Entertainment

Sony has announced plans to acquire control of the Peanuts franchise.

The franchise created by Charles M. Schulz that stars beloved characters like Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Linus will be majority owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) through a definitive agreement they’ve entered into with the media company WildBrain, Sony has confirmed to ABC Audio.

Sony will indirectly acquire the 41% stake held by WildBrain in Peanuts Holdings LLC. This, combined with Sony Music Entertainment (Japan)’s existing approximately 39% stake, comes to Sony owning 80% of Peanuts Holdings LLC, while Schulz’s family members will continue to own the remaining 20%.

Deadline reports Sony is set to pay roughly $457 million for WildBrain’s 41% stake. Its closing is subject to certain conditions, such as regulatory approvals. 

Shunsuke Muramatsu, the president and group CEO of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), said in a statement that the company has been proud to partner with Peanuts since 2018.

“With this additional ownership stake, we are thrilled to be able to further elevate the value of the Peanuts brand by drawing on the Sony Group’s extensive global network and collective expertise. We are deeply committed to carrying forward the legacy of Charles Schulz and the Schulz family,” Muramatsu said.

Ravi Ahuja, the president and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said that “Peanuts is enduring and iconic. We value the deep collaboration we have with our SMEJ colleagues and look forward to building on their meaningful partnership with WildBrain and the Schulz family. With our combined strengths, we have the unique capability and extraordinary opportunity to protect and shape the future of these beloved characters for generations to come.”

Schulz’s first Peanuts comic strip debuted on Oct. 2, 1950. The franchise has grown in the decades that followed, now including TV specials, theme park attractions, cultural events and comic strips available in all formats.

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Comedian, writer and actor Pete Davidson, and model and actress Elsie Hewitt are officially parents.

Hewitt, 29, announced the arrival of the pair’s first child in an Instagram post Thursday, stating that their baby was born Dec. 12.

“Our perfect angel girl arrived 12/12/2025,” Hewitt wrote alongside several photos and a video clip.

Hewitt also revealed the name she and Davidson, 32, gave to their new bundle of joy.

“Scottie Rose Hewitt Davidson,” Hewitt wrote, adding a pink heart emoji. “My best work yet, I am absolutely overflowing with love and gratitude and disbelief.”

Davidson previously opened up about his dream to start a family on Kevin Hart‘s talk show Hart to Heart in 2022.

“My favorite thing ever, which I’ve yet to achieve, is I wanna have a kid. It’s like my dream,” Davidson said at the time.

“I’m so excited for that chapter, so that’s kind of what I’m just preparing for now, is trying to be, like, as good as a dude and develop and get better, so when that happens, it’s just easier,” he added.

ABC News has reached out to Davidson’s and Hewitt’s representatives for comment.

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Harrison Ford is set to be honored with the life achievement award from SAG-AFTRA at The Actor Awards, which is the awards ceremony formerly known as the SAG Awards. The ceremony takes place on March 1, 2026, and will air live on Netflix …

The first look at Young Sherlock has arrived. Prime Video has released the teaser trailer and premiere date for the upcoming series starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes. All eight episodes of the show premiere on March 4, 2026 …

Matthew McConaughey and Zoe Saldaña are in negotiations to act alongside each other in a new film titled Positano. Deadline reports the Netflix film is a romanic caper set in Italy …

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Bradley Cooper directs Will Arnett in his third film, Is This Thing On?

The new movie, which arrives in theaters on Friday, tells the story of a marriage falling apart. It follows Arnett’s Alex, who copes with the grief of separating from his wife Tess, played by Laura Dern, by becoming a stand-up comedian.

Arnett and Dern participated in a press conference after a screening of Is This Thing On? at the 2025 New York Film Festival, where they spoke about the process of creating this new film.

Arnett, who is a comedian himself, said he purposefully played Alex to be less funny than he is in real life.

“That progression of Alex as a stand-up was really important to us,” Arnett said. “He’s not the Michael Jordan of comedy. So, the first time he goes onstage, he’s never been in front of a mic in front of people before. And then you see him progressively get comfortable.”

The actor said there were even times on set where he’d deliver a joke as Alex and it “was too good.”

“It was too clean,” Arnett said. “[It] actually made people who were there actually watching laugh.”

Dern said that Arnett was “the greatest dance partner any girl could ever ask for as an actor.”

“That was a very beautiful, incredible acting opportunity for me and really beautiful to have Bradley hold us in it. It was really incredible through rehearsal, all the way through every day of work together,” Dern said. “It takes a lot of bravery to be willing to be pure and simple in truth, and so I really revere that in the experience we had.” 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Is This Thing On? distributor Searchlight Pictures.

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President Barack Obama is out with a list of his favorite movies of 2025, featuring a mix of blockbusters, independent flicks, foreign films and more.

“As 2025 comes to a close, I’m continuing a tradition that I started during my time in the White House: sharing my annual lists of favorite books, movies, and music,” he shared on social media. “I hope you find something new to enjoy—and please send any recommendations for me to check out!”

Making this year’s list are films that have awards buzz, including Leonardo DiCaprio starrer One Battle After Another, the horror film Sinners, Hamnet and Sentimental Value, along with the George Clooney flick Jay Kelly and the Aziz Ansari/Seth Rogen comedy Good Fortune.

Also mentioned are Train Dreams and The Secret Agent, South Korean film No Other Choice, the Iranian feature It Was Just An Accident and the documentary Orwell: 2+2+5.

Along with his favorite movies, Obama shares his favorite books and music of the year. You can check out his lists now via his Facebook.

