Today In Entertainment AUGUST 01, 2020
What's news: Box office chaos as blockbusters shift to 2021 and beyond, NBC's entertainment chief under investigation, the comic book industry reckons with abuse claims, will Trump shut down TikTok? BAFTA TV winners, Agnes Chu jumps from Disney+ to Condé Nast Entertainment, James Murdoch quits the family company. Plus: Inside the NHL "bubble," and remembering Alan Parker. --Alex Weprin Box Office Chaos ►Box office calendar in chaos: "Next year is becoming a cage match." Setting theatrical schedules has never been simple, but as the pandemic pushes releases into 2021 and beyond, distributors say "it’s like playing four-dimensional chess on acid," Pamela McClintock reports. --"We've never faced such uncertainty, which has resulted in the most fluid dating situation ever," says Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Paramount. "The whole supply chain has been impacted." --"I think everything is in flux until Tenet goes," says Eric Handler, a Wall Street analyst with MKM Partners. "Other studios will watch to see how many people show up. That could cause some more delays." The story. NBC Entertainment Chief Under Scrutiny ►NBC insiders say entertainment boss fostered toxic culture, under investigation. Current and former employees allege that NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy engaged in racist, sexist and homophobic behavior, Kim Masters and Lesley Goldberg report: "It was par for the course." --Masters and Goldberg interviewed more than 30 producers, executives and other current and former network insiders who say Telegdy, 49, presided over a toxic environment, particularly in the reality division, which he ran from 2009 until he was promoted to chairman in 2018. These insiders — who requested anonymity due to concerns about possible retaliation — say Telegdy and a top deputy have often violated workplace-conduct norms with no apparent consequences. The story. ►TikTok trouble: President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns. Trump's comments came after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok. There were also reports Friday that software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy the app. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters Friday on Air Force One as he returned from Florida. The story. Comic book industry reckons with abuse claims: "I don't want this to happen to anyone else." As Marvel, DC and Dark Horse cut ties with creators, calls grow for new protections in a largely freelance industry, Graeme McMillan, Sharareh Drury, and Aaron Couch report: "Who has enough power to call out bad behavior without losing their job?" The story. +Cult Ubisoft video game Beyond Good & Evil is getting the movie treatment at Netflix. Rob Letterman, who directed Detective Pikachu and Goosebumps, is on board to helm the hybrid live-action/animated feature. Jason Altman and Margaret Boykin are producing for Ubisoft Film & Television. More. ►BAFTA TV Awards: End of the F***ing World wins top drama prize, Chernobyl claims mini-series honor. Shot in a closed, socially-distanced studio and aired as-live on the BBC, the awards show — hosted by Richard Ayoade — had been due to take place in May with the usual red carpeted ceremony. But it was postponed and pared-back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Winners instead accepted their awards via Zoom calls or pre-recorded speeches. The full list of winners. Revolving Door Moves... ►Disney+'s Agnes Chu to lead Condé Nast Entertainment. As president of the publishing company's entertainment arm, she will oversee video content across digital, social and streaming platforms and will also lead efforts to adapt its IP into film and TV projects. More. +Former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch has resigned from the board of his family's other company News Corp. In a letter of resignation filed Friday afternoon, Murdoch wrote: "My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions." The story. +Also: Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón has come on board festival bound feature The Disciple as an executive producer... HBO has just inked a new creative pact with one of its executives. The premium cable network has signed its senior vp of talent development Kelly Edwards to a first look deal in what's said to be the high six figure range. ►The summer movie season’s unlikely superheroes are the ACLU lawyers in The Fight. Shot over the course of three years, The Fight follows the attorneys as they meet with vulnerable clients, prepare to argue in the Supreme Court and juggle work and family demands. Elyse Steinberg and Eli Despres spoke with THR about how they secured access to the ACLU and turned their demoralization about Donald Trump’s election into a feel-good movie about some surprisingly cinematic lawyers. The interview. ►Ryan Reynolds