Marvel's Comic Creators Claim "Bait and Switch" On Payments

►"They throw out a large number, then little by little they whittle down the actual payout." THR's second-nicest man Aaron Couch spoke to several comic book writers and artists who create characters that power the Marvel Cinematic Universe who say that Marvel offers a labyrinthine compensation system that underpays them. The story.  

—"We hear you and we are sorry." Dave Chappelle’s scheduled Wednesday appearance at a Minneapolis venue was canceled hours before the show was set to begin, with the club’s team apologizing after facing backlash for booking the comedian. Minneapolis' First Avenue announced that the Chappelle's performance would now take place at Varsity Theater, also located in Minneapolis, where the star had already been scheduled to perform two sets. The story.  

—"All the dragons roared as one." HBO has released its official trailer for its Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon. The clip is the first full look at the new show, which chronicles a civil war that ripped apart Westeros 150 years before the events in the original series and stars Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Paddy Considine. The trailer. 

—Back in focus. Univeral's Focus Features has picked up the worldwide releasing rights to Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. The film, written and directed by Anderson, reunites the auteur, Focus and Indian Paintbrush after their collaboration on the 2012 title Moonrise Kingdom. Searchlight had distributed Anderson's last three features. The story.

—Phoenix from the flames. Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group is buying the Black News Channel, with plans to revive the bankrupt cable news outlet and significantly grow its distribution footprint. Allen’s company is acquiring “substantially all” of BNC’s assets for $11m, with a bankruptcy court in Tallahassee, Florida, formally signing off on the sale. BNC is available in about 45m homes. The story. 

Cinemas Brace for Summer's Long Cool-Down  

►Feast then famine. Movie theater giants may be on top of the world right now, as the first half of the year restored swagger to the box office — but they are also staring off a cliff. THR's Alex Weprin writes that the third quarter could see tumbleweeds at the box office ahead of studios’ big bets at the end of 2022. The analysis.

—Leveling off. Filming in Los Angeles stabilized above pre-pandemic levels in the second-quarter of 2022 after posting three consecutive all-time quarterly records. Despite a drop-off in shooting from the start of the year, local production from April to June finished 2.7 percent and 6.8 percent ahead of the same periods in 2018 and 2019 respectively, according to FilmLA’s latest report. There were 9,220 shoot days this quarter. The story. 

—Top shelf addition. Apple TV+ is adding another feature with A-list talent to its slate by acquiring Causeway, an A24 drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry. Theater director Lila Neugebauer jumps to features with Causeway, which centers on a soldier (Lawrence) who struggles to adjust to her life after returning home to New Orleans. The story. 

—Family affair. Staying with Apple TV+, Kurt and Wyatt Russell have been cast in the streamer and Legendary Television’s Godzilla series. Details on their roles are being kept quiet at the moment. The father and son join a cast that also includes Pachinko star Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski. The story.

—New team in place. CNN CEO Chris Licht has set his executive team, firming up the direct reports who will help run the cable news channel’s global operations. Licht’s appointments are mostly longtime staffers, reflecting a desire to shift CNN’s focus toward hard news. Among the exec promotions, Virginia Moseley will now oversee TV and digital editorial, while Michael Bass, Amy Entelis and Ken Jautz stay on as key lieutenants. The story.

Venice: 12 Films Likely to Premiere on the Lido

►Awards fodder. THR's Euro dream team of Scott Roxborough and Alex Ritman reflect on what might appear at the Venice Film Festival, the go-to festival for awards season hopefuls. They look at the runners and riders including new features from Luca Guadagnino and Alejandro González Iñárritu, plus a red-hot Marilyn Monroe biopic. The selection.  

—Call off the search. NBC has picked up drama Found. The series, from All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll and executive producer Greg Berlanti, follows a public relations specialist (Shameless' Shanola Hampton) who shines a light on missing persons cases. Found wasn’t part of NBC’s 2022-23 series orders in May but remained in contention for a pickup following the upfronts. The story.

—Corporate synergy innit. Universal has picked up an untitled buddy comedy from SNL writers Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, also known as the Please Don’t Destroy comedy group. SNL directing alum Paul Briganti is helming the movie with Apatow Productions’ Judd Apatow and Mosaic’s Jimmy Miller producing. The story. 

