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.
J. Cole The rapper’s The Off-Season hits No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 325 million-plus on-demand streams of the album’s 12 tracks, per MRC Data. Glenn Gordon Caron After a workplace investigation on CBS drama series Bull, the showrunner is exiting and his overall deal at CBS Studios has ended. Eric Heisserer The showrunner’s Netflix series Shadow and Bone debuts on Nielsen’s streaming chart at No. 2 (behind Falcon and the Winter Soldier), with 721 million minutes viewed. Martin Bashir The BBC will review its editorial policies after a report found that the journalist used “deceitful” tactics to secure a landmark 1995 interview with Princess Diana. Showbiz Stocks $57.28 (+9.5%) WWE (WWE) The announcement that WWE would resume its live touring later this summer helped give the company’s…
One of the biggest streaming players said to me recently, ‘If I had you, my churn would be zero,’ ” Discovery CEO David Zaslav told Wall Street on May 17 about streamer Discovery+’s ability to retain subscribers with popular reality shows like 90 Day Fiancé and Deadliest Catch. Active Discovery+ users spend “over three hours with us” each day, the exec noted. The planned $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia — with its scripted TV crown jewel HBO and historic Warner Bros. film studio — will only further boost consumer appeal, Zaslav crowed: “You add to that Batman, Wonder Woman, King Kong, Sex and the City, Friends. It’s an unrivaled combination.” Zaslav, who will lead the merged giant, told CNBC it could ultimately reach “two-, three-, 400 million homes” worldwide. So,…
The surprise May 17 reveal of WarnerMedia’s merger with Discovery Inc. was met by a mixture of excitement and trepidation by employees at both companies, sources at each say. There was excitement at the prospect of building a competitor to streaming juggernauts like Netflix, and trepidation over that dreaded term “synergies.” The two companies say they expect $3 billion in cost-saving synergies after two years and plan to pour that cash back into creating streaming content. But where will those savings come from? The most obvious place is layoffs associated with the merger. The bright side: There is little to no overlap on the creative or content side of the businesses, as WarnerMedia offerings like HBO and Warner Bros. focus on more scripted content while Discovery has leaned into reality…
When ViacomCBS chief Bob Bakish announced during an earnings call May 6 that the Mark Wahlberg movie Infinite would bypass theaters for a debut on the company’s fledgling streamer Paramount+, the CEO said the film would “create a lot of noise.” But the noise it created was the sound of angry phone calls. Wahlberg, director Antoine Fuqua and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura had no inkling an announcement was coming, sources tell THR. The movie’s team was said to have received calls from Paramount brass the day before that outlined a move to streaming as a “possibility.” One person close to the Infinite team noted: “It was not handled well.” This sequence of events should sound like deja vu for many dealmakers in pandemicera Hollywood. Universal caught talent off guard when…
On May 19 at the AMC Century City multiplex in Los Angeles, Arnold Schwarzenegger took to the stage with his usual bravado to promote the theatrical experience. “Now is the time to wind down the pandemic period and get back to the big screen,” he said before asking the audience — mostly entertainment press — to chant, “we’re back, we’re back.” After months of cinema closures and sending high-profile content directly to homes, Hollywood is jumping back into the box office trenches and supplying a steady stream of big movies. In the U.S., the campaign begins Memorial Day weekend with Disney’s Cruella and Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II. There are good, as well as ominous, signs. As the pandemic eases in many parts of the globe, the number of…
In July 2014, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz signed an open letter accusing Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians during the Gaza War. Days later, the married A-listers walked back their sentiments, with the No Country for Old Men actor apologizing for both as they faced a Hollywood backlash. “My signature was solely meant as a plea for peace,” Bardem stated at the time. Fast-forward seven years, and the headlines out of the fraught region are similar, with hundreds dead, mostly Palestinians. Unlike with past hostilities in the region, this year’s conflict exposed a fissure thousands of miles away in Hollywood, where public support for Israel is shifting and a counter viewpoint is increasingly finding traction, with notables from Viola Davis to Michael B. Jordan to Zayn Malik using their…
