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Viacom-CBS Hookup?; Hollywood Salaries Revealed; Can Netflix Poach Fox Execs?

THR Editor's Cut

September 29, 2016

It's on: Sumner Redstone's National Amusements has sent a letter to Viacom and CBS Corp. pushing the companies to explore a merger that "might offer substantial synergies." Plus: THR unveils its annual salary survey and Hollywood pays tribute to late NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

THR's annual report: Here's who is getting paid and who is getting left behind in the new industry economy. How about movie stars? An excerpt:

Once upon a time, certain A-list film actors could command $20 million to $30 million up front to sign on to a project. Of course, that almost never happens now (the "almost" being Jennifer Lawrence, who got $20 million for Passengers).

Today, Leonardo DiCaprio and Dwayne Johnson arguably are the best-paid leading men in Hollywood, surpassing Robert Downey Jr.. But even The Rock is having trouble cracking into the $20 million club. He is said to be getting only — only! — $19 million for his Jumanji remake.

Keanu Reeves once was making $15 million upfront per film, plus a cut of the grosses (the Matrix movies earned him about $250 million). Today, he's being paid a mere $2 million to $2.5 million for the John Wick sequel (and got even less — $1 million to $2 million — for the first Wick film).

On the bright side, Reeves will get an ownership stake in the picture — the route more top stars are taking to bet on themselves — rather than just a percentage. Vin Diesel, who gets paid tens of millions for the Fast & Furious movies, recently cut a similar deal for XXX3; sources say he's getting $1 million up front plus an ownership stake.

More: Studio Chiefs I Directors I Producers I Writers I Agents I Digital Talents.

And...

► Trump vs. Clinton: How to invest your money (depending on who wins). An expert investor reveals the industries and businesses that will pop depending on who becomes the next president.

► How Seinfeld made Donald Trump's adviser rich. Stephen Bannon, the CEO of the Republican's campaign, accepted a profit participation in the sitcom in lieu of payment for his financial advice. Then the show exploded in ratings and ad sales.

Alec Baldwin's 'SNL' Trump Challenge

Yep, Alec Baldwin is going to parody an almost inimitable candidate. Should viewers expect Tina Fey-Sarah Palin-style news cycles after those sketches? Seth Abramovitch writes:

Baldwin has deep ties to SNL, having guest-hosted a record-setting 16 times since his debut in 1990. (Steve Martin is right on his tail at 15.) In that time, he has performed more than a dozen celebrity impressions, including Al Pacino, Bono, Harvey Fierstein, Tony Bennett and Marlon Brando. He's even taken on a Republican presidential hopeful before, playing Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a 2011 cold-open sketch mocking the GOP debates.

But this will be his first time playing Trump — a candidate about whom he's had ambivalent feelings in the recent past. In June of this year, he told The Telegraph that Trump is "the first candidate made of hate." The show returns this Saturday.

ICYMI: Watch the first promo with Baldwin as Trump.

Elsewhere in TV...

↱ Ratings siren: Fall TV lacks a breakout hit (so far). There might not be an Empire (or even a Blindspot), but NBC and CBS have possible hits on their hands, and Fox and ABC struggle as overall live tune-in on the Big Four networks falls double digits from 2015. Full breakdown. ↲

► Viacom-CBS Hookup? Sumner Redstone's holding firm is calling for an all-stock deal, saying it is "not willing to accept or support any acquisition" of Viacom or CBS by a third party or not controlling the merged company.

► The Italian Job is the latest movie-to-TV adaptation. NBC has handed out a script sale with a penalty attached to a reboot of the 1969 Paramount film and its subsequent 2003 remake. Rob Weiss and Benjamin Brand are set to pen the script.

► Jennifer Lopez to judge NBC dance competition series. The Shades of Blue star will produce, judge and mentor the 10-episode series, in which dancers will compete for a grand prize of $1 million.  Lopez's Nuyorican Productions is producing.

► Alfred Hitchcock estate inks Universal Cable development deal. As part of the partnership, UCP will develop an anthology series called Welcome to Hitchcock based on the filmmaker's most popular movies including The Birds and Psycho.

► You're the Worst renewed for fourth season. This summer, Stephen Falk's comedy delivered the show's most-watched telecast eve r on FXX. Season three is up year-over-year among total viewers and even among adults under 50.

↱ The reviews are in. Chief TV critic Tim Goodman calls HBO's Westworld "ambitious and intriguing," while ABC's Conviction resembles a "paint-by-numbers" procedural. ↲

► Ron Livingston to star in Peter Farrelly comedy. The actor has been tapped to star in Loudermilk for the AT&T Audience Network. The 10-episode comedy marks Livingston's first TV series regular gig since Boardwalk Empire.

► HBO renews High Maintenance for season 2. The pot comedy series from Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, which originally began as a web series, made its pay cable debut on Sept. 16.

► The Mindy Project heads to VH1, Freeform in syndication. Both networks have scored rights to the first four seasons. Hulu will retain in-season stacking rights to the multicamera comedy with VH1 and Freeform set to land those episodes a year after they debut.