launches diversity program "The Group Effort Initiative." The program, run through his production banner Maximum Effort, plans to bring 10 to 20 trainees who are black, indigenous, other people of color or who are from marginalized communities across the age spectrum, giving them real-life film experience. The story. In TV news... ►Made-for-TV: NHL "bubble" games go Hollywood for 2020 season restart. They'll be no cheering or groaning fans in packed stands as goals are scored, and team players over the next 60 days will be sequestered in so-called "bubble" hotels and arenas in Toronto and Edmonton as safety precautions. And as the NHL's chief content officer Steve Mayer tells THR, the pro league was never going to drop a hockey puck in silent, cold arenas. The story. +Meanwhile in Orlando: The first pro basketball games in the United States since mid-March averaged 2.73 million viewers on TNT Thursday night, led by a marquee matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers. Digital platform viewing pushed the total audience to 2.9 million, according to Turner Sports. That figure is more than double the average viewership for an NBA game on the league's national broadcast partners this season (TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV). More. +Craig Robinson to star in Peacock comedy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine duo. Robinson is re-teaming with Brooklyn Nine-Nine showrunners Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici for Peacock comedy Killing It. The comedy explores class, capitalism and one man's quest to achieve the American dream. And also about hunting really big snakes. More. +Money Heist to end with season 5 on Netflix. The streamer has picked up the popular Spanish crime drama (also known as La Casa de Papel) for a fifth and final season. Production on the 10-episode final season is set to begin Monday; the show will film in Spain, Portugal and Denmark. More. Casting roundup: Courteney Cox is set to reprise her role as the dogged news reporter Gale Weathers for Spyglass Media Group and Paramount Pictures as they relaunch the Scream franchise... Pretty Little Liars actor Ryan Merriman, Peter Greene and Hayley McFarland are set to star in director Kyle Kauwika Harris' crime thriller Out of Exile... ►Obituary: Alan Parker, the versatile British writer-director and two-time Oscar nominee who came from the world of commercials to make such features as Fame, The Commitments, Midnight Express and Mississippi Burning, has died. He was 76. ►Critic's notebook: The limits of 2020's Emmy inclusivity. The scarcity of Latino and Asian American acting nominees wasn't just a missed opportunity to recognize great performances; it was a failure to honor some genre-blurring, boundary-pushing television, Inkoo Kang writes. The column. ►Film review: John DeFore reviews Beyonce's Disney+ film Black Is King, writing that the project "is a sometimes thrilling showcase for African artists whose work fuses brilliantly with that of Americans who have roots on the continent." The review. ►Broadcast TV ratings: ABC managed to tie Univision for the lead among adults 18-49 in primetime on Thursday, but its game show lineup remained on the low side of its summer average. A rerun of Young Sheldon on CBS led the night in both the 18-49 demo and total viewers. The numbers. In other news... --Sources tell Bryn Elise Sandberg that The Good Doctor has halted its production ramp up in Vancouver, British Columbia due to concerns about COVID-19 testing for cast and crew. --Concordia Studio is backing a real life drama set at Gallaudet University, the nation’s premier institution of higher education for Deaf and hard of hearing students, with help from Nyle DiMarco. --NBCUniversal has sold its entire stake in Peloton Interactive, the fitness company best-known for its in-home connected exercise bikes and streamed classes. --Layoffs are happening at Legendary Digital. The group, which includes the brands Nerdist, Geek & Sundry and Smart Girls, is shrinking by 30 percent, or eight full-time positions. Layoffs are taking place across several divisions. --Oprah Winfrey is really leaning into the upcoming election, putting the power of her cable network behind a new registration and get-out-the-vote initiative armed to empower its large audience of Black women. --Why Paul Feig never gave up on cult hit Other Space. What else we're reading... --"AMC-Universal peace deal sets stage for increased tensions elsewhere in Hollywood" [WSJ] --"How Big Brother is getting back on the air in a pandemic" [EW] --"Trump White House meets its match with Barstool Sports" [NY Times] --"Lady Colin Campbell on her Harry and Meghan book" [Vanity Fair] Today's birthdays: Coolio, 57, Jason Momoa, 41, Sam Mendes, 55, Chuck D, 60, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, 89.
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