Today In Entertainment

DECEMBER 08, 2020

What's news: Christopher Nolan and other Hollywood heavyweights unload on Warner Bros.' HBO Max plan, AT&T CEO John Stankey responds that the move is a "win-win-win," Howard Stern signs a new deal with SiriusXM, MSNBC gets a new president, Margot Robbie inks Amazon deal, Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine expansion, ABC orders more Big Sky. Plus: How one writers room is rethinking policing on TV, and THR's film critics on the best performances of 2020. --Alex Weprin

 Hollywood Unloads On Warner Bros. Plan

►The knives are out for Warner Bros. and its parent company WarnerMedia. The surprise decision to release its 2021 theatrical slate on HBO Max and in theaters on the same day is causing angst and anger across Hollywood, Kim Masters reports. Agents, actors, directors, writers and smaller studios that do business with Warners remain uncertain what the decision means for their bottom lines, or for the theatrical experience: “Never have this many people been this upset with one entity.”

--The most explosive accusation came from one of Warners' most frequent collaborators, writer-director Christopher Nolan. “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service,” Nolan tells Masters.

--What now? Talent and outside studios remain somewhat in the dark, aside from reassurances that there are plans to return to "normal" in 2022. “'It’s a critical time for them, at the highest, level, to make this right with the talent,' says one rep. But agents say the guidance that’s been provided so far suggests that the company isn’t planning to offer what is now called 'Wonder Woman money,' in honor of the rich deal the studio gave profit participants in Wonder Woman 1984 when that film was moved to HBO Max." The story.

+Speaking at a UBS conference Tuesday morning, AT&T CEO John Stankey brushed aside those concerns, saying "I know there's a lot of noise out there in the market... We think it is a great way for us to penetrate the market faster and quicker, a great way to get our customers engaged in our base."

--Calling it a "win-win-win" (for HBO Max, customers and partners), Stankey argued that the deal is ultimately a good ting for theater owners and filmmakers: "Because we care about theatrical and we care about streaming, it lets us do it in a way that shows respect for theatrical" by giving theater owners predictable release dates instead of pushing movies exclusively to streaming, and instead of selling movies to other streamers that don't do theatrical releases.

--"I think as everybody sits down and sorts through that, I think there is a middle ground where everybody walks away from this thinking this is a good thing," Stankey added, noting that the company will "adjust" once the pandemic is fully behind us. Also: HBO Max now has about 12.6 million subscribers. The story.

 Howard Stern's New Deal

►Howard Stern reups at SiriusXM. The self-declared "King of All Media" has signed a new five-year deal with the satellite radio giant. The deal also covers the Stern video and audio archive for seven additional years. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Stern, 66, is currently working under a five-year deal, estimated to be worth as much as $100 million a year, with Sirius that expires at the end of this year. Recent chatter had focused on the new deal being for up to $120 million per year. The story.

►Margot Robbie's LuckyChap Entertainment is putting down roots at Amazon. The six-year-old company behind such projects as I, Tonya, Birds of Prey and Hulu's Dollface has inked a first-look television deal with the streaming service. The news comes as the company, previously housed at Warner Bros., is already in production on TV series elsewhere, including Netflix's Margaret Qualley-fronted dramedy Maid and the second season of feminist comedy Dollface. The story.

+Bryan Cogman on the move. The Game of Thrones Emmy winner has moved his overall deal from Amazon to Entertainment One. Under the multiple-year pact, the writer and producer will create and develop new projects for the independent studio overseen by global TV president Michael Lombardo. The first project under the pact is a contemporary take on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. (The 1961 samurai pic was the source material for Clint Eastwood's spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars.) The Mark Gordon Co., which has its own pact with eOne, is teaming with Cogman for the Yojimbo update. The story.

►Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine continues to expand —  now bolstering its unscripted efforts with the acquisition of Sara Rea’s SKR Productions. The reality veteran, who recently launched Amazon's Making the Cut after almost a decade working on Project Runway, comes in house at Hello Sunshine as the production company makes its most significant moves to date in alternative programming with the recent launch of Netflix's Get Organized and sale of competition My Kind of Country to Apple. The story.

►Queen Latifah is set to lead Netflix thriller End of the Road. Latifah will star as Brenda, a recent widower who, after losing her job, drives her family cross-country to start a new life. In the New Mexico desert, cut off from help, they must learn to fight back when they become the targets of a mysterious killer. More.

 What Should a Police Procedural Look Like In 2020?

►How one writers room is rethinking policing on TV. ABC's The Rookie is leaning into calls for a more nuanced approach to how cops are portrayed, Michael O'Connell reports: "We want to change things for as long as we get to do this show."

