Innholdsfortegnelse for October 19, 2022 i The Hollywood Reporter

If Netflix’s business models were structured like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the company would be about to enter Phase 3. Phase 1, of course, is when the company launched its DVD-by-mail service in 1999, transforming the way DVDs were rented. Phase 2 began in 2007, when it supplemented its DVD subscriptions with a streaming video-on-demand service, ushering in the modern era of streaming entertainment. Phase 3 of the Netflix Revenue Universe (the NRU?) will begin in earnest in November, when the company launches its advertising-supported streaming tier. Yes, it’s still streaming video, but it’s also an entirely new ballgame. “Obviously they were a first mover in the streaming landscape overall, but they are a late mover in the advertising space,” says David Cohen, CEO of the trade organization Interactive Advertising…

Ever since Disney+ series The Mandalorian began making news for its inventive use of an LED stage and virtual production pipeline for filming and incorporating real-time effects, these types of stages have become what is arguably the fastest-growing area of visual effects and production technology. But amid the explosive surge in LED stages, observers warn that the business, tech and creative models for these pricey installations require more understanding before their potential can be fully realized. “We are tracking roughly 300 stages, up from only three in 2019,” Miles Perkins, industry manager of film and TV for Epic Games, maker of the Unreal Engine used in virtual production pipelines, reports of the rise in capacity stemming from investments from studios, stage complexes and VFX companies. These installations include ILM’s StageCraft…

In 1921, Aeromarine Airways projected the promotional short Howdy Chicago onto a screen in the front of the cabin while flying over the Windy City, marking the first in-flight film. Cut to 100 years later, and onboard entertainment has had quite the revolution: It’s now a $250 million- to $300 million-a-year industry, according to Joe Leader, CEO of the Airline Passenger Experience Association — a network of the world’s leading airlines and suppliers — and has expanded to include films, TV, music and podcasts. In the past few years, streamers, starting with Netflix and followed by HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock, have continued to evolve the space, offering original content on seatback screens across the globe in addition to the classic mix of new and old theatrical releases. Taking…

Right around the time Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was visiting Hollywood in the early 1930s — at the invitation of producer Samuel Goldwyn, to design costumes for his films — the famed French couturier was creating another gamechanger within her atelier: a high-jewelry collection. The professional relationship with Goldwyn didn’t last, though 1931’s Tonight or Never, starring Gloria Swanson, is a terrific look at Chanel’s designs on film. But her idea to produce haute joaillerie (one-of-a-kind jewels that represent the pinnacle of stones and handcraft) has endured and transformed the jewelry industry and red carpets alike. In 1932, Chanel debuted her first high-jewelry collection with the 50-piece “Bijoux de Diamants,” which focused on comets and stars. Ninety years later, the house is honoring that moment with its latest high-jewelry offering. Christened…

Former NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer’s close-knit family is filled with lifestyle moguls-in-the-making, with four women in the clan helming consumer product companies. “The idea wasn’t to start a quote-unquote company,” says his oldest daughter, Jennifer Meyer, the celebrated jewelry designer who became the first entrepreneur of his children. “I thought, ‘Let me see if I can do something that I love.’” The family patriarch, who stepped down from NBCUniversal in 2020, is currently an adviser to the Doha Film Institute and co-CEO of Wild Bunch, a European production and distribution company. His son, Eli, and first wife, Ellen, also have more traditional entertainment jobs — Eli works in the original films department at Netflix and Ellen runs talent firm Ellen Meyer Management (clients include Naveen Andrews and Rosanna Arquette).…

Enjoying renewed interest from all corners in Hollywood due to his praised performance in the 2021 indie thriller Pig, Nicolas Cage has entered what can only be called a renaissance. After years of making indies, the actor is in demand for live-action studio films for the first time since 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. While he had done occasional studio voice work, with such as films as The Croods and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he returned in earnest with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a meta action movie released in April by Lionsgate in which Cage plays an actor named Nick Cage. Then he booked a chewy role as Dracula in Universal’s upcoming vampire thriller Renfield. Sources tell THR that the actor was paid $7 million to lead…

