Today In Entertainment

OCTOBER 01, 2020

What's news: Filmmakers warn Congress that movie theaters face extinction, Trump-Biden debate ratings down from 2016 as organizers plan changes for future installments, Mulan cracks Nielsen's streaming top 10 list, WGA asks WME and CAA for more disclosures, Disney park workers caravan to Sacramento. Plus: A Conan the Barbarian reboot, and the PGA Awards get pushed. --Alex Weprin

 Debate Postmortem

➤Trump-Biden debate ratings: The 16 outlets that carried live coverage of the debate brought in 73.13 million viewers — the second-largest audience of any debate in the past 24 years, per Nielsen figures, but still well behind the 84 million who watched the first general election face-off of 2016. Streaming figures are not included; previous widely viewed live events such as presidential debates and Super Bowls have under 10 percent of their average viewership from streaming.

--Interestingly, broadcast viewership fell sharply from 2016, while cable viewership was up considerably. Fox News drew the biggest audience of any individual network: 17.81 million viewers, well above its performance from any of the 2016 debates. ABC finished second with 12.62 million, followed by NBC, 9.67 million; CNN, 8.29 million; MSNBC, 7.19 million; CBS, 6.38 million; and Fox, 5.44 million. The numbers.

+There will be changes: The Commission on Presidential Debates, the bipartisan body that organizes the presidential and vice presidential debates, has released a statement promising to make changes "to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues." The CPD also defended the moderator, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, suggesting that his ability to rein in the candidates was limited and that "additional tools" may be needed to assist future moderators. The story.

--What will the changes be? A source familiar with the matter tells me that among the options are revised limits on speaking times, giving additional time to the opponent in the event of interruptions, and maybe the ablity to cut off mics.

+Chris Wallace addresses the matter: “I’m just sad with the way last night turned out," he told The New York Times' Michael Grynbaum. “I’m just disappointed with the results. For me, but much more importantly, I’m disappointed for the country, because it could have been a much more useful evening than it turned out to be.” 

+NBC's Chuck Todd tells THR that Wallace wasn't to blame for the debacle: "I've moderated quite a few debates, and I've not really run into a situation where somebody was actively, constantly not following the rules," Todd says. "in some ways, none of us should be surprised that he [Trump] hijacked it. It's not as if there isn't a history that he might do that. But the point is, how do you prepare for a hijacking? In fairness. Look, it was a trainwreck. But at the end of the day, if one candidate decides they're not going to play by the rules, there's not much you can do about it unless you want to just cancel the thing." The story.

 The End Of Movie Theaters?

➤Top filmmakers warn Congress that movie theaters face extinction. Dozens of influential filmmakers (including Clint Eastwood, James Cameron and Taika Waititi) on Wednesday joined the National Association of Theatre Owners, the Directors Guild of America and the Motion Picture Association in urging Congress to provide assistance to struggling theater owners impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

--Together, they warned that cinemas may not survive the impact of the pandemic. The vast majority of exhibition companies — or 93 percent — saw losses of 75 percent in the second quarter of 2020. If this trend continues, NATO is warning that 69 percent of small- and mid-sized movie theater companies will be forced to file for bankruptcy or to close permanently, while 66 percent of theater jobs will be lost. The story.

➤In an effort to break a standoff with WME and CAA, the Writers Guild of America is asking the major agencies to disclose their ownership structures as part of talks aimed at allowing the firms to represent scribes for the first time since April 2019. In a note sent to members on Wednesday, the guild's agency negotiating committee called on WME and CAA to disclose the "agencies’ and their investors’ current ownership of affiliated production entities" as well as "existing agreements between any affiliate production entity and its direct or indirect owners," among other terms for the negotiations.

--The guild also asked for disclosures on how the agencies operate with regard to private equity firm backers like TPG, which has invested in CAA, and Silver Lake Partners, which has invested in WME. The story.

+Elsewhere: A few weeks after the Academy unveiled its new inclusion requirements for the Oscars, the WGAW is criticizing the "blatant omission" of standards for hiring older creatives in the rules. More.

➤A group of Disney employees on Wednesday will caravan to the state capitol in an effort to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to immediately sign AB 3216, which would guarantee recall and retention for hospitality workers, according to one union.

--The move comes one day after the Walt Disney Co. announced it would layoff 28,000 employees from its Parks division; a decision largely based on the fact that Disneyland is not currently allowed to reopen under the state's coronavirus tier-based system. The story.

 'Mulan' And Amazon Crack Nielsen's Streaming List

➤Mulan cracks Nielsen's top streaming list. For the first time, Netflix has some company in Nielsen's rankings of the top streaming programs in the United States. Amazon's series The Boys, from Sony Pictures TV, and Disney+'s movie Mulan made the top 10 for the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6 (both debuted Sept. 4).

--They're the first two shows from a streaming platform other than Netflix to make the top 10 since Nielsen started releasing weekly rankings a month ago. Mulan's inclusion is notable because not just because it's the first Disney+ program to make the list, but also because it's not part of the regular Disney+ catalog — users have to pay a $29.99 premium to watch it. The story.

