What's news: "The Snyder Cut" is real and it's coming to HBO Max, Smash the musical is real and it's coming to Broadway, Lori Laughlin pleads guilty, Tyler Perry memo outlines plan to return to production (germ-zapping robots could help too), entertainment biz facing a $160 billion pandemic hit, David E. Kelley adapting Anatomy of a Scandal for Netflix. Plus: How Mythic Quest's quarantine episode came together, the broadcast season's ratings winners and losers. --Alex Weprin

 HBO Max Snags "The Snyder Cut"

"The Snyder Cut" is real, and it will be coming to HBO Max. Zack Snyder left Warner Bros.' DC Comics tentpole Justice League early due to a family emergency, forcing Joss Whedon to step in. Now, Snyder's take on the film will see the light of the day, with WarnerMedia committing an additional $20-$30 million to get it done. HBO Max will debut the project in 2021 — possibly in a four-hour director's cut or in six TV-style "chapters" — as the helmer gets the gang back together with the original postproduction crew to score, cut and finish visual effects, Borys Kit reports.

Quote: "It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie," Snyder tells THR, noting that, to this day, he has not watched the version released in theaters. "You probably saw one-fourth of what I did," the director notes, basing his judgment on what has been shared with him of Whedon's version. The story.

+The move is also a coup for HBO Max, which launches next week. The streaming service intended to launch with a Friends reunion special, which would tie in to the service becoming the new streaming home for the classic comedy. That special and other original projects have been placed on hold with the pandemic shutting down production around the world. While Snyder's take on Justice League won't launch until next year at the earliest, it gives HBO Max an exclusive, buzz-worthy project to potentially accompany its ad-supported launch next year.

+The announcement is prescient, as Friends may not necessarily HBO Max's main draw. Americans are more likely to subscribe to the service for the DC Extended Universe and Game of Thrones than the ‘90s sitcom, a Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll finds. The HBO library remains the biggest draw overall. The story.

Oh, and speaking of projects that fans have been clamoring for online but that no one thought would actually happen...

►The cult-favorite NBC musical drama Smash is being turned into a Broadway musical. The meta-show about the making of a Broadway musical called Bombshell will feature a handful of songs from the series (including the Emmy and Grammy-nominated "Let Me Be Your Star"), along with new elements. Steven Spielberg, who produced the TV show, will also produce the Broadway production, as will former NBC entertainment chief and current WarnerMedia entertainment boss Bob Greenblatt. Yep, it's been a big 24 hours for Greenblatt. The story.

►Here's how Tyler Perry plans to get production going at his Atlanta studio. On Wednesday, Perry sent out a 30-page document to his cast outlining in great detail how he plans to safely start production up again in July amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

--The lengthy covenant is titled “Camp Quarantine,” as Perry has said that the cast and crew of his TV shows Sistas and The Oval will all stay on his sprawling studio lot in Georgia for the duration of filming in an effort to protect against the novel coronavirus. The document reveals the specifics steps each individual will need to take to protect against the spread of the virus as they get back to work, something Perry has been leading the charge on. Here are the details.

+The state of California will release its production guidelines on Monday. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the upcoming sectoral guidelines during an Economic Recovery & Reinvention Listening Tour conversation with industry leaders including Ted Sarandos, Ava DuVernay and Jon Huertas. The story.

+"Germ-zapping robots": How Hollywood might kill coronavirus fears on set. Hollywood has begun to take interest in a lab-certified disinfecting robot that uses pulses of ultraviolet (UV) light to kill SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, Bryn Elise Sandberg reports. Sources say CBS' Blue Bloods has shown serious interest in the $125,000 machines, which are already used in hospitals around the globe. More.

Just in: Lori Loughlin has agreed to pled guilty in the college admissions scandal that ensnared both the Full House actress and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli. The couple have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges. The actress agreed to two months in prison and 24 months of supervised release. Giannulli will do five months in jail, according to court documents. The story.

 Entertainment Sector Facing a 12-Figure Hit

►Here's a sobering statistic: The global entertainment sector is set to "lose $160 billion of growth" as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic over the next five years, research firm Ampere Analysis estimated in a report on Thursday. "Advertising is hit hardest both near term and overall, but drilling down into entertainment sectors shows that areas like theatrical are hit proportionally harder," said Guy Bisson, research director as Ampere Analysis. The story.

In movie news...

►Issa Lopez to direct adaptation of The Haunting of Girlstown for Blumhouse. The in-development project, titled Our Lady of Tears, will be an adaptation of recently published Epic Magazine and Vox article about a mass hysteria epidemic with supernatural roots in an all girls, Catholic boarding school. The story.

+Jessica Jones director S.J. Clarkson developing Marvel movie for Sony. The project Clarkson will be working with remains a mystery, though it is said to be a female-focused film. No writer or stars are yet attached. More.

+David Robert Mitchell raking on superhero genre with Heroes & Villains. MGM has picked up Mitchell’s film, a genre-blending and genre-bending project that he has written and will direct. Mitchell will also produce along with Chris Bender and Jake Weiner of Good Fear Content. More.

+Alan Menken to compose original songs and score for Skydance Animation's Spellbound. Menken — the legendary composer behind such Disney classics as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Tangled — will be joined by lyricist and frequent collaborator Glenn Slater and music producer Chris Montan. More.

+Peter Dinklage, Jason Momoa to star in vampire movie Good Bad & Undead. Dinklage would play Van Helsing, the last in a long line of vampire hunters, who has an uneasy partnership with a vampire (Momoa), who has taken a vow never to kill again. More.

+Mark Rylance's Waiting for the Barbarians lands at Samuel Goldwyn Films. The movie stars Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson and is directed by Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra. Samuel Goldwyn plans a digital release in August after earlier considering a theatrical release amid the coronavirus. More.

