Today In Entertainment

MARCH 17, 2021

What's news: The scene at L.A. cinemas as they reopen, Oscars broadcast in China in Jeopardy, Vanity Fair's Oscars plans, Hollywood reacts to the shootings in Atlanta, Deborah Snyder talks Snyder Cut, is MoviePass really back from the dead? An Everybody Hates Chris animated revival. Plus: Rian Johnson goes streaming with Peacock, and Blumhouse inks a deal with Epix. --Alex Weprin

 The Scene At L.A. Cinemas

►Moviegoers erupt with applause as L.A theaters reopen: "It's absolutely invigorating." THR's Chris Gardner surveyed the scene on Monday at the busy AMC Century City 15 to find consumers relieved, elated and excited about once again experiencing films on the big screen: "I'm all for it."

--"Also taking in an animated movie was Candice Grey, 35, who arrived at AMC with her daughter, their neighbor, Yanik Camarillo, 40, and her child. While picking out their seats to see DreamWorks/Universal's The Croods: A New Age, Grey explained that she never wanted movie theaters to close in the first place. 'I despised it the whole time,' she said. 'We both work in industries that were open the entire time during the pandemic so that makes it easier [to come out], but we know that in reality, the world can't be 'stopped' for too long. I'm ecstatic and very grateful they made it through the pandemic.'"  The story.

►Oscars broadcast in China in jeopardy over nomination of Hong Kong protest documentary. Sources close to state TV network CCTV say they are awaiting official word about whether the Academy Awards ceremony will be aired in China as usual, while local media outlets have been instructed to play down coverage and avoid any live broadcasting, Patrick Brzeski reports. The story.

+Vanity Fair's Oscar plans: In an interview with THR's Chris Gardner, Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones confirms that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the magazine is taking its act online to host a charity event series that will benefit the Motion Picture & Television Fund's coronavirus relief efforts. It's happening a week before the Oscar telecast and will feature a slew of A-listers including Serena Williams, Michael B. Jordan and Mank nominee Amanda Seyfried, among others. The interview.

►"Enough is enough": Hollywood reacts to the Atlanta shootings. Lulu Wang, Olivia Munn, Daniel Dae Kim, Mindy Kaling and more celebrities are speaking out in support of the Asian American community following the shootings in Atlanta on Tuesday evening that left eight people dead, a majority of them women of Asian descent. The story.

 The 'Snyder Cut' Story

►Justice League producer Deborah Snyder on assembling A-listers during COVID-19 and the power of fans. In a conversation with THR's Aaron Couch, Snyder reveals how she and husband Zack Snyder convinced WarnerMedia to invest in the Snyder Cut, and looks at the race to finish the visual effects on a compressed timetable. The interview.

►Is MoviePass back from the dead? That's the question on many cinephiles minds this week as a "MoviePass Ventures" website went live, teasing a reveal that "the movie is about to start" in just a few days time. There's just one little problem: MoviePass is bankrupt, and according to its parent comany Helios & Matheson's bankruptcy filings, efforts to find a buyer for the MoviePass brand stalled out last year. In other words, it isn't clear how this could be a legitimate revival of the popular (and money-losing) service.

--A couple of possibilities: It could be a viral marketing campaign for a TV or film project about MoviePass, of which there are a few in the works. With the countdown clock overlapping with SXSW, a surprise film premiere is certainly a possibility. Or, with Helios & Matheson stock trading for essentially nothing (because it's bankrupt), it could be a pump and dump scheme. The company's stock was up more than 165 percent on Tuesday...

 'Everybody Hates Chris' Revival

►Everybody Hates Chris is getting a potential new life — as an animated series. CBS Studios is developing a reboot of the critically acclaimed UPN/CW comedy about comedian Chris Rock's childhood. The studio is also developing an American version of Israeli drama Shtisel and a show based on Jamal Joseph's memoir Panther Baby. The story.

In other TV news...

+Rian Johnson has scored a direct-to-series order for his first TV show, a drama starring Natasha Lyonne. Peacock has ordered 10 episodes of Poker Face from The Last Jedi and Knives Out writer-director and T-Street and MRC Television. The story.

+Showtime is ready to explore the story of a warrior king. The premium cable network has handed out a straight-to-series order for Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation, a drama from executive producer Antoine Fuqua. The story.