Even before the ink dried on two major IATSE and Teamsters Local 399 contracts at the end of 2021 and start of 2022, members of the unions — which collectively represent a significant portion of union crewmembers in the Los Angeles area — were fretting about climbing consumer prices. But especially now, after inflation hit 40-year highs at several points in 2022 (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index measuring all items), some are arguing that the 3 percent compounded annual scale increases codified in IATSE’s Basic Agreement and the Teamsters’ “Black Book” contract aren’t cutting it. “We’ve massively seen a rise in the price of everyday goods of almost all kinds,” says IATSE Local 600 member and camera assistant Andy Kennedy-Derkay. He notes that, due…

A superhero flick in which a possible future presidential candidate shows how satisfying it is to wield world-smashing force when no one’s strong enough to challenge you, Jaume Collet-Serra’s Black Adam will, for most, be another fine-not-great night of spandex mayhem and franchises hoping to be born. Others may have trouble finding escapist pleasure here, given the knotty global issues the movie raises but doesn’t fully process. As depressing as it is to have to parse pop culture for hints of tomorrow’s foreign policy, that’s the world we live in. Black Adam is all about the merits of sending U.S. muscle to the world’s hotspots, and it easily can be read as an argument for isolationism. Almost as easily, it can be interpreted as an indictment of past inaction. From…

The actors and filmmakers taking home the event’s highest honors: DISCOVERY AWARD Colson Baker (Machine Gun Kelly) for Taurus In his latest acting role, Baker plays a self-destructive musician (and stars with fiancé Megan Fox). RISING STAR DIRECTOR AWARD J.D. Dillard for Devotion Dillard’s third feature film is a historical drama about a Black fighter pilot (fellow honoree Jonathan Majors) in the Korean War. VANGUARD AWARD Nicholas Hoult for The Menu The former X-Man continues his foray into prestige with this black comedy about a fancy restaurant. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR DIRECTING Ron Howard The director needs no introduction; he’ll receive the award after a screening of his Thai cave rescue drama Thirteen Lives. SPOTLIGHT AWARD Jonathan Majors for Devotion Before he takes on the MCU (in his first Marvel feature appearance as Kang…

On their own, they are among Hollywood’s best loved stars. Together, George Clooney and Julia Roberts — who play ex-spouses reunited in Bali for their daughter’s wedding in Ticket to Paradise, out Oct. 21 — have lit up the screen a few times. Most recently was in 2016’s Money Monster, a Jodie Foster-helmed thriller about a cable news star taken hostage in his studio (Clooney is the star, Roberts his producer). Both had small parts in 2002’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Clooney’s directorial debut. But their first — and, to date, most memorable — pairing came in 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven. The Steven Soderbergh remake was loosely based on the Rat Pack film from 1960. In the modern version, Clooney plays Danny Ocean, a thief recently released from prison who…

Brand New Sixth Street Bridge Already a Hot Shooting Location The old Sixth Street Bridge that once spanned the Los Angeles River, connecting the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles with the neighborhood of Boyle Heights, was used in countless commercials, music videos, TV shows and films (e.g., Transformers) between its unveiling in 1932 and its demolition in 2016. (It was deemed to be seismically vulnerable.) The $588 million viaduct that replaced it in July, known as the “Ribbon of Light,” is the largest bridge project in the history of Los Angeles. According to FilmLA, filmmakers were eager to obtain shooting permits as early as August, but the Department of Public Works wouldn’t allow crews until Sept. 1. Since then, permits have been issued to six projects, including one feature…

Weddings DaVida Chanel Smith, owner of management/production company Etcetera and Co., married author, screenwriter and producer Soren Baker on Aug. 14 at Castaway in Burbank. The couple wed during a peacock-themed brunch ceremony. Craig Byrd, a producer at MobScene, married Alex Castillo, producer at Castle2000 Films, on May 29 on board the Manhattan Elite in New York City. Births Naomi Bulochnikov-Paul, executive vp publicity and events at ABC and general entertainment at Disney, and Adam Paul, an unscripted TV producer, welcomed son Evan James Paul on July 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Molly Kukla, vp television and entertainment at Scenario PR, and editor Ben Kukla welcomed daughter Briar Elizabeth Kukla on Aug. 26. Congrats Comcast CFO Mike Cavanagh added the role of president Oct. 12. Phil Cohen…

