Today In Entertainment

OCTOBER 09, 2020

What's news: Pixar's Soul abandons theaters for Disney+, VP debate ratings rise from 2016, layoffs hit SAG-AFTRA as WarnerMedia preps for cuts, the lights will stay off on Broadway until at least June, will live events ever return to "normal"? Plus: SNL finds a last-minute musical guest, and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange will appear in the next Spider Man. --Alex Weprin

 Disney's 'Soul' Searching

➤Another major film skips theaters for streaming, leaving theaters in the lurch. Pixar's Soul has decided to bypass a theatrical release and will instead debut exclusively on Disney+ on Christmas Day at no extra charge. The animated tentpole had been set to croon its way into theaters on Nov. 20. The decision to send the movie straight to Disney+ both underscores the precarious nature of moviegoing amid the ongoing pandemic, and the importance of Disney+ — which has amassed more than 60 million subscribers — to its parent company.

--Unlike Mulan, which carried a premium price of $29.99, Disney+ customers can watch Soul at no extra charge. In markets where the streaming service isn't available, the film will play on the big screen. Dates are to follow. In reaching the decision to send Soul to Disney+, company insiders say the streaming service is an ideal destination for a broad family film amid current market conditions, and that it will keep current customers satisfied in addition to attracting new subscribers. The story.

 VP Debate Ratings Fly

➤Wednesday's vice presidential debate drew a much larger TV audience than its counterpart in 2016. The face-off between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic nominee Sen. Kamala Harris drew 57.92 million viewers across 18 outlets, a 63 percent spike over four years ago. The great majority of those viewers — 52.84 million — watched on the Big Four broadcast networks and the three main cable news channels, 50 more than for those same seven outlets in 2016.

--Wednesday's telecast is the second-most-watched vice presidential debate of the past 24 years, trailing only the 2008 debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin that drew nearly 70 million people. As it did with last week's first presidential debate, Fox News had the largest chunk of the audience, averaging 11.9 million viewers. ABC led the broadcast networks with 9.83 million viewers. CNN drew 7.71 million people, followed by MSNBC (6.92 million), NBC (6.8 million), CBS (5.38 million) and the Fox broadcast network (4.3 million). The numbers.

➤SAG-AFTRA lays off dozens more amid the pandemic. In the new round of layoffs, its third this year, approximately 45 staffers were impacted by the cuts. Some 171 staffers have been laid off by SAG-AFTRA since March brought COVID-19 shutdowns in the United States.

--Leadership for the performers union, president Gabrielle Carteris and national executive director David White, wrote a note to SAG-AFTRA's roughly 160,000 members on Thursday, saying that the additional layoffs were made "in response to the accelerating impact of the pandemic on the union's current and future financial condition." The story.

+WarnerMedia is bracing for "thousands" of layoffs: The Wall Street Journal reports tht AT&T's entertainment division will see cuts at the Warner Bros. studio, and TV channels TNT, TBS and HBO as the company refocuses on streaming.

➤The Broadway shutdown has been extended to May 30, 2021, the Broadway League announced Friday. The news extends the performance halt, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, by five months after productions had been paused through the end of 2020.

--The initial shutdown occurred on March 12, 2020, when 31 productions were running, including eight in previews and eight in rehearsals ahead of a spring opening. The extension means that Broadway will be closed for more than a year by the time it reopens in 2021. The story.

 Will Live Events Ever Return To 'Normal'?

➤Will live events return? There may be no "back to normal." When concerts and sporting events return, venues are planning for intensive safety protocols, increased costs and crowded calendars, Kirsten Chuba reports. "When someone sneezes in your vicinity, you’re going to look around. When you go to purchase your food and beverage, you’re going to see how they’re served. When you walk the arenas and the stadiums, you’re going to look at how they sanitized it and who’s out there to continue to sanitize it,” says Lee Zeidman, president of Staples Center, Microsoft Theater and L.A. Live. “I do not believe we’re ever going to be back at whatever normal was on March 11 — regardless of what kind of vaccine, drug therapy or physical distancing.” The story.

➤The second season of Apple's comedy series Dickinson is three months away, but the tech giant is getting a jump on the show's future. Apple TV+ has renewed the Hailee Steinfeld-led series for a third season, extending the show's run after what it said was a successful first season (like other streaming platforms, Apple doesn't publicly release viewing figures). The series also won a Peabody Award earlier this year. More.

+Hulu is reteaming with producers of its series Casual to develop a drama with gambling at its center. After a long dealmaking process, the streamer has snagged rights to author Sean Michaels' novel The Wagers. Casual creator Zander Lehmann will adapt the book and executive produce alongside Helen Estabrook, also a veteran of Casual. Michaels will be a consulting producer on the project, which hails from ABC Signature. More.

