Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday September 5 2018 i The Hollywood Reporter

Had the grosses for the first week of Avengers: Infinity War, opening April 27, been included in the 2018 summer tally, domestic revenue would have all but matched the record $4.75 billion collected at the box office in summer 2013. Still, this year’s summer season, kicking off May 4 and wrapping on Labor Day, made a spectacular recovery over 2017, when revenue limped to $3.8 billion, the worst showing in 10 years. Revenue between May 4, 2018, and Sept. 3, 2018, hit nearly $4.4 billion, the biggest year-over-year uptick (14 percent) in two decades and the fifth best of all time, according to comScore. Attendance was up as well, by roughly 10 percent. “This is a substantial rebound,” says John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “And…

DISNEY/PIXAR Incredibles 2 June 15 Domestic $602.3M International $562.5M Global $1.16B The Incredibles Nov. 5, 2004 Domestic $261.4M International $371.6M Global $633M DISNEY/MARVEL Avengers: Infinity War April 27 Domestic $678.8M International $1.37B Global $2.05B Avengers: Age of Ultron May 1, 2015 Domestic $459M International $964.4M Global $1.41B FOX Deadpool 2 May 18 Domestic $318.4M International $415.6M Global $734.1M Deadpool Feb. 12, 2016 Domestic $362M International $420M Global $783.1M UNIVERSAL Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom June 22 Domestic $415.2M International $885.4M Global $1.30B Jurassic World June 12, 2015 Domestic $652.3M International $1.09B Global $1.67B UNIVERSAL Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again July 20 Domestic $118M International $249.1M Global $367.1M Mamma Mia July 18, 2008 Domestic $144.1M International $465.7M Global $609.8M DISNEY/LUCASFILM Solo: A Star Wars Story May 25 Domestic $213.7M International $179M…

Hollywood talent lawyers get 5 percent of their clients’ pay. Everyone knows this, and virtually no one puts it in writing. But decades of gentlemen’s agreements could haunt industry dealmakers after a California judge ruled Aug. 28 that Johnny Depp’s 1999 oral agreement with his former lawyer Jake Bloom is voidable at the actor’s discretion. Now, as Depp seeks a full refund for the estimated $30 million he paid Bloom, more attorneys are weighing whether to seek a retroactive written agreement from clients. Depp sued Bloom not long after declaring legal war with his ex-business managers, claiming, among other allegations, that he represented him without a proper contract. A provision in the California Business and Professions Code mandates that lawyers get contingency fee agreements in writing. Section 6147 is well…

By the time she was 30, Cynthia Erivo already had a Tony, Grammy and Emmy for her starring role as Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. Now the 31-year-old Brit triple threat has nailed a stunning double play, booking two major studio films (both from Fox) as her first features: Steve McQueen’s Widows (bowing Sept. 8 at Toronto, then opening Nov. 16) and Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale (Oct. 12). After wrapping work on two sci-fi projects — Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking and John Ridley’s Needle in a Timestack, with Orlando Bloom — she’ll next tackle her most ambitious role: Harriet Tubman in Kasi Lemmons’ indie Harriet. “I can’t say I’m not frightened,” says Erivo. “I am, but that’s probably a good thing.”…

“Can you stop lying?” CYNTHIA NIXON The actress turned candidate for New York governor, snapping at incumbent Andrew Cuomo during the Aug. 29 primary debate after Cuomo asked her, “Can you stop interrupting?” “Smash cut to 2018, I’m sitting next to his sixth-great-grandson.” LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA The Hamilton creator, telling a London audience how he wrote the part of King George, right before introducing Prince Harry to the stage following a charity performance of the musical. “Their list of sources is incomplete and omits women who were either identified in the NBC story or offered to be.” RONAN FARROW The journalist, hitting back at NBC News on Twitter after its chairman Andrew Lack claimed Farrow’s Harvey Weinstein exposé was nixed over a lack of on-the-record sources. “This was widely regarded as…

