Today In Entertainment

FEBRUARY 23, 2021

What's news: Disney prepping a Magic Kingdom Universe for Disney+, Stargirl sequel in the works, how The Bachelor missed an opportunity for representation, Spotify unveils an Obama-Springsteen podcast and a DC podcast universe, Hollywood asks Biden for more COVID relief, New York City movie theaters can reopen after almost a year. Plus: Starz gets Gaslit, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on how One Night in Miami grapples with the risk and responsibility of Black entertainers speaking out. --Alex Weprin

 The Mickey Cinematic Universe?

►Disney is ready to bring the characters from its theme parks and classic films to life in a new way. The media giant is teaming with For All Mankind creator Ron Moore to develop a franchise for streamer Disney+ that is set in Disney's beloved Magic Kingdom. The first project in the works as part of the so-called Magic Kingdom Universe is The Society of Explorers and Adventurers, which is set in a world where all the themed lands and characters of the Disney parks and classic films actually exist in another reality.

--The idea, sources tell Lesley Goldberg, is to explore characters — like sea boat captain from the Jungle Cruise or prospector from Big Thunder Mountain or the climbers of the Matterhorn, for example — as part of the world of The Society of Explorers and Adventurers. (To be clear, none of those characters or storylines are currently on the table at this stage.) The story.

+Also in the works at Disney+: The streamer is returning to the musical world of Stargirl, its YA romantic drama that premiered on the platform almost a year ago. The streamer is bringing back much of the creative team behind the original movie, including star Grace VanderWaal and director Julia Hart, who will this time be joined by actor Elijah Richardson as well as composer-musician Michael Penn, the latter who will write and perform original music for the film. The story.

In other TV/streaming news...

►The Bachelor star Matt James has spoken out amid the ABC franchise's ongoing racism controversy, calling the developments in recent weeks "devastating and heartbreaking to put it bluntly." "The past few weeks have been some of the most challenging of my life, and while there are several episodes left of the season, it is important that I take the time to address the troubling information that has come to light since we wrapped filming, including the incredibly disappointing photos of Rachael Kirkconnell and the interview between Rachel Lindsay and Chris Harrison," wrote James. The story.

+Related: How The Bachelor missed an opportunity for representation. ABC promised a historically representative cast with Matt James' season, but that's not what aired, a researcher behind the @BachelorData Instagram account finds. The story.

+Starz has picked up the anthology series Gaslit, with Sean Penn and Julia Roberts set to star in the untold story of Martha Mitchell's role in the Watergate scandal. Matt Ross will direct and executive produce the series. And the roles of Armie Hammer and Joel Edgerton have been recast. It's understood that scheduling conflicts led to Hammer and Edgerton leaving the series a months ago. At the same time, Hammer has been steadily losing acting gigs and representation amid a controversy over graphic messages he allegedly sent several women over social media. The story.

+George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures will produce a docuseries about a decades-long abuse scandal in the athletic department at Ohio State University. The series, which hasn't found an outlet yet, is based on an October 2020 Sports Illustrated story by Jon Wertheim, which detailed a long list of allegations against former Ohio State sports doctor Richard Strauss and university officials' lack of response. Sports Illustrated Studios and 101 Studios are producing alongside Smokehouse Pictures. More.

+The Simpsons is making another move to diversify its voice cast. Harry Shearer, a member of the long-running Fox animated series' core cast, will stop voicing Dr. Julius Hibbert, who is Black, on the show. Sunday's episode, "DiaryQueen," featured Shearer providing the character's voice for the final time. Starting with the Feb. 28 episode, "Wad Goals," Kevin Michael Richardson will take over as Dr. Hibbert. More.

+BET is adding a third original series from Lena Waithe's prolific Hillman Grad Productions, its first just for streaming platform BET+. Birth of Cool, a half-hour dramedy, is a partnership between Charles D. King's Macro Television Studios and Hillman Grad and was created by writer-director Juel Taylor and scribe Tony Rettenmaier. More.

 Big Spotify News...

Spotify unveiled a flurry of announcements Monday, part of a "Stream On" event hosted by the tech company, including a Hi-Fi option, new advertiser tools, and quite a bit more...

►Former President Barack Obama is teaming up with Bruce Springsteen for a new podcast for Spotify. In Renegades: Born in the USA, the friends will sit down to discuss everything from race to fatherhood to modern manhood to the state of America today. The eight-episode series is the second podcast project from Higher Ground, the production company launched by Obama and wife Michelle Obama after leaving the White House. The story.

+Joe and Anthony Russo have inked a multi-year podcast deal with the company. The filmmaker brothers, through their AGBO production company, will create multiple audio series for Spotify that are expected to delve into storytelling universes. The story.

+DC pulled back the curtain on its plans to create a new podcast superhero universe. DC chief creative officer Jim Lee revealed during Spotify's event that the company is planning podcasts about Wonder Woman, Batman, Lois Lane, Catwoman, Riddler and Batgirl. More.

+Spotify is expanding around the world, making its streaming audio service available in 80 new markets in the coming days. The international rollout, which will include countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria, will make Spotify available to more than 1 billion people around the world who did't previously have access to the service. More.

 Hollywood's Biden Ask

►A coalition of Hollywood studios and entertainment guilds have dispatched a letter to newly installed President Joe Biden detailing in broad strokes what his administration can to do help the entertainment industry recover from the COVID-19 crisis. "First and foremost, we support efforts to help America overcome the challenges of COVID-19. For much of 2020 through to the present, significant portions of the industry shuttered. The pandemic has put roughly 465,000 film and television jobs in the U.S. at risk," read the letter, which was signed by the Motion Picture Association, the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, IFTA and the AFL-CIO (DPE). The story.

