Today In Entertainment APRIL 30, 2021
What's news: Endeavor president teases acquisitions and a push to bring UFC to China post-IPO, why the "new normal" at theaters may mean a premium experience for moviegoers, Biden address ratings, Amazon says "over 175 million" watch Amazon Prime Video, Amazon orders more Invincible, BAFTA drama, Joe Rogan's vaccine walkback, SAG-AFTRA launches sexual harassment reporting platform. Plus: Why CBS is already declaring a ratings victory, and a profile of the king of Food Network, Guy Fieri. --Alex Weprin What Now For Endeavor? ►After its IPO, Endeavor plans "thoughtful" acquisitions and makes a "long-term" bet on UFC in China. In an interview with THR, Mark Shapiro also identified marketing and advertising as potential acquisition areas for the company now that it has gone public. --On acquisitions: “We are going to continue to be thoughtful but also aggressive when we see acquisition opportunities that enable our growth to accelerate,” Shapiro says, noting that the company has made 20 acquisitions over the past 5 years. “In any respective area, be it content, live events or experiences.” --On the future of UFC: “In sports, nothing is hotter, nothing is trending better than the UFC,” he says, noting the sold-out crowd of more than 15,000 people at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida April 24. “We are bringing the UFC to more regions of the globe, Russia was our latest, France is the future, and our long-term future is China, where we think we can mimic the same kind of explosive growth we have had in North America.” --On content: “Disney+ and Peacock and HBO Max, Netflix, it’s a race to the top in terms of spending so that they can combat each other, and we are positioned to serve them all,“ Shapiro says. “We have an incredible roster of clients, partners, celebrities, athletes, music artists, that consumers want to pay top dollar to see and listen to.” The interview. ►Why the "new normal" at theaters may mean a premium experience for moviegoers. As vaccines roll out, restrictions lift and theaters reopen, Pamela McClintock reports that audiences have been willing to pay more for an enhanced experience because — after a year stuck at home — "why do the ordinary?" --"People coming back to theaters are seeking out the most premium presentation first," says Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Adds AMC executive vp worldwide programming and chief content officer Elizabeth Frank: "We are seeing more evidence that patrons are planning their night out. There is more demand for PLF showings and private screening parties." The story. From King Of Flavortown To King Of Food Network ►Guy Fieri, fired up: The Food Network king, with a massive new deal, pushes for more restaurant relief. Once mocked by white-tablecloth elites, Fieri just signed a landmark pact for a TV chef as he steps into a respected elder statesman role in the food world — raising millions for workers unemployed due to COVID-19, Michael O'Connell reports: "I was pissed." --When the U.S. went into lockdown at the start of the pandemi, Fieri sprung into action, with the chef estimating that many local restaraunts "maybe had a 10-day runway before the money dried up. It was mid-March 2020, and he was on his elliptical machine — Fieri comes up with a lot of his ideas during cardio — when he decided to ask his business manager for contact info for CEOs of major corporations. He drafted personal emails to power brokers like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, soliciting donations for an emergency relief fund that would ultimately award more than 43,000 grants — of $500 each — to out-of-work line cooks, servers and other restaurant professionals. Today, in a crisp black button-down, Fieri opines on the crisis with an undiminished passion. 'I'm not into shaming people and telling who didn't donate, that's not my style,' Fieri says, as he credits getting huge sums of money from PepsiCo, Uber Eats and Procter & Gamble before taking a pause. 'Jeff, by the way, didn't help us,' he shares." --"We built a five-year plan for him, and he blew through it in, like, three," says longtime agent Jason Hodes, partner at WME, whose colleagues used to tell him to "hug the rocket" as Fieri accumulated series and licensing deals. "He's a true household name, just one that people can't seem to pronounce correctly." --Fieri recently signed a new deal with Discovery Inc., which O'Connell reports is among the highest talent deals Discovery ever signed, in the high eight-figure range. "We've been offered and enticed, and, yes, there's probably a way to do this in some different levels, but I'm treated pretty well," notes Fieri, who says his allegiances lie with a handful of programming executives, not any parent company. "I got