ABC’s ‘The Mayor’ Officially Cancelled!
ABC has officially pulled the plug on its once-promising new comedy series The Mayor. The series was unofficially canceled early this year when it was scheduled to return from hiatus, but the network pulled the remaining four episodes, airing Modern Family reruns in its Tuesday 9:30 PM slot instead.
The Mayor was chosen as the only new ABC comedy series to launch in the fall and premiered to strong reviews, backed by a big marketing campaign and featuring a charismatic young star in Brandon Micheal Hall. But it struggled to establish a foothold Tuesday. Its fall finale drew 2.8 million viewers and a 0.8 in adults 18-49 (Live+Same Day).
The Mayor, from ABC Studios, was created by Jeremy Bronson. It centered on Courtney Rose (Hall), a hip-hop artist who runs for a mayor as a publicity stunt but scores a surprise win. Lea Michele, Bernard David Jones, Marcel Spears, Yvette Nicole Brown and David Spade co-starred.
‘Black-ish’ Renewed By ABC!
Comedies “American Housewife,” “Black-ish,” and “Fresh Off the Boat” have been renewed by ABC.
Heading into its third season, “American Housewife”follows Katie Otto, a confident, unapologetic wife and mother of three, raises her flawed family in the wealthy town of Westport, Connecticut, filled with “perfect” mommies and their “perfect” offspring.
It stars Katy Mixon, Diedrich Bader, Meg Donnelly, Daniel DiMaggio, Julia Butters, Carly Hughes, and Ali Wong. Sarah Dunn wrote the series and serves as executive producer. Aaron Kaplan, Rick Wiener, and Kenny Schwartz are also executive producers. Ruben Fleischer directed and was executive producer of the pilot. Kapital Entertainment and ABC Studios produce.
The series has become a reliable part of ABC’s Wednesday comedy block, averaging a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 4.6 million viewers in Live+Same Day.
ABC has also renewed “The Goldbergs,” “The Good Doctor,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Modern Family,” “Speechless,” “Splitting Up Together,” and “Roseanne.” The network has ordered a spinoff of “The Goldbergs” for next season, along with the one-hour series “The Rookie” and “Take Two.” Earlier this week, ABC also ordered the drama series “A Million Little Things” for the 2018-2019 season as well as the single-camera comedy “Single Parents.” The network has also cancelled “Quanitco,” “Designated Survivor,” and freshman comedy “Alex Inc.”
Heading into its fifth season, “Black-ish” centers on the Johnson family, with parents Andre and Rainbow wishing to give their children the best. But their offspring’s childhood is turning out to be much different than theirs. It stars Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara Shahidi, Marcus Scribner, Miles Brown, Marsai Martin, Laurence Fishburne, Jenifer Lewis, and Peter Mackenzie. The series was created by Kenya Barris and is executive produced by Barris, Jonathan Groff, Anderson, Fishburne, Helen Sugland, E. Brian Dobbins and Corey Nickerson. The series is produced by ABC Studios.
“Black-ish” is a staple of ABC’s Tuesday comedy lineup, averaging a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 4.2 million viewers in Live+Same Day this season. The series has also been nominated for numerous awards, including eight Emmy awards. In addition, Ellis Ross won a Golden Globe for her role on the show in 2017. In January, a spinoff series centering on Shahidi’s character titled “Grown-ish” debuted on fellow Disney-owned network Freeform.
Going into its fifth season, “Fresh Off the Boat” follows 12-year-old hip-hop loving Eddie Huang and his Taiwanese family as they move from Chinatown in Washington, D.C. to suburban Orlando, Florida. Eddie struggles with assimilating into his new school and the rest of the family contends with living in an area with virtually no other Asian families.
The series stars Hudson Yang, Randall Park, Constance Wu, Forrest Wheeler, Ian Chen, Lucille Soong, and Chelsey Crisp. The series is based on the memoir of the same name by Eddie Huang. Nahnatchka Khan created the series in addition to executive producing. Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar also serve as executive producers. The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.