LeBron James was at Avra Beverly Hills for dinner. … Sue Kroll, Lainie Becky, Jim Toth and Ron Perlman shared the room at Mr Chow. … Sean “P. Diddy” Combs checked out Joe and the Juice in West Hollywood.… Over at Nobu Malibu, Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra enjoyed lunch. Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin canoodled. Denise Richards and Travis Barker shared a table. Edward Norton sat nearby. … Alan Hergott stopped by Bavel. … Sofia Vergara held court at Il Pastaio. … Jay Ellis enjoyed dinner at Paley. … Regina Hall checked out Avenue Hollywood. Otono The Quick Pitch Chef-owner Teresa Montano (Racion), draws a young crowd in Highland Park with her turn toward Catalonia, inspired by her time in Valencia, birthplace of paella. (Try her scallop fideua —…

Peter Guber, Will Ferrell and the rest of the new L.A. Football Club’s ownership team have set about turning their recently opened Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park into the West Coast’s culinary answer to the Barclay Center. Its nine-vendor food hall, The Fields, has unveiled a formidable starting lineup. “Every place here, you’d travel for on its own,” says LAFC president Tom Penn. Outposts include Jonathan Gold favorites Burritos La Palma and Coni’Seafood as well as fresh offerings by the likes of meat maestro Chad Colby (who made his name as the executive chef of Chi Spacca and here slings pizza slices). Meanwhile, French Laundry vet Timothy Hollingsworth, who runs Otium in downtown L.A., has already unveiled a fried-chicken spot, C.J. Boyd’s Fried Chicken, and is about to…

MEETING GORBACHEV Hollywood has long pursued a film about former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with Steven Spielberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger having chased his life rights. Here, German helmer Werner Herzog and co-director Andre Singer tackle one of the most important politicians of the 20th century. Submarine is selling the film, which makes its Toronto debut Sept. 10. THE GHOST OF PETER SELLERS The Peter Medak-helmed film is playing at Venice and Telluride but skipping Toronto. Still, sales agent Submarine will be selling theatrical rights (as well as narrative remake rights) at TIFF. Ghost of Peter Sellers chronicles the behind-the-scenes tensions on the set of Medak’s unreleased 1973 pirate comedy, Ghost in the Noonday Sun. THE ELEPHANT QUEEN Nature docs can do huge business (think March of the Penguins). Narrated by…

Call it a transition year. With Cameron Bailey getting a promotion in April to the newly created post of artistic director and co-head (with Joana Vicente) of the Toronto Film Festival, director of programming Kerri Craddock took a more active role in filling out the festival lineup. But that has left a number of agents and producers privately grumbling about the new paradigm. The most frequent complaint concerns the time it took for TIFF to accept or decline a film. “The problem with this year was, because they were taking so long to figure out and organize their programming, they lost a lot of movies,” says one top sales agent. “People took films to other festivals like Venice. [Or] they chose Telluride. Even Sundance was looking at things early. So,…

Given the sheer number of American movies and TV series shooting in Canada year-round, there is perhaps no better training ground outside of L.A. for emerging talents. And in the era of prestige TV — much of which shoots north of the border — Canadian acting talents have the opportunity to land plum gigs on high-profile shows like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Amazon and Netflix’s GLOW, meaning they can work alongside such stars as John Krasinski and Alison Brie without having to venture far from home. Given access like this, the talent pool is seemingly limitless, and that’s good news according to the casting agents and industry insiders THR consulted for this year’s list of Canadian up-and-comers (some of whom will be making an impression at TIFF this year).…

China Money Fears Global Road’s fall sparks new concerns p. 20 ↑ Legal Depp Dilemma A court victory and “handshake” contracts p. 22 Joana Vicente The Toronto film festival taps the indie producer as exec director and co-head (along with artistic director Cameron Bailey) as the 43rd annual event kicks off. Andy Lack The NBC News chief is again scrutinized over losing Ronan Farrow’s bombshell Harvey Weinstein exposé even as he goes on the offensive by releasing internal records and scathing statements. Colin Kaepernick Despite being sidelined by the NFL, the former star quarterback who inspired national anthem protests becomes a face of Nike’s “Just Do It” anniversary campaign. Rony Abovitz The Magic Leap CEO’s augmented reality headset gets tepid early reviews from critics after years of hype and more…

For the first time, documentaries dominated the U.S. summer indie box office, taking up four of the top 10 slots on the top-grossing specialty chart. Morgan Neville’s Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, about the late Fred Rogers, led all specialty titles with $22.5 million, making it one of the top-grossing nonfiction films of all time in the U.S., not adjusted for inflation. RBG, the doc about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, kicked off the action in May. Nine of the 10 top-performing specialty titles came out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Neon chief Tom Quinn, who bought Three Identical Strangers at Sundance, says there was no better advertising for his doc, directed by Tim Wardle, than to play trailers in front of RBG and Won’t You Be My…

