English Entertainment
Nat Geo teams up with Ryan Reynolds for a natural history show ‘Underdogs’
Mumbai: Infotainment broadcaster National Geographic content president Courteney Monroe has announced Underdogs. This is an unconventional natural history series that will tell the story of the heroic underdogs of the natural world—the good, the bad, and the frankly ugly.
The 10-part series is co-produced by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort and Wildstar Films.
Reynolds will narrate the entire 10-episode series, bringing his voice and humorous take to the natural world through a partnership that bakes humour into the storytelling from the ground up.
From their hidden talents to their bold hygiene choices, unsavoury courtship rituals, devious camouflage techniques and “tough love” parenting skills, the show will celebrate and champion the unique and unpredictable behaviours of a little-known and surprising cast of animal characters. These overlooked superstars come in all sizes, shapes and smells. They’re the outcasts and the troublemakers: brash, unsophisticated, flatulent, incontinent and often unhinged. But they’re also warriors, team players and evil geniuses. They’re out there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, putting in their all to keep the natural world running for all those showy polar bears, sharks, and gorillas.
“Underdogs represents an entirely fresh take on the natural history genre that is sure to delight and inform audiences of all ages. With Reynolds and Maximum Effort’s irreverent spirit and Wildstar’s award-winning expertise in wildlife storytelling, we have assembled the perfect team to tell the entertaining stories of nature’s unsung heroes with both humour and heart,” said Monroe.
“I love nature series and I love making things my kids can actually watch. We’re already having a lot of fun trying to bring a new voice to animal docs. Wildstar has the expertise, experience and cutting-edge film tech to help us chew up that healthy National Geographic budget. We’ll deliver a show that is entertaining, surprising and will do justice to animals usually stuck as a supporting cast,” said Reynolds.
Wildstar executive producer Dan Rees said, “Underdogs explores the animal world with a fresh, fun and highly entertaining perspective. Partnering so closely with Ryan and Maximum Effort has allowed us to bake in their inimitable humour every step of the way – from conception to delivery of this unique series. As a result, Underdogs will make you snort with laughter and possibly even spill your coffee on your lap, but ultimately it puts a new spotlight on some of the weirder and less explored denizens of our planet, and all underpinned by sound science and research.”
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
