Innholdsfortegnelse for Thursday, January 24, 2019 i The Hollywood Reporter

The latest weapon in Hollywood’s movie marketing and distribution arsenal? Gussied-up sneak previews. In December, Warner Bros. and Amazon Prime partnered on sold-out Aquaman previews a week before the tentpole’s Dec. 21 debut. The e-commerce giant plugged the event to its 95 million U.S. customers, and the one night generated $3 million in grosses and 5,000-plus social media mentions. Theater owners, eager to boost business, also are working with studios. The major chains teamed with Paramount on a Bumblebee sneak and will hold a “Girls’ Night Out” preview of What Men Want, complete with a cocktail glass, two days before the rom-com opens everywhere Feb. 8. Universal and Fandango, in which the studio owns a stake, will show How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on Feb. 2, a…

Deal of the Week Netflix’s 15 Oscar nominations and first best picture nom weren’t the only markers of its ascendance in the film firmament Jan. 22. Later that day, it became the first streaming company to join the Motion Picture Association of America. The development is a major victory for Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who wants to further position his company as a producer of premium movies and TV shows rather than a mere deliverer of digitized content. Insiders say the last time the 97-year-old MPAA courted a new member was more than two decades ago, when Turner Entertainment joined, but its membership was quickly folded into Warner Bros. after Time Warner and Turner merged in 1996. Since then, the six members have remained 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Walt…

Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider never worked together before joining the writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 2011. But their fruitful six-year partnership there — marked by viral music videos (see Cameron Diaz straddling a minivan in “Back Home Ballers”) and a creative bond with cast breakout Kate McKinnon — culminated in the pair serving as co-head writers during the wild 2016-17 season, which netted 11 million weekly viewers and an Emmy for its chronicling of the election and President Trump’s first 100 days. But as Kelly and Schneider, both 35, were managing what may have been the most high-profile season in the NBC stalwart’s history, they plotted their next move, which rolls out Jan. 24. Their Comedy Central series, The Other Two, is a bit of a stretch…

Producers Guild Association Awards Beverly Hills, Jan. 19 PGA Breakfast Los Angeles, Jan. 19 Linda Vista Los Angeles, Jan. 16 Green Book Goes for the Gold Green Book solidified its standing as an Oscar frontrunner when it took the top film prize at the 30th PGA Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton. Accepting the Darryl F. Zanuck honor, the period film’s producer and director, Peter Farrelly (10), drew laughs with his admission that “when you make Dumb & Dumber, you don’t ever expect to get an award.” The night’s special honors went to Kenya Barris (1), Kevin Feige (13), Toby Emmerich (12), Amy Sherman-Palladino (6) and Jane Fonda (2), who riffed on female producers. “It’s not that we’re better,” she said, adding a line from Gloria Steinem. “We just don’t…

After inhabiting rapper alter ego Machine Gun Kelly since the age of 14, actor Colson Baker, now 28, is rediscovering himself. Speaking unexpectedly slowly for someone with such a moniker, Baker describes seeing a screening of Big Time Adolescence, in which he acts alongside star and buddy Pete Davidson, and which will bow at Sundance on Jan. 28. “I can’t believe I’m a part of it,” he says. “It’s just crazy that it happened so naturally, from when Pete asked me to be in the movie, and the director ended up being a fan of Roadies,” Cameron Crowe’s 2016 Showtime series on which Baker co-starred. Big Time Adolescence, about a teenager named Mo (Griffin Gluck) falling in with a group of 20-somethings, is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival; it…

Female filmmakers seize the spotlight (and festival parity) as THR’s annual indie extravaganza invites seven Grand Jury Prize winners to look back at promises unfulfilled, plus a provocative doc lineup of Satan to Steve Bannon to Harvey Weinstein, where to dine (and disappear) and, oh yeah, Lorena Bobbitt It’s 6:15 p.m. on Jan. 21, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Stephen Colbert is introducing his lead guest, the freshman representing New York’s 14th District: “Please welcome back to The Late Show now Congresswoman Alexaaaaandria Ocasio-Cortez!” It’s the coldest day in four years, and the street outside the Ed Sullivan Theater is deserted, but the atmosphere inside is electric. The audience is out of their seats, not a rare occurrence on late night television, where floor producers vigorously pantomime the standing…

