| | | | What's news: It's magazine day! On the cover this week is the multi-talented and much maligned Lena Dunham. Fashion icon Andre Leon Talley has died. Netflix will release 25 Korean originals this year. The Grammys have a new date and new location. DAZN has launched a content creation studio. Death on the Nile has secured a now-rare China release date. Plus: Scandal-plagued CBS show Bull will end with its sixth season — Abid Rahman |
Lena Dunham on Her First Film in a Decade, Youthful Blind Spots and Rebooting 'Girls' ►On the cover. Lena Dunham's origin story is practically the stuff of Hollywood legend. By the time HBO greenlit Girls in 2011, she had already been profiled by The New Yorker and The New York Times, and achieved by 25 what most aspiring writer-actor-directors never see in a lifetime. But with the fame and notoriety came the backlash and she faced horrendous abuse on social media and in the press, taking hits for everything from her looks to her many well-documented PR gaffes.
With Dunham's latest directorial effort, the "sexual fable" Sharp Stick which she also wrote and stars in, set to premiere at Sundance, THR's Seth Abramovitch spoke to the polarizing auteur about surviving all the hate, sickness and addiction as well as her recent artistic rebirth: "I'd love the next decade to be less about apologizing and just about openly making art." The cover story.
—Mark it down. The 64th annual Grammy Awards ceremony has a new date and a new location. The Grammys will now broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 3, from 8-11:30 p.m. on CBS (it also will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+). It’s the first time the show will take place in Vegas. The story.
—The selection. The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 63rd edition next month. Among the films joining Francois Ozon’s opening film Peter von Kant in the race for the Golden Bear are Claire Denis’ Both Sides of the Blade, Hong Sangsoo’s The Novelist’s Film, Mikhael Hers' The Passengers of the Night and Ulrich Seidel’s Rimini. The full lineup.
—Leading the way. The Harder They Fall and Insecure lead the list of nominations for the 2022 NAACP Image Awards. Jeymes Samuel’s Black Western Netflix movie and Issa Rae’s HBO comedy series, which aired its fifth and final season last year, each scored 12 nominations. The nominations. |
André Leon Talley 1948-2021►"One of the last great fashion editors." André Leon Talley, the hugely influential fashion journalist and flamboyant former creative director and editor-at-large of U.S. Vogue, has died. He was 73. A towering figure in fashion, both literally given he was 6-foot-6 and figuratively due to a career that spanned six decades, Talley wrote for a number of publications but is indelibly associated with Vogue, serving variously as the magazine’s news director, creative director and as well as editor-at-large and was Anna Wintour's right-hand man for a number of years. The obituary. — Original content push. Sports streamer DAZN is doubling down on its original programming drive with the launch of a specialist content development arm. DAZN Studios will look to create development deals, selling and licensing DAZN’s original sport documentaries, series and films, as well as exploring new production opportunities. The story. — A rare opportunity. Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded Death on the Nile has secured an increasingly rare release date in China, opening in the country on Feb. 19. The film is currently the only U.S. studio film with a confirmed China. Beijing has drastically cut back Hollywood's access to the China market, responding to tense trade relations and increasing nationalism under President Xi Jinping. The story. — Can't stop, won't stop. Spider-Man: No Way Home is now the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time — not adjusted for inflation — after passing Black Panther to reach over $702.6 million in ticket sales, according to final numbers for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. The story. — Casting news. Mike White’s HBO dark comedy The White Lotus has enlisted F. Murray Abraham, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander and Haley Lu Richardson as series regulars for its sophomore season. They join the previously announced castmembers Michael Imperioli and Aubrey Plaza in season two, which will leave Hawaii behind and be set at a different White Lotus hotel property. The story. |
Netflix's Price Hike: The Math Behind the Plan ►ARPU, baby. On Jan. 14, Netflix revealed that it was raising its prices in North America by $1-$2, with basic plans priced at $9.99 and the next tier at $15.49. The immediate reaction from Wall Street was positive as the company's stock price jolted upward. THR's Georg Szalai and Alex Weprin look at the implications of the price increase and write that the streamer appears to be reorienting around maximizing average revenue per user for its 74 million-plus U.S. and Canadian subs. The analysis.
—All in. Buoyed by the global success of Squid Game, Hellhound and half a dozen other shows, Netflix is doubling down on Korean content in 2022. The streamer said Wednesday that it will release 25 Korean films and series this year, its largest annual slate from the country to date. In 2021, Netflix invested over $500 million on Korean content, and this year’s slate will easily surpass that spending figure. The story.
