| | | | What's news: The rough week for streaming services continues with the news CNN+ will shutter less a month after launch. Elon Musk claims he has the funds to launch a Twitter takeover bid. Verizon lost pay TV subs but gained broadband customers in last quarter. Tribeca reveals its TV lineup. Plus: Idris Elba will star in a real-time hijack drama series for Apple — Abid Rahman |
CNN+ Shutting Down Less Than a Month After Launch ►How to set fire to $300 million. Less than a month after it launched, the streaming service CNN+ will wind down operations, as its new corporate owner, Warner Bros. Discovery, rethinks the news giant’s streaming strategy. The service will shut down April 30, after launching on March 29. WarnerMedia had spent some $300 million on the launch of CNN+, and planned to spend hundreds of millions more in the coming months and years. Subscribers to CNN+ will receive prorated refunds for their fees. The story.
—Doomed. After shutting down CNN+, executives apologized for "pulling the rug out" from under staff, but said that the news brand "will play an important role" in Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming efforts. THR's media reporter Alex Weprin recaps how we got here and the future for CNN under new CEO Chris Licht. The analysis.
—"Project X." Elon Musk says he has secured the $46.5 billion he needs to launch a takeover bid for Twitter. The publicity hound Tesla CEO is now "prepared to begin negotiations immediately" to buy the social media platform, according to a securities filing. Musk intends to make a $54.20 price (or a higher price to be determined later) bid but it could be thwarted by the "poison pill" Twitter's board instituted last week. The story.
—Update. Following on from yesterday's story that Searchlight was suspending production Aziz Ansari's directorial debut Being Mortal after a complaint was made, THR has learned that the film's star Bill Murray was the subject of the complaint. The story.
—Mixed bag. Verizon lost 78,000 net pay TV subscribers for its Fios consumer video service in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 69,000 in the fourth quarter and a loss of 82,000 in the year-ago period. However, Verizon did record 229,000 total broadband net additions, the best quarter for over a decade. The results. |
Makers of HBO's 'We Own This City' on Dirty Cops, the Drug War and the Legacy of 'The Wire' ►"We’ve accomplished nothing with the drug war." Fourteen years after their acclaimed crime series The Wire, writers David Simon and George Pelecanos revisit the streets of Baltimore — and find they’ve only gotten more violent and dysfunctional. Joined by director Reinaldo Marcus Green and star Jon Bernthal, they discuss with THR's Julian Sancton their new miniseries based on a real-life police scandal, and its new resonance in the wake of the national reckoning on abusive policing. The story.
—Air Hectic. Idris Elba will star in and exec produce Apple TV+'s Hijack, a real-time thriller set aboard a hijacked airplane. The limited series, which received a straight-to-series order from the streamer, is the first project to result from a first-look deal Elba and his Green Door Pictures signed with the tech giant in 2020. George Kay (Lupin) is writing the series, and Jim Field Smith (The Wrong Mans) is attached to direct. The story.
—Good news for Netflix, finally! Ryan Reynolds’ The Adam Project climbed to No. 1 on Nielsen’s movie streaming chart for the week of March 21-27 with 1.2 billion minutes viewed. The Adam Project held on well after posting an opening weekend debut of 1.33 billion minutes viewed to place No. 2 behind Disney’s Turning Red (1.67 billion) for the week of March 14-20. The movie streaming charts.
—Wait, another win for Netflix? The season two debut of Bridgerton carried the show to a dominant No. 1 in the Nielsen TV streaming charts for March 21-27. The Netflix/Shondaland series, whose second season premiered March 25, racked up 2.55 billion minutes of viewing time for the week. The TV streaming charts.
—The Naz film we've all been waiting for, well some of us. THR's man in London Alex Ritman has the scoop on actor Ray Panthaki and producer Daniel Khalili launching a new production company Le Bateau Lavoir. Among the exciting projects from the nascent shingle is a biopic of Prince Naseem Hamed, possibly the greatest boxer the U.K. has ever produced, as well as a biopic about disabled wrestler Maurice Tillet. The story. |
Pixar Unwraps New Concept Art and Details for 'Lightyear' ►To infinity and beyond. THR's Carolyn Giardina spoke to the creative team behind Pixar's highly anticipated Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear, who reveal the painstaking work that went into the art direction, costumes and more. They also tease new details of the movie as well as new concept art. The story.
—Double quick time. Straight Man, Bob Odenkirk's followup to Better Call Saul, was only announced in early April, with AMC saying the project was being fast-tracked. And they weren’t kidding, with the project scoring a series order barely two weeks after it was announced. Odenkirk will star in and exec produce the adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel, with a premiere on AMC and its AMC+ streaming platform slated for 2023. The story.
—All change. THR's Lesley Goldberg has the scoop on Freeform’s breakout hit Cruel Summer being completely overhauled for season two. The series will feature a totally different storyline for its upcoming sophomore season that comes complete with a new cast and showrunner. Elle Triedman has been named showrunner for season two and replaces Tia Napolitano in the role. The story.
