What's news: Global film industry facing $5 billion coronavirus hit, as the economic impact of the outbreak spreads, Chris Matthews out at MSNBC, Endeavor invests in Tongal, Deborah Dugan fired by the Recording Academy, Almost Family canceled at Fox, remembering James Lipton. Plus: The most-wanted video game film adaptations, and where to turn for a digital detox. --Alex Weprin

 Coronavirus Impact Widens

►Global film industry facing $5 billion loss amid coronavirus outbreak. Movie theaters have been shuttered in China for weeks, but the virus is beginning to heavily impact moviegoing in South Korea, Italy and even Japan, the world's third-biggest film market. Some analysts believe COVID-19 could already result in a loss of at least $5 billion from diminished box office revenue and impacted production. That number could grow if moviegoing falters in other markets, including the U.S., where there have been 100 confirmed cases and six deaths to date, Scott Roxborough, Patrick Brzeski, and Pamela McClintock report. The story.

+Disney+ Europe launch event in London canceled over coronavirus fears. Disney's streaming platform was due to herald its expansion across select European territories March 24 with an event Thursday evening followed by a press conference and panel discussions Friday morning, with journalists from across the continent invited to London to take part. The story.

+WarnerMedia limits staff travel amid coronavirus crisis. Jeff Zucker, chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports, sent out a memo on Monday morning laying out a series of new employee guidelines amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Quote: "While some of these protocols may seem inconvenient, they are being taken out of an abundance of caution to keep you all safe," Zucker wrote. "We will work to be sure that our staffing needs are met, but limit any participants that are not absolutely critical to getting our content out or meeting basic revenue-generating needs." The story.

+Imax, too: As the coronavirus spreads globally and into North America, Imax has gone beyond restricting its staff in China to working remotely from home to curbing nonessential travel for its employees worldwide. More.

+Facebook joins Twitter in skipping SXSW over coronavirus concerns. "Due to concerns related to coronavirus, our company and employees will not be participating in SXSW this year," a spokeswoman for the social networking company said Monday in a statement. Facebook had about a dozen speakers scheduled to participate in the event and one activation. More.

+Gucci cancels cruise show in San Francisco due to coronavirus fears. The brand told THR that given "the ongoing uncertainty prompted by the coronavirus outbreak," the event has been canceled "as a precautionary measure," adding, "A decision on the new timing and location of the show will be announced at a later date once the situation becomes clearer. At this time, our thoughts are with all of those affected around the world.” More.

►Endeavor invests in content creation platform Tongal. The entertainment, sports and content company, which had been using Tongal for several months to develop video content, podcasts and series, participated in a $13 million financing round that was led by venture capital and private equity firm Insight Partners, Natalie Jarvey reports. The story.

 Chris Matthews Out

►Chris Matthews retires from MSNBC. Matthews on Monday night announced his retirement from the network after more than 20 years at the left-leaning cable channel. He will be replaced at 7 p.m. by a rotating group of hosts. While Matthews was expected to retire in the near future, the sudden announcement comes amid a series of recent flaps and controversies.

Quote: "Let me start with my headline tonight: 'I'm retiring,'" Matthews said. "This is the last Hardball on MSNBC, and obviously this isn't for lack of interest in politics. As you can tell, I've loved every minute of my 20 years as host of Hardball. Every morning I read the papers and I'm gung-ho to get to work. Not many people have had this privilege. ... I'm very proud of the work I've done here." The story.

Revolving door: Longtime CBS communications chief Dana McClintock will leave ViacomCBS mid-year... Showtime has tapped executives Puja Vohra and Garrett Wagner for leading roles on the premium cabler's marketing team... Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and U.S. presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has signed with CAA in speaking... Imax on Monday named Pablo Calamera as its new chief technology officer... Apple executive Michelle Mendelovitz is headed to 20th Century Fox TV to lead the studio's drama development team...

