Today In Entertainment

OCTOBER 02, 2020

What's news: President Trump contracts COVID-19... media and entertainment stocks plunge... cable news goes into overdrive... Chris Wallace says "you can bet" he will get tested. Plus: The Supreme Court will take up media ownership rules, another notable film skips theaters for streaming, Bob Iger quits California economic recovery task force, Jamie Foxx sets Spider Man return, Hillary Clinton and the Obamas set to produce new shows, Cops quietly resumes production. --Alex Weprin

 COVID In The White House

➤Trump tests positive: "President Donald Trump said early Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, a stunning announcement that plunges the country deeper into uncertainty just a month before the presidential election." Vice President Mike Pence tested negative for the virus on Friday morning and "remains in good health," his spokesman said. Joe Biden said in a statement that he and his wife Jill hoped for a "swift recovery." The story.

+Trump's positive diagnosis followed that of his top communications aide Hope Hicks, who previously served as the head of comms for Fox Corp. More.

+On cable news: CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all had live coverage overnight, with news anchors including Brian Williams and Anderson Cooper working into the early morning to cover the news. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta was woken up in the middle of the night to go on-air. This morning, rolling coverage continued on the morning shows...

+Media and entertainment stocks plunge: Entertainment industry stocks – from Walt Disney to Comcast and Fox Corp. – fell in early Friday trading amid a broad market slide after overnight news that President Donald Trump and his wife Melania had tested positive for COVID-19. Market watchers said the development raises questions and a lack of clarity about the leadership of the country and next steps in the presidential election campaign. More.

+What about the debate? Trump shared a stage with Biden and moderator Chris Wallace for 90 minutes. While all were socially distanced, none wore masks. "You can bet... I am going to get a test" Wallace told Fox & Friends Friday morning, adding "what is going to happen?" to the next debate, scheduled for October 15.

+More: Trump's tweet announcing the diagnosis became his most-shared ever... World leaders reacted to the news...

 Another Film Goes Streaming

➤Another notable theatrical release is heading straight to streaming. Roald Dahl’s The Witches, Warner Bros. Pictures’ adaptation of the supernatural children’s novel directed by Robert Zemeckis, is heading to HBO Max. The movie, which stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Chris Rock, will debut exclusively on the WarnerMedia streaming service Oct. 22. The film will head into theatres internationally beginning October 28.

--The family fantasy was originally due to open theatrically Oct. 9, 2020 but was taken off the release calendar by the studio in June due to the ongoing pandemic and shutdowns of theatres. The story.

In other film news...

+The next Spider-Man movie is getting a major jolt. Jamie Foxx, who played classic Spidey villain Electro in the Andrew Garfield-starring The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is in final talks to reprise the role for the latest Spider-Man installment, starring Tom Holland and being made by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures. The story.

+Hollywood film pipeline looks "increasingly risky," warns analyst. "While theater companies are optimistic regarding a stacked 2021 Hollywood film release slate, benefitting from key 2020 titles pushed out to 2021, we continue to see risk to both 4Q20 and 2021 releases due to concerns regarding movie-goers willingness to return to theaters as COVID-19 lingers," Credit Suisse's Meghan Durkin argued in an Oct. 1 investors note. More.

➤Breaking: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up cases examining media ownership rules. On Friday, the high court announced that it would be reviewing a lower appellate court's direction to the FCC to examine how proposed deregulation would impact ownership of TV and radio stations by women and minorities. The story.

➤Disney chairman Bob Iger has resigned from California's economic recovery task force. The Sacramento Bee, which broke the news, notes that he quit right as the state is set to issue guidelines for reopening theme parks, guidelines that the trade group for the parks have expressed concern about.

 Hillary Clinton, TV Producer

➤Hillary Rodham Clinton and Steven Spielberg's women's voting drama The Woman's Hour officially has a home. Following more than a year of deal-making, the drama based on the book The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote has landed at The CW. The network, a joint venture between CBS TV Studios and Warner Bros. TV, has optioned to adapt the drama as a seasonal anthology. The project marks Clinton's debut as an exec producer on a scripted series. The story.

