Tuesday: Universal Inks Snoop Dog Biopic; Brad Pitt's New A24 Film; Anime Awards Hopeful; Roku's Ad Strategy; Pamela Anderson In Sally Potter Film

It's Tuesday, April 29th. Things are heating up in the film biz. Here's what you need to know.

Today's Headlines

Hip hop legend Snoop Dogg has signed a multi-year deal with NBCUniversal to produce a biopic about his rise from Long Beach rap icon to media mogul, with his company Death Row Pictures collaborating on film, TV, and streaming projects. (Source: HypeFresh)

Edward Berger will direct Brad Pitt in an A24 adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel The Riders, a long-gestating story about a father searching for his missing wife, with filming set for early 2026 in Europe. (Source: Empire)

Sony will release Mamoru Hosoda’s time-traveling princess anime Scarlet on December 12, 2025, co-financed with Studio Chizu and Nippon TV, and will handle global distribution outside Japan. The timing may hint at possible awards season hopes. (Source: Deadline)

Roku’s recent product event unveiled modest updates like personalized content rows and new streaming devices, but highlighted the company’s growing focus on ad-driven revenue—despite user backlash over increasing interface ads—while contrasting its approach with Apple’s premium, less ad-heavy (but pricier) alternative. (Source: Six Colors)

Pamela Anderson will follow up last year's breakout hit The Last Showgirl alongside Dakota Fanning and Lindsay Duncan in Sally Potter’s upcoming family drama Alma, about relatives confronting buried secrets while scattering their mother's ashes, with filming set to begin in England this September. (Source: IndieWire)

Now Hear This

Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw discuss the pressure that the Paramount merger with Skydance faces as it must negotiate with the FCC (and Trump's 60 Minutes lawsuit) (Source: The Town Podcast)

Box Office Rankings

Sunday, April 27th
1) Sinners - $13,878,130
2) A Minecraft Movie - $6,930,562
3) Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith -$6,015,568
4) The Accountant 2 - $5,978,147
5) Until Dawn - $1,803,659
Source: Box Office Mojo

MNP Studio Index

Tuesday, April 29th (Market Close)
An up day for the Movie News Pro Studio Index as tech earnings loom and trade talks heat up. LionsGate had an impressive day, up 4% as investors like the Starz split.

MNP Streaming Index

Tuesday, April 29th (Market Close)
Solid day for the streaming stocks, especially Netflix (up 1.56%) and Roku (up 1.72%

MNP Theater Index

Tuesday, April 29th (Market Close)
A mixed day for the theater sector, with Imax up slightly and AMC down 1.84%.

Film Festivals/Conferences Today

Atlanta Film Festival, US - April 24-May 4
BCN Film Fest, Spain - April 24-May 2
Far East Film Festival, Italy - April 24-May 2
HotDocs, Canada - April 24-May 4
JFilm Festival, US - April 24-May 4
Milwaukee Film Festival, US - April 24-May 8

Upcoming Film Festivals/Conferences

IndieLisboa Film Festival, Portugal - May 1-11
UK Asian Film Festival, UK - May 1-11
Doc ‘n Roll Brooklyn, US - May 5-10
Screen Forever, Australia - May 6-8
Cine International Film Festival, UK - May 7-10
DocsBarcelona, Spain - May 8-18
HipHop CineFest, Italy - May 9-10
Cannes Film Festival, France - May 13-24

Watch This Tonight

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Directed by Céline Sciamma
Mesmerizing, intoxicating and romantic. Few things are as powerful as love restrained.

Disclaimer/Transparency
MovieNewsPro is a film industry news monitoring service. All stories have been previously reported elsewhere and are not exclusive stories to MNP. All information is believed to be accurate at the time of reporting. MovieNewsPro uses a full array of technology to gather information, including machine learning, automation and artificial intelligence throughout its business monitoring, editing and reporting process. MovieNewsPro sector indexes (Streaming, Studio and Theater) are virtual indexes - there are no actual funds invested. Sector index total value dollar amounts are based on an initial hypothetical investment of $100,000 on March 17th, 2025. We are not licensed investment advisors and our information should not be used as investment advice.