Universal Pictures has optioned “Uncanny Valley,” a novel about life in the tech bubble, Variety has learned. The studio snagged the rights to the unpublished book in a highly competitive bidding situation, one that drew interest from several suitors.

Michael De Luca, the man behind the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, and Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman, the duo responsible for the “Pitch Perfect” franchise, are set to produce the picture through their Universal-based Michael De Luca Productions and Brownstone Productions, respectively.

“Uncanny Valley” originally started life as a 2016 blog post from author Anna Wiener. It detailed her life at a startup on its last gasps, as the workers grapple with their Ipo dreams evaporating and dust off resumes. The novel version of that initial post is said to deal with Weiner’s transition from the world of publishing to Silicon Valley life. The book is tentatively set to be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

When are we getting the new season of Rick and Morty? Recently, writer Ryan Ridley revealed season four of the Adult Swim TV show might not premiere until 2019, CinemaBlend reports. From Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, the animated series follows the adventures of Morty and his eccentric scientist grandfather, Rick. The voice cast includes Roiland, Sarah Chalke, Chris Parnell, and Spencer Grammer.

Shondaland is about to get a lot smaller — well, more compact — as ABC announced Wednesday that crossover episodes for “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” are headed to TGIT this spring. How to Get Away with Scandal?

Kerry Washington and Viola Davis posted the news on social media early in the morning with pictures of the two swapping sets. Washington, who plays D.C. fixer Olivia Pope, was seen in a courthouse and Davis, who plays law professor Annalise Keating, was sitting pretty in the Oval Office.

The news was then confirmed by Shonda Rhimes and Pete Nowalk,

Freeform's The Fosters is ending one chapter and beginning a new one.

The younger-skewing Disney-owened cable network is set to end its run with a three-night limited series event next summer, bringing an end to the five-season run of the GLAAD Award-winning drama. At the same time, Freeform has handed out a straight-to-series order for a spinoff starring Maia Mitchell (Callie) and Cierra Ramirez (Mariana) as they embark on the next phase of their young adult lives.

“First and foremost, we want to thank our fans — our supportive ‘Fosters Family’ — and Freeform for fostering this show," creators and exec...

Stephen Dorff has joined the cast of “True Detective” Season 3, HBO announced Wednesday.

Dorff will play Roland West, an Arkansas state investigator who gets caught up in a baffling crime for more than 30 years. Dorff joins Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), who the network previously announced will play the lead role of state police detective Wayne Hays, and Carmen Ejogo (“Selma”), who will play Arkansas school teacher Amelia Reardon.

Season 3 of “True Detective” will take place in the Ozarks and tell the story of a “macabre” crime that.

Netflix has taken a shine to Bright, the streamer's fantasy cop drama that debuted this December.

The streaming giant has greenlighted a sequel that is expected to reunite stars Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, along with director David Ayer. 

Bright takes place in a fictional Los Angeles filled with fairies, elves and magic wands while acting as an allegory for real- world race relations. It follows a veteran cop (Smith) who reluctantly takes on a new partner, an Orc played by Edgerton, and has to protect a magical wand from law enforcement, criminals and an array of supernatural characters.

Eric Newman and Bryan Unkeless are...

Amazon and ITV have given an eight-episode order to the thriller series “The Widow,” starring Kate Beckinsale. The series hails from writers Harry and Jack Williams, who also executive produce the Amazon comedy “Fleabag” and most recently co-created the SundanceTV series “Liar.” Beckinsale will star as Georgia Wells, a woman who has cut herself off from her previous life, but is pulled back in search of the truth after seeing her “late” husband on the news. The series will begin production later this month in South Africa, Wales and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The next installment of the loosely connected “Cloverfield” film series, titled “God Particle,” has had its release date postponed yet again, Variety has confirmed. The film is now slated for an April 20, 2018 release.

“God Particle,” which is produced by Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, was already shifted from its original Feb. 24, 2017 release date to Oct. 27, 2017 after Paramount took it off its schedule, and it was renamed “2017 Cloverfield Movie.”

The project was then moved again to Feb. 2, 2018, but without any marketing surrounding the film only one month away from the release, it was unclear whether it would be proceeding.

“God Particle,” directed by Nigerian-American filmmaker Julius Onah with a screenplay by Oren Uziel and Doug Jung, is set in the near future and tells the story of a team of astronauts on a space station who make a terrifying discovery involving a new energy source — the “God Particle” — and their desperate fight for survival. The film boasts

Two police investigations into sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein have been presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, spokesman Greg Risling told TheWrap. Risling said the cases were presented last month, December 2017, by the Beverly Hills Police Department and are “under review.” Police reports were filed against Weinstein in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, New York and London after a report by the New York Times in October, followed by another in The New Yorker, in which several women accused Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault and rape. Dozens more women have accused Weinstein of various forms of sexual misconduct since.

After more than a decade of residing on the Sony lot, Overbrook Entertainment principals Will Smith and James Lassister have chosen not to re-up their deal with the studio, insiders tell Variety.

The deal recently ended, and while there were rumors of Overbrook possibly moving its deal to Netflix, given the recent success of “Bright,” sources say Overbrook plans to stay independent. The company remains partnered with Sony on several projects in development including “Harlem Hellfighters” and “Bad Boys For Life,” while also working on “Uptown Saturday Night” at Warner Bros. and “The City That Sailed” at Fox. Overbrook is also a producer on the YouTube Red “Karate Kid” series “Cobra Kai,” which is also a Sony project.

