Innholdsfortegnelse for May 24, 2023 i The Hollywood Reporter

At this point in the streaming wars, bundling, rather than M&A, is back in the spotlight. During a May 18 investor conference, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was asked whether he would be interested in exploring a sports- and news-led “skinnier bundle” with content from the streamers. Zaslav, who had earlier been bemoaning the irrationality of the streaming business, from the money being spent to the amount of content on different platforms for viewers to sort through, appeared to take a macro approach to the question. “There should be a consolidation, and I think it’s more likely to have to happen in the packaging and marketing of products together,” he continued. And he cautioned, “If we don’t do it to ourselves, I think it’ll be done to us,” naming…

The unseasonably cold and rainy weather in Cannes this year didn’t put a damper on business, but the writers strike loomed like a storm cloud, threatening a deluge. There were plenty of deals, big and small, in the Cannes Marché du Film, which drew more than 13,500 participants this year, an all-time record, exceeding pre-pandemic figures. As the market drew to a close, Netflix secured an eight-figure deal for North America for May December, the Todd Haynes-directed dramedy starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. The pickup, reportedly worth $11 million, is a domestic-only, non-global agreement, a setup that used to be rare but could become increasingly common as streamers tighten their focus on individual territories and local audiences. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are handling domestic rights…

Any high-roller traveler knows that not all hotel penthouses are created equal. Most are a zhuzhed-up version of a top suite with more living space, perhaps nicer amenities, a private concierge and some original art. But a regulation-size half basketball court, plus scoreboard? A walk-in closet with bulletproof glass to protect handbags and timepieces? And a wine cellar that holds up to 300 bottles from prestigious vineyards and chateaus? Not exactly standard. Indeed, absolutely nothing about the 22,000-square-foot, two-story penthouse suite at The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston veers even close to runof-the-mill. And it starts with the price tag: $125,000 for a twonight experience. “I knew I wanted to do something that would separate us from someone else,” says the hotel’s owner, billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who also owns…

It’s 12:30 in the morning, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller are sure that something is wrong. They are just two and a half weeks out from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hitting theaters, and they’re holed up on a mixing stage at Sony Pictures Animation in Culver City. They are nearing the end of the five-year marathon of making this follow-up to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and now, after so many challenges — six different animation styles, years of rewrites, with every change creating ripple effects that can mean weeks of more work for animators — it’s the sound of a watch that is bugging them. A character presses a button on the watch and hears an error sound — a very minor moment in the hugely complex world of…

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY ABC’s hit is the current gold standard of the network comedy; it won Emmys last year for star-showrunner Quinta Brunson and supporting actress Sheryl Lee Ralph. Season two expanded to 22 episodes (up from 13) and boasted guest-star turns from Taraji P. Henson, Ayo Edebiri and Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty. AMERICAN AUTO Ana Gasteyer leads this ensemble series, which skewers the wishy-washy politics of the corporate world, as a completely unprepared CEO of an automotive giant who’s struggling to keep her company in the black. Its third-season renewal is still up in the air — although an Emmy nom or two might remind NBC suits of its relevance. GHOSTS This batty sitcom about two millennial homeowners and the cross-generational specters — including a Viking, a Revolutionary War soldier…

The Little Mermaid, opening May 26, is the much-anticipated live-action adaptation of the hand-drawn musical of the same name, which in 1989 kicked off the second golden age of Disney animation. A loose adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the project was hatched by veteran Disney animators John Musker and Ron Clements, who in 1985 convinced then-studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg to invest in a 20-page treatment. Two years later, Howard Ashman, who’d written a song for 1988’s Oliver & Company, was brought on board to help develop the project. “Howard approached it in such a beautiful way, like a Broadway musical,” says Jodi Benson, who was 27 and working with Ashman and Marvin Hamlisch at the time, performing in the short-lived Broadway show Smile. “The Disney executives came…

No one could have blamed Universal studio mogul Donna Langley and her team for wanting to take a joy ride when Fast X opened to $251.5 million overseas, the biggest international launch of 2023 to date, besting The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It set franchise records in key markets including Japan, India, Brazil and Indonesia. And it’s one of the few recent Hollywood movies to resonate in China, where it started off with $77.1 million. The box office in North America is a different matter, where the car-racing franchise has been slowing down since the record-breaking start of 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. While the series has done most of its business over-seas, domestic still matters. There’s only one more movie planned…

