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Hollywood Reacts to New Academy Theatrical Rules; Kelly Clarkson on Talk Show Drama; 'M:I 7' Set for Franchise-Best $90M Opening; 'The Perfect Ending' Review

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June 23, 2023

What's news: James Cameron has weighed in on the Titanic sub incident. Paul McCartney has clarified the use of AI in a new song from The Beatles. Kesha and Dr. Luke have settled their almost decade-long legal battle. Matthew McConaughey almost played Joel in The Last of Us. — Abid Rahman

Hollywood Reacts to New Academy Theatrical Rules

►"It gives everyone something to be upset about for a while." Over the 24 hours since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it will be expanding the theatrical release requirements for a film to be eligible for the best picture Oscar starting with 2024 releases, much of Hollywood has been abuzz about the news. THR's executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg discusses how streamers, art house distributors and non-English-language films are likely to be impacted (or not) by the change. The analysis.

—Fresh blood. When AMPAS' 55-person board of governors convenes in July, more than one-fifth of its seats will be occupied by people who were not a part of it in June. For the 2023-24 term, the board will be joined by 11 rookie governors: Wendy Aylsworth (production/technology branch), David I. Dinerstein (marketing/public relations), Richard Gibbs (music), Jinko Gotoh (short films/feature animation), Kalina Ivanov (production design), Simon Kilmurry (documentary), Hannah Minghella (executives), Daniel Orlandi (costume designers), Lou Diamond Phillips (actors), Dana Stevens (writers) and Mark P. Stoeckinger (sound). The story.

—"Many people in the community were concerned about this sub." Oscar-winning Titanic director James Cameron weighed in on the Titan submersible tragedy on Thursday. Cameron appeared on ABC, BBC and CNN to give his take on the incident, telling the media that he knew the sub was doomed soon after the news of it vanishing first broke. The filmmaker revealed he is a submersible designer himself and that he understands the challenges of making such a craft work safely and successfully and defended the practice of deep-sea dives as a whole. The story.

—"Seems to be a lot of guess work out there." Paul McCartney has clarified the use of AI in The Beatles’ new song after it caused quite a buzz on social media. In an interview last week, McCartney said the band would release a song this year using AI to add the late John Lennon’s voice onto the track. After seeing “some confusion and speculation,” McCartney decided to share his thoughts on Twitter Thursday. The story.

Netflix's New View Metric Still Doesn’t Say a Lot

►The "view" is back. With a tweak to the way it reports its internal top 10 rankings, Netflix is once again foregrounding a measure of how many accounts are watching its shows and movies. This version of a view is certainly easier to understand than Netflix’s previous “view” stats. THR's Rick Porter writes there’s a danger, though, in equating views with actual viewers, and the watch time/run time equation doesn’t get much closer to revealing how many people are watching a given title. The analysis.

—"Three year administrative nightmare." On Thursday, Microsoft opened a weeklong hearing that will decide whether its $69b bid to purchase video game behemoth Activision Blizzard should be temporarily blocked with a warning: If a federal judge grants the injunction that the Federal Trade Commission is seeking, the deal won’t go through. The argument set the stage for a mini trial in federal court in San Francisco between Microsoft and the FTC. The story.

—Layoffs. Canada's Entertainment One has cut around 20 percent of its workforce as parent Hasbro implements its cost reduction plan at the toy maker. In Jan. 2023, Hasbro said it would cut its workforce by 15 percent, or 1,000 employees. The significant layoffs were part of a larger restructuring and cost-savings effort underway, with the company having already put its TV and film division eOne up for sale. The story.

—Settlement. Singer Kesha Sebert and her former producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) have been in a contentious bicoastal legal battle for nearly a decade — but they’ve reached an agreement less than a month before it was set for trial. The settlement ends a legal fight that began in October 2014 with dueling lawsuits; Sebert alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted and wanted out of her recording agreement, while Gottwald maintained the accusation was false and sued for defamation and breach of contract. The story.

—Winning bid. A group of buyers led by Fortress Investment Group has been designated the winning bidder in the bankruptcy sale of Vice Media, after pledging $225m, according to court documents filed Thursday. If the bid is approved, the sale is expected to be completed by July 7. Fortress was an existing lender of Vice and had been expected to be a likely buyer of the company, alongside Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital. The story.