WHEN ALAN ALDA GETS summoned to the Shrine Auditorium stage to collect his Life Achievement statuette at the 25th annual SAG Awards on Jan. 27, it wouldn’t be at all out of character for the 82-year-old actor to cartwheel down the aisle. He’s done it before — at the 1979 Emmys, famously turning his podium walk into a gymnastics routine — and he sounds like he’s got some spring left in him. “I did it when I was 80,” he says of a cartwheel video he posted on Twitter in 2017. “It was a little pathetic, but I made it around.” Alda, of course, has been bouncing around screens and stages for half a century. The Bronx native has been a star on Broadway (playing Felix in the original 1964…

There’s a veil of secrecy surrounding HBO’s documentary Leaving Neverland (premiering Jan. 25 at Sundance), which focuses on Michael Jackson’s history of alleged pedophilia. But the singer’s 2005 trial in Santa Maria, California, was as public as you can get. Jackson faced 10 counts involving child molestation, conspiracy and providing alcohol to minors. (The Neverland title comes from the 3,000-acre estate Jackson transformed into a private amusement park.) Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon indicted Jackson, who was represented by Thomas Mesereau (the white-haired lawyer who in 2018 would unsuccessfully defend Bill Cosby in his sexual assault case). Jackson was acquitted of all charges on June 13, 2005. THR speculated it was because the mother of a key witness, a 15-year-old boy, appeared to be “bent on using her…

Television Primary Goals Networks race for 2020 Dem debates p. 18 ↑ Film Sony Reboot Tom Rothman’s franchise turnaround p. 20 Sean McManus The CBS Sports chairman sees NFL conference championship ratings jump 27 percent year-over-year to 53 million viewers, boding well for the network’s Super Bowl telecast. Bryan Singer The ousted Bohemian Rhapsody director is hit with a long-awaited exposé in The Atlantic featuring new accusers speaking out about alleged sexual abuse. Greg Berlanti After premiering to lackluster ratings on Lifetime, the producer’s thriller You moves to Netflix and reaches 40 million households worldwide in a month, according to the streamer. Guru Gowrappan The Verizon Media CEO presides over 800 layoffs in a division that includes AOL and Yahoo after the company takes a $4.6 billion write-down on the…

BEST PICTURE Alfonso Cuaron Roma The Mexican filmmaker scored a record-tying four noms (producing, directing, writing and lensing). The picture nod is most noteworthy because his is only the 11th non-English film to crack the top race and would be the first to win. SUPPORTING ACTRESS Claire Foy First Man Not even The Crown’s queen could withstand the tides turning against Damien Chazelle’s space-set pic. She and composer Justin Hurwitz (who won Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards this month) both missed. DIRECTOR Spike Lee BlacKkKlansman Thirty years after Do the Right Thing, Brooklyn’s finest is finally a nominee for best director — and picture. Indeed, his film, The Favourite and Vice are the only three that landed key picture, directing, acting, writing and editing noms. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Joel and…

Big Deal Kevin Hart’s past homophobic tweets — and his subsequent response to the outcry over them — may have dashed his opportunity to host the Oscars, but the controversy and its drawn-out “will he or won’t he” with the Academy has not hindered his employability. The actor-comedian recently booked two new films in as many days: On Jan. 17, Hart, 39, was announced as the headliner of Lionsgate’s live-action Monopoly movie, and a day later he unveiled a starring role in the Sony family film Fatherhood. His HartBeat Productions will produce both. Sources say Hart (UTA, 3 Arts, Schreck Rose) had been in talks to join the long-gestating board game adaptation since October, while Fatherhood, the next movie he shoots after the Jumanji sequel, has been in the works…