Overbrook and Sony’s relationship goes back nearly 20 years and has led to a slew of hits that have included “Hitch,” “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Hancock” and “The Karate Kid.” As of late Overbrook’s projects have underwhelmed with “Concussion

Frank Buxton, who wrote and directed episodes of The Odd Couple and Happy Days and provided the voice of the 1960s cartoon superhero Batfink, has died. He was 87.

Buxton battled heart issues for some time and died Tuesday at Harrison Medical Center on Bainbridge Island in Washington, his friend John Kenyon Ellis told The Hollywood Reporter. "He was a hell of a guy and will be sorely missed," Ellis said.

Buxton wrote seven episodes of The Odd Couple, the 1970-75 ABC sitcom co-developed by Garry Marshall; the first one was the classic season-three installment "Password," which cleverly...

Albert Schultz, the artistic director and co-founder of Canada’s Soulpepper Theatre Company, has been accused of sexual assault by four women in separate civil lawsuits. The four actresses, Patricia Fagan, Kristin Booth, Diana Bentley and Hannah Miller, filed their lawsuits in Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday, accusing Schultz of repeatedly groping and kissing women without their permission and exposing himself to them on stage. In total, the women are seeking 3.6 million Canadian dollars, or $2.9 million, in damages from Schultz, as well as 4.3 million Canadian dollars, or $3.4 million, from the theatre company, which they say enabled his behavior and...

Taylor Swift is not willing to shake off accusations that she’s a song thief. “Reputation” songstress Swift fired back at a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against her over her 2014 hit “Shake it Off” on Wednesday, asking that the suit be dismissed. Swift was sued in September by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who contended that “Shake it Off ” infringes on their 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” record by girl group 3Lw. Also Read: Can Taylor Swift Shake Off Lawsuit Over Her 'Shake It Off' Lyrics? The suit states, “‘Shake It Off’ copies and includes Plaintiff’s lyrics phrase, ‘Playas,

A powerhouse group of producers will take on Silicon Valley and the tech bubble in a new feature at Universal.

Michael De Luca and his Michael De Luca Productions will team with Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman via their Brownstone Productions for Uncanny Valley, based on a yet-to-be-published memoir by Anna Wiener.

The story is based on Wiener's experiences as she transitioned from a career in publishing to a new job in the tech world at a startup, which does not pan out as she had hoped. Wiener will executive produce the film.

Chloe Yellin will oversee the production for the studio, along with Johnny...

Mark Pedowitz has extended his deal to serve as president of The CW, a representative of the network told TheWrap Wednesday. Pedowitz has been president of the network, which hosts popular shows like “Riverdale,” “Arrow” and “The Flash,” since April 2011. Pedowitz oversees all aspects of the network including programming, sales, marketing, distribution, finance, research and publicity in his role as president. During his tenure at The CW, Pedowitz has overseen the launch of the network’s first summer schedule, and broadened the network’s digital reach with the launch of The CW app. It was also under Pedowitz that the network received.

TV writer, director and actor Frank Buxton, best known for his work on “The Odd Couple” and “Happy Days,” has died. He was 87. Buxton had been battling health issues for two years before his death on Tuesday at Harrison Medical Center on Bainbridge Island, Washington, according to the Kitsap Sun. In the 1970s and ’80s, Buxton’s TV credits included “The Odd Couple,” “Happy Days,” “One Day at a Time” and “Mork & Mindy.” He also created the Peabody Award-winning kids documentary series “Hot Dog” for NBC, which featured Woody Allen, Jonathan Winters and Jo Anne Worle. Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of.

Would you believe that Christian Bale, who put on Batman’s cape and cowl in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy, hasn’t seen his successor Ben Affleck in the role or even any of the Avengers movies? Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, (via Collider) Bale said, “I have not . Yes I’m interested , my son seemed like he was really interested, but then I realized he just wanted to see the trailer and that was it — I tend to go see films that want to see.” “I have to confess I’m not a huge...

This story about Guillermo del Toro and “The Shape of Water” first appeared in the Oscar Noms Preview issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine. Guillermo del Toro has often worked in the rich cinematic margins, making genre films like “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Hellboy,” “Pacific Rim” and “Crimson Peak” that please sci-fi and horror fans but don’t register with awards voters. But 2006’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” was a notable exception, landing six Oscar nominations and winning three of them. Now comes “The Shape of Water,” a luminous fairy tale that has already led all films in nominations for both the Golden Globes and.

The first week of January not only brings Tuesday’s Palm Springs Film Festival Awards Gala and Wednesday’s New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner, but also several key Guild Awards nominations that provide real clues to the strengths and weaknesses of this year’s extraordinarily wide field of Oscar contenders.

Ace Eddie Award nominees

Wednesday’s editing nominations confirm the strength of studio tentpoles “Dunkirk,” “Blade Runner 2049,” and “The Post,” as well as “The Shape of Water,” along with Aaron Sorkin’s “Molly’s Game,” a surprise entry. Comedy nominees included “Baby Driver,” “Get Out,” “Lady Bird,” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” along with another unexpected late-year contender, Craig Gillespie’s “I, Tonya.”

Over 24 years, 110 of 125 Best Editing Academy Awards nominees earned Ace Eddie nods, with an accuracy rate of 88%.

Oscar favorites among the snubbed

Left out of the 10 Ace Eddie Awards nominees were would-be Best

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai won’t be taking a victory lap over pulling back net neutrality rules at the Consumer Electronics Show next week in Las Vegas, after all. Pai will not be attending the conference, according to a statement from Consumer Technology Association head Gary Shapiro on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is unable to attend CES 2018,” said Shapiro. “We look forward to our next opportunity to host a technology policy discussion with him before a public audience.” Shapiro didn’t say why his appearance had been cancelled. Cta did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.