What's news: AMC Theatres raises $500 million to give it a lifeline until Thanksgiving, the White House releases a timeline for when movie theaters can reopen, J.J. Abrams sets a Shining spinoff and DC Comics series at HBO Max, the Directors Guild taps Steven Soderbergh to lead a coronavirus task force, remembering Brian Dennehy and Allen Daviau. Plus: Mark Cuban on White House talks to bring back live sports, and Universal's Green Hornet movie. --Alex Weprin

 AMC Theatres Looks For Liquidity Lifeline

►Amid cash crunch, AMC Theatres plans to raise $500 million in a private offering. The company said in a filing with the SEC that the debt offering will give it additional liquidity. The company added that with the cash it has on hand, it could remain solvent into July, and that the new offering would extend that lifeline until Thanksgiving. The exhibition giant on Thursday also said it had little visibility to predict when its cinema chain can enjoy a significant rebound. And it noted that some studios were breaking the traditional theatrical window with releases, threatening its business. 

--AMC also disclosed that it requires waivers from its revolver lenders to avoid breaching its 6x secured leverage ratios under debt covenants when tested beyond March 31, 2020. And securing those waivers would be required to complete its $500 million senior notes offering. "The closing of the notes offering will be conditioned on receiving these waivers. However, we can make no assurances in this regard and a failure to obtain these waivers could result in a default under these facilities," AMC wrote. The story.

+Wall Street's take: MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler said the debt sale "creates a near-term life line" for the company. "Assuming the deal is completed the threat of near-term bankruptcy gets eliminated," he said." However, longer-term it does not solve the issue about adding more debt on top of an already levered balance sheet." Handler reiterated his "sell" rating and $1 price target on AMC shares. The analysis.

It's possible, however, that some theaters could be open sooner that you might think...

►President Trump's economic re-opening recommendations includes guidelines for shuttered movie theaters. Under the guidelines, "large venues" — a grouping that includes theaters, sports venues, sit-down dining and places of worship — should be allowed to reopen during "Phase Two" with "moderate physical distancing protocols." Schools and elective surgeries also are part of Phase Two. Some could even open in "Phase One," but with very strict distancing protocols. The story.

+What about live sporting events? President Trump has made it clear that live sports will be a big part of his economic recovery plan. Even if much of the economy remains closed, and games are being played in arenas and stadiums without fans, just being able to watch those games on TV would deliver a much-needed confidence boost to consumers. At Thursday's White House briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that fans may be able to return to the stands under "Phase Three" of the White House plan.

--Meanwhile, league commissioners, team owners, and others are set to have regular White House-led meetings to discuss the matter. The first meeting was held Wednesday, and included Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and many others. "It was very introductory," Cuban told Today In Entertainment of the call with President Trump. "I'm looking forward to us making progress on future calls."

+On a related note: Cuban will be a guest on THR's Awards Chatter podcast with Scott Feinberg, set to post Monday.

►Contagion helmer Steven Soderbergh to lead Directors Guild's COVID-19 committee. On Thursday — the same day as the White House unveiled its three-phase "Opening Up America Again" blueprint — DGA president Thomas Schlamme and national executive director Russell Hollander wrote a letter to members addressing concerns about the novel coronavirus pandemic and disclosing the new task force chaired by Soderbergh.

--"The committee is consulting with top epidemiologists in the field, and we will collaborate with our sister guilds and unions and the employers as we put together a comprehensive guide to help us all return safely to work." The story.

 J.J. Abrams Sets HBO Max Slate

►J.J. Abrams has set his first three series at HBO Max. WarnerMedia's forthcoming streaming service has handed out straight-to-series orders for Duster, The Shining offshoot Overlook and what is described as a "major" show based on DC Comics characters in the Justice League Dark universe. All three projects will be executive produced by Abrams and his wife and Bad Robot partner Katie McGrath and Warner Bros. TV Group. Lesley Goldberg has the details.

A couple of other notable projects in development...

►Green Hornet and Kato feature in the works from Universal and Amasia Entertainment. Universal is optioning the rights to classic pulp crime-fighting hero from Amasia, the banner run by former Marvel Studios president Michael Helfant and Bradley Gallo.The move follows Amasia’s acquisition of the motion picture franchise rights in a highly competitive bidding war this past January. The story.

+Ubisoft developing a senior citizen esports movie from the I Feel Pretty team. The film, which is currently untitled, is based on a 2019 article in the Wall Street Journal, "The Next Generation of Competitive Gamers Is…Over 60?", by Laura Parker, which focused on a group of seniors who formed a competitive esports team. More.

►Sean Penn joins L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti to talk COVID-19 testing: "This is a very unique situation." The Oscar winner was joined by city leaders to talk and take questions on how his nonprofit CORE is helping coronavirus relief efforts: "It’s my job, with my staff, to gnaw, bite, scratch and kick to expand and force multiply as much as possible." The story.

►How I'm Living Now: Hasan Minhaj, Patriot Act host. Thanks to virtual communication apps like Zoom and Google Hangouts, the comedian has spent the quarantine workshopping how he can turn his graphics-heavy series into a timely virtual show. "We don't have a studio and we don't have an audience," he says, "but we still have all the elements that I think make Patriot Act really cool — the graphics, the data visuals, all of that stuff that people really, really like." Minhaj and his wife also welcomed the newest member of his family, a baby boy who he's dubbed a member of "Generation C" for being born in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic. The interview.

►Writers Guild unveils updated jobs platform as agency fight keeps up. The online staffing and development platform connects writers directly with showrunners, producers, and executives. The revamped platform features upgraded capabilities and an improved user experience to help writers find jobs, the guild said. More.

