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.
The NBA’s blockbuster $76 billion megadeals with Disney, NBC Universal and Amazon Prime are a testament to its product, and the unrivaled reach and power of live sports. And the deals should also send shivers down the spines of almost everyone in Hollywood outside the network executive suites. While the 11-year agreements are seen as a critical strategic maneuver by the media companies looking to build streaming business and are a financial boon for the league, they are also, in the words of one veteran media executive who declined to be named, the latest example of a “transfer of wealth from Hollywood to the sports leagues.” Already, agents and writers are grumbling that the rich deals will mean fewer new TV shows ordered, and fewer reruns, which will result in…
Alan Bergman As Deadpool & Wolverine lands the sixth-biggest opening of all time and Inside Out 2 becomes the top-grossing animated pic ever, the Disney co-chair wins plaudits for powering up the summer box office. Amy Schumer The star’s dramedy Life & Beth, which she created and starred in, is axed by Hulu after two seasons that hadn’t built viewership momentum. Mark Lazarus, Rick Cordella The execs had promised that NBCUniversal would be ready for the Paris Olympics. Over the first three days, 34.6 million viewers tuned in, the most since 2012. Sally Wainwright Disney+ cancels the creator’s historical fantasy drama Renegade Nell after one season that didn’t make Nielsen’s streaming viewership charts. Showbiz Stocks $20.65 (+15%) IMAX (IMAX) Deadpool & Wolverine gives the giant-screen exhibitor the best opening on…
As Democrats scrambled to shore up support for Kamala Harris, two megadonors openly challenged one of the core tenets of Joe Biden’s agenda, to rein in corporate power, in a move that could prove to be bitterly divisive within the party if Donald Trump is defeated in November. On July 25, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman went on CNN to call for the vice president, if she is elected, to oust Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, who he said is operating “outside the scope” of her job. “Antitrust is fine,” said Hoffman, who has donated $7 million to a Democratic super PAC and sits on the board of Microsoft, a tech giant whose acquisition of Activision was challenged by the FTC. “Waging war is not.” A day later, IAC media…
Liars (JULY 23, HOGARTH) BY Sarah Manguso AGENCY CAA There’s been a rash of bad-marriage novels reigning supreme lately, and Liars may just feature the baddest of them all. The author tracks the story of burgeoning writer Jane as she meets a filmmaker who seems to promise her everything. She soon realizes that John holds all the shortcomings associated with entitled straight white men: ego, recklessness, unfaithfulness and an inability to contribute equally to their household. In a form that feels eerily close to memoir, this blistering take has the potential to join Miranda July’s All Fours as the summer’s most talked-about story.…
What’s next for Shari Redstone after the deal to sell her stake in Paramount? Producing a Broadway play. The mogul is a co-producer on the show Job, written by Max Wolf Friedlich, which began previews at the Hayes Theater on July 15; it was about a week after the announcement of her own drama-filled deal to relinquish control of Paramount Global via a merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The play itself is a workplace drama, but the parallels may end there, as the show is kicked off by a young tech worker who barrels into a therapist’s office brandishing a gun and demands a therapy session. The worker, Jane (played by Sydney Lemmon) needs the therapist Loyd (played by Peter Friedman) to clear her to return to work, in…
MARVEL STUDIOS The studio blew the roof off of Hall H with a multiverse-melting reveal that Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. was back as Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom for Avengers: Doomsday, due in May 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars, bowing in May 2027. DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Marvel pulled off a surprise screening of Deadpool & Wolverine on July 25 (and, yes, everyone got the Wolverine popcorn bucket). Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman were there, plus plenty of guests and even a drone and fireworks show. THE BOYS The panel kicked off with a performance from the fictional Vought on Ice, while a look at season two of Gen V got the crowd primed. Pandemonium hit when Jensen Eckles revealed he would star as Soldier Boy in a 1950s-set prequel.…
