Innholdsfortegnelse for October 11, 2023 i The Hollywood Reporter

Universal found itself in purgatory over the Oct. 6-8 weekend with the release of The Exorcist: Believer, which is envisioned as a trilogy kickoff reboot of the iconic horror title. While Believer performed solidly at the box office, recouping its production cost, the title drew critical hellfire from reviewers and fans, putting the franchise’s creative plan into a tailspin. The Blumhouse-produced Believer is the first offspring from the studio’s 2021 purchase of the iconic horror franchise’s rights. The theatrical rights (for which Universal beat out rival bids) for three movies came with the heaven-high price tag of $400 million, but also included the films’ streaming rights for Peacock, and theme park extensions like this month’s Exorcist: Believer maze at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. (Look out, it’s a demonic movie critic!)…

DISNEY+ 1.37B Minutes viewed The streaming premiere of the live-action remake of Disney’s animated classic delivered, drawing 1.37 billion minutes of watch time in the U.S. during its first five days on Disney+, according to Nielsen figures. The viewing time equates to about 10.18 million complete showings (or “views,” in current streaming parlance) of the Rob Marshall-directed film. Disney+ reported 16 million worldwide views of The Little Mermaid over five days, which suggests about 63 percent of those views came from the U.S. After a box office run that topped out at $570 million globally — below such other live-action remakes as 2019’s The Lion King ($1.65 billion) and Aladdin ($1.05 billion) but above Dumbo ($353 million) — the streaming debut for Mermaid is promising.…

Selena Gomez continued her commitment to mental health awareness, hosting the inaugural Rare Impact Fund Benefit: A Night of Radiance & Reflection on Oct. 4 at Nya Studios in Hollywood. The event, which supported the Rare Impact Fund’s mission to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and expand access to youth mental health services and education, was emceed by Gomez’s Only Murders in the Building co-star Martin Short and featured performances from H.E.R. and Marshmello. Acknowledging her own mental health struggles and the reality that many people don’t have access to the same resources she does, Gomez told the crowd at the benefit, “It has been my ultimate dream to launch this fund, and it’s probably the most important thing that I’ve ever done.”…

Drew Michael Scott — who uses his middle name to distinguish himself from the similarly named Property Brother — has been on an upward trajectory since uploading his first YouTube at age 12. The 27-year-old L.A.-based creator, who posts as Lone Fox Home and became known for his renter-friendly DIY videos, now has 1.67 million subscribers on the platform. Segueing from content about scrapbooking (his parents now oversee his mail-order business, Hopscotch Craft Supplies) to men’s fashion and now home design, he posts new videos twice a week and sells his own home products. A recent popular post saw him using six Ikea salad bowls to create a coffee table base. Scott — who recently partnered with Sweden-based wall art brand Desenio on a special collection of prints — talked…

On May 3, the second day of the writers strike, all the leaders of Hollywood’s unions showed up in solidarity to a WGA member meeting at the Shrine Auditorium. Historically, Hollywood labor hasn’t been as united. With contract fights, we all have spoken to one another, but not as much as we should have. In 2023, that changed. We’ve seen with the dual strikes throughout this summer that if we stick together, we’re stronger. The Hollywood Teamsters are getting ready for bargaining next year, as are IATSE and unions that are part of Hollywood Basic Crafts and include IBEW Local 40, LIUNA! Local 724, OPCMIA Local 755 and UA Local 78. And we’re all talking. When it comes to the upcoming negotiations, we’re looking to change the livelihoods of our…

NOBODY IN HOLLYWOOD READS,” GOES A LAUGH LINE IN THE 2023 awards contender American Fiction. “They get their assistants to read things and then summarize them. The whole town runs on book reports.” But THR, suspecting this might be painting with too broad a brush — and aware that many usually busy people had time on their hands during the strikes — sent ballots to hundreds of distinguished members of the global film community asking them to select (or write in) their picks for the best books related to film (up to 25 each). Among the 322 respondents were top directors, actors, producers, writers, execs, documentarians, animators, composers and agents; the heads of major film institutions, awards bodies and festivals; and journalists, film critics, academics and, yes, a host of…

A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See by Tina M. Campt Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema by Karen Han Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood Colors of Film: The Story of Cinema in 50 Palettes by Charles Bramesco Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film by Michael Boyce Gillespie Lessons With Kiarostami by Abbas Kiarostami Making Movies* by Sidney Lumet Organic Cinema: Film, Architecture and the Work of Béla Tarr by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein Slow Movies: Countering the Cinema of Action by Ira Jaffe Stories From the Fireplace: Theological Meditations on Haile Gerima’s Cinema by Tekletsadik Belachew We Make Pictures in Order to Live by numerous essayists *This book made THR ’s top 100 list.…

