Today In Entertainment

OCTOBER 03, 2020

What's news: No Time To Die delayed to 2021, Universal's F9 gets pushed as a result, Paramount shakeup, Clint Eastwood's next project, Trump's COVID diagnosis hits the media that cover him, Harvey Weinstein faces new sex crime charges. Plus: Chris Meloni's Law & Order spinoff delayed, The CW's All American pauses production after positive COVID case. --Alex Weprin

 Box Office Calendar Gets Shaken, Stirred

➤James Bond pic No Time To Die is delaying its November 2020 release to spring 2021 amid the challenges posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the filmmakers announced Friday. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, the 25th installment in the iconic spy franchise had been set to open Nov. 12 in the U.K. and Nov. 20 in the U.S. It will now open on April 2, 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience.

--Bond's move comes after fellow 2020 fall event pics Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow delayed their early October and early November releases, respectively. Black Widow was among a number of pics that Disney moved, although Pixar's Soul is still slotted for Nov. 20. The story.

+Universal's F9 is hitting the road once again, this time because of 007. The Fast & Furious installment will now open May 28, 2021, the beginning of the long Memorial Day weekend, the studio announced Friday afternoon.

--The delay of roughly three months was revealed less than two hours after MGM and Universal said they would delay No Time to Die to April 2, 2021, which was F9's old date. Universal is handling the 007 film internationally (no studio wants to compete against itself). The story.

+Analysis: The delays pose a grave threat to movie theaters, with only Pixar's Soul still on the calendar as a major release. The changes could give Tenet more time to grow as additional markets reopen, but the lack of new material, combined with the cornavirus pandemic, creates a difficult path forward for theaters. As S&P Global notes (see below), the runway for survivial is shrinking.

In other film news...

+Paramount news: 20th Century Studios executives Jeremy Kramer and Mike Ireland are both being considered for possible posts at Paramount. If deals make, both Kramer and Ireland would be joining former 20th Century production president Emma Watts, who herself joined Paramount in June as the president of the motion picture group under Jim Gianopulos.

--Sources tell THR that Kramer would head studio label Paramount Players, which was started by Brian Robbins, who then left to head Nickelodeon. Paramount Players' movies include What Men Want and Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The story.

+Clint Eastwood has lined up his next project. The ever-busy multi-hyphenate will direct and star in an adaptation of the 1970 novel Cry Macho for Warner Bros. Cry Macho will re-team the filmmaker with his Richard Jewell studio, and will see the Oscar winner play a washed-up rodeo star that takes a job from his former boss to bring the man's young son back to Texas from rural Mexico. More.

+Regina King's critically acclaimed film One Night In Miami will open in select theaters on Christmas Day before premiering exclusively on Amazon Prime Video around the globe on Jan. 15, 2021, the streamer announced Friday. Amazon is mounting an aggressive awards campaign for the One Night in Miami, which premiered at the 2020 Venice and Toronto film festivals. More.

+Debt ratings agency S&P Global Ratings has reduced AMC Entertainment Holding's credit ratings on liquidity concerns as the impact on the mega-exhibitor's theaters takes a toll on its available cash on hand. "Given our expectations for a high rate of cash burn, we believe the company will run out of liquidity within the next six months unless it is able to raise additional capital, which we view as unlikely, or attendance levels materially improve," the agency said. The story.

+Amazon Studios has picked up the action movie Heads of State, to star Idris Elba and John Cena, from The Safran Company. Harrison Query is penning the script and Peter Safran and John Rickard are producing. More.

 Infection Hits The White House Press Corp.

➤Trump's COVID diagnosis hits the media that cover him. With Trump, multiple White House staffers (incuding as of last night Kellyanne Conway and Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien) and now multiple U.S. senators quarantining after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, the spread is also hitting the media that covers the White House. Friday afternoon White House Correspondents' Association president Zeke Miller sent a note to members saying that three members tested positive for the virus Friday. More may follow.

+Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that several Fox Newsers, inclusing Sean Hannity, Bret Baier, Chris Wallace and Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, will all be tested after attending Tuesday's debate, with Laura Ingraham getting tested after attending Saturday's Supreme Court annoucnement, which appears to have been a significant spreading event.

