Sometimes a power lunch is just a lunch. Sometimes it's a hint. We'll learn much more about the future of Netflix early next week when it shows Wall Street what its next chapter may look like. But the idea of an all-out Hollywood scramble to counter an increasingly dominant YouTube is giving an early Halloween chill. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Zendaya picks her next feature; Pierre Omidyar buys in to indie film; Ynon Kreiz, intense kite-surfer; Antonio Banderas goes HBO.
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In hindsight, much could be made about the smoke signals that Ted Sarandos was putting out to the town ahead of his major move to rip the band-aid off with 1,000 layoffs and shuffle at the top of the C-suite with Bela Bajaria out and Peter Rice in. As THR writers took calls, pieced together details with sources and heard from Netflix employees this week, a few color anecdotes stand out:
+ The Netflix honcho had met with HBO chief Casey Bloys multiple times this year, including a very public one at Superba, the airy restaurant on Sunset near the Netflix offices that also serves as the streamer’s unofficial commissary. “He did that so people could see it,” says one source. “It was putting Bela on notice.”
+ The Bajaria/Rice swap has been discombobulating for Netflix employees (“it’s been bumpy,” one says), many of whom have already been reeling from the streaming giant’s stock slide. Netflix strongly encourages employees to take a portion of their pay in the form of equity, but with shares down more than 45 percent from a year ago employees who have done so are feeling the pain.
+ Eyes are now trained on film chief Dan Lin, who held an urgent meeting with the film team at the company on Thursday night to go over the shake up. In this week’s layoffs, Lin’s No. 2, VP of film Doug Belgrad, was swept out, among other film side executives. Belgrad was known as a manager of managers at the company. And his layer had effectively been axed. The report.
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"This weekend, A24 brings out Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's You Can See Everything, the Elizabeth Holmes doc that is already creating a major stir with filmgoers after previously dazzling critics," Steven Zeitchik notes in his latest feature. "The opening follows the releases last weekend of Musk, The Social Reckoning and the New York Film Festival premiere of Artificial. All four films contend with the tech alphas trying to remake our lives in their image. And they exact a kind of revenge at once inevitable and improbable." The column.
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There's a delicate shake up in the works on DC's all-important The Batman: Part II.
Matt Reeves, the top tier filmmaker who has guided the franchise since being hired to direct The Batman in 2017, will not return to the set as he continues to deal with a sensitive family matter. Instead, Steven Soderbergh will be brought in to help complete principal photography, working with Reeves from a distance for the final months of production as it heads toward its 2028 release date. Soderbergh, the director behind Ocean's 11, Magic Mike and Traffic, approached Reeves with the offer of help. Borys Kit has the backstory.
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"The best is still ahead." — Reese Witherspoon, on teaming with European studio Mediawan to buy her production banner Hello Sunshine back from Candle Media.
"Together with Caruso, we are proud to help bring the Bay back to life." — David Ellison, revealing that Paramount will reopen the Bay Theater in Pacific Palisades.
"What makes us unique is our speed, agility and ability to create 'advertainment' under one roof." — Bethenny Frankel, unveiling her new business venture: a media company.
"AI stole my joke and my outfit." — George Brett Olson, a comedian who is one of many finding that AI accounts steal their jokes word for word and repurpose them.
"We talk about it a lot, and I will show up anytime she asks me to." — Allison Williams, hours before HBO revealed a Girls revival for a limited run.
Next Big Thing
Tucker Harrington Pillsbury, aka 29-year-old singer Role Model, is currently on his global tour after releasing his third album, is embracing his new era and upcoming acting debut in Lena Dunham's Good Sex.
Logline of the Week
[Durango / Hulu]
"Mikey (Cooper Hoffman) is a ski bum townie chasing a buzz. Bunny (Kathryn Newton) is a homeschooled runaway working as a greasy-spoon waitress. Together they’re riding an avalanche of bad decisions and falling in love while running from cops, criminals, and Mikey’s wife in pursuit of their own American dream."
By the Numbers
Widely-read stories on THR.com this week
1) "Breaking Bad Stars Remember R.J. Mitte"
2) "Street Fighter: First Reactions"
3) "Why Did Pablo Torre Investigate Kelly Clarkson’s Birdgate?"
