Apple's movie plans / TikTok congressional testimony / "Perfect Couple" casting / "Bridgerton" prequel series trailer

Plus today's calendar, "Outlander" Season 7 split in half, another "Outer Banks" lawsuit, Bloys on "White Lotus 3," and more

Inside.com Part of   Network March 23, 2023

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Apple's "CODA" According to Bloomberg, Apple plans to spend $1 billion a year on original, theatrically released films in an effort to raise its Hollywood profile and expand awareness of Apple TV+. The report indicates that Apple has approached film studios about potentially partnering on some upcoming titles. More: Upcoming Apple films already on the schedule include the Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration "Killers of the Flower Moon," the spy thriller "Argylle," and Ridley Scott's biopic about Napoleon. Currently, Apple TV+ has around 20-40 million subscribers, far fewer than major rivals like Netflix and Disney+. Theater chain stocks jumped on Thursday following the report's publication. Deadline also reported on Thursday that Apple is considering a bid for streaming rights to English Premier League soccer games. BLOOMBERG

Shou Zi Chew TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before a US congressional committee on Thursday to address mounting national security concerns about the social media and video sharing app. TikTok's parent company ByteDance is a Chinese company with considerable ties to the the country's government. More: In her opening statement, Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said that "TikTok has repeatedly chosen a path for more control, more surveillance and more manipulation." Chew denied that TikTok poses any security risk for the US and stressed that "ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country." Though ByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs in China in 2012, currently 60% of the company is owned by global institutional investors, such as the Carlyle Group. Currently, TikTok has around 150 million US users. AP NEWS

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DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, MARCH 23 THE NIGHT AGENT: Debut action-thriller series from "The Shield" and "Lie to Me" vet Shawn Ryan, based on the novel by Matthew Quirk. Gabriel Basso stars as an FBI agent who learns of the existence of a high-level Russian mole working at the White House, and embarks on a desperate search for the traitor. Luciane Buchanan, Hong Chau, D.B. Woodside, and Eve Harlow co-star. [Netflix] FURIES: Martial arts action-thriller film from Vietnam, serving as a prequel to the 2019 film "Furie." Veronica Ngo co-wrote, directs, and stars as one of three women taking on a brutal and abusive criminal gang in '90s Saigon. [Netflix] JOHNNY: Drama feature from Poland, inspired by a true story, starring Piotr Trojan as a former criminal sentenced by court order to work at a hospice, who forms a meaningful friendship with the compassionate priest (Dawid Ogrodnik) that runs the place. [Netflix] THE REAL HOUSEWIVES: ULTIMATE GIRLS TRIP: The reality series -- bringing together veterans of Bravo's "Real Housewives" shows for exotic international travel -- returns to Peacock for a third season, sending the ladies on a fabulous Thailand getaway. Cast members include Leah McSweeney, Porsha Williams, Whitney Rose, Heather Gay, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Gizelle Bryant, Alexia Nepola, and Marysol Patton. [Peacock] THE LESSON IS MURDER: True-crime docuseries from ABC News in which former FBI special agent and psychological criminologist Dr. Bryanna Fox and her class of graduate students evaluate and study convicted murderers in order to develop personality profiles, hopefully making future killers easier to catch. [Hulu] CALL JANE: 2022 period drama feature, inspired by real history, starring Elizabeth Banks as a suburban housewife in the 1960s with a life-threatening pregnancy. Ignored by the medical establishment, she discovers The Janes, an underground network of women who arrange illegal abortions for strangers in need. Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Kate Mara, and Wunmi Mosaku co-star; "Carol" screenwriter Phyllis Nagy directed. [Hulu] ONLY YOU: AN ANIMATED SHORTS COLLECTION: A collection of 12 animated short films produced by a diverse collection of independent artists, all inspired by the prompt "What's a story that only you can tell?" [HBO Max]

Kidman, Schreiber, Fahy, Fanning, Hewson, and Reynor A number of actors are circling the Netflix limited series "The Perfect Couple," from "Bird Box" and "The Undoing" vet Susanne Bier. Cast members currently in negotiations to join the project include Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Meghann Fahy, Dakota Fanning, Eve Hewson, and Jack Reynor. More: The six-episode series -- based on a novel by Elin Hilderbrand -- was originally developed at Fox before moving over to Netflix. The story centers on the discovery of a dead body just hours before the "wedding of the year," turning all the guests into potential suspects. Kidman and Bier previously collaborated on HBO's limited series "The Undoing"; Bier has also worked with Fanning on Showtime's political drama series "The First Lady." DEADLINE

Netflix posted the full trailer for the "Bridgerton" prequel series starring India Amarteifio as young Queen Charlotte. "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" arrives on May 4. More: The series centers on Queen Charlotte's rise to power, including her engagement and marriage to King George (Corey Mylchreest). Arsema Thomas and Michelle Fairley co-star as younger versions of Lady Danbury and Princess Augusta. The creative team includes a number of "Bridgerton" regulars, including executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers and director Tom Verica. "Bridgerton" ranks among Netflix's most popular shows of all time; when Season 2 debuted in April 2022, it had the most-watched premiere week of any English-language series to date. TV LINE

Starz announced on Thursday that the upcoming seventh season of "Outlander" will consist of two eight-episode halves. The first chunk of the season will debut on June 16, with Part 2 following in 2024. More: Back in January, Starz renewed "Outlander" through Season 8, which will be its last. Regulars Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, John Bell, Sophie Skelton, and Richard Rankin all return for the new episodes, alongside newcomers Joey Phillips and Izzy Miekle-Small. A prequel series, "Blood of My Blood," is also in development at Starz. EW

TMZ reports that author Jeff Wilson filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging that the YA series "Outer Banks" draws heavily from his 2013 novel "Queen Anne's Revenge." Both the book and series revolve around friends searching for an infamous lost treasure near the outer banks of North Carolina. More: Wilson is suing the streamer for copyright infringement, claiming there are too many similarities between the series and his book to be coincidental. Another novelist, Kevin Wooten, previously filed suit against "Outer Banks" making similar claims about his 2016 novel; that case was dismissed after a judge found insufficient evidence to proceed. TMZ

QUICK HITS Take your Google Cloud knowledge to the next level with The GCP Cookbook! Discover self-contained recipes for seamless cloud computing.* Speaking at the French "Series Mania" festival, HBO content chief Casey Bloys revealed that he knows Mike White's pitch for Season 3 of "The White Lotus," and confirmed that casting is currently underway. The Orange Country District Attorney's office dismissed domestic violence charges against "Rick & Morty" co-creator and star Justin Roiland, citing insufficient evidence; Roiland pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence. The next entry in Disney+'s "Descendants" film series, "Rise of Red," will feature Brandy Norwood and Paolo Montalban reprising their roles as Cinderella and Prince Charming from the beloved 1997 TV movie "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella." HBO released a trailer for "Angel City," a three-part docuseries about the National Women's Soccer League and LA's team, Angel City Football Club; team co-founder Natalie Portman executive produced the series. Neil Patrick Harris will reprise his role as Barney Stinson from "How I Met Your Mother" on the upcoming mid-season finale of Hulu's spinoff, "How I Met Your Father." Netflix dropped a trailer for "XO, Kitty," a 10-episode series spun off from the streamer's "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" films; the show centers on teen matchmaker Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart), who considers a move to Korea to reunite with her long-distance boyfriend. Wind River Learning Subscription: Get an in-depth embedded software education for $3,600.* *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 Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is the author of "Things You Can Do," an illustrated book about climate action. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade.

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