What's news: WarnerMedia's new CEO wants to help company "lean into the future," domestic box office off $600 million so far this year, Quibi and T-Mobile reveal launch details, a bombshell Paradigm lawsuit, reality producers lean into docuseries post-Tiger King, an uncertain future for paparazzi. Plus: Universal delays Minions: Rise of Gru and other films, and dealmaking continues. --Alex Weprin

 WarnerMedia's New CEO

►WarnerMedia has a new CEO. Founding Hulu president Jason Kilar replaces John Stankey, who was recently upped to president and chief operating officer at the parent company AT&T. Kilar, who will report to Stankey, will join the company on May 1.

--His appointment also signals that WarnerMedia is prioritizing the performance of its forthcoming streaming service, HBO Max, Natalie Jarvey writes. He brings deep streaming experience to the roll. After several years at Amazon, where he was a close ally of CEO Jeff Bezos, Kilar became the founding CEO of Hulu. From 2007 to 2013, he saw the fledgling streamer through its period of early growth and navigated the complex corporate relationship between its three owners, Disney, NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox. The story.

+Kilar tells THR's Natalie Jarvey that he wants to help WarnerMedia "lean into the future." "The world doesn't need two Ann [Sarnoff]s or two Bob [Greenblatt]s or two Jeff [Zucker]s or two Kevins or two Casey [Bloys]s."

"My job is going to be quite a bit different than any of those jobs. My job is to think about strategy. My job is to think about resources and making sure that people have what they need to do the best work of their lives, to remove friction and to try and sort through some of the gnarly things that are going to be confronting any company on the planet — particularly media companies — with regards to consumer behavior changes." The interview.

►Just in: T-Mobile reveals details of Quibi distribution deal. Some wireless customers will get a free one-year membership to the mobile-first video service, and to sweeten the incentive, customers who sign up via the rewards app T-Mobile Tuesdays will have early access to three episodes of the Jennifer Lopez-produced unscripted series Thanks A Million. The details.

►Domestic box office off $600 million year-over-year so far amid virus crisis. It's no surprise that most of the damage was inflicted in March as cases of COVID-19 spread across the U.S. and Canada. By March 19, virtually all cinemas in both countries were closed, save for a smattering of indie cinemas and drive-ins.

--Domestic ticket sales turned in a combined $1.81 billion from Jan. 1 through March 19, the day when Comscore stopped reporting theater grosses. That compares to $2.41 billion for the first full three months of 2019, according to Comscore. The numbers.

►Fired Paradigm agent drops bombshell lawsuit on CEO: "Sam Gores cannot be trusted." Debbee Klein's suit, filed at the Superior Court of California by Freedman + Taitelman LLP, makes a number of incendiary allegations against Gores' management of Paradigm, including that he kept his personal driver and chef on the payroll even as the agency fired staff blaming the coronavirus pandemic and that he was using the company expense account "as a slush fund to pay for his sexual dalliances with prostitutes." The story.

►Endeavor to cut pay companywide amid pandemic. As with several other agencies that have taken similar measures, the pay reductions will proportionately increase according to base salary, from 5 to 30 percent, except for Endeavor president Mark Shapiro, who is cutting his compensation by half. The adjustments will be reflected in the next paycheck.

--Salaries of less than $65,000 a year will not be reduced – this includes employees such as WME's assistant group. The paycuts will apply across all of Endeavor's holdings – which also include IMG, the Miss Universe Organization and Professional Bull Riders – except for UFC, which it does not wholly own. The story.

►How I'm Living Now: Jane Fonda. With the novel coronavirus keeping Fonda at home in Los Angeles, the star opens up about shifting her Fire Drill Friday activism online, enjoying her alone time and binging Curb Your Enthusiasm after a bad experience with Tiger King. The interview.

 Unknown Future For Paparazzi

►"Unknown territory": A top paparazzo on shooting stars amid L.A.'s virus lockdown. With the European market "dead" and the famous-face-in-a-mask picture soon to be “boring,” the head of a photo agency assesses the celebrity photo business.

Quote: "We’re still taking pictures. But we don’t know who will buy them. In Europe, the market’s dead, starting a month ago. Budgets fell out right away. [Outlets] said, "We aren’t going to be able to sell as many copies in the coming weeks." They knew they were going to have a drop in advertisements and a drop in circulation. Now, the [American] market is almost dead." The interview.

►Sony launches $100M virus relief fund. The Tokyo-based conglomerate said the initiative would target three areas: supporting frontline medical professionals and first responders to fight the virus; aiding children and educators who must now work remotely, and supporting members of the creative community in the entertainment industry, "which has been greatly impacted by the spread of the virus." More.

►Fox News Channel's top advertisers silent over its coronavirus coverage. Board members have also kept mum even as some staffers at the network have expressed their disappointment, Jeremy Barr reports: "Everyone's dumping all over Fox anchors, and rightly so, for not taking this seriously."

