The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
Behind the Headlines Like a phoenix with a short attention span, the broadcast television lineup has again self-immolated — only to re-emerge from its smoldering remains in front of Madison Avenue media buyers for the annual upfront bazaar. Beginning May 15, execs from the Big Four take Manhattan to tout new projects, returning series and refined schedules, ignoring the past year’s missteps amid nearuniversal linear ratings declines and an upfront sales market that buyers say is shaping up to be less bullish than the estimated $9 billionplus spend from 2016. Behind the scenes, the newest orders reflect an escalating push for vertical integration. On stages, the message is uniform: TV is still the safest buy (advertisers won’t find their spots next to anti-Semitic videos, unlike on YouTube). Forget gains, these…
Three big questions face Sony Pictures Entertainment following the May 11 appointment of Tony Vinciquerra as its chairman and CEO: Will the longtime Rupert Murdoch associate and Fox TV executive slash personnel and expenses? Will he cut loose former Fox colleague Tom Rothman, the polarizing head of Sony’s struggling movie division? And, perhaps the biggest: Is his job ultimately to prepare the studio for a sale? Sony Corp. CEO Kazuo Hirai might have hoped to put an end to such questions by naming Vinciquerra, 62, to replace Michael Lynton when the latter departs June 1. (Vinciquerra will oversee film and TV but not Lynton’s music portfolio, which is now Rob Stringer’s domain.) Instead, questions are likely to heat up, especially given the whopping $962 million write-down Sony took on the…
The stunning box-office success of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion — a sequel to a mythical tale about warring royal cousins in an ancient kingdom that opened April 28 in the U.S. and already is the topgrossing Indian movie import of all time with $17.2 million — was fueled by two factors: the boom in the Indian-American population and their disproportionately high use of social media. “The social media power of the Indian diaspora is incredibly strong,” says Imax Entertainment CEO Greg Foster, whose chain played Baahubali on 40 screens in North America. “Did you see one traditional commercial for this movie? No. [But] everyone who needed to know about it did.” Everyone” means the U.S.’ 3.7 million Indian-Americans whose population here soared 60 percent between 2005 and 2015 (the most…
In March, Netflix bosses Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos met with two of India’s biggest stars, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, part of the company’s concerted effort to ingratiate itself with top Bollywood talent and infiltrate the region before its rival Amazon conquers the subcontinent first. Amazon and Netflix both see India’s 1.3 billion residents — and 300 million smartphone users — as their next great hope for global expansion. Amazon Prime Video India director Nitesh Kripalani says three factors make the Indian market worth fighting for: “internet users’ growth, a large and vibrant entertainment ecosystem and a young demographic.” Netflix has been in India since January 2016, and while it has dabbled in such local programming as the original series Sacred Games, it largely has depended on global…
A TALE OF TWO 2PAC PICS: ONE ENDORSED, THE OTHER NOT Deal of the Week Tupac Shakur’s family has finally backed a movie. Amaru Entertainment, founded by the rap icon’s late mother, Afeni Shakur, is getting behind Steve McQueen’s untitled documentary, announced May Not so All Eyez on Me, the Lionsgate biopic that hits theaters June 16 and has co-producers Morgan Creek and Emmett/Furla warring in court over production decisions. Sources say Shakur’s family is not a fan of the movie. The conflict started in 2009 when Morgan Creek sued Amaru in a dispute about Shakur’s life rights. The parties settled in 2011, with Morgan Creek getting permission to proceed. But the project remained in gestation until 2015, when its option was about to expire. Probably adding to the urgency…
People, Places, Preoccupations A fter 15 years of album, tour, album, tour, I was really excited by the idea of scaring myself,” says Josh Groban of his first Broadway role. The 36-year-old multiplatinum singer/songwriter stars in the War and Peace-derived musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, which on May 2 scored 12 Tony Award nominations, the most of any show this season. “I wanted something that was going to challenge me and make me feel like I did when I made that first record or did that first tour,” he says at a May 8 THR photo shoot with nine other Tony-nominated stars, recalling how he set up a meeting with composer Dave Malloy after seeing Comet off-Broadway in 2013. “I just threw my hat in the…