David Thomson had already finished a draft of Sleeping With Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire when Hollywood’s #MeToo movement exploded in 2017 with the first reports about Harvey Weinstein. But the film critic and historian (his New Biographical Dictionary of Film is in its sixth edition) soon realized that his latest book — which explores the problematic dominance of male desire in cinema, especially at the hands of revered auteurs like Alfred Hitchcock — would have to respond to the upheaval. Drawing upon “a lifetime’s experience watching films and watching the film industry, which told me that women were being treated very badly,” Thomson says, he realized his book would also have to address his four-decade friendship with one of the accused, James Toback: Nearly 400 women have alleged harassment…

Since joining CNN in 2012 after a long career at ABC News, Amy Entelis can lay claim to greenlighting two of the top four docs at the 2018 box office: RBG ($14 million) and Three Identical Strangers ($12.3 million). The films, produced and financed by CNN, made their debuts at Sundance and rode the current doc boom to land among the top-performing films overall from the festival, along with Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (RBG had the added bonus of scoring two Oscar nominations for best doc and original song). This year, she is bringing two of her most ambitious films to date in Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 (Neon is distributing), and Frederic Tcheng’s Halston, an homage to the late fashion icon that will be hotly pursued by theatrical…

The Academy must have breathed a sigh of relief Jan. 22 after the smooth and relatively controversy-free announcement of this year’s Oscar nominations. That, however, was a rare ray of sunshine to pierce a storm of disasters, starting with 2015’s #OscarsSoWhite outrage and continuing through this year’s “popular film” fiasco, not to mention the Kevin Hart self-immolation. Now who should take the blame? Insiders point fingers in all directions. Dawn Hudson, the former president of Film Independent who was named CEO in 2011, is a divisive figure who has nonetheless won key allies, most notably executives/producers Amy Pascal and Kathleen Kennedy, while alienating some of the older white men who have dominated the below-the-line branches of the Academy. Others express dissatisfaction with recent elected presidents, including the current officeholder, John…

Is there more pressure hosting a show strictly for professional performers? I would rather that than perform for a bunch of producers and directors. The actors are a little more forgiving. But it is more about setting the right tone and having some fun material, nothing political. Have you picked up any hosting tips from attending awards shows? I don’t think any of the humor will be snarky, like how the Golden Globes used to get super snarky. I really do love actors and talent. I could have been a casting director or an agent, I am geeky that way. Whenever I see somebody really good in a movie or TV show, I write their name down. I have a list of actors I have always kept. How can awards…

Late last year, Sony’s leadership team of chairman Tom Rothman and Columbia Pictures chairman Sanford Panitch was under the blade of He-Man’s Power Sword. After having ceded the big-brand IP of Barbie to Warner Bros., Sony was facing the loss of a second Mattel property, Masters of the Universe. Despite spending what insiders say was about $15 million since 2007 developing a much-needed franchise, the studio had nothing to show for it. Mattel was ready to take the rights elsewhere before intense talks ended, with Sony keeping He-Man at the studio. The battle served to underscore Sony’s reenergized commitment to building branded franchises. Facing a dearth of IP to call its own, the studio has managed to manufacture its own franchises to grow its theatrical division revenue 50 percent in…

FILM Anne Hathaway (CAA, Management 360, Sloane Offer) will star in Warner Bros. and Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Charlotte Rampling (the U.K.’s Diamond Management, France’s Time-Art) will join Timothee Chalamet in Legendary’s Dune. John Leguizamo (UTA, Sloane Offer) and Keegan-Michael Key (UTA, Bloom Hergott) will join John Cena in Paramount’s family comedy Playing With Fire. Former Weinstein Co. COO David Glasser has launched 101 Studios with $300 million from Ron Burkle and other investors. Kumail Nanjiani (UTA, Schreck Rose) and Issa Rae (UTA, Hansen Jacobson) will star in MRC rom-com The Lovebirds, which was picked up by Paramount. Pitch Perfect 3 director Trish Sie (UTA) will direct New Line’s female-fronted horror comedy Rebecca and Quinn Get Scared. Jason Reitman (WME, Jackoway Austen) will direct a new Ghostbusters…

