| | | | What's news: Universal and Disney wowed the crowds at CinemaCon. At long last, there's a teaser trailer for Avatar 2. MGM's film unit is looking for new leadership. Peacock's losses widened as it grew to 13m paid subs. Twitter added more monthly active users. Netflix has acquired Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s newest film. Apple lands Michael J. Fox doc. Plus: AMC's plans for a Carol and Daryl Walking Dead spinoff series are in disarray as Melissa McBride exits — Abid Rahman |
Netflix's Big Wake-Up Call: The Power Clash Behind the Crash ►"They pitted Bela and Cindy against each other." An absolute must-read story from THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters about the long-running internal drama at Netflix that has bubbled to the surface after the spectacular crash in the company's stock price last week. Kim outlines how rivals are toggling between schadenfreude and fear, and how top creators and insiders are increasingly becoming vocal about what’s gone wrong with the streaming giant’s culture. The story.
—Big awards play. It's not all doom and gloom at Netflix, the streamer can cheer the news that it has acquired Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s newest film, his first since 2015’s The Revenant. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, was written by Iñárritu and Nicolás Giacobone, who previously collaborated on Birdman. Just a reminder that Iñárritu won back-to-back best director Oscars for his last two features. The story.
—The fightback begins. Netflix also momentarily distracted us all from CinemaCon when it revealed its summer slate of movies on Wednesday. The lineup includes the obligatory Adam Sandler comedy (Jeremiah Zagar's Hustle, in case you're wondering), a Chris Hemsworth sci-fi thriller, an animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, a J-Lo doc, The Gray Man, starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling and much more. The lineup.
—First big exits. Kim teamed up with Borys Kit for the huge scoop on the exec shakeup at Amazon Studios' newly acquired MGM unit. Michael De Luca, MGM's motion picture group chairman and Pam Abdy, MGM’s motion picture group president, are both exiting their roles this summer. The move comes over a month after Amazon closed its $8.5 billion deal to acquire MGM and is in some ways expected. The story.
—Adding users. Twitter reported revenue growth of 16 percent to $1.2 billion in Q1 2022, marking the social media firm’s first update to investors since Elon Musk struck an agreement to acquire the company. Twitter also posted quarterly advertising revenue up 23 percent to $1.1 billion. The company’s key subscriber metric, monetizable daily active users, hit 229 million in the quarter, up 16 percent from a year ago. The results.
—Theatrical bounce back. Peacock reached more revenue, but its loss widened to $456 million in Q1, while NBCU overall grew its earnings, parent company Comcast reported on Thursday. Peacock added 4 million paid subscribers in Q1 to end it with more than 13 million paid subs and 28 million monthly active accounts in the U.S., up from 24.5 million as of the end of 2021. At NBCU's studios unit, revenue jumped 15.1 percent to $2.8 billion, “primarily reflecting higher content licensing revenue and theatrical revenue.” The full results.
—"No prior knowledge." So it turns out the mysterious envelope given to Olivia Wilde in the middle of her CinemaCon presentation this week contained custody documents from former partner Jason Sudeikis. However, people close to the Ted Lasso star say he didn't know when or where the paperwork would be delivered, and that "he would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner." The story. |
Hollywood CEO Pay: The Year of the Nine-Figure Club ►C-suite scorecard. Last year was a lucrative one for many Hollywood CEOs who saw their paydays increase, but a few — Endeavor mogul Ari Emanuel, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Amazon chief Andy Jassy — ended up in rarefied air by joining the nine-figure club. See who is up and by how much in THR’s annual look at executive compensation. The story.
—Staten Island's finest. Peacock has landed Pete Davidson’s semi-autobiographical comedy series, Bupkis. After being taken out to streamers last month, the live-action scripted series starring the SNL and tabloid favorite drew interest from multiple outlets before ultimately landing at Peacock with a straight-to-series order. The story.
—Familiar faces. Apple TV+ has filled out the cast for season two of The Afterparty. Sam Richardson and Zöe Chao will reprise their roles in the murder-mystery comedy, joining fellow returning star Tiffany Haddish. The series has also added seven new actors to the ensemble: Elizabeth Perkins, Zach Woods, Poppy Liu, Paul Walter Hauser, Anna Konkle, Jack Whitehall and Vivian Wu. The story.
—A coup. Apple has landed a feature-length doc about actor and activist Michael J. Fox, tracking his stratospheric rise in Hollywood with Family Ties and the Back to the Future films as well as his personal journey with Parkinson’s disease. Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim is set to direct the doc that is currently in production. The story.
—Spanner in the works. AMC’s Walking Dead spinoff based around Carol and Daryl just lost its Carol. Original TWD star Melissa McBride has departed the untitled spinoff set to follow her character alongside onscreen favorite Norman Reedus’ Daryl. The series was picked up in September 2020 with details, including the filming location, yet to be worked out. Sources say McBride, upon learning of the Europe filming location, decided against filming abroad. The story.
—Your move Ron. Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney’s self-governing special district is arguing that Florida’s move to eliminate its authority over its sprawling theme park area isn’t legal unless its bond debt is paid off. The note to securities regulators is the first response from Disney since the state began retaliating against the company for its opposition to the "Don't Say Gay" law. The story. |
CinemaCon: Disney Debuts First Look at David O. Russell's Latest, 'Lightyear' and 'Doctor Strange 2' ►"Buckle up as we take you on a whistle-stop tour." Disney took over the main stage at CinemaCon on Wednesday morning for a 90-minute session that delivered exclusive footage of upcoming films including the anticipated 3D reveal of Avatar 2, along with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Lightyear, David O. Russell’s star-packed Amsterdam and Bob’s Burgers.
