Today In Entertainment

SEPTEMBER 04, 2020

What's news: Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff talks Tenet and new business models, The Batman pauses production after Robert Pattinson contracts COVID, filming rises in L.A., film festivals reinvent themselves amid the pandemic, Nielsen releases its first streaming top 10 list. Plus: Francis Ford Coppola is recutting The Godfather Part III, and a review of Disney's Mulan. --Alex Weprin

 Ann Sarnoff On 'Tenet,' PVOD And More

➤Warner Bros. CEO talks Batman filming halt, Tenet release amid COVID-19.  As the Christopher Nolan film hits theaters in the U.S. and Batman Robert Pattinson tests positive for coronavirus, Ann Sarnoff tells Pamela McClintock and Kim Masters, "I think we never expected things to go completely smoothly."

--On whether Warner Bros. would pursue a hybrid PVOD-theatrical release a la Disney's Mulan: "I don’t completely understand Disney’s strategy, but they are releasing Mulan internationally in some theaters. I’m rooting for anybody who is getting a movie out. Fans are anxious for new content. I actually went to see Tenet last night in Connecticut. I’m in Bedford, New York, and drove 10 minutes to the theater with friends. And it was amazing. It was safe. There were no crowds. I even found a way to eat popcorn with a mask on. Of course my mask smells like popcorn now."

--What about Wonder Woman? "We are still figuring out the strategy for all of our movies. We have quite a lot done. Obviously, Wonder Woman 1984 is up next. For now, it is where it is. Like I said earlier, certain movies deserve to be on the big screen. My belief is Wonder Woman is one of those." The interview.

About that Batman halt...

➤The Batman has pressed pause on its London production after star Robert Pattinson tested positive for COVID-19, sources tell THR's Aaron Couch. Warner Bros. would not comment specifically on the individual who tested positive on set. "A member of The Batman production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols," a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. "Filming is temporarily paused."

--Filming on The Batman had recently resumed after it shut down in March amid the coronavirus pandemic, which closed productions worldwide. The first trailer debuted last month at DC FanDome to strong reactions. The story.

➤Los Angeles is beginning to see an uptick in filming. FilmLA, the organization that doles out permits and tracks shooting in the region, says that it's finally starting to see a more confident return to production. Its monthly film permit requests have increased nearly 40 percent in August compared to July, with the office averaging around 27 applications per business day. The story.

+Meanwhile: Filmmakers behind the Entertainment Technology Center at USC short Ripple Effect tested "SafetyViz" and other new protocols with an eye toward enabling a safe return to production amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. More.

 Fall Festivals Proceed Amid Pandemic

➤Fall film festivals reinvent themselves amid pandemic. Venice, Toronto and New York try collaboration this awards season, Rebecca Keegan reports: "We all need each other right now."

--“COVID has affected the whole mission of a festival,” says Bob Berney, former Amazon Studios head of theatrical distribution and marketing, who released the faith-based movie Fatima in theaters and on demand Aug. 28 via his Picturehouse label. “You don’t have the audience and critical feedback. Do you even need fests to sell now? Everybody’s just calling up streamers and saying, ‘Do you want to buy it?’” The story.

➤Venice: COVID-19 protocols smooth so far — is this the way forward for global film fests? The world's oldest film festival is leading the way in the coronavirus era and, despite mandatory masks, temperature checks and enforced social distancing, insiders tell Scott Roxborough it's working surprisingly well. The story.

+Venice: Regina King on why her directorial debut One Night in Miami is a "story that needed to be told."  The Watchmen star discusses how her 1960s civil rights drama could, in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and the coronavirus pandemic, "be a reminder for some, and a discovery for others." More.

+More from the festivals: Luca Guadagnino will serve as president of the jury at the San Sebastian Film Festival.... Miramax is re-teaming with director Guy Ritchie for the spy action thriller Five Eyes, to star Jason Statham. STXfilms has nabbed the worldwide distribution rights to the pic and will start shopping Five Eyes to buyers at the virtual Toronto Film Festival market...  In a welcome sign for a struggling independent film market, the Venice Film Festival kicked off this week with a series of international deals...

+Venice reviews: I Am Greta... Gaza Mon Amour...

