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.
Brace yourselves, Hollywood. The Shari Redstone versus Leslie Moonves cage match is officially on, and some oddsmakers are predicting a dramatic outcome that will transform the industry landscape — both financially and culturally. Redstone — the 64-year-old controlling shareholder in both CBS and Viacom via her family’s National Amusements — was handed a potent weapon July 27 in the form of Ronan Farrow’s exposé on the CBS chairman and CEO in The New Yorker. It was always likely that Redstone, as a controlling shareholder, would prevail in the fight with Moonves. Now, with public allegations of sexual-misconduct and professional retaliation, victory could well be in sight. It’s true that the CBS board did not fire Moonves at its July 30 meeting or even put him on leave while an outside…
Tom Cruise The star’s sixth turn in the Mission: Impossible series, at 56, earns raves from critics and marks a franchise-high both stateside and globally with a $153.5 million launch. Mitch Lowe As the MoviePass parent company’s stock craters and cash dwindles, the CEO launches a Hail Mary effort to keep the ticket subscription service alive: raise prices and limit first-run movies. Kenya Barris The Black-ish creator is freed from his ABC Studios contract after clashing for months (including over a shelved episode on race issues), allowing him to pursue a nine-figure Netflix deal. Jason Ropell The Amazon Studios film chief exits the same day his awards-season hopefuls Beautiful Boy and Life Itself land plum Toronto Film Festival premieres. Showbiz Stocks $5.45 (+17%) SALEM MEDIA (SALM) The leader in talk…
TEAM SHARI Robert N. Klieger, 46 Partner at law firm Hueston Hennigan LLP David R. Andelman, 78 Senior partner at law firm Lourie & Cutler, PC TEAM LES Joseph A. Califano Jr., 87 Founder of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse William S. Cohen, 77 CEO of consulting firm The Cohen Group Gary L. Countryman, 78 Chairman emeritus of the Liberty Mutual Group Charles K. Gifford, 75 Chairman emeritus of Bank of America Leonard Goldberg, 84 Exec producer of CBS’ Blue Bloods Bruce S. Gordon, 72 Former CEO of the NAACP Linda M. Griego, 70 CEO of Griego Enterprises Inc. Arnold Kopelson, 83 Co-chairman of Kopelson Entertainment Martha L. Minow, 63 Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School Doug Morris, 79 Former CEO of Sony Music…
In October 2015, Beasts of No Nation, directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Idris Elba, perished in its box-office debut after most theaters, including major circuits, boycotted the film because the title premiered day-and-date on Netflix. Beasts played for two weeks in 31 cinemas, earning just $90,777 on its way to being snubbed by Academy Award voters. Nearly three years later, Netflix is looking to up its Oscar game after edging out HBO for the most nominations at this year’s Emmys. Insiders tell THR that the streamer, which recently hired top awards strategist Lisa Taback, is eyeing more than just an awards-qualifying release for upcoming films, including Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma and Paul Greengrass’ 22 July. Cuaron shot his film — an ode to his childhood in Mexico City — with…
Can the newly named WarnerMedia provide the spark that AT&T needs to fix its traditional pay TV business — better known as DirecTV? When the telecom giant reported earnings July 24, the first financial update since it closed the $85.4 billion deal for what was formerly called Time Warner, one figure that stood out was the 286,000 loss in satellite TV subscribers to 19.98 million, down from a high of 21.01 million at the end of the first quarter of 2017. An acceleration in cord-cutting may be blamed for five consecutive quarters of decline as consumers cancel pay TV packages for cheaper streaming options from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other services. Over-the-top competition is also damaging Dish Network, which lost 94,000 TV subs in the first quarter, down to 10.85…
What’s John Malone up to? Speculation has been rampant since the Liberty Global dealmaker — who built cable empire TCI before selling it to AT&T in 1999 for about $50 billion — left the boards of Lionsgate and Charter Communications in July. While veteran analyst Hal Vogel suggests the moves could “possibly be a prelude to more M&A activity involving both companies,” others aren’t so sure. Malone, 77, could be reducing his famously busy schedule (he wasn’t seen at July’s Allen & Co. executive gathering in Sun Valley). “He is on quite a few boards,” says Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeff Wlodarczak. “I think he is just paring back.” Malone, who in 2011 overtook CNN founder Ted Turner as the largest individual private landowner in the U.S., signaled as much…
