| | | | | | This mid-July news cycle was dizzying and turbocharged, but The Weekender is taking a wider lens view with must-reads from The Hollywood Reporter: Trump takes Murdoch to Florida court, CBS cost-cuts Colbert, AI guns for Hollywood jobs, everyone counts their Emmy noms.
— Erik Hayden
Plus, a news ticker: David Ellison lobbies; Christopher Nolan sells out; David Mamet confronted; Shannon Sharpe settles |
Late-Night's Last DaysAfter the cancellation: One insider tells THR that they did not believe any of the network late night shows were meaningfully profitable, though some deals can be justified by leveraging the hosts as “company men” (Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon appear at the upfronts, etc). And while it's easy to speculate about the ownership change at CBS impacting Stephen Colbert and The Late Show, the youthful audience that once flocked to late night now spends time on YouTube. A slow death I The awful optics I What's next for Colbert? |
Conspiracy Land What did the President know about a remote getaway for the private-plane elite? No, not that President and not that conspiracy. That is Paradise, Dan Fogelman’s crackling Hulu drama in which James Marsden plays the commander-in-chief. The show earned a surprise Emmys nom, just as some figures were resurrecting a real-world thriller: the tangled conspiracy theories surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump. The column.
THR, Esq: In a $10 billion lawsuit over a WSJ story, the President alleges that Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. chief exec Robert Thomson authorized publication of the Epstein article after Trump notified them that the letter was fake. Notably, the suit was filed in Florida, where a jury might be more receptive to defamation claims than one in New York, where News Corp. is based. |
Rise of the MachinesHollywood is in the midst of an AI insurgency, though even that noun may not do the moment justice. Though fragmented, the effort is increasingly looking like a full-on takeover, a Pixar-like artquake that aims to change the provenance of images, the business of production and the language of cinema. The cover story. |
The Emmys RaceSeverance led the pack with 27 noms, but that’s not the whole story. THR experts break down what it all means — including why the Emmys ignore a certain showrunner. It was also a big year for first-time nominees, oldest and youngest nominees and more. Chat I Snubs I Stats I Yellowstone factor I Full list.
Q&As: Netflix's Bela Bajaria, HBO's Casey Bloys and Apple's Matt Cherniss. |
Next Academy President May Be... After three years as the Oscars org's top officer, term limits are forcing Janet Yang to vacate her role, and insiders say that fellow producer Lynette Howell Taylor, who serves as one of the vps and chairs its Awards Committee, is the heavy favorite to succeed her. The report. |
South Park Fight Careens Paramount Global believed it had a framework for an agreement with series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Skydance, the studio’s likely imminent new owner, balked at the terms. The creators have brought on bulldog negotiator Bryan Freedman to turn up the heat. A $3 billion battle. |
Netflix's BIG Week In its closely-watched July 17 earnings report, the streaming giant grew its revenue and profit margins even as its competitors — except YouTube — struggle to keep services profitable. Netflix also boosted its full-year financial outlook, but some investors had hoped for an even bigger quarterly showing. Charts I Street reacts I $3 hike, by Peacock?
+ Ted Sarandos on AI: "This is real people doing real work with better tools." |
Running Out of MoneyAn emergency meeting was held by the Broadway League as word that a $400 million New York state tax credit is expected to allocate remaining funds by October. It played a big role in Broadway’s recovery as productions sought to convince investors to put money in new projects. The report. |
Josh D’Amaro's Long GameThe Disney Parks chief speaks with THR on Disneyland's future, how the company has used many of its buys (Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars) to expand its Anaheim park and what's next for immersive entertainment: "So it’s a fine balance of that nostalgia that everyone wants to feel, and that newness, which we owe to our fans." Q&A. |
An Open Letter to Spotify's CEO Spotify didn’t break the system on its own. It inherited it. But now it’s no longer the underdog. It’s the house. And the same old rules that built its empire are the ones still starving songwriters. So the question is: will Daniel Ek change the game, or keep cashing out? Guest column + Justin Bieber's No. 1? |
Lola Tung Is Ready for What's Next The actress, who is about to wrap up her turn in the final season of creator-author Jenny Han's The Summer I Turned Pretty, is feeling all the emotions as she looks ahead. Person of Interest. |
The Origin of Oscars' Biggest PartyBanished from Swifty Lazar’s fête, Graydon Carter turned rejection into reinvention. He seduced Hollywood, took over the event and turned it into one of the most coveted invites in the world. An Empire of the Elite excerpt. |
7 Days of DEALS Ryan Gosling and Will Ferrell are in talks for action-comedy Tough Guys at Amazon MGM ... Broadway play John Proctor Is the Villain is getting a Universal feature adaptation with Tina Fey and Marc Platt onboard ... Taika Waititi is tackling Judge Dredd in a hot package being pitched ... Cameron Diaz will star in Bad Day, a Netflix actioner to be directed by Jake Szymanski ... Joe Eszterhas, who wrote the script for Basic Instinct, is back to pen the screenplay for Amazon MGM's reboot ... Millie Bobby Brown and Gabriel LaBelle will star in Netflix rom-com Just Picture It ... Bo Bragason will star as Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will play Link in Nintendo's live-action Legend of Zelda movie ... Ariana Grande and Josh Gad will lead the voice cast for Warner Bros.' Oh, the Places You’ll Go! ... William Franklyn-Miller will star in biopic Young Washington for Wonder Project and Angel Studios ... Igby Rigney, Homer Gere and Graham Campbell will star in Ryan Murphy FX drama The Shards, which adapts a Bret Easton Ellis novel ... FX also picked up a limited series called Cry Wolf, with Brie Larson signing on to star opposite Olivia Colman.
One of the many reasons why The Late Show cancellation was so shocking is that Stephen Colbert has been part of so many viewers' media diets for going on two decades now. The idea that his platform could be erased citing, abruptly, "financial reasons" makes it all the more evident that it's an end of an era for television. But, it's the weekend, so lets rewind back to when late night was still late night viewing. And when Comedy Central bet big on a parody of a self-serious conservative TV pundit. Here's the original THR review of The Colbert Report on Oct. 19, 2005:
Weekend soundtrack: "The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History" |
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