Inside Disney's Chaotic "Don't Say Gay" Bill Response

►"Hypocrisy." Fair to say Disney's response to the ongoing controversy of Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill has been less than optimal. THR's Abbey White has been all over the story and  looks back at how the management's now-ludicrous attempts at remaining silent led to an all-out revolt amongst staffers. The story.

—ICYMI. On Friday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek apologized to employees at the company for the company’s handling of Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill and said that it would be pausing political donations in the state. Chapek also said that the company will be "increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states." The story.

—Baldwin moves to shield himself from liability. Alec Baldwin, the target of multiple lawsuits, on Friday moved for his fellow producers to bear his legal fees and other financial costs from the fatal shooting in 2021 on the set of Rust that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, claiming in an arbitration demand that his contract insulates him from liability. The story.

—Let battle commence. The legal battle waged by Village Roadshow against Warner Bros. over the allegedly botched release of The Matrix Resurrections may still be sent to arbitration, but an L.A. judge allowed the case to proceed while the issue remains undecided. The story. 

—Another odd Travolta moment please. Wesley Snipes and John Travolta are among the latest batch of stars set to present during the 2022 Oscars. In addition to Snipes and Travolta, the Academy has said Mila Kunis, Lupita Nyong’o, Naomi Scott and last year’s best supporting actor winner Daniel Kaluuya will all take the stage during the 94th annual Academy Awards. The story. 

Shawn Levy to Direct 'Deadpool 3'

►Best of buds. THR's Borys Kit has the huge scoop on Shawn "Lovely Smile" Levy being tapped to direct Deadpool 3. The director is in negotiations to team up again with star Ryan Reynolds for the Marvel property, after previously collaborating on 20th Century’s pandemic-era hit Free Guy and the just-released sci-fi adventure movie The Adam Project on Netflix. Frequent Reynolds collaborators Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who penned the scripts for the first two films, are now working on Deadpool 3. The story. 

—Man of the moment. THR's Brian Davids spoke to Shawn "Lovely Smile" Levy before the Deadpool 3 news dropped but fret not it's still a newsy interview as the filmmaker discusses the decision to release Stranger Things season four in two halves, offers the latest updates on sequels to Free Guy and Real Steel and his dream of "a big, fat bromance sandwich of a movie" starring his muses Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. The interview. 

—"People are hungry for this genre." After years stuck in development hell, a Halo live action adaptation is only a few days away from dropping on Paramount+. THR's James Hibberd spoke to star Pablo Schreiber on how his version of Master Chief differs from the games, the challenges of the role and those Mandolorian comparisons. The interview.

—Hulu gets some love. Searchlight Pictures is sending another three movies straight to Hulu. Andrew Ahn’s rom-com Fire Island, a modern gay take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, drops on June 3, Sophie Hyde’s sex comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande hits the streamer on June 17 and Quinn Shephard's Not Okay will bow on Aug. 5. The story. 

The Real-World Horror Behind 'The Batman'

►God or Gotham. THR's Richard Newby is out with another stellar piece on how The Batman director Matt Reeves redefines classic characters for modern-day America, one in which cops are infrequently heroes, political change does not occur without revolution, and the fairy-tale narrative attached to wealthy orphans no longer carries the weight it once did. Warning spoilers. The story.

—A film that changed the course of the industry. Richard's on a tear at the moment and he has another excellent piece on Disney's epic box office bomb John Carter (not as terrible as people like to say it is) that was released into theaters 10 years ago this week. The property that inspired Star Wars and Avatar led to a $200 million write down — and now both those franchises are in the Disney family. The story.

—Amazon posting numbers. Shondaland's Inventing Anna had a big first weekend, racking up more than a billion minutes of viewing time after its premiere on Netflix, according to Nielsen's streaming rankings. Reacher captured the top overall spot for the week — marking a first for a series from Amazon’s Prime Video. Reacher scored 1.59 billion minutes of watch time, down slightly from 1.84 billion for its debut the previous week. The TV streaming rankings. 

—Daredevil doc. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Imax have partnered on The Blue Angels, a feature documentary about the storied U.S. Navy and Marine Corp. flight squadron. The film will follow the legendary aviator team from the cockpit and through intense training and aerial artistry shows and will show veterans on the team who take their final flights. The story.

SXSW review: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

►"Truth in advertising." THR's chief film critic David Rooney reviews Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's Everything Everywhere All at Once. A Chinese American laundromat owner fretting over a tax audit gets pulled into a violent multiverse clash in this sci-fi adventure comedy by the filmmaking team known as the Daniels. The review.

—From tunesmith to director. Michael Giacchino, the Oscar-winning composer behind The Batman, Up and Lost, has been tapped to direct Marvel’s untitled Halloween special. Little is known about the project, which is sometimes referred to as Werewolf By Night, although sources say that won’t be the title by the time the special airs on Disney+ later this year. The story. 

—Brutal. Netflix has canceled its teen-focused series The Baby-Sitters Club after two seasons. The decision comes five months after the show’s second season debuted on the streamer. Netflix doesn’t release detailed viewing data for most of its titles but season two ranked ninth on its global English-language top 10 series list for Oct. 11-17. The story.

—Fantastic foreign five. With the Oscars fast approaching, THR's Hilton Dresden takes a closer look at the five nominees for the best international feature category, Ryusuke Hamaguchi Drive My Car, Jonas Poher Rasmussen's Flee, Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God, Pawo Choyning Dorji's Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom and Joachim Trier's The Worst Person In The World. The story. 

In other news...

—Casting Society announces Danielle Pinnock as host of 37th Artios Awards

—IATSE council backs CA state bill requiring set safety supervisors, tightening gun rules

—Allen Media Group promotes Bill Vergos to digital film distribution head

—Lion King animator Ruben Aquino looks back at the inspirations behind his design of Simba

What else we're reading...

—Rachel Brodsky on the return (for better or worse) of the blind item with a particular focus on the Instagram account Deuxmoi [LAT]

—A story on the historic effort to digitally isolate Russia, but why such a move will push toward China [Bloomberg]

—Erich Schwartzel on Bob Chapek's attempts to avoid politics, but now finds himself in the middle of a partisan spat [WSJ]

—Fascinating free to read story on Putin's inner circle, the siloviki [FT]

—Something light to end with, Pharrell's 30 greatest songs – ranked [Guardian]

Today...  

...in 1954, 20th Century Fox opened the Gregory Peck thriller Night People at the Roxy Theatre in New York. Nunnally Johnson's film went on to be nominated for an Oscar for its story at the 27th Academy Awards. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Liza Minnelli (76), Titus Welliver (60), Jake Weber (59), Aaron Eckhart (54), Jaimie Alexander (38), Lesley Manville (66), Frank Welker (76), Courtney B. Vance (62), Richard Harrington (47), Luis Gerardo Méndez (40), Ron Funches (39), Samm Levine (40), Zhao Wei (46), Rick Worthy (55), Dean Cundey (76)