"We all wanna do it. It's just a question of scheduling."
Eli Roth reveals why Thanksgiving 2 still hasn't happened
Image: Sony Pictures
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Eli Roth's Thanksgiving was never supposed to be an actual movie. Released as a fake trailer as part of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's 2007 anthology Grindhouse, Thanksgiving was one more schlocky homage right alongside Machete and Hobo With a Shotgun. But in 2023 (after those other two fake trailers had already become feature-length films of their own), Roth adapted the concept into a modern teen slasher about a killer disguised as an American pilgrim.
Thanksgiving was a hit, and a sequel was announced soon afterward. Three years later, we're still waiting, and in the meantime, Roth is releasing another original movie, Ice Cream Man, under his own production studio, The Horror Section.
So what's the latest on Thanksgiving 2? Is it still happening? And if so, when? Polygon had a chance to talk to Roth about Ice Cream Man (more from that conversation in another article soon) and he opened up about the difficulties of filming the sequel, along with his plan to make it happen.
"It's just really a question of trying to figure out how we can shoot this movie and scheduling everybody, because everybody's just so busy," Roth tells Polygon.
He's not exaggerating. Thanksgiving's young cast has only become more successful in the three years since its release.
Roth rattles off their accomplishments: "Jalen Thomas Brooks is on Off Campus. Nell Verlaque has her MGM Plus show, and she's on Overcompensating with Tomaso. Addison's on a world tour. Milo's filming a movie. Everybody's working. The cast is incredible. I'm so, so, so, so happy for them. Getting them all in a room is tough."
However, Roth has a plan, which starts with Jeff Rendell, who wrote 2023's Thanksgiving. The two have already pretty much finalized the script for Thanksgiving 2, so that part shouldn't take too long.
"I'm gonna sit down with Jeff Rendell after the release of Ice Cream Man," he says. "We're just gonna go through one last pass of the script. And then I'm gonna basically have the movie locked and loaded and figure out how we do this. We can't get everyone together again for four weeks the way we could last time, but how can I get everyone in the room for this scene and then split them up for that scene?"
In a perfect world, Roth would prefer to actually have the entire cast together for a month to shoot Thanksgiving 2, but that seems impossible, so he'll have to make do.
"I love them," he says. "They're my friends and we had a great time making it. We all wanna do it. It's just a question of scheduling."
Thanksgiving is streaming on Hulu and Disney Plus. Ice Cream Man releases in theaters on Aug. 7.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 16: LeBron James speaks onstage during the mind the game panel at Fanatics Fest NYC 2026 at Jacob Javits Center on July 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Fanatics)
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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Fanatics
After accepting a significant paycut and family distance, LeBron James outlined clearly why he joined the Philadelphia 76ers.
“I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship,” James tweeted. “I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team.”
Of course, James believes he can. He already has won four NBA championships with three different franchises, including the Miami Heat (2012, 2013), Cleveland Cavaliers (2016) and Los Angeles Lakers (2020). He has climbed to No. 1 on the NBA’s all-time leading scoring list and No. 4 on the league’s all-time assist list. James unquestionably boosts the Sixers’ championship odds. But does he guarantee it?
Below are a few factors that will determine whether James can collect his fifth NBA title and become the first player in NBA history to win a league championship with four different teams.
How will James handle ball-handling duties with Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown?
All three players work best when they have the ball in their hands. So how can all three be at their best with only one ball?
No doubt, all three players will need to have reps to bring out the best in everyone. But all three players have already had experience playing secondary roles. Before he became an All-Star last season, Maxey deferred more to center Joel Embiid. Throughout his 10-year career with the Boston Celtics, Brown had to learn how to temper his isolation-heavy style of play so he could co-exist with Jayson Tatum. Last season, James excelled as the Lakers’ third option behind Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves as a screensetter, floor spacer and occasional facilitator.
All three might seem more inclined to make the other feel comfortable for a few reasons. Maxey has less tenure than James and Brown. After the Celtics surprisingly dealt Brown to the Sixers, he may want to prove that he cares more about team success than individual glory. By accepting a veteran’s minimum deal, James implicitly also accepts he will likely inherit a reduced role.