In other film news...

➤Will China's box office surpass North America this year? Rance Pow, president of exhibition consulting company Artisan Gateway, notes that the Chinese market has a deeper pandemic hole to climb out of but that box office momentum appears to be on its side.

--According to Artisan Gateway's estimates, about 90 percent of China's total screens, comprising 9,700 cinemas, have reopened. North America is estimated to be at about 65 precent total capacity, or 2,000-plus cinemas in operation. As of Monday, China's ticket sales for the year had reached $828.4 million (RMB 5.7 billion), while North America's sat around $2 billion. The story.

+Just when he thought he was out, they pull him back in. Francis Ford Coppola is recutting The Godfather: Part III for its 30th anniversary, Paramount announced on Thursday. The new cut of the third and final film and the iconic mafia series — which achieves Coppola and the late screenwriter Mario Puzo’s original vision for the finale — will be titled: The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. The film will have a limited theatrical release in December, followed by digital and Blu-ray, according to the studio. The story.

+Global cinema revenue to drop 66 percent in 2020 amid pandemic: Forecast. After a 3.6 percent increase in global cinema revenue in 2019 to $45.1 billion, the coronavirus pandemic will this year "cause the global market to contract sharply," research and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says in its annual forecast, predicting a 65.6 percent drop to $15.5 billion "as many screens are forced to close and major Hollywood releases are delayed." For the U.S., the firm's annual study projects a 65.7 percent decline from $11.4 billion in 2019 to $3.9 billion this year. The story.

+The Batman Writer Mattson Tomlin, Chloe Grace Moretz team for sci-fi tale Mother/Android. Mattson Tomlin— the writer behind Netflix's splashy sci-fi feature Project Power and the co-writer of the upcoming DC movie The Batman— has set his feature directorial debut with sci-fi thriller Mother/Android. Chloe Grace Moretz is set to star in the Miramax project as Georgia who, with her boyfriend Sam, goes on a treacherous journey to escape their country, which is caught in an unexpected war with artificial intelligence. More.

+Kristin Scott Thomas, Daisy Ridley and Nina Hoss are teaming up for writer-director Jane Anderson’s Women in the Castle. Adapted by Anderson from Jessica Shattuck’s 2017 New York Times bestseller, the film, set in the ruins of WWII Germany, is a heart-wrenching and hopeful tale of secrets, survival and the astonishing power of forgiveness. Three women, bound by their past and clinging to each other for a future, must grapple with the realities of liberation from the Nazis, and face the consequences of decisions they cannot undo. More.

 'Mulan' Review

➤Film review: Inkoo Kang reviews Disney's Mulan. "With a reported $200 million production budget, Mulan is the most expensive movie ever directed by a woman filmmaker — and every last cent is visible, even on the small screen. And in theaters, the feature's epic grandeur might have provided greater distraction from its anemic characterizations, uninvolving storyline and stunted performances." The review.

+What the other critics are saying: The review roundup.

➤Netflix's Umbrella Academy leads Nielsen's first Streaming Top 10. The ratings data provider is launching a weekly streaming top 10 list, with the first set of data covering the week of Aug. 3-9. For now, Nielsen measures only programs on Netflix and Amazon, with other streaming providers to be added in the future.

--The first top 10 is entirely made up of shows on Netflix — with The Umbrella Academy topping the list by a wide margin. Nielsen says U.S. viewers watched a little over 3 billion minutes of the show's two seasons, with season two debuting July 31. Netflix has about 73 million subscribers in the United States and Canada, with Nielsen's measurement covering just the U.S. The full list.

+Global streaming revenue will keeping growing in the coming years, but Netflix's clear dominance may be over, research and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said in its new report, "Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020–2024." PwC warned that "subscription fatigue" and "peak wallet" will become "increasingly commonly used phrases as the overcrowded market for OTT services forces consumers to decide which, and how many, they want to take." The story.

In other TV news...

+ABC is wading into the enduringly popular subgenre of the 911 call. The network announced Thursday that it's given a series order for Emergency Call. The hour-long unscripted series, hosted by Luke Wilson, documents the first minutes of a 911 calls by focusing on the 911 operators who pick up the phone. More.

