Innholdsfortegnelse for June 22, 2022 i The Hollywood Reporter

With economic anxiety at a boiling point, media and entertainment giants are beginning to feel the heat. In any downturn, advertising is often one of the first expenditures that big companies look at to trim costs, and with worries about a recession growing, Hollywood firms that rely on ad revenue are starting to take a careful look at the marketplace. CEOs, CFOs and ad sales executives insist that they aren’t feeling any pain yet, though as one top executive tells THR, “you can’t ignore” the macroeconomic environment. And while executives insist that their 2022-23 upfront negotiations are looking good, with high-single-digit increases year-over-year — at a Credit Suisse conference this week, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was “thrilled” with the results and Fox CFO Steve Tomsic said the network “achieved what…

After two years of pandemic upheaval, one of biggest debates in the movie industry appears to be settled. If a 75- to 90-day window was standard pre-pandemic, now the waiting period between theatrical release and online bow is typically about 45 days in the U.S. But France and Italy beg to differ. In two of Europe’s biggest box office territories, new battles over windowing have flared up just as the industry elsewhere has put them to rest. Disney said June 8 it would skip a theatrical release for animated film Strange World in France, opting to put the movie, which was set for a prime holiday release in November, exclusively on Disney+. Explaining the move, unprecedented in France for such a big title, Disney France president Hélène Etzi cited local…

When I started at Feeding America in October 2018, I was honored and humbled to join an organization with which I had been familiar since I was a little girl. I came to the table with my own experiences, and I recognized that the people we serve needed to be at that same table. We want to see the total food insecurity rate reduced to 5 percent by 2030 and reduce food insecurity disparities based on race and place by half, and we can’t possibly do this without our neighbors letting us know how we can help. Missing from so many conversations about solutions to what ails communities are the voices of people facing those problems. We aim to start from a position of trust and partnership and ask questions…

COLIN KAEPERNICK. CHER. George Clooney. Charlize Theron. Sherry Lansing. Dwyane Wade. Barbara Broccoli. Jennifer Hudson. This may seem like a disparate group of powerful people in the fields of entertainment and sports. But what they have in common is a deep sense of philanthropic commitment — a desire to do something beyond a photo op for the causes that matter to them. And all these people have entrusted the same organization to help them run their charities, the Entertainment Industry Foundation. “People come to me for advice,” says Lansing, whose blockbuster charity, Stand Up To Cancer, has raised more than $746 million to fund cancer research since she and eight other women founded it in 2008. “I often say to them, ‘You should meet the people at EIF.’ In Hollywood,…

What motivated you to get involved with Delivering Jobs? I was originally asked as an actor to participate in the original 2019 Delivering Jobs campaign. It was a large campaign that included a PSA, print advertisement and a Times Square digital-billboard blast. I played a principal role as an art gallery owner, but also did the voiceover narration for both the 2019 and the 2020 PSAs. Since then, I’ve been motivated to continue to promote the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s work and this campaign on my own, because I believe that the employment situation of disabled people in this country needs to change. I recently became officially involved in the ongoing promotion of this movement, and I’m very honored to be an ambassador for the cause. This campaign and work has…

FILM A CHIARA Jonas Carpignano completes his Southern Italian trilogy about a Calabrian town where African refugees, the Romani community and Mafia exist side by side, for the first time focusing on a young female protagonist: a teen girl (Swamy Rotolo) absorbing shocking discoveries about her adored father. The result is a film of haunting intimacy. — DAVID ROONEY AFTER YANG Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith play a couple whose family harmony suffers when the android sibling they purchased for their adopted Chinese daughter breaks down in writer-director Kogonada’s exquisite, meditative sci-fi drama. The film’s stealthy emotional power creeps up on you. — D.R. ANAÏS IN LOVE A restless young Parisian woman (Anaïs Demoustier, charming) falls in love with her ex’s partner, a famous writer played by a brilliant Valeria…

Eddie Murphy’s first entry in the romantic-comedy genre was Boomerang, released by Paramount Pictures on July 1, 1992 — and which will be reissued on Blu-ray for the first time June 28. Murphy, who became a top name of the 1980s with franchises like 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop, hatched an idea of himself as a ladies’ man who meets his match. The star then connected with Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield, two writers he’d met at Saturday Night Live who worked with him on Coming to America (1988), to pitch a movie in the vein of Alfie and Annie Hall. Boomerang focused on Marcus (Murphy), an affluent, womanizing advertising exec who has the tables turned on him after he falls hard for his new boss (Robin Givens). Helmed…