Zucked (PENGUIN PRESS, FEB. 5) BY Roger McNamee AGENCY Gotham Group Think of Zucked as the story after Social Network’s credits roll. McNamee, an early Facebook investor and Zuckerberg mentor, weaves together a story of failed leadership, bad actors and algorithms against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election. A Thousand Sisters (BALZER + BRAY, JAN. 22) BY Elizabeth Wein AGENCY UTA During World War II, the Soviet Union became the first country ever to allow female pilots to fly in combat. This true story — part Captain Marvel, part Band of Brothers — follows three all-female regiments of mostly teenage pilots led by Marina Raskova.…

“Such a dick move.”LESLIE JONES The SNL star, bashing Jason Reitman and Sony on Twitter for planning a Ghostbusters sequel that ignores the 2016 female reboot with Jones, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig. “I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled, hood winked, lead astray!!!”JA RULE The rapper and Fyre Festival co-founder, on Twitter, invoking a Malcolm X speech while downplaying his involvement in the doomed musical event after the release of documentaries on Hulu and Netflix. “It’s a complicated thing when you’re singing along to ‘Let it sink back in the ocean.’”ISEL RODRIGUEZ The University of Puerto Rico professor, at a town hall in San Juan, questioning Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner about their plans for a remake of West Side Story, a film that many on the…

Warren Beatty checked out The Apple Pan. … Tracee Ellis Ross enjoyed Alta Adams. … Angelina Jolie popped by Tesse Bakery and Cafe at Fred Segal. … WME’s Rick Rosen shared a table with former HBO chief Michael Lombardo at The Grill on the Alley. On a different day, Steven Soderbergh sat with Michael Sugar and Bert Salke. … Fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth was at Chateau Hanare. … Simon Halls reigned at Pizzeria il Fico. … Michelle Yeoh sat for dinner at CUT Beverly Hills. On another day, Danai Gurira was in. … Oliver Stone lunched at Toscana. Ms Chi Cafe The Quick Pitch Beijing native Shirley Chung — who trained under Thomas Keller and Jose Andres — bows this modern Chinese restaurant with lunchtime fast casual service a…

Five years ago, an unknown Damien Chazelle brought his second feature, Whiplash, to Sundance. With A24 and Roadside Attractions chasing, Sony Pictures Classics swooped in and bought North American rights to the drama about a high school drummer and his merciless band teacher for $2.5 million. But when the dust settled on Sundance 2014, Whiplash didn’t represent the top price tag. That distinction went to the Bill Hader-Kristen Wiig drama The Skeleton Twins, whose worldwide rights sold to Roadside Attractions for $3.5 million. Nevertheless, when the postmortem on the 2014 market was complete, Whiplash wound up as the top box office earner, with $49 million worldwide versus Skeleton Twins’ $5.3 million. The 2014 chapter was a sign of things to come, with deep-pocketed streamers only making the market more fraught…

Just Sold 7996 Roamer Court Seven years after first listing it, Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg in December sold his 14,000-square-foot house, listed by Engel & Volkers’ Paul Benson, in the private Bald Eagle Club. Interiors of the seven-bedroom were designed by Naomi Leff, who also designed Ralph Lauren’s Colorado ranch. On the Market 8066 Sunrise Loop The Agency’s Charlie Taylor and Jake Doilney hold the $7 million list on this eight-bedroom in the gated Promontory Club. With panoramic mountain views from every room, the home also has a mine shaft-themed 4K movie theater, a child’s playhouse and a 3,000-square-foot patio. 8066 N. Red Fox Ct. Known as Greystone, this 14,000-square-foot five-bedroom, listed for $10.75 million by Michael LaPay and Brad Jensen of Summit Sotheby’s International, has a two-story foyer with…

