| | What's news: The star and filmmakers behind Batgirl have reacted to Warner Bros.' shock decision to shelve the film. Paramount Global has hit nearly 64m total streaming subscribers. The Kid Mero says the end of Desus & Mero was a year in the making. Days of Our Lives is moving to Peacock. Idris Elba and David Leitch sign up for a spy thriller for Netflix — Abid Rahman |
Behind the Cancellation of 'Batgirl' ►More questions than answers. Ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery's earnings call today, THR's second-nicest man Aaron Couch reports on what led to the Batgirl debacle that has shocked Hollywood and led to a lot of scurrilous speculation. Aaron writes that Batgirl was a casualty of new corporate strategy from WBD CEO David Zaslav, who opted to shelve the project in order to take a tax write-down on the $90m film. The story. —"Batgirl for life!" Leslie Grace took to Instagram on Wednesday to give her reaction to the Batgirl news. Grace posted photos and footage from the set of the DC project, as well as a note thanking the cast, crew and fans who supported her: "To every Batgirl fan – THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, ‘my own damn hero!’" The story. —"We are saddened and shocked by the news. We still can’t believe it." Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah broke their silence on the abrupt shelving of their film, posting a statement on Instagram. The filmmakers thanked their cast, “especially the great Leslie Grace, who portrayed Batgirl with so much passion, dedication and humanity.” The story. —"Does anyone really want the future of movies to be decided by a calculator?" THR's Richard Newby offers his considered take on the shelving of Batgirl, excoriating the higher ups at Warner Bros. Discovery for the same billion-dollar-or-bust thinking that has hamstrung the DCEU from its inception and for pulling the plug on a film that championed diversity. The analysis. —Elsewhere... In positive DC-related news, Warner Bros. has given Todd Phillips' sequel to Joker a release date. Joker: Folie à deux, which will see Joaquin Phoenix return and with Lady Gaga in talks to play Harley Quinn, will hit theaters on Oct. 4, 2024. The first Joker film grossed over $1b at the box office and scored Phoenix a best actor Oscar win. The story. |
Is Late Night on the Verge of a Diversity Downgrade? ►Things could easily slide backward. With Showtime's Desus & Mero coming to an abrupt end, TBS' Full Frontal With Samantha Bee a victim of WBD CEO David Zazlav's mania for cost-cutting — and James Corden’s Late Late Show slot up for grabs — late night is at a crucial representational crossroads, writes THR's chief TV critic Dan Feinberg. The critic's notebook. —"It was a strategy." Sticking with Desus & Mero, Joel "The Kid Mero" Martinez has sought to explain his shock split from longtime partner Daniel "Desus Nice" Baker, revealing it was long in the making. In a new interview, Mero said that he and Desus had been “pursuing separate interests” for a year before the July 18 announcement that their Showtime show was ending. The story. —Branching out. Ellen Pompeo has landed her first on-air series via her ABC Signature-based production company, Calamity Jane. The Grey’s Anatomy actress will star in and exec produce an untitled orphan project for Hulu. In related news, Pompeo will scale back her time on Grey’s and appear in only eight of the expected 22 episodes in season 19. She will continue to be the show’s primary narrator for the bulk of the episodes but her on-screen commitment will consist of only eight episodes. The story. —End of an era. Days of Our Lives, the longest-running entertainment series the network has ever aired, will leave the network in September. Its new home will be on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming platform, beginning Sept. 12. NBC will fill the daytime spot vacated by Days with NBC News Daily, an hour-long show anchored by Kate Snow, Aaron Gilchrist, Vicky Nguyen and Morgan Radford. The story. —Dream lineup. Idris Elba and David Leitch are teaming up for Bang! from Dark Horse Entertainment and Netflix. Elba will star in the spy thriller, with Leitch directing. Bang! tells the story of a terrorist cult that sets out to start the apocalypse with a series of novels meant to brainwash their readers. Based on the comic series by Matt Kindt and Wilfredo Torres, the film will be written by Kindt and Zak Olkewicz. The story. —"It’s particularly comedic this year." In a chat with THR's James Hibberd, FX chairman John Landgraf offered a few updates on the eagerly anticipated fifth season of Fargo and the first TV drama series based on the Alien film franchise. Fargo will film its next installment this fall and the executive says the latest entry in the anthology series leans more comedic than recent seasons. The story. | The New L.A. Power Lunch ►Longer, boozier and still alive! COVID and Zoom didn’t kill the institution