| | | | What's news: Bob Chapek is likely to receive a severance package from Disney worth at least $20m. Jay Leno has been discharged from the hospital. Harrison Ford will be digitally de-aged for a scene in Indiana Jones 5. Anjelica Huston has joined Lionsgate's Ballerina. Tess Gunty's award-winning novel The Rabbit Hutch has been optioned for a TV series. — Abid Rahman |
Inside Disney's Decision to Swap Bobs ►"No statement from him, no comment from him, no grace. It’s f***ing insane." THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters has the goods on Disney's shock decision to unceremoniously dispatch Bob Chapek as CEO and bring back Bob Iger. Kim writes that while some board directors were looking to fire Chapek as early as June, Disney board chair Susan Arnold was reluctant to pull the trigger. Now even those cheering the move call Chapek's dismissal brutal. The story.
—Not too shabby. THR's Alex Weprin reports that Iger is in line for a $27m payday as per his contract to return as Disney CEO. Alex writes that Iger will take a $1m salary under the new deal, which runs through Dec. 31, 2024. Chapek, meanwhile, is likely to receive a severance package worth at least $20m. The story.
—As expected. Kareem Daniel, a top lieutenant for Chapek, is leaving Disney. Wall Street analysts and company watchers expect a reorganization of Daniel's Disney Media and Entertainment Division under Iger. The story. |
THR's Writers Roundtable ►The "reverse of the Spielberg gaze." THR's roundtable series is back as awards season kicks into gear, and first up are the writers. Executive awards editor Scott Feinberg sits down with Jordan Peele (Nope), Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Tony Kushner (The Fabelmans), Chinonye Chukwu (Till), Daniel Kwan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Martin McDonagh (Banshees of Inisherin) who discuss their very different approaches to writing and vent about actors deviating from their scripts. The roundtable.
—It’s time to rethink talent deals. In a guest column for THR, UTA CEO and co-founder Jeremy Zimmer writes that as the streaming giants evolve their business, the trade-off of back-end incentives for upfront fees needs to be updated and platforms should work with partners to develop transparent performance metrics for creatives. The column.
—"Smart, fierce, incredibly talented." Nicki Aycox, who played Meg Masters on The CW series Supernatural, died Wednesday. She was 47. The Oklahoma native, who had roles on such series as Providence, Ed, Over There, Cold Case and Dark Blue, went public with her battle with leukemia in March 2021. The obituary.
—"I am optimistic that he will make a full recovery." A little over a week after suffering third-degree burns when a fire broke out in his Burbank garage, Jay Leno has been released from the Grossman Burn Center, where he was being treated for his injuries. The story.
—"The Chrisleys have built an empire based on the lie." Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced Monday to lengthy prison terms after being convicted earlier this year on charges including bank fraud and tax evasion. U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta gave Todd Chrisley 12 years in prison plus 16 months of probation, while Julie Chrisley got seven years behind bars and 16 months of probation. The story. |
Marvel's 'Blade' Finds New Director ►New creative team. White Boy Rick filmmaker Yann Demange has signed up to direct Marvel Studios’ Blade that still has Mahershala Ali attached to star. Michael Starrbury (When They See Us) has also been hired to pen a brand new script for the feature. The new team puts the project back on track after the sudden exit of original director Bassam Tariq in September. The story.
—Touch of class. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Anjelica Huston becoming the latest big name to join the cast of Ballerina, Lionsgate’s spinoff set in the world of the John Wick action franchise. Huston is reprising her John Wick 3 role as The Director, the head of the Ruska Roma crime organization. Production is already underway on the feature that is being toplined by Ana de Armas and directed by Len Wiseman. The story.
—Horror maestros unite. Borys also takes a deeper look at the proposed merger between James Wan's Atomic Monster and Jason Blum's Blumhouse to create Hollywood's biggest horror factory. Borys writes that if the merger closes, the new company would be able to scale up horror output dramatically with a filmmaker who has built a series of successful scary films and a producer who cranks out franchises for theatrical and streaming. The analysis.
—Acquisition spree. British production giant Fremantle has acquired a majority stake in Silvio Productions, the Israeli production company behind docuseries Shadow of Truth, Coastal Road Killer, After Midnight, The Baby Daddy and Buried. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Fremantle, which is part of media giant Bertelsmann’s RTL Group, has made various acquisitions over the past 12 months including Dancing Ledge, Wildstar Films, 72 Films and more. The story.
—Getting the TV treatment. Staying with Fremantle, the company has teamed up with True Detective producer Richard Brown to option author Tess Gunty’s debut novel The Rabbit Hutch after a competitive bidding process. National Book Award-winning novel is set over a week in July in a fictional Rust Belt town in Indiana and culminates in a bizarre act of violence that changes everything. The story. |
Fear for Your Megamergers: The DOJ Is (Finally) Taking Action ►"The era of lax enforcement is over." THR's Winston Cho writes that Paramount Global’s blocked $2.175b sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House marks an early win for an emboldened Justice Department's antitrust enforcement, while a reported renewed look at Live Nation could be a worrying sign for media chiefs playing a scale game. The analysis.