+Supernatural star Jensen Ackles and his wife, actress Danneel Ackles, are extending their long-standing relationship with Warner Bros. TV. The couple has formed a production company, Chaos Machine Productions, and signed an overall with the studio. The announcement comes on the day that the WB-produced Supernatural begins its final batch of episodes on The CW, concluding a 15-season run. More.

+One day before this week's show, Saturday Night Live has found its new musical guest. Jack White will replace Morgan Wallen, the country singer who was dropped from the NBC sketch series after breaking COVID-19 safety protocols, SNL boss Lorne Michaels announced on the Today show. More.

➤Gotham Group CEO Ellen Goldsmith-Vein on mass agent exodus and the future of the Maze Runner franchise. The founder of Hollywood's only major woman-owned production-management company talks about agents becoming managers, negotiating backend and lighting votive candles for Biden-Harris. The interview.

Casting roundup: Benedict Cumberbatch is putting on the cloak of levitation and will reprise Marvel supernatural hero Doctor Strange for the latest Spider-Man movie installment, starring Tom Holland and being made by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures... Kate Mulgrew is heading back to the Star Trek universe. The actor will voice star in a new animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, reprising her role as Captain Kathryn Janeway... 

--MGM’s The Addams Family sequel has added Bill Hader and Javon "Wanna' Walton to its voice cast... Plan B — the unplanned pregnancy comedy from director Natalie Morales — has found its leads in Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles... Driving Miss Daisy director Bruce Beresford has tapped Ruairi O’Connor to play Buddy Holly in Clear Lake, an upcoming biopic about the rock 'n roll icon...

➤Black publicists talk battling restrictions, championing inclusivity in Hollywood: "We can tell a variety of stories." BIPOC publicists, who struggle with being limited to Black projects — often as the only people of color in the room — are working to break down barriers, Sharareh Drury reports: "A lot of folks like to put us in boxes." The story.

Revolving door: WarnerMedia has named Jean-Paul “JP” Colaco as its new head of advertising sales... Entertainment publicity veteran Tracy McGraw, who most recently led communications at Tyler Perry Studios, will join Twitter as senior director of global consumer communications... Universal Pictures' president of international marketing Simon Hewlett is leaving the company in 2021...

Obituaries: William Bernstein, the longtime studio executive who left United Artists with four others to launch Orion Pictures in 1978, then spent a decade at Paramount Pictures, died Thursday, a family spokesman said. He was 87... Tommy Rall, the actor and acrobatic dancer who displayed his athletic dexterity in the classic MGM musicals Kiss Me Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, has died. He was 90...

➤Film reviews: Frank Scheck reviews The War with Grandpa, writing that the film "will probably prove riotously funny to small fry while providing some compensations to adults with its supremely overqualified cast"... John DeFore reviews Run, writing that "dueling excellent performances from a deranged Sarah Paulson and spunky newcomer Kiera Allen (in her feature debut) make it hard to look away from the screen"... Michael Rechtshaffen reviews Over the Moon, writing that the CG-animated musical fantasy "still manages to infuse sufficient charm and genuine warmth into the inescapable familiarity."

➤TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg aexplore the reasons behind the "un-renewals" of GLOW and On Becoming a God in Central Florida, and speak with Star Trek's franchise captain Alex Kurtzman. Listen.

In other news...

--CBS is launching a refresh of its brand identity, adding audio and visual cues while retaining well-known elements like the CBS Eye logo.

--Former Disney COO Tom Staggs, former Disney direct-to-consumer chief Kevin Mayer and Shaquille O'Neal are partners in a new Blank Check company looking to take a private media or entertainment firm public.

--Tory Lanez was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting of fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

--U.S. pay TV revenue will drop to $56 billion in 2025, down from a peak of $105 billion in 2015, according to a new forecast from Digital TV Research.

--Actor Blake Jenner shared a lengthy statement on Instagram Thursday in which he takes responsibility and apologizes for an abusive relationship while also lodging serious claims of abuse against his former partner.

--Britney Spears' court-appointed lawyer told an L.A. judge she lacks the capacity to sign a declaration expressing her wishes and compared her to a "comatose" person.

--The stock of streaming service fuboTV rose in its market debut on Thursday.

--Rainn Wilson and Parisa Fitz-Henley are set to co-host the Sentinel Awards on Oct. 20, marking the 20th year that the event has shined a spotlight on impactful entertainment.

What else we're reading...

--"Harry and Meghan get an apology after suing paparazzi" [NY Times]

--"Ex-officials' lawsuit says Trump-appointed CEO broke laws at Voice Of America" [NPR]

--"Brand safety firms see a bg opening in streaming TV" [WSJ]

--"TikTok spins Ocean Spray-Fleetwood Mac viral video into a commercial" [Ad Age]

Today's birthdays: Sean Lennon, 45, Tony Shalhoub, 67, Sharon Osbourne, 68, Steve McQueen, 51, Bella Hadid, 24.

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OCTOBER 09, 2020

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