Today In Entertainment

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

Whats news: TikTok will team up with Oracle after rejecting Microsoft bid, Tenet struggles in North America as Mulan struggles in China, ViacomCBS sells CNET for $500 million, Nomadland wins in Venice, dealmaking continues, Doom Patrol moves to HBO Max. Plus: Jo Malone apologizes to John Boyega, and a Creative Arts Emmys cheat sheet. --Alex Weprin

 Oracle Tops Microsoft In Bid For TikTok

➤The TikTok drama is nearing an end. ByteDance has selected Oracle as its partner for a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., a source familiar with the talks confirms to THR's Natalie Jarvey.

The decision comes as ByteDance has rejected a bid by Microsoft that earlier this summer was seen as the likely option for the company as it looked to avoid a shutdown of the popular social media app amid increased tensions between the U.S. and China. Microsoft had partnered with Walmart on the bid. The retailer said Monday it still hopes to invest in TikTok, and is talking to ByteDance leadership.

--It isn't techically a sale, either: According to the source, Oracle is being brought on board as a tech partner and not as an outright buyer of TikTok's U.S. business. It's unclear whether Oracle will acquire a share in TikTok as a result of the partnership. The story.

+Meanwhile, other deals are getting done: ViacomCBS has struck a deal to sell its CNET unit to Red Ventures for $500 million. The transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. CBS acquired CNET, which offers consumer electronics product reviews and news, in 2008 for $1.8 billion. The story.

➤Christopher Nolan's Tenet is struggling in North America — where moviegoing remains off limits in Los Angeles and New York City  — but continues to impress overseas for an estimated global gross of $207 million through Sunday. Over the weekend, the pic earned an estimated $6.7 million domestically from 2,901 cinemas for a cume of $29.5 million.

--The studio said it's a promising sign that Tenet dropped just 29 percent from the $9.4 million earned during the Sept. 4-6 weekend. However, it isn't an apples to apples comparison since Tenet unfurled over the long Labor Day corridor. Also, Tenet is now playing in 100 more theaters. The story.

+Analysts take: While the domestic box office launch for Tenet has widely been described as tepid, one analyst said he sees it as a good sign. "We actually view the results as encouraging and a positive indicator of demand given all of the COVID-19 headwinds," B. Riley analyst Eric Wold wrote in a Monday report. More.

+Meanwhile: Disney's Mulan malfunctioned in its China box office debut with a disheartening $23.2 million. The $200 million tentpole was made with both Chinese and American audiences top of mind. In the days leading up to the film's Middle Kingdom opening, analysts had expected it to take in anywhere from $30 million to $40 million over the Sept. 11-13 frame. More.

 The Latest From Venice and Toronto

➤Nomadland wins in Venice: Chloé Zhao's look at America's van-dwelling community, starring Frances McDormand, has won the Golden Lion for best film at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. With the Venice win, Nomadland has moved into pole position for the 2021 Oscar race, with Searchlight Pictures sure to throw its weight behind the film as it builds to its Dec. 4 release in North America. The story.

➤Dealmaking continues: Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to Euphoria creator Sam Levinson's Malcolm & Marie, a pandemic-era movie starring Zendaya and John David Washington.... Netflix also acquired the worldwide rights to Pieces of a Woman, which stars Shia LaBeouf and The Crown star Vanessa Kirby playing a couple shattered by the loss of their newborn baby...

➤Film fest heads talk finding new audiences online amid the pandemic. This year, the novel coronavirus pandemic has forced major film festivals to take place mostly online to connect with audiences, leaving organizers and programmers to grapple with questions on how to build digital platforms, remain relevant with cinephiles and protect the traditional theatrical experience. The story.

+TIFF reviews: Concrete Cowboy... The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel... Limbo... Akilla's Escape...

More from TIFF...

--David Oyelowo says he directed The Water Man for his "12-year-old self."

--Derek Cianfrance talks cinema as voyeurism: "Every scene is a sex scene."

--Viggo Mortensen discusses his diretorial debut Falling.

--Naomi Watts said co-starring with a live magpie in Penguin Bloom at first gave her the jitters.

--Saoirse Ronan talks activism, growing up in Brooklyn.

--Julien Christian Lutz and Taj Critchlow shuttered Popp Rok, the producer of Drake’s "God’s Plan" music video, and launched FELA, a production banner with a mandate to lift Black voices as they create music videos, commercials, branded content, documentaries and films.

➤The heroes of Doom Patrol will return to patrol a new home. The Greg Berlanti-produced drama series has been renewed for a third season and is moving exclusively to HBO Max for its upcoming run. New episodes of the series will no longer drop on DC Universe, the subscription platform on which the show launched in season one. The story.

➤Jo Malone London, the British perfume and scented candle brand, has issued an apology to John Boyega — who was last year named its first male global ambassador — for taking a personal video he made for them and reshooting it for the Chinese market, in the process removing not only Star Wars actor entirely but not featuring a single black individual.

--The company described its actions — likely to be seen as yet another example of perceived anti-black prejudice in China that has already been widely-reported on in recent years — as a "misstep" that it said was "painful" and caused "offense." The story.

➤Creative Arts Emmys cheat sheet: Stretching five nights and culminating with a two-hour televised event on FXX, the marathon reimagining of the annual Primetime Emmys appetizer will be hosted by comedian Nicole Byer and will hand out awards in a very chill 101 races. Beginning Monday, Sept. 14, and initially streaming on the TV Academy website, the ceremony will be divvied up by genre. Michael O'Connell has the extensive preview.

➤TV review: Inkoo Kang reviews Netflix's Ratched, writing that "though it occasionally mistakes “scary” for “hard to watch,” Ratched displays a lot more narrative discipline. And yet the whole feels lesser than the sum of its parts." The review.

➤Awards Chatter podcast: Newton Minnow, A Zelig of American politics and culture, best known for the "vast wasteland" speech he gave as JFK's FCC chair, reflects on helping to pave the way for public TV, presidential debates and the Obamas' marriage. Listen.

In other news...

--The Long-running daytime talk show series The Dr. Oz Show has been renewed for seasons 13 and 14, the Fox TV Stations Group revealed Monday.

--Production on Netflix's Red Notice, the big-budget international heist adventure starring Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson, has resumed, according to Reynolds.

--Brian Austin Green, who starred in and executive produced BH90210, Fox's mega-reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210, has signed with APA.

--Nicola Shindler, the award-winning British TV veteran and producer of such hit shows as Happy Valley, Queer as Folk and, most recently, Harlan Coben's The Stranger for Netflix, is launching a new scripted label within ITV Studios.

--Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, directors of the horror film Synchronic, have taken to Instagram to urge their fans to avoid their local movie theater amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, including to view Synchronic indoors.

--GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, unveiled the inaugural Dorians TV Toast award winners at a virtual, live-streamed event on Sunday.

--Paris Hilton: socialite, reality star, DJ, occasional musician, and, she would like people to know, much more timid than her public persona would have you believe.

--Jane Fonda, America Ferrera, Janet Mock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sophia Bush are set to narrate the climate activism audiobook All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.

What else we're reading...

--"The protean career of Ethan Hawke" [The New Yorker]

--"Cuties sparks a firestorm, again, after its Netflix release" [NY Times]

--"‘I am part of the collateral damage’: Trump’s TikTok battle creates nightmare for some tech workers" [LA Times]

--The RIAA's 2020 midyear report shows that for the first time since the 1980s, vinyl records brought in more music revenue than CDs [RIAA]

Today's birthdays: Nas, 47, Larry Brown, 80, Sam Neill, 73, Walter Koenig, 84, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, 49

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SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

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