Innholdsfortegnelse for Wednesday, March 11, 2020 i The Hollywood Reporter

When Bob Iger revealed Feb. 25 that he was resigning as Disney CEO and moving into the role of executive chairman, he said he would focus on “getting everything right creatively,” calling it the company’s “biggest priority.” One division where Iger will spend much of that time is the streaming service Disney+. After launching with a bang Nov. 12 and shooting past 28 million subscribers in three months thanks to its rich library and Star Wars series The Mandalorian, Disney+ is grappling with a dearth of original product aimed at a wider audience beyond kids happy to watch Moana or Frozen on repeat. Disney+ has more than 50 scripted shows and some 50 unscripted shows in development, a source tells THR, and is set to release about 35 originals in…

Source: Theater stocks fall from Jan. 2 to March 9, via Marketwatch. Suddenly, this year’s box office may hinge far less on Hollywood’s film slate than on whether the coronavirus keeps moviegoers out of theaters. Investors, already bearish over film exhibitors battling Netflix, have hammered cinema stocks over widening worries that people will get out of the habit of going to the movies and, more than ever, consume their entertainment at home. Analysts see sharp drops in share price value compared to a year-to-date 15 percent decline in the broad-based S&P 500 stock index. “I believe this is mainly being driven by the unknown level of impact that COVID-19 could have on moviegoing trends,” says B. Riley analyst Eric Wold. The chains have so far insisted that domestic demand for…

As the coronavirus epidemic sparks a host of cancellations of industry events from SXSW and MIPTV to TV upfronts — scrambling travel plans and leaving people chasing hotel and plane refunds — it is affecting the entertainment world in more quotidian ways, as more and more people work to get a handle on exactly how to enact social distancing behaviors. Even as President Donald Trump shook hands with supporters March 9 on a tarmac in Orlando, Florida, many people in Hollywood are keeping their hands to themselves. At a Meet Me in Australia fire-relief fundraiser on March 8, Sean Penn kept his hands in his pockets, telling people, “I’m not shaking hands.” But what’s not always clear is which handshaking alternatives are most appropriate — ticking the boxes of being…

Days after Bob Iger’s Feb. 25 resignation as CEO of Disney, the surprise move is still stuck in Hollywood’s craw like a piece of gristle. “It was very unusual to come out with an announcement at 4 o’clock [Eastern] the day that Disney was being pounded in the market,” says veteran Wall Street analyst Hal Vogel. “There were recent conference calls with quarterly earnings. You’d think there would have been a hint at least that would have eased the way through this announcement. Instead, when the market is down sharply, all of a sudden he’s resigned.” The stock price has dropped sharply since then, which may provide hints about the reason for the hurry. Iger, 69, contended that the move was “only abrupt in other people’s eyes because we haven’t…

Director Lulu Wang, who won best feature for The Farewell at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards, celebrated her 37th birthday two weeks later by bartending for 300 fans. Announced the night before on Twitter, the event, held at noted Melrose Avenue fine dining restaurant Auburn (where her younger brother, Anthony, is a sous chef), was structured so that a drink order also bought a patron the opportunity to ask a question of the filmmaker. Black List founder Franklin Leonard played both moderator and barback. “I love Q&As, and this is the best one I’ve ever done because it felt much more personal,” says Wang. “This format, one-on-one, allowed me to provide answers that were specific to each person rather than for the entire room. It felt more intimate, and I…

Fifteen years ago, after a four-month trial, a Los Angeles jury found actor Robert Blake not guilty of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, closing the books on a case “that involved revenge, hit men and some Hollywood bit players,” as THR described it. The killing had occurred in 2001 when Blake, then 67, and Bakley, 44, dined at Vitello’s in Studio City. After leaving the restaurant and walking to their 1991 Dodge Stealth on a side street, Blake doubled back, telling Bakley he’d left the pistol he legally carried inside Vitello’s. When he returned to the vehicle, he told police, he found Bakley shot in the head and dying in the front seat. From the beginning, Blake was the prime suspect, and details of their odd marriage were splashed…

Universal’s Monsterverse, left for dead after the middling box office returns of 2017’s The Mummy, is now back on track. Just don’t call it a Monsterverse this time. On the heels of The Invisible Man’s No. 1 opening Feb. 28 and $98.3 million haul so far, Universal is taking steps to revive its fabled stable of classic monsters for the big screen. But the new batch of films will be stand-alone, moderately budgeted efforts rather than big swings within an interconnected movie universe. The latest: a new Dracula feature that Karyn Kusama (Destroyer) is writing and will direct, THR has learned. Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, which helped kickstart the new monster line by making Invisible Man for only $7 million, is in the midst of setting up the vampire thriller and…