a chance of a lifetime, and I think I played it good." The story. Big Biden Numbers ►Biden address ratings: President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress drew a smaller crowd than those of his recent predecessors. Ratings for the big four broadcast networks and the three largest cable news channels — CNN, Fox News and MSNBC — show an audience of about 23.44 million viewers. Coverage on nine additional outlets (CNBC, CNNe, Fox Business, Newsmax, NewsNation, Newsy, PBS, Telemundo and Univision) raised the final total to 26.94 million, according to Nielsen figures — considerably less than any of the past four presidents' speeches at the beginning of their first terms. The numbers. ►Amazon's Invincible has proven impervious to cancellation, at least for now. The tech giant has renewed the animated series, based on a comic by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, for two more seasons. The pickup will take the show through its third season. The story. +CBS is claiming a ratings victory for the 2020-21 season — a month before the season comes to a close. The network is on track to take the "most watched" title for the 13th consecutive season. Through April 25, CBS is averaging 6.26 million viewers in primetime, about 870,000 more than second-place NBC (5.39 million). With four weeks remaining in the traditional September to May season, that's essentially an insurmountable lead. Hence the earlier than usual victory lap. More. ►Hollywood's major studios and guilds are extending their return-to-work agreement another three months. The current contract was scheduled to expire on April 30, but the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the industry's top guilds — including SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, the DGA, the Teamsters and the Basic Crafts — have agreed to keep the current protocols in place for another few months. The story. ►SAG-AFTRA launches sexual harassment reporting platform, standards for intimacy coordinators. The reporting platform, called SAG-AFTRA Safe Place, allows members as well as anyone who has worked on a SAG-AFTRA production to report incidents of sexual harassment they personally experienced or witnessed. The story. ►Amazon is finally shedding some light on how many of the company's users watch Amazon Prime Video programming. In its first quarter 2021 earnings report, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that “as Prime Video turns 10, over 175 million Prime members have streamed shows and movies in the past year, and streaming hours are up more than 70% year over year." The story. +Twitter earnings: The social media platform said its number of logged-in users, known as monetizable daily active users, stood at 199 million for the quarter, which was up 7 million users compared to the fourth quarter that ended with 192 million DAUs, and 189 million daily users at the end of the third quarter. More. +In other tech news: The European Commission has announced it will be pursuing Apple in an antitrust case that accuses the company of distorting the music streaming market through its App Store rules. After nearly a year of investigation triggered by a complaint by Spotify, the EU's biggest competition regulator objects to the way that Apple has assured a 30 percent cut on in-app subscription purchases. More. ►BAFTA drama: BAFTA has suspended actor Doctor Who actor Noel Clarke from its membership in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations by 20 women reported in The Guardian newspaper on Thursday... The British Academy issued a lengthy response after coming under fire for honoring Clarke with its outstanding British contribution to cinema award just a few weeks ago despite reportedly knowing of allegations of sexual misconduct against the actor, producer and writer... Michaela Coel also penned a statement on Twitter following the allegations of sexual harassment against Brit actor, writer and producer... ►Joe Rogan on Thursday addressed comments he previously made on his popular Spotify podcast in which he said young, healthy people should skip the COVID-19 vaccination. The remarks came under fire, going so far as being addressed by Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease doctor. --During the latest installment of The Joe Rogan Experience, the comic-actor said he was not a doctor and that he believes younger people should be vaccinated because even if they are not severely impacted by the virus, they could still spread it to others who are not as fortunate. More. ►The Weeknd leads all finalists for the 2021 Billboard Music Awards with 16 nods. The singer is up for top artist, top male artist, top Hot 100 artist, top streaming songs artist and top song sales artist. In addition, his 2020 album After Hours received