| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Barbie V. Bratz - In a move, which we hear came before the July release of Barbie as well as the May start of the WGA strike, CBS Studios has acquired for series development You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel V. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side, a book by U. San Diego law professor Orly Lobel, which follows the parallel journeys of Barbie creator Ruth Handler and Bratz creator Carter Bryant. >>> Legal Battle
'Black Adam' Faster Than 'The Flash' - The Flash, the Justice League spinoff starring Ezra Miller in the title role, pulled in 1.1M US households in its Live+2 Day window on Max, per Samba TV. That figure is off 8% from the weekend debut of Black Adam last December. That film clocked 1.2M U.S. households. >>>Pandemic A Factor
Disney Broadside - Disney has been hit with another lawsuit from investors over the alleged sleight-of-hand accounting the company used to hide streaming losses. And once again, some big names, including current CEO Bob Iger and former chief Bob Chapek, are named in the complaint. >>>"Materially Misleading Statements"
In Brief - Shailene Woodley signs with CAA; Lily James returns to UTA |
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Luca Guadagnino is putting a brave face on the sudden pulling last month of new movie Challengers from the prestigious opening slot of the Venice Film Festival, after the actors’ strike grounded its U.S. cast led by Zendaya. The Venice regular considers the festival his “home” and will still be out in force on the Lido. Here, he talks about the projects he'll be touting. >>> Read The Interview |
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Exclusive
Lamorne Morris, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Kylie Bunbury are starring in a scripted podcast thriller. The trio will lead Possession , which will launch on Amazon’s Audible on August 31. It comes from At Will Media, the company behind Apple’s Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy series and Academy starring Industry’s Myha’la Herrold. Inspired by true events, Brandon, voiced by New Girl star Morris, and Justine, voiced by Big Sky star Bunbury, have just moved into their new house, an idyllic Craftsman bungalow in a picture-perfect enclave of East Los Angeles. Brandon has a new dream job in gaming, Justine is pregnant with their first child, and those cold Philly winters are behind them. Seemingly everything is perfect. Of course, it's not.
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BY THE NUMBERS
14 million - Total number of views for the first episode of 'Ahsoka' on Disney+, according to a Disney update |
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More News
🤝 Mark Thompson, the former CEO of The New York Times Co. and director general of the BBC, is the new head of CNN. Warner Bros. Discovery made it official on Wednesday. Thompson will become chairman and CEO of CNN on October 9. The group of interim leaders who replaced ousted former chief Chris Licht will stay in place, reporting to Thompson.
🦚 NBC has shuffled the order of its lineup on Wednesdays beginning October 4. Quantum Leap will now air at 8 PM, followed by Magnum P.I. at 9 PM and Chicago encores at 10 PM. The previous lineup was Chicago encores at 8 PM, followed by Quantum Leap at 9 PM and Magnum at 10 PM.
🌪 Deadline is told that at least 24 cinemas closed in Florida last night ahead of Hurricane Idalia, including (but not limited to) AMC locations in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Orange Park and Regal sites in Ocala, Pinellas Place and Gainesville. Many are looking to reopen safely on Thursday ahead of Labor Day weekend, during which Sony’s The Equalizer 3 is projected to bring in $30M-$40M over four days.
💰 X, formerly known as Twitter, said it will start accepting political ads for the first time since 2019, as the rebranded social media platform owned by Elon Musk struggles to achieve profitability. It promised transparency and “robust screening processes.” Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey had banned political ads.
🎥 The future site of Manhattan’s first purpose-built film and TV soundstages has added two blue-chip backers, private equity firm Blackstone and real estate company Hudson Pacific Properties. Office space giant Vornado Realty Trust had already been aboard the Sunset Pier 94 Studios project, which has been in the works for several years. The three companies have now formed a private-public partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corp., committing a total of $350 million to the effort.
👀 After just one week atop Netflix’s English-language TV charts, Depp V. Heard has been bumped to No. 2 in favor of Who is Erin Carter? Viewers flocked to the thriller limited series, which is about a British expat schoolteacher living in Spain, racking up 13.2M views in its first few days on the streamer from August 21 to 27. |
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Trending  It certainly has not been a cruel summer for Taylor Swift. The ubiquitous singer-songwriter has added a new accomplishment in her astonishing career, becoming the first female artist to hit 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
🔻 The 2024 presidential race already has its first candidate to drop out: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. The GOP contender announced on Tuesday that he was suspending his campaign. Suarez failed to qualify for the first presidential debate last week, something that also may prove to be a reckoning for other candidates absent from the stage. |
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OBITUARIES
🕯 Nicholas Hitchon, whose life was chronicled in the celebrated British Up documentary films from a precocious age 7 in 1964 to 63 in the 2019 installment, has died of throat cancer in Madison, Wisconsin, where he was a university professor. He was 65. 🕯 Tina Howe, the celebrated playwright whose works included the oft-staged Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances , died yesterday of natural causes after a short illness due to complications from a hip fracture sustained in a recent fall. The two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist was 85. 🕯 Charles “Chip” Dox, an Emmy-winning production designer and art director for daytime dramas like General Hospital and Days of Our Lives, died Aug. 15. He was 80. Dox first joined GH in 2005, where he best known for designing those fancy Quartermaine homes and the sets for the beloved Nurses Ball. He won an Emmy for his work on the ABC sudser in 2011. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Wed - Venice Film Festival opens
Fri - Telluride begins; Disneyland workers' contract expires
Sun - Special Ops: Lioness S1 finale
Mon - Labor Day
Tues - Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference begins |
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Ciao - George and Amal Clooney arrived in Venice just ahead of the latest edition of the world's oldest film festival. She is being honored there Thursday at Diane von Furstenberg's 14th Annual DVF Awards in recognition for her human rights work. The city holds special significance for the couple: It's where they married in 2014. |
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