00:00Jennifer Lawrence just said her next big role, Ben Affleck gets candid about why he hung up his Batman cape,
00:05these two anchorman are teaming up once again, and the live-action Mulan movie is making Disney history in terms of its rating.
00:12I'm Tiffany Taylor, and right now I've got the top stories you need to know today from The Hollywood Reporter News.
00:17First, Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence has come aboard to star in Don't Look Up.
00:22The comedy comes from Adam McKay, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated movies Vice and The Big Short.
00:27He wrote the film and will direct it. Netflix finalized the deal for the project Monday after it was shopped around over the weekend.
00:34The story centers on two scientists who discover that a meteor will strike the earth in six months.
00:39They go on a media tour trying to warn the world, but find an unreceptive and unbelieving public.
00:44McKay plans on beginning principal photography in April with a tight turnaround in mind, as Netflix hopes to release Don't Look Up later this year.
00:51Next, Ben Affleck is getting candid about hanging up his Batman cape.
00:55Early last year, Affleck confirmed he was retiring as Batman, a move that ended nearly 18 months of speculation about his future as The Dark Knight.
01:03This, of course, paved the way for Robert Pattinson to take on the role in Matt Reeves' The Batman.
01:07THR's Neha Joy in New York has more.
01:10Now, in a revealing interview with The New York Times, the actor opened up about his decision to retire the role,
01:15noting his struggles with alcoholism, his split from his ex-wife Jennifer Garner,
01:19and the troubles he had shooting and promoting Justice League.
01:22Affleck, who long had plans to write and direct The Batman, explains,
01:25I showed somebody the Batman script. They said, I think the script is good.
01:29I also think you'll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went through again.
01:33Reportedly, cracks were beginning to show in Affleck's future as The Dark Knight.
01:37In February 2017, Reeves boarded as director, and by July, the filmmaker had noted he had dropped Affleck's script.
01:44The actor has moved on from the role, however, and next will be seen in the sports drama The Way Back,
01:49in which he plays a high school basketball coach struggling with alcoholism.
01:52Meanwhile, two of our favorite Anchorman are getting back together. Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd
01:57are set to star in a new TV series. Who would have thought?
01:59Hey, look at us. Look at us. Huh? Who would have thought? Not me.
02:04The Anchorman actors are set to star in and executive produce a dark comedy limited series titled The Shrink Next Door.
02:10The show, which is based on the 2019 Wondery and Bloomberg media podcasts of the same name,
02:15will be shopped to premium cable networks like HBO and streamers like Netflix by producers Media Rights Capital.
02:21Based on the podcast, which is inspired by true events, The Shrink Next Door follows the bizarre relationship
02:26between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac Ike Hershkoff, played by Rudd,
02:31and his longtime patient Martin Marty Markovitz, played by Ferrell.
02:35During the course of their relationship, the all-too-charming Ike slowly takes over Marty's life,
02:39even moving into Marty's home and taking over his family business.
02:43Paul Rudd playing all-too-charming seems like a stretch.
02:46Finally, Disney is handing out its first PG-13 rating for one of its live-action remakes.
02:50Neha Joy has more on that story, too.
02:52Disney's latest live-action remake, Mulan, was given a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association
02:57of America due to sequences of violence.
03:04The rating makes Mulan the first Disney live-action remake of animated classics to receive a rating
03:09above PG and the first title from Disney's live-action studio to receive PG-13 since Pirates of the Caribbean,
03:15Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017.
03:18Trailer footage of the film has depicted the remake as more of a fantasy war epic than a musical.
03:23This formula strays from Disney's other remakes, which have often followed a similar tone to their
03:27original films, plus or minus a few songs or characters.
03:30The rating also signifies a slightly more grown-up tale of the Chinese legend.
03:34And if anything, modern times have proved the PG-13 rated features can still play well for families,
03:39such as Warner Bros. with the final two Harry Potter films.
03:422010's Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2011's Deathly Hallows Part 2 both received a PG-13 mark
03:48and fared well at the box office, grossing domestically $381 million and $296 million, respectively.
03:56For much more on all these stories and the latest Hollywood news, head to THR.com
04:00and be sure to subscribe to our THR News YouTube channel.
04:03Until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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