Jackman Tests Positive for COVID, 'Music Man' Cancels Performances 

►"I’m fine and I’m just going to do everything I can to get better ASAP." The Music Man has canceled performances through the end of the year on Broadway after Hugh Jackman tested positive for COVID-19. The musical revival’s leading man took to Instagram on Tuesday to share the news of his breakthrough case. The Music Man company expects to return to the stage at the Winter Garden Theater on Jan. 2. Tickets for the production’s holiday season shows will be refunded. The story. 

—Another closure. Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations is endings its Broadway run this winter. The show’s producers announced that after nearly 500 performances including previews, the curtain will close on the jukebox musical. The Tony Award-winning show’s final performance at the Imperial Theatre will be on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The story. 

—Followup news. Netflix has announced a second season of its docuseries Cheer,  one that will deal in part with the aftermath of the show’s first season. The series following coach Monica Aldama and members of the Navarro (Texas) College cheerleading squad will premiere Jan. 12. Season two will have nine episodes, up from six for the show’s first season, which debuted in January 2020. The story. 

John Madden 1936-2021 

►"He was football." John Madden, the Super Bowl-winning coach of the Oakland Raiders who became an enjoyable NFL television analyst who informed millions of football fans with his excitable, everyman commentary and also lent his name to a multibillion-dollar video game franchise, has died. He was 85. The obituary. 

—Sad decline. Cantopop singer-actress turned political activist Denise Ho was among six people arrested on suspicion of sedition by Hong Kong’s national security police force in early morning raids Wednesday targeting the online media company Stand News. The arrests will be a further blow to press freedoms in the territory. The story. 

—Postponed. Travis Scott and Dior have reportedly decided to postpone their “Cactus Jack Dior” line of products indefinitely ahead of a launch that was slated for January 2022. The news comes after a troubling few weeks for Scott, who has been hit with dozens of lawsuits following the Astroworld tragedy that left 10 people dead. The story. 

BTS in Los Angeles   

►The fullness of Bangtan. Just before embarking on its current “official extended period of rest,” Korean supergroup BTS embarked on a tightly packed two-week engagement in Los Angeles at the end of 2021 that took in American Music Awards, television appearances and a sold-out four-night residency at SoFi Stadium. More of a commodity than ever, THR's Rebecca Sun was on hand to witness the boys try to reclaim something of their own identity with their year-end visit to the west coast. The story. 

—"Going all-in on the trend of IP consolidation." A week ago, news broke that Dark Horse Comics, one of the largest independent comic book publishers in the industry, would be acquired by video game company Embracer Group. THR's Graeme McMillan goes inside the deal and looks at how it gives Dark Horse some much-needed financial stability while offering owner Embracer access to new IP. The story.

—"Blip." Adam McKay has clarified the intention of a scene in Don’t Look Up that shows the film crew in masks. Appearing at the one-hour and 28-minute mark of McKay’s latest disaster comedy, the crew are seen in the background — which led to online discussions speculating that it may have been an editing error. The story. 

'Boba Fett' Debuts As 'This Is Us' and 'Black-ish' Near the End 

►This Week in TV. THR's Rick Porter runs down the TV premieres, returns and specials over the next seven days. Among the things to look out for over the coming week the debut of Disney+'s latest Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett, the broadcast debuts for the final seasons of This Is Us and Black-ish, there's also the College Football Playoff, and of course, several networks will mark the turning of the calendar with primetime and late-night specials on Friday. The full guide.

—"It is a much more lucrative hobby to collect comics than stamps and in some cases than to buy stocks." Not even Stan Lee could have imagined that a copy of the first Spider-Man comic would one day sell for $3.6 million, but the late, legendary Marvel creator predicted back in the 1970s that collecting his books would be a smart investment. The story. 

—Tim Exotic. Timothée Chalamet’s hairstyle inspiration for Don’t Look Up was the product of the Tiger King obsession. In a recent interview, the film's costume designer Susan Matheson broke down how she created each character’s distinct look for the film, and Chalamet revealed the inspiration for his character’s end of the world look as the zoo owner made infamous by Netflix's docuseries. The story.

What else we're reading...

—'Podcast Movies'? Feature-Length Fiction Stretches the Medium [New York Times]

—Black Panther Fans Implore Marvel to #recasttchalla After Chadwick Boseman’s Death [Los Angeles Times]

—How Smithers Came Out [New Yorker]

—In Hunt for Next Squid Game, Streaming Services Battle for South Korean Shows [Wall Street Journal]

—Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu Loves Playing Emily in Paris’ ‘French Bitch’ [Vulture]

—Spider-Man Is A Box Office Hero. Is Hollywood In A Post-movie Star Era? [Los Angeles Times]

Today... 

...in 2006, after a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth hit theaters in limited release. The film went on to claim three Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards, for art direction, makeup and cinematography. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Ted Danson (74), Mecia Simson (32), Lilly Wachowski (54), Jude Law (49), Alison Brie (39), Jane Levy (32), Charlotte Riley (40), Jon Voight (83), Diego Luna (42), Dylan Minnette (25), Jennifer Ehle (52), Danny McBride (45), Patricia Clarkson (62), Ally Maki (35), Patrick Fischler (52), Mekhi Phifer (47), Marianne Faithfull (75), Charlayne Woodard (68), Bernard Cribbins (93)