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These issues could become challenging to navigate amid external adversities, including overlapping injuries and losses, But it appears all three will bring out the best in each other, given their strong level of basketball intelligence, versatility and respect for each other.
USA's #11 Joel Embiid (L) and USA's #06 LeBron James react from the bench in the men's semifinal basketball match between USA and Serbia during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris on August 8, 2024. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Can James and Joel Embiid stay healthy?
It seems unlikely that James or Embiid will win the NBA’s Iron Man Award. In his 24th season, the 41-year-old James inevitably will experience Father Time’s unforgiving touch after playing a combined 60 games last season with issues involving sciatica and his left foot. Entering his 11th NBA season, Embiid has played in only a combined 96 regular-season games in the previous three seasons because of various knee and foot ailments. But with both taking their training seriously, James and Embiid can at least improve their odds with becoming more available consistently.
If that happens, Embiid and James could become unstoppable in various ways. Both players thrive with attacking the basket with their brute strength and methodical patience. Both have extended their range well enough to keep defenses honest and to operate out of the post. Both have excelled as great passers, which could help space the floor for the Sixers’ guards.
Can the Sixers shield James defensively?
Aside from James’ iconic chasedown block in the 2016 NBA Finals, his eventually Hall-of-Fame reel won’t include many defensive stops. That’s because he has mostly avoided that responsibility to conserve his workload during the second half of his career. The Lakers needed James to raise his defensive activity after dealing Anthony Davis for Dončić leading into the 2024 NBA trade deadline. But now? James should not need to worry as much.
Embiid has excelled as a rim protector. Brown and VJ Edgecombe have mostly been effective with limiting the opposing team’s top wing scorer. James will still need to stay organized defensively and call out coverage. But the Sixers have enough to allow James to worry more about his offensive role than his defensive limitations.
Can their talent overcome other team’s continuity?
Because of the Sixers’ elite talent, they are already considered a championship contender. But will that enough to unseat the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder?
All three present tough challenges because they all boast star talent, continuity and depth. The Thunder made cost-cutting moves this summer by dealing Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins in separate deals. But the Thunder still have their two main stars (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren) along with two-way wing depth (Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams). Spurs center Victor Wembanyama is considered the NBA”s next generational star because of he has become the NBA’s best defensive players and one of the league’s most versatile scorers. Although De’Aron Fox disappeared in the playoffs, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle will likely grow enough to supplant Fox’s role.
As for the Knicks? They lost a key center (Mitchell Robinson) to avoid second-apron penalties. But the Knicks mostly have their same championship roster with their star point guard (Jalen Brunson), star center (Karl-Anthony Towns) and valuable supporting cast (Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Jordan Clarkson).
Because of the Sixers’ durability issues, Oklahoma City, San Antonio or New York would likely beat them in a seven-game playoff series. But should the Sixers somehow stay healthy at the most pivotal moment, their talent and smarts could overcome the relative inexperience together. %!s()
Mayo's emotional All-Ireland triumph on Sunday brought a collective release to everyone associated with the county, but victory on Gaelic football's biggest day also provided Ryan O'Donoghue a measure of redemption.
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In the 2021 final, O'Donoghue missed a penalty that would have given Mayo the lead over Tyrone in the second half.
While O'Donoghue top-scored on the day with 0-8, Tyrone won the game, leaving the spot-kick failure - which came 12 months after the 2020 final loss to Dublin - to eat away at him for five years before he got another crack at the final.
And against Kerry on Sunday, the 27-year-old set the tone for a furious Mayo performance as he pressed and hassled the Kingdom defence from the first minute in a man of the match performance.
"The two main emotions are pride and relief," he told The GAA Social.
"After 2020 and 2021, if I'm being honest, I was never over 2021 until about a half-hour ago [at full-time on Sunday].
"Now I'm an All-Ireland champion, we're All-Ireland champions and I'm over it. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.
"There are a lot of things that have happened in the past couple of years on the pitch - 2020, 2021 and the Roscommon game [a 10-point loss in this year's Connacht semi-final]. I don't think today would have happened if we didn't go through those things."
O'Donoghue, who made his senior inter-county debut in 2020, had enjoyed a superb season for Andy Moran's side prior to Sunday's final.
