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.
WHEN WALT DISNEY sneezes, the rest of Hollywood catches a cold. On Aug. 5, Viacom’s stock dropped 8 percent in a single day, even though the conglomerate didn’t do anything. But the day before, Disney, parent of powerhouse ESPN, had warned of slower growth in its media networks business. Over the next three days, roughly $60 billion was stripped from the value of leaders in the entertainment sector as investors panicked over perceived weaknesses in the TV business. Viacom’s stock plunged further than others because it followed Disney’s news Aug. 6 with the disclosure that its domestic ad revenue declined 9 percent year-over-year at its ailing networks, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, which lost Jon Stewart that same day. Viacom’s stock drop has renewed howls from observers that CEO…
ROGER AILES Republicans can argue about who prevailed in the Aug.?6 debate, but the Fox News chief is the real winner with a record 24 million viewers and great reviews (even from rival CNN). DAVID FINCHER HBO pulls the plug on Utopia, the director’s in-the-works drama series, as Video Synchronicity, his comedy project, hangs by a thread amid retooling. JON STEWART The Daily Show host goes out on a high note with 3.5 million same-day viewers for his Aug.?6 finale (second most ever) and adoring reviews. DAVID ZASLAV Amid challenges for cable conglomerates, the Discovery CEO is forced to take a $19 million write-down after canceling TLC’s top-rated 19 Kids and Counting when star Josh Duggar admitted to child molestation. SHOWBIZ STOCKS $28.81 (+12.9%) ACTIVISION BLIZZARD (ATVI) The video game…
JOSH TRANK By most accounts, the 31-year-old director was in over his head. Erratic behavior on the Louisiana set (“He holed up in a tent and cut himself off from everybody,” says one source) was coupled with worrying personal issues (Trank and his dogs allegedly did more than $100,000 worth of damage to a rented house, prompting his landlord to sue). The film scored an awful 9 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, then on Aug. 6, Trank blamed Fox with a tweet claiming he had “a fantastic version” the public will “probably never see.” SIMON KINBERG The film’s co-writer and producer signed off on the screenplay, which he envisioned as a “more grounded, much more real” version of Fantastic Four. But as Trank became a problem, sources say Kinberg — also…
ON AUG. 5, NEARLY SIX MONTHS after he replaced Amy Pascal as chairman of Sony’s motion picture group, Tom Rothman finally showed his cards. The former Fox studio chief revealed an ambitious, eyebrow-raising slate of films, dating 16 titles at once. There are blasts from the past (a Jumanji reboot, another Resident Evil and two installments in the longdormant Bad Boys franchise), Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower, video game-based Uncharted and the Jennifer Lawrence-Chris Pratt space-set twohander Passengers, among others. “The dated films reflect the hard work of many people inside and outside of the company but are just the start of making Sony a consistent volume supplier of quality product for diverse audiences worldwide,” Rothman tells THR. Observers are mixed on the slate (Jumanji?!), especially since many key…
DONALD TRUMP’S DEFIANCE OF moderator Megyn Kelly at the GOP debate Aug. 6 was enough to help him emerge victorious — at least online. He topped Twitter and Facebook lists of most-mentioned candidates and held onto a 40 percent share of the conversation (more than 957,000 mentions) across platforms, according to Way to Blue. Although several outlets dubbed Marco Rubio the winner, neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich both grew their Twitter followers by nearly 10 percent the day after the debate.…
IN THE DAYS LEADING UP TO the release of Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, many wondered whether the damning Scientology documentary Going Clear would further hurt Tom Cruise at the U.S. box office, where the actor fell out of favor with many fans a decade ago after jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch. The answer was a definitive no when Rogue Nation opened to $55.2 million over the July 31 weekend. But will this newfound heat extend beyond the Mission: Impossible franchise? The previous installment, 2011’s Ghost Protocol, earned more than $694 million worldwide, including $209.4 million in North America, yet Cruise’s next films — Jack Reacher (2012), Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014) — all disappointed domestically. Sources say Paramount has finalized plans to start shooting Jack Reacher 2…