►Super Mario Bros., Pac-Man top America's list of most-wanted video game films. Nintendo titles generate the most movie interest from U.S. adults, a new Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll finds. The nationally representative poll, conducted from Feb. 21-23 among 2,200 U.S. adults, found that 44 percent of respondents were "very" or "somewhat" interested in a new Mario film, the most of any other game franchise on the survey. Pac-Man and Mario Kart tied for the No. 2 spot with 37 percent of respondents notching the "very" or "somewhat" interested votes. More.

Elsewhere in film...

--Judy Blume's beloved novel Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is officially getting the feature film treatment. Lionsgate, which committed to a green light on the movie, won a heated bidding war for the film rights to the property, which will be adapted by Edge of Seventeen filmmaker Kelly Fremon Craig.

--Channing Tatum’s Dog has a found a home. MGM has picked up the North American rights to the road comedy being co-directed by Tatum and Reid Carolin. Tatum is also starring.

--Cinema Guild has picked up U.S. rights to Hong Sang-soo's The Woman Who Ran on the heels of its world premiere in Berlin, where Hong won the Silver Bear for best director.

--A memoir by Woody Allen, rumored for years and once thought unpublishable in the #MeToo era, is coming out next month.

--Eighteen months after Robert Attermann, Brian Cho and Adam Bold acquired Abrams Artists Agency from founder Harry Abrams, the new owners are putting their stamp on the firm with a name change. The company will now be known as A3 Artists Agency

--A young boy sets out to save his father in the latest trailer for Disney's long-in-the-works Artemis Fowl adaptation.



^Deborah Dugan terminated by Recording Academy. Dugan had been on paid administrative leave since Jan. 16. The decision comes after two independent investigations related to Dugan: One into her allegations against the Recording Academy and another into the accusations made against Dugan by her former assistant. The Academy also cites “the unwarranted and damaging media campaign that she launched in attempt, without justification, to derail the Grammy Awards show” and her “consistent management deficiencies and failures” as decision-making factors.

--In a statement, Dugan’s attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor and Michael J. Willemin of Wigdor LLP said: "The Academy’s decision to terminate Ms. Dugan and immediately leak that information to the press further demonstrates that it will stop at nothing to protect and maintain a culture of misogyny, discrimination, sexual harassment, corruption and conflicts of interest." The story.

Casting roundup, part one: Antonio Banderas is the latest A-lister to join Sony's Uncharted. Also joining the cast will be Tati Gabrielle... Kendrick Sampson is joining the Thirtysomething sequel at ABC... Ashley Zukerman will star as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon in NBC's drama pilot Langdon... HBO Max's Gossip Girl update has cast five actors — Whitney Peak, Eli Brown, Emily Alyn Lind, Johnathan Fernandez and Jason Gotay — as the first on-camera members of the ensemble... ABC's vampire drama The Brides has found one of its title characters in Gina Torres...

►Timothy Hutton accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in the 1980s. Sera Johnston claimed that the incident occurred after she met the actor in Vancouver in 1983 while out on the town at Granville Island with three friends in middle school. Representatives for Hutton said the actor “completely and unequivocally denies” the story. His lawyer told the publication he had never met Johnston and "will not spend one more minute dignifying these allegations as they are patently false and designed only to extort money from him." The story.

►Fox cancels Almost Family. The series, which wrapped its 13-episode run on Feb. 22 — the final two episodes were shunted off to a Saturday night well after the bulk of episodes had aired — was among the lowest-rated shows on the Big Four networks this season. Timothy Hutton was one of the leads. More.

Elsewhere in TV...

--Walt Disney has signed a nonexclusive distribution deal for its streaming service Disney+ with Comcast-owned European pay TV giant Sky as part of a new multi-partnership between the companies.

--Slave Play author and Zola co-writer Jeremy O. Harris has signed an overall deal at HBO.

--Breaking Bad stars break down their Better Call Saul comeback.

--Bachelor reunion: Chris Harrison says "line has been crossed" with social media hate against women.

