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Hollywood Remembers Kirstie Alley; The Great Film Performances of 2022; James Dolan Named AMC's Exec Chairman; 'Darby and the Dead' Review

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December 06, 2022

What's news: HBO Max returns to Amazon's Prime Video Channels. David Oyelowo and Benedict Cumberbatch among big names to star in Jeymes Samuel's next feature. A ToeJam & Earl film is in the works. Gil Kenan to direct Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel. Peacock hits 18m subscribers. The Flash's release date moved up. — Abid Rahman

Kirstie Alley 1951 - 2022

►"Incredible, fierce and loving." Kirstie Alley, the Emmy-winning comic actress known for her turns on Cheers, Veronica’s Closet and the three Look Who’s Talking films, has died. She was 71. Alley died after a battle with cancer “only recently discovered,” her children True and Lillie Parker announced Monday. No other details were immediately available. The obituary.

—"A great comic foil." John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tim Allen, Ever Carradine and Kristin Chenoweth are among the friends, former co-stars and fellow Hollywood industry members remembering Kirstie Alley. The reaction.

The Great Film Performances of 2022

►Shining a light on great work. The year in acting was particularly rich for women, from the brilliant Blanchett and the sublime Seydoux to breakouts like Danielle Deadwyler and astonishing non-English-language turns flying — frustratingly — under the radar. THR film critics Jon Frosch, David Rooney and Lovia Gyarkye hash it out on which performances really caught the eye this year. The critics’ conversation.

—🎭 Casting news 🎭 THR's Borys Kit has the scoop on the star-studded lineup for The Harder They Fall filmmaker Jeymes Samuel's next feature, The Book of Clarence. RJ Cyler, Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Anna Diop, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard and Marianne Jean-Baptiste have joined LaKeith Stanfield and Omar Sy in the production, which hails from Legendary Pictures and began production Monday in Italy. The story.

—🎭 More casting news 🎭 THR's Etan Vlessing has the scoop on Canadian singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson and Inigo Pascual signing up to star in an indie drama inspired by a real-life 2012 gang shooting in inner-city Toronto. The film, with the working title of Danzig, will be directed by Ron Dias and written by Joanne Jansen, and will tell the story of two people whose worlds collide during the turf war on Danzig Street in Scarborough. The story.

—Space ToeJam. THR's Mia Galuppo has the scoop on classic video game ToeJam & Earl getting a big screen adaptation from Amazon Studios, Stephen Curry’s Unanimous Media and Story Kitchen. The 1990s SEGA game centers on two space-alien rappers who come to Earth seeking a cure for the disease eradicating their home planet’s rhythm, funk and groove. Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo (Hotel Transylvania 4, Superfudge) will pen the screenplay. The story.

—Heading to TV. THR's Rick Porter has the scoop on indie studio Wiip snagging the rights to S.E. Boyd's critically acclaimed novel The Lemon. The Mare of Easttown producer has optioned the novel by Boyd — a pen name for the trio of Alessandra Lusardi, Kevin Alexander and Joe Keohane — and will develop it for television. The authors, who plan the book as the first in a three-part series, will adapt the work for the screen. The story.

—Helmer in place. Poltergeist filmmaker Gil Kenan is set to direct the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The cast of the first film, which included Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace, are expected to return for the sequel, which will be set in New York City. The code name for the film is Fire House, a nod to the setting of the 1980s movies that will be included in the new installment. The story.

AMC Networks Names James Dolan Interim Exec Chairman

►Stop-gap. As AMC Networks finalizes a replacement for CEO Christina Spade after she abruptly stepped down on Nov. 29, the media company has named chairman James Dolan as interim executive chairman. Dolan will receive no pay bump and will serve in the stop-gap post until a new CEO is named, or until March 6, 2023. The story.

—"That’s real subscribers, paying us real American dollars." NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell has revealed that Peacock has hit 18m subscribers. At a conference, a bullish Shell also pointed to Netflix and other rival streaming platforms getting into the advertising business as validation that NBCU placed a winning bet on an ad-supported streaming model. The story.

—Coming back. More than a year after HBO Max was pulled from Amazon's Prime Video Channels (which sells third party streaming services through Amazon Prime), the tech giant and Warner Bros. Discovery said Tuesday that they have a new deal to bring the streamer back. HBO Max will be available beginning Dec. 6 for $14.99 per month, and subscribers will have access to the new service that will include Discovery content when it launches next year. The story.

Makoto Shinkai's Anime Hit 'Suzume' Heading to U.S.