--"While the anchors were on air calling the whole thing a hoax to impeach the president, we were having daily meetings on how to prepare for a 9/11-like scenario and how we’d stay on air," one behind-the-scenes Fox staffer told THR.

--"The cherry-picking of our opinion coverage is grossly irresponsible and we are extremely proud of our coverage and the public service we’ve provided to millions of Americans," a Fox News spokesperson said. The story.



^Analyst upgrades Fox, downgrades Disney in new coronavirus impact report. The move "primarily reflects our view that Fox is best positioned among peers in a weaker, but ultimately stable consumer environment," writes Guggenheim's Michael Morris, who also notes that "Disney has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, impacted across virtually every segment of the company." The story.

+Disney stock price target lowered by Morgan Stanley analyst. "Disney's portfolio is in the crosshairs of both the recession and the global pandemic," Ben Swinburne wrote in an April 1 investors note as he forecast the COVID-19 pandemic will keep the studio's theme parks, resorts, retail stores, global theatrical exhibition and live sports broadcasts virtually closed or delayed through to the end of June. The story.

+ViacomCBS pauses up to $2.5 billion in asset sales amid virus crisis. The firm is hoping to sell off Simon & Schuster and the CBS Black Rock headquarters in New York, while also nearing a close of its $375 million acquisition of a stake in Miramax. The story.

►Before shuttering, Hollywood production in Canada had hit a new high. The Canadian Media Producers Association, representing indie producers, on Thursday issued their Profile 2019 report that reveals total foreign, mostly U.S. film and TV production in Canada last year rose by $151 million in spending, or 3.2 percent, to an all-time high of $4.86 billion. More.

►More trouble for ESPN: Wimbledon was canceled Wednesday because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the first time since World War II that the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament won't be played. The All England Club announced after an emergency meeting that the event it refers to simply as The Championships is being scrapped for 2020. More.

►Sean Penn partners with Los Angeles for coronavirus testing location. The actor and his non-profit, CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), partnered with the city to help run a coronavirus testing center in East Los Angeles. More information about the project, such as whether Penn will also be manning the pop-up was not immediately available. The exact location is unclear. More.

►Jorge Gutierrez continuing production on Maya and the Three amid coronavirus crisis. Netflix Animation has developed a set up that allows him to use his work computer and digital tablet at his home studio, the director tells THR. The limited series, which drops on Netflix in the summer of 2021, is a 4 ½-hour epic that will be released in 30-minute episodes. Inspired by Mesoamerican mythology and its female heroes, it follows Maya, a Mesoamerican warrior princess who embarks on a journey to save the world of gods and man with three legendary fighters. The story.

►Norman Lloyd is surviving his second pandemic. THR's Scott Feinberg checked in with probably the one person in Hollywood who was alive during the last great global epidemic — the Spanish flu — to see how the 105-year-old actor is holding up. More.

In other coronavirus-related news...

--U.K. TV giant ITV has offered marketers discounts and other incentives if they make advertising bookings amid the coronavirus pandemic, Georg Szalai reports.

--Ali Wentworth is the latest Hollywood figure to announce that they have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

--Amazon's Twitch streaming platform hit all-time highs in hours watched, hours streamed and concurrent viewers amid the coronavirus quarantine, according to a new report from analytics firms StreamLabs and Stream Hatchet.

--The Walt Disney Co., through its parks division, has donated more than 100,000 N95 masks for medical professionals in New York, California and Florida amid the coronavirus crisis, the company said Wednesday. 

--South Korea's government has unveiled a series of measures designed to boost the country's influential but coronavirus-battered film industry.

--The Monte-Carlo Television Festival is the latest industry event to fall victim to the new coronavirus... New Zealand's Doc Edge Festival will switch to an online format...

--As the COVID-19 crisis puts the brakes on local advertising buys, Canadian TV networks continue to follow their U.S. peers in cancelling plans for their annual Upfront presentations in Toronto.

Obituaries: Adam Schlesinger, co-founder of the 2000s pop-rock band Fountains of Wayne and a songwriter on The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, has died. The musician was 52. Schlesinger died Wednesday morning of complications from the coronavirus. The obituary... Ellis Marsalis, jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical family that includes famed musician sons Wynton and Branford, has died. He was 85. The obituary...

 Pivot To Docuseries

►Amid coronavirus and Tiger King, reality producers double down on docuseries. Most unscripted producers and documentarians aren’t actually brainstorming ways to translate America’s current, distorted reality of isolation and social-distancing into reality TV, Michael O'Connell writes. They’re looking through their own libraries of unused footage and past pitches, wondering if the next Tiger King hides somewhere inside.

--“The question every producer is asking themselves right now is, ‘What can we make with the assets we have on hand?’” says Thalia Mavros, founder of production company The Front. “And that’s the same question we’re being asked in all of our meetings with buyers.” The story.

+Tiger King directors reveal the A-list movie star Joe Exotic hopes will play him. Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin speak to Seth Abramovitch about the burning questions and backlashes to the blockbuster Netflix series that has everyone talking. The interview.