—#StopAsianHate. A new PBS documentary film will tackle the rise in hate and violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. One Day in March (working title) follows the aftermath of the 2021 mass shooting in Atlanta, where a white man killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three different spa locations. The story.
—Limited run. The Kite Runner is heading to Broadway. Based on Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 international bestseller, which was adapted into a 2007 movie, the Broadway production will feature music. The play will officially open at the Hayes Theater on July 21 and is slated to run through Oct. 30. Previews will begin on July 6. The story.
—This Week in TV. THR's Rick Porter runs down the TV premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. Among the things to look out for over the coming week include the fourth and final season of Ozark on Netflix, the return of Showtime's Billions and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes' new period drama The Gilded Age debuts on HBO. The full guide. |
Is the COVID-19 Safety Status Quo on Film/TV Sets Good Enough?►"Things are not nearly as strict as they were a year and a half ago." Amid the rapid spread of omicron, the Jan. 15 deadline for renewing or changing the COVID-19 safety protocols agreement between the industry’s top guilds and studios came and went without any official acknowledgment. But some entertainment workers say the rules need to be strengthened to avoid "infection and reinfection and reinfection" of crew members with more frequent testing and booster shots incorporated. The story. — You get a renewal, and you get a renewal. Paramount+ has renewed flagship series Star Trek: Discovery for a fifth season and, more unusually, renewed the upcoming spinoff Strange New Worlds for a second season before the first season debuts. In addition, the streamer has announced premiere dates for Discovery, Strange New Worlds and season two of Picard. The story. — In for two more. Bravo has renewed the late night show Watch What Happens Live, hosted and executive produced by Andy Cohen, through 2023. The two-year pickup will take WWHL into its 15th year on the NBCUniversal-owned cable outlet. The story. — Nixed. NBC has canceled its Ellen DeGeneres-led unscripted show Ellen’s Game of Games after four seasons. The show, featuring DeGeneres leading contestants through upsized versions of audience games from her daytime talk show, last aired in May 2021. The story. — Axed. CBS legal drama Bull will end with its sixth season, which is currently airing on the network. The show has been plagued by scandal, with CBS paying Eliza Dushku $9.5 million to settle a sexual harassment claim against star Bill Weatherly in 2018. Earlier this year, showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron was let go from the show and dropped from an overall deal at CBS Studios following an internal investigation. Actor Freddy Rodriguez also departed after an investigation. The story. In other news... — Netflix drops trailer for The Cuphead Show, releasing on streamer next month —Producers Guild reveals sports, children’s and short-form TV awards nominees —Imagine elevates chief strategy officer Justin Wilkes —UTA taps Ketchum exec Lindsay Wagner as chief diversity officer — Dune leads Visual Effects Society Awards nominations —Indie podcast company Blanchard House signs with WME —CBS News shuffles executive team with emphasis on streaming —TikTok star Noah Beck signs with CAA —YouTube content chief Susanne Daniels to depart as platform cuts down originals slate —Former HBO exec Len Amato set as content chief at MasterClass — Lusia 'Lucy' Harris, first Woman drafted by NBA and subject of The Queen of Basketball, dies at 66 —Actor and comedian Louie Anderson undergoing cancer treatment What else we're reading... —Activision Blizzard’s Workplace Problems Spurred $75 Billion Microsoft Deal [ Wall Street Journal] —A Tale of Two Tais: The Dual-Timeline Casting Magic at the Heart of Yellowjackets [ The Ringer] —TV’s Buzziest Shows Aren’t Trying to Trick Viewers Anymore [ Vox] —How Encanto Explains America [ The Atlantic] —XXX-Files: Who Torched the Pornhub Palace? [ Vanity Fair] Today... ...in 1996, Dimension Films unveiled the R-rated, Robert Rodriguez-helmed From Dusk Till Dawn in theaters nationwide. Written and starring Quentin Tarantino, the film was toplined by George Clooney and co-starred Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis. A box office success, it would spawn a sequel and a prequel. The original review. Today's birthdays: Dolly Parton (76), Rob Delaney (45), Tippi Hedren (92), Jodie Sweetin (40), Drea de Matteo (50), Logan Lerman (30), Marsha Thomason (46), Katey Sagal (68), Damien Chazelle (37), Paul McCrane (61), Shawn Wayans (51), Larry Clark (79), Nash Edgerton (49) |
| Yvette Mimieux, the radiant actress who created a stir in the 1960s with performances in Where the Boys Are, Light in the Piazza, Toys in the Attic and, in a history-making turn, Dr. Kildare, has died. She was 80. The obituary. |
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