But his indefatigable display - in which he scored 0-5 and launched the move that ended with Darragh Beirne's 40th-minute goal - has installed him as the frontrunner for the Footballer of the Year award (he would be the first Mayo winner since Moran in 2017).
It would be a remarkable achievement for a multi-talented sportsman, who fought in two All-Ireland boxing finals in his youth and played for the Republic of Ireland soccer team at underage level.
And like so many of his team-mates, Belmullet club-man O'Donoghue was able to savour the epic celebrations at Croke Park with his family, including his father Michael and County Down-born mother Brenda.
"What my mother and father have done for me since I was 11 years of age. Boxing, my dad used to leave at 4 o'clock in the morning to take me to Dublin to the National Stadium for Ireland training," explained O'Donoghue.
"Up and down the road to Castlebar when I was playing Kennedy Cup with Mayo, up and down the road, under-14, Minor. It's a long journey from Castlebar to Belmullet.
"My father worked two jobs. I was playing with Sligo Rovers 2014 to 2016. I didn't get paid, we had to pay our own diesel. There were bills to be paid and my father worked to get me up and down the road to Sligo.
"They've given me every opportunity, whether it's boxing, soccer or Gaelic. This is for them. That's the pride and the emotions in mum and dad. I'm so happy to have repaid them. There's been so many sacrifices. I'm so glad we've done it." %!s()
A forum website published a post on Reddit expressing disbelief that Google issued a manual action for thin content, finding it hard to reconcile how Google could send so much traffic for nearly twenty years only to find fault with it now. Google is calling it a manual action for thin content, but SEOs believe it may be for AI-generated content.
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Manual Action For Thin Content
According to the Reddit post, a forum received a manual action for thin content. The notification specifically pointed to over half a million posts in one specific category of the site, /threads/. They explained that it’s a partial manual action and that the penalization does not affect the rest of the site, just this one part of the website.
“The message (WNC‑651700, ~17 July 2026) is: “Thin content with little or no added value.”
It’s a partial manual action, meaning a human reviewer looked at part of the site, judged it unworthy of ranking, and suppressed it pending a reconsideration request.
The Affects field names exactly one thing: the URL pattern windowsforum.com/threads/.
That’s 168,290 visible threads and over half a million posts, twenty years deep, suppressed together.
No example URLs were provided. Not one.”
Thin Content
Google has multiple definitions of thin content. One of them, thin affiliate content, is content published on affiliate sites that are word for word duplicates of what is found on the merchant websites.
Former Googler Matt Cutts has said that thin affiliate content lacks “original insight or research or analysis” or any other kind of content like original videos that “add value.”
Other forms of thin content:
Syndicated content
Article marketing content
Cutts has also explained that the opposite of thin content is content that site owners have written themselves, contains additional value, is unique, and leans in on the author’s actual expertise.
That last part may be critical for understanding why the Redditor’s forum received a thin content warning, but not in the context that the site owners were thinking of.
Why Is Actual Thin Content Not Penalized?
The part that confused the site owner is that there were two other sections of the website that were more clearly thin content, yet those web pages were not subject to a manual action. One section was a feed of syndicated headlines. The other section was an archived knowledge base. They said both sections have been inactive for three years, yet neither of them was called out for a manual action. It was the forum section of the site that received a manual action.
They wrote:
“The part that doesn’t reconcile
Two sections of the site are the obvious candidates for a thin‑content finding:
an old syndicated headline feed
an archived knowledge base
Together, that’s 11,927 threads with a mean age of about 12.5 years.
…This material has been crawled, indexed, and ranked continuously through Panda, Penguin, the September 2023 helpful content update, and through the community’s migration from its original domain… Fifteen years, two domains, every major ranking change Google has shipped and it never drew a manual action.”
Redditors expressed outrage, with one saying that it’s the result of Google’s monopoly in search.
Stablogger’s response was representative of the outrage many felt:
“This is pretty shocking indeed, especially knowing the reputation of this forum. Is there some thin content? Most certainly, but you have repetitive or pretty much empty threads on every single forum, you have them on Reddit, too.
It’s the nature of user generated content, some threads attract loads of interaction, some don’t at all, but it can’t be the solution to simply delete thin threads without the consent of whoever posted them.”
Well, contrary to what Stablogger wrote, pruning thin or outdated conversations is an option and many forum site owners do it.