+Tiger King's Joe Exotic is in jail's coronavirus isolation, says husband. Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka "Joe Exotic," the Tiger King, is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for his part in a murder-for-hire plot. More.



^Minions: Rise of Gru lands new summer 2021 release; Sing 2, Wicked delayed. Wednesday's announcement was among several moves made by Universal as it continued to reshuffle its release calendar due to the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic, including unprecedented theater closures, and disruptions in the production and post-production process. The new dates.

 Media companies must face coal executive's $12 billion libel suit. Don Blankenship, the former chief of Massey Energy who unsuccessfully attempted to run for Senate in West Virginia two years ago, has received the green light to proceed in a defamation suit that blames quite a number of individuals and media organizations for his political loss. Although a federal judge has cut more than a dozen journalists from the suit for lack of personal jurisdiction, Blankenship gets to move forward against 20 defendants including ABC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and even the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The story.

+Judge allows just one claim in musician's suit over Fortnite dance routine. Leo Pellegrino, a professional baritone saxophone player, was among the throngs of individuals who filed suit against Epic Games for allegedly lifting dance moves for Fortnite. On Tuesday, he became the one who provoked a judge into a 25-page decision. More.

+Call of Duty wins First Amendment victory over use of Humvees. A judge rules that Activision is entitled to summary judgment in a trademark lawsuit brought by the manufacturer of military vehicles, AM General. The story.

Deals are still being made out there...

+Comcast, Fox strike a new carriage deal. The agreement will see Fox’s full suite of channels, including Fox News, FS1, Fox Business and Fox Deportes, as well as the local Fox television stations, remain available to Comcast cable subscribers. More.

+Dodgers games to be carried on DirecTV as Spectrum strikes AT&T deal. After six years of a stalemate, the two companies have come to terms for the channel... right as the MLB season remains very much in doubt. More.

+T-Mobile, Sprint close $31 billion mega-deal. The combined entity, the new T-Mobile, touts itself as poised for the 5G wireless network era. "The New T-Mobile’s commitment to delivering a transformative broad and deep nationwide 5G network is more important and more needed than ever and what we are building is mission-critical for consumers," said Mike Sievert, president and CEO of T-Mobile, who takes over the reins from John Legere. More.

►The spring runs of Showtime's Billions and Black Monday will be abbreviated thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The two shows will air a portion of their seasons as scheduled (Black Monday is already airing) before pausing at what the premium cable outlet says is a natural break point in each of their story lines. The third season of The Chi will also move up a couple weeks to fill in for Billions when the latter finishes its spring run. More.

►TV reviews: Inkoo Kang reviews FX on Hulu's Mrs. America... Daniel Fienberg reviews the Apple TV+ mystery Home Before Dark...

►TV ratings: CBS was the only English-language network to air a full night of original episodes Tuesday, and it dominated the primetime ratings. FBI set season highs in both total viewers (10.81 million) and adults 18-49 (1.2 rating), topping last week's numbers (10.67 million and 1.1). The episode also featured a relatively rare cross-network crossover, as Tracy Spiridakos guest-starred as her Chicago PD character (both shows are produced by Dick Wolf). The numbers.

 Rising genre writer Christina Pamies has been tapped to pen the adaptation of the horror short Baghead for StudioCanal. Alberto Corredor, who directed the celebrated short, is on board to helm the feature version. More.

+For the first time, the comic book industry is on hold. Comics have been published on a regular basis in the U.S. through all number of existential threats in the past, whether it’s World War II — even with paper shortages — or Watergate, oil crises or 9/11, Graeme McMillan writes. Comics, and the escapism they offer, have been ever present… and, as of today, they’re not. More.

In other news...

--Adult Swim will debut the second half of Rick and Morty's fourth season May 3, about five months after the first five episode finished airing.

--Almost no one watches FXX's Dave when it first airs on cable. Quite a few people tune in afterward, however — so many that it could end up as the most-watched debut season of an FX Networks comedy.

--Critic's notebook: Why Never Rarely Sometimes Always is so rare among American abortion dramas.

--Zach Braff, Donald Faison hope their Scrubs podcast Is a way to honor the medical community.

--Acorn TV, AMC Networks' streaming service focusing on British dramas and comedies, has set out plans for its U.K. launch.

What else we're reading...

--"YouTube plans 'Shorts' to rival TikTok" [The Information]

--"Companies avoid advertising next to coronavirus news" [WSJ]

--"Alarm, denial, blame: The pro-Trump media’s coronavirus distortion" [NY Times]

--"Schur Farms: The organic creation of some of the century’s most iconic characters" [The Ringer]

--"Amazon Prime Video now allows in-app rentals and purchases on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV" [The Verge]

Today's birthdays: Michael Fassbender, 43, Christopher Meloni, 59, Don Sutton, 75, Bobby Bones, 40, Quavo, 29.