Since its inception, Sundance has been considered a springboard for directing talent. But sometimes directors have trouble finding their way out of the snow, with festival momentum soon stalling in Hollywood. “We found a lot of filmmakers didn’t quite have that passion project ready to go, and there was a lot of pressure to get to the next film,” says Michelle Satter, the founding director of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program and champion of FilmTwo, an initiative that specifically helps first-time feature directors who are coming out of Sundance navigate the sophomore slump. Grads of the program, which is entering its third year, include Creed II director Steven Caple Jr. and Lulu Wang, who is behind 2019 fest competition title The Farewell, starring Awkwafina. “The anecdotal was that it…

If ever there was a market susceptible to hype, it’s Sundance. After all, Hollywood buyers have all trekked to a remote mountain location to find the next hidden gem that will either turn a profit in theaters or earn some Oscar love a year later (or, ideally, both). But that feat is easier said than done as groupthink often reigns once inside a cramped Eccles Theatre. “You’re trying to separate the buzz of what you hear people saying about a film and what your instinct is,” says 30West’s Tristen Tuckfield. One market plus for 2019: fewer distractions thanks to the fact that, unlike in previous years, the Oscar nominations and the NFL’s conference championship games won’t conflict with screenings. In the past, business ground to halt during those six hours…

A PILGRIMAGE TO THE MECCA OF MOLE New York-based attorney Victoria Cook, who has more than a half-dozen clients with films at Sundance this year (including the Steve Bannon doc The Brink), says she tries to work in a pilgrimage to The Red Iguana (736 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City) near Salt Lake City airport, for “the best mole.” Cook first heard about the spot through insiders at the festival, and now says you’ll see other biz folk at the establishment. “The food is super legit, like you are in Texas or California,” she says. Cook usually orders vegetarian and goes with “the spiciest mole.” Neon founder-CEO Tom Quinn calls Red Iguana his “favorite Mexican meal all year long.” When he and his co-workers “have to trek out to…

Over the past 25 years, more than 100 actors have participated in the SAG Awards’ “I am an actor” opener. It started with Angela Lansbury, who was tasked with explaining the significance of the “Actor” statuette at the inaugural ceremony in 1995. But Michael Keaton was actually the first to distinctly say, “I’m an actor,” at the second show. The starting lineup grew in 2003, after supervising producer Gloria Fujita O’Brien suggested that five stars’ stories would create a more dynamic opener. Kathy Connell, executive producer of the ceremony, says they make sure to feature both a seasoned actor and an emerging talent. And while the legendary Meryl Streep is at the top of Connell their dream list, they also hope to cast actors who are seeing a career resurgence,…

It’s been 30 years since Spike Lee received his first Oscar nomination, for the Do the Right Thing screenplay, and in all the years since, the prolific filmmaker has earned only one other nom (for the 1997 doc 4 Little Girls). Lee, 61, spoke with THR on Oscar morning about what it feels like to nab three nominations for his based-on-a-true-story dramedy BlacKkKlansman, including his firsts for best directing and best picture. How did it feel to learn of your nominations? I was with my wife, Tonya, my daughter Satchel, my son Jackson and our dog Ginger. We watched ABC Channel 7, and we were all in the bed together — we were jumping up and down. Have you talked to the cast? I spoke to Adam Driver, who’s shooting…

It looks like Oscar is going global. This year’s crop of nominations features the strongest showing by foreign-language films in years. Sure, the foreign-language category is packed with powerhouse contenders — Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma (Mexico), Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters (Japan), the street-kid drama Capernaum (Lebanon), sprawling period drama Never Look Away (Germany) and Pawel Pawlikowski 1950s romance Cold War (Poland) — but many of these contenders also have slipped into other categories where foreign-language films rarely compete. Roma ties Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the most noms received by a foreign-language film with 10. It also is the 10th foreign-language film to be nominated for best picture. If Roma takes the top prize, it will be the first foreign-language film to do so. For the first time in…