Members of a House select committee on China met with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and later with a group of Hollywood filmmakers and executives Wednesday, amid concerns over industry business practices in engaging with Beijing.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), was joined by nine other members, including its ranking member, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).
According to a source close to the committee, the hourlong meeting "was constructive and it was candid."
Gallagher expressed concerns around censorship, and Iger spoke about "the relationship with the Chinese Communist party and how it has changed,” among other topics, the source said.
Iger was joined by other Disney executives who the source said conveyed how they tried to walk the line between cultural and political requests from Chinese censors. “They admitted it was a value judgment and don’t always get it right,” the source said. >>>Other Hollywood Heavyweights Join |
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'The Batman' Brings Home The Bacon - Following in the very large shadow of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, battling production shutdowns during Covid as well as Warner Bros.' ill-fated straight-to-streaming strategy, Matt Reeves' take on Bruce Wayne's alter ego still made a healthy profit, according to Deadline's calculations. >>> Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament
Star Wars Celebration - Updates from today's busy event in London, including Kathleen Kennedy's bombshell that a new series of Star Wars films is on the way with installments directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; Andor's Season 2 debut date; first footage from The Acolyte; and a trailer for the Rosario Dawson-starring Ashoka. >>> More Announcements
'Emancipation to Exodus' - Emmy-winning filmmaker Erika Dilday is joining Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon as co-director and co-producer of the upcoming documentary film Emancipation to Exodus (working title). It’s a long-term commitment – the film about a critical period in the African American experience isn’t expected to air on PBS until 2027. >>>Challenging Story
Two Stars, Two Different Paths - One was fiercely focused, the other accident-prone. They both made it. Deadline's Peter Bart traces the careers of Outsiders co-stars Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe. Now circling 60, both are symbols of Hollywood success. >>>Column
In Brief - The Colombian survival thriller Quicksand was acquired by Shudder...Zarna Garg has landed her first comedy special on Prime Video. |
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Daisy Ridley is reprising her role as Rey in the upcoming Star Wars movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The news was revealed at the Star Wars Celebration in London this morning, which saw a guest appearance from Ridley. The movie, penned by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, will be set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, and as Rey builds a new Jedi Order. Exclusive The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey has found another memorable role in the period drama Monstrous Beauty. Ramsey, who shot to fame as the precocious Lady of Bear Island in GOT, is heading back to court as an aspiring playwright in the court of King Charles II who suffers from a rare condition that means she is entirely covered in hair. Andie MacDowell, Carmen Ejogo ( True Detective) and Kevin Pollak have joined Michael Keaton and Mila Kunis in th comedy Goodrich, which began filming in LA this week. Amy Pascal serves as executive producer alongside Keaton and Kunis. Domhnall Gleeson is set to join the cast of Apple Original Films’ Echo Valley, a dramatic feature written by Brad Ingelsby that already stars Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney. Hailing from Apple Studios and produced by Scott Free Films and The Walsh Company, the film will be directed by Michael Pearce. In Brief - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has set Hank Azaria, Sutton Foster and Darren Criss as Season 5 guest stars |
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🥊 Ron DeSantis hit back at Disney today, saying he would seek legislation to void an agreement that gives Walt Disney World extensive control over development in a district that oversees its sprawling Florida theme park. DeSantis also said that he is looking at taxes on Disney World hotels, tolls on roads leading to the theme parks and developing district property near the company’s resorts.
🎙️ Two-time Emmy winner Sarah Silverman is returning to HBO for a new stand-up comedy special, her second for the premium cable network. The as-yet untitled special, which taped in front of a live audience at The Wilbur Theater in Boston, MA, will debut this May.
❓ The family of actor Lance Reddick is taking issue with a coroner’s conclusion on his cause of death. Earlier reports linked Reddick’s death to heart disease. But an attorney representing the family is saying that cause of death was not proved by an autopsy and is inconsistent with Reddick’s habits and fitness.
👀 In its first full week on Netflix, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage earned the title of most-streamed comedy special in a measurement week from March 6 to 12, according to Nielsen. That is, at least since Nielsen began tracking streaming content in 2017. The special jumped 48% over its opening weekend viewership to 798M viewing minutes.
✊ Many WGA members, including Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar-winner Daniel Kwan, are also speaking up on social media in support of the strike authorization vote, which begins Tuesday and runs through April 17. |
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Trending  Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son, Joseph Baena, has booked is first action movie. In Gunnar he stars opposite Luke Hemsworth and Morgan Freeman
🔻 Former Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars alleged in a lawsuit that the band used prerecorded drums, bass and vocals on a recent tour. |
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Obituaries 🕯 Oscar-nominated cinematographer Wilmer C. Butler, whose work included a series of landmark films such as The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), has died. He was 101. 🕯 Norman Reynolds , the two-time Oscar winning production and art designer on various Star Wars and Indiana Jones films who director Steven Spielberg once called the “creative core” of the franchises, has died. He was 89. 🕯 Vivian Trimble, a keyboardist and vocalist from the ’90s rockers Luscious Jackson, died April 4 of cancer treatment complications. She was 59. 🕯 Nora Forster , singer John Lydon’s wife of 44 years who has been living with Alzheimer’s since 2018, has died. Lydon had recently performed a new song, “Hawaii,” in the Eurovision 2023 contest that was inspired by her. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Fri - Star Wars Celebration Europe begins
Sun - Easter
Tue - WGA strike authorization vote begins; Danny Masterson retrial
Thur - TCM Festival kicks off; Nicolas Cage on Colbert |
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Curtain Call - The guests have been announced for James Corden's final shows, and it looks like the Late, Late Show host is going out in style. The list includes Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston (pictured with Corden, above, in January), Tom Cruise, Josh Gad, Jennifer Garner, Brett Goldstein, Kate Hudson, Allison Janney, the Kardashian family, Mila Kunis, Seth Meyers, Billy Porter and Sharon Stone. |
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