FILM Dwayne Johnson (WME, Garcia Co., Gang Tyre) and Robert Zemeckis (WME, Gang Tyre) will team for New Line’s The King, a biopic of Hawaii’s Kamehameha I by Randall Wallace. The Crown star Matt Smith (UTA, the U.K.’s Troika) is in talks to join Star Wars: Episode IX. The Help’s Tate Taylor (CAA, Lichter Grossman) will replace Matthew Newton as director of Jessica Chastain action thriller Eve. Michelle Yeoh (Artists International) and Awkwafina (UTA, Artists First, Schreck Rose) are in talks to star in Everything Everywhere All at Once from Swiss Army Man directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Danny Strong (CAA, Sweeney, Jackoway Austen) and The Handmaid’s Tale breakout Sydney Sweeney (Paradigm, Curtis, Hansen Jacobson) have joined Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for Sony. Nick Jonas (WME,…

Storytelling is our humanity, and Venice does it with elegance, passion and decades of history — arriving at the festival, I felt some of the glamour the industry has been missing and an artistic fever, very Cinema Paradiso. Damien Chazelle’s First Man was the perfect film to kick things off — with the extended ovation, you could feel awards season had started. After the premiere there was a small dinner at Harry’s Bar where Damien and his wife, Olivia Hamilton, Claire Foy and Jason Clarke were honored with moving toasts from producer (and Paramount president) Wyck Godfrey and Universal’s Peter Cramer. The night before, the First Man cast and filmmakers had gathered for a dinner on the Terrace at the beautifully refurbished Gritti Palace, where I was staying, with a…

Venice Film Festival Venice, Aug. 29-Sept. 8 Year of the Donna Venice’s 75th lineup might be dominated by male directors, but the early premieres were all about the female stars. Damien Chazelle’s (4) opening film First Man had critics raving Aug. 29, with the rare complaint being that Claire Foy (4) didn’t get more screen time. That didn’t stop the three-minute standing ovation at Sala Grande, halted only when the stars rushed off to the afterparty, where Taika Waititi had all the best moves dancing on the Lido beach. Director Yorgos Lanthimos was drawn to The Favourite because it brought to life vivid female characters — played by Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone (1). “Because of the prevalence of the male gaze in cinema, women are mostly portrayed…

Weddings Miriam Yun, human resources director at ICM Partners, married Steve Koch on Aug. 17 at Liberty House Restaurant in Jersey City, New Jersey. The couple, who became engaged in December, will honeymoon in South Africa. Births Heather Besignano, CEO of Icon PR, and her husband, musician Kevin Besignano, welcomed daughter Bella Lee on Aug. 18 at St. John’s in Santa Monica. Kelly Tomlinson Pollack and husband Benjamin Pollack, co-founders of Tomlinson Management Group, welcomed son Bryce Francis on Aug. 16 at UCLA Medical Center. Alison Smith-Pleiser, managing director international at The Hollywood Reporter, and husband Carsten Pleiser welcomed son Sidney Kristian at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, England. Congrats Ronak Kordestani was named president of 3 Ball Entertainment on Aug. 23. THR parent Valence Media named Ellen Goldsmith chief…

Foreign distributors point to the importance of critical acclaim and awards glory for black movies, which can face hurdles outside the U.S. if their stories or themes are considered too local. But race, buyers say, plays a far smaller role in international success than marketing and distribution support. Disney’s international push for Black Panther made Wakanda a household name worldwide. And indie distributors in Europe point to Barry Jenkins’ promotional support for Moonlight — visiting international festivals, doing extensive interviews with local media — as key to the film’s global performance. It’s too early to say if Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman will be the next title on the chart. Universal has been rolling out the drama slowly, counting on strong buzz. BlacKkKlansman has grossed $42.2 million as of Aug. 30 in…

Tail o’ the Pup, the iconic wiener-shaped hot dog stand that stood near the Beverly Center, has been acquired by the same vintage revivalists who are at work fixing up the Formosa Cafe. New address TBD.… 46-year-old Valentino, Piero Selvaggio’s Santa Monica granddaddy of Italian restaurants, will close at year’s end.… Pizzana, the acclaimed Brentwood slice spot co-owned by actor Chris O’Donnell, announced it will expand east to Robertson Boulevard.… After neighbors’ pushback, WeHo is forcing the building that will house Gwyneth Paltrow’s private Arts Club of London to add a public restaurant.…

