Innholdsfortegnelse for August 16, 2023 i The Hollywood Reporter

The scene on the Paramount lot on a warm Saturday afternoon late in July was unusual as the studio threw what was essentially a premiere for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem without the film’s star-studded voice cast. Instead, director Jeff Rowe had to man the green carpet on his own at what was billed as a special family screening. Across Hollywood, marketers are having to scrap media tours amid the dual strike, with guilds forbidding their members from promoting any movie from a struck company. Now, the box office is feeling the impact as films open without the full participation of stars. Several studio sources tell THR that a movie’s earnings at the box office could be hurt by as much as 15 percent because of the dramatic falloff…

What a difference a year makes. In summer 2022, Hollywood giants seemed to be weathering a gathering economic storm just fine, with second-quarter earnings season yielding solid advertising revenue figures: Warner Bros. Discovery recorded a 2 percent year-over-year ad revenue gain in its networks unit, and Fox Corp. posted a 7 percent ad increase. Fast-forward and the just-ended earnings parade painted a different picture: WBD reported a 13 percent year-over-year drop Aug. 3, and Fox reported a swing to a 4 percent decline days later. As it turns out, the overall outlook for media’s ad business isn’t great, either, with recovery not expected until late in the year or, more likely, 2024. Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall noted in an Aug. 11 report that linear TV advertising is “pacing down…

Revamping one of the most well-known streets in the world — the Vegas Strip — into a racing circuit might seem an impossible challenge. But the inaugural Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix, set for Nov. 16 to 18, is hustling to do just that in a $560 million civil-planning and engineering feat that is “one of the most aggressive programs of construction and design I’ve seen, certainly in Vegas, as well as sports,” says Terry Miller, project manager for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. An extensive street-paving project required to create the 3.8-mile raceway started in April, affecting the Strip and adjacent roads and disrupting driving for resort guests and casino employees. Locals once boasted that it only took 15 minutes to get anywhere within the easy-to-navigate…

Oceana celebrated its fifth annual Rock Under the Stars event Aug. 12, highlighting ocean conservation with support from Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Woody Harrelson, Sam Waterston and headlining performer Gladys Knight. The event, held at the L.A. home of Oceana board president Keith Addis and wife Keri Selig, had a particularly urgent message when tied with climate change, especially after this summer’s extreme heat and the recent Maui wildfires. “We do what we do because things are going to be getting worse and worse,” Danson, an Oceana board member, told THR of the group’s fight against overfishing, habitat destruction and pollution. “Climate change can undo literally everything — 100 degrees off of Florida [this summer]. We’re here, this is not a warning.” Got tips? Email rambling@thr.com…

Sitting with William Friedkin a few years ago, I was suddenly caught by surprise. After taking out his iPad, the master filmmaker began to scroll through a series of photos, all taken inside a small room in Vatican City, where he’d been invited to attend a real-life exorcism. That might not seem so odd to anyone who knows Friedkin’s credits, especially The Exorcist, the 1973 horror film that terrified much of the world. But this wasn’t Hollywood make-believe: There, on a screen in front of me, were images and video recording a living nightmare as furniture slid, objects flew and great gasps heaved from the subject of the exorcism while an ancient priest chanted in Latin. Fearless, Friedkin never hesitated to place himself in the same sanctum as, well, the…

Anxiety. Anger. Frustration. As the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes roll on, folks in Hollywood are feeling it all. “The strikes are hard on everyone,” writer and producer Joe Henderson tells THR. “It’s a weird time because there’s a mix of feeling empowered to fight for what we deserve and believe in — and feeling powerless because we don’t feel seen for the value we create. I vary between being depressed and being inspired. That’s the challenge.” Psychotherapists who work with a largely Hollywood clientele say their patients are unsettled and triggered during the work stoppage. “What happens when people are under a great deal of stress like this, there’s a primitive defense mechanism — it’s called projection. That’s when people assign their unwanted feelings onto somebody else,” says Beverly Hills…

