| | | | | | We’re days from a bidding deadline on offers for Warner Bros. Discovery and one signal it's serious? CEO David Zaslav's pay is getting reworked. Before the other shoe drops, The Weekender is delivering the narratives that matter, whether you've spent the last few days at the Fairmont in Century City for AFM or at MS NOW’s temp Times Square offices.— Erik Hayden
+ News ticker: Goldman Sachs buys a talent agency; "Indie cool kids" film label 2AM shutters; Sting, at the Met?
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MSNBC SIGNS OFF Last night, Ali Velshi was the last MSNBC anchor out the door, and the first one in the door today: He shut down the MSNBC studios in 30 Rock Friday night when he guest hosted The Last Word, and officially launched MS NOW’s new studios in Times Square this morning.
Alex Weprin sat down with several of the channel's key stars, Stephanie Ruhle, Katy Tur, Brandy Zadrozny and Velshi, for a candid conversation about the rebrand, the disruptive media landscape and their outlook as the TV news outlet spins off from its NBCUniversal home. The full longread Q&A.
| IGER'S AI HINT On an earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger signaled big changes are ahead for Disney+. That includes AI user-generated content. It sounds a bit like Disney plans to encroach on Open AI's Sora territory. The quotes.
+ BLACKOUT IS OVER After nearly two weeks, Disney‘s linear channels will finally return to YouTube TV, after the companies broke an impasse and cut a new carriage deal. The news break.
+ DISNEY UPS SPENDING A leading indicator? It plans to increase its spending on content next year by $1 billion to a total of $24 billion, underscoring how the competition for consumer attention remains fierce — and expensive. The story.
+ THE NUMBERS It beat Wall Street estimates with Disney+ subscribers rising by 3.8 million compared to Q3 to 132 million, and Disney+ and Hulu subscribers rising by 12.4 million to 196 million. The charts.
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A Rian Johnson Mystery Call it the surprise cancellation of the week. After Peacock scrapped Natasha Lyonne starrer Poker Face, creator Rian Johnson and MRC will shop the show — but with a twist. Lyonne will no longer play the lead role. Peter Dinklage has signed on. Going forward, the idea is to have a new lead actor every two seasons — all predicated on another outlet picking up the show. Rick Porter's story.
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YouTube Goes Late-Night Advertisers are asking, the Google-owned platform is delivering. The Neal Mohan-led video giant greenlit a Julian Shapiro-Barnum-hosted late-night show Outside Tonight as a weekly series set in New York City parks. It's all part of a slate of creator-led, exclusive shows. Alex Weprin's report.
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8 Questions For THR: You previously told the story of how Stephen King had to approve Glen Powell’s casting. Does King have this stipulation on all his adaptations?
Wright: "In terms of Glen, I don’t think he was completely aware of everything he’d done. So I was able to point him in the direction of a film that I thought summed up Glen at his best and showed what he could bring to this. ... The other thing was him having script approval..."
Brian Davids' full Q&A
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Yes, They Did Say That “Shareholders Want The Hunt for Ben Solo." — Banner on a plane flying over Disney’s Burbank-based headquarters this week, as "Have You Seen This Man?" signs peppered the area. “We’re looking to create a library of iconic voices from all kinds of time periods." — ElevenLabs' Dustin Blank, on offering authorized AI voices of Michael Caine, Liza Minelli, Art Garfunkel, Judy Garland, John Wayne and many more. "It’s a win for fans everywhere." — Apple exec Eddy Cue, as Apple TV abandoned its extra paywall attempt for Major League Soccer games. "Throw self-consciousness out the window." — From a column by Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt entitled "How to Make It As a Voice Actor." "We strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim." — From the BBC's apology, during a very "BBC" scandal, in which execs resigned after a Trump documentary quote mishap. |
Netflix's Games Reboot... In a major pivot, the streamer is moving from offering a suite of mobile apps to games that can be played on TVs using smartphones as controllers. Netflix Games president Alain Tascan made the pitch to press at a "Game Night" presentation at Netflix on Vine in Hollywood. Think: Dead Man’s Party: A Knives Out Game. Chris Gardner's report. |
...And Real-Life Plans Giant immersive experiences based on Wednesday and One Piece, joined by tech-driven mini golf and VR, and a last-minute dose of KPop Demon Hunters' power the first Netflix House location outside Philly. THR reporters made the trip: Tony Maglio calls it a " Pretty Photo Op for the ‘Gram." + Inside the tour: A real-world representation of Netflix, now in a mall. |
Kevin Reilly Goes AI The former NBC and Fox executive, 63, revealed that he's stepping back onto the Hollywood stage after five years away — only instead of returning to a big media company he’s joining Kartel, a little-known AI startup out of Beverly Hills, as its CEO. Kartel is not developing programming — Reilly is leaving that behind. But he says a "tidal wave" is coming to the industry. Steven Zeitchik's Q&A.
+ Indie film's AI reckoning: An indie-financed $80 million animated feature is a non-starter. The same project, made with AI tools for under $10 million could be a viable proposition. Scott Roxborough talks with dealmakers. |
The Race Heats Up It's that time of year again. Scott Feinberg offers his latest take on the Oscars race in the wake of the Grammy nominations, Gotham Award nominations, Critics Choice Documentary Awards ceremony and more. His topline category:
Frontrunners
1. One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
2. Hamnet (Focus)
3. Sinners (Warner Bros.)
4. Sentimental Value (Neon)
5. Frankenstein (Netflix)
6. Marty Supreme (A24)
7. Jay Kelly (Netflix)
8. Wicked: For Good (Universal)
9. Bugonia (Focus)
10. It Was Just An Accident (Neon)
And the full Feinberg Forecast.
+ SAG Awards. Nope, it's the Actor Awards now. |
About Our Backyard Once a global magnet for star-struck tourists, Hollywood is now struggling to fill its own sidewalks — even the Walk of Fame is having trouble drawing a crowd. Oren Peleg's column. |
Around Town Events of the week: Cedric the Entertainer and Martin Lawrence supported Eddie Murphy at the L.A. premiere of his Netflix doc Being Eddie ... Edgar Wright, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Lee Pace and Glen Powell hugged it out at the N.Y. premiere of Paramount's The Running Man ... Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson joined Woody Harrelson at the premiere for the third movie in the Now You See Me franchise ... George Clooney, Noah Baumbach and Adam Sandler continued their press tour for Jay Kelly at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood ... Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman joined Shakira at the L.A. premiere of Zootopia 2. All 96 photos from this week's red carpet events. |
The Bottom Line Snapshots from THR's team of critics: Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys' Netflix cat-and-mouse thriller The Beast in Me is "prestige TV monotony." David Duchovny’s Prime thriller series Malice is "as cold and empty as its villain." Osgood Perkins' horror feature Keeper , starring Tatiana Maslany, is "surreal as a nightmare, and just as logical." Netflix's Last Samurai Standing from Junichi Okada has "more action than character, but viewers won't complain." For Alan Ritchson and Kevin James' Prime Video comedy Playdate, "decline the invitation." Netflix's Eddie Murphy doc Being Eddie is "over-polished and adulatory, but engaging." And, finally, the two-word review of Nicolas Cage and FKA Twigs' Biblical horror pic The Carpenter's Son: "Jesus Christ!" |
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