Sandwiched between Sundance and Cannes, the Tribeca Film Festival is not known for generating heated bidding wars. But the documentary White Tide sparked just that after its world premiere April 20. Directed by Theo Love, the film chronicles a desperate man’s obsession with the urban legend of a buried mountain of cocaine on a beach in Puerto Rico. Universal and A24, neither of which is a typical doc buyer, duked it out with Netflix and Sony Pictures Classics to acquire the film. Netflix prevailed, snapping up worldwide rights, and Love immediately signed with CAA. Netflix also scored first refusal rights to a narrative remake, a robust subset of the doc market. In the four months that followed the White Tide acquisition, the documentary forecast has only become hotter, with three…

Crash a Jays Game The Blue Jays host Cleveland Sept. 6 to 9. You could catch the game at the Rogers Centre or crash it from the SportsNet Grill at the Marriott City Centre Hotel, which overlooks the field and serves up tasty pub fare. Get into the spirit with a Coney Island chili dog ($17). You also can book a field-view hotel room and enjoy the game from the comfort of your bed. Take in the Music Scene The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar (192 Queen St. W) is the beacon of jazz in Toronto. Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis have graced the stage of this 70-year-old, family-run institution, which offers pub grub and craft beer. Live acts play every night, and there’s no cover on weeknights. Saxophonist…

All the Bright PlaceS Based on the New York Times best-selling YA novel, the feature centers on two troubled teens (Elle Fanning and Justice Smith) whose paths cross. Echo Lake client Liz Hannah adapted the book with author Jennifer Niven; Brett Haley is attached to direct. The One Device Tech journalist Brian Merchant s The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone chronicles the decadelong journey to get Apple s iconic phone from the minds of engineers to Americas pockets. Echo Lake plans to develop it as a limited series Nice Originally planned as a TV pilot, Nice found new life as a comic book series, with Echo Lake partnering with American Gothic Press. By Joseph Ettinger and Dagen Walker, it follows two hipster assassins who realize the organization…

For its 25th anniversary, the Oldenburg Film Festival has launched a partnership with German VOD platform FilmConfect to bring the fest’s distinct brand of indie cinema to a wider, online audience. The agreement will see FilmConfect, a boutique German VOD service specializing in indie film, host a “best-of” collection of features that has screened at Oldenburg during the past quarter-century. Users can stream the films for a one-off price of about $5.80 a title or buy a mini-subscription, or “festival ticket,” allowing unlimited access to the entire collection. “The price is a bit higher than usual for VOD, but this is a specialized audience, and we’re offering them a special, curated experience,” says FilmConfect CEO Martin Irnich. Oldenburg already has uploaded more than a dozen titles — ranging in genre…

Deal of the Week The Anaheim City Council’s Aug. 28 vote to kill $267 million in planned subsidies to Disney isn’t necessarily a net financial loss — for either side. The $267 million was meant to offset costs associated with building a four-diamond hotel at the Downtown Disney retail district. But Disney put the project on indefinite hold and asked the council to rescind not only the hotel rebate but also another incentive involving ticket taxation, claiming both had become a “flashpoint for controversy,” according to an Aug. 21 letter penned by Disneyland Resort president Josh D’Amaro. Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait agreed, calling the benefits agreements “toxic.” But according to some employees who showed up for the vote, the goal for Disney was to make an end run around a…

Answer: H and I. Josh Kushner was invited but not his Trump son-in-law brother.…

Hanging in the entryway to Kurt Sutter’s Santa Monica office is a 9-year-old legal letter from his longtime corporate bosses at 20th Century Fox Television. The framed correspondence — a hostile work environment claim, which came after Sutter told an executive at the company to “crawl the fuck out of my ass and cremin and I will deliver our show on budget” — serves as a valuable reminder for the notoriously foul-mouthed showrunner. “It hangs on my wall not to say, ‘I’m a rebel,’” says Sutter, 58.“It hangs on my wall as, like, ‘You’re an impulsive fucking asshole, and think before you hit send.’ ” Having gotten his start on Shawn Ryan’s dark drama The Shield, Sutter — a father to three with his actress wife, Katey Sagal — went…

