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.
Liz Garbus The Meghan & Harry director offers enough new detail in the docuseries to drive a Fleet Street frenzy and Netflix viewership to an internal record for documentaries. Shou Zi Chew The Senate passes a bill banning TikTok from government devices, a signal to the app’s chief that more regulatory scrutiny lies ahead for the China-based firm. Tommy Wirkola & David Harbour The Violent Night director (left) and star lift Universal’s holiday-themed actioner to $28 million domestic as it carves a niche pre-Christmas. Stanley Tucci As part of a larger pullback on originals programming and budget cuts, CNN cancels the actor’s travelogue Searching for Italy, although the show may be shopped elsewhere. Showbiz Stocks $249.01 (+1.8%) MICROSOFT (MSFT) An attempt by the FTC to block the tech giant’s Activision…
To the uninitiated, the world of cryptocurrency exists on the outskirts of traditional finance. But every once in a while, more people catch a glimpse. This year’s coveted commercial breaks during the Super Bowl fit the bill, as several now-infamous ads featured stars hawking crypto. Larry David appeared in a spot for FTX, as did Matt Damon and LeBron James in Crypto.com clips. By showing up in the most premium real estate in all of TV, and partnering with some of Hollywood’s most trusted brand ambassadors, the crypto firms bought themselves an air of credibility on the path toward legitimacy. Or, at least it appeared they were on their way there, until FTX — one of the world’s top digital currency-exchange platforms that also issues its own token called FTT…
The Film Academy’s Oscars and its “related activities” revenue totaled $137 million in fiscal 2022 (which ended June 30), up nearly $20 million from 2021. And while its Academy Museum brought in earned revenue of $23.6 million, the September 2021 launch caused expenses to skyrocket to $93.5 million in expenditures during the year. Overall revenue was up substantially from 2021, but its increase in net assets fell, largely due to losses in its investments, which reflected the difficult stock market this year. TOTAL REVENUE $287M +37% year-over-year MAJOR DRIVERS • Academy Awards $137M • Contributions $41M • Academy Museum $23.6M TOTAL EXPENSES $224M +84% year-over-year MAJOR COSTS • Academy Awards $57M • Academy Museum $93M • Preservation operations $21M INVESTMENT RETURN 2022 -$45M 2021 +$70M Source: AMPAS filing with Municipal…
On Nov. 7, the WGA unveiled its negotiating committee for its upcoming 2023 contract talks. But guild members have been left guessing about whether the union might mount a credible strike threat in the spring — its contract expires May 1 — or table harder-hitting talks for a more economically stable time. Now, in the absence of a “pattern of demands” from the WGA that will arrive closer to the contract expiration date, top execs are preparing for a strike they are sure is coming, while the writers themselves are less certain. Amid restructurings at such companies as Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery and the threat of a potential recession that writers say is hurting both the showrunner and workaday writer class, “This is going to be a weird moment…
Nearly two months after Henry Cavill declared on Instagram that he was back as Superman — “I wanted to make it official,” he said in a Oct. 24 clip — the actor was forced to acknowledge that no, it wasn’t so, as new DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran chart a new course for the Man of Steel in a movie to be written by Gunn that will feature a younger actor in the lead. “I will, after all, not be returning as Superman,” Cavill said in a Dec. 14 post on Instagram. “After being told by the studio to announce my return back in October, prior to their hire, this news isn’t the easiest, but that’s life. The changing of the guard is something that happens. I…
HBO, HBO MAX 7 episodes 10.1M average viewers The White Lotus season two put up strong numbers — and like some other HBO series, the overwhelming majority of its audience watched by means other than tuning in at 9 p.m. on Sunday nights. HBO says crossplatform viewing jumped 50 percent compared with the first season to 10.1 million viewers over the show’s seven-week run. The audience for the first airing on the HBO cable channel, however, was only up about 4 percent to 564,000 viewers. Most of the remaining folks watched via HBO Max, a pattern also followed by House of the Dragon and Euphoria. The Dec. 11 season finale drew 4.1 million first-night viewers, more than double the audience for the end of season one (1.9 million).…