Kelly Clarkson on Talk Show Drama

►"I was really pissed off." THR's Mesfin Fekadu spoke to Kelly Clarkson about her new album Chemistry, but also asked the Grammy and Emmy winner about the recent bullying scandal surrounding her daytime talk show. Clarkson also discusses her (sort of) hate for The Notebook and love for It’s Complicated, working with Steve Martin, naming a song after legendary movie star Rock Hudson. The interview.

—"A demented love letter to Broadway." Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, the original stars of The Book of Mormon, will return to Broadway in a comedic two-hander, Gutenberg! The Musical! Directed by Alex Timbers, and written by Scott Brown and Anthony King, the show is about two friends who create a musical about Johannes Gutenberg, the creator of the printing press. Gutenberg! The Musical! will play the James Earl Jones Theatre starting Sept. 15, ahead of an opening night on Oct. 12. The story.

—"I got a call from his agent who said, ‘You know, he actually might be available.'" It may be hard to imagine anyone other than Pedro Pascal playing Joel in The Last of Us, but series co-creator Craig Mazin confirmed that Matthew McConaughey was also in talks for the role. In a new interview, Mazin also revealed Pascal’s excitement for the series after reading the script for the first time. The story.

—"I would have no idea how to talk to them, ’cause like, do I have to be in character?" Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that she feels "nervous" working with Method actors as she wouldn't know how to react around them. In a new interview, the No Hard Feelings star also said she credits her American Hustle co-star Christian Bale with giving her a new insight into the craft with the way he prepared for scenes. The story.

'M:I 7' Sprinting Toward Franchise-Best $90M Opening

►No stopping Tom. With three weeks to go to opening, Paramount's Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, Part One is tracking for a franchise-best opening in the $90m range at the domestic box office in its first five days, a huge start for the July tentpole. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that in terms of the Mission series, 2018’s Fallout holds the record for top three-day weekend opening ($61.2m), followed by 2000’s M:I II ($57.8m) and 2015’s Rogue Nation ($55.5m), not adjusted for inflation. The box office report.

—It gets worse. In a midweek upset, Sony holdover Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Pixar’s Elemental edged out Warner Bros./DC's The Flash at the Wednesday box office. Elemental, which boasts an A CinemaScore and strong PostTrak exits, beat The Flash on Wednesday with $3.5m versus $3.1m. Across the Spider-Verse, now in its third week, won Wednesday overall with $3.8m for a heroic domestic tally north of $294m. The box office report.

—Come with me if you want to live. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first TV series got off to a strong start in the U.S. Netflix's FUBAR, the action comedy featuring the Terminator star, led Nielsen’s streaming charts for its premiere week of May 22-28 (the show debuted on May 25). HBO/Max's Succession was steady in the week leading up to its series finale, and Amazon Prime Video’s big-budget Citadel joined the rankings for the week its season finale dropped. The streaming rankings.

SJP, Nixon and Davis on 'SATC' Echoes, Samantha's 'AJLT' Return

►"Sometimes you don’t talk to people for a while, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reconnect." THR's queen of chat Jackie Strause spoke to And Just Like That stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis about the second season of the Max show. The trio discuss fan reaction to the Sex and the City sequel series, the talk around Kim Cattrall's (brief) return as Samantha and the future of the show. The interview.

—"I was so thrilled to have a chance to come back and make them more dimensional and human." THR's Lacey Rose spoke to And Just Like That showrunner Michael Patrick King who offers his views on season two and Samantha's cameo. King also opens up about Aidan's return, Che's evolution, the love/hate relationship that fans have with his Sex and the City update and what he wanted to say with the new season. The interview.

—"He’s anxious about the circumstances he’s leaving." THR's Abbey White spoke to The Bear star Lionel Boyce about Marcus' journey in season two of the critically acclaimed FX/Hulu show. The actor also spoke about filming in Copenhagen, working with Will Poulter who joins the series, what was behind that unnerving storm sequence, his character's big lesson and watching the season as one story versus episodic arcs. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.