—If you missed out on tickets. THR's Ryan Parker has the scoop on South Park's 25th anniversary concert at Red Rocks will be taped and air on Comedy Central and Paramount+. The concert will feature performances of classic songs from the show, including the theme song by Primus. The story. 

How I Became the Fake Tom Cruise

►"I had pursued acting to prove that I wasn’t just the Tom Cruise guy. I failed." Miles Fisher had it all: talent, charm and the face of a movie star. Problem was, it was a very specific movie star. After years of resenting his uncanny resemblance, Fisher embraced it through viral TikTok deepfakes that demonstrate AI’s astonishing power to deceive. The story. 

—"The world will see a Black and Filipino Belle!" The Beauty and the Beast 30th Anniversary Special at ABC has found its Belle in H.E.R. The Grammy winner takes on the lead in a special that will feature a mix of live-action and animation and new musical performances, sets and costumes inspired by the Disney animation classic. Jon M. Chu is exec producing, with Hamish Hamilton directing. The story.

—Three more for three. Netflix’s Bridgerton has added Daniel Francis, Sam Phillips and James Phoon to the ensemble for season three, which has begun production in London. The next installment of Bridgerton will focus on the love story between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). The story. 

—DC Spotify Universe expands. THR's J. Clara Chan has the scoop on Christina Ricci being tapped to lead the voice cast for Spotify and Warner Bros.’ next audio series, Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind. Ricci, who will voice Harley Quinn, will be joined by Billy Magnussen as the Joker and Justin Hartley as Batman. The story. 

Film Review: 'Nope' 

►"As fun as it is ambitious." THR critic Lovia Gyarkye reviews Jordan Peele's Nope. A menacing force threatens a Southern California horse ranch in the director’s third film, starring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun. The review.

—"A better-than-OK mix of sharp and muddled." THR film critic Sheri Linden reviews Quinn Shephard's Not Okay. In the sophomore feature from the Blame filmmaker, Zoey Deutch stars as a wannabe writer whose fake travel posts backfire on her. The review. 

In other news...

—Kevin Bacon runs a killer gay conversion camp in trailer for Blumhouse's They/Them

—Gaming creator economy goes public as FaZe Clan closes $725m SPAC merger

—ESPY Awards: Full list of winners

—Linda Evangelista settles CoolSculpting suit after “horrific ordeal” with cosmetic procedure

—Veteran publicist Cari Ross joins Gersh as comms chief

—Participant ups four execs in campaigns and engagement

—eOne promotes Jacqueline Sacerio, Gabriel Marano to co-heads, scripted TV development

—Rebecca Balding, actress on Soap and Charmed, dies at 73

What else we're reading...

—Depressing and infuriating: "More than 100 million Americans face a dangerous heat wave" [WSJ]

—Josh Rottenberg and Glenn Whipp ponder whether departing academy chief Dawn Hudson ruined the Oscars, or saved them [LAT]

—Joe Pompeo on the recession worries afflicting the thinking of execs at media companies such as Axios, Insider, Semafor, BuzzFeed and more [VF]

—Missed this when it first came out! Ralph Jones has the oral history of John Woo's masterpiece Face/Off [Inverse]

—I'll admit I've been reading everything about Persuasion, and this Sarah Lyall piece is another one I injected right into my veins: "Why is it so hard to adapt Austen? The fans  play a part." [NYT]

Today...  

...in 1933, RKO's Double Harness began playing at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Directed by John Cromwell, the pre-Code film starred Ann Harding and William Powell. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Norman Jewison (96), George Wallace (70), Juno Temple (33), Betty Gilpin (36), Josh Hartnett (44), Alysia Reiner (52), Vanessa Lengies (37), Anya Chalotra (26), Jaime Murray (46), Rory Culkin (33), Diane Guerrero (36), Jessica Barden (30), Charlotte Gainsbourg (51), David Dastmalchian (47), Justin Bartha (44), Jon Lovitz (65), Tian Jing (34), Paloma Faith (41), Jasmine Cephas Jones (33)