+Netflix is teaming one of the biggest names in children's programming with the Obamas. Chris Nee, the award-winning creator of Doc McStuffins and Vampirina is collaborating with Barack and Michelle Obama for an animated preschool series titled Ada Twist, Scientist. The series will debut globally in 2021. More.

In other TV news...

+Netflix has renewed its animated series F Is for Family for a fifth season — which will also be its last. The streamer will bring the comedy to a close in 2021. The 1970s-set show, created by Bill Burr and Michael Price and executive produced by Vince Vaughn, debuted its fourth season in June. More.

+Three months after it was canceled at Paramount Network, Cops is back in production — but is not set to air anywhere in the United States. The long-running series has crews working in Spokane County, Washington, where it has filmed multiple times in the past. A spokesperson for Langley Productions tells THR that the episodes are being filmed to fulfill commitments in international territories where Cops still airs. The story.

+Former Tonight Show head writer Nedaa Sweiss is setting her sights on primetime. ABC is developing a comedy called Real People from Sweiss. The single-camera show from ABC Signature follows diverse neighboring families who grew close during the lockdown as they struggle to return to everyday life in their own comedic ways. More.

+NBA ratings: The NBA Finals posted record-low TV ratings on Wednesday, consistent with steep declines throughout the postseason and with other sports whose seasons were delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Fox's The Masked Singer, meanwhile, grew in its second week in a positive sign for the broadcast networks. The numbers.

Casting roundup: Keegan-Michael Key, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Kristen Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski and Ann Harada have joined the cast of Cecily Strong's untitled musical comedy for Apple... Renée Elise Goldsberry will star opposite Sara Bareilles in Tina Fey's Peacock show Girls5eva... Joe Manganiello, Christian Slater, Vanessa Hudgens, and Yetide Badaki have joined the growing voice cast of Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, the anime spinoff for Netflix’s upcoming Zack Snyder zombie horror heist thriller, Army of the Dead...

Deals: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the U.S. rights to Julio Vincent Gambuto’s coming-of-age comedy Team Marco... Gravitas Ventures has picked up the U.S. rights to John Walker's documentary Assholes: A Theory, ahead of an Oct. 30 theatrical release...

➤TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond, writing that "spinoffs require runway and World Beyond, which has no direct narrative or character connections to The Walking Dead, has basically none. It just isn't very good." The review.

➤TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg speak with Amazon Utopia showrunner Gillian Flynn, and also ponder if the pandemic has slowed the TV pipeline and preview what to watch in October. Listen.

In other news...

--Gretchen Carlson has is heading back to TV, lining up a gig as special contributor for the syndicated newsmagazine, People (the TV Show).

--The British Academy on Thursday published its extensive new rules governing eligibility for the 2021 BAFTA awards.

--Visual effect company Pixomondo, which has contributed award-winning VFX to productions including The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones and Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning Hugo, is constructing a new virtual production studio in Toronto, scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

--The 2020 E! People's Choice Awards nominations have been announced, with Bad Boys for Life and This Is Us among the film and TV projects earning the most nominations.

--The Nordic Film Festival, the largest Scandinavian film showcase outside Europe, has unveiled the lineup for its mostly virtual 6th edition from Oct. 15-20 in New York.

--Chuck Todd discussed the upcoming fourth annual "Meet the Press Film Festival at AFI," a documentary shorts focused sidebar of the American Film Institute's AFI Fest, which will be all-virtual this year and run from Oct. 15 through Oct. 22.

--UTA has signed filmmaker and contemporary artist Shirin Neshat.

--Disney Junior has greenlighted a new series featuring Mickey Mouse and his friends, Mickey Mouse Funhouse.

--Amazon has released the first full trailer for the Borat sequel, Sacha Baron Cohen's filmed-in-secret follow-up to his hit 2006 film.

What else we're reading...

--"2020 is proving how much MSNBC's ratings hinge on politics" [WSJ]

--"The existential dread (and joy) of an in-person COVID-era concert" [Vanity Fair]

--"'Chad and not Chadwick': How the Boseman's remember a superstar" [NY Times]

--"Why one Hollywood agent left WME to start his own diverse management firm" [LA Times]

Today's birthdays: Sting, 69, Annie Leibovitz, 71, Donna Karan, 72, Kelly Ripa, 50, Mike Rutherford, 70.

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OCTOBER 02, 2020

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