What's news: Black Panther 2 is back up and running. Tim Allen is starring in a Santa Clause series. Alec Baldwin has handed over his cell phone to the Rust shooting investigators.Mubi is moving in to sales. Plus: NBC is planning an hour-long special to honor Betty White — Abid Rahman
'Black Panther 2' to Resume Filming Next Week With Letitia Wright
►Finally back on track. After several setbacks, among them a major on-set injury and COVID-19 infections, Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is finally restarting production, with star Letitia Wright healed and back in Atlanta ready to resume her role as fan-favorite character Shuri. Production was initially to have restarted last Monday but was delayed thanks to several cast and crew, Lupita Nyong’o among them, testing positive for COVID-19. The story.
—Relinquished. Alec Baldwin on Friday gave his phone to Santa Fe authorities who are investigating the fatal Rust production shooting, his civil attorney confirmed to THR. The update comes on the heels of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office telling the media the actor had yet to relinquish his device. The story.
—He's back. Timothy Olyphant is returning as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in a new Justified limited series at FX. The new show, titled Justified: City Primeval, is inspired by Elmore Leonard’s novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit. Dave Andron and Michael Dinner are showrunners and exec producers of the series, with Dinner directing. The story.
—Expanding. Mubi, the art house streaming platform and theatrical distributor, is moving into the sales arena. The London-based company, which has recently been on a buying spree of indie titles, has acquired sales company The Match Factory and its production arm Match Factory Productions. The story.
—A real fixer upper. Magnolia Network has reinstated new series Home Work after evaluating accusations of shoddy work on the part of the series’ hosts. Home Work was pulled on Jan. 7, two days after Magnolia’s linear launch, as allegations of blown budgets and missed deadlines — two staples of home renovations, televised or not — emerged on Instagram from two clients. The story.
Scripted Series Volume Hits All-Time High in 2021
►Pipping the previous peak of Peak TV. The number of scripted series available in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 2021, according to FX’s annual count of shows across streaming, cable and broadcast outlets. The year featured 559 English-language scripted shows, a 13 percent jump from 2020 and 5 percent more than the previous peak in 2019. The story.
—It begins. Amid slowing subscriber growth in North America, Netflix has increased the price of its monthly subscription plans in the U.S. and Canada, effective immediately for new subscribers. Netflix’s basic plan, which allows for one stream on one screen at a time and does not have HD streaming, is now $9.99 a month, up from $8.99. Standard plans, which allow for users to stream on two screens at the same time, now cost $15.49 per month, an increase from $13.99, while premium plans have inched up to $19.99 a month. The story.
—Heading back to the North Pole. Tim Allen will star in and executive produce a limited series based on the Santa Clause films, reprising his role as Scott Calvin/Santa. The Disney+ project from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television reunites Allen with Last Man Standing creator Jack Burditt and exec producer Kevin Hench. The story.
—Fitting tribute. NBC will pay tribute to Betty White in an hour-long special. The network will air Celebrating Betty White: America’s Golden Girl at 10 p.m. Jan. 31. The special will feature friends and fellow stars paying tribute to White, as well as clips from series including Mary Tyler Moore, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland. Participants will be announced later. The story.
—It's been a while. South Park is finally returning for weekly episodes starting Feb. 2. The last full season of the show aired in late 2019, but like most other shows, the Comedy Central staple was impacted by the pandemic. The new season, which coincides with South Park's 25th anniversary, will consist of six episodes. The story.
Omicron Is Another Bummer for Awards-Season Box Office
►"There is no more equating nominations with box office gain." Distributors, particularly smaller indie outfits, have for years relied on the box office bump that begins with Oscar noms and lasts through the Academy Awards telecast. But now, THR's Pamela McClintock writes, hopes for that are fading, thanks to the massively infectious omicron variant and the already challenged awards season. The story.
