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.
Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family. That’s been an unspoken rule at Disney — as in much of corporate America — for generations. But, in a dramatic departure from the company’s long-standing culture of public positivity, some LGBTQ employees of the media giant have been breaking that rule to object to Disney’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. What in previous eras might have sparked internal employee grumbling about a company policy instead went public in spectacular fashion, thanks to mounting frustration over anti-gay legislation cropping up nationally, a generational change in how employees view their activism at work, and a tight job market in animation that means there are other attractive places besides Disney to make animated films and TV shows. There isn’t monolithic agreement…
Julie Rapaport The Amazon Studios co-chief is promoted to sole leader of the unit as fellow co-chief Matt Newman joins Prime Video’s sports group to develop new projects. Nick Cannon After averaging just 568,000 daily viewers this year, the host’s syndicated talk show is canceled after one season by Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury. BTS Showings of the Korean stars’ Seoul concert, including at 800 theaters in North America, grossed $32.6 million globally to become the top-grossing live cinema event of all time. Jonah Peretti The BuzzFeed CEO’s new IPO-related headache is an arbitration claim from dozens of staffers who allege that their attempts to sell shares were denied, The New York Times reports. Showbiz Stocks $2,947.33 (+5.6%) AMAZON (AMZN) The tech giant secured EU regulatory approval to buy MGM, clearing a key…
On March 8, Georgia legislators proposed a bill that would prohibit discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation at private schools that receive state funding. Republican state senators introduced it on the same day the Florida Senate passed similar legislation, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics, that prohibits educators from discussing LGBTQ issues. While a firestorm has erupted over Florida’s legislation, studios have remained largely silent about the introduction of the Georgia bill. But if it does eventually become law, arguably more Hollywood decision-makers will face tough choices given that Georgia hosts many more projects than the Sunshine State. Armed with what are likely the most generous tax incentives in the country, Georgia enjoys a booming production landscape. It has no annual cap on tax credits given to…
Pilot orders at the five broadcast networks have hit a 10-year low as ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW shift to year-round development and reduce the overall number of pricey scripted originals. The March 2020 shutdown wiped out that year’s pilot season production and saw 20 of the 60 comedies and dramas rolled into 2021. This year, the broadcast nets face rising costs associated with filming amid COVID-19 and competition for top talent behind and in front of the camera as Disney, Paramount, Fox, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. reallocate budgets to feed their respective streamers. Total Volume (Comedies and Dramas Across All Five Networks) 2022 Volume by Network vs. 2021 Source: THR research…
NETFLIX 1.22B minutes watched 9 episodes Shonda Rhimes’ first series as creator and writer since Scandal came out of the gate strong. Inventing Anna, the limited series about convicted con artist Anna Delvey, racked up more than 1.2 billion minutes of viewing time in the three days after its Feb. 11 premiere, per Nielsen’s new estimate. Popular Netflix shows often build in the first full week after their release, so it’s likely that Anna will grow substantially — as it did in the streamer’s internal metrics — in the next set of Nielsen streaming rankings.…
In 2021, not one of the top five titles at the domestic box office skewed female as far as tickets sold, a Motion Picture Association report showed on March 14. Black Widow came the closest, and even then, there wasn’t parity between genders. Go back just two years to 2019, and females (and moms) fueled three of the top five releases (see chart below). The pandemic changed moviegoing habits, with younger males showing the most willingness to return to the multiplex. Older consumers were the most skittish; those over age 60 bought 15 percent of all tickets sold in 2019, but only 9 percent in 2021. The 50-to-59 age bracket fell from 11 percent to 7 percent, says the MPA in its assessment of the year, and 40-to-49 from 15…