She was a badass blond anchorwoman, powerful enough to draw ire from a vice president for daring to be a single mom. She also happened to love designer clothes. From 1988-98, Murphy Brown was a feminist heroine for working women, with a covetable wardrobe of American sportswear from Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan of colorful blazers, short skirts, opaque tights and high heels for the office and baggy trousers, baseball hats and Southwestern-patterned sweaters for the weekend. And on Sept. 27, Murphy Brown returns to CBS with the original cast hosting a cable news morning show that takes on President Trump, fake news, the #MeToo era and more. “Pat Field is a genius,” says two-time creator Diane English of the costume designer of Sex and the City and…

On paper, the titles available for purchase at TIFF this year appear to include fewer potential awards-season vehicles (like last year’s I, Tonya). Even sellers acknowledge that most top-shelf product already has sold. “More and more of our films are getting set up with distributors at earlier stages as these distributors focus on in-house production,” says ICM Partners’ Jessica Lacy. The acquisitions market may be further dampened by the loss of past buyers, including Global Road, The Weinstein Co. and Broad Green. “The market feels a bit anemic to me,” says Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios acquisitions chief Chris Charalambous. Still, new players may yet emerge, including one led by Tom Ortenberg, whose Briarcliff Entertainment is releasing Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 and is said to have raised a fund to buy…

PAIRING NO. 1 Weed Barbara Bud. A cross of Afghani and Shishkaberry, this presents a bouquet reminiscent of fresh grapefruit rind, sour Fruit Roll-Up and rose petal. Wine 2017 Riesling, Syncromesh Wines, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia PAIRING NO. 2 Weed God Bud. Aromas of pine, blackberry, guava and lavender make this strain a hit with growers and consumers. God Bud is a potent indica-dominant hybrid — don’t plan on doing anything but relaxing! Wine 2017 Gewurztraminer, Wild Goose Winery, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia PAIRING NO. 3 Weed UBC Chemo. This fabled indica strain was developed at the University of British Columbia in the late 1960s to help cancer patients battle chemotherapy side effects. Wine 2015 Sage Hills Pinot Noir, Summerland, British Columbia PAIRING NO. 4 Weed B.C. Big Bud. Cousin…

Aloette This bistro has opened two floors below the popular Alo for drop-in dining. Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, already have eaten in the no-reservations diner, where seared scallops ($30), lamb sirloin ($30) and veal sweetbreads ($20) are among the favorites. 163 Spadina Ave., 416-260-3444 BlueBlood Steakhouse Chef Meagan Andrews has taken over a wing of Casa Loma, a 98-room Gothic mansion, and offers red meat for every appetite. Try an 8-ounce barrel-cut filet from Wheeler County, Nebraska ($65), or go big with a 40-ounce Alberta porterhouse ($200). 1 Austin Terrace, 416-353-4647 Kiin Take a stroll round the corner from TIFF Central to where chef and co-owner Nuit Regular opened Kiin on Adelaide Street to showcase Royal Thai cuisine. Her favorites are chor lada (dumplings; $12) and mieng pla,…

96 The number of awards that will be handed out during the two-night event (53 on Sept. 8 and 43 on Sept. 9). That’s compared to just 26 during the Primetime Emmys. 7 Hours between the July 12 announcement of the Emmy nominations and the reveal that The Big Bang Theory’s Mark Cendrowski’s nomination for directing for a comedy series had been accidentally omitted. 16 Noms for HBO’s Westworld, which leads the creative arts categories, followed by Games of Thrones (15) and SNL (13).…

Unlike the 1987 original, the cast of The Predator, a sequel whose world premiere is set for Sept. 6 at the Toronto Film Festival, doesn’t contain future governors of California and Minnesota. But seeing politicos Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred, and Jesse Ventura, who got killed off early, was just part of the charm. THR said Predator was an “explosive, big-barrel production” that was “a classic behind-enemy-lines/buddy movie.” The John McTiernan-directed film also was a surprise hit. The $15 million production brought in $60 million domestically ($133 million today), knocking Beverly Hills Cop II from the top spot and spawning a half-dozen sequels. The title character was a space alien who stalks Schwarzenegger’s commando team. The creature’s costume was originally worn by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who either quit or was fired…