Maybe Thin Content = AI Generated Content?
Google has in the past said that content that is AI-generated does not automatically mean it’s bad. However, Australian-based SEO Gagan Ghotra suggested that AI-generated content may be the reason for the thin content manual action.
The points of interest are that the forum characterizes its AI chatbot as a staff member, it has been active since 2023, and the chatbot has posted over a hundred thousand responses to questions.
Authenticity And Value Add
The possible reason why AI-generated answers may be considered thin content is that the expected value add of forums is that the answers are based on actual human experience.
AI does not have experience. It deals in received knowledge. Received knowledge is knowledge that comes from someone or somewhere else, like from a book or another website. There is no value add there in the context of a forum. It’s not what users expect when they post a question on a forum.
Flexing its muscles as one of the biggest new kids on its film industry block, Spain’s ISII Group has gone into production on “Amor de Dios” headlined by “The Orphanage” star Belén Rueda and produced by ISII banner label Inefable Productions.
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The news comes as ISII Group distribution-sales house Deep Com Roots has sold “Summer Days” to half the world’s major markets and cameras have rolled on “La Cathédrale,” Inefable’s first fully English production starring “One Piece” icon Taz Skylar.
As a mark of its step-up in scale, ISII Group now has four films in production in 2026 and another quartet released or awaiting release, including Spanish Western “Trinidad,” an ambitious Wild West-set Spanish family saga led by “Your Fault’s” Gabriela Andrada, Paz Vega and Karla Sofía Gascón. All ISII Group titles are sold and distributed in Spain by Deep Com Roots, a strategic partner.
‘Summer Days’ Closes Half the World
“Summer Days” weighs in as a sun-drenched erotic drama with a thriller edge.
Headed by Maggie Civantos, star of “Locked Up,” “Money Heist” creator Alex Pina’s first international breakout, “Summer Days” has closed Latin America, bought by Brazil’s Sofa Digital, plus Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Busch Media Group) and CIS (Kinologistika). Tokyo’s Aya Pro has licensed Japan, Mumbai’s PictureWorks India, distributor of Anatomy of a Fall and Flow, has acquired rights to India, and Scene & Sound those to South Korea.
“Summer Days” (“Días de agosto”) begins with college students Juan (Pau Simón, “Nudes”) and Gabriela (Berta Galo, “La moderna”) escaping to his family beachside chalet for an idyllic summer.
The film is described as a romantic drama. It acquires almost immediately, however, an erotic charge, in dialog and the arrival of Juan’s father Fernando (Roberto Álamo, “Riot Police”) with his much younger girlfriend Monica (Civantos). Juan and Monica’s feelings for each other build, mixing Juan’s resentment for his father leaving his mother and impossible-to-ignore physical attraction.
“Deep Com Roots attended Cannes Market for the first time and was met with strong interest from the international market. Among our slate, Summer Days was one of the films that attracted the most attention from the buyers,” Emir Duzel, Deep Com Roots head of international sales, told Variety. “We believe its powerful story and the strong sense of tension made the film especially appealing. We are currently continuing negotiations for distribution deals for several more territories.”
Early fruit of the ISII Group’s new talent support, “Summer Days” is based on a screenplay by David Sueiro, which was one of the seven fiction winners in the ISII Group’s first Break on Time ’59 national screenplay competition in 2024. It also marks a return to fiction of versatile director Chema del Prado, behind “IsiDisi,” a Spanish gross-out classic.
Maggie Civantos in ‘Summer Days’
‘Amor de Dios,’ Led Belén Rueda, Goes Into Production
Also the female lead in Alejandro Amenábar’s Academy Award winner “The Sea Inside” and star of upscale genre hits “Julia’s Eyes” and “The Body,” in “Amor de Dios,” Rueda plays Sara Lanes, a renowned dancer and choreographer now living in Paris. When flamenco school Amor de Dios, once rated the world’s best, announces its closure, Sara returns to Madrid with disciple Ángela hoping to save the place where her own career began.
“At the School, Sara reencounters a past she has never been able to leave behind. That and her own physical decline turns her return into a profoundly personal journey where she has to decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to preserve her legacy,” says the synopsis.