--"We were portraying a version of the police and the LAPD that was alien to many people,” acknowledged Alexi Hawley. “We really needed to honor the conversations going on in the wake of George Floyd's death by digging into the reality of systemic injustice and police abuse — without losing what makes our show our show. And part of what is coming out now is this idea that you can't truly be a good cop if you're not doing anything about bad cops, that ultimately silence is complicity.” The story.

In other TV news...

+ABC is extending the first season of Big Sky. The network has ordered six more episodes of the David E. Kelley-created drama, bringing its total to 16 — about as close to a full-season order as network dramas are likely to get in 2020-21. Most network series, which started production and premiered later than usual thanks to the pandemic, are likely to fall short of their usual 22 to 24 episodes this season. The story.

+Netflix has renewed its critically acclaimed dramedy Feel Good for a second season, which will also be the last one for the series. The streamer is not, however, ready to end its relationship with Feel Good's star and co-creator, Mae Martin. Netflix is developing another project with Martin and Feel Good producer Objective Fiction, which it won in a competitive environment. More.

+Inside Big Mouth's big change. Co-Creator Andrew Goldberg talks with THR about recasting the role of Missy and how new cast member — and writer — Ayo Edebiri is making her mark on the Netflix animated favorite. More.

+On Friday, Apple TV+ debuted Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, the latest festive offering from the undisputed Queen of Christmas. It features Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Billy Eichner, Snoop Dogg, Jermaine Dupri and narrator Tiffany Haddish in a story that unfolds as Carey is recruited to the North Pole to help Santa Claus solve a holiday cheer crisis. While Apple TV+ does not release viewership data, sources close to the steaming platform told THR's Chris Gardner that Carey's special hit No. 1 in more than 100 countries. More.

+The BBC is shifting its focus significantly towards its digital offerings, with a major restructuring focused on the growth of its iPlayer platform. Led by chief content officer Charlotte Moore, the restructuring scraps previous individual channel controller roles at the U.K. public broadcaster while expanding those of its separate genre heads. More.

►Critics' conversation: The great film performances of 2020. THR's movie reviewers David Rooney, Sheri Linden and Jon Frosch discuss screen vets showing new shades of their talent, celebrate remarkable work from women and newbies, and rejoice in the actors who offered moments of mirth (thank you, Radha Blank) in a year of sadness and sameness. The conversation.

►THR, Esq. news: A D.C. federal judge has halted President Donald Trump's attempted ban on TikTok, finding that the U.S. government sought to act outside its authority by taking "arbitrary and capricious" action to regulate personal communications and the exchange or information via the app.

--Next year is shaping up to be a landmark year for tattoo trials. The latest, thanks to a federal court ruling on Friday, has Cardi B facing a jury for using a man's distinctive tattoo on the cover of her first album.

--Neil Young has ended his copyright suit against President Trump.

►Revolving door: MSNBC is getting a new president. The NBCUniversal-owned cable news channel has named Rashida Jones president, succeeding Phil Griffin, who will depart the company in the new year... New Freeform president Tara Duncan has solidified her executive team. Former head of current Jamila Hunter has been promoted to Duncan's No. 2 and serve as exec vp originals. Additionally, Quibi's former head of documentaries Jihan Robinson has joined the Disney-owned cable network as vp alternative programming... 

--Christine McCarthy, executive vp and CFO of The Walt Disney Co., has signed a contract extension that will see her overseeing the entertainment giant's finances through 2022... Fox News Channel has named Tom Lowell executive vp and managing editor of news... WME has signed Monica Padman, best known as the co-host, co-producer and co-creator of the popular podcast Armchair Expert, alongside Dax Shepard...

In other news...

--Jeremy Irons has joined Lady Gaga in Gucci, the crime drama that Ridley Scott is directing for MGM.

--Discovery CEO David Zaslav talked up the company's forthcoming streaming service Discovery+, and suggested that the market for unscripted fare in streaming remains nascent.

--Here are the nominees for the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.

--Cable operator Charter Communications, in which John Malone's Liberty Broadband owns a big stake, expects to continue selling video services successfully despite high programming costs. But over time Hollywood giants' growing focus on direct-to-consumer services could make paying for content bundles untenable, chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge suggested during a virtual investor conference on Monday.

--Natalie Desselle Reid, the comedy actress who starred opposite Halle Berry in the 1997 movie B.A.P.S. and had a recurring role on the UPN sitcom Eve, has died. She was 53.

--The organization Diverse Representation is establishing an annual program that seeks to augment the number of Black executives in Hollywood.

What else we're reading...

--"Nielsen sets timeline for big change in TV ratings" [WSJ]

--"After a hard year, holiday commercials get real" [NY Times]

--"What Joe Biden reads and watches" [Politico]

--"Pandemic is a win and a loss for Hollywood's background actors" [LA Times]

Today's birthdays: Nicki Minaj, 38, Sinead O'Connor, 54, Kim Basinger, 67, Dominic Monaghan, 44, Teri Hatcher, 56.

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DECEMBER 08, 2020

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