Plus: The bird speaks! Joel Stein imagines what Molly has to say about it all.
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Hollywood’s center of gravity is increasingly tilting to the East Coast. While California kept its crown at No. 1 with $1.76 billion in movie and TV production spend, New York is drawing major titles at a much more rapid pace, per industry tracker ProdPro’s closely-watched quarterly snapshot. The state surged 87 percent in production spend in the quarter to $1.61 billion compared with California’s 17 percent uptick. Bulked up soundstage infrastructure, a large crewmember union base, easier access to neighboring Tri-State locations (don't forget New Jersey) are adding up. The report.
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Then it did. Aaron Couch has one of the great long reads this week with the story of Primetime writer Ajon Singh, who spent years being told his work had no commercial appeal. Now, with a hit movie under his belt, he finds himself an in-demand scribe. "I was really struggling with this label ‘left of center.’ I thought that was a really cool label. Like, ‘Your niche,’ or, ‘You have taste," says Singh. "But it means, ‘Not commercial. Not bankable. Unmarketable.'" The profile.
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Billy Joel wants nothing more than to get back onstage. Whether he can is still an open question. The singer opens up to Seth Abramovitch to discuss living with hydrocephalus, his hopes of performing again and why he’s auctioning more than 70 bikes at Christie's. "It used to be called water on the brain, so it affects your balance, it affects your memory, it affects your vision, your hearing. But I’m OK. They call it a brain disorder, but it’s not that serious." The Q&A.
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As comic Laura Ramoso takes her largest tour to date through the U.S., she's brought her viral characters with her and sharing a bit more of herself than she was once comfortable with. "Hopefully you do calm down after the show," she tells Mikey O'Connell. "But the title and the show are a bit about where I am at right now. I need to calm down. We all need to calm down. That’s the motto that I've adopted this year. It's not working, but it's nice to put it out there." The interview.
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No press? No problem. After scrapping a junket, Kristen Bell, Jackie Tohn, Adam Brody and Timothy Simons toasted season three of Nobody Wants This with a Housewarming Party event in L.A. (That pictured event above also kept most reporters away, too. Go figure.) Meanwhile, top Disney execs Steve Asbell, Dana Walden and Alan Bergman came out for the L.A. premiere of Whalefall. Curry Barker and Cooper Tomlinson showed up at FocusFest in L.A. Janelle Monae made a (bloody) appearance at Cinespia’s screening of Carrie at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Sylvester Stallone nodded to the fourth season of Tulsa King at PaleyFest NY. Delroy Lindo (supported by Norm Lewis and Spike Lee) was honored at Black Theatre United's gala in NYC. Stephen Colbert joined Greta Gerwig for an Imax sneak of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew in NYC. All 62 photos from this week's events and premieres.
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Elsewhere, in front of the Death Star in Century City, CAA power agent Kevin Huvane dedicated a Project Angel Food van to his late father: "Martin ‘Pop’ Huvane, believed in showing up for people and helping wherever he could." Sacha Baron Cohen naturally attended the L.A. premiere of his new movie Ali G: Who Iz I? as Ali G. Jesse Eisenberg meandered the halls of The Hollywood Reporter's L.A. office to pass out Playbills.
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Upcoming Releases
Notable movies heading to theaters
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One-liners from THR's team of critics
Peacock's Linda Cardellini-starring series Crystal Lake is "the best Friday the 13th property yet (which isn't saying a lot)." Paul Bettany and James Spader "elevate Disney+’s sometimes moving, sometimes exhausting Marvel spinoff" VisionQuest. Director-screenwriter Kitao Sakurai's Paramount feature Street Fighter "tries to beat you into submission." Brian Duffield's race-against-the-clock survival tale Whalefall is "a dumb thriller that takes itself way too seriously." Brad Bird’s Netflix animated neo-noir Ray Gunn is "a bland pastiche." Laika’s ambitious stop-motion epic Wildwood "is both a technical and emotional triumph."
And finally:
A Hollywood Flashback...
103 years ago: Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney ink a deal to make Alice in Wonderland-themed cartoons. The pact marks the founding of the Disney Brothers Studio, a precursor to the entertainment giant we know today.
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