What’s the Deal? On May 17, Montana became the first state to ban TikTok after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill requiring digital stores to stop carrying the app. (Users in Montana who already have the app will continue being able to use it.) But the company won’t go away quietly. On May 22, TikTok, led by CEO Shou Zi Chew, sued the state to overturn the law, claiming a ban violates the First Amendment by “unconstitutionally shutting down the forum for speech for all speakers on the app.” The video app, owned by China-based ByteDance and used by more than 150 million people in the U.S., argues it’s a vital platform for communication. TikTok’s suit will likely be viewed as a bellwether on how legal action challenging a national…

In season two of Freeform’s murder-mystery anthology hit Cruel Summer, Megan Landry (Sadie Stanley) has big plans. It’s a sentiment that Stanley understands well. “[Megan’s] kind of had to grow up pretty fast, so I can relate to aspects of that,” says Stanley, 21, who moved to Los Angeles at 18 to pursue acting. In the show, Megan is a computer coder and straight-A student, raised by a single mom in a small town. “She’s going through some really rough things. Her whole life and all of her plans for her life are really falling apart.” While season one was set in the ’90s, season two (premiering June 5) is set amid the backdrop of Y2K in a waterfront Pacific Northwest town. The story revolves around the friendship between Megan…

Graydon Carter Partnering With David Zaslav to Compete With Vanity Fair’s Cannes Party: ‘May the Best Man or Woman Win’ Graydon Carter, who hosted many a starry gathering at the Hotel du Cap during his Vanity Fair days, returned to the Cannes social calendar by teaming with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The party partnership — presented as a collaboration with Carter’s Air Mail newsletter to toast Warners’ 100th anniversary — went down May 23 and grew out of another germ of an idea. “David wanted to do an Oscar party this year, but I thought we should give it a breather for the time being,” says Carter. “But then I said, ‘Why don’t we do a party during the Cannes Film Festival?’ He jumped on it.” Festival chatter…

Births Writer-producer Scooter Yancey and Crystal Ming, an aesthetic physician assistant, welcomed daughter Zoey Michele Yancey on Feb. 10 at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. Tyrha Lindsey-Warren, founder of the Waco Family and Faith International Film Festival, and radio host Sidney Warren welcomed daughter Kennedy Gloria-Marie Warren on Feb. 17 in Waco, Texas. Congrats G. Elliott Morris was tapped as editorial director of data analytics for ABC News and its FiveThirtyEight brand, replacing Nate Silver, on May 19. Former Artists First and WME agent Brittany Myers Adams launched the celebrity brand and endorsement firm Hunter Brand Management on May 17. NBCUniversal Syndication Studios promoted Vinnie Fusco to senior vp production and operations and Kristen Killackey to vp production and operations May 17. Shahendra Ohneswere was hired as head of creative strategy for Island…

2009 Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs The duo were fired and then rehired on the animated film that launched their movie career. Then-Sony boss Amy Pascal challenged them to stop focusing on the jokes and home in on the characters and the heart. The lesson worked, with the film earning $243 million globally. 2012 21 Jump Street Their pitch for the Channing Tatum/Jonah Hill reboot of the 1980s TV show was simple: “What if it was good?” recalls Lord. The strong reaction and $201.5 million haul sparked a 2014 sequel and solidified the duo as rare filmmakers who could straddle live-action and animation. 2014 The Lego Movie Lord and Miller had plenty of fears about the film starring Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks. “People are going to think this…

APPLE TV+ Major Contenders Bad Sisters, The Big Door Prize, Black Bird, The Last Thing He Told Me, Loot, The Problem With Jon Stewart, The Reluctant Traveler, Schmigadoon!, Shrinking, Ted Lasso Apple’s Ted Lasso is the reigning comedy champ, having secured the top prize in the category two years in a row, making Apple TV+ the only streamer to have two series wins. This season it will add The Big Door Prize, Loot and Shrinking to its comic slate, while the musical comedy Schmigadoon! has entered the scripted variety race. The true-crime series Black Bird and Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters are the streamer’s top contenders in the limited/anthology and drama categories, respectively, while Eugene Levy’s The Reluctant Traveler could charm its way to a reality series nom. DISNEY+ Major Contenders American Born Chinese,…