The 16th century literary classic Journey to the West is the mother of all Chinese fantasy. The mythological saga has spawned countless adaptations in various media across Asia and beyond, from the cult ’70s Japanese TV series Saiyuki to Peking opera, video games, graphic novels, and a stage spectacle with a score by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and design elements by Gorillaz illustrator Jamie Hewlett. Prominent among the innumerable film versions is the 2013 blockbuster Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, directed by Stephen Chow. A similar live-wire action-comedy energy infuses Netflix’s The Monkey King, a children’s animated feature based on the sprawling novel’s most popular strand, on which Chow serves as executive producer. Following well-received originals like Klaus, Over the Moon, My Father’s Dragon, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio…

It is the best of times and the worst of times for podcasting. In 2023, the industry put the brakes on a period of lavish spending and nine-digit megadeals and — much as its streaming counterparts did last year — followed largesse with austerity. Facing challenges surrounding the advertising model, macroeconomic concerns and a post-pandemic slowdown, some of the biggest players, including Spotify, Vox Media and NPR, announced mass layoffs. Many others — like SiriusXM and Amazon — cut their podcast budgets significantly. And yet, unlike in other struggling segments of the entertainment business, audiences are continuing to grow with no ceiling in sight. According to an analysis by Edison Research, “Podcasting is ‘back,’ reaching the highest numbers ever, with 90 million listeners each week.” Another study, by iHeart Media,…

In the first round of corporate earnings since the double strike began, the financial hits are starting to come into view. While hoping and planning for a resolution in September, Hollywood studios, streamers and affiliated businesses have begun forecasting lower revenue, content spend and, in some cases, a lower outlook for the year. Because while some may be able to stem the tide of a production shutdown in the short term, the financial danger increases as the strike goes on further into the fall and the release schedule suffers. The biggest impact so far may have been seen with Endeavor, which owns talent agency WME, with CFO Jason Lublin warning Aug. 8 that the company expects to see a hit of about $25 million a month in revenue for the…

Marl Davidson has been selling vintage Barbie dolls for more than 30 years, and business has always been strong — with one notable exception. Allan, released in 1964 as Ken’s best friend, was so unpopular that he was discontinued two years later before resurfacing in the 1990s. For years, Davidson had zero luck interesting buyers in Allan — that is, until Warner Bros.’ smash summer hit Barbie, featuring Michael Cera as the awkward, colorfully attired sidekick. “Allan is [usually] hard to sell,” she tells THR. “You can’t get rid of Allan, seriously. But now you can’t have enough Allans. Allan came out the winner.” This forgotten doll turned success story hasn’t been the only standout surprise during this summer of toys. As Hollywood’s emphasis on established IP has led to…

If HBO’s Succession existed in the Star Wars universe, the Roys would be the Empire. Yes, it’s a pretty labored analogy but one that’s relevant to the outstanding drama series race this year. Succession, the frontrunner, is up against Disney+’s Andor, a Star Wars series that focuses on how its hero, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), transforms from someone who’s only out for himself into an activist for a cause that’s greater than just one person. If you look at them with a lens toward social justice, a number of the dramas in contention can be divided into the haves and have-nots. There’s Succession, of course, which focuses on the richest of the rich — the kind of people who think that if you carry a capacious bag to a party,…

You are part private banker, part art curator, part psychiatrist,” explains Jeff Smith, Hollywood’s go-to wine cellar consigliere, of his job. “Sometimes you’re hosting private dinners for your clients; sometimes you go in through the back door.” Smith, 63, grew up in Beverly Hills and now lives in Bel Air, a short stroll from the neighborhood’s storied Moraga Estate vineyard. (“I tasted it long before [owner] Rupert Murdoch bought it.”) He’s married to Amy Jo Smith, the longtime chair of Hollywood trade organization the Digital Entertainment Group. Smith himself found his niche at 40. In 2001 — after bouncing around entertainment in A&R, marketing and programming positions — he took charge of organizing the cellar of his father, legendary music executive Joe Smith, who led Warner Bros. and Elektra/Asylum in…