Just over a decade after Netflix created the international SVOD market — with the launch of regional versions of its streaming platform, first in Canada, then worldwide — the battle over the future of global streaming has entered a new phase. According to an Oct. 12 report from Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson, streaming’s penetration in America has hit the saturation point for “nearly every individual service” with the exception of Peacock and Paramount+. If platforms are going to find new customers, they are going to have to come from outside the States. London-based researchers Ampere Analysis noted in a recent report that Netflix commissioned 130 new international first-run shows and 62 features between April and September of this year. Over the same period, Amazon greenlit 92 new shows and 23…

When Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney told The Hollywood Reporter in a July 27 cover story that, despite her fame, money is still tight, the internet was quickly divided over whether the appropriate response was scrutiny or sympathy. Or, as one headline put it: “Is Sydney Sweeney Out of Touch or Being Honest?” It’s easy to understand how reports of multimillion-dollar paydays might imply most actors are flush with cash, but money managers say the nondiscretionary costs add up. And, as the White Lotus actress noted, it impacts their career choices. “If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” Sweeney told THR. “I take deals because I have to.” The following is a look at how those costs break down in 2022. AGENTS, MANAGERS,…

All rates are studio minimums. The Teamsters Local 399 driver/operator is a production van driver/operator on features and the script supervisor rate is for workers with three years or more experience. The script supervisor and chief lighting technician rates are for weekly positions. NATIONAL With national inflation rates ranging from 1.75 percent to 5.25 percent from 2017 to 2021, the annual 3 percent bump was a slight improvement compared with the increased cost of living. LOS ANGELES Looking specifically at the CPI for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area — where many Hollywood crewmembers live and work — the annual increases didn’t cover inflation for this period. 2022 These numbers, which reflect August 2017 to August 2021, don’t include the most recent rise in consumer prices. From September 2021 to September…

Shaking off the dust of studio development hell, Soman Chainani’s YA novel The School for Good and Evil lumbers its way to the screen. Given his inexperience with fairy tale fantasy, it’s no surprise that Paul Feig exhibits zero feel for the genre’s world-building. Still, this is a uniquely tiresome slog — overplotted, derivative, overlong and slathered in a symphonic score that strives to infuse momentum into a saga with few emotional stakes. Acquired and put into production by Netflix after it stalled at Universal, it’s a lavish feature, in a cloying, candy-colored way. I never would have dreamt I’d have no love for a movie in which an offended teen fumes, “That hag is my mother!” But this is what we’ve come to. The prologue drops us into a…

Savannah, Georgia, is home to the largest university-run film festival in the country. The aspiring directors, producers and below-the-line techs at the Savannah College of Art and Design have shown that they can draw big-name films and awards contenders to their corner of the South, and this year marks a quarter-century of the fest. To celebrate, SCAD founder and president Paula Wallace and festival director Christina Routhier reminisce to THR. What makes SCAD stand out in the landscape of film festivals? PAULA WALLACE Last year, we presented Kenneth Branagh with a lifetime achievement award — but showbiz being showbiz, moments before the presentation, there was a hitch. I stood backstage, preparing to introduce Sir Kenneth to the crowd, and he was nowhere to be found. I tiptoed over to stage…

Matt Czuchry (Conrad Hawkins) The first table read was brutal. Each castmember was in a chair, with the chairs not in a circle but a line. Some of the actors you were in a scene with were, like, four chairs down, so you had to crane your neck around the other actors in order to see. Sounds confusing and challenging? It was! There were cameras filming the performance for the studio to review after the reading, and the vast majority of our executives, who are amazing and supportive, were in that room assessing if this pilot could make it to air. That’s just one example of the madness it took for us collectively to get here. Manish Dayal (Devon Pravesh) One of the most stressful scenes to shoot was when…