Inside View Linear TV ratings draw the most headlines as the major broadcast and cable news brands try to attract audiences (and advertisers), but the battle for people’s attention is increasingly moving online and into audio. On broadcast, ABC’s World News Tonight has led the network newscast race for the past seven years in total viewers and the past four in the key news demo of adults 25-54. On cable, Fox News remains No. 1, but its primetime audience has fallen by almost a third in the weeks since Tucker Carlson’s departure and by 50 percent in the 25-54 demo. As far as web properties go, cable news, led by CNN and Fox News, have far outpaced broadcast rivals in the 24/7 digital headline cycle for readers. But on the…

Tige Charity found herself unemployed from an insurance department job during the late-2000s recession. Looking to find a new sense of purpose, she began thinking about a visit she’d once made to a girls group home with her husband, actor Antonio D. Charity (The Orville), and how the home’s director had told her about the rewards of mentorship. In 2009, Tige decided to create Kids in the Spotlight (KITS), a nonprofit that helps empower foster youth through filmmaking. KITS program participants write, direct, shoot, cast and act in projects alongside mentors from the film world. “You give them the arts, create a platform for them to be seen, heard, validated and celebrated,” says Tige. Now, KITS has grown enough to have opened its first studio. Launched with an open house…

While Fast X celebrated its opening weekend, several of its stars — including Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Alan Ritchson and Sung Kang — and director Louis Leterrier reunited May 21 at the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project Block Party. Though Theron was forced to miss her foundation’s event (which supports health and education for youth in Africa) after testing positive for COVID-19, her Fast family held it down while also revealing behind-the-scenes details on Fast X’s surprise return of two big-name former stars of the franchise. Diesel told THR the decision to bring them back came down to, “How do you make as many people happy in this world? And both of them clearly make people happy.” Got tips? Email rambling@thr.com…

Alicia Vikander, at just 34, is already an Oscar, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award winner, a three-time BAFTA Award nominee and a two-time Golden Globe Award nominee. For her performance on the 2022 HBO limited series Irma Vep, she’s in the running for an Emmy nom as well. The Swede was at the Cannes Film Festival to attend the world premiere of Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand, a film playing in competition — and seeking U.S. distribution — in which she portrays  Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII (Jude Law). On May 20, she recorded an episode of THR’s Awards Chatter podcast before a live audience at the Campari Lounge within the Palais. Excerpts of the conversation follow. You’ve had projects at Cannes in 2021 (Blue Bayou),…

Jennifer Coolidge’s open disdain for boating did nothing to dissuade The White Lotus creator Mike White from subjecting the actress to three days of queasy and often claustrophobic filming on a yacht anchored off the Sicilian coast. Her discomfort was his inspiration. “She had such a bad time filming on the boat in the first season that I just imagined telling her, ‘Yeah, now your character is going to die on a boat,’ ” says White. “Maybe I’m sadistic or something, but I knew Jennifer’s reaction was going to make me laugh so hard.” Typically, any mention of a hit drama eighty-sixing its star would be prefaced by a boldface “spoiler alert,” but even the most fleeting frames of the HBO series’ second season — say, for example, the chaotic…

Anatomy of a Fall Competition Starring a sensational Sandra Hüller as a German novelist on trial for the murder of her husband, French director Justine Triet’s film is gripping and gratifyingly rich: part legal procedural, part portrait of a complicated woman, part snapshot of a marriage on the brink and part coming-of-age narrative. Above all, Anatomy of a Fall is about the essential unknowability of a person, of a relationship, and the perilous impossibility of trying to understand — whether it’s a child puzzling over his parents or a courtroom straining to make sense of an inscrutable suspect. — JON FROSCH Anselm Special Screenings Wim Wenders’ latest 3D documentary offers a mesmerizing cinematic catalog of German painter-sculptor Anselm Kiefer’s deeply tactile, maximalist oeuvre. As in Pina, Wenders’ luminous 2011 tribute…