Hollywood has come to accept that content is the primary weapon in the streaming wars. Quietly, as legalized online sports betting spreads across the country, content also has become the weapon of choice for digital casino operators and betting firms looking for that edge in what has been an expensive grab for consumer dollars. And content creators are cashing in. Online sports betting has been on a steady expansion across the U.S. since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling paved the way for states to permit the practice. Gaming operators have jumped into the space, both digital-native firms like DraftKings and legacy casino brands like MGM and Caesars. Even media companies have entered the fray, with Fox launching Fox Bet in partnership with Flutter (now owner of FanDuel). But the expansion…

On June 13, Disney passed on renewing its streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket. Investors and analysts largely cheered that decision, deeming the rights to the most popular sport in the world’s second-most populous nation, which ultimately sold at auction for $2.6 billion for a period of five years, simply too pricey given the relatively low revenue per user in the Indian marketplace. But as Disney let the cricket streaming rights go (it kept linear TV rights), a formidable new rival stepped in — Viacom18, a joint venture formed by Reliance Industries, operator of India’s largest telecom, Jio; Paramount Global; and Bodhi Tree Systems, an investment vehicle backed by media industry veterans James Murdoch and Uday Shankar. Viacom18 operates a suite of 38 TV channels in India, produces and…

When the nominees for the Emmy Awards are announced July 12, don’t be surprised if the acting categories are dominated by performers from a handful of shows — likely Succession, Ted Lasso, Saturday Night Live, The White Lotus, Stranger Things, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Euphoria, Yellowjackets, Squid Game and Dopesick. Yes, this is the era of “Peak TV,” with more quality shows up for Emmy recognition than ever, but Television Academy members in recent years have spread their acting nominations among roughly the same number of shows as they did decades ago, when there were only a handful of networks airing Emmy-eligible content. In that bygone era, the miniseries Rich Man Poor Man in 1976 and Roots in 1977 each landed 13 acting noms, which remains the record for that…

Big Deal Paramount+ is scaling up, unveiling plans June 20 to order 150 international original film and TV shows by 2025 as the streamer expands its paid services to 60-plus markets by the end of the year. Its international ambitions are led by executive vp and international GM Marco Nobili, who is gearing up for the June 22 launch of Paramount+ in the U.K. and Ireland. Ahead of that bow, the streamer unveiled seven projects, including a show about El Chapo and his wife, starring John Leguizamo as the drug lord, and the drama A Thin Line from producers Weydemann Bros. Serial Drama and VIS. Paramount, which counts 62 million global streaming subscribers to services including Showtime, had previously said it would greenlight 50 international scripted originals in 2022. The…

Tom Brady on His Film Debut and Hollywood Future In February, Tom Brady seemed set to retire from football and head to Hollywood, announcing 80 for Brady, his debut film as a producer. Brady has since rejoined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to pursue the few QB records that have eluded the GOAT, but the movie remains a go. The Paramount feature stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, RitaMoreno and Sally Field as New England Patriots fans who take a trip to 2017’s Super Bowl LI to see their beloved Brady in action. In an interview for his new Hertz campaign, Brady downplayed his acting work, saying he spent his time on set marveling at the leading ladies. “They brought it all to life. Watching them act and perform was so cool.…

IN LATE FEBRUARY, WHEN RUSSIA LAUNCHED ITS invasion of Ukraine, Hollywood was quick to respond in helping the embattled country. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher launched a GoFundMe for humanitarian aid efforts that raised $30 million in two weeks, including $3 million of their own contribution; Hayden Panettiere established Hoplon International to raise critical funding for medical supplies and protective gear for those on the front lines; Bethenny Frankel’s BStrong raised nearly $20 million by the end of March; and Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds matched up to $1 million in donations to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Cut to four months later, and the war is still raging in Ukraine, though the public attention — and therefore the financial support — has faded. “They saw the images.…

WHAT DOES ART LOOK LIKE in an intangible digital space? Alexandra Grant, along with her partner, Keanu Reeves, is determined to help her fellow artists answer that question. The two are advisers for The Futureverse Foundation, a new charitable initiative designed to encourage artists to participate in the internet’s next frontier by creating work to be contemplated and sold in the metaverse, an integrated network of virtual, digital worlds that in its most ambitious conceptions may come to resemble The Matrix. In particular, The Futureverse Foundation is betting that non-fungible tokens, or NFTs (unique digital objects secured by blockchain technology), can be more than speculative instruments — that they can have genuine artistic value. The Futureverse Foundation is committed to funding artists who will create powerful works to be transformed…