The series has been a stable performer for ABC on Tuesday nights, averaging a 1.0 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.8 million viewers in Live+Same Day.
Source: Variety
SALT-N-PEPA To Perform With EN VOGUE At The ‘2018 Billboard Music Awards’
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dick clark productions and NBC announced today that the legendary female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa will shoop onto the stage to perform several of their monster hits at the “2018 Billboard Music Awards!” Joining them for this one-of-a-kind special performance will be the highly celebrated female vocal group En Vogue. Salt-N-Pepa’s “2018 Billboard Music Awards” performance marks the 30th anniversary of them becoming the first female rappers to crack the Top 20 on Billboard Hot 100. The renowned group burst onto the hip-hop scene in 1987 with their debut Billboard chart hit “My Mike Sounds Nice,” and then notched their first crossover pop smash with “Push It” the following year.
“Thirty years later, we’re still Pushing It all over the world and we’re still loved and celebrated by fans we grew up with as well as new fans,” said Salt-N-Pepa. “Looking back at all the barriers we’ve broken as women in this very male dominated genre of music, being the first two female rappers to break the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 is right up there as one of the best moments of our amazing career. We are blessed.”
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Members Cheryl James (Salt), Sandra Denton (Pepa) and Deidra Roper (DJ Spinderella), with En Vogue, will join previously announced performers BTS, Camila Cabello, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, John Legend, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez, Shawn Mendes and Christina Aguilera featuring Demi Lovato, on a night filled with music’s biggest names. It was also announced earlier this week that global superstar Janet Jackson will receive this year’s ICON Award and will take the stage for a highly anticipated performance of her greatest hits, marking her first performance on television in nine years.
Hosted by “The Voice” coach Kelly Clarkson, the “2018 Billboard Music Awards” will broadcast live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 20 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on NBC. The three-hour telecast will feature performances from this year’s hottest musical acts, unexpected collaborations and buzzworthy moments that celebrate 60 years of the Billboard Hot 100. |
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Talent Billboard Chart Facts:
• Salt-N-Pepa made its Billboard chart debut in 1987 and the following year, the group scored its first pop hit with the iconic “Push It.” The track was the first rap song by a female act to hit the Top 40 (and Top 20) of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 19. After “Push It,” the trio of Cheryl (Salt) James, Sandra (Pepa) Denton and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper) exploded into the pop mainstream in the 1990s. The Grammy- winning act landed a string of Top 40-charting hits on the Hot 100 that decade with songs like “Let’s Talk About Sex,” “Do You Want Me,” “None of Your Business,” “Expression,” “Shoop” and “Whatta Man,” featuring En Vogue. The latter three cuts also reached No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart – and in 2014, Billboard ranked “Expression” as the No. 5 biggest Hot Rap Songs hit ever. The group jumped back onto the charts in 2016 after “Shoop” was used in the hit film “Deadpool.” Following the movie’s premiere, the song reached the Top 20 on both the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales and Rap Digital Song Sales charts.
• The Billboard Music Award-winning group En Vogue stormed Billboard’s charts in 1990 and 1991 as the act become the first — and still so-far only — female group to send its first three singles to No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (“Hold On,” “Lies” and “You Don’t Have to Worry”). In the 1990s, En Vogue earned six No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart — the most chart-toppers of any all-female group that decade. In 2017, Billboard ranked the act as one of the top 10 girl groups of all time. This year, En Vogue returned to the charts with their first studio album in 14 years, “Electric Café.” The album hit the Top 20 of the Independent Albums chart and the set’s lead single, “Rocket,” shot to the Top 10 of the Adult R&B Songs airplay chart. |
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About Salt-N-Pepa
With truck gold ropes around their necks and a fire in their hearts to entertain, inspire, and slay the competition— three feminine figures emerged from the shadows and kicked in the door of the male-dominated Hip-Hop industry. The legend of Salt-N-Pepa was born. Long before the days of high profile social media platforms, Salt-N-Pepa commanded the attention of millions of followers with their airtight rhyme flow, mass pop appeal, fashion, fun, and unapologetic femininity. They are the first female rap group to attain platinum status. They have sold more than 12 million albums. Their brand of girl power and strong feminine artistry changed the Hip-Hop landscape and blazed a trail for numerous female artists and groups in pop, R&B, and Hip-Hop genres. Included in their catalog of hits from five studio albums are such classics as Push It, Shoop, Whatta Man, Let’s Talk About Sex, Expression, Independent, and the Grammy Award-winning hit None of Your Business.
