The Yellowstone franchise will continue regardless of creator Taylor Sheridan's involvement; that's the message Paramount sent out following the shocking announcement that Sheridan will be departing the studio to begin a new creative collaboration with NBCUniversal. The Madison, which was initially reported to be a part of the sprawling Yellowstone franchise, was eventually revealed to be a standalone project. It remains the only new Paramount+ show that had Sheridan's direct creative involvement. The upcoming series Dutton Ranch, which serves as a follow-up to Yellowstone, is created by Chad Feehan. Not a single one of its episodes has been written by Sheridan, who has developed a reputation for taking sole credit for his work. But the Yellowstone franchise's post-Sheridan era began earlier this year with a procedural series that defied poor reviews and found a loyal audience.

With video game adaptations currently experiencing a purple patch on the big screen, an unexpected new movie is gaining word-of-mouth traction at home. Last week saw the release of Mortal Kombat II, which grossed around $65 million worldwide in its opening weekend. The action sequel was released only a few weeks after The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which remains the year's top-grossing film and is on the verge of passing the coveted $1 billion mark worldwide. The two big-budget video game adaptations overshadowed what was easily the most acclaimed recent video game adaptation, and we're not talking about YouTuber Markiplier's self-funded and self-distributed hit Iron Lung. The movie in question holds a "Certified Fresh" 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest-rated video game adaptation of all time.

Updating a piece of classic literature for modern-day audiences is a proven path to success. Baz Luhrmann's Los Angeles-set Romeo + Juliet grossed nearly $150 million worldwide in 1996; Bridget Jones's Diary, inspired by Pride and Prejudice, grossed nearly $300 million globally and launched a franchise; Easy A, the comedy film that made Emma Stone a star, was based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The most influential modern-day adaptation of a legendary piece of literature, however, has to be a television series that premiered more than 15 years ago and is currently seeing a sudden spike in viewership on the PVOD market.

You'd think that the first Star Wars movie in seven years is the riskiest sci-fi bet of the year, but you'd be ignoring another, even more risky offering that is slated for release only a few weeks after the Star Wars title. Directed by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian and Grogu also serves as the first theatrical release to be inspired by a streaming title, Favreau's own The Mandalorian, which premiered on Disney+ in 2019. That was the same year the franchise delivered its most recent theatrical film, Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker. The final installment of the Skywalker Saga divided critics and audiences and underperformed at the box-office even though it grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. Since then, the franchise has undergone massive strategic changes, including a managerial shake-up. The Rise of Skywalker was directed by J.J. Abrams, who, interestingly, has his own risky sci-fi movie slated for release this year.

The Duffer Brothers, who rose to fame after spearheading the platform-defining hit Stranger Things for Netflix, are set to begin a creative collaboration with Paramount. The brothers were reportedly keen to explore making movies for the big screen, which wouldn't have been possible at Netflix. At least, it wouldn't have been possible at Netflix until recently, when the streamer announced a fairly traditional theatrical roll-out for Greta Gerwig's upcoming Narnia movie. That said, the Duffers continue to produce new projects for Netflix via their Upside Down Productions banner, having already released the critically acclaimed horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen earlier this year. Now, they're gearing up for the release of their latest series, a sci-fi project that will have more in common with Stranger Things than with Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen.

It seems almost unbelievable that Guy Ritchie had directed only four movies when he made his long-awaited return to the gangster genre with RocknRolla in 2008. Ritchie broke out with the cult classic crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, which he followed up with the equally admired Snatch. His career progressed in a rather conventional manner; after RocknRolla, Ritchie was given the opportunity to direct his first Hollywood tentpole, Sherlock Holmes. He returned to direct its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. But that's when things took an unexpected turn. Ritchie began to focus almost exclusively on movies that could launch franchises, but was unsuccessful each time. He's now in a particularly prolific phase, with a new movie around the corner and two more lined up.