multiple nods, including top Billboard 200 album and top R&B album, while his single "Blinding Lights" is a finalist in five categories. --And country artist Morgan Wallen is up for six awards, following a video that surfaced in February showing him using the n-word. He also will not be invited to the ceremony, producers said in a statement. The nominees. ►Obituaries: Johnny Crawford, the original Mouseketeer who starred as the young son of the Civil War veteran portrayed by Chuck Connors on the 1958-63 ABC series The Rifleman, died Thursday, it was announced. He was 75... Anne Douglas, a film publicist who first met Kirk Douglas on the Paris set of Act of Love in 1953 and married him a year later, died Thursday. She was 102... May Wynn, the 1950s starlet who had a supporting role in the acclaimed Humphrey Bogart military legal thriller The Caine Mutiny, where she adopted her character's name for her stage name, has died. She was 93. Revolving door: Fox Corp. is looking to turbocharge its digital business. To help it push into new business areas, the company has named Steve Chung its first chief growth officer... The Walt Disney Co. named Paul Richardson as chief human resources officer effective July 1, the company said Thursday... GOT7's Mark Tuan, a Chinese American rapper, singer, model and gamer based in Los Angeles, has signed with CAA... STXfilms has promoted Keri Moore to president of marketing... British actress Emma Laird, who just booked a starring role opposite Jeremy Renner in Mayor of Kingstown, has signed with APA for representation in all areas... ►TV review: Inkoo Kang reviews the final season of FX's Pose, writing that "the drama returns to its gooey roots for its last outing, with odes to friendship and speechifying about how kind and beautiful and special the characters are in nearly every one of the seven installments. There's a lot of love, but a lot less compelling storytelling." The review. Speaking of Pose... +TV's Top 5 podcast: Pose creator Steven Canals joins hosts Lesley Goldberg and Daniel Fienberg for a wide-ranging discussion about the FX ballroom drama during this week's podcast, which also includes a May TV preview. Listen. In other news... --Byron Allen's Allen Media Broadcasting has acquired seven divestiture TV stations from Gray Television for $380 million. --T-Street — the production banner run by director Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman — and Knives Out studio MRC Films have launched a new label to produce low-budget films from emerging filmmakers. --The dispute between Roku and YouTube has escalated. On Friday morning, Roku said that the YouTube TV app has been removed from its platform, as the contract between the companies has expired. New subscriptions will not be possible until an agreement is reached between the companies. --After 13 months of being shuttered due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Disneyland will reopen Friday. And fans are ready as a slew of guests showed up at the world-famous theme park hours before gates officially opened. --The Motion Picture & Television Fund is mounting an ambitious fundraising campaign to raise $300 million, plans for which were revealed Thursday morning during a virtual event that featured its most prominent supporters including George Clooney, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Paramount's Jim Gianopulos, Jodie Foster, Yvette Nicole Brown and Tony Goldwyn. --Dave Grohl: We didn't let Kurt Cobain drive Nirvana's van. Ahead of his new rock-touring doc What Drives Us, the Foo Fighters frontman shares never-before-told stories about life on the open road with the iconic grunge trio: "It was f***ing insane." --Multiple arrests have been made in the case of Lady Gaga's French bulldogs, which were stolen in a violent February altercation where her assistant was shot, according to Los Angeles police. --The 2021 Tribeca Festival will host the world premieres of a number of upcoming TV series, including Peacock's Dr. Death, Starz's Blindspotting and the second season of OWN's David Makes Man. --Ken Jeong is set to host a television and streaming event called "See Us Unite for Change," which will celebrate the Asian-American experience during AAPI Heritage Month and in the wake of violence affecting the community. What else we're reading... --"After racial reckoning, embattled ‘Reply All’ podcast addresses ‘major blind spot’" [LA Times] --"The modern-day royal media obsession" [Vanity Fair] --"Comcast earnings spotlight the media industry's upheaval" [NY Times] --"Lionsgate tried to buy ViacomCBS' Showtime but was rejected, sources say" [Insider] Today's birthdays: Kirsten Dunst, 39, Johnny Galecki, 46, Kunal Nayyar, 40, Gal Gadot, 36, Travis Scott, 29.
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