—Kill fee. Paramount said on Monday it was putting Simon & Schuster back on the market, and was looking to find another suitor for the book-publishing giant. The company added it was entitled to a $200m termination fee from Penguin Random House. The story.
—Global mindset, "local execution." THR's business editor Georg Szalai spoke to Paramount Global president and CEO Bob Bakish and president and CEO of international markets, global consumer products & experiences Pam Kaufman about their ambitious plans for markets outside the U.S. Bakish tells Georg he wants to give more local hits like Ghosts a chance to become "a global franchise." The interview.
—End of an era. Now to another part of Paramount Global's sprawling media empire, and the new cost-cutting reality at CBS following the exits of Kelly Kahl and his top lieutenant Thom Sherman. In January, the network will have a new programming chief, Amy Reisenbach, and THR's Lesley Goldberg writes that insiders are grappling with the prospect of further layoffs and the biggest re-org in recent years. The analysis. |
'She Said': Why Hollywood's First Weinstein Movie Bombed ►One of the worst starts in modern times. While it’s no secret that adult-skewing movies are having a hard time on the big screen, that alone can’t explain why She Said — about The New York Times' seminal exposé of Harvey Weinstein — opened to an estimated $2.2m from 2,022 theaters. THR's Pamela McClintock looks into the reasons why the Universal drama has failed to find an audience thus far. The analysis.
—"It’s not the years, it’s the mileage." A young, sprightly Harrison Ford is set to make an appearance in the upcoming fifth Indiana Jones movie, with the 80-year-old actor getting the digital de-aging treatment for a sequence in James Mangold's film. According to an upcoming issue of Empire, the film’s opening will be set in 1944 – about eight years after the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark took place. De-aging technology will have Ford going up against Nazis in a castle. The story.
—🏆 Rule Britannia 🏆 Netflix's Sex Education, and actors Dougray Scott and Lou de Laâge were among the winners at the 2022 International Emmy Awards held at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel on Monday night. Sex Education took home the award for best comedy, with Scott and de Laâge winning the respective acting awards. Other shows awarded include Vigil for drama series, and Love on the Spectrum season two for non-scripted entertainment. The winners.
—"Stunned beyond belief." THR's Patrick Brzeski spoke to Avatar: The Way of Water star Cliff Curtis about the footage he's seen of James Cameron's hotly anticipated sequel. The Kiwi actor, who plays a tribal leader of the reef people in the Avatar sequels, discusses his experience filming with Cameron and the passion behind his hit action drama Muru, New Zealand's submission to the 2023 Oscars. The interview. |
Film Review: 'Strange World' ►"Has the makings of a new classic." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Don Hall and Qui Nguyen's Strange World. Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union lead the voice cast in this Disney animated adventure film about three generations of explorers who chart unknown territory in order to save their city. The review.
—"Militaristic revenge with a dash of nuance." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Apple TV+ Echo 3. Mark Boal’s series features Michiel Huisman and Luke Evans as Special Forces veterans trying to free a kidnapped loved one in Colombia. The review.
In other news...
—Former National Geographic exec Susan Goldberg to lead GBH
—Top CNN programming exec Michael Bass to exit
—Roku enlists Village Roadshow to sell Weird internationally
—Gray Frederickson, Oscar-winning Godfather Part II producer, dies at 85
—John Dartigue, longtime publicity exec at Warner Bros., dies at 82
What else we're reading...
—Tom Kludt on the moral dilemma facing media companies covering the Qatar World Cup [VF]
—Charles Bramesco on The Menu and cinema’s longstanding mistrust of fine dining [Guardian]
—Ryan Faughnder asks if Bob Iger still has the magic touch to turn Disney around [LAT]
—Mark Maurer reports that despite Elon Musk's theatrics, Twitter faces a mountain of debt, falling revenue and surging costs [WSJ]
—Oh SK, how could you! Allegra Frank has all messy goings-on from S3 of Netflix's Love Is Blind [Daily Beast]
Today...
...in 1995, America met Buzz and Woody when Toy Story hit theaters. The CGI title, now a franchise, was nominated for four Oscars at the 68th Academy Awards. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Scarlett Johansson (38), Mark Ruffalo (55), Jamie Lee Curtis (64), Mads Mikkelsen (57), Katherine McNamara (27), Dacre Montgomery (28), Jamie Campbell Bower (34), Richard Kind (66), Kristin Minter (57), Steven Van Zandt (72), Auli'i Cravalho (22), Madison Davenport (26), Terry Gilliam (82), Alden Ehrenreich (33), Kathrine Narducci (57), Nicholas Rowe (56), Sidse Babett Knudsen (54), Mariel Hemingway (61), James Madio (47), Fiona Glascott (40), Tyler Hilton (39), Josh Cooke (43), Brian Robbins (59), Hailey Bieber (26), Tom Conti (81), Leos Carax (62) |
| Mickey Kuhn, the busy child actor of the 1930s and ’40s who played Beau Wilkes, the son of Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard’s characters, in Gone With the Wind, has died. He was 90. The obituary. |
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