Inspired in its origins by an original idea by Spanish cinema great Carlos Saura, “Amor de Dios” is also produced by Inefable Productions
Key cast also takes in Asier Etxeandia, co-star of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory,” and celebrated French dancer Soleila Chaou, Spanish National Ballet principal dancer Irene Tena and Tania Santana (“Love on a Tightrope”).
Scheduled for release in 2027, “Amor de Dios” marks the awaited fiction feature debut of Paula Palacios, winner of the IDA Netflix 2022 Global Emerging Filmmaker Award and a double Goya best doc feature nominee for two stirring and affecting films, set against the context of African immigration to Europe: “Drowning Letters” (“Cartas Mojadas,” 2020) and “My Brother Ali,” (2024).
“La Cathédrale,” Headlined by Will Keen and Taz Skylar
“A new push for ISII Group’s fiction division,” it has noted, “La Cathédrale,” a double redemption thriller, turns on Thomas (Keen), a renowned violinist, who struggles to rebuild his life after the murder of his teenage daughter. When he agrees to take part in a restorative justice process with the man convicted of her killing (Skylar), the discovery of a mysterious violin among her belongings sets him on what the synopsis calls “a relentless search for the truth.”
Beyond Slylar, “La Cathédrale” stars Keen, the distinguished British theatre actor and Private Secretary Michael Adeane in “The Crown,” Venice Horizons best actress Award winner Marta Nieto (“Mother”), Ronald Guttman, whose prolific and long career takes in “The Hunt for Red October,” “Lost” and “Mad Men”; and Catalan actor-pianist Peter Vives (“The Time in Between”).
The film stands out for its “narrative tension, a powerful soundtrack and an immersive atmosphere,” Deep Com Roots has said.
Now shooting in the Canary Islands, in Tenerife and Las Palmas, ““La Cathédrale” reflects director Eduardo Cubillo’s fascination with restorative justice. “Two people who seem irreconcilable – filled with hatred and countless grievances – can, through a simple conversation – which may or may not be difficult – end up feeling liberated in a way that has to be seen to be believed; it’s truly magical,” he has said. The film is written by Cubillo and scribe-helmer José Ortuño (“The Extraordinary Tale”).
Taz Skylar in ‘La Cathédrale’
Deep Com Roots’ Slate
“At ISII Group, we conceive each project not only from its creative ambition, but also the commercial career it can have inside and outside Spain,” said ISII Group President Silvia Carvalho.
“So we have developed a structure which integrates development, financing, production, services, distribution and sales, with Deep Com Roots as the sales agent on all of our catalog,” she added. “‘Summer Days’ pre-sales and the interest generated by ‘La Cathédrale,’ ‘Amor de Dios’ and ‘Trinidad’ confirm that this model allows us to create value and market opportunities from the first stages of every film.”
“Trinidad,” directed by Laura Alvea and José Ortuño, bows Nov. 2026.
Gleaning great reviews, beginning in 1969 when Spain was still under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, “Tal vez” charts the perhaps requited love of Canary Islands poet Natalia Sosa Ayala (“Hierro”) for trapeze artist Pinito del Oro (Adriana Ugarte, “Juileta”), star of New York’s Ringling Brothers. Bowed July 10, it is directed by Arima León, turning on their encounter and their correspondence afterwards.
Winner of the 2025 Break on Time competition, “Desde Arriba,” a father-son relationship dramedy, is now in post-production. Martín Cuervo directs from a screenplay by Arturo Ruiz Serrano and José Manuel Carrasco.
A realist survival thriller starring Milena Smit (“Parallel Mothers”) and Irene Escolar (“Tell Me Who I Am”) “My Zone” shot in the Canary Islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura from May. It marks the feature debut of best short fiction Goya winner Cristián Beteta (“Ángulo muerto”). Directed by Violeta Salama (“Alegría”), “Auri,” starring Cristina Marcos (“Maravillas,” “Locked Up”), a comedy turning on a housewife’s later life revolution, bowed in April in Spain.
‘Trinidad’ (L-R) Gabriela Andrada, Paz Vega and Karla Sofía Gascón
Gabriela Andrada, Paz Vega and Karla Sofía Gascón in ‘Trinidad’. Courtesy of Deep Com Roots
Image: Sony Pictures
