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.
After one of the most impressive winning streaks in Hollywood history, Pixar has seen its fortunes reversed in recent years, with last year’s flop Lightyear and a pandemic-era policy of sending its features straight to streaming at Disney+. Now, Pixar faces a major test of brand strength as it prepares to unveil Elemental, its first original theatrical feature since COVID-19 hit. Directed by Peter Sohn, the film is based on an original story set in a world where fire, water, earth and air residents live together. Among early reviews, the title has an underwhelming 64 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a low number for Pixar. Additionally, the movie is tracking to soft numbers, just $37 million to $38 million over the June 16-18 opening weekend, which it shares with…
Moguls Maddow’s Next Move The MSNBC star expands her podcast empire p. 18 Labor SAG-AFTRA’s Turn What’s at stake as the union starts studio talks p. 16 Phil Lord, Christopher Miller The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse brain trust scored an impressive $120.5 million bow in North America, well ahead of expectations, for Sony’s animated sequel. Chuck Todd The Meet the Press moderator steps down but stays at NBC News, saying that the key to survival in media “is for leaders to not overstay their welcome.” Bridget Everett The creator’s critical favorite drama Somebody Somewhere gets a vote of confidence from HBO for a third season despite relatively modest viewership. Anders Jensen The Viaplay CEO exits after his aggressive move into original production and a streaming-first focus don’t pan out for…
Eliza Skinner had no idea that her Disney+ series Earth to Ned would be taken off the platform until a text on the show’s writer group chat in mid-May shared an article about Disney removing more than 70 films and series from its streaming services that month. Among the disappearing titles was the comedic talk show — which launched in 2020 with Skinner as head writer — centering on an alien welcoming celebrities to his spaceship. Due to its classification as a streaming variety series, Skinner says the writers and performers weren’t receiving residuals, although the show’s team had heard speculation about Disney’s tax bill being to blame for the cuts. While her loss isn’t a financial one, Earth to Ned can no longer be a calling card to help…
Not since 1980 — when they shut down production over residuals from now-quaint tech like videotapes and cable TV — have Hollywood’s actors gone on strike against the major film and TV studios. But with SAG-AFTRA voting to authorize a strike, another historic labor action is possible over a new generation of tech: streaming. And the work stoppage would grind to a halt the already diminished production that has been hit by Hollywood’s ongoing writers strike. “I voted yes on the strike authorization because actors have been getting the short end of the stick from streaming,” says Nadia Alexander, a member of both SAG and the WGA. “All creators are.” SAG-AFTRA will strike if they can’t reach a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over a…
Three weeks and two days. That’s how long SAG-AFTRA has to negotiate a series of agreements that affect a vast swath of union performers working in film and television — about 160,000 members — before the current contracts expire June 30. When talks with the negotiating body for studios and streamers begin June 7, “I expect to deploy the full leverage that SAG-AFTRA has generated in various ways to make a deal,” says the union’s chief negotiator and national executive director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. If no deal is reached, nearly 98 percent of SAG-AFTRA’s participating members voted June 5 to authorize a potential strike. Meanwhile, the industry’s writers are still out on strike even as their directing team counterparts made a tentative deal with employers June 3. • What Talks Will…
Where were you when you first heard about Scandoval? For fans of Bravo’s reality series Vanderpump Rules — in which former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills castmember Lisa Vanderpump has been presiding over troublemaking employees at her West Hollywood restaurant, SUR, for the past decade — March 1, 2023, is a day that will live in infamy. That’s when Ariana Madix, a Vanderpump regular since its first season, discovered that her partner of nine years, Tom Sandoval, had been carrying on an affair with Vanderpump co-star Raquel Leviss. For the Vanderpump agnostic who may have only a fleeting idea of what any of this means, the question might be: So what? After all, this is a reality show full of cheaters; Sandoval and Madix themselves got together while the…