In the early 1940s, a young Lena Horne began an engagement at an intimate L.A. club called Little Troc, where her silken voice — with her perfect enunciation and her sophisticated interpretation of the lyrics — dazzled the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Cole Porter, Lana Turner and Greta Garbo. Among the many eyes that observed her during her run were those of the astute, sensitive Roger Edens, who was an integral member of the Freed Unit at MGM Studios. Led by innovative producer Arthur Freed, the unit consisted of musical artists who created many of MGM’s great musicals from the golden age: It had recently produced Babes in Arms (1939) and would strike gold with An American in Paris (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and Gigi (1958). Within the…

Abudu was a late arrival to the entertainment industry. The London-born, Lagos-based CEO of Nigerian film and TV group EbonyLife Media had a successful career at oil giant ExxonMobil — rising to head of human resources — before deciding, in her mid-40s, that she wanted more. “Lots of people probably thought it was a midlife crisis, me waking up and choosing to get into the world of media,” says Abudu, 60, from her home in Lagos. “But I think there was something deep down in my soul that I felt there was a real need in Africa for local content and local storytelling. Because we’ve been fed and fed and fed international content that isn’t about us, it’s not representative of who we are. And, as Africans, I felt we…

Amy Reinhard As the dust settles on Netflix’s C-suite shake-up, the company veteran will be tasked with growing the platform’s closely watched advertising business. Bob Iger The Disney chief thought he’d solved his activist investor problem this year, but Nelson Peltz is once again buying up company shares and aiming for board seats. Carletta Higginson Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl hires a fellow YouTube veteran as chief digital officer as the company navigates the rise of AI-generated songs. Jenny Bicks/Paul Feig Fox pulls the plug on Welcome to Flatch, the small-town comedy from the duo, after two seasons as one of the least watched shows on the broadcaster. Showbiz Stocks $9.92 (+25.4%) AMC ENTERTAINMENT (AMC) As presales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie soar, the movie theater giant received…

TV’s IP fetish is no coincidence. Recognizable titles and stars can guarantee strong initial tune-in off of modest marketing. But long-term results are lackluster. Just look at the past decade’s worth of revivals. Different from reboots or remakes, risky ventures in their own right, a revival features original castmembers of long-departed series revisiting characters for whom there’s an assumed appetite. Viewers aren’t often as hungry as studio brass would like. The average life span of recent revivals is three seasons, while their originals averaged eight-year runs. So as Paramount+ kicks off October by nixing one revived comedy (iCarly, starring Miranda Cosgrove, above) and attempting to mount another (Frasier with Kelsey Grammer, out Oct. 12), THR examines 10 case studies from this revivals wave and where they went right … or…

“Be careful what you ask for, ’cause I just might comply.”BEYONCÉ The Renaissance superstar, on Instagram, quoting her own song, “All Up in Your Mind,” to announce that a Renaissance World Tour concert film is headed to the big screen. “Sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not.”GUILLERMO DEL TORO The Oscar-winning director, to Collider, on his feelings toward his now-scrapped Jabba the Hutt Star Wars movie. “It’s not like he didn’t have power. He tells studios what to do.”SPIKE LEE The director, to The Washington Post, questioning why Christopher Nolan didn’t include scenes in Oppenheimer about the aftermath of the atomic bomb drops on the Japanese people. “I was on top of the world after the Super Bowl, and right now I’m even more on top of the world.”TRAVIS KELCE The…

Margot Robbie was spotted at Felix. … Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin had a date night at Pace. … Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski lunched at Farmshop. … Emile Hirsch, Lukas Haas and Casey Affleck stopped by the newly opened Cold Shoulder speakeasy.… In New York, George and Amal Clooney had dinner with their parents at Scalinatella. … Rihanna and A$AP Rocky celebrated his birthday at Carbone. … Quinta Brunson and Chris Meloni paid (separate) visits to Ambra. … Ed Sheeran hopped behind the bar at Off the Wagon. HOT NEW RESTAURANT Dante The Quick Pitch Mourners of industry fave Freds atop the shuttered Beverly Hills Barneys can rejoice; the nearby Maybourne has tapped NYC’s Italian institution Dante to turn a ninth-floor special-events space into a bustling dining room…