—Strong start.Scream made plenty of noise as it opened in select theaters Thursday night, grossing a strong $3.5 million in Thursday previews despite challenges posed by the omicron variant and another surge in COVID-19 cases. The story.
—Press start for dealmaking. Following Take-Two Interactive's $12.7 billion deal to acquire mobile gaming giant Zynga, THR's business editor Georg Szalai looks at whether the sale will lead to a M&A merry-go-round in the gaming sector. The story.
—Legends. George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy will be honored with the 2022 Milestone Award at the 33rd annual Producers Guild Awards. The duo will be recognized for their contribution to film both individually and collaboratively, through Lucasfilm. The PGA Awards will take place on March 19 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The story.
—Into the jungle. THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on Alison Brie starring opposite John Cena in Freelance, an action-comedy directed by Taken helmer Pierre Morel. The script by Jacob Lentz centers on an ex-special forces operator who, desperate to escape his humdrum life, takes a job providing security for a journalist who is hoping to salvage her career by interviewing a dictator. The story.
Bob Saget Talked Humor and Grief in a Final Interview
►"Laughter is healing." In one of Bob Saget’s final interviews, the late comedian sat down with a friend for a televised segment he hoped would help raise awareness for a cause close to his heart. In a segment for CBS Mornings which was taped on Dec. 6, weeks before his untimely death, Saget spoke with Dr. Jon LaPook about losing his sister to scleroderma, the work he has done to help find a cure for the rare autoimmune disease and using humor to cope with grief, saying that it’s “the only way my family survived.” The story.
—"The best TV dad ever." Bob Saget was laid to rest Friday afternoon in Los Angeles in a small, intimate funeral of family and close friends. Among those in attendance was John Stamos, one of his best friends and Full House co-star, as well as Candace Cameron Bure, Dave Coulier, Jodi Sweetin, Lori Loughlin and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Jimmy Kimmel and Dave Chappelle. The story.
—"In a world where revolutionary art is commodified we have to rethink the way in which we value it."Gentefied co-creator and co-showrunner Linda Yvette Chavez says that even though Netflix has canceled the series after two seasons, she’s immensely proud of how the dramedy played out. The story.
—"We love Steve." The creative team behind And Just Like That have been out defending Steve Brady’s storyline in the HBO Max series amid fan criticism. Exec producers Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky, who both wrote for SATC, addressed recent criticism from outlets and social media users over the bumpy path for Steve on the new show. Warning spoilers.The story.
—"It demanded that we’d be naked emotionally and soulfully.” Bradley Cooper has been talking about filming that full-frontal nude scene in Guillermo del Toro’s neo-noir Nightmare Alley. The Oscar-nominated actor spoke about how he spent six hours naked in front of the crew on Toni Collette's first day. The story.
In other news...
—Feinberg Forecast: Oscar standings with two weeks until nomination voting
—DirecTV to Drop One America News in Blow to Conservative Channel [Bloomberg]
—Village Roadshow, Producer on Movies Including Joker and The Matrix, Explores Strategic Options [Wall Street Journal]
—Police Departments Are Making Their Own Cops Videos Counteracting Police Brutality Depicted On Social Media [BuzzFeed News]
—"Menace to Public Health": 270 Doctors Criticize Spotify Over Joe Rogan’s Podcast [The Guardian]
—Eternals Is Just the Plot of Steven Universe [Vulture]
Today...
Today's birthdays: Regina King (51), James Nesbitt (57), Mario Van Peebles (65), Ben Levi Ross (24), Dove Cameron (26), Jessy Schram (36), Jamie Clayton (44), Eddie Cahill (44), Ernie Reyes Jr. (50), Chad Lowe (50), Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (40), Jonas Pate (52)
Fred Parris, frontman for The Five Satins, the doo-wop group whose smash 1956 ballad “In the Still of the Night” became an enduring standard and was prominently used in movies including Dirty Dancing and The Irishman, died Thursday after a brief illness. He was 85. The obituary.
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