--An NBC News spokesperson said that some staff will be quarantining out of an abundance of caution as a result of contact tracing efforts.

 New 'Law & Order' Delayed

➤Elliot Stabler's return will have to wait. Law & Order: Organized Crime, the SVU spinoff set to feature Chris Meloni's long-awaited return to the Dick Wolf franchise, is changing showrunners and has been delayed from NBC's anticipated "fall" schedule.

--Sources say showrunner Matt Olmstead is exiting the straight-to-series drama amid challenges cracking the show's creative. Olmstead, who quietly signed a lucrative three-year overall deal to return to his former home with Universal TV, is expected to land at another Wolf-produced show. The story.

In other TV news...

+Freeform is making an executive change. Lauren Corrao is out as head of originals at the Disney-owned cable network after a year and a half run. The Tornante TV and Comedy Central grad, however, will continue her relationship with the younger-skewing cable network and develop and produce potential new series. The move returns Corrao to a producing role she departed to take the job at Freeform. More.

+Ryan Murphy's next Netflix series will focus on one of America's most infamous serial killers. The streamer has greenlit a limited series called Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story from Murphy and long-time producing partner Ian Brennan. Richard Jenkins has signed on to play Dahmer's father in the drama, and a casting search is underway for the title role. The story.

+Netflix is wasting no time in welcoming YouTube import Cobra Kai to the family, handing out an early season four renewal to the Karate Kid sequel. The third season of the former YouTube original from Sony TV will launch as a Netflix original on Jan. 8. The first two seasons of the series starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka arrived Aug. 28 after the show moved to the streaming giant in June after YouTube officially bailed on scripted originals. More.

+Also at Netflix: Tiffany Haddish has assembled more of her favorite comedians — and now, with a second season order for Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready, she will be able to shine the Netflix spotlight on all of them. The new batch of episodes, set to premiere in 2021, will introduce six more comics of Haddish’s choosing. The details.

+The CW's All American will pause filming after a member of the production tested positive for COVID-19. Sources tell THR that a person involved with the show tested positive. The person is now quarantined, and as a precaution the show, which is produced by Warner Bros. TV and films on the studio's Burbank lot, will not film on Monday. It's not clear whether the person who tested positive was a member of the cast or crew. More.

➤Harvey Weinstein faces six new sex assault counts, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Friday. Weinstein was charged with six additional forcible sexual assault counts involving two victims stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred more than a decade ago, according to authorities. The new charges include an incident between September 2004 and September 2005 where Weinstein allegedly raped a woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills. The story.

Casting roundup: Billy Crudup, fresh off his Emmy win for Apple’s The Morning Show, is in early negotiations to join Ezra Miller in The Flash, Warner Bros.' feature project based on the DC superhero... Freida Pinto and Logan Marshall-Green are set to star in new Netflix thriller Intrusion... Cobra Kai star Tanner Buchanan is joining Addison Rae in He's All That, a remake of the 1999 classic teen romantic comedy She's All That, which starred Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr...

In other news...

--UTA has promoted 35 across divisions to agent, executive and associate levels, as well as coordinator.

--Rick Moranis was randomly attacked in New York City. The beloved actor — who recently made headlines after showing up in a Mint Mobile ad — was punched in the face by an unknown suspect. "He is fine but grateful for everyone’s thoughts and well wishes," his rep told THR. 

--Three members of one of the world’s most notorious video game piracy groups, "Team Xecuter," were charged Friday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

--Priyanka Chopra Jonas is ready to tell her story. The actress-producer announced Thursday that she will release her first memoir titled, Unfinished.

--Billie Eilish is launching a new voter initiative.

What else we're reading...

--"Barefoot in quarantine" [The Cut]

--"Fired Warner Bros. marketing executive sues studio over discrimination, ‘boys club’ culture" [LA Times]

--Here's how all the returning TV shows plan to address the pandemic [EW]

--"The secret history of Kimberly Guilfoyle's departure from Fox" [The New Yorker]

Today's birthdays: Gwen Stefani, 51, Lindsey Buckingham, 71, A$AP Rocky, 32, Noah Schnapp, 16, Alicia Vikander, 32.

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OCTOBER 03, 2020

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