of the power lunch, but they did transform it. THR's Gary Baum writes that while fewer people are leaving their desks (or sofas) for lunch, those who do are lingering longer at the table, ordering another glass and having more fun. The story. —Moving in the right direction. Paramount Global total streaming subscribers hit "nearly" 64m in Q2, up from more than 62m as of the end of Q1. The latest period saw the addition of 5.2m subscribers, partially offset by the removal of 3.9m subscribers in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Group revenue exceeded Wall Street expectations with a 19 percent gain to $7.78b amid strong growth in the film unit, driven by hits like Top Gun: Maverick, despite ad revenue falling at TV unit. The story. —Strong incentives. Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing legislation that will extend California’s film and TV tax program for an additional five years through 2030. The announcement came in an intensifying bid to draw productions from states, like Georgia and Oklahoma, that have passed laws restricting abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The bill, if passed, will provide $1.65b in tax credits beyond 2025. The story. —"Don’t keep doing it." Jane Fonda says she is “not proud” of getting a facelift and never did any more cosmetic procedures because she was concerned she’d look “distorted” and might get addicted to it. In a new interview, the Grace and Frankie actress opens up about her iconic career revolutionizing fitness and how she approaches wellness in her own life. The story. —"I think a lot of the critique comes from feeling like they’re able to tear apart the CGI woman." The team behind Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law weighed in on a pair of CGI-related criticisms of the highly anticipated Disney+ series. Writer Jessica Gao, director Kat Coiro and star Tatiana Maslany addressed the issue at the show's Television Critics Association's press tour panel. The story. —A to Z TV. Hulu has snagged rights to author Sheila Heti’s forthcoming book, The Alphabetical Diaries. In the book, Heti took a decade’s worth of diary entries and rearranged the sentences in alphabetical order, to develop as a series. After cutting “thousands of sentences” the exercise took on something more like a novel. Hulu and I Know This Much Is True producer Hunting Lane will develop the book as a potential drama series. The story. |
Film Review: 'Prey'►"A familiar franchise ventures onto unfamiliar terrain." THR film critic Frank Scheck reviews Dan Trachtenberg's Prey. The new installment in the long-running Predator series takes place 300 years ago and centers on a young Comanche woman. The review. — "They may not score, but the show mostly does." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Paramount+'s Beavis and Butt-Head. Mike Judge’s TV-loving juvenile delinquents are back on the small screen for the first time since Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe in June with their new regular series. The review. In other news... —Lionsgate launches podcast division with shows from Curtis Jackson, Michael Nathanson —Lucy Liu to narrate audiobook of Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts novel —Disney settles credit card fees suit days after filing —Chrissy Teigen and John Legend expecting baby nearly two years after pregnancy loss —Chris Pratt’s Garfield sets 2024 release date — John Severino, former president of ABC and Prime Ticket, dies at 85 What else we're reading... —Drew Magary has a shocking report on the appalling conditions in the VFX industry [ Defector] —Ashley Carman reports that some podcast guests are being paid up to $50,000 to appear on popular shows [ Bloomberg] —Scott Mendelson reflects on the Batgirl news and writes that "when everything is content, nothing is safe" [ Forbes] —Elaine Low spoke to Netflix insiders on the recent culture shift to "fear-based" decision-making and belt tightening as the company grapples with stalled subs growth [ Insider] —Not ideal: "Primary elections: In 4 swing states, election deniers could oversee voting" [ NYT] Today... ...in 1967, a Warren Beatty film described by one critic as “part black comedy and part elegy,” held its premiere. Bonnie and Clyde went on to be nominated for 10 Academy Awards and claimed two wins. The original review. Today's birthdays: Barack Obama (61), Greta Gerwig (39), Billy Bob Thornton (67), Meghan Markle (41), Daniel Dae Kim (54), Lauren Tom (61), Dylan and Cole Sprouse (30), Abigail Spencer (41), Sebastian Roché (58), Richard Belzer (78), Dennis Lehane (57), Michael DeLuise (53), Chet Hanks (30), Jen Lilley (38), Marques Houston (41), Adhir Kalyan (39), Jared Farid Ward (45), John August (52), Bernard Rose (62) |
| Neal Lemlein, a veteran entertainment marketing executive who worked for CBS, Universal Studios and Fox, has died. He was 71. The obituary. |
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