►📅 Blockbuster incoming 📅 Anime maestro Makoto Shinkai’s latest feature Suzume has scored theatrical release dates in North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia. The film will hit North American cinemas on April 14. Suzume is Shinkai’s follow-up to Weathering With You (2019), which earned $193m worldwide. He was also behind 2016's Your Name, a film that set a new standard for the global potential of Japanese anime, earning $358m worldwide from a production budget of just $6m. The story.

—📅 Mark it down 📅 Bong Joon Ho's eagerly anticipated next feature has a release date. The Academy Award-winning director behind Parasite will open sci-fi drama Mickey 17 around the globe on March 29, 2024. The film stars Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo, with Bong penning the script based on the book by Edward Ashton. The story.

—📅 Moving up 📅 The Flash will speed into theaters a little earlier than expected. On Monday, Warner Bros. set a new release date of June 16, 2023 for the film. It was previously slated for June 23, 2023, and the new date gives it more breathing room ahead of the release of Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which bows on June 30. The story.

'The Menu' Writers on Exploring Hunger

►"These people are all really malnourished." THR's Abbey White spoke to The Menu co-writers Seth Reiss and Will Tracy about how their horror comedy explores not just who’s at the table but what’s on it and why through their fictional restaurant’s staff, diners and food. The duo also unpack why Hawthorn staff are living in a cult and what separates two American food greats — the cheeseburger and the s'more — in the movie. The interview.

—"These decisions are not easy, they are not knee-jerk, but they are necessary." ABC News has temporarily benched GMA3 co-anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach while the network and president Kim Godwin figure out what the next steps should be in the wake of a tabloid report revealing a personal relationship between the anchors. Godwin announced the move on ABC’s Monday morning editorial call. The story.

—Sentenced. The man who shot and wounded Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stole her French bulldogs last year took a plea deal and was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Monday, officials said. The Gaga connection was a coincidence, authorities have said. The motive was the value of the French bulldogs, a breed that can run into the thousands of dollars, and detectives do not believe the thieves knew the dogs belonged to the musician. The story.

—Legal fight continues. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard continue to exchange legal barbs in a Virginia appeals court, setting the stage for a higher-level debate about the line between opinion and defamation. Both sides have now appealed a June 1 verdict, which awarded Depp more than $10m and Heard $2m, and argue that statements at issue can't be defamatory because they're either true or protected opinion. The story.

—Swifties see red. Taylor Swift fans are taking Ticketmaster to court over the fiasco over the sale of tickets for The Eras Tour. A presale open to “verified” fans who registered in advance through Ticketmaster turned into a “ticket sale disaster,” which resulted in some people waiting in a virtual queue for up to eight hours and left “millions” of them unable to buy seats, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by more than two dozen Swift fans. The story.

Film Review: 'Darby and the Dead'

►"Inventive until it capitulates to convention." THR critic Lovia Gyarkye reviews Silas Howard's Darby and the Dead. A high-schooler who can speak to the dead reluctantly helps the ghost of her nemesis find peace in the afterlife in this endearing Hulu film. The review.

In other news...

—Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy endure awkward culture clash in trailer for You People

—Crime Junkie is Apple podcast’s most popular show of the year

—Los Angeles Magazine sells to L.A. attorneys Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas

—5-Minute Crafts owner TheSoul Publishing acquires majority stake in Underscore Talent

—Stephen Goldblatt to receive ASC Cinematographers’ lifetime achievement award

—Austin Butler to receive Palm Springs Film Fest’s breakthrough performance award for Elvis

What else we're reading...

—Alison Flood interviews Louise Penny on her experience writing a political thriller with Hillary Clinton [Guardian]

—Eric Grode takes an inventive look at what makes a movie "the greatest of all time" [NYT]

—Monica Hesse on the challenges of dramatizing #MeToo while we’re still living through it [WaPo]

—Brian Contreras reports on FaZe Clan's plans to capitalize on the huge demand for YouTube stars [LAT]

—Mia Mercado writes that 2022 fashion has undergone a "Dad-ification" [The Cut]

Today...

Today's birthdays: Judd Apatow (55), Tommy Wirkola (43), Janine Turner (60), Nick Park (64), Sarah Rafferty (50), Tom Hulce (69), Stefanie Scott (26), Oliver Masucci (54), Molly Gordon (27), Lindsay Price (46), Colin Salmon (60), Ulrich Thomsen (59), Vanessa Rubio (39), Jack De Sena (35), Arabella Weir (65), Nora Kirkpatrick (38), Steven Wright (67), Gina Hecht (69), Thom Barry (72), Ryan Kennedy (40), Jack Thorne (44), Shekhar Kapur (77)

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Written by José Vizcarra
on Tuesday, December 06, 2022 at 7:05 AM.

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