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.
Elton John The superstar attains EGOT status as his Dodger Stadium special adds an Emmy to his mantel of Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. Frank Scherma Despite good reviews from critics, the TV Academy chair steers the long-delayed Emmys telecast to an all-time ratings low of 4.3 million viewers opposite NFL playoffs. Sam Esmail The Leave the World Behind director sees his star-studded Netflix film top Nielsen’s streaming movies chart for the second straight week with 1.95 billion minutes viewed. Bill Ackman After the investor picked a fight with Business Insider over the outlet’s report on plagiarism claims against his wife, the site’s parent firm stands by the stories. Showbiz Stocks $10.45 (+7.2%) LIONSGATE (LGFA) The entertainment company shook up its studio ranks and handed its John Wick and Highlander…
According to his resignation announcement, Kevin Merida’s abrupt Jan. 9 exit as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times came about through a “mutual agreement” with the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech magnate turned publishing dilettante. This may well be true. From everything that can be gleaned about Merida’s less-than-three-year bumpy tenure as Soon-Shiong’s No. 1 at the 143-year-old publishing institution, there was plenty of mutual dissatisfaction, mutual distrust and maybe even mutual disdain. Times watchers will recall that Merida’s arrival at the paper in 2021 was greeted with great fanfare. The 66-year-old former Washington Post editor and Pulitzer finalist had been hired after a grueling monthslong head-hunting expedition that involved some 30 aspirants, including New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet and former Hollywood Reporter editor (and Ankler…
When Los Angeles voters head to the polls March 5 and again in the November general election, President Biden won’t have to sweat the results here and across the state. Nearly twice as many Californians are registered Democrat as they are Republican. In 2020, 71 percent of L.A. County voters picked Biden. But Los Angeles remains popular for Democrats for reasons beyond ballot counting — it’s a fountain of campaign cash, much of it spouting from the entertainment industry. Consider that clutch of December fundraisers where co-hosts and attendees included such glossy names as Steven Spielberg, Shonda Rhimes, Jon Hamm and Barbra Streisand. The events may have taken place amid some grumbling over lagging poll numbers and questions about whether the octogenarian commander-in-chief can woo young voters, but ultimately the…
By 2018, Will Compton, a 28-year-old backup linebacker on a one-year contract with the Tennessee Titans, knew his playing days were numbered. Contemplating a career after football, he considered going into real estate or coaching but couldn’t muster much enthusiasm for either. Driving home after a game one evening, he called Taylor Lewan, an offensive tackle for the Titans and his closest friend on the team, with whom he’d just done a postgame segment on Titans Radio. The two, who had bonded over their fondness for podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, had undeniable chemistry on the air, and the experience got them thinking about starting their own podcast. For Lewan, who had just signed a six-year deal with the Titans, it sounded like a fun time. For Compton, it…
Taylor Sheridan’s impressive Yellowstone universe (with at least five spinoffs) at Paramount may only be outdone by his sprawling real-life ranch — as he’s one of the largest landowners in the U.S. And Sheridan, who first made trade outlet The Land Report’s list of top 100 owners, by acreage, in 2022 after buying the fabled Four Sixes Ranch (where his now-in-development spinoff 6666 is set), is just one of the Hollywood names on the magazine’s new list that was released Jan. 8. Liberty Media chairman John Malone — who was the largest landowner in the country for a decade — came in second in 2023 with 2.2 million acres, behind lumber mogul Red Emmerson. Malone in 2011 acquired more than 1 million acres in the Northeast to nab the top…
TikTok may have just saved romantic comedies from being banished forever from the big screen to streaming. Sony’s Anyone But You, based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, has become a box office darling and could reach $80 million to $100 million domestically against a $25 million budget, despite mediocre reviews and an equally meh B+ CinemaScore. After opening to a lowly $8 million over Christmas weekend, the Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romancer went viral after moviegoers began flooding TikTok with videos of themselves reenacting the film’s credit sequence, which is overlaid with actors from the film dancing to and singing snippets of Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 single “Unwritten.” In its second weekend, the film spiked 45.6 percent, one of the best jumps in history for a wide release, behind…