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This isn’t an enchantment from a siren: there is a new poster for Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey.

Universal Pictures shared the brand-new poster for the upcoming film on Thursday. The studio also announced that the prologue of The Odyssey will be available to watch in IMAX before screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

“A film by Christopher Nolan shot entirely with IMAX film cameras. Experience The Odyssey prologue in IMAX before Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the studio’s Instagram announcement reads.

Matt Damon stars as Odysseus in Nolan’s film adaptation of Homer‘s epic poem. The star-studded ensemble cast also includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.

Universal describes the adaptation as “a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology,” which will bring the foundational, classic story to IMAX screens for the first time.

Homer’s The Odyssey, of course, tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus’ 10-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. He is filled with interruptions in his quest to return home to his wife, Penelope, and his grown son, Telemachus, who fights off suitors who are desperate to steal his father’s throne.

Nolan wrote and directed the film, his first since the best picture Oscar-winning blockbuster Oppenheimer. He also produced the movie with his wife, Emma Thomas.

The Odyssey opens in movie theaters on July 17, 2026.

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Tom Cruise‘s newest film has a title and release date.

The actor stars in the upcoming movie Digger. Warner Bros. Pictures is releasing the film, which is helmed by The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu, in theaters on Oct. 2, 2026.

Cruise took to Instagram on Thursday to share the new comedy film’s poster.

“Introducing… DIGGER. A comedy of catastrophic proportions from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Only in theaters October 2026,” Cruise’s caption reads.

The studio also released a title announcement teaser video. It finds Cruise wearing cowboy boots and holding a shovel. He pairs his boots with athletic shorts and is seemingly wearing some sort of wig, as his character appears to be losing his hair.

We don’t see Cruise’s face up close in the video, but we do see him dancing around a carpeted living room. He also walks along the railing of a pier as if it was a tightrope.

“In Digger we trust,” the description of the title announcement teaser reads.

Along with Cruise, the film’s ensemble cast includes Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde and Emma D’Arcy.

Iñárritu also produces the film, which he co-wrote with his Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) co-writers Nicolas Giacobone and Alexander Dinelaris, along with Sabina Berman. Cruise also serves as a producer.

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KJ Apa takes on the role of actor Jimmy Stewart in the official teaser trailer for the biopic Jimmy. The film, which arrives in theaters on Nov. 6, 2026, tells the true story of one of America’s most-beloved actors during the time of his life after he won the Oscar for best actor as he then enlisted to become a combat pilot during World War II …

The God of the Woods is heading to Netflix. A series adaptation of the 2024 bestselling novel by Liz Moore is in the works at the streamer. Moore and Liz Hannah will serve as co-showrunners, writers and executive producers on the TV series …

We have our first look and premiere date for the upcoming MGM+ and Prime Video series Vanished. The mystery thriller starring Kaley Cuoco and Sam Claflin will premiere on Feb. 1. It follows a couple’s trip to Paris that takes a dark turn when Alice’s (Cuoco) boyfriend, Tom (Claflin), suddenly disappears on a train …

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Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t have an opinion on whether or not Rose could have made more room on the door for Jack. That’s because he’s not very familiar with the film Titanic.

While in conversation with Jennifer Lawrence for an installment of Variety‘s Actors on Actors, DiCaprio, who starred in James Cameron‘s 1997 film, said he has never rewatched it.

“Have you rewatched Titanic?” Lawrence asks, to which DiCaprio responds, “No. I haven’t seen it in forever.”

Lawrence tells him he should consider giving it a go.

“Oh, you should. I bet you could watch it now, it’s so good,” she says.

DiCaprio deflects by telling Lawrence he doesn’t really watch his own films, and then he asks her if she does.

“No,” Lawrence says. “I’ve never made something like Titanic, if I did I would watch it. Once I was really drunk, I put on American Hustle. I was like, ‘I wonder if I’m good at acting?’ I put it on, and I don’t remember what the answer is.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Lawrence spoke about how she once accidentally took an Ambien thinking it was a different pill while on the set of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

“It was a dance scene with Philip Seymour Hoffman on the second Hunger Games movie. I was hallucinating,” Lawrence said. “Elizabeth Banks got really annoyed with me. Maybe she didn’t know that I was on an Ambien.”

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Meg Ryan has shared a tribute to the late Rob Reiner.

The actress, who starred in Rob Reiner’s classic 1989 romantic comedy film When Harry Met Sally… and co-starred alongside him in 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a tribute to the director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, who were found stabbed to death in their home in California on Sunday.

Ryan posted a black-and-white photo of herself dancing with Rob Reiner alongside a lengthy caption.

“Oh how we will miss this man,” Ryan wrote. “Thank you, Rob and Michelle [sic], for the way you believe in true love, in fairy tales, and in laughter. Thank you for your faith in the best in people, and for your profound love of our country.”

The actress continued, writing that she has “to believe that their story will not end with this impossible tragedy, that some good may come, some awareness raised.”

“I don’t know, but my guess is that they would want that to be hopeful and humane, to be something that brings us all to a greater understanding of one another and to some peace,” Ryan wrote.

Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead with stab wounds on Sunday in their Los Angeles home.

The couple’s son Nick Reiner is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, with the special circumstance of multiple murders, for allegedly stabbing his parents to death on Sunday, according to prosecutors.

Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally… and married in 1989. They shared three children, Jake Reiner, Romy Reiner and Nick Reiner.

Romy Reiner is the one who found her parents’ bodies in their Brentwood home on Sunday, sources told ABC News.

Rob Reiner is also survived by daughter Tracy Reiner with his first wife, Penny Marshall.

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