The DNA of You and Me (WILLIAM MORROW, MARCH 31) BY Andrea Rothman AGENCY WME Comparable to Eleanor Oliphant, which was picked up by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, the debut novel follows a scientist who on the eve of receiving a prestigious award looks back on the relationship that developed between her and her research partner. Cartier’s Hope (ATARIA, JAN. 28) BY M.J. Rose AGENCY Pathfinder The period mystery follows a journalist as she investigates the sale of the Hope Diamond to jeweler Pierre Cartier. The story would lend itself to a limited series, à la ITV and Amazon’s recent Vanity Fair adaptation.…

Harvey Weinstein’s Office Gets Sledgehammered On March 9, as Harvey Weinstein was settling into his new digs at Rikers Island, demolition began on his old office at 99 Hudson St. in Tribeca. By a wrecking crew run by a Real Housewives of New York City regular, no less. “We are taking it down to the walls and building it new,” says Barbara Kavovit, 50, founder of Evergreen, the construction firm hired by the office’s owners, Olsham Properties, to remodel the 15,000-squarefoot Weinstein Co. space. “Demolition is crucial for starting over, and we are taking this down to the bones.” The job will require 16 weeks and some 50 workers — 20 percent of them female — and is intended to erase all traces of the previous tenant. “I can feel…

As Hollywood enters the streaming age, feature film producers are grappling with a new buzzword in pitch meetings: “theatricality.” Walt Disney Studios president of production Sean Bailey describes it as the kind of movie “you have to see on the big screen and you have to see now,” quoting his boss, Alan Horn. According to one veteran film producer, the phrase — and others like “commercial potency” or “theatrically urgent” — started creeping into studio suit vernacular two years ago: “It’s about what are audiences actually going to pay $15 for.” As the parent companies of Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures launch proprietary streaming services, producers, reps and execs are wondering what exactly makes a studio streaming movie. Industry insiders tell THR the companies and their streamers…

A THOUSAND PEOPLE RAGED UNTIL 4 A.M. AT 80-Y EAR-OLD JAMES GOLDSTEIN’S HALLOWEEN PARTY LAST YEAR. TWO DAYS LATER, THE SINGULAR HOST — WHO STRADDLES THE SPHERES OF ENTERTAINMENT, STYLE, SPORTS, ART AND ARCHITECTURE LIKE NO ONE ELSE IN LOS ANGELES — BUMPED INTO LEONARDO DICAPRIO AT LACMA’S ART+FILM GALA. “I said, ‘I wanted to invite you, but I didn’t have your number,’ ” Goldstein recalls. “He says, ‘I was there, wearing a mask.’ It turns out Jamie Foxx was there too, in some unrecognizable costume.” Conspicuously not in attendance was Goldstein’s Beverly Crest neighbor Sandra Bullock, whom he had invited. Based on the history of their relationship, Goldstein theorizes she may have been responsible for calling the cops with a noise complaint, though, “I can’t say with any proof.”…

San Antonio is a big city, but doesn’t feel like it when you’re there,” says Goodtaste With Tanji’s Tanji Patton, whose digital cooking series has filmed at spots like the Alamo. The film commission of the seventh-most-populated U.S. city has been making a concerted effort since 2015 to greatly expand its Hollywood reach. “Our city is budget friendly, with a 7.5 percent incentive for projects with at least a $100,000 minimum spend in San Antonio,” says Krystal Jones of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture. “The state incentive kicks in at a $250,000 spend, to provide up to 30 percent total incentive” for projects spending $3 million and above. With a quick turnaround for permits and a willingness to waive fees at more than 250 parks and such facilities…

Three years ago, as Snap Inc. went public, NBCUniversal revealed that it had invested $500 million in the social networking platform. Then-CEO Steve Burke wrote a note to staff highlighting the Snap stake and similar investments in BuzzFeed and Vox Media: “We have become a better, more digitally focused company as a result.” In the digital space, three years may as well be an eternity. Since then, NBCUniversal acquired Sky in a $39 billion deal in April, increasing its debt load, and has committed more than $2 billion to launch its own streaming service, Peacock. With those obligations, liquidity can outweigh longterm ambitions. A Jan. 31 regulatory filing by parent Comcast disclosed that it had sold its entire Snap stake. The company recorded a $293 million gain on the sale…

