Today In Entertainment

NOVEMBER 07, 2020

What's news: Johnny Depp out of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, CinemaCon 2021 delayed due to COVID-19, Biden preaches patience in primetime speech, Rachel Maddow quarantines after COVID contact, Kendrick Sampson on L.A.'s progressive shift and continued organizing. Plus: Reviews of Mank and Moonbase 8, and what if Nielsen measured linear TV the same way it measures streaming? --Alex Weprin

 Johnny Depp Fallout

➤Johnny Depp is leaving the Fantastic Beasts film franchise after the studio requested the actor's departure. The actor made an announcement in an Instagram post on Friday, writing, “I wish to let you know that I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and I have respected and agreed to that request.”

--"Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date. Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast," a studio spokesperson said. "The film will debut in theaters worldwide in the summer of 2022." The story.

--Depp's firing comes after the actor lost a libel suit in the U.K. against News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun. Depp sued UK-based publisher for defamation over an April 17, 2018 article headlined "How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?" After a contentious summer trial that made global headlines for weeks and put the acrimonious relationship between Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard under a microscope, Judge Andrew Nicol on Monday dismissed the suit finding that what the paper published was “substantially true.” 

➤CinemaCon, delayed: The 2021 CinemaCon theater owners confab, originally scheduled for April 26-29 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, has has been moved to Aug. 23-26, 2021, due to COVID-19. The announcement cited ongoing international travel restrictions and limits on large gatherings caused by the pandemic as the reason to postpone the confab, which was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19. The story.

 Where Things Stand

The weekend after the election is here, and none of the major TV news outlets have called the presidency. Despite former Vice President Joe Biden's lead in multiple states, it seems that no network wants to be the first one to call the race. Biden certainly expected a call, having planned a primetime address he delivered Friday evening...

➤In his address, the former vice president made clear that "we don't have a final declaration of victory yet" but said that the present numbers expressed "we're going to win this race." He pointed to pulling ahead of Trump in votes  in Georgia and Pennsylvania since Thursday as one example as well as his leads in Arizona and Nevada, and expressed his confidence that when all votes are counted, "We're going to win this race with a clear majority of the nation behind us."

--Hollywood activists responded to the unifying speech with a sense of relief. Comedian Billy Eichner tweeted, "I clapped alone in my apt. RELIEVED." Insecure actor and comedian Natasha Rothwell tweeted, "We may be opponents but we're not enemies." - The next POTUS" and "It's kind of jarring to hear common sense and full sentences coming out of a president's mouth again." The story.

+Meanwhile: As Biden remains close to clinching the 270 electoral votes to declare victory in the 2020 presidential election, Hollywood activists looking to help Democrats secure control of the Senate have turned their focus to Georgia, which is set to be the site of at least one, if not two, runoff elections in January. More.

➤Rachel Maddow won't be on MSNBC for now after a "close contact" of hers tested positive for the coronavirus. The anchor tweeted that she won't be on the air Friday as the news channel continues to cover the presidential election. "I've tested negative thus far but will be at home quarantining 'til it's safe for me to be back at work without putting anyone at risk," she wrote. More.

+George Stephanopoulos has slept a total of 14 hours since Tuesday while covering the results of the 2020 election, he told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel on Friday.

--"It's kind of broadcasting under the influence, isn't it?" Stephanopoulos joked while he spoke from the ABC News set on the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in between election coverage. When prodded by Kimmel about whether he has showered in that period, Stephanopoulos said he has returned home to shower since Election Day. More.

 Kendrick Sampson Speaks

➤Kendrick Sampson on L.A.’s progressive shift and continued organizing: "Our champion has always been us." The Insecure star and BLD PWR founder shares how his work will continue (no matter what happens to the "white supremacist in office") and expresses his election anxiety: It’s "joy and trauma and depression and hope… swirling around from millisecond to millisecond." The interview.

➤TV Long View: Rick Porter asks,what if Nielsen measured linear TV the way it does streaming? Spoiler alert: sports, news and unscripted lead the pack. The column.

➤Film review: David Rooney reviews Mank, writing that "Steeped in the inspirations behind [Orson] Welles' debut film [Citizen Kane] and the bold stylistic tropes that made it such a landmark, the Netflix feature is a cinephile's dream. At least on the surface." The review.

➤TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews Showtime's Moonbase 8, writing that the show "is a celebration of mediocre men rising to mediocre levels in a mediocre moment for America. By that standard, making Moonbase 8 a mediocre comedy could well be a strategic decision and the four creators are nothing if not versed in meta-comedy." The review.

Revolving door: Former FCC chairman and U.S. ambassador to the European Union William Kennard has been named chairman of the board of directors for telecom giant and WarnerMedia parent company AT&T...WME has signed up YouTube star and inclusive beauty expert Deepica Mutyala... Marvel publisher John Nee has been laid off from the company...

In other news...

--High Rise director Ben Wheatley has written and helmed the virus-inspired horror film In The Earth for Neon.

--A California federal judge has rejected Eko's emergency request to freeze some of Quibi's assets in a dispute over the technology the since-shuttered platform uses to transition video from landscape to portrait mode.

--Ongoing coverage of the presidential election brought more big numbers to cable news on Thursday, but football ruled the night's primetime ratings. The Bachelorette also hit season highs with its big (and heavily foretold) twist.

--Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has been hit with a COVID-19 whistleblower lawsuit.

--Bill Gosden, who served as director of the New Zealand International Film Festival for nearly 40 years, died Friday after a battle with bowel cancer. He was 66.

--Tom Holland is showing off his Spiderman mask, and his real-life, pandemic mask. Amid the presidential election counting that dominated social media conversations on Friday, the actor took to Instagram to share a behind-the-scenes studio photograph of himself in full Spiderman costume, along with the white non-medical face mask that has come to characterize the year 2020.

What else we're reading...

--"The second breakup of AT&T" [Bloomberg]

--"Did The Bachelow franchise break itself?" [The Ringer]

--"News media waits … and waits … to make historic call" [NY Times]

--"Move over, chartthrobs King, Kornacki. We’re watching these 10 election 2020 standouts" [LA Times]

Today's birthdays: Joni Mitchell, 77, Sharleen Spiteri, 53, David Guetta, 53, Bethany Mota, 25, Lorde, 24.

Is this e-mail not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser. 

©2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved.

NOVEMBER 07, 2020

UNSUBSCRIBE 

MANAGE PREFERENCES

PRIVACY POLICY

TERMS OF USE