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'Rogue One' Forecast; Trump's Times Talk; Scorsese's 'Silence' Trailer; Indie Spirit Noms

November 23, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving! Indie Spirit noms are out, but the list isn't necessarily a barometer for any Oscar wins. Plus: Trump meets the N.Y. Times, Martin Scorsese's Silence debuts its first trailer, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks visit the White House and Rogue One is on track for a huge U.S. debut. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

'Rogue One' Aims for $130M+

One of the biggest box-office curiosities of the year, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has Hollywood execs guessing where it lands among top holiday openings, Pamela McClintock writes:

The Lucasfilm standalone is projected to open to $130M+ in North America over the Dec. 16-18 weekend. The movie came on tracking Tuesday morning, with one service suggesting it could even approach $150M. Conversely, another service has it opening in the high $120M range, underscoring what a guessing game tracking can be.

The pre-Christmas corridor isn't known for huge openings, since consumers are distracted by holiday preparations. Prior to last year's Force Awakens, no December film had ever launched north of $85M, and that includes Avatar.

The expectations game: The main job for Disney is to prevent Rogue One's box-office performance from being compared to that of Force Awakens since it's a stand-alone. Force Awakens made history in December 2015 when opening to a record-setting $248M domestically on its way to grossing $2.07B worldwide.

↱ In theaters this week: Moana, per its review, is "contemporary Disney at its finest," and set to surpass $75M. Allied, a "plodding and pedestrian" WWII love story, could approach $20M, Bad Santa 2, "badder and better than ever," should open in the mid-teens and Rules Don't Apply, "light in feel and yet keenly personal," might not generate much past $8M. ↲

Elsewhere in film...

► Paramount enlists Adam McKay to direct Dick Cheney film. The project, also written by The Big Short director, will chart Cheney's rise to his vp role. The script will go out to actors shortly, as production is eyed to begin in spring.

► Lionsgate's Highlander reboot finds director. John Wick helmer Chad Stahelski has signed on to direct the long-gestating reboot for the studio. A search for new writers to work with Stahelski is about to get underway.

► Denzel Washington's Fences, reviewed. The takeaway from chief critic Todd McCarthy: "As faithful, impeccably acted and honestly felt a film adaptation of August Wilson's celebrated play as the late author could have possibly wished for."

↱ Trailer watch: Robert De Niro can't choose between "a job or being an ass" in The Comedian. The first look at Martin Scorsese's historical religious drama Silence debuts. ↲

Spirit Award noms: How to read them. Scott Feinberg writes: To all the Oscar publicists who emailed me this morning — whether they were celebrating or despairing — I have a message: Take a chill pill. If history has shown us anything, it’s that the Spirit Awards have very little bearing on the Oscars. A close look I Full list.

Ari's Trump Meeting: Who Benefits?

WME-IMG co-CEO Ari Emanuel presumably has the ear of President-elect Donald Trump, his former client. Could he serve as a bridge to the concerns of his Hollywood and media clients? Rebecca Sun takes closer look:

What's intriguing is that Emanuel is a Democrat, and his circle includes many of the most influential or politically outspoken figures in Hollywood and the media. Emanuel represents several anchors on MSNBC, likely the opposition voice to the new Republican-controlled government, but it's unclear how much access any journalists will be given to the White House.

Emanuel also represents Oprah Winfrey, whom Trump named as his ideal running mate in 1999, and works closely with clients and Clinton supporters Michael Moore, Tyler Perry and Charlize Theron, whom the president-elect once rated as "a solid 7." Other clients and beneficiaries.

Elsewhere in Trumpland...

► About the Trump-N.Y. Times meeting. After a dramatic cancellation and reversal, the meeting of the mogul President-elect and the Grey Lady's editors became a must-follow event yesterday. If you missed the shards of info tweeted minute-by-minute, the on-the-record chat also got a full transcript.

A chaser...

At the White House yesterday: Robert De Niro, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Redford, Diana Ross, Michael Jordan, Vin Scully, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more notables received the Medal of Freedom honor from Obama. Ellen tweets: "What a wonderful day."

TV briefs...

► TV Land's Heathers enlists Shannen Doherty. The actress, who originated the role of Heather Duke in the 1988 movie, confirmed that she will have a role in the TV reboot (playing a "pivotal, unnamed character").

► Freeform teams with Jim Parsons for comedy. The former ABC Family network and the Big Bang Theory actor are developing single-camera comedy The Monarchy Is Going to Sh*t, which has a script commitment.

► Fox plans Thin Ice pilot with Liz Meriwether. The network has handed out a pilot order (its first for the 2017-2018 season) to single-camera comedy Thin Ice from the New Girl creator.

► HBO debuts Girls final season teaser. The cabler released a brief clip yesterday for the sixth and final season, set to premiere Feb. 12, in which Hannah and Co. are trying to finally get it right. Watch.

► BBC renews hit drama Call the Midwife for 3 seasons. Each season will consist of eight hour-long episodes and a holiday special. The order will take the nuns and midwives featured in the show, which in the U.S. has aired on PBS, into the mid-1960s.

► R.I.P., Ron Thornton. The Emmy-winning Star Trek visual effects designer, often credited with bringing the power of CGI to television VFX, died Monday after an undisclosed short illness. He was 59. Full obit.

↱ Quoted, Paul Schrader. The screenwriter on Showtime's small-screen remake of his 1980 movie American Gigolo: "I'm a quote-unquote consultant, which meant that I got paid some money not to be involved." ↲

Scientology looms as Vivian Kubrick scraps Shelley Duvall crowdfunding. Seth Abramovitch writes: Stanley Kubrick's daughter disconnected from her family decades ago, according to relatives; now observers are questioning why she attempted to raise $100,000 to help the mentally ill actress when her religion forbids psychiatric treatment. The bizarre story.

Today in '88: 'Scrooged' Arrives

Today in 1988, moviegoers were greeted by a slightly darker holiday tale: Bill Murray as a dour TV exec in Scrooged. An excerpt from THR's original review:

"A leading publication recently documented the number of wackos who are extraordinarily successful business and community leaders. Not surprisingly, the list included a number of entertainment industry heavies.

While it certainly was an impressive compilation of megalomaniacs and functional psychotics, those listed could take lessons in chewing-them-up-and-spitting-them-out from Bill Murray.

In Scrooged, Murray stars as a nutso network nabob hellbent on winning the Christmas season."

// A programming note: We're off until Monday, have a Happy Thanksgiving, and if you've got a moment between the turkey leftover sandwiches during the long weekend, send us a note about what you like and dislike about this newsletter, things you'd want to see, personal grievances, Netflix recommendations or anything else. We're at newsletter@thr.com. Thanks! //