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.
In mid-June, unions representing an estimated 17,000 Disneyland Resort employees banded together to delay Disney’s plan to reopen its theme park July 17. In a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom dated June 17, the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions, which reps Anaheim workers, expressed concern about “Disney’s rapid timetable” for reopening, claiming “there are numerous questions about safety which Disney has not yet answered,” including the logistics of routine virus testing for employees. On June 24, the state suffered its highest single-day virus spike with 7,149 confirmed cases of COVID-19. That day, the Burbankbased conglomerate delayed its restart of Disneyland, noting that the state of California wouldn’t issue guidelines on a reopening timetable until after July 4. “We can’t afford to get this wrong: Once the theme parks open,…
Scott M. Mills BET Networks’ president leads the June 28 awards, simulcast on CBS, to match 2019 linear ratings (3.7 million viewers) and up online views to 31 million. Daniel Lamarre The Cirque du Soleil CEO’s live entertainment firm files for bankruptcy protection June 29 but creates a $20 million fund to support laid-off employees. Emma Watts The former 20th Century Fox vice chairman joins Paramount Pictures as president of the Motion Picture Group, in a reunion with studio chief Jim Gianopulos. Mark Zuckerberg The Facebook CEO aims to stem an advertising boycott that’s growing by the day, including pauses on buying from major brands Verizon, Coca-Cola and Starbucks. Showbiz Stocks $30.19 (+0.7%) AT&T (T) The telecom giant seeks assets it can monetize, with Atlanta’s CNN Center hitting the market.…
As the film and TV industry attempts to restart after a COVID-19 shutdown, some states like Georgia hope to be trailblazers. Home to Tyler Perry’s sprawling film studio, Pinewood’s Atlanta outpost and other production facilities, the Peach State is establishing itself as a pioneer in the industry’s quest to get back to work. While studios are wary of naming specific projects and target shoot dates due to the volatile nature of the pandemic, sources say that some of the major projects expected to start or restart production in the state in the coming months include the Disney+ series Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; Universal’s feature adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen; MGM’s Sylvester Stallone action pic Samaritan; and the Netflix thriller Red Notice, with Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson…
Ontario film studios were allowed to be back in business on June 12, yet the reopening has been tentative since film and TV sets shut down in mid-March. “We’ve got a greenlight. We’re issuing permits for small productions,” Toronto film commissioner Marguerite Pigott says. But the major studios and streamers must figure out new COVID-19 safety protocols and strict travel and quarantine orders before Toronto can return to pre-pandemic production levels. While entertainment work is considered $735M Estimated loss in Ontario from March to June caused by the absence of Hollywood productions in the Canadian province. Source: Canadian Media Producers Association (April 2020) nonessential, American actors, directors, producers and crew can secure temporary work visas to get across the closed U.S.-Canadian border. “But the big barrier is the mandatory 14-day…
Among Steve Bing’s expansive circle of friends in Hollywood and beyond, there is grief with an undercurrent of anxiety. They are mourning the loss of a spontaneous and absurdly generous friend, a producer who backed some beloved films, a patron of progressive causes. But there is unease about what may emerge about a life that undeniably had seamier aspects. “There will be some women who come forward who will say crazy shit,” predicts Anthony Pellicano, the former private eye and fixer who spent years in prison for crimes including wiretapping and racketeering. Pellicano says he did work “for and with” Bing but won’t go into specifics. “The problem when somebody is dead and can’t speak for themselves,” he continues, “is there are all kinds of stories.” (That’s true; in the…
FILM Margot Robbie (CAA, Australia’s AMM, Management 360, Jackoway Austen) will star in a new, femalefronted Pirates of the Caribbean film for Disney, written by Birds of Prey’s Christina Hodson. Elizabeth Banks (UTA, Untitled, Ziffren Brittenham) will star as Ms. Frizzle in Universal’s liveaction hybrid adaptation of the children’s books and ’90s animated series The Magic School Bus. Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski (CAA, Hirsch Wallerstein) is in talks to direct a reboot of 1996 thriller Twister for Universal. Deadpool 2’s David Leitch (WME, Gang Tyre) will produce and direct Sony thriller Bullet Train. Anne Hathaway (CAA, Management 360, Sloane Offer) and Bill Murray (Ziffren Brittenham) will star in indie buddy movie Bum’s Rush. Demi Moore (CAA, Untitled, Gang Tyre), Craig Robinson (UTA, 3 Arts) and Paul Walter Hauser (CAA,…