Jim came up with the idea of starting a school at the Actors Studio. And then we started talking about having a master class with some well-known actors and writers being interviewed by Jim. He was the one who said we should air it. He brought it to Bravo, and it became Inside the Actors Studio. Jim did all the work. He got all the guests. And he researched every interview — he wrote his notes on those blue cards. I would say he enjoyed [the success] of the show. He was not a shy man. I’d be out on the street with him and people came running up asking for his autograph while I’d stand there invisibly. I think he enjoyed the recognition. Most of us at the studio…

I van Bart has an office at IMG Models’ New York headquarters on Park Avenue South, but he prefers to roam. Bart’s assistant even nicknamed him “Ninja” because he pops up anywhere, unannounced, before disappearing to click send on global, companywide messaging from a nearby lunch spot. It’s a skill Bart uses to navigate multiple time zones, overseeing more than 200 staffers, a network of IMG Models offices (New York, L.A., Paris, Sydney, London and Milan) and a roster of fashion’s most bankable faces (Gisele Bündchen, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Joan Smalls, Hailey Bieber and Alek Wek). Bart joined IMG Models in 1994 as creative director, rising to president amid changing beauty ideals and an acquisition by WME in 2014. He’s keen to talk about working with WME…

Alta California cuisine, a recent movement of modernized Mexican cooking, so far has been spearheaded by local Chicano chefs like Wes Avila (Guerrilla Tacos) and Carlos Salgado (Tacos Maria). Now a pair of today’s most buzzed-about culinary pioneers — Sqirl’s Jessica Koslow, who helped popularize the everything-on-toast trend, and Gabriela Camara, of Mexico City power-lunch institution Contramar — are collaborating on a restaurant that expands on the notion of what Alta California can be. The women, friends for several years, opened Onda (“wave” in Spanish) in October at Santa Monica Proper Hotel. It’s perhaps the most anticipated L.A. debut in recent memory, especially since Koslow’s 2018 Sqirl follow-up, Tel, imploded before opening. Each chef is known for laid-back yet refined dishes that customers can’t seem to resist memorializing on ($27),…

2011 Katy Perry and stylist Johnny Wujek wanted “angelic whimsicality” for her big Grammys night. “The crystal bodice and draping were heavenly,” says Wujek of the “Teenage Dream” singer’s bespoke Giorgio Armani. 2014 “That was all Pharrell,” says Mariel Haenn (of styling duo Rob + Mariel) about his Vivienne Westwood hat at the Grammys, which spawned its own parody Twitter account. “It’s fun to see a man willing to take risks.” 2015 Lady Gaga surprised in a timeless Azzedine Alaïa gown at the Oscars, a shift from her meat-dress days. “It’s more interesting to celebrate being classic,” says her then-stylist turned designer Brandon Maxwell. 2015 “It was a tasteful ‘wow’ moment that was chic, daring and had vulgarity,” says stylist Jason Rembert of Rita Ora’s Donna Karan dress at the…

There has always been something innately political about Richard Connell’s oft-filmed 1924 short story The Most Dangerous Game, about people hunting down other humans for sport. But never have politics played such an intrinsic and motivating thematic role in the yarn as they do in The Hunt. This exceedingly violent, guiltily engaging action melodrama ultimately pits woman against woman in an almost farcically over-the-top death match, and what it sets out to say about our polarized society will be swallowed by some and spit out by others. Originally set for release in September but canceled after August mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, this roller coaster of a film tries to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to violence — but it undeniably…

PEARL DISTRICT The area just north of downtown is constructed out of an old brewery and harbors boutique restaurants and “the world-class Hotel Emma,” says the film commission’s Krystal Jones. Hotel Emma, 136 E. Grayson St. RIVER WALK “By the end of the day, any film crew ends up downtown at the River Walk drinking margaritas and eating Mexican food,” says producer Scott Avery. The 15-mile stroll is the city’s No. 1 permitted location. 849 E. Commerce St. MOKARA, ST. ANTHONY These two hotels are where “celebrities who come to town usually stay,” says Jones. “They have VIP elevator access. Dave Chappelle was at the nextdoor bar Soho.” Mokara, 212 W. Crockett St.; St. Anthony, 300 E. Travis St. MI TIERRA CAFE “This same family, the Cortezes, have had it…