HOLLYWOOD’S ‘SUMMER OF STRIKES’ MAY BE ABOUT TO WRAP, BUT DON’T POP THE CHAMPAGNE JUST YET. THE PROBLEMS THAT PUSHED US TO THE BRINK HAVEN’T GONE AWAY. (MANY ARE GETTING WORSE!) THR LOOKS AT THE INDUSTRY’S FIVE EXISTENTIAL CRISES — AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE As brutal as 2023 has been for the entertainment industry, it’s possible the town will someday look back on this moment wistfully. And not just because of the picket line solidarity or cozy mogul hangs in the bargaining room. The strikes helped earn gains for Hollywood workers in such areas as streaming residuals and AI, just as they cost the national economy more than $5 billion. But the walkouts also marked the decisive end to a bullish and ultimately unsustainable chapter in Hollywood, an…

The WGA strike achieved many things, but most importantly, the industry was forced to recognize the power of the writer. Everything starts with the script — creative voices are the engine of our industry — and that had not been respected for a long time. The strike also created an environment that encouraged us to unify. Creators, showrunners and hyphenates like writer-directors came together in a big way for the first time with an intention to improve our industry moving forward. One of the big topics was diversity. We’ve all heard the narrative that our industry is now going to contract. And we know, historically and now, that when the playing field is smaller, people of color are too often left on the sidelines. We need to fight this as…

BRISTOL FARMS For the Boomer Producer The O.G. of pricey Hollywood markets, it opened its doors in Rolling Hills in 1982 and has since expanded to 14 locations across Southern California. JAYDE’S MARKET For the Influencer Into Erewhon ‘Before It Got Big’ Just off Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills lies the other bougie, family-owned organic grocer, where Kendall Jenner stops in for the crispy organic chicken sandwich. LASSENS For the Eastside Hipster The 10-store chain with outposts in creative enclaves like Los Feliz and Echo Park, it’s Mormon-owned (so, closed on Sundays) and draws the likes of Angelina Jolie and Shia LaBeouf. ← LAZY ACRES NATURAL MARKET For the Trader Joe’s Burnout In a former Rite-Aid at Western and Franklin, it positions itself as the anti-Erewhon. “We’re not trying to…

Jerry Bruckheimer Oscar-nominated producer King Cohn: The Life and Times of Harry Cohn by Bob Thomas Maureen Dowd Opinion columnist, The New York Times Marlene Dietrich: A Life by Maria Riva Leonard Maltin Author, critic, historian High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel Gina Prince-Bythewood Filmmaker Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography by Donald Bogle David Remnick Editor, The New Yorker The Immediate Experience: Movies, Comics, Theatre and Other Aspects of Popular Culture by Robert Warshow Charles Rivkin Chairman and CEO, Motion Picture Association Hollywood’s Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration by Thomas Doherty Janet Yang Producer and president, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Hollywood Chinese: The Chinese in American Feature Films by Arthur Dong…

Cassavetes on Cassavetes* by Ray Carney David Lean: A Biography by Kevin Brownlow Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War* by Mark Harris The Kid Stays in the Picture* by Robert Evans Letters by François Truffaut, translated by Gilbert Adair Life Itself* by Roger Ebert Making Movies* by Sidney Lumet Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn Mike Nichols: A Life* by Mark Harris Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince by Budd Schulberg My Autobiography* by Charlie Chaplin My Place in the Sun: Life in the Golden Age of Hollywood and Washington by George Stevens Jr. The Name Above the Title* by Frank Capra On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies…

Taylor Swift’s team and AMC Theatres caught fans — and studios — by surprise in unveiling that a secret movie chronicling her Eras Tour would arrive in cinemas. That project, which bypassed distributors, blasts off Oct. 13 with an expected bow of $100 million to $125 million in North America. Next, on Dec. 1, Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour doc will roll out, also in a pact with AMC. While these stars are global icons and able to secure favorable terms for box office receipts, there are a few others who might have the leverage to run the playbook — if they choose to. BTS The K-pop supergroup has done it before WHY IT COULD WORK The Korean group already has released five documentaries in theaters, and each has been a box…

Kevin Costner’s Horizon is finally, well, on the horizon. On Oct. 5, Warner Bros. put the actor-director’s Western epic on its schedule, announcing the first film in the planned four-part project — Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 — will arrive in theaters June 28, with the second coming out two months later, on Aug. 16. The third film, currently undated, is expected to start production after the SAG-AFTRA strike is resolved. The decision comes as Costner exits his other Western, Paramount’s Yellowstone, amid some O.K. Corral-level hostilities among him, the studio and showrunner Taylor Sheridan. The back-to-back Horizon release strategy is bold, and virtually unprecedented, for a major Hollywood title. Warner Bros. sources point to Clint Eastwood’s 2006 World War II films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From…