The notices came in rapid succession the week of June 6: Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away, both of which opened in the 2016-17 season and were largely sold out before the pandemic, as well as Tina — The Tina Turner Musical, which had also posted strong sales after opening in 2019, were closing. All were caught in the middle of a trend impacting most shows this season, in which there have not been enough attendees to support the number of running productions. When Broadway theaters reopened in fall 2021 after an 18-month shutdown, all productions were starting from scratch. This put new and returning shows in competition with global brands such as Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. Lower tourism numbers exacerbated the challenge — New…

The U.S. market that includes streaming services is expected to slow the next five years, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, unveiled June 20. In 2021, the market for over-the-top video services, which refers to streamers such as Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max, as well as platforms that allow users to buy or rent content, jumped 19.9 percent from the previous year. That growth rate is expected to drop to an average of 6.8 percent in the next five years as consumers become choosier about streaming subscriptions and as inflation and concerns about the economy play into personal spending habits. “The dollars are, in some ways, starting to move around,” says PwC’s CJ Bangah, who authored the report. “And there are only so many hours in a day…

Lock & Key, located between a gas station and an unassuming food window on neon-charged Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood, is a Black-owned business — something many patrons of the popular nightlife hangout don’t know. This is not a result of the usual oversight or erasure of leaders of color, but instead by design. “I’ve always been the owner who doesn’t necessarily want to be known,” Cyrus Batchan, owner of Lock & Key, tells THR while seated in one of his establishment’s lounge-style leather booths. “One of my favorite books growing up was The Great Gatsby. It’s like, you’re the person behind the scenes that people know, or don’t know. You’re kind of in the party, but you’re in the corner, and you’re just there. But you’re throwing…

It’s not unusual, given the intimate nature of the entertainment business, for enthusiasms to be shared among associates and colleagues. That’s especially true for actors working on a series, with their intense schedules and long days. Tony Hale, Timothy Simons and Clea DuVall not only forged a close-knit friendship while working on HBO’s Veep, they all entrusted their homes to interior designer Jason Martin of Martin & Brockett. Martin, in turn, managed to create three distinct spaces that perfectly reflect the lives and personalities of their inhabitants. “My clients all have a very strong sense of themselves,” say Martin, who also has worked with Apple TV+’s Zack Van Amburg and his wife, Lisa, and ICM’s Dar Rollins and his wife, actress Lindsay Sloane. “My job is to express that through…

PLUS WILL KEANU REEVES AND ALEXANDRA GRANT MAKE THE METAVERSE MORE INCLUSIVE? HOW FUNDRAISING IN WAR-TORN UKRAINE IS FARING TODAY PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR: ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION EARLY ON IN REED HASTINGS’ TENURE AS A board member of the KIPP Foundation, which runs a nationwide network of charter schools designed to help underserved communities thrive, they were faced with a key challenge. In 2011, they received statistics on the college completion rates of their students, and while they were comparable to the national average (33 percent vs. 32 percent, according to KIPP co-founder Dave Levin), they were a bit underwhelming — particularly considering the national debate on whether charters can deliver on their lofty goal of improving kids’ educational futures more than their traditional counterparts. Within the board, questions…

What motivated you to create Know Your Rights Camp? My partner, Nessa, and I founded Know Your Rights Camp (KYRC) in December 2015 in the wake of the police [killing] of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. As a direct response to police terrorism against Black and brown communities, our organization provides young people with the legal, cultural and neighborhood resources to fight back against police violence and systemic oppression. Our core offering is our traveling, daylong, site-based camp. As we travel from city to city, we partner with local nonprofits and community organizers to resource youths with what they need to survive and thrive in a world that doesn’t always have their best interests at heart. We hosted our first camp in downtown Oakland in October…

From the sweeping desert vistas in Dune to Gotham’s gritty skyline in The Batman, Hollywood’s top physical production pros face the tall task of scouring the globe to realize a script’s vision on the screen. After a two-year hiatus, the Association of Film Commissioners International, a group of more than 300 commissioners on six continents, will host AFCI Week from June 27 through June 30 at the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. AFCI president Eve Honthaner says it’s “a uniquely exclusive annual event for film commission professionals held on a global scale.” The events include a networking reception, a Q&A with a curated group of executives and an optional tour day of major production sites, headlined by a June 29 power brunch (co-hosted by THR). Here, Hollywood’s top 25(ish!)…