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Trump's "Crooked" TV Meeting; 'Moana' Battles 'Beasts'; Hollywood Email Fears; Trump Tower Exodus

November 22, 2016

What's news: It's Fantastic Beasts vs. Brad Pitt and The Rock at the box office as the Thanksgiving weekend kicks off tonight. Plus: James Corden is set to host the Grammys, Trump meets the TV execs (and berates them), Netflix signs Dave Chappelle and CNN faces backlash over an offensive chyron. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman.

Top TV Execs Quietly Meet Trump

The biggest names in TV news met with the President-elect on Monday in Trump Tower for an off the record conversation. What was actually discussed? Marisa Guthrie emails:

A source tells me that this meeting with news execs was not as combative as it was initially described in the New York Post. But Trump did, true to form, complain about the "dishonest" media even as he claimed to want a "cordial " and "productive" relationship.

At the meeting: Fox News' Bill Shine, CNN's Jeff Zucker and Wolf Blitzer; CBS' Charlie Rose and Gayle King; NBC's Lester Holt and Chuck Todd; and ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Martha Raddatz and David Muir.

The same source told me he "scolded" the media for getting it wrong. CNN and NBC news were particular targets. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and seemed to complain about Katy Tur, though he did not name her. Reince Priebus was playing "good cop" and promised to work with the press pool.

Elsewhere in real-life...

► Are Trump Tower residents fleeing? The president-elect doesn’t want to leave the building but it appears more tenants are joining the exodus as an analysis reveals that nearly 15 percent of the units are for sale or for rent — and prices are falling.

► Thomas Barrack, prominent Hollywood Trump backer, speaks out. "I believe that people will be awed by the future success of a Trump presidency," the head of Colony Capital tells THR in a Q&A. "His 100-day agenda will heal the wounds, bridge the divide and sculpt paths to make inclusive those constituencies that have felt excluded."

► CNN criticized over "If Jews Are People" headline crawl. During a segment on Trump's transition, CNN's Jim Sciutto (filling in for Jake Tapper) spoke with two media correspondents about alt-right leader Richard Spencer with the chyron at the bottom of the screen reading, "Alt-right founder questions if Jews are people."

Jake Tapper tweets: "I'm off today but that chyron is unacceptable and I immediately called my staff to convey that."

Meanwhile, in TV...

► Netflix enlists Dave Chappelle. The comedian and director Stan Lathan will produce an original comedy special with its premiere date TBD. Also: Two other never-before-seen specials from Chappelle's vault will debut on the streamer in 2017.

► TNT orders Snowpiercer pilot. The Turner-owned cabler has handed out a pilot for the futuristic thriller based on the award-winning Bong Joon Ho feature film. Josh Friedman (Sarah Connor Chronicles) will pen the script for Tomorrow Studios.

► Fox plans Catalina comedy. The network is teaming with New Girl duo Jake Johnson and Max Winkler as well as comedy veteran Mary Fitzgerald (Cougar Town) for a father-daughter single-camera comedy set on Catalina Island.

► BBC America renews Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. The network has greenlit the series, starring Elijah Wood and Samuel Barnettfor a ten-episode second season to debut in 2017. The season one finale airs Dec. 10.

► VH1 renews Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party. The pickup comes just three weeks into the show's run. The series opened to a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 3 million total viewers in live-plus-three numbers.

In THR, Esq... Amber Heard sued over alleged conspiracy to undermine London Fields ... Judge allows bid to free "We Shall Overcome" from copyright ... Ex-Hollywood Today Live host sues for discrimination and harassment.

Box Office: 'Moana' vs. Brad Pitt

Disney's latest princess is set to conquer the Thanksgiving box office, Pamela McClintock writes in the holiday weekend forecast:

Disney Animation Studios' critically acclaimed Moana is projected to gross $75M or more over the five-day holiday, which gets underway Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Robert Zemeckis' World War II spy thriller Allied, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard and budgeted at $85M, is projected to debut at $20M.

Director Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply isn't expected to go beyond $8M. And the R-rated black comedy Bad Santa 2, once again starring Billy Bob Thornton, could open in the mid-teens.

Elsewhere in film...

► Marvel's Black Panther adds Angela Bassett. The actress is set to play the mother of the title character in the tentpole feature directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Chadwick Boseman.

► Legendary picks up rights to Dune. The studio is looking to develop film and TV projects for a global audience based on the classic sci-fi novel. Thomas Tull, Mary Parent and Cale Boyter would produce. Could this be the next Star Wars?

↱ The Founder, reviewed. Michael Keaton stars as Ray Kroc, the man who helped make McDonald's a billion-dollar brand, in the latest from director John Lee Hancock. The takeaway from critic David Rooney: "The quality-drama version of fast food." ↲

► Matthew McConaughey's Gold pushed to 2017. The mining drama, initially scheduled for a wide release next month, will now hit theaters on Jan. 27, TWC-Dimension said. The film will also get an Oscar-qualifying run in December.

► Cross Creek Pictures plans Nobel family biopic. Gary Shore will direct a feature about the infamous family of inventors whose legacy is the Nobel Prizes. Titled The Great Game, Black List writer Bryan McMullin penned the script.

Newly updated: Oscar standings so far. In the latest heat index of awards contenders, analyst Scott Feinberg looks at which titles are benefiting on the eve of Thanksgiving (Hidden Figures is moving up). Full forecast.

Kanye's Canceled Tour: What's the Cost?

Kanye West canceled lots of Saint Pablo tour dates and checked in to a hospital last night for sleep-deprivation. What's the financial hit? Billboard's Dan Rys estimates:

"Counting the rescheduled, then canceled, final Los Angeles date, West is on the hook to refund 22 dates of the tour. According to Billboard Boxscore, of the 26 dates reported from the Saint Pablo Tour so far, West had grossed $34.5M on attendance of 396,972, numbers that include the final Forum date before its eventual cancelation.

The 22 canceled dates will force ticket refunds worth about $27.3M, Billboard estimates, including multi-night runs in Philadelphia and Brooklyn.

One important note: Billboard Boxscore includes the 26 shows reported by Live Nation so far, though the Forum cancelation knocks that number down to 25; West has played 40 shows in total to date on this tour."

Just signed: James Corden agrees to host Grammys. The Late Late Show host has signed on to host the music awards event, replacing longtime emcee LL Cool J, who has hosted the show the past five years. Corden: "I feel incredibly lucky."

Hollywood's Email Fears Escalate

While many in Hollywood enjoyed (or dreaded) searching for their names in the email hack of Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, it also brought flashbacks of 2014's Sony breach. Sharon Swart checks in with execs and filmmakers about how they chat:

"I'm much more cautious, even with friends," says documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney, who has made enemies of institutions from Scientology to the Department of Justice. He uses the phone for some sensitive discussions and the Signal app to encrypt calls and texts.

Open Road Films CEO Tom Ortenberg says his company took "a lot of information offline — old-schooling it" after the Sony hack. And after reading the script for Oliver Stone's Snowden, which Open Road released, "we put Band-Aids over our webcams."

Mark Duplass had the fear struck into him while directing his first studio film, 2010's Cyrus. "I emailed my producer Michael Costigan because I was having problems with the notes I was getting from Fox Searchlight. I said, 'This is crazy.' He said, 'First rule: Don't ever email that stuff.'"

Today's Birthdays: Alden Ehrenreich, 27, Scarlett Johansson, 32, Mark Ruffalo, 49, Mads Mikkelsen, 51, Jamie Lee Curtis, 58, Steven Van Zandt, 66, Terry Gilliam, 76.