Is Hollywood's biggest prizefight about to end in a handshake? It's no understatement to say that the industry may be reshaped by whatever details are being hammered out in David Ellison and Rob Bonta's war rooms this weekend. — Erik Hayden
Ticker: Brad Pitt won't let World War Z go; Gavin Newsom boosts post-production; Robbie Whelan tackles Bob Iger; Adam Smith is Disney's new streaming boss.
|
Time flies. It's been more than a year since David Ellison, fresh off acquiring Paramount, launched a bid to seize Warner Bros. Discovery last September. Since then, he tapped his father Larry Ellison's Oracle riches, improbably outlasted Ted Sarandos and Netflix, wooed Donald Trump's team to wave along the deal and courted governments abroad to greenlight his $111 billion merger with minor concessions made. Then came Rob Bonta and the California attorney general's posse of 12 states who filed suit with plans to block the deal, as the last obstacle.
If leaks are to be believed, we're in the ninth inning of settlement talks. Which leads to a big question: What is Bonta securing from this fight? The AG has been on a media blitz vowing not to strike a deal unless there's real "structural remedies." Much of the chatter so far on what that means, in practice, has centered on a potential sell off of cable channels (say, HGTVs, Comedy Centrals, Food Networks and TNTs of the world).
But the rubber meets the road in the nitty gritty. Will Bonta strike a deal to require Warner Bros. and Paramount to operate as independent entities for a certain time period? Secure commitments for the combined entity to continue licensing outside content? Prod Ellison to up his commitment to releasing a combined 30 films a year for, say, 5 years instead of 3? Cleave off or require independent oversight of news giants like CBS News and CNN?
While the deal terms are not about Bonta, surely the AG realizes that his reputation is on the line too, and he'll want to sell his vision of a deal to tout that his office got some sort of compromise. What's the olive branch that Ellison could've offered that tipped the scales? Perhaps we'll find out soon.
|
Which leads to the threat hanging over the entire legal battle, whether Ellison will pull up stakes and move his empire from California. The talk has been seen as a bluff, but it's taken seriously enough that states have been strategizing to try and capitalize on the mogul's self-imposed Oct. 1 deadline for a possible move. Winston Cho has a detailed report, for instance, on how "Texas officials have been mobilizing on this front in a coordinated push to lure Paramount away from California," with Nashville also seen as a dark horse. The report.
It's uncharted territory for Hollywood — except for this one time nearly a century ago. Then, a Democratic Socialist was running for California governor and the studio chiefs balked and said they'd pack up their moving trucks and leave, for Florida. Historian Thomas Doherty has a great column on that. They were bluffing in 1934. Now...
|
Lets leave aside the question of whether Jimmy Kimmel reups or rides off into the sunset after his ABC late-night deal ends next year. Every show outside of SNL has been canceled or had budgets slashed, teeing up an uncertain future for one of TV's defining formats … even if it ultimately lives on online. Alex Weprin walks through the grim reality — and the next mutation of the format. The report.
|
Universal Pictures, which has found itself caught in the middle of a battle between Elon Musk and a hard-hitting investigative doc by Alex Gibney, is now leaning toward releasing the buzzy, four-hour Musk feature after all. Execs at the studio are now discussing internally how to deal with what’s become a political football, sources tell Steven Zeitchik. The studio has been silent about its plans leading up to a THR story that reported that Universal was backing away from releasing the feature in markets outside of North America. But THR‘s article sparked criticism directed at the studio. What's next.
|
Newly unsealed court docs show Microsoft and OpenAI execs grappling with whether their AI systems were built on content stolen from publishers. Winston Cho sifts through the latest in The New York Times' high-stakes case, and makes sense of the stark remarks from execs on "the largest theft of labor in human history." The column.
|
"We’re excited to welcome them to SiriusXM." — Scott Greenstein, content chief at the audio giant, on signing major podcasters Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo (aka Giggly Squad) to a deal estimated at $160 million.
"Engagement trends look worrying to us." — Steven Cahall, Wells Fargo analyst, in downgrading Netflix's stock, adding that it "lacked big original series & it's showing."
"It takes some risk and some creativity to operate outside that system." — Michael Younesi, who is building a new soundstage lot in Burbank.
"He is an expert builder and strategist, technical and product-minded." — Josh D'Amaro, on his CTO hire at Disney: Character.AI chief Karandeep Anand.
"They have a great vision for ALLBLK." — Kristin Dolan, AMC Global CEO, on selling the streaming platform to Charles D. King‘s media company MACRO.
|
Next Big Thing
Fresh off a viral turn in the new season FX's Adults, 34-year-old Rachel Marsh is jumping into the world of romantic comedies, playing Anh in Prime Video's adaptation of The Love Hypothesis: "It’s fun, this waiting period."