+Meanwhile: Hollywood received a huge boost on Monday upon receiving word that theaters in New York City — which have been shut down for nearly a year because of COVID-19 — will permitted to reopen on March 5, albeit with strict restrictions in place. New York City is the country's second largest moviegoing market behind Los Angeles, and is crucial if studios hope to begin to recover from the pandemic. Cinemas in New York City will be allowed to reopen at 25 percent capacity, or no more than 50 people in one auditorium. Masks, assigned seating and advanced air filtration will be required. The story.

+In Canada, too: Quebec has given the green light to movie theaters in the French speaking province reopening on Friday, in time for spring break by students and their families. But as a safety protocol amid the pandemic, movie theaters will not be able to sell food and drinks. More.

►Mayor Pete, director Jesse Moss's documentary about former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, has landed at Amazon Studios. The former South Bend, Indiana mayor more recently became the U.S. Transportation Secretary. But during his presidential run, Buttigieg made history as the first openly gay candidate to seriously contend for the presidency. Mayor Pete will follow Buttigieg on the campaign trail and at home in Indiana with his husband, Chasten. Buttigieg eventually exited the race and endorsed former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden before his rival went on to win the U.S. presidential election in 2020. More.

+In other film news: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s jazz age classic The Great Gatsby is in development as an animated feature helmed by William Joyce and animated by the feature animation arm of VFX house DNEG (Tenet). The adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel will be written by Brian Selznick, who wrote and illustrated the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret on which Martin Scorsese's 2011 film Hugo was based. More.

+And: Chloé Zhao's Oscars favorite Nomadland has been given the green light for a limited theatrical release in China. More.

►Dylan Farrow is standing by her truth following the premiere of HBO's explosive Allen v. Farrow docuseries. "Thank you to everyone for their kind words, the outpouring of support means more to me than I can say," she said on Twitter Monday. "Speaking the truth is so difficult, but I hope any fellow survivors who watched last night know they are not alone." More.

+Related: After Skyhorse Publishing threatened a copyright infringement lawsuit against HBO’s Allen v. Farrow series, the docuseries' team is firing back. More.

►Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: One Night in Miami grapples with the risk and responsibility of Black entertainers speaking out. The Oscar-contending film imagines a heated debate between Malcolm X and Sam Cooke about the duty of successful Blacks to be the public face of the civil rights movement — one the THR columnist long has embraced.

--"I had my own go-tell-it-on-the-mountain moment in 1967, when Jim Brown asked me to be part of the Cleveland Summit, a group of Black athletes tasked with deciding whether we would support Muhammad Ali's decision to refuse the draft as a conscientious objector. I was only 20, a sophomore at UCLA, surrounded by veteran athletes, some of them also military veterans who were not pleased with Ali's stance. It was not a rubber-stamp group. We grilled Ali for hours. Some in the group had come with the intention of trying to convince Ali to accept military service... Seeing Ali willing to sacrifice his career and even face imprisonment for the sake of his conscience inspired me to speak out against inequality whenever I could." The column.

Casting roundup: Gillian Anderson is taking on another famous woman in history. The Crown and Sex Education favorite has been tapped to star alongside Viola Davis and Michelle Pfeiffer in the Showtime drama The First Lady...Mila Kunis will star in the feature film adaptation Luckiest Girl Alive for Netflix... Charlie Day and Jenny Slate are set to lead an Amazon rom-com from the writers behind Love, Simon and This Is Us... More than two dozen actors — including Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington and Judas and the Black Messiah breakout Dominique Fishback — have joined the cast of Amazon's Modern Love anthology...

Revolving door: May Calamawy has signed with WME. The actress, who currently stars on Hulu's critically praised series Ramy, next appears opposite Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke in Marvel's upcoming Moon Knight series for streamer Disney+... Sohla El-Waylly, the former Bon Appetit YouTube cooking show host, has signed with Range Media Partners...

►TV review: Daniel Fienberg reviews The CW's Superman & Lois, writing that it "is a show that finally answers the question: 'What if one of the characters on thirtysomething had superpowers, but it barely impacted the scope of the show at all and instead just gave all of the characters something else to be mopey about?'" The review.

In other news...

--Guy Ritchie is going to war. The filmmaker, who made a name for himself with snappy crime thrillers, has boarded to write and direct Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a World War Two action spy thriller.

--Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have sent letters to the CEOs of U.S. cable and telecommunications companies, as well as technology firms that disseminate video content, asking how they handle "disinformation" spread through conservative news outlets.

--Australia’s government announced on Tuesday that Facebook has agreed to lift its ban on Australians sharing news after a deal was struck on legislation that would make digital giants pay for journalism.

--Magic shows are having a pandemic boom, with magicians like Dan White and Justin Willman succesfully switching to a virtual format.

--Cinemas in England, which have been closed since the third and current lockdown was put in place in December, could be allowed to open across the country by May 17.

--The Vancouver Film Critics Circle has named Chloé Zhao's Nomadland as its best international feature of 2020 as the American road movie continued its run as an early award season contender.

--Footnotes book excerpt: Caseen Gaines tells the story of Black artists behind Broadway's Shuffle Along.

What else we're reading...

--"Did Warner Bros.’s HBO Max move really kill moviegoing as we know it?" [Vanity Fair]

--"How Hollywood is beating its final boss: Video game adaptations" [The Ringer]

--"Star’s launch means lots of new content for Disney Plus — but not in the US" [The Verge]

--"Slate suspends podcast host after debate over racial slur" [NY Times]

--"Extremely loud and incredibly close: An inside look at the new era of music documentaries" [Entertainment Weekly]

Today's birthdays: Josh Gad, 40, Michael Dell, 56, Dakota Fanning, 27, Aziz Ansari, 38, Emily Blunt, 38.

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FEBRUARY 23, 2021

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