—"We just wanted to shine a light on this world of political bad actors, people acting in bad faith and people who will say anything for money, fame and the television camera." THR's Brian Davids spoke to director David Stassen about his new film Maximum Truth that stars Dylan O’Brien and Ike Barinholtz. Stassen discusses how the political mockumentary, his directorial debut, was ripped directly from headlines and comments on the many real-life political grifters. The interview.

Film Review: 'The Perfect Find'

►"Delicious work from Union and Torres sustains it." THR's Lovia Gyarkye reviews Numa Perrier's The Perfect Find. A former fashion editor (Gabrielle Union) stages a comeback and gets entangled with the son of her nemesis (Gina Torres) in this enjoyably soapy romantic Netflix comedy, also starring Keith Powers. The review.

—"Has the potential to become BET+'s Ozark." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews BET+'s Average Joe. Deon Cole, Tammy Townsend, Malcolm Barrett and Cynthia Kaye McWilliams star in this darkly comic thriller about blue collar Pittsburgh residents running afoul of the Russian mob. The review.

Thank Pod It's Friday

► All the latest content from THR's podcast studio.

—TV's Top 5. THR's Lesley Goldberg and Dan Fienberg break down the latest TV news. This week's episode is a return to normalcy, with the show opening with the headlines. There's a segment dedicated to Ryan Murphy's move from Netflix back to Disney and another section on the prospect of HBO licensing shows to Netflix. THR TV critic Angie Han drops by for a discussion on the best shows of 2023, so far. And Dan reviews Marvel’s Secret Invasion on Disney+, Average Joe on BET+, season two of FX’s The Bear on Hulu, Amazon’s I’m a Virgo and Apple’s Hijack. Listen here.

—Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to Patrick Stewart. The legendary English actor reflects on his dark childhood, and how he found his escape from it in the theater; the fateful series of events that led to him becoming Jean-Luc Picard; and why, after years of X-Men films, plays, voiceover work and much else, he agreed to return to Star Trek with Picard. Listen here.

—It Happened in Hollywood. THR senior writer Seth Abramovitch goes behind the scenes of the pop culture moments that shaped Hollywood history. In this episode Seth spoke to Richard O’Brien. It’s 50 years since O’Brien's The Rocky Horror Show debuted on a cramped London stage and launched a phenomenon, the composer and star joins Seth to retrace every step. Listen here.

In other news...

—Paul Dano gets rich fighting Wall Street in Dumb Money trailer

—Trailer for Hulu doc The Jewel Thief promises real-life Catch Me If You Can

—Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski expecting third child

—Motion Picture Association hires new CFO

What else we're reading...

—Tim Higgins and Deepa Seetharaman hold their noses and look into the proposed fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, delving into the long simmering feud between the two [WSJ]

—After the Spotify debacle, Joe Pompeo wonders if the air is coming out of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's content balloon [VF]

—Lisa Laman looks at why there has never been a feature sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit [Collider]

—Keren Landman writes that scientists and academics should never debate the likes of Joe Rogan as it usually results in further entrenching polarized perspectives [Vox]

—Here's your Friday list: "Every Wes Anderson film, ranked" [Vulture]

Today...

...in 1971, the 106-minute racing drama Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen and Siegfried Rauch as rivals, hit theaters stateside. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Frances McDormand (66), Selma Blair (51), Joel Edgerton (49), Sian Heder (46), Melissa Rauch (43), Emmanuelle Vaugier (47), Joe Taslim (42), Russell Mulcahy (70), David Dobkin (54), Jason Mraz (46), Danna Paola (28), Tereza Srbova (40), Miles Fisher (40), Terri Ivens (56), Matias Varela (43), Martin Klebba (54), Dennis Andres (36), Joss Whedon (59), Hoyeon (29), Bryan Brown (76), Ji-Yeon Lim (33), Aaron Ruell (47), Zen Gesner (53), Tara Morice (59), Allie Bertram (34), Jim Metzler (72), Marielle Jaffe (34), Willis Chung (37)

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Written by José Vizcarra
on Friday, June 23, 2023 at 7:10 AM.

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