►Agencies set dates for virtual Cannes market. CAA Media Finance, Endeavor Content, ICM Partners and UTA Independent Film Group, together with a group of more than 30 indie film production and sales companies, will launch the virtual market from June 22-28. It will run alongside Cannes' own virtual Marche du Film, details of which will be unveiled Friday. The story.

In other coronavirus-related news...

--The novel coronavirus, which has forced Americans to shelter at home, has been a boon to Starz as it has seen a big spike in streaming viewership and subscriber growth in the last month.

--Seth Rogen says he's smoking "truly ungodly" amounts of pot in a blissful quarantine.

--Last summer's version of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival took place at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, this year — rather than scrap the event — organizers are forging ahead with an online edition amid a pandemic.\

--Facebook is canceling all public events through June 2021 amidst the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post on his account.

 Brian Dennehy, 1938-2020

Obituary: Brian Dennehy, the regular-guy actor whose bulldog build, good-guy demeanor and no-nonsense approach meshed in an array of memorable roles for film, television and the theater, has died. He was 81. Dennehy died Wednesday night of natural causes in New Haven, Connecticut.

--Dennehy played the sheriff in Washington state who doggedly pursues Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in First Blood (1982) and a district attorney who's out to save his own skin in the Harrison Ford-starrer Presumed Innocent (1990). He also portrayed lawmen in Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), F/X (1986) and its sequel, Best Seller (1987), The Last of the Finest (1990) and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) and starred as hard-charging real-life Chicago detective Jack Reed in five NBC telefilms from 1993 to 1996, writing and directing four of them. The obituary.

+ Hollywood pays tribute: Mia Farrow, William Shatner, Lin Manuel-Miranda and others weighed in on the actor's death. The tributes.

+Allen Daviau, the five-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer who worked for Steve Spielberg and Barry Levinson on films including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun and Bugsy, died Wednesday of complications from the coronavirus. He was 77. His death was announced by the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, where he lived. Daviau is the fourth resident at the MPTF facility to die from the virus. The obituary.

►Why The Good Fight is taking a week off from CBS All Access. With the cast and crew of the CBS All Access series scattered across the country — and in some cases, around the world — during stay-at-home mandates brought on by the pandemic, postproduction has become a more time-consuming process. The show will use the extra week to complete work on future episodes. Seven of 10 episodes were filmed before production stopped, and the plan is to air the remaining five episodes weekly, starting April 30. More.

►Riot Games acquires Hypixel Studios. The newly-formed studio — which was founded in 2018 by Simon Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Touchette, who created the successful independent Minecraft server Hypixel — is currently working on its first game, an open-world concept called Hytale, which combines an adventure mode featuring combat, crafting and construction for solo players and groups; a variety of mini-games; and a suite of tools for block-based construction, moviemaking and more. Hytale is set to launch in 2021. More.

+New firms: Former Zodiak Media Group CEO Gaspard de Chavagnac and Marina Williams, an ex-COO of Endemol Shine, have launched Asacha Media Group with equity backing from Oaktree Capital Management... Jonathan Ford, the former sales head of Kew Media Distribution, has launched a new distribution company, Abacus Rights Media (AMR), in partnership with Amcomri Media Group... Allen Kovac's Better Noise label is getting into feature films. Kovac — who has managed pop music acts like Blondie, Motley Crue and the Bee Gees — is launching Better Noise Films as part of the Better Noise Entertainment shingle...

►10 great shows about loners and misanthropes (the original social distancers). Whether you’re feeling isolated or envious of people quarantining in solitude — or just plain grumpy about the state of the world — these series may provide the comfort you need, write Daniel Fienberg and Inkoo Kang. The list.

►TV ratings: The season finale of Chicago Fire on Wednesday drew the largest same-day audience in the show's history, helping NBC sweep all three hours of primetime in total viewers. ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire declined significantly in its second week. The numbers.

►TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg are joined by producer Audrey Morrissey to discuss the cross-network special and Killing Eve showrunner Suzanne Heathcote opens up about lessons from Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Listen.

Revolving door: Sharon Vuong, head of unscripted programming at CBS, is leaving the network... Concordia Studio — the recently launched outfit from Davis Guggenheim and Jonathan King — has added Yasmin Hormozi and Patrick Callan to the studio as vps of narrative film and television...

In other news...

--After writing and directing the Oscar-nominated biopic Harriet, Kasi Lemmons has set her next project — an adaptation of Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King.

--AMC Networks has opened up an online destination for its advertising business, hoping to connect with clients now that face-to-face meetings are off-limits for the time being.

--The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Software Foundation is now hosting an Open-Shading Language research project.

--NBCU's Peacock released a bunch of trailers for its originals, including Angelyne, Saved By The Bell, and others.

--For now, Joe Exotic won't record a radio show from prison, official says.

--Jeffrey Tambor issues Transparent apology: "I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable."

What else we're reading...

--"Allow Fiona Apple to reintroduce herself" [Vulture]

---"‘Corona-Shamed’: George Stephanopoulos, J. Lo — maybe you?" [NY Times]

--"The NBA and Microsoft, and an interview with Adam Silver and Satya Nadella" [Stratechery]

--"Prince Harry and Meghan step into new L.A. life, delivering meals in WeHo" [LA Times]

--"NPR chief warns of steep cost cuts amid coronavirus pandemic" [WSJ]

Today's birthdays: Sean Bean, 61,Victoria Beckham, 46, Redman, 50, Jennifer Garner, 48, Rooney Mara, 35.