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.
IT’S THE HEARTWARMING COMEBACK STORY OF the summer: A year after a Walt Disney Co.-induced panic decimated shares of Hollywood conglomerates, stock prices for most companies have inched back up. The latest batch of financial results from the seven major studios have helped assuage investor fear that the business was in a long-term funk thanks to cord-cutting. One by one, CEOs pointed out that TV has been on an upswing. CBS blew past Wall Street expectations, while Time Warner and 21st Century Fox boasted of Donald Trump-fueled surges in viewership at news networks. Disney notched steady growth from its networks, too. Another takeaway: Comcast said paid cable subscribers dipped by just 4,000 between April and August — the smallest loss in more than a decade. By contrast, Netflix added just…
ROGER AILES, CREATOR of Fox News Channel, is gone, leading some to believe the Murdoch family will shift FNC from a conservative platform toward the mainstream. Unlikely. Why kill the right-wing goose that lays the $1 billion-a-year golden egg? The better question is, with Ailes gone, will FNC’s stable primetime lineup of anchors remain intact? In particular, what will become of Megyn Kelly, whose contract is up for renewal next year? Kelly’s feud with Donald Trump catapulted both to the center of campaign 2016, and her ambitions stretch far beyond her nightly cable hour. Kelly’s avowed role models of Charlie Rose and Diane Sawyer suggest two goals: the megamillion-dollar payday that in TV news now is only granted to those in the a.m. broadcast anchor chairs; and prestigious one-on-one interviews…
Redstone, Sumner M. — Matter of Redstone’s former companion Manuela Herzer isn’t giving up her fight to regain control of the mogul’s health care after being kicked out of his mansion last fall. Redstone’s video deposition persuaded a judge to cut short a May trial and rule in his favor, and Herzer, 52, was denied a bid for a new trial. But her legal team now is preparing an appeal. FILED Nov. 25, 2015 STATUS Dismissed, but appeal coming in California. Manuela Herzer v. Shari Redstone et al. Moments after the court ruled Redstone knew what he was doing when he removed Herzer from his life, she fired off a $100 million spying lawsuit against the mogul’s daughter, Shari Redstone, 62. Herzer claims Shari enlisted her children and Redstone’s staff…
IMMEDIATELY UPON THE OPENING OF Ghostbusters in mid-July, top Sony executives boldly declared a sequel to Paul Feig’s all-female reboot of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic was a given. “While nothing has been officially announced yet, there’s no doubt in my mind it will happen,” said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony. That was the studio’s last public mention of a sequel. As of Aug. 7, Ghostbusters had earned just under $180 million at the global box office, including $117 million domestic. The film still hasn’t opened in a few markets, including France, Japan and Mexico, but box-office experts say it will have trouble getting to $225 million despite a hefty net production budget of $144 million plus a big marketing spend. The studio has said break-even would be…
Splash Channing Tatum will star in the mermaid role made famous by Daryl Hannah in the 1984 film, while actress Jillian Bell will play Tom Hanks’ part for Disney. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels In the MGM remake, Rebel Wilson will star as one-half of the con artist team, originally played by Steve Martin and Michael Caine. Ocean’s Eleven WB’s female-driven spinoff, dubbed “Ocean’s Eight,” has a rumored ensemble with Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock. The Rocketeer Disney is developing a modern-day take on the 1991 action-adventure that will be fronted by a black female.…
RYAN MURPHY CREATED LIGHTNING in a bottle with the first season of FX’s American Crime Story, breaking ratings records and earning 22 Emmy nominations for The People v. O.J. Simpson. Now he’s begun work on perhaps a bigger challenge in season two: Hurricane Katrina. After all, the 2005 storm lacks the many entry points — sports, celebrity, distance — that drew viewers to O.J. But Murphy, who’s using Douglas Brinkley’s The Great Deluge as source material, is confident Katrina is as much a story of survival as it is of devastation. “We’re laying into: What do you do when you’re in a city and your government has abandoned you? How do you live? How do you get out?” he says. “You get out by climbing up and pulling up people…