In recent years Salt-N-Pepa has reunited for several successful tours in the United States and abroad. In 2018, in the aftermath of a successful 30th Anniversary of the influential group, the ladies are still headlining the “I Love the 90’s Tour” and prepping for their Las Vegas residency. Salt-N-Pepa’s residency is not only a first for them it is also the first Hip-Hop residency in Las Vegas. With the success of N.W.A biopic, Straight Outta Compton, interest has resurfaced from Hollywood executives in telling the epic story of Salt-N-Pepa. There will be a Salt-N-Pepa movie, and a documentary with both deals in development. And what is sure to be sweet music to the ears of old and new fans alike, they are finally back in the studio working on new music.
Also, in 2018, C.E.O James” Jimmy” Maynes and Chief Operations officer, Tommaso Giuseppe have partnered with the legendary ladies of hip hop, Salt-N-Pepa on Eastwind Media Group (EMG!). Jimmy Maynes is a Grammy award winning music producer with a 30+ year history as an A/R executive hailing from the iconic record companies, Uptown Records, Def Jam, Jive Records and others. Tommaso Giuseppe is a former NY Nightlife promoter turned right hand to Jimmy Maynes. Powered by Salt-N-Pepa, EMG! not only manages the careers and brands of iconic pop/ hip hop & R&B artists such as Naughty By Nature, Kid N Play, ALL4ONE, Blackstreet & Case; EMG! also co-produces the hugely successful worldwide “I Love The 90s Tour” that is currently in its third year with no signs of slowing down. |
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About En Vogue
En Vogue, currently consisting of Cindy Heron-Braggs, Terry Ellis and Rhona Bennett, has sold over 20 million albums and effortlessly transitioned into the digital age, amassing over 30 million streams and over 26 million YouTube views on their top six hit singles alone: the R&B and Pop smashes “Hold On,” “Free Your Mind,” “Never Gonna Get It,” “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” “Don’t Let Go,” and “Whatta Man” feat. Salt N Pepa). The group has won seven MTV Video Music Awards, three Soul Train Awards, two American Music Awards, and received seven Grammy nominations. After 14 years En Vogue is back with their first studio album “Electric Café” that spawn the Top 10 Adult R&B Songs hit single “Rocket.”
Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue’s BBMA Giphy stickers are now available! These stickers can be found within Instagram Stories by clicking the GIF button and searching for “BBMAs.”
Nominations for the “2018 Billboard Music Awards” were announced last month on NBC’s “Today” and on a livestream from Billboard’s New York office. Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran tie for the most nominations this year with 15 each.
Voting for the two fan voted categories – Billboard Chart Achievement Award and Top Social Artist – will open on Monday, May 14 and additional details will be available soon.
“Billboard Music Awards” nominees and winners are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital song sales, streaming, radio airplay, touring and social engagement, tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound. The awards are based on the chart period of April 8, 2017 through March 31, 2018. Since 1940, the Billboard charts have been the go-to guide for ranking the popularity of artists, songs and albums, and are the ultimate measure of success in music.
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Tickets for the “2018 Billboard Music Awards” are on-sale now. To purchase tickets online, fans should go to www.axs.com.
For additional information on the “2018 Billboard Music Awards,” visit us at www.billboardmusicawards.com or check out the Billboard hub at www.billboard.com/bbma.
For the latest Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the BBMAs on social media and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #BBMAs.
Facebook: FB.com/TheBBMAs
Twitter: @BBMAs
Instagram: bbmas
Snapchat: thebbmas |
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New Lil Rel Howery Comedy Titled ‘Rel’ Officially Ordered To Series At FOX
Fox has ordered Lil Rel Howery’s self-titled comedy project to series.
