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.
Box Office Cool Summer Domestic grosses to hit 15-year low p. 14 Deals Shonda and Chill Why Netflix bet big on ABC’s Rhimes p. 20 Toby Emmerich The Warner Bros. film chief scores with a $35 million bow for Annabelle: Creation, the summer’s third breakout (after Wonder Woman and Dunkirk) for the studio. Roman Polanski The exiled filmmaker is accused of sexual assault by a third woman, months after a Los Angeles judge denied his bid to end his decades-old statutory rape case. Jenji Kohan The prolific showrunner scores a second-season renewal for Netflix’s GLOW in the same week her Lifetime drama American Princess is ordered straight to series. Naomi Watts Her pricey Netflix series Gypsy is canceled mere weeks after its debut, one of the quickest demises in the…
On the morning of Aug. 9, cinematographer and Academy governor John Bailey called his agents at WME. “Please don’t send me any scripts,” he said. “I don’t even want to read anything.” The veteran lensman (Ordinary People, The Big Chill) wasn’t retiring; instead, he was preparing for what might be the toughest assignment of his life. The night before, he had been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in something of a surprise, beating the only other contender, casting director David Rubin. Bailey, 75, will succeed Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the group’s first African- American and third female president, who termed out after one of the more controversial reigns in the institution’s 90-year history — and shortly after the fiasco of this year’s Oscars, which saw…
Call it the August Death March at the domestic box office. During the Aug. 11 to 13 weekend, grosses were down more than 30 percent from the same frame last year. To date, revenue for the season is pacing 12.4 percent down from 2016. To make matters worse, the remaining three weeks of summer are notably bereft of potential big earners, and Hollywood has abandoned Labor Day altogether. “The lack of any wide release on Labor Day weekend for the first time in years is a symbolic and fitting curtain closer on a very rough summer,” says analyst Paul Dergarabedian of comScore. Studio insiders who have crunched the numbers believe the summer will finish at between $3.76 billion and $3.85 billion, the lowest showing since 2006 ($3.75 billion) and a…
With box-office returns for dystopian young adult film adaptations on the wane, producers are hunting for the teen audience’s next big thing — and they’re optioning a number of gritty, socially conscious coming-of-age stories. Author Angie Thomas, who wrote a book inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, The Hate U Give, was convinced no one would want to publish it. “I knew that although the topic was timely, it was sensitive,” she says of her novel, which revolves around a young black girl who sees her best friend shot by a white cop. “Can I write this unapologetically black girl book and you guys find it acceptable?” Not only did publishers find it acceptable, they clamored to get the rights to it. After a heated auction among 13 houses…
The Young Turks Network, riding high on a new $20 million funding round from investors including Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo., is seeking to expand its portfolio of shows. The progressive political outlet will have a 16-episode show run exclusively on the Verizon streaming service go90, THR has learned. The show, called True North and hosted by John Iadarola, is a docuseries slated to debut this fall “that provides a unique point of view into the impact of global climate change,” says Ivana Kirkbride, go90’s chief content officer. Episodes will be 11 minutes long, the companies say, with shorter clips pegged to the news cycle to air weekly on HuffPost. Steven Oh, chief business officer at TYT, says the network had the idea for the show and found the right partner in…
The latest Walking Dead profit participation lawsuit could not have come at a worse time for AMC. The cable network, home to TV’s most watched drama, may be facing hurdles finding a new head of programming to replace Joel Stillerman, who departed in May for Hulu. Sources tell THR that top candidates for the post — Matt Cherniss (formerly of WGN America) and Katherine Pope (of Studio 8) — have passed. Insiders note that the recent litigation, which could see AMC on the hook for an estimated $1 billion in potential damages, may be partially to blame for the delay in landing a top executive. Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman as well as exec producers Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and former showrunner Glen Mazzara filed a new suit Aug.…
