| | | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover stars are the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and director James Gunn. The U.K.'s competition regulator has blocked Microsoft's deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. Nate Silver is leaving FiveThirtyEight. Peri Gilpin has joined the Frasier revival. — Abid Rahman |
How the 'Guardians' Cast Rescued James Gunn's Career ►On the cover. On July 20, 2018, the Guardians of the Galaxy cast were thrown into despair when James Gunn, their close friend and filmmaker of the Guardians movies, had been fired as director of Vol. 3 after conservative personalities, rankled by his outspoken liberal views on Twitter, resurfaced decade-old offensive tweets. From secret meetings to teary goodbyes, THR's Aaron Couch and Borys Kit reveal the untold behind-the-scenes drama of Gunn’s dismissal and the epic comeback that led to his appointment as co-head of DC Studios. The cover story.
—More shock exits. The second round of Disney layoffs hit ABC News on Tuesday, with Nate Silver’s data-driven politics and journalism brand FiveThirtyEight among those being impacted. Silver told employees in a Slack message that he expects to leave Disney when his contract is up, which he added would be "soon." ABC News is expected to keep the FiveThirtyEight brand name, with plans to streamline the site and make it more efficient. The story.
—"His activism was crucial for the civil rights movement. His activism was key in the anti-apartheid movement." Oprah, Spike Lee, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Maria Shriver and Questlove were among the entertainers, artists, thinkers, activists and humanitarians who took to social media Tuesday to pay tribute to Harry Belafonte following the news that the icon had died at the age of 96. The reaction.
—No dice. In a surprise move, Microsoft’s planned $68.7b acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard has been prohibited by the U.K. regulator, which earlier in the year warned that the mega-deal “could harm U.K. gamers” and “substantially reduce” competition. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority published its final findings more than a year after Microsoft had unveiled a deal to acquire the gaming giant. The story.
—Rules are rules. The Writers Guild of America has released the rules that would go into effect if the organization decides to strike when the current contract expires on May 1. The principle behind the rules is that writers or their agents may not meet or negotiate with a struck company or provide writing services or sell or option literary material to a struck company. During a strike, writers cannot do any writing, revising, pitching or discussing future projects with companies that are members of the AMPTP. The story. |
Masters: The Whispers Behind Jeff Shell's Firing ►"Jeff was supposed to be the buttoned-up guy." The shock ouster of NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell has left people inside and outside the company dumbstruck. In the aftermath, THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters spoke to industry executives who tell a tale of two Jeff Shells, and say his departure raises questions about his reign: "Where there’s smoke, there’s fire." The story.
—Dismissed! THR's Winston Cho reports that Scripps Network will not have to face a class action lawsuit accusing it of sharing subscribers’ personal viewing history with Facebook as part of its advertising business. A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the suit, finding that consumers who subscribed to HGTV.com’s newsletter aren’t covered by a video privacy law that bars companies from disclosing information about their viewing habits. The story.
—Lifted. The long travel ban against dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi, in place for the past 14 years, has seemingly been lifted. The Taxi filmmaker’s wife Tahereh Saeedi, in a post on Instagram late Tuesday night, said Iran's government has “canceled” the travel ban, first imposed in 2009. Accompanying the post was a picture of Saeedi and Panahi arriving at an unidentified airport. The story.
—Slipping. YouTube brought in $6.69b of ad revenue to start the year, continuing a downward trend for the video giant after past quarters of explosive growth during the early years of the pandemic. The Q1 revenue figure, reported as part of parent company Alphabet’s quarterly earnings on Tuesday, is roughly a 2.6 percent decline compared to the $6.87b in revenue reported during Q1 of 2022. The results.
—🎭 Roz! 🎭 The Frasier revival/sequel at Paramount+ will welcome another member of the original show’s cast. Peri Gilpin, who played Frasier Crane’s (Kelsey Grammer) radio producer, Roz Doyle, on the long-running NBC series, will reprise her role for a guest appearance on the sequel. She’s the second former Frasier castmember to board the new show, joining Bebe Neuwirth as Frasier’s ex-wife, Lilith. The story. |
What's Next For Tucker Carlson and Fox News ►"Let them eat bugs." Tucker Carlson's abrupt exit from Fox News has set off feverish speculation about what the ousted anchor might do next. THR's Alex Weprin considers all the options, writing that Carlson may now be ready to capitalize on his influence outside cable news. The analysis.
—Steep decline. Unsurprisingly, Fox News' ratings suffered without Carlson, the channel’s most watched host. The network’s 8 p.m. hour had a significantly smaller audience Monday night. The debut of Fox News Tonight, hosted by Brian Kilmeade (the first in a series of rotating hosts), pulled in just under 2.6m viewers — about 21 percent below the average for Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.3m viewers) over the past eight Mondays. The ratings.
—Back to the drawing board. Over at CNN, there's also a great deal of upheaval following the unceremonious exit of Don Lemon. THR's Rick Porter looks at what Lemon's firing means for the nascent CNN This Morning, including an enforced reshuffle at the morning show that only launched in November 2022. The analysis. |
'The Flash' Wows CinemaCon: "An All-Timer" ►A monster hit incoming? The Flash sped into CinemaCon Tuesday, with WB screening the DC film for theater owners nearly two months ahead of its June 16 release. The Ezra Miller-led pic has been the talk of the convention, with WBD CEO David Zaslav revealing that he had seen the movie three times and describing it as "the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen." The reaction.
