Hollywood
When Harry Met Sally director Rob Reiner and wife found dead at LA home
LOS ANGELES: Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead at their Brentwood, Los Angeles home on Sunday, according to police and multiple US media reports, prompting an investigation into what authorities described as an apparent homicide.
Los Angeles emergency services responded to a medical aid call on Sunday afternoon and discovered the bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman inside the residence, which is owned by Reiner. The Los Angeles police department later said detectives from its robbery homicide division were investigating the deaths.
U.S. media outlets including TMZ and People reported that the couple had suffered injuries consistent with a knife attack. Police have not publicly confirmed the cause of death.
In a statement issued on Sunday evening, a spokesperson for the Reiner family said, “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner. We are heartbroken by this sudden loss and ask for privacy during this unimaginably difficult time.”
Reiner became a household name in the 1970s playing Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the sitcom All in the Family and later directed a string of beloved films including This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men. His work earned enduring acclaim across genres.
The couple, who were married since 1989, leave behind three children. Rob Reiner also co-founded production company Castle Rock Entertainment, the production company behind The Shawshank Redemption, Seinfeld and In the Line of Fire. He was also a prominent political activist and co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
Authorities have not yet released details on a motive or identified any suspect, and the investigation is ongoing.
Hollywood
US theatre group opposes Paramount, Warner Bros. merger, calls it ‘harmful’
Exhibitors warn mega deal could shrink film output and weaken cinema ecosystem
LAS VEGAS: Cinema United has come out strongly against the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning it could concentrate too much power in the hands of a single player and disrupt the global film ecosystem.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, the group’s chief executive Michael O’Leary did not mince words as he addressed thousands of theatre owners. The deal, reportedly valued at $110 billion, was agreed in March after Netflix exited the bidding process.
“We believe this transaction will be harmful to exhibition, consumers and the entire entertainment ecosystem,” O’Leary said, cautioning that greater consolidation would allow fewer distributors to dictate terms around release windows, scheduling and access to film libraries. Theatre owners argue that such scale could reduce competition and ultimately mean fewer films making it to cinemas.
Pushing back, a spokesperson for Paramount Skydance said the merged entity plans to release 30 films annually in theatres, while continuing to operate both studios separately. The company added that the deal would expand opportunities for creators and strengthen competition by backing more projects globally.
However, exhibitors remain unconvinced. Drawing parallels with The Walt Disney Company’s 2019 acquisition of Fox, O’Leary noted a drop in wide theatrical releases post-merger, reinforcing concerns that consolidation often leads to fewer films.
“Unfortunately, history shows us that consolidation results in fewer films being produced for movie theaters,” O’Leary said.
Beyond output, Cinema United also flagged concerns around theatrical windows, warning that a combined Paramount-Warner entity could exert greater control over how long films remain exclusively in cinemas before shifting to other platforms.
With the debate set to intensify, the clash highlights a familiar tension in Hollywood: scale versus diversity. For theatre owners, the stakes are clear, as they push to ensure that bigger does not mean fewer stories on the big screen.