“Rel” hails from writer, executive producer and star Howery, as well as writers and executive producers Kevin Barnett and Josh Rabinowitz and executive producer and showrunner Mike Scully. It sees Howery play a prideful, self-made success who lives by the code to “always believe in yourself and great things will come” but finds that attitude gets put to the test when he learns his wife his having an affair with his barber. He tries to rebuild his life post-divorce as a long-distance single father on the South Side of Chicago who’s on a quest for love, respect, and a new barber. The series is inspired by Howery’s real life.
In addition to Howery, the series will star Sinbad, Jess “Hilarious” Moore, and Jordan L. Jones. “Rel” also has Jerrod Carmichael on-board as an executive producer. Gerry Cohen directed the pilot. The series is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, where Carmichael and Scully are set up under overall deals.
The project was well-received from the get go and was considered a lock for a series pick up.
The order marks the second multi-cam project Fox has ordered thus far for the 2018-2019 season. Previously, the network ordered the retirement home comedy “The Cool Kids.” Tim Allen’s multi-cam “Last Man Standing,” which was canceled at ABC last season, is also potentially coming to Fox for a new season.
Earlier on Thursday, Fox axed its single-cam comedies “The Last Man on Earth,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “The Mick.” The broadcaster previously renewed “9-1-1,” “Empire,” “Star,” “The Resident,” “The Gifted,” “The Orville” and “The Simpsons” for the 2018-19 television lineup. The dramas “The Passage” and “Proven Innocent” have also been ordered to series. All of the shows Fox has ordered thus far hail from 20th Century Fox Television.
Source: Variety
DL Hughley Prepares To Shoot New Comedy Special Titled ‘Contrarian’ For Netflix!
Comedian and radio show host DL Hughley is taking a quick timeout to shoot a new special! According to our sources, we hear that Hughley is preparing to shoot his new comedy special titled Contrarian, in Philadelphia at The Mariam Theater on May 11th for Netflix.
As you already know, Hughley is currently on tour with Cedric The Entertainer, George Lopez, and Eddie Griffin on The Comedy Get Down Tour (which also had a quick run on BET). While touring, Hughley also finds time to continue to be an author (his latest book is titled How Not To Get Shot which debuts June 6th) while doing a daily radio broadcast nationally on The DL Hughley Show. His new special Contrarian is his sixth comedy special.
More details soon.
Ryan Coogler Would Make A Female ‘Black Panther’ Spinoff
Ryan Coogler shattered a lot of records by directing “Black Panther,” the first comic-book movie led by a primarily black cast. But during a nearly two-hour talk at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday afternoon, Coogler also revealed why it was important to break other studio-tentpole conventions.
When asked by moderator and critic Elvis Mitchell if the women of “Black Panther” were as important as the men, Coogler didn’t flinch. “I think you could argue they are more important,” he said.
Coogler went on to describe a stretch of the movie that is close to his heart (warning: minor spoilers ahead). “There’s a whole section of the film where T’Challa is out of the movie and you’re just following the women,” Coogler said about a scene where the titular hero (played by Chadwick Boseman) is left for dead and needs to be rescued. “That’s one of my favorite parts of the movie when I watched it, and I didn’t expect that.”
He explained how those scenes subverted his expectations. “That part of the movie you feel like you’re watching something fresh and new,” he said. “That part of it was exciting. We have these actresses who could easily carry their own movie,” he said, as he mentioned Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright. “Some of them have before. We were so fortunate. I would watch a movie with them!”
Would he ever do a spinoff with the ladies of “Black Panther”? “Oh man,” Coogler said. “That would be amazing if the opportunity came up. They did it in the comic-book version.”
Coogler recalled how Marvel first pitched “Black Panther” to him. “They said they wanted ‘Panther’ to feel like their James Bond, which I was excited about, because I love James Bond movies.” (He said his favorite film in the franchise is “Casino Royale.”)
