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Even days after the 94th Oscars, Will Smith’s onstage physical assault on Chris Rock over a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head remains to many surreal — but the headache it poses for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is very real. With the general public and Academy members alike clamoring for the Academy to take action beyond declaring that it does not “condone violence,” as it did in an initial statement March 28, the officers of the organization’s board of governors had an emergency meeting a day later, after which they released a statement saying: “The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith” and has “started a formal review around the incident.” Shortly thereafter, the full board was asked to convene March 30. THR began seeking…
Sandra Bullock & Channing Tatum The stars open Paramount’s The Lost City to a betterthan-expected $31 million domestically and bring back female moviegoers. Sue Naegle As Annapurna’s top creative officer exits, the Megan Ellison-founded film and TV label plans to delegate duties rather than search for an immediate successor. David Kenny Amid criticism about ratings reliability, the Nielsen CEO oversees the firm’s $16 billion sellout to a consortium of private equity firms and keeps the top job. Audrey Morrissey NBC’s launch of American Song Contest, led by the show-runner, averages less than 2.5 million viewers over its first two weeks despite heavy promotion by the network. Showbiz Stocks $3,386.30 (+3.4%) AMAZON (AMZN) The tech giant got Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit to lead its Thursday Night Football team as it…
Producer Philippe Rousselet noticed the shift while watching the SAG Awards. After Troy Kotsur made history with a solo win, which was relatively expected, the entire cast headed to the stage to accept the ensemble award, which was not. That day, says Rousselet, was “a signal to everyone that maybe we cannot completely disregard CODA.” CODA first caught the industry’s attention more than a year earlier, in January 2021, when it sold to Apple TV+ for $25 million out of a pandemic-era Sundance. “We know that we are a startup. We would like you guys to trust us,” producer Patrick Wachsberger remembers the Apple team — led by Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg and features head Matt Dentler — offering. For filmmakers, first discussions about a possible awards run…
Disney is in uncharted waters. From 1984 to 2020, the company had only two CEOs: Michael Eisner from 1984 to 2005 and Bob Iger from 2005 to 2020. Now Bob Chapek, with two years at the helm, is facing a staff revolt and insiders are speculating about his longevity in the job and who might succeed him (entertainment chief Peter Rice and ex-CFO Tom Staggs would seem to be favorites). His contract is up in 11 months. It is unclear at this point whether Chapek, 61, can execute a reset with Disney staff and creative partners. A cartoon hanging in the production offices of The Simpsons seems to suggest an opinion: It has Chapek in the “In Memoriam” section of the Oscars show. The last-minute postponement of the company’s management…
In the two and a half years that Disney+ has existed, it has debuted a somewhat light amount of original scripted programming from its tentpole Star Wars and Marvel franchises. The two have combined for just nine seasons across eight series — six live-action and two animated — and a total of 75 episodes. Yet a THR analysis of viewing data for the streamer reveals that those Marvel and Star Wars shows are undisputably the biggest draws among Disney+’s original series. Although the number of shows and episodes is not very high — owing in part to pandemic-related disruptions in production shortly after Disney+ launched — the streamer has had a Marvel or Star Wars series running new episodes almost continuously since season two of The Mandalorian premiered in October…
After nearly a decade of chatter about the crumbling linear TV ecosystem — pay TV households will drop from 98.7 million to 73 million by 2024, research firm MoffettNathanson estimates — CNN launched its first foray outside the bundle, CNN+, on March 29. The big question: Who’s buying? Streaming news options are plentiful, and mostly free. But it’s early enough in the streaming game that audiences are up for grabs, unlike on TV, where poaching linear viewers becomes more challenging. Below is a look at the landscape.…
