Welcome to B.H.โs Screen Time, where every week, weโll give you the cliff notes on whatโs happening in the entertainment industry. From various stages of development chatter and our take on the newest releases, to a fun throwback worth revisiting, think of it as an insiderโs digest meets movie club.
Coming Soon
In line with what we reported last month, Paramount+ has confirmed the series order to NOLA King starring Samuel L. Jackson โ a spin-off from Taylor Sheridanโs Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone โ with a first-look image of Jacksonโs Russell Lee Washington Jr alongside Stalloneโs Dwight Manfredi (see: above).
Jacksonโs character (and NOLA King as a whole) will be backdoor piloted via multiple episodes of the forthcoming Tulsa King season 3 before striking out on his own; the latter is currently underway in both Atlanta and Oklahoma, while NOLA King is slated to begin rolling cameras next February.
According to Deadline, the storyline wonโt be too different from the mothership series: โinspired by what Dwight created in Tulsa and impressed with the possibilities of second chances, Washington returns to New Orleans โ the home he abandoned 40 years ago โ to rekindle his relationship with his family, friends, and to take control of the city he left behind.โ
โIn so doing, he incurs the wrath of his former employers in New York, and makes himself vulnerable to old NOLA foes, both criminal and cop.โ
NOLA King has been written by Sheridan collaborator Dave Erickson (Mayor of Kingstown), who will also serve as showrunner. As previously mentioned, Erickson has steadily been deputised in the growing Sheridanverse, juggling these duties with being showrunner, executive producer, and writer for the current season of Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown, plus whatever else spawns into Paramount+ streaming queues between now and then.
As for a release date, weโre looking at mid-to-late 2026.
In terms of the big screen, weโve received a full-length trailer for the long-awaited Tron: Ares โ and it looks like everything we ever dreamed about.
The threequel to Joseph Kosinskiโs beloved Tron: Legacy follows a highly sophisticated program dubbed the titular Ares (Jared groan Leto), who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankindโs first encounter with AI beings.
Leto is joined by Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, and Gillian Anderson, with franchise fixture Jeff Bridges returning as Kevin Flynn. In this instalment, Kosinski has been replaced by Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Rรธnning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) while Nine Inch Nails assumes music composition duties from Daft Punk.
Fingers crossed it actually delivers. God knows weโre on edge about Jared Leto, but given he plays a literal machine, maybe itโll line up with his dramatic capabilities.
And on a briefer note, consider this your reminder that Happy Gilmore 2 starring Adam Sandler hits Netflix this Friday. Perhaps itโll be the low-stakes and undemanding throwback to sillier times we need right now.
Off-Camera Drama
Itโs been one headache after another with the ongoing US$8.4 billion merger between Skydance Media and Paramount, which famously fell apart last year.
For context: as the parent company of CBS News, Paramount was recently forced to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump over the sitting US presidentโs claim that the network had deceptively edited an interview with one-time presidential candidate and Biden administration that VP, Kamala Harris.
In the grand calculus of things, Paramount determined coughing up US$16 million was a small price to pay to end a protracted war in the courtroom; thereby allowing the Federal Communications Commission to finally green light said merger with Skydance sans red tape. But suffice it to say, this wasnโt a great look.
On the subject of bad looks, just days after calling a spade a spade bribe a bribe on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert has seemingly been made a sacrificial lamb: the storied talk show he inherited from David Letterman โ and has consistently been dominating airways/late-night ratings โ is being cancelled, effective May 2026.
โItโs not just the end of the show, it is the end of the Late Show on CBS. Iโm not being replaced, this is all just going away,โ said Colbert.
The official story is that this was a financial decision, though the overall consensus suggests otherwise.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter has learned the merger threatens to tank another profitable key asset in the Paramount portfolio:
At the heart of the dispute, a new 10-year/$3 billion overall deal for South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone that would more than triple the valuation of the current deal that expires in 2027, according to people familiar with the situation. Park County, the South Park pairโs entertainment company, believes it struck a basic framework with Paramount Global on an agreement.
โI think that Paramount pre-acquisition was interested in a broader range of possibilities than would have been approved by Skydance and Redbird,โ says an insider close to the negotiations.
But Skydance, which maintains that it has approval rights on contracts as it pursues regulatory approval of its merger with Paramount, has other plans. The duration of the proposed deal has emerged as a sticking point in negotiations, with Skydance refusing to an extension beyond five additional years amid a fast-moving media environment in which itโs prioritizing cash reserves.
โThere is no resolution at this time, but all involved recognize the need for a quick, positive resolution,โ a spokesperson for Park County said on Monday. Skydance and Paramount declined to comment. A Skydance rep had previously told THR that โunder the terms of the transaction agreement, Skydance has the right to approve material contracts.โ
Itโs increasingly likely that the dispute ends up in court. Parker and Stone have brought on Bryan Freedman, a prominent lawyer and bulldog negotiator known for aggressive legal maneuvering, to tee up what could be a lawsuit accusing the Skydance regime โ including CEO David Ellison and Jeff Shell, the RedBird Capital executive whoโll be the president of new Paramount if the merger is greenlit โ of interfering in contract negotiations.
The alternative involves a public relations battle in which Skydance could see its name splashed across headlines as an another example of an entertainment merger gone sour.
Hence why the premiere of South Park season 27, originally scheduled for this month, currently hangs in the balance. Itโs also why you might have trouble streaming the 300-plus episodes of the regular series outside of the US.
If you ask us, it sounds like them boardroom suits could use some โtegridy.
They Donโt Make โEm Like They Used Toโฆ
This week, weโre throwing it back to an all-time great with the legendary Robert Altmanโs The Long Goodbye.
Adapted from the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name by Leigh Brackett โ co-writer alongside William Faulkner on the 1946 adaptation of Chandlerโs The Big Sleep; sheโd also go on to pen The Empire Strikes Back โ and starring Elliot Gould at his effortlessly coolest, this neo-noir masterpiece is a subversive deconstruction of the genre.
Though not in the self-indulgent way that appeals to unemployed film nerds. Even at face value alone with zero analysis of subtext, itโs an objectively stylish ride with all the twists and turns thatโll keep you locked in.
Down-on-his-luck private detective Philip Marlowe (Gould) gives his friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) a ride to Mexico, who appears to be in way over his head. But upon returning stateside, Philip finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery where heโs accused of being an accomplice.
If nothing else, itโll make you mourn an era when cinematography routinely dared to be gritty and beautiful. As opposed to the overly vibrant, overly polished, soulless made-for-streaming BS weโre told to choke down these days.
You can now stream The Long Goodbye (1973) here in Australia via Amazon Prime Video.