—Some huge premieres. The Tribeca Festival has revealed its TV, audio storytelling and “Now” section lineups. The festival will feature world premiere screenings of Amazon’s A League of Their Own TV show, ESPN’s Derek Jeter docuseries The Captain, Hulu’s Victoria’s Secret exposé and FX’s restaurant comedy The Bear. The lineup.
—Broadening horizons. Despite the demise of CNN+, it's not all 'no,' 'not a chance' and 'are you kidding?' at Warner Bros. Discovery, with the company's Discovery unit greenlighting two new shows as part of an expanding partnership with the Explorers Club: Tales From the Explorers Club and the rather long-winded The Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World That the World Needs to Know About. The story. |
TV Review: 'They Call Me Magic' ►"Evasive storytelling drains the magic." THR's chief TV critic Dan Feinberg reviews Apple TV+’s They Call Me Magic. Rick Famuyiwa chronicles Earvin "Magic" Johnson's journey from high school and college legend to NBA star to centerpiece of the HIV/AIDS education movement to business pioneer in a four-hour documentary. The review.
—"A breath of fresh air." THR critic Lovia Gyarkye reviews Netflix's Heartstopper. Alice Oseman's series follows a group of English teens wrestling with self-definition and queer identity. The review.
—"Criminally fun." THR film critic Frank Scheck reviews Pierre Perifel's The Bad Guys. Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos and Zazie Beetz are among other voice talents in this Dreamworks/Universal animated heist movie featuring animal criminals. The review. |
Thank Pod It's Friday►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio. — TV's Top 5. Lesley Goldberg and Dan Fienberg break down the latest TV news. This week the guys begin by running through the headlines including CNN+ shuttering, new shows for Bob Odenkirk, Idris Elba and Matt Bomer, all that Netflix business and Jerry West going full-court press against HBO. They talk The Goldbergs joining an elite TV club. Russian Doll creator, writer, star and director Natasha Lyonne drops by for a chat. And Dan offers his take on HBO’s We Own This City and Barry, HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, Apple’s They Call Me Magic, Amazon’s A Very British Scandal and Showtime’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. Listen here. — Awards Chatter. Awards analyst Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott speaks to Elle Fanning. The former child star, who is now 24 and garnering career-best notices for her work on a Hulu's The Girl from Plainville and The Great, reflects on growing up in the biz alongside Dakota, when she took ownership of her career and what led her to projects on the small screen. Listen here. — Behind the Screen. Tech editor Carolyn Giardina's podcast focuses on the filmmaking crafts. In this episode, Carolyn speaks to the creative team behind Dreamworks Animation’s The Bad Guys, including director Pierre Perifel, editor John Venzon and head of character animation JP Sans. Listen here. In other news... — The Time Traveler’s Wife trailer sees Theo James and Rose Leslie love across time —Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson to receive 2022 Pioneers Award —Jimmy Kimmel rips Fox over Rudy Giuliani’s Masked Singer gig —Cannes: Iconic Paris nightclub Silencio returns to Croisette for festival pop-up —Cannes adds Albert Serra, Louis Garrel, Patricio Guzman titles —Video shows Mike Tyson punching airline passenger —Priya Dogra promoted to WBD EMEA head as Gerhard Zeiler reveals international team —Toronto Film Fest names Beth Janson as COO —Madonna selling Hidden Hills mansion for $26M a year after buying it from The Weeknd —Whoopi Goldberg, Amy Poehler, Maury Povich, William Shatner among NATPE honorees — FIFA Twitch streamer Edwin Castro signs with CAA What else we're reading... —Justin McCurry on why Apple's critically-acclaimed series Pachinko was met with silence in Japan [ Guardian] —Robert Ito interviews Chiwetel Ejiofor and the "big swings" he took to play an alien in Showtime's The Man Who Fell to Earth [ NYT] —The always great Craig Jenkins on why Black-ish was no televised revolution and played it safe more often than not [ Vulture] —Josef Adalian's excellent take on Netflix's biggest ever crisis [ Vulture] —We have a Russian Doll dissenter! Terry Nguyen suggests that there's, you know, too much going on for no reason in the buzzy Netflix show's second season [ Vox] Today... Today's birthdays: Jack Nicholson (85), John Waters (76), Byron Allen (61), Marshawn Lynch (36), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (56), Cassidy Freeman (40), Machine Gun Kelly (32), Meng'er Zhang (35), Sheryl Lee (55), Leonie Benesch (31), Derek Blasberg (40), Ryan Stiles (63), Malcolm Barrett (42), Roman Coppola (57), Zack Gottsagen (37), Robert Elswit (72), Johnnie To (67), Tatiana Thumbtzen (62), Peter Frampton (72), Mark Ordesky (59), Steven Price (45) |
| David M. Jones, a visual effects artist who contributed to such landmark sci-fi films as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien 3 and Starship Troopers, has died. He was 74. The obituary. |
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