Today In Entertainment FEBRUARY 12, 2021
What's news: Disney+ hits 95 million subscribers as The Walt Disney Co. continues to be hit hard by the pandemic, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's next season will be its last, eOne sells My Little Pony to Netflix, Steven Mnuchin's "Snyder Cut" credit, a Chapelle's Show deal, Magnolia Network to debut digitally. Plus: Lee Daniels on creating without the "blanket" of drugs and alcohol, and Minari's Lee Isaac Chung on the downside of the American Dream and Golden Globes controversy. --Alex Weprin Disney Day ►Disney+ continues to drive The Walt Disney Co. forward amid the pandemic. A new season of The Mandalorian and Pixar film Soul helped propel the streaming service to 94.9 million subscribers during the final three months of the year. That means the 15-month-old streamer added 8.1 million members during the month of December alone. Disney last disclosed that as of Dec. 2, Disney+ had attracted 86.8 million subs. Disney has now topped the 90 million goal that it had previously set for Disney+ sign-ups by the end of fiscal 2024. The story. +The rest of the company is still struggling, with the pandemic battering its theme parks, cruise ships, and theatrical business. Quarterly operating income declined by 67 percent and Disney expects the pandemic will continue to impact its business through fiscal 2021, leading to estimated costs of around $1 billion. The story. +At the theme parks: The company reported that it took a $2.6 billion hit this quarter due to the pandemic's impact. "We have ample demand for our parks," CEO Bob Chapek said. He added that increasing the capacity at open parks and reopening others will be "determined by rate of vaccinations." He also said it is anticipated that masks and social distancing would be required at all theme parks through 2021. More. +The company still believes in theatrical: Marvel's female superhero event pic Black Widow is still expected to make it to the big screen rather than going directly to streaming. "We are still intending for it to be a theatrical release," Chapek said Thursday. "We are going to be watching very carefully to see whether that strategy needs to be revisited." More. +Wall Street's take: Should Disney be valued like Netflix? Much of where observers come down on this debate depends on whether Wall Street analysts believe Disney's streaming operations should be valued like Netflix in their entirety. More. +A Disney shareholder is using the riot at the Capitol last month to demand more transparency around its lobbying spend from the company. Mercy Investment Services sent a note to other Disney shareholders Thursday, demanding a "Need for transparency in the wake of the Capitol insurrection." "After January 6, Disney announced it will not make political contributions in 2021 to lawmakers who voted to reject the certification of the Electoral College votes," Mercy writes. "But the question being asked is whether the changes that companies like Disney have made in response will be simply emergency measures to repair reputational damage, or something more lasting... We believe Disney needs to commit to corporate political responsibility... by disclosing all of its third-party spending to influence public policy." The End Nears For 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' ►Brooklyn Nine-Nine is coming to an end. The beloved cop comedy starring Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher will wrap with its previously announced eighth season. The final season will consist of 10 episodes — its lowest order ever. What's more, the series from creators Dan Goor and Mike Schur (Parks and Recreation) will not air during the 2020-21 broadcast season. The Universal Television entry will return at a date to be determined during the 2021-22 broadcast season. Sources tell Lesley Goldberg that NBC opted to delay Brooklyn's return in order to give the beloved and award-winning comedy a proper sendoff. The story. +Insecure may be ending but Issa Rae is already setting up her next comedy series. HBO Max has doled out an eight-episode order to a new half-hour series from her that's tentatively titled Rap Sh*t. The show will follow two estranged high school friends from Miami who reunite to form a rap group. Casting is currently underway and production is set to start this summer. The story. +Magnolia details: After a soft launch with the January debut of Discovery+, Chip and Joanna Gaines' new Magnolia Network is solidifying the rest of its roll-out. The full slate will launch digitally, on Discovery+, on July 15 — with the official linear network kicking off in January 2022. The two dates come on the heels of pandemic-related delays for Magnolia, which had to shut down production on all original series just as it had solidified its ambitious launch slate. The story. +Chapelle's Show is streaming on Netflix again and this time it has Dave Chappelle's blessing. In an Instagram clip posted on Thursday, Chappelle revealed that the Comedy Central show he created and acrimoniously left, returned to the streaming platform on Feb. 12, just over two months after it was pulled at his request. I got my name back and I got my license back and I got my show back and they paid me millions of dollars. Thank you very much." The story. +Netflix is also going all in on the GameStop stock saga. The streamer is in production on a docuseries from Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan and their Story Syndicate company. The series will have what it bills as exclusive access to members of r/WallStreetBets, the Reddit forum that helped push the video game retailer's stock to dizzying heights in January. The project is the second based on the GameStop story in the works at Netflix: Oscar winner Mark Boal is also writing a feature film, with Noah Centineo attached to star. More. +Get ready for the virtual upfronts: As of Friday morning, WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS, Discovery and Disney have all confirmed that they intend to hold upfront events in May, virtually of course, with the shape of the pandemic still uncertain. Last year many companies held virtual events, but this year's presentations are shaping up to be more fully-fleshed out, as advertisers look to pick up their spending. Lee Daniels Speaks Out ►Lee Daniels on creating without the "blanket" of drugs and alcohol. Speaking with Rebecca Keegan, The United States vs. Billie Holiday director reflects on the Jussie Smollett scandal and why he wants to keep telling the uncomfortable stories: "I know what it's like to be in pain." --"Before the pandemic, Paramount was slated to release The United States vs. Billie Holiday theatrically; in December, with any prospect of a near-term theatrical release looking slim and most U.S. theaters still closed because of COVID-19, the film sold to Hulu in an eight-figure deal. For Daniels, waiting for theaters to open would have meant missing a moment. --'When I do a movie, it's like an aerosol,' Daniels says. 