+Prolific producer Blumhouse has inked a deal with Epix to produce a slate of horror and thriller films for the premium cable outlet. Under the partnership, Blumhouse Television will produce eight movies for Epix. The first, A House on the Bayou from writer-director Alex McAulay, is slated to premiere in December. The remaining seven films will roll out in 2022. Blumhouse founder Jason Blum will serve as executive producer of the slate. The story.

+The Talk will remain silent for another week. After going dark on Monday and Tuesday, CBS' panel series is extending its brief hiatus from live shows until Tuesday, Mar. 23, as the network continues a review stemming from last Wednesday's heated debate between Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood. Initially planning to return to live episodes on Wednesday, Mar. 17, the show will stay dark as the fallout for Osbourne's defense of Piers Morgan and comments on racism — particularly her confrontation on Underwood, her Black colleague, go under the microscope internally and, more damning, in the public. More.

+TBS is jumping on the reality dating series bandwagon. The WarnerMedia cable network has greenlit The Big D, a 10-hour dating competition show to be hosted by Bachelorette couple JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers. Production is underway in Costa Rica. More.

►Criminal Minds dispute raises questions about government reach. Can California's Department of Fair Employment & Housing pursue an injunction against Disney over alleged harassment on the set of Criminal Minds when the series has ended and the accused offender no longer works for the company? The story.

►SXSW reviews: Inkoo Kang reviews Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil, writing that the film "is brutally honest even by its subject’s standards. Needlessly to say, it’s far more candid than the usual album-promoting documentary (a category this series also falls into), as a photo of her smoking heroin shortly before her overdose can attest." The review.

+Kang also reviews Introducing, Selma Blair, writing that "Blair is so transparent and eloquent in describing her illness and the ways it’s transformed how she sees herself — especially the shame she feels for symptoms she can’t help — that it’s occasionally frustrating that [director Rachel] Fleit won’t scope out just a bit further." The review.

Revolving door: Stephen Curry's Unanimous Media has bolstered its film and TV production team by promoting Jenelle Lindsay to executive vp and hiring documentary maker Brian Tetsuro Ivie as creative producer... Chris Noriega has been promoted to partner at Verve... Judas and the Black Messiah writer-director Shaka King has been named honorary chair at the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards...

Casting roundup: Relative unknown Mexican actor Diego Calva has nabbed a career-changing role and will now star alongside Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt in Babylon, the drama set in the Golden Age of Hollywood that Damien Chazelle is directing for Paramount. Rising actors Jovan Adepo and Li Jun Li will also be on the call sheet as part of the ensemble...Adrian Brody has joined HBO's L.A. Lakers drama as Pat Riley... Rob Delaney, Samson Kayo and Vir Das, have joined the sprawling cast of The Bubble, the pandemic-inspired comedy that Judd Apatow is making for Netflix...

In other news...

--The British Film Institute and BAFTA have announced the next stage of their work to tackle, harassment and racism in the workplace, deploying a new employer Action List for the film and TV sectors to use that comes with widespread support from across the industry.

--Bleecker Street has taken the North American rights to the documentary The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52, which has Leonardo DiCaprio as an executive producer.

--WME has launched WME Legends, a management company focused on estate and brand management for late entertainment artists.

--Rich Paul, the sports super agent and the founder and chief executive officer of Klutch Sports Group, is set to release his first memoir.

--Neon's boutique label Super LTD has picked up the North American rights to Tony Stone’s true crime drama Ted K.

--Tiger Woods has returned home to Florida to continue his recovery from a horror crash near Los Angeles three weeks ago that left the champion golfer with multiple open fractures.

--Sabine Schmitz, the former host of U.K. motoring show Top Gear and best known in the car racing world for being the only woman to win the German Nurburgring 24 Hours, a feat that earned her the title the "Queen of the Nurburgring," has died. She was 51.

What else we're reading...

--"Creators say TV festivals are transforming the industry. But not how you might think" [LA Times]

--"The arts are coming back this summer. Just step outside" [NY Times]

--"Clubhouse Media says it is tied to social media — just not the app confused investors are thinking of" [CNBC]

Today's birthdays: Gary Sinise, 66, Kurt Russell, 70, Billy Corgan, 54, John Boyega, 29, Stormy Daniels, 42.

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MARCH 17, 2021

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