Doctor Strange 2 has earned $42 million in advance ticket sales ahead of its May 6 bow, announced Tony Chambers, Disney's executive vp theatrical distribution who kicked off the presentation with some well received good news. The story.
—The long wait is almost over. During Disney's CinemaCon presentation, the 3D glasses-wearing crowd, gave a wildly enthusiastic response to a first look at the stunning teaser trailer for James Cameron’s newly titled sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. Producer Jon Landau was there to introduce the teaser trailer, which will be released next week, and also to announce plans to re-release the original Avatar on Sept. 23 in theaters, with restored picture and sound. The story. |
CinemaCon: Universal Shows Off 'Nope,' 'Minions' Sequel and 'Jurassic World' Finale ►Packed and stacked. Universal teased its upcoming slate shown to theater owners at CinemaCon in Las Vegas during an epic two and a half hour session. Among the highlights, an extended trailer for Jordan Peele's hotly anticipated Nope that shed more light on the extra-terrestrial storyline, as well as first looks at Halloween Ends, M3GAN, Beast, Easter Sunday, Distant, Demeter, Minions, Bros, Ticket to Paradise, She Said, Violent Night, Puss in Boots and of course Jurassic World: Dominion. The story.
—"It was an honor to portray these woman." Universal unveiled a first look at She Said at CinemaCon, the upcoming drama based on the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning NYT journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey as they investigated sexual misconduct claims against Harvey Weinstein. Carey Mulligan will play Twohey and Zoe Kazan will play Kantor with the film slated to open on Nov. 18. The story.
—“Vegas! Are you ready to make history?” Billy Eichner presented the first look at Bros, a film he praised as the “first major studio film with an all openly LGBTQ cast,” and a romantic comedy at that. “We have waited a long, long time,” Eichner told the crowd at CinemaCon. The story.
—Field's day. Focus Features wooed the CinemaCon by reaffirming its commitment to theatrical and its diverse slate of specialty films. The Universal unit showed off Downton Abbey: A New Era, offered sneak peek of the Lesley Manville-starring Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, and exclusive footage of Todd Field’s first film in 16 years, Tár. The story. |
Film Review: 'Memory' ►"All too forgettable." THR film critic Sheri Linden reviews Martin Campbell's Memory. Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce star in a remake of a Belgian crime thriller involving a child trafficking ring and a hitman struggling with Alzheimer’s. The review. — "Wobbly but mostly likable." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Showtime's I Love That For You. The comedy stars Vanessa Bayer as Joanna, a survivor of childhood cancer who lands her dream job working at a home-shopping channel alongside her hero, longtime host Jackie (Molly Shannon). The review. — Perfect timing. HBO Max has handed out a straight-to-series order for Noonan’s, a spinoff of its animated Harley Quinn series. The 10-episode adult animated comedy revolves around lovable loser Kite Man and his new squeeze Golden Glider. The series pickup arrives as the third season of cult hit Harley Quinn returns in the summer. The story. — The past O.G. TBS has canceled the Tracy Morgan comedy The Last O.G. after a four-season run. Sources tell THR's Lesley Goldberg that the decision to ax the comedy was made months ago after the now fourth season and ultimate series finale aired back in December. The story. — "You live with a dry mouth all the time." Kim Basinger is opening up about her battle with agoraphobia. While appearing on Wednesday’s episode of Red Table Talk alongside daughter Ireland Baldwin, Basinger recounted her childhood anxiety and how that would eventually carry over into her adult life and how she had to “relearn to drive” as everything made her nervous. The story. In other news... —Cruel Summer season 2: Lexi Underwood to star in recasting —Corey Gamble testifies he saw Blac Chyna “hitting” Rob Kardashian —Broadway’s vaccine requirement for actors kept in place through June —U.K. eyes regulation of streaming services, protections for “distinctly British” content —Travis Scott to make first festival appearance since Astroworld tragedy —Neon nabs Julia Garner’s The Royal Hotel thriller —Ray Fisher joins Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington in cast of Broadway’s The Piano Lesson —Produced By returns with Fox studio lot conference —Imax CEO Richard Gelfond’s pay rises to $9m in 2021 —SiriusXM loses 79,000 subscribers in Q1, Pandora users drop by 65,000 —Meta hits $27.9b in revenue, but growth keeps slowing —Joaquin Phoenix acquires film rights to Free the Animals —The Black List promotes Kate Hagen, Megan Halpern to senior vp —Rain Management adds Yasmin Morris as talent manager —Helen Mirren graces cover of People’s “beautiful issue” What else we're reading... —Matt Brennan interviews Winning Time star Jason Clarke and yes they talk a lot about the Jerry West controversy [ LAT] —Laura Martin on why some TV remakes suck and some soar, with a focus on Ten Percent, the Brit remake of the critically acclaimed French comedy Call My Agent! [ Guardian] —Scott Mendelson on why Everything, Everywhere All at Once affirms A24’s cultural clout [ Forbes] —Melena Ryzik's interview with Sarah Silverman who talks The Bedwetter, the new Off Broadway musical based on her memoir [ NYT] —Alison Herman's take on the future of streaming following the Netflix and CNN+ news from last week [ Ringer] Today... Today's birthdays: Penélope Cruz (48), Jessica Alba (41), Jay Leno (72), Claes Bang (55), Bridget Moynahan (51), Harry Shum Jr. (40), Ann-Margret (81), Mary McDonnell (70), Elisabeth Röhm (49), Jorge Garcia (49), Tony Revolori (26), Catherine Reitman (41), Paul Guilfoyle (73), Dan Goor (47), Nancy Lee Grahn (66), Simbi Kali (51), Jenna Ushkowitz (36), Jonathan Silver Scott and Drew Scott (44) |
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