Activism has been a part of Kerry Washington’s life since she was a teenager, and the actress became a prominent political advocate during Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. But it wasn’t until the morning after the 2016 election, when Olivia Pope (the fictional crisis-management fixer Washington played on ABC’s Scandal) started trending in response to Donald Trump’s election to the presidency that she realized her potential for greater impact. “People wanted this imaginary character to fix their problems, and I felt like this was a moment of real disconnect because we’re living in a democracy; we’re the people who hold the power to unlock the change that’s most important, but we keep passing that power off to characters on television,” explains Washington. “I wanted to use my platform…

On top of his day job of, well, being John Legend, the EGOT winner also leads his nonprofit, FreeAmerica. Legend’s social-impact organization has two main initiatives: Unlocked Futures, a campaign to end mass incarceration through storytelling, education and policy reform, and HumanLevel, a movement to uplift communities disproportionately impacted by institutionalized racism by working hands-on at the local level. Growing up in a lower-middle-class Black family in the majority-white town of Springfield, Ohio, Legend saw firsthand that the justice system needed changing. “I knew what it was like to be from a community that might be overlooked and ignored,” he tells THR. “I also grew up with a lot of people who got caught up in the criminal justice system — family members, good friends who spent time in jail…

In late November 2020, as another COVID-19 wave had U.S. hospitalizations approaching what would be their pandemic peak, Cher braved the trip from Los Angeles to Pakistan to ensure the safe relocation of Kaavan — an Asian elephant languishing in the decrepit Islamabad zoo. The culmination of a five-year effort largely maneuvered by Cher’s Free the Wild, a charity fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation that seeks the release of captive animals, Kaavan was moved to a sanctuary in Cambodia. But he was not the first pachyderm to pull at the legendary entertainer’s heartstrings. “The truth is that I saved Kaavan because I couldn’t save Billy,” says Cher. “And Billy still suffers every day.” Billy isn’t anywhere as far off as Islamabad — unless you’re attempting a trip during rush…

Phil Dunster had an ace of a day on July 12. Not only did he score his first Emmy nomination — a best supporting actor nod for his work as cocky-turned-compassionate footballer Jamie Tartt on Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso — but the 31-year-old also toasted his good fortune by watching Grand Slam action at the All England Club. “I’m looking over the courts now,” Dunster says as he surveys the scene during the men’s and women’s quarterfinal matches at Wimbledon as his brain volleys back and forth in an attempt to process the news on the eve of the SAGAFTRA strike, which was called two days after this chat. “It’s an amazing day — and also quite a confusing day in the land of all things acting and the industry.”…

Broadcast and cable networks made up less than half of all TV use in July — a first in Nielsen’s two-plus years of tracking viewing time by platform. While overall TV use in July edged up from the previous month, the growth came in streaming — which hit an all-time high of 38.7 percent of all TV usage. As for linear TV, broadcast networks fell to just 20 percent of viewing in July. Source: Nielsen Gauge (Aug. 15, 2023). Percentages don’t add up to 100. “Other” category includes video games played on a TV screen and physical media playback, among other things.…

When the nominees for last year’s Latin Grammy Awards were announced, no one was surprised that Bad Bunny led with a whopping 10 nominations. He not only was the year’s most successful Latin artist — he was the pop star of the year. On Billboard’s year-end chart for 2022, he was named top artist, while his fresh, multihit project Un Verano Sin Ti was crowned the No. 1 album of the year, beating out Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and Adele’s 30. So when it came time to announce the 2023 Grammy nominations, it seemed inevitable that Bad Bunny would be recognized with several nominations, especially since his album launched four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Bad Bunny garnered a measly three…