+Saban Films picks up thriller Don't Tell a Soul. The feature, which was set to screen at Tribeca, stars Fionn Whitehead, Jack Dylan Grazer and Rainn Wilson. More.

►How I'm Living Now: Brooklynn Prince, Home Before Dark actress. Riding out the pandemic in Vancouver, where the 10-year-old was shooting her series' second season when the shutdown began, she talks about celebrating her 10th birthday in quarantine, promoting a new show from home and her plan once this is all over. The interview.

Obituaries: Charles Lippincott, the veteran film publicist who masterminded the campaign for George Lucas' first Star Wars movie, died Tuesday night after being hospitalized last week following a heart attack. He was 80... Jon Whiteley, who received an honorary juvenile Oscar for his performance in the 1953 British drama The Kidnappers, has died. He was 75.

 How 'Mythic Quest's' Quarantine Episode Came Together

►Mythic Quest: Quarantine: 40 iPhones, $600K for charity and a cast and crew eager to keep going. Rob McElhenney and Megan Ganz, co-creators of the Apple TV+ series, open up to Lacey Rose about the "nightmare" shoot that has left them longing for more.

Quote: "McElhenney and the programmers at Apple feel so strongly about the finished product, which will drop on Friday, that they're submitting it for Emmy consideration. 'In the beginning, I think there was a real possibility that it would be a nightmare,' says Charlotte Nicdao, 'but by the end, I was ready to do three more.'" The story.

►Daytime Emmys returning to TV on CBS. After streaming online the past four years, the Daytime Emmys will air on the broadcaster this year. CBS and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said Wednesday that the 47th annual show will air as a two-hour special at 8 p.m. Friday, June 26. More.

►Broadcast TV's ratings winners and losers of 2019-20. The Masked Singer and the NFL top the charts, and Dick Wolf dominates the top 10 in viewers as a strange season draws to a close, Rick Porter writes. The story.

In other TV news...

+David E. Kelley adapting Anatomy of a Scandal as a Netflix anthology. The prolific producer is teaming with Melissa James Gibson to adapt author Sarah Vaughan's international best-seller as an anthology series for Netflix. Sources tell Lesley Goldberg the plan is for each season to tackle a different scandal. The story.

+Bold and the Beautiful renewed for 2 more years on CBS. The pickup will take the show through its 35th season in 2021-22. It joins fellow soap The Young and the Restless in earning a multiyear renewal; CBS in January picked up Y&R through 2024, at which point it will have been on for more than half a century. More.

+Adult Swim's Three Busy Debras renewed for season 2. The cabler has renewed the Amy Poehler-produced comedy for a second season. The pickup comes two weeks after the conclusion of the six-episode first season, which drew a decent-sized audience for the late night programming block. More.

+Broadcast ratings: The season finale of The Voice Tuesday hit a low among adults 18-49 for a season ender, although it's on par with last spring's finale in total viewers. The CW got solid returns from the on-air premiere of Stargirl, while a Last Dance follow-up special on ABC didn't draw nearly as well as the ESPN docuseries. The numbers.

 Producers of stage adaptations of Bull Durham and Smokey Joe's Cafe say they were conned out of $3.5 million that was being held in accounts at UBS Bank and the financial institution failed to prevent the fraud. The companies behind the two productions, Player to be Named Later and Smokey Joe’s Cafe Broadway Revival, are suing UBS Financial Services and its parent Switzerland-based UBS AG Bank. The story.

►Review: Netflix's Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich. Daniel Fienberg reviews the Netflix docuseries, writing that "if you want grand revelations, conclusive "Gotcha!" name-calling or an all-encompassing narrative for what would have been at stake if Epstein had ever gone to trial, you're out of luck. The series instead ends with the survivors, on a surprisingly lovely and emotional note." The review.

Revolving door: Armando Nuñez is passing the baton at the ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group as Dan Cohen becomes the new head of the company's division in June... Morgan Simianer, the breakout star of Netflix's Cheer, has signed for representation in all areas by CAA... BBC Studios has bolstered its Los Angeles production arm by promoting Valerie Bruce to general manager and naming Sam Zoda as its executive vp of production...

In other news...

--Sylvester Stallone is set to host a live-stream showing of his classic Rocky as part of CAA's new weekly "Screening Room With the Stars" series.

--Take-Two Interactive, the game studio behind the NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises, reported significant growth in revenue and profits in its fiscal fourth quarter. Earnings were spurred by a gaming boom brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which forced people around the world to spend more time at home.

--Gravitas Ventures has picked up Laura Holliday's romantic comedy Daddy Issues.

--BAFTA on Thursday said that the nominations for the TV and TV craft awards will take place June 4, with new dates and formats for the ceremonies to be revealed soon.

--Technology company ScreenHits is launching ScreenHits TV, a streaming video aggregator app that lets consumers bundle different services together in a single interface.

--Sarah Paulson on flipping her political script with Mrs. America.

--Oprah Winfrey is giving grants to the cities she's called home through her $12 million coronavirus relief fund.

--The body of former World Wrestling Entertainment pro Shad Gaspard was found early Wednesday on Los Angeles' Venice Beach, where he was caught in a rip current last weekend, police said.

What else we're reading...

--"What do the paparazzi do when the stars are quarantined?" [NY Times]

--"TikTok is the new Young Hollywood" [Mel Magazine]

--"Ronan Farrow admits he ‘misspoke’ about his Weinstein reporting. How many times?" [Washington Post]

--"After a rough start, Quibi faces a challenge: How to promote its shows" [Digiday]

Today's birthdays: Mr T, 68, Nick Cassavetes, 61, Fairuza Balk, 46, Kano, 35, Leo Sayer, 73.