There’s just one problem with Ziwe’s first book of personal essays: She really hates getting personal. “I don’t want anyone to know anything about me,” she says with a laugh while Zooming from her home in New York. “I hate sharing.” The comedian and writer became famous for her uncomfortable, nearly satirical interviews with stars about racial and gender politics. Starting on Instagram Live and eventually pivoting to an eponymous, twoseason Showtime series, she’s not comfortable being on the receiving end of a personal line of questioning. But Ziwe — who spent years in the writers rooms of The Rundown With Robin Thede, Desus & Mero and Dickinson — realized she needed to “chip away at the wall” she’d put up. The resulting collection, Black Friend, due Oct. 17 from…

The last five years in Hollywood, as in America, have been defined by complexity. We’ve seen it both in the sophistication of prestige TV, and in the labyrinthine distribution systems we have to navigate in order to watch it. I think the next five years will place the emphasis on clarity. The audience of the near future will shy away from entertainment that feels too “real” — i.e., topical and morally ambiguous. At the same time, the market will consolidate. Five hundred shows will become 300. Ten streamers will become five. With fewer shows and films to watch, stars will become more meaningful in attracting audiences, with celebrity offering its own kind of clarity. In this new phase of the business, viewers will gravitate toward stories that make sense to…

The pandemic indisputably brought about a profound transformation in the entertainment industry. Players are reevaluating their business models to adapt to and navigate shifts in audience taste and behavior. We must continue to ask ourselves, “What kind of story will work?” This question serves as both a challenge and an opportunity. One thing is certain: Hollywood is shifting its attention to international content for global reach. Director Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite win at the 2020 Academy Awards, followed by Minari and Everything Everywhere All at Once, has lowered barriers, bringing more Asian content and creators into the spotlight. Streaming platforms have opened their doors to more diverse stories from around the world, from Squid Game to The Glory, Crash Landing on You and Beef. Films like Past Lives have shown us…

Two years after signing a landmark deal that kept her at MSNBC but reduced her workload to one hour of live TV each Monday, Rachel Maddow stepping back from the hustle of a nightly cable news show is looking a lot less relaxing than it did on paper. She has filled the void left by those four weekly episodes of The Rachel Maddow Show — must-see TV for the panicked American progressive — with podcasts, an aggressive Hollywood development slate, her fourth book (Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, out Oct. 17 from Crown) and a new outlook on how to best share her deep well of historical and political knowledge with her loyal following. “Producing the same kind of material for the same shaped box at the same time…

The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood* by Sam Wasson The Big Picture: Who Killed Hollywood? And Other Essays by William Goldman Elia Kazan: A Life* by Elia Kazan An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood* by Neal Gabler Leading Lady: Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker by Stephen Galloway Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather by Mark Seal Mike Nichols: A Life* by Mark Harris My Happy Days in Hollywood: A Memoir by Garry Marshall Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency* by James Andrew Miller Then Again by Diane Keaton When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead by Jerry Weintraub *This book made THR ’s top 100…

85 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards* by Robert Osborne Cassavetes on Cassavetes* by Ray Carney Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators* by Ronan Farrow Changing by Liv Ullmann Child Star: An Autobiography by Shirley Temple Cinema Speculation* by Quentin Tarantino David Lynch: The Man From Another Place by Dennis Lim The Day of the Locust* by Nathanael West Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film by Maya Deren Hayao Miyazaki by Pete Docter, Daniel Kothenschulte, Hayao Miyazaki & Jessica Niebel How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime by Roger Corman and Jim Jerome Letters by François Truffaut My Last Sigh: The Autobiography of Luis Buñuel* by Luis Buñuel The Name Above the Title: An…

Bob Odenkirk knows he should probably leave his kids alone. But the Better Call Saul star spent the pandemic working on an Audible murder comedy podcast with his son, Nate, 23, and collaborating on a children’s book with his artist daughter, Erin, 22. “If I want to do a good job as a dad, I know I have to let them be,” he says. “But that’s not easy because they’re very fun people and their ideas are so exciting.” Zilot & Other Important Rhymes (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) combines illustrations by Erin (the recent Pratt Institute grad calls her dad Bob) with poems written by the kids when they were young, with an update by the Odenkirk family (including Odenkirk’s wife, Naomi); it hits bookstores Oct. 10. The…