Striking Scribes and Actors Can Now Feed Pets for Free A Glendale health food store and a pet-focused nonprofit are teaming to provide a financial assist for writers and actors who are struggling to cover their expenses, including feeding their critters. Off the Leash Modern Pet Provisions — an independent and owner-operated healthy pet food supply shop run by Matt Emrick — and Better Together are giving away one free bag of pet food a month to striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA members and select support staff for the duration of the work stoppage (first-come, first-served while supplies last). The initiative sparked from an idea by WGA hopeful Nicole “Colby” Bachiller. “I pitched Matt the idea because, truth be told, I know all too well what it’s like to worry about…

On a Friday afternoon in August, the lobby of a new apartment complex in the heart of Hollywood is humming. Lucky renters are finalizing leases, tenants are lugging paintings and pillows into the elevator while commiserating over late night clatter caused by postal trucks next door; and a group of friends huddles in a courtyard talking shop. The scene is typical of L.A. apartment living, but the building is anything but. The seven-story property — named the Cicely Tyson Residential Building after the late icon and located at 1630 Schrader Blvd., near the Hollywood Walk of Fame — houses 151 apartments, all of which soon will be occupied exclusively by artists (defined as someone who has regularly engaged in an artistic, creative or cultural practice and who pursues such practice…

As a child living in an abandoned tenement in New York’s East Village, Rosario Dawson saw goodness in the midst of extreme poverty. “People are really compassionate and really loving and really giving and show up,” she says. “I grew up with poor people helping poor people.” Throughout Dawson’s Hollywood career, she has melded this charitable spirit into all aspects of her life. Her latest endeavor, the newly formed Rio Dawn Foundation Inc. — which she is discussing for the first time, exclusively with THR — aims to support and raise the profiles of many of the nonprofits she has worked with over the years. This is far from Dawson’s first step into the world of philanthropy. She’s a cofounder of Voto Latino, which encourages Latinx youth to vote and…

“So we’re down in Uvalde, right?” Anita Busch tells me in one of the lengthy, emotional conversations we’ve had this summer. She is describing the aftermath of the 2022 Texas mass shooting in which 21 grade-school students and teachers died. “I have the team down here in Uvalde for a fifth time. And we’re getting ready to head over to Nashville to help over there,” she says. “As soon as we hit the road, I get word that there’s been a mass shooting at the outlet mall in Allen, Texas. So we divert over there instead.” Back in the late 1990s, when Busch was a leading entertainment journalist, her points of reference all centered around Hollywood: “Paramount.” “Fox.” “CAA.” But this is her road map now: “Uvalde.” “Orlando.” “Allen” —…

The first time we see Arthur (Iain De Caestecker) in MGM+’s (formerly Epix) new series The Winter King, he looks nothing like the wise and noble ruler of myth. He looks, in fact, a right mess: eyes bulging, jaw slack, forehead black with blood. Clutching his brother’s corpse in the middle of a battlefield, he’s so shaken, he can hardly find his own legs to stand. It’s the last time he’ll look quite so nakedly vulnerable, at least in the five hourlong episodes sent to critics (of a 10-episode season). Elsewhere, this Arthur falls much closer to the strong, shrewd warrior we’ve come to expect from centuries of lore. But The Winter King only truly comes alive in scenes like that opener — ones that cast aside the epic in…

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house among the full cast and crew on the last day of filming Ted Lasso’s season three. The shot was in the fictional Richmond FC locker room before its championship game against rival West Ham — and before beloved coach Ted Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis (who’s nominated for lead actor and writing in addition to comedy series), was scheduled to return to the U.S. Instead of his usual pep talk, Lasso introduces a video, looking back at the team’s growth. “The tears are real,” says Declan Lowney, who directed this episode and eight others during the three seasons of the 11-time Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series. (Its 10 noms this year include nods to most of the talent mentioned in this story.) Famously…