Melvin Van Peebles 1932-2021

►The godfather of Black cinema. Melvin Van Peebles, the pioneering director behind the 1970s films Watermelon Man and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song who would become a towering influence on both Black and American independent cinema, died Tuesday night at his home in Manhattan. He was 89. The obituary.

—Inspiration. A host of prominent Black filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, Matthew A. Cherry and Peter Ramsey, took to social media to pay tribute to the late Melvin Van Peebles. DuVernay described Van Peebles as an "iconic artist, filmmaker, actor, playwright, novelist, composer and sage," and Cherry tweeted that he was the "blueprint and inspiration for multiple generations of filmmakers." 

Jenkins tweeted that Van Peebles "made the most of every second, of EVERY single damn frame and admittedly, while the last time I spent any time with him was MANY years ago, it was a night in which he absolutely danced his face off. The man just absolutely LIVED." The reaction. 

The $484M Academy Museum Finally Arrives  

ViacomCBS' Streaming Push Is Convincing Wall Street So Far

►"They’ve shown us!" ViacomCBS appears ready to take a big risk: playing to win in the streaming wars. The company plans to double its streaming content spend to bulk up streamer Paramount+ — it currently spends $15 billion annually, split between linear and digital — and is hunting for partnerships. And the aggressive approach is finding favor in Wall Street, who have reappraised the company's prospects. The story. 

—Into the Wonka-verse. THR's Rick Porter and Alex Weprin go inside Netflix's acquisition of the late Roald Dahl's catalog, and how the massive deal, all but certainly to be the biggest IP purchase by the streamer, paves the way to a shared universe of movies and TV series and could open paths to other businesses it wants to conquer. The analysis. 

—"Captures old Star Wars magic by way of brand-new stories." THR critic Angie Han reviews Disney+'s Star Wars: Visions, an animated anthology that collects bite-size stand-alone stories from around the galaxy far, far away, produced by seven Japanese anime studios. The review.

—"More a meditation on faith and religion than truly scary, but very committed to its faith." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews Netflix's Midnight Mass. Celebrated horror director Mike Flanagan leaves house-haunting behind for a seven-episode look at Catholicism and the increasingly terrifying miracles transpiring on a remote island. The review. 

—Gripping yarn. Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo have signed on for Apple's Wool, the forthcoming series from Justified's Graham Yost that is based on the book by Hugh Howey. Picked up straight to series in May, Wool is set in a ruined and toxic future where a community exists in a giant silo underground. The story. 

'The Simpsons,' 'Midnight Mass,' and Asimov's 'Foundation'

►This Week in TV. THR's Rick Porter runs down the TV premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. The things to look out for in TV land over the coming week are the delayed Tony Awards, the season premieres of The Simpsons (Fox), Law & Order: SVU and L&O: Organized Crime (both NBC), The Rookie and The Good Doctor (both ABC). On streaming, Mike Flanagan's Midnight Mass premieres Friday on Netflix and Apple TV+ also debuts its adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation on the same day.  The full guide.

—"I’m so tired of living this way." Linda Evangelista, once one of the most famous and in-demand supermodels in the world, has claimed that a botched cosmetic procedure has left her "brutally disfigured" and "permanently deformed" and left her devastated and living life as a virtual recluse. The story. 

—Date change. Warner Bros. is charting an earlier return to the world of J.K. Rowling. The newly titled Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will open globally on April 15, 2022, moving up three months from its previous July 15 date. The story. 

—Crypto comes for Hollywood. A hard to miss new trend: cryptocurrency firms lining up Hollywood endorsers and scooping up TV ads in a bid to gain scale and greater respectability. FTX, CoinBase and CoinFlip are enlisting stars like Spike Lee, Neil Patrick Harris and Tom Brady to convert skeptical consumers. The story. 

In other news...  

—TV review: HBO’s Nuclear Family. 

—TIFF film review: Stefan Forbes' Hold Your Fire.

—TIFF film review: Bretten Hannam's Wildhood. 

—Saturday Night Live: All the season 47 hosts and musical guests.

—Netflix debuts trailer for new Britney Spears doc Britney vs Spears.

—Leslie Bibb, Rachel Bloom, Michael McKean, Krista Marie Yu join Steve Levitan’s Reboot at Hulu.

—Late night hosts unite to spotlight climate change. 

—Misfits Gaming Group unveils $35m funding round, Scripps to carry its content.

—George Clooney, Ben Affleck team-up The Tender Bar gets release date.

—TV ratings: The Voice edges up in Tuesday debut.

—Colin Donnell to star in Peacock drama Irreverent.

—Chris Hemsworth, Jacki Weaver, Alia Shawkat to judge Heath Ledger Scholarship.

—Constantin Film signs multiyear movie licensing deal with Germany’s RTL.

What else we're reading...

—"Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Journey From Final Girl to Action Heroine" [GQ]

—"Michael Gandolfini and the Riddle of Tony Soprano" [New York Times]

—"It Works Because of Jared Harris" [The Ringer]

—"Caitlyn Jenner Brought Fame to Her Run for California Governor. Why it Failed Anyway" [Los Angeles Times]

—"When a Hit Musical Becomes a Bad Movie" [The Atlantic]

Today... 

...in 1994, after a premiere at the Toronto film fest, Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption hit theaters nationwide. The film, an adaptation of a Stephen King novella starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, had a disappointing initial run at the box office, but would go on to nab seven Oscar nominations and later be routinely ranked amongst the greatest films ever made. The original review. 

Today's birthdays: Bruce Springsteen (72), Anthony Mackie (43), Hasan Minhaj (36), Jason Alexander (62), Skylar Astin (34), Rosalind Chao (64), Chi McBride (60), Alex Proyas (58), Garth Davis (47), Karl Pilkington (49), Chris Miller (46), Jana Pérez (35), Alyssa Sutherland (39), Mary Kay Place (74), Robert James-Collier (45)