➤A casualty in Trump’s China war: TikTok's Kevin Mayer.  After leaving Disney for TikTok, the CEO’s role "dramatically changed" in just a few months amid a politicized national security climate, Natalie Jarvey reports. More.

➤Cinemark reverses $3.75 million antitrust loss on appeal. A trial win for a Bryan Cranston-owned movie theater is wiped out with a California appellate court taking a long look at the relationship between film studios and exhibitors. The story.

+In other legal news: As TikTok continues to meet prospective buyers in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order to ban the social video app after 90 days, one of the company's employees is pushing a judge to reach a preliminary conclusion about the legality of the order. More.

+And: Universal has lost another bid to move its dispute with Fast & Furious producer Neal Moritz to arbitration as a California appeals court has affirmed an L.A. judge's decision that the fight belongs in his courtroom. More.

Revolving door: WarnerMedia has promoted veteran executive Jay Levine to oversee strategy and business operations for the conglomerate's studios and networks group. Thomas Gewecke, meanwhile, is stepping down as chief digital officer... Fox's 911: Lone Star is adding to its live-saving crew. Former Suits star Gina Torres will join the drama's second season as a series regular... Brad Bessey has joined Project Angel Food in a newly-created position as head of communications and talent relations... Cameron Roach will in the spring step down from his role as director of drama at Sky's production and sales arm Sky Studios...

➤TV reviews: Inkoo Kang reviews Netflix's Away, writing that "it’s a difficult premise to pull off, one that asks viewers to care about, say, Alexis’ frankly enviable boy troubles when, 30 million miles away, life-and-death problems tirelessly plague Emma’s hopefully history-making, Mars-bound crew. But the result, most likely, is that you won’t." The review.

+And: Daniel Fienberg reviews peacock's Noughts + Crosses, writing that "no matter how impressed I might be with some of the big ideas floated in Noughts + Crosses, I can't get past the feeling that the series is trying to do two touchy and complicated things — speculative-fiction world-building and love-story heart-tugging — and isn't wholly (or in some cases even partially) successful at either." The review.

➤TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg explore Netflix's big week and talk summer hits and misses. They also speak with Woke producing director Mo Marable. Listen.

In other news...

--Joe Biden's presidential campaign is teaming up with the celebrity and influencer video platform Cameo in a novel fundraising effort. Stars Including Andy Cohen, Mandy Moore, Titus Burgess, Melissa Etheridge and Dulé Hill will create personalized video messages for users, with their fees going to the campaign.

--A handful of tech giants who are making billions in ad revenue are poised to kill local television and radio journalism, according to a statement submitted to a congressional antitrust subcommittee Wednesday by the National Association of Broadcasters.

--Steve Krakauer, a former CNN producer and VP at TheBlaze, has launched a media podcast called The Fourth Watch. Fox News host Tucker Carlson is his first guest.

--Monkey Beach, a supernatural thriller by writer-director Loretta Todd and starring Suicide Squad star Adam Beach and Grace Dove, is set to open a pandemic-era Vancouver Film Festival.

--Norman Lear has been added to the honoree program for Equality California's Golden State Equality Awards on Sept. 13.

--HBO Documentary Films has set a Dec. 3 debut for 40 Years a Prisoner, a feature that will be unveiled at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

--The Polish comedy Marygoround nabbed the Cheval Noir trophy for best feature, director and actress at the Fantasia International Film Festival during prizegiving on Wednesday night.

--Three classic Super Mario games are heading to the Nintendo Switch to celebrate 35 years since the franchise launched in Japan.

What else we're reading...

--"TikTok buyer will face huge challenge, Snap’s Evan Spiegel says" [FT]

--"Justice Dept. plans to file antitrust charges against Google in coming weeks" [NY Times]

--"Mark Mothersbaugh nearly died from COVID-19. FaceTiming with his family kept him alive" [LA Times]

--"What is it about California and cults?" [Vanity Fair]

Today's birthdays: Beyoncé, 39, Damon Wayans, 60, Mark Ronson, 45, Max Greenfield, 40, Bill Kenwright, 75.

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SEPTEMBER 04, 2020

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