—Here's the new The Flash trailer that was also released on Tuesday. The trailer.
—"We are in no rush to bring movies to Max." Zaslav's first trip to CinemaCon was a full on charm offensive, with the exec heavily emphasizing his company's commitment to theatrical. THR's Pamela McClintock reports that Zaslav, who became the first entertainment conglomerate chief to speak at CinemaCon in modern times, kicked off his tour at the show by attending a Monday afternoon cocktail party for theater owners in advance of Tuesday’s presentation. The story.
—"Ken-ergy." Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling dropped by the WB presentation to present new footage for Barbie. The foursome were interviewed briefly on stage by WB chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. The story.
—Is the world ready for Wonka? WB also debuted a new, for CinemaCon only, trailer for the Paul King-directed musical Wonka. The trailer showed off plenty of mainstays of the Willy Wonka character, including chocolate that makes one float, and a kicker: Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa. The story.
—"Everything is new." Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve and stars Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya showed off new footage for CinemaCon attendees. Villeneuve revealed that 100 percent of the film was shot in Imax and that "Part Two is an action-packed, epic, war movie. It is much more dense. We went to all new locations." The story.
—A "celebration of sisterhood." Oprah Winfrey graced CinemaCon to present footage from The Color Purple, a film she produced. Winfrey was joined on stage by director Blitz Bazawule and stars Fantasia Taylor (who plays Celie), Taraji P. Henson (Shug) and Danielle Brooks (Sophia). The story. |
'Mrs. Maisel' Creator on Deciding to End With S5 ►"I will need a lot of therapy to get over [it]." THR's Christy Piña spoke to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino who discussed saying goodbye to the hit Amazon Prime Video series. Sherman-Palladino opened up about wanting to make sure everyone felt "fulfilled" by the end of the show's fifth and final season. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.
—"Emotionally unhinged." Succession star Kieran Culkin has offered his thoughts about season four's latest episode, "Kill List." Speaking on HBO’s official Succession podcast, the actor weighed in on his character Roman Roy's blow up at Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) amid Waystar Royco-GoJo dealmaking. Warning: Spoilers! The story.
—Looking for hope. THR's Rick Porter recaps episode seven of Ted Lasso’s third season, "The Strings That Bind Us." The on- and off-pitch stories for AFC Richmond dovetailed via Sam (Toheeb Jimoh), who is eager to put the best possible presentation forward at Ola’s for when his father visits from Nigeria — down to wondering if they need better spoons. Warning: Spoilers! The recap.
—"I've realized that I'll be fine as long as I get constant attention." John Mulaney details the intervention that kicked off a personal reset and several years of “work on myself” in his latest comedy special, John Mulaney: Baby J. The comedian performed a series of jokes in his latest Netflix comedy special about realizing he was in the midst of an intervention led by Seth Meyers, being canceled and those first hours in rehab. The story. |
TV Review: 'Saint X' ►"Ambitious ideas undone by unambitious execution." THR's Angie Han reviews Hulu's Saint X. With a first episode directed by Dee Rees, the series adaptation of Alexis Schaitkin's novel revolves around a young woman looking for answers about her sister's death two decades prior. The review.
In other news...
—XO, Kitty trailer sees Anna Cathcart taking a chance to find herself and maybe love
—Conor McGregor doubles down on comeback plan in first footage for Netflix’s McGregor Forever
—Nat Faxon, Tina Fey attempt to fix society after an alien attack in Mulligan trailer
—The Obamas’ Higher Ground taps Vinnie Malhotra to lead film, TV division
—Kevin Wilson named theatrical distribution chief of Amazon Studios, MGM
—Imax signs multi-theater deals in Florida, Mexico
—Tony Awards pre-show to be streamed by Pluto TV
What else we're reading...
—Keach Hagey, Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti report that Tucker Carlson’s vulgar, offensive messages about colleagues helped seal his fate at Fox News [WSJ]
—Ed Kilgore writes that whatever Carlson decides to do next, he won't be running for the presidency in 2024 [Intelligencer]
—Wesley Morris has written a wonderful appraisal of the life and career of the late Harry Belafonte [NYT]
—Rhian Jones asks why only 5 percent of music producers are women [Guardian]
—Louisa Lim has written a thoroughly depressing lament for Hong Kong, where China is attempting to rewrite the territory's history [NYT]
Today...
...in 1995, New Line Cinema unveiled Ice Cube’s screenwriting debut Friday in theaters, where the comedy grossed $27m domestically and launched two sequels. The original review.
Today's birthdays: Carol Burnett (90), Channing Tatum (43), Jet Li (60), Giancarlo Esposito (65), Amber Midthunder (26), T-Boz (53), Kevin James (58), Joan Chen (62), Tom Welling (46), Jordana Brewster (43), Jemima Kirke (38), Stana Katic (45), Pablo Schreiber (45), Ivana Milicevic (49), Debra Wilson (61), Luke Bracey (34), Emily Wickersham (39), Amin Joseph (43), Marnette Patterson (43), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (56), Nyambi Nyambi (44), Shauna Macdonald (42), Louise Barnes (49), Dominic Sena (74) |
| Robert Patrick, the prolific playwright and onetime roommate of Lanford Wilson best known for the drama Kennedy’s Children, which starred Shirley Knight in a Tony-winning performance, has died. He was 85. The obituary. |
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