--Ratings: American Idol's same-day ratings came down a little bit for the second consecutive week, but the ABC singing competition still led primetime Sunday in adults 18-49.

 James Lipton, 1926-2020

Obituary: James Lipton, the elegant, articulate wordsmith and theater academic whose desire to give his acting students a greater insight into their art led to the popular Bravo series Inside the Actors Studio, has died. Lipton passed away early Monday at his home in Manhattan from bladder cancer, his wife Kedakai Turner told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 93. The obituary.

+Hollywood pays tribute. Andy Cohen, Piers Morgan and more took to social media to remember the late Inside the Actors Studio host on Monday. The tributes.

 Comcast customers in Denver can't watch their local NBA and NHL teams play, but according to the cable giant, that doesn't convert a "garden variety commercial disagreement into an antitrust suit." Failing to negotiate an extension of a regional sports network doesn't amount to an unlawful refusal to deal, argues that cable giant. The story.

+Charter challenges copyright registrations of music recordings. Facing a billion-dollar lawsuit, the internet service provider questions whether a big percentage of sound recordings have been improperly registered as works for hire. More.

+Alcon's lawsuit over failed Blade Runner 2049 Peugeot partnership dismissed as "rambling." Alcon in January 2019 sued Peugeot claiming that the automaker offered to pay $500,000 and commit to spending $30 million in promotional media in connection with Blade Runner 2049. While a formal long-form agreement was never finalized, Alcon claims their agreement on key terms was binding and Peugeot's failure to follow through hurt the film at the box office. More.

+Judge rejects class action over streaming royalties for musicians. Some recording artists have contracts that expressly discuss streaming while others don't. The lack of conformity presents an obstacle to a group lawsuit focused on "intercompany charges" at Warner Music Group, Eriq Gardner reports. More.



^Addicted to your phone? Steven Spielberg's former assistant can help. Tommy Sobel, a former Amblin digital media exec, throws screen-free getaways in spots like Ojai that challenge guests to seal their devices in VHS cases and make meaningful real-world connections. Degen Pener has the story.

+Related: Where Hollywood goes for digital detox retreats... Eight apps to help manage stress... Irena Medavoy: Where I go for my post-awards-season colonics...

►Death Stranding, Control lead BAFTA Games Awards nominations. Both Death Stranding and Control's 11 nominations were the highest number of nominations for a game in the history of the BAFTA Games Awards. The full list of nominees.

►Another honor for Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift was the best-selling recording artist of 2019, according to IFPI, the organization that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. Swift earns the honor for the second time, her first being in 2014. More.

Casting roundup, part two: Natacha Karam, one of the co-stars of Fox’s 911: Lone Star, has joined the cast of Samaritan, MGM’s superhero-based adventure drama starring Sylvester Stallone... Kyra Sedgwick will lead the cast of My Village, a multicamera pilot from New Adventures of Old Christine creator Kari Lizer... Chuck Lorre's CBS comedy pilot B Positive has added You're the Worst breakout Kether Donohue and frequent Lorre collaborator Sara Rue to its cast... NBC has tapped Veep alum Reid Scott for a lead role in its drama pilot Echo...

►Awards Chatter podcast: Zoey Deutch, A leading lady of the "Netflix and chill" era reflects on her showbiz lineage, helping to revive the rom-com with Set It Up and, over the past year, juggling a supporting turn in a Ryan Murphy series with producing and starring in a micro-budget indie film. Listen.

What else we're reading...

--"Ad business likely to suffer as firms brace for spread of coronavirus" [WSJ]

--"Can YouTube quiet its conspiracy theorists" [NY Times]

--"Spotify’s newest pitch to labels and musicians: Now you pay us" [Bloomberg]

--"Former Weinstein Co. employee reveals why she helped take down Harvey" [LA Times]

--"ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV boosts marketing as free streaming services intensify fight" [WSJ]

Today's birthdays: George Miller, 75, Jessica Biel, 38, Buddy Valastro, 43, Alex Lange, 19, Camila Cabello, 23.