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.
Molly Smith Metzler Netflix’s Maid creator sees the limited series spike on Nielsen’s streaming chart to No. 2, below phenomenon Squid Game, with 1.9 billion minutes viewed. Elon Musk The Tesla founder is staring down a $15 billion tax bill, per a CNBC report, and has been preparing to sell off stock in his company in order to pay the IRS. Taylor Sheridan The Yellowstone creator’s drama hit 8.12 million viewers with its season four premiere, an all-time high for both the series and Paramount Network as a whole. Michael Rapino After the deaths of eight concertgoers at Travis Scott’s Astroworld event, the Live Nation CEO faces increased legal scrutiny over the promoter’s safety protocols. Showbiz Stocks $2,977.81 (+2%) ALPHABET (GOOGL) The parent of Google and YouTube became only the…
Seduced and Abandoned, a 2013 mock documentary about the absurdities of indie film finance that was directed by James Toback and stars Alec Baldwin, hasn’t aged well. Baldwin and a pre-#MeToo Toback (the director’s career was derailed in 2017 after hundreds of women accused him of sexual misconduct, charges that he’s denied) are seen at the 65th Cannes Film Festival, lurching from one fabulous lunch to another as they wine and dine assorted film executives and billionaires. They are supposedly trying to drum up money for a modern-day remake of the 1972 erotic drama The Last Tango in Paris set in contemporary Iraq (working title Last Tango in Tikrit). Their desired budget: $15 million to $20 million, and Baldwin to star alongside Neve Campbell. Again and again, Baldwin and Toback…
The lawsuit launched by the Department of Justice on Nov. 2 to block Penguin Random House from acquiring Simon & Schuster is undoubtedly bold. As the first government case to explicitly challenge the creation of a “monopsony” — where a single buyer controls the market — this antitrust case is destined for business books and law review articles regardless of the judge’s determination. But those attempting to decipher what the lawsuit means for Warner Bros. Discovery and other proposed mergers may be thinking too narrowly. For decades, influenced by legal scholars led by Robert Bork, antitrust cops were mainly focused on one thing — consumer welfare, and in particular, the cost of products and services. There was an emphasis on preventing monopolies and stopping naked price-fixing. Through that time, many…
Even as the TV industry makes a comeback from a pandemic-ravaged 2020, the limited supply of semiconductor chips and the backlog of cargo ships off the coast of Los Angeles are beginning to have a domino effect, with executives and analysts unsure of just what to expect as the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear. “We think that ad weakness from supply chain issues will be more media sector-dependent due to pressure from auto and tech (due to chip shortages) as well as from consumer packaged goods (from rising input costs),” wrote MoffettNathanson analysts Robert Fishman and Michael Nathanson in a Nov. 1 research note, predicting TV ads will be down 1 percent from a year ago and down 7 percent from fourth-quarter 2019. “Despite Black Friday less than…
As studios debate how to handle COVID-19 vaccine resistance, the Biden administration is moving forward with its own mandates that are pushing Hollywood to toe the line. Though a federal court recently halted vaccine and testing requirements for private businesses with 100 or more employees pending review, the White House said Nov. 8 that the private sector “should not wait.” While that case is expected to head to the Supreme Court, a flurry of actors and actresses have quietly pushed back on studio mandates, which increasingly require those in Zone A on a production — where cast and crew work in close proximity — to be vaccinated. (Studio sources say some religious exemptions are being given, though they are rare.) “We’re really only considering those who are vaccinated,” one prolific…
On Nov. 5, Marvel Studios got word that Eternals had been slapped with a B CinemaScore, the lowest audience grade of any of the 26 films in the MCU. Every other title save for 2011’s Thor, which received a B+, has earned some variation of an A. Eternals still opened to $71.3 million domestic despite the so-so score (which is more like a C, given theatergoers’ typically generous appraisals) and equally middling reviews. • Avengers: Endgame (2019)• Black Panther (2018)• The Avengers (2012) • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)• Captain Marvel (2019)• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)• Doctor Strange (2016)• Captain America: Civil War (2016)• Ant-Man (2015)• Avengers: Age…
