" vet Holden Miller created the series; Daniel C. Connolly ("The Son") served as showrunner. DEADLINE

"Beauty and the Beast: Side by Side" ABC announced a live musical special based on Disney's "Beauty and Beast," which will air on the network on December 15. The two-hour special, combining live-action and animation, will feature an original cast, and comes from executive producer Jon M. Chu ("In the Heights"). More: The special will come to Disney+ on December 16. ABC's "The Little Mermaid Live" director Hamish Hamilton will return for the new special. "Beauty and the Beast" debuted in US theaters in 1991 and became the first animated feature in history to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Chu is also working on a feature adaptation of the Broadway musical "Wicked" for Universal and an animated film based on the Dr. Seuss book "Oh, the Places You'll Go." HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

HBO Max shared a new full-length trailer for the comedy-drama series "Rap Sh!t," from creator Issa Rae. Aida Osman and KaMillion co-star as estranged high school friends who reunite in Miami and form their own rap duo. More: Rae produced the show and wrote some episodes along with creator and showrunner Syreeta Singleton, with whom she previously collaborated on HBO's "Insecure." KaMillion is a Florida rapper and songwriter who has previously appeared on the reality series "Love and Hip Hop"; she won a Grammy for her work on R&B artist H.E.R.'s self-titled 2019 album. "Rap Sh!t" debuts on HBO Max on July 21. AV CLUB

Ashley Thomas grabbed the male lead role in the Hulu drama series "Black Cake." The series is based on the novel by Charmaine Wilkerson; "Women of the Movement" vet Marissa Jo Cerar scripted the adaptation. More: Thomas and Adrienne Warren co-star as siblings whose estranged mother dies and leaves them a flash drive, relating the complicated life story she'd kept hidden from them both for years. Mia Isaac will appear in flashbacks as a younger version of the mother, who fled Jamaica for the US in the 1960s. Oprah Winfrey will executive produce the series through her company, Harpo Films. Thomas recently co-starred in the ITV/BritBox limited series "The Ipcress File." "The Old Man" and "The Girl from Plainville" vet Zetna Fuentes will direct the pilot episode. DEADLINE

Amazon posted another brief teaser for the hotly-anticipated fantasy drama series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." A 15-second clip, posted to YouTube, leads viewers to a Prime Video page with an extended 60-second trailer. More: The full 60-second version is only available for Prime Video subscribers. The full trailer features some glimpses of key characters from the series, including Sadoc Burrows (Lenny Henry), High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker), and Aronir (Ismael Cruz Córdova), along with recognizable legacy "Lord of the Rings" characters such as Elrond (Robert Aramayo) and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark). Few details about the show's full plotline have been released; the series is set thousands of years before the action of "The Hobbit" or "The Lord of the Rings," during Middle-earth's Second Age. Another trailer is apparently coming on July 14; the series premieres on Prime Video on September 2. POLYGON

The three-part political documentary "Unprecedented" premieres on Discovery+ on Sunday, July 10. The film features footage of former President Donald Trump and members of his inner circle during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and has been subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the attack. More: Director Alex Holder testified before the House Jan. 6 committee last month. Though he declined to discuss specifics about his testimony with Deadline, Holder said that his footage contains "the clearest version of that day that has been seen." The documentary also includes Donald Trump's final interview as President from the White House. Holder's previous film -- "Keep Quiet" -- profiled a conservative Hungarian leader who had stirred controversy by making anti-Semitic remarks; that film premiered at Tribeca in 2016. DEADLINE

QUICK HITS End your expense reporting nightmares; get $100 to see how dreamy it can be.* Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris lowered the investment bank's stock price target once more for Paramount Global, forecasting slower revenue growth in Q2, but still rates the company as a "buy." The latest animated Ninja Turtles series -- "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" -- hits Netflix on August 5. "Ozark" regular Marc Menchaca signed on to co-star in the Apple TV+ limited series "The Big Cigar"; the series is based on a Playboy article about how Hollywood producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) helped Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton (André Holland) elude a nationwide FBI manhunt and escape to Cuba. Netflix dropped a trailer for "Darlings," the upcoming Hindi-language dark comedy feature from star and producer Alia Bhatt ("RRR"). Disney changed the title of the Marvel series "Jessica Jones" over to "A.K.A. Jessica Jones," to match the naming scheme from the individual episodes; the show was part of Netflix's "Defenders Saga" of Marvel Comics adaptations which have since moved over to Disney+. *This is sponsored content

Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." Editor Jonathan Harris is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles.

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