↱ R.I.P., Gary Glasberg. The showrunner on CBS' NCIS died in his sleep Tuesday night in Los Angeles. He was 50. Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo and more NCIS stars pay tribute. ↲

Jerry Springer's Trump moment. The most viral tweet to came out of Monday night’s presidential debate came from a seemingly unlikely source: Jerry Springer. The host's “Hillary Clinton belongs in the White House. Donald Trump belongs on my show" line has been retweeted more than 153,000 times.

Box Office: Burton vs. Wahlberg

Can Tim Burton get a win at the box office with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? Pamela McClintock has the weekend forecast:

Based on the popular YA novel, Miss Peregrine's is expected to open to $25M or higher, a solid start for Burton, whose last big-budget Hollywood film, Dark Shadows, was a major disappointment.

Meanwhile, Mark Wahlberg's Deepwater Horizon, recounting the real-life oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, cost Lionsgate and Participant Media a pricey $110M to produce. Prerelease tracking suggests the film will open in the high teens, although strong reviews could lift the opening higher.

And Masterminds, featuring Zack Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudekis, is the first major release from Relativity since Ryan Kavanaugh's company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The comedy is tracking to open in the $8M-$10M range.

Elsewhere in film...

► Lion King live-action movie in the works. Disney is reteaming with Jon Favreau, the filmmaker who brought to life The Jungle Book, for a 21st century take on the tale, which the studio has fast-tracked to production.

► Justin Lin to tackle Hot Wheels film. The Star Trek Beyond filmmaker has closed a deal to develop via his Perfect Storm Entertainment a feature based on the Mattel car toyline. Iterations of a Hot Wheels film have long been in the works.

► Mel Gibson in talks to star in Every Other Weekend. The action-adventure project will be directed by French filmmaker Benjamin Rocher. The title is eyeing a late-year start in France.

↱ Birth of a Nation's puzzling promotion: Fox Searchlight tied Nate Parker's film to the election with a photoshopped image shared Wednesday on social media. See the image here. Parker is also set to appear on 60 Minutes on Sunday to promote the film's October release. ↲

► Sam Mendes to produce (and maybe direct) Beautiful Ruins. Mendes has signed on to produce an adaptation of Jess Walter's best-selling 1960s novel for Fox 2000 as a potential directing vehicle.

► American Horror Story's Kristen Rakes joins Villa Capri. Rakes will join the Rene Russo film, also starring Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones, which follows an ex-FBI agent and ex-mob lawyer. The comedy is filming in Santa Fe, N.M.

► Princess and the Frog tale heads to big screen. Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios will produce a musical adaptation of Garth Nix's upcoming book Frogkisser!, a wry take on the princess kissing the frog-style fairy tale.

► Mindy Kaling's late-night script goes to Fox 2000. Kaling's script has her and Emma Thompson attached to star. Scott Rudin is producing the currently untitled project with Kaling and Howard Klein.

► Alejandro Inarritu plans VR project. The director will re-team with long-time collaborator cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki on a experimental short virtual reality film centered a group of immigrants.

Warner Bros. revamps distribution structure. Jeff Goldstein has been promoted to president of domestic distribution. Veronika Kawn Vandenberg will continue to serve as president of international distribution but will no longer have worldwide in her title as she focuses on initiatives overseas.

Why Netflix's Fox Poaching Matters

"Did we just hire Roger Ailes?" was the joke flying around Netflix's offices Sept. 16 when 21st Century Fox filed a surprise lawsuit accusing the company of improperly poaching Fox employees. The case could have a big impact in Hollywood, as Eriq Gardner explains:

Can Fox, or any studio, actually stop a rival from enticing employees under contract to defect? The answer is unclear, and as a result, the showdown has caught the attention of labor lawyers throughout California. They say Netflix's potential legal defense could upend similar deals across industries and impact tens of thousands of workers in the state — and possibly beyond.

If Netflix prevails, it could cast doubt on the validity of all employment agreements, or at least lead companies to deter executive exits by building in more punitive financial penalties for those walking away from a contract.

In brief: "The bottom line is that Fox can recover damages from the employees for breach and from Netflix for inducing a breach, but it probably cannot stop the employees from working for Netflix," says Kate Gold at Drinker Biddle & Reath.

In THR, Esq: Sidelined host Andrea Tantaros urges a judge to keep her sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News in open court ... Judge pauses CAA-UTA open court poaching battle ... California passes a law inspired by Bill Cosby scandal ... The Revenant pirate avoids prison.

When Stars Get Rich Off Fan Conventions

Film and TV stars are making more from fan events now than their day jobs. Lesley Goldberg has the entertaining must-read of the day:

Fan conventions have become so lucrative — think $500,000 for Captain America's Chris Evans or The Walking Dead favorite Norman Reedus to appear — that current TV and film stars are popping up at events like Salt Lake City Comic-Con and Heroes and Villains Fan Fest.

The demand has become so overwhelming that agencies including WME, CAA, UTA, ICM, APA, Paradigm and Gersh have in the past three years added "personal appearance" agents to sift through the hundreds of annual events, book talent and (of course) score their 10 percent commission.

Case in Point: "If somebody wanted to do a convention every weekend, they could make more on the convention circuit than their episodic fee," says Arrow star Stephen Amell (pictured), who became so enamored of the festival business that he started his own talent agency, WFA Entertainment, to help other actors navigate the space (and score a buck for himself).