+What is best in life? Netflix is betting it might be a series adaptation of Conan the Barbarian. The streamer is developing a project based on Robert E. Howard's pulp stories. It stems from a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, which is owned by Fredrik Malmberg's Cabinet Entertainment. Pathfinder Media, headed by Malmberg and Mark Wheeler, will produce. The story.

+Discovery Channel must navigate around NDA to air Abraham Lincoln documentary. A judge is told that a secrecy pact is no reason to stop Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln, which is from Mark Wahlberg's shingle and scheduled to premiere on Sunday night. The story.

+The hour-long South Park pandemic special was the first episode of the show to be produced remotely. In addition, the special is the first episode of the show to debut on MTV at the same time as Comedy Central. The story.

--From COVID-19 to Donald Trump to police brutality, Disney and "chin diapers" (referencing people who do not wear a mask properly), the special seemed to sink its teeth into all of 2020. More.

+The XFL sets its return... but who will is TV partners be? Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia announced on their social channels this morning that the football league, which they acquired out of bankruptcy earlier this year alongside RedBird Capital Partners, will return in 2022. ABC and Fox were the TV partners when WWE chairman Vince McMahon relaunched the ill-fated brand last year. Will they return for Johnson's version?

➤PGA Awards pushed: Following in the footsteps of the Oscars, Golden Globes, Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America has changed its plans for its annual awards ceremony due to the ongoing pandemic. The Producers Guild Awards ceremony — which is usually held in mid to late January, about a month before the Oscars — will hold its 32nd edition on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, the PGA announced Wednesday. It will also be held entirely virtually. More.

➤Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Filmmakers must be free to tell the stories they want. The THR columnist disagrees with director Lulu Wang’s assertion that only a Chinese director should tell the story of classical pianist Lang Lang: "The key for any artist is to find the common humanity we all share." The column.

➤In markets news: Streaming service fuboTV provided details of its previously announced initial public offering on Thursday, saying it would sell 15 million shares for between $9 and $11 each. That means the IPO could raise as much as $165 million... Nearly a decade after it was taken private by founder Hugh Hefner, Playboy Enterprises will return to the public markets by merging with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC)...

Casting roundup: Idris Elba will star in Beast, a survival thriller that Baltasar Kormakur will direct for Universal Pictures... Marvel Studios has found its Ms. Marvel. Newcomer Iman Vellani has nabbed the role of the teenage superhero, who will headline her own Disney+ series before appearing in on the big screen... Oscar Isaac is set to play director Francis Ford Coppola, while Jake Gyllenhaal will play former Paramount studio head Robert Evans in a movie about the making of Coppola's The Godfather... Ben Stiller, Lily James and Stephen Merchant are in advanced talks to star in Doug Liman's pandemic-themed heist movie Lockdown...

Revolving door: Eric Tuchman, The Handmaid's Tale writer-producer and executive producer has signed with A3 Artists Agency... WME has signed another star from HBO's Betty. Dede Lovelace, who portrays Janay in the HBO comedy, has signed with the agency for representation in all areas... Rebecca Cutter, creator of Starz's Hightown, has signed an overall deal wih Starz owner Lionsgate... Former Activision Blizzard exec Eugene Wu has joined talent firm UTA in its esports brand partnerships department...

➤TV reviews: Robyn Bahr reviews Netflix's Emily in Paris, writing that "creator Darren Star (Sex and the City, Younger) has a penchant for exploring feminine ambition, though this latest venture isn't as deep as his earlier work." The review.

+Daniel Fienberg reviews HBO Max's A World of Calm, writing that the show is "relaxingly rudimentary: so-so travel porn or food porn or animal porn (well, probably not the latter) accompanied by chill music and chill celebrity voiceovers, but in no way better than a dozen Netflix cooking shows or the ample documentaries showcasing jellyfish pulsating through oceans or gazelles loping across savannas." The review.

In other news...

--Netflix on Wednesday released first look images from its upcoming drama Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, starring Chadwick Boseman in his last role.

--The Participant-owned content studio SoulPancake has partnered with journalist and author Joel Stein to host the digital series Show Your Shelf.

--Five individuals have been awarded 2020 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting by the Film Academy, their scripts chosen from 7,831 that were submitted for this year's competition.

--French cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, who won an Oscar for Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at respected cinematography festival Camerimage, which will be held in Torun, Poland, and through virtual presentations from Nov. 14-21.

--American Cinema Editors announced its 2021 Awards schedule with the Eddies slated for Sunday, April 18. Presentation details are not yet confirmed.

What else we're reading...

--"A new normal for the Royals" [Vanty Fair]

--"I was afraid of virtual comedy shows -- until I went to one" [Vulture]

--"Drudge Report, a Trump ally in 2016, stops boosting him for 2020" [NY Times]

--"Google pledges $1 billion in licensing payments for news publishers" [WSJ]

Today's birthdays: Zach Galifianakis, 51, Randy Quaid, 70, Julie Andrews, 85, Jimmy Carter, 96, Brie Larson, 31.

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OCTOBER 01, 2020

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