'It's in the air. I breathe it. What's drawing me to Billie, outside of my personal connection to her? What is drawing me to this story? It was certainly before George Floyd. It was before the news at the Capitol. When the unmentionable [Donald Trump] came into office, there was just this cloud. It felt like COVID was coming for us before it even came. This is a call to arms, this movie, because Billie really took on the government. I think that that's what we needed to do to get [Trump] out.'" The story. ►Netflix is saddling up to take a ride with My Little Pony. The streamer has struck a deal with Entertainment One for worldwide rights to Hasbro's family film (eOne is Hasbro-owned). Paramount Pictures had been previously set to distribute the CGI-animated movie in theaters on Sept. 24, 2021. Instead, the family pic will go out via Netflix later this year. The story. +Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has moved back to L.A. Mnuchin says it’s premature to comment on his future activities even as he has moved back to Los Angeles. Still, the former Relativity Media co-chairman, who is expected to face industry scorn because of his relationship with former President Donald Trump while serving as treasury secretary, has a financial stake in a high-profile film, Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League for HBO Max, Tatiana Siegel reports. The story. +Godzilla Vs. Kong director Adam Wingard has been tapped for the remake of Face/Off. Wingard will direct the Paramount project from a script her will write the script with Simon Barrett. More. +Minari's Lee Isaac Chung talks the downside of the American Dream and Golden Globes controversy. In an interview with Inkoo Kang, the writer-director revisits his familial inspirations like Ben Hur and making the Korean-American coming of age film "on my terms and to not leave anything behind." The interview. +George C. Wolfe, Dustin Lance Black, and former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground banner are coming together for a biopic of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Wolfe will direct Rustin from a script by Dustin Lance Black for Higher Ground and Netflix. More. +Initiatives expand to advance virtual production. In a move aimed at developing the U.K.'s stake in the emerging field of virtual production, its Department for International Trade and Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport is backing a new initiative aimed at creating national standards for job training in the field. More. +China box office takes office amid Lunar New Year: Wanda Pictures' Detective Chinatown 3 was leading the pack of seven new releases as expected. By 3pm local time, the comedy tentpole already racked up $125 million (RMB 810 million) in sales on its way to an opening-day total in clear excess of $150 million, according to early data from Artisan Gateway. Many local analysts now believe the film could hit $400 million by the end of the three-day weekend. More. ►Judge can't figure out who owns rights to "Jack Ryan" character. A dispute with the U.S. Navy's publishing division. A divorce. A death. A copyright termination. Nearly four decades after the publication of The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy's widow is on the verge of trial, Eriq Gardner reports. The story. +Meghan Markle has convinced a UK judge Mail on Sunday violated her privacy by publishing parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father in 2018 and that the tabloid is liable for copyright infringement. A judge on Thursday granted summary judgment in Markle's favor on nearly all of the claims, but is leaving open the issue of copyright ownership. Associated Newspapers had argued Markle may not be the sole owner and justice Warby finds enough substance in that argument to allow it to proceed to trial. The story. Casting roundup: Lily Gladstone has joined Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese’s high-priced period thriller also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.... HBO's Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon has added four actors — Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best and Sonoya Mizuno — as regulars... Jack Black has joined Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart and Cate Blanchett in the feature adaptation of the video game Borderlands... ►Film review: Robyn Bahr reviews Netflix's To All the Boys: Always and Forever, writing that "Where the previous stories saw her grow in confidence thanks to the sexual attention of boys, this final story permits her to grow in confidence precisely because she rejects (albeit, with great difficulty) the expectations of being a love object. Lara Jean is finally a person, not a projection." The review. +Also: David Rooney reviews Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar, writing: "An unapologetically delirious frolic in which lifelong friendship is tested by romance, adventure and the mass-extermination plan of an archvillain, this disarming escape to turquoise waters and a seafood buffet will be just what many folks need right now." The review. +TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews FX's Hip-Hop Uncovered, writing that the docuseries is "an intermediate course that maybe assumes you've taken the 101 intro — but if you've indeed taken that intro course, Hip Hop Uncovered has intriguing characters, a provocative throughline and a rich approach to culture that I mostly appreciated." The review. ►TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg are joined by Heat Vision editor Aaron Couch to explore what's next for embattled producer Joss Whedon and actress Gina Carano, and speak with Clarice showrunner Jenny Lumet. Listen. In other news... -- The Biden Administration wants to pause the court battle with TikTok it inherited from Donald Trump's DOJ. --Rachael Kirkconnell, who has emerged as a frontrunner on ABC's historic season of The Bachelor, is addressing her problematic recent past. --Sen. Ted Cruz has become one of the most prominent conservative voices seemingly furious over the Disney firing of Star Wars actor Gina Carano. --Why Stanley Tucci's Searching For Italy was the "right show" to bring the travel-food genre back to CNN. --Cineplex has reached another agreement with key lenders for relief on its financial covenants to the fourth quarter of 2021. --The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA) has unveiled the nominations for the 2021 Dorian Film Awards on Thursday morning. --BBC World News has been banned from airing in China, according to the country's main broadcasting regulator. --Sugar23, the company founded by Oscar-winning producer and manager Michael Sugar, is expanding its representation division with the hiring of three managers. What else we're reading... --"Inside the making of Facebook's Supreme Court" [The New Yorker] --"The wild true story of Stan Lee and the dot-com disaster" [Vulture] --"TikTok stars and other social media influencers can now join the union that represents Hollywood's biggest names" [Insider] --Cameo is in talks to raise funds at a $1 billion valuation [Bloomberg] --"Discovery joins Disney, ViacomCBS in setting upfronts week virtual event" [AdWeek] Today's birthdays: Josh Brolin, 53, Arsenio Hall, 65, Christina Ricci, 41, Judy Blume, 83, Gucci Mane, 41.
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