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.
On Aug. 13, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer sat at a quiet table at CityWalk Hollywood for a regularly scheduled lunch. In a moment that came out of the blue for Shell, Meyer confessed that he had an affair with actress Charlotte Kirk in 2013 and had reached a $2 million settlement with her last year. Five days later, Meyer was out of a job, with a 56-year career and legacy in tatters in a move reminiscent of last year’s ouster of Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara, whose own affair with the once-obscure Kirk had led to his downfall. Now, NBCUniversal has hired outside counsel to investigate “Ron’s behavior,” says an insider, in an effort to determine if any company money or resources were used…
Guan Hu The director’s $80 million war film The Eight Hundred debuts to an estimated $112 million in China on the weekend of Aug. 23, providing a boost to exhibitors. Daniel Tosh/Derek Waters In a shocking move, Comedy Central reverses renewals for the creators’ series Tosh.0 and Drunk History as the cabler shifts its scripted focus to adult animation. Taylor Sheridan/John Linson The Yellowstone co-creators’ season three finale on Paramount Network reels in 5.2 million viewers Aug. 23, marking 2020’s most watched cable entertainment program. David Pecker As the parent company of National Enquirer merges with a logistics company that sells surgical masks, the CEO of American Media steps aside for an advisory role. Showbiz Stocks $26.96 (+4.6%) FOX CORP. (FOXA) A political season delivering gangbusters ratings and solid Major…
On Aug. 23, CAA co-chairmen Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, along with president Richard Lovett, convened a hastily assembled all-hands Zoom call with at least one priority in mind: damage control. That day, four top CAA agents — Jack Whigham and Dave Bugliari, both co-heads of motion picture talent, and Michael Cooper and Mick Sullivan — informed the trio they were exiting immediately for a new venture. “They were blindsided,” one source tells THR. The CAA agents weren’t alone. Several more high-powered reps — a web of friends and former colleagues including UTA’s Susie Fox, Mackenzie Roussos, Lucinda Moorhead and recent partner Chelsea McKinnies, along with WME’s Rich Cook — have jumped to the new, not-yet-titled management firm backed by former CAA agent Peter Micelli, who recently led strategy at…
Aclearer picture is emerging of pandemic-driven entertainment spending as consumer dollars shift from shuttered live venues and movie theaters to stay-at-home buys. While such streaming services as Netflix and Hulu have been major beneficiaries — Netflix alone added 10 million subscribers globally during its latest quarter, which ended June 30 — individual sales and digital rentals of film and TV titles made notable gains year-over-year, an Aug. 19 report from trade association the Digital Entertainment Group finds. Electronic sell-through, a category that includes digital purchases, spiked 32 percent from $1.2 billion in the first half of 2019 to $1.6 billion in 2020. Subscription streaming spending grew 37 percent, from $7.47 billion in the first half of 2019 to $10.26 billion this year. And VOD, which includes digital rentals, grew 33…
On a sunny day in April 2019, photographer Jack Schroeder and model Britni Sumida took a shiny white Volvo S60 out into the Southern California desert for a test shoot amid a superbloom of bright orange poppies. He took about a thousand images and posted a handful to Instagram, tagging Volvo and capturing the automaker’s attention. The company posted a comment asking to share the photos and encouraging him to respond with the hashtag #YesVolvoUSA to accept. Schroeder instead emailed Volvo, offering to negotiate a license, and sent a link to his online portfolio. He didn’t receive a reply. Six months later, Volvo posted an Instagram story featuring a collection of Schroeder’s photos that linked to a site where users could buy the vehicle. Now the auto giant and the…
Even as Hollywood aims to make onscreen and behind the-scenes gains in representation, there’s a consistent gender gap among those reviewing films. A study released Aug. 19 — which looks at 4,000 film reviews by 380 people from January through March of this year at broadcast, online and print outlets — finds that male reviewers comprised 65 percent of critics and females accounted for 35 percent. Some 73 percent of male critics and 70 percent of female critics were identified as white, with only 18 percent of male critics and 23 percent of female critics listed as people of color. The research, conducted annually by San Diego State University’s Martha Lauzen, also looked at aggregator Rotten Tomatoes’ Top Critics section. About 40 percent of top critics were female, while 60…