“Once we realized the themes we wanted to explore, we watched different films,” Coogler continued. His list included “The Godfather,” for its relationship between fathers and sons. “Making a film about a guy who lives in a secretive country, his father dies, now he has to step into this position of power,” Coogler said. “‘The Godfather’ is one of the greatest films ever made on the same subject matter. I kind of realized the best way for me to look at ‘Black Panther’ is like a crime movie.”
He tried not to make that comparison too much. “You’re making a superhero movie. If you want to make it like ‘The Godfather,’ you sound scary. I was worried about people thinking we were aiming too high.”
Before production began, Coogler took his first trip to Africa. “I was in these Disney-approved hotels,” he said. “It felt like I was in San Francisco or something. The people who were working there seemed like my kind of people — people loading bags, the bellmen, the people working in the kitchen.”
It was crucial to him that the movie felt authentic to the continent. “We wanted the film to be an African film in all ways,” Coogler said. “Wakanda is what we could be. People call it a utopia. Some people call it a dream world or something to shoot for. The idea in Wakanda is everybody is allowed to have their fullest potential realized.”
Source: Variety
The New Jerrod Carmichael-Produced ‘Rel’ Comedy In Jeopardy!
Pilot season is in full swing with new series orders being announced each day.
Due to new developments at Fox, one comedy pilot that got early buzz may now get delayed until midseason.
Last week, it was announced that Fox was working to bring back ABC’s Last Man Standing, starring Tim Allen as a conservative husband and father. This movie was seemingly propelled by the success of the conservative Roseanne Barr on the reboot of her titular comedy series.
In a domino effect, Last Man Standing‘s probable pickup led to boosting the chances of Cool Kids, a retirement home comedy led by Vicki Lawrence, which also stars David Alan Grier. Fox sees this as a companion to Last Man Standing on the schedule (Note: As of publishing, Last Man Standing has not officially been picked up yet).
And because of this, the early comedy frontrunners, Rel and Dan the Weatherman, according to Deadline, are still be in contention at the network, but may be held until the midseason.
The potential series Rel would reunited Jerrod Carmichael and Lil Rel Howery, with Carmichael EP-ing and Howery toplining the series.
Sinbad (in what would be his first series regular role in over 20 years), Jordan L. Jones, Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore also star. It revolves around a “prideful, self-made success who lives by the code to ‘always believe in yourself and great things will come,’ who finds that attitude put to the test when he learns his wife is having an affair with his own barber. He tries to rebuild his life post-divorce as a long-distance single father on the South Side of Chicago who is on a quest for love, respect and a new barber.” Howery is writing the script and Carmichael is an EP. Mike Scully is the would-be showrunner.
Source: Shadow & Act
Spotify Removes R. Kelly’s Music From Its Playlists!
Spotify is removing R. Kelly’s music from its editorial and algorithmic playlists as part of its updated policy toward hate content and hateful conduct, the company announced today.
“We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly,” the company said in a statement. “His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to program – to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.”
The company acknowledged that Kelly is the only artist thus far to be affected by the policy. Last August Spotify removed white supremacist content from its content.
In announcing the policy (read it here), the company said: “To help us identify hate content, we have partnered with rights advocacy groups, including The Southern Poverty Law Center, The Anti-Defamation League, Color Of Change, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), GLAAD, Muslim Advocates, and the International Network Against Cyber Hate. We also built an internal content monitoring tool, ‘Spotify AudioWatch,’ which identifies content on our platform that has been flagged as hate content on specific international registers. And we listen to our users – if you think something is hate content, please let us know and we will review it carefully against our policy.”
Over the past 25 years, Kelly has been hit with multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against young and underaged women. Among others, these range from child-pornography charges (for which he was acquitted in 2008, despite a videotape that prosecutors claim shows him urinating on and having sex with a 13-year-old girl) to more recent allegations that he is running an “abusive sex cult” in which he “controls every aspect of [several women’s] lives.” Kelly has denied all of the charges. He has continued to tour and record and remains on the active roster of RCA Records, although he hasn’t released an album since 2016.