Thanksgiving is more than a month away, yet Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is already feasting. As of Oct. 17, a seat map of an auditorium at AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles — one of the busiest cinemas in the country — indicates a packed Nov. 23 evening showing of the Netflix sequel. But Hollywood and the public won’t officially know what the film’s total ticket sales are during its one-week run in more than 600 cinemas, because Netflix doesn’t report grosses. Until now, the streamer’s foray into theatrical has been more of an annoyance than a threat for rivals. That changed Oct. 6, when Netflix revealed that AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres will — in a first — all play a Netflix…

CBS 9.23M viewers There is no sophomore slump for the CBS comedy Ghosts. Its season two premiere Sept. 29 delivered 9.23 million viewers after a week of delayed viewing (not including any streaming), according to Nielsen. That makes it the most-watched comedy of the young season, overtaking its lead-in, Young Sheldon (9.11 million viewers). It also had the highest 18-49 rating of any comedy in the first two weeks of the season. Ghosts ranked seventh among all primetime network shows for its premiere week, and its same-day audience is up by double digits over the same period last season.…

Reed Newman, the 28-year-old owner of Revival Roots, first discovered his green thumb during childhood trips from Los Angeles to his family’s Santa Ynez ranch, where his parents, entertainment attorney Jeanne Newman and former Fox Broadcasting Co. chairman Gary Newman, grew grapes, olives and other vegetables. After getting his bachelor’s degree at Cornell University’s school of agriculture, Newman was inspired by a backyard dinner at a family friend’s house, where he learned that the vegetables they were grilling not only came from their own home garden, but that their garden was tended to by a woman who specialized in growing produce. “[I thought], ‘Let’s create a service that helps people accomplish the goal of growing [their own] vegetables,’” Newman says of his company that builds and maintains organic vegetable gardens,…

After more than a decade in the works, Black Adam made its debut Oct. 12 with a Times Square premiere. In attendance were stars Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Quintessa Swindell, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari and director Jaume Collet-Serra. Reminiscing on the long journey to putting on his suit for the first time, Johnson told THR, “It was a very humbling moment because I fought so hard to get this movie made, and keep it on track. Fifteen long years, and here we are.”…

Nick Kroll can typically identify his fans as they’re approaching. If it’s a 6-year-old girl, for instance, it’s probably for his voice work as Gunter — the singing, dancing German pig in the runaway hits Sing and Sing 2. If it’s a 13- or 14-year-old, it’s usually for his autobiographical puberty comedy Big Mouth, which returns to Netflix for a sixth season Oct. 28. If he’s in an airport and an enthusiastic white dude is coming his way, it’s almost certainly for his starring role in the fantasy football sitcom The League, which ran for seven seasons on FX. The hipsters who approach Kroll are often fans of his eponymous Comedy Central show, and the “Rich Dicks” sketches in particular; and then the teenybopper girls are for Olivia Wilde’s Don’t…

Wearing a blue sun-patterned bandana and gray T-shirt, Garrett Gee sat in front of a camera to tell his fans why they shouldn’t invest in his company. The unusual pitch was about a new venture based on The Bucket List Family, a travel and lifestyle Instagram account and YouTube channel that documents the nomadic life that Gee, a creator and entrepreneur who sold his company Scan to Snapchat in 2014 for $54 million; his wife and Bucket List CEO, Jessica; and their young children, Dorothy, Manilla and Calihan have lived since 2015. In the video, titled “3 Reasons WHY You Should NOT Invest in the Bucket List Studios,” Gee recounted how, in 2020, he brought his idea for an animated series based on his family and their travels to some…

On Oct. 25, Fox will air the 100th episode of The Resident, the episodic drama that celebrates the heroism and dysfunction present in the American medical system. But the show almost didn’t make it to air after being dropped by its developer Showtime and eventually rescued by a joint effort from Fox and ABC Television. Now a successful and beloved Tuesday night staple, it crosses the milestone once thought to signal inevitable syndication — and in the world of streaming disruption, the landmark episode serves as a reminder that network shows are still competing in a big way. To mark the occasion, executive producers Amy Holden Jones and Andrew Chapman spoke to THR about what it was like to get the series off the ground and what they’re most proud…