Logline of the Week
[Miami Vice]
"The new feature will explore the glamour and corruption of mid-’80s Miami in a new version of the property, inspired by the pilot episode of the landmark television series that influenced culture and set the style of everything from fashion to filmmaking." -> Joseph Kosinski's Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler adaptation for Universal, which just signed on John Leguizamo to play the villain
By the Numbers
(Most-read stories on THR.com this week)
1) "Sydney Sweeney Faces Backlash for Sexualized Novig Ad"
2) "Justice Department Sides With Paramount on Bond Demand"
3) "Macklemore Repeated Palestine Comments Despite Assurances"
|
Well, there's always next year when Amazon's Prime Video muscle takes over. The 78th Emmy Awards drew a somewhat smaller audience than the 77th awards. Final same-day ratings for the telecast put the Emmys at 6.8 million viewers on NBC, Peacock and other platforms. That’s down 10 percent from last year, when the awards scored 7.59 million viewers on CBS. This year's audience is more or less in line with the 6.9 million viewers for the 2024 Emmys on ABC, Rick Porter notes. More detail.
|
A shape-shifting Elizabeth Holmes doc, a star vehicle for Mahershala Ali, and new gems from Mike Leigh and Lee Chang-dong were among THR critics’ 13 favorite world premieres out of Venice, Telluride and Toronto. This year’s crop was way lighter than usual on major contenders, but the reviews team nonetheless found plenty to love. Plus: Five of the top 13 picks are documentaries. The list.
|
"If you’re a producer in the competitive horror landscape, a piece of advice: get an early look at every hot script you can," writes Aaron Couch in his profile of Spooky Pictures partners Roy Lee and Steven Schneider, who leverage their relationships to get scripts like Damien McCarthy’s Hokum "a minute early," as Schneider says. The report.
|
A pair of next-gen restaurateurs has rebooted Mistral, the French bistro along Ventura Boulevard in the Valley. Long a favored haven for execs from the nearby Warners, Universal and Radford lots — along with their spouses and affair partners — it's "this secret country club in Sherman Oaks," says Jonah Freedman, who with Josh Migdal purchased Mistral from founder-operator Henri Abergel. Gary Baum's story.
|
As Ian Schrager prepares to open his third L.A. hotel — The PUBLIC — the Studio 54 founder and hospitality legend talks about his newly democratic door policies, getting ripped off by rivals and why he’s not afraid of failure. "I sometimes think about doing something else," he tells EIC Maer Roshan. "But there’s really nothing else I like to do." The Q&A.
|
Kim Petras performed as Aritzia hosted a New York Fashion Week cocktail event in partnership with i-D. Ego Nwodim stopped by the afterparty for Carolina Herrera's 45th anniversary presentation at Mortimer’s. Jay-Z premiered his HBO documentary series Jay-Z in 8 at NYC's Metropolitan Opera House. Henry Cavill made an appearance at the Longines Master Collection Celebration in NYC. Zendaya made a surprise appearance at the Prada Paradoxe Photo Studio in NYC. Ed Harris and Jessica Lange attended a special screening of their new film Long Day's Journey Into Night at Lincoln Center. Brad Pitt and girlfriend Ines de Ramon premiered Heart of the Beast in Franklin, Tennessee. All 69 photos from this week's events and premieres.
|
Upcoming Releases
Notable movies heading to theaters
|
One-liners from THR's team of critics
Zach Cregger gives the fatigued Resident Evil franchise "an exhilarating shot in the arm." Anthony Ippolito "is an endearing pre-stardom Sylvester Stallone in Peter Farrelly’s crowd-pleasing making-of drama" I Play Rocky. Anna Kendrick "is a comic dynamo alongside Seth Rogen in Babies, a sparkling portrait of a couple weighing the pros and cons of parenthood." Anton Corbijn's A Talent for Murder features Helen Mirren as Patricia Highsmith in an "engaging riff on an author and her most famous creation." Rachel Morrison's romantic travelogue Love of Your Life, starring Margaret Qualley, is "pretty but empty." Jonathan Schey's faux-feminist male takedown Everybody Wants To F*ck Me, toplined by Taron Egerton, is a "hard pass." Niki Byrne's The Julia Set features Chase Infiniti "leading a strong ensemble as a college math genius in algebra that doesn’t quite balance the equation." In The Last Photograph, Zack Snyder "tries indie filmmaking on for size, with painfully ponderous results."
Programming note:
A new THR podcast series, led by veteran journalist Allen Salkin, explores the origin and spread of a tenacious urban legend, and what it says about our society. Listen to Gerbil.
And finally:
A Hollywood Flashback...
60 years ago: CBS debuted spy series Mission: Impossible during the 9 p.m. hour. THR's original review.
|
|
|
|