Yet WOC, the women of color branch within the #TimesUp movement, recently joined the #MuteRKelly online campaign and targeted him as their next subject after Bill Cosby’s conviction, and there are signs that the allegations are becoming too much for many people to continue to support him.
Last week his manager, publicist and entertainment attorney all confirmed they are no longer working with him (although he already has a new publicist and apparently new management) who is attempting to characterize the #TimesUp statements as “a greedy, conscious and malicious conspiracy to demean him.” John Legend, Ava DuVernay and many other celebrities have spoken out against him; several concerts, including one this weekend in his hometown of Chicago, have been cancelled due to public outcry and petitions; and RCA labelmate Jack Antonoff of Bleachers said he’s asked the company many times to drop Kelly.
Last week a veteran music-business attorney told Variety that it’s possible RCA, which has declined all comment on Kelly in recent months except for confirming to Variety in December that he is still on the label’s roster, may be allowing its contract with the singer to lapse.
Source: Variety
Cedric The Entertainer And Damon Wayans Jr. Comedy Pilots Get Series Orders At CBS
CBS is showing more determination to diversify its roster by signing off on two pilot-to-series orders on multicamera comedies starring Cedric the Entertainer and Damon Wayans Jr., as reported by multiple trade publications.
The first series, Welcome to the Neighborhood stars Cedric, Josh Lawson (House of Lies), Marcel Spears (The Mayor) and Sheaun McKinney (Snowfall). As we reported in March, the series will center around Lawson’s character Dave, “the nicest guy in the Midwest, who moves his family into a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles, where not everyone appreciates his extreme neighborliness.” Tichina Arnold (Survivor’s Remorse) will play Loretta, one of Dave’s new neighbors. She’s married to Calvin (Cedric) and is the mother of Malcolm and Marty (Spears and McKinney). Dreama Walker and Hank Greenspan round out the cast. Welcome to the Neighborhood is produced by Kapital Entertainment, directed by James Burrows and written by Jim Reynolds (The Big Bang Theory).
The second pilot, currently untitled, stars Wayans and is executive produced by Ben Winston, executive producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden. Wayans’ attachment to the project is suspected to be the biggest talent deal of this year’s pilot season. The series focuses on the time Wayans lived with One Direction’s Harry Styles, who has signed on to executive produce. According to Deadline, the show isn’t based on any real experiences or people from Wayans and Styles’ lives.
As we’ve reported, the synopsis for the series follows a couple, Peter and Claire, who “are tired of their mundane life and start to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves when an emerging pop star, who is drawn to their super-normal suburban life, moves in.” Wayans will play Peter, the business manager for young music star Cooper, played by Australian actor Felix Mallard. Amber Stevens West (The Carmichael Show) has signed on to play Peter’s wife, Claire.
Source: Shadow & Act
Sony Sets An Official Released Date For ‘Bad Boys For Life’!
Sony has given an Oct. 18, 2019, release date to the Mr. Rogers drama “You Are My Friend,” with Tom Hanks attached, and set “Bad Boys for Life” to open on Jan. 17, 2020.
“Bad Boys for Life” is the third film in the action comedy franchise, with Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as detectives in the Miami Police Department, Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey. The filmmaking team of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah is expected to direct “Bad Boys For Life,” with Jerry Bruckheimer back as producer.
The original “Bad Boys” grossed $144 million in worldwide box office and was the first major feature film hit for both Lawrence and Smith. 2003’s “Bad Boys II” generated $273 million worldwide. “Bad Boys for Life” will open during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
“Diary of a Teenage Girl” director Marielle Heller is helming “You Are My Friend” from a script by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. The film is inspired by a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and award-winning journalist Tom Junod. In the story, a cynical journalist begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write a profile piece on the beloved icon and finds his perspective on life transformed.
Big Beach Films is producing with Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf producing for the company alongside Youree Henley (“The Beguiled”). Leah Holzer of Big Beach will executive produce, along with Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster. The project originated from a true story developed by Fitzerman-Blue and Harpster, first appearing on the Black List in 2013.
Source: Variety
