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Prigozhin's Hollywood-Style Propaganda Films; BET Awards Coverage; 'AJLT' Boss on the Series' Sex Scenes; THR Critics Pick the 10 Best Films of 2023 So Far

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June 26, 2023

What's news: Nicolas Winding Refn will produce a TV adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. Patti LaBelle forgot the lyrics to Tina Turner's "(Simply) the Best" while performing the song at the BET Awards. Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan have invested in F1 team Alpine. The Flash fell a whopping 72 percent in its second week on release in North America. — Abid Rahman

Before His Rebellion, Prigozhin Made Hollywood-Style Propaganda Films

►Man of the moment. In light of the incredible events that occurred in Russia over the weekend, here again is Scott Johnson's story on Yevgeny Prigozhin. The chief of the multi-tentacled Wagner group, who attempted a coup against the Kremlin and is now in exile in Belarus, didn’t just send his army of mercenaries to the Ukrainian front lines. He was also at the vanguard of Vladimir Putin’s effort to counter Western cultural dominance, and using movies to do it. The story.

—Decision looming. With less than a week to go before the union’s TV/theatrical contracts package expires, SAG-AFTRA leaders are assuring members that their negotiations with studios and streamers have been “extremely productive.” In a video message sent to the union’s 160,000 affected members on Saturday, union president Fran Drescher and national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that the talks had been "laser-focused on all the crucial issues you told us are most important to you." The story.

—"He made us better." David Bohrman, the veteran news producer and executive who worked for ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Current TV, and most notably CNN, has died. He was 69. Bohrman was part of the original Nightline team and created World News Now for ABC and later State of the Union and Situation Room for CNN. A famed innovator, he is credited with introducing the 'Magic Wall' interactive display to election night coverage. The obituary.

—Yay for us! THR was named best website at the 65th annual SoCal Journalism Awards, which were handed out Sunday night at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. THR was recognized by the Los Angeles Press Club in several other categories as well, including features, photos, social media and commentary. The story.

BET Awards 2023

►Off script. The hostless 2023 BET Awards were handed out Sunday night, with Latto, Beyoncé, Coco Jones, Teyana “Spike Tey” Taylor and Burna Boy among the winners announced during the live telecast. The awards recognize the best performances of the year across music, TV, film and sports. The ceremony also celebrated 50 years of hip-hop throughout the show, which aired on BET from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The winners.

—Off teleprompter. Patti LaBelle gave a powerful and joyful performance in tribute to the late Tina Turner at the BET Awards, even if she couldn’t quite remember all the lyrics. LaBelle sang Turner’s “(Simply) the Best,” but she forgot the words during a few moments. “I’m trying, y’all,” she said after humming a few notes before hitting the chorus the first time. The story.

—Salute to hip-hop. THR's Mesfin Fekadu writes that the BET Awards' 50th anniversary of hip-hop tribute featured dozens of performances that played like a musical family reunion as pioneers of the genre blazed the stage during a hostless but party-filled show held during the writers strike. The Sugarhill Gang, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, Doug E. Fresh, Erick Sermon and Keith Murray all performed with Ja Rule, Red Man, E-40, Master P, Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Styles P, T.I., Fabolous, Trick Daddy, Trina, Uncle Luke and Skillz hitting the stage. The story.

—Pretty in pink. As ever, the BET Awards' pink carpet saw the stars flex some stunning looks. The likes of Latto, GloRilla, Ice Spice, T.I., MC Lyte, Coco Jones and Busta Rhymes were among the stars walking the carpet on Sunday night. The looks.

How the Britney Musical Spun a Fairy Tale — With Her Consent

►It’s Britney, bitch. THR's Abbey White and Caitlin Huston spoke to the producers and creative team behind Once Upon a One More Time , the Broadway musical set to Britney Spears’ hit songs, including “Crazy” and “Circus.” The producers reveal that Spears signed off on the musical, and also suggested initial themes for the plotline and signed an underlying rights agreement with the production, in one of the first deals signed since the singer was freed from her conservatorship in November 2021. The interview.

—Wait, what? Danish enfant terrible Nicolas Winding Refn has been tapped to reboot The Famous Five, based on Enid Blyton’s classic and very quaint series of children’s books. The director behind the extremely adult dramas Drive, The Neon Demon and the Pusher trilogy will act as creator and producer on a new The Famous Five limited series adaptation, which comes from the BBC and Germany’s ZDF. The story.

—Welcome to Alpine. Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan are broadening their business interests in the sports world. The trio is teaming up with private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Otro Capital to buy a 24 percent stake in the Alpine Formula 1 Race Team. The partners are paying the team’s owner, Renault Group, about $218m for the stake, valuing the team at roughly $900m. The partners said the deal would help accelerate Alpine Racing’s growth plans and visibility. The story.

—Next stage in the recovery plan. Regal Theaters owner Cineworld Group will file for administration in the U.K. and delist its shares from the London Stock Exchange. In the latest update on its restructuring plan, Cineworld said its business would not be impacted by a planned emergence from U.S. bankruptcy protection set for July as assets in the cinema chain would be transferred to a new incorporated company controlled by lenders. The story.

—"We took great pains to be careful about the ick factor." In Sony’s new comedy No Hard Feelings, Jennifer Lawrence’s 32-year-old character is hired by a couple of helicopter parents to “date” their 19-year-old son. The premise has led to discussion on social media and some backlash, questioning whether the relationship was exploitative. The film's producers addressed the issue at the premiere with writer-director Gene Stupnitsky assuring viewers won't be grossed out after seeing the movie. The story.

—"I made Lily very young. I didn’t know that neurosurgeons went to school for 50 years." It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover opened up about the controversy surrounding the casting of Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni in Sony’s adaptation of her best-selling novel of the same name. Speaking at the Hoover’s Book Bananza festival in Texas, Hoover said that despite fans being upset with the real ages of the actors, she wanted to age the characters up in the movie in an effort to correct a mistake she made in the book. The story.

Shock: 'Spider-Verse' Edges Out 'Elemental' to Win Weekend

►More bad news for Zaz. In a box office upset, Sony holdover Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse edged out Pixar’s Elemental to win the weekend all the way in its fourth outing. Rarely does a film reclaim the top spot amid fierce summer competition. Across the Spider-Verse took in an estimated $19.3m as it raced past the $300m mark domestically to finish Sunday with a North American total of $317.1m and an impressive $560.3m worldwide.

Elemental took in an estimated $18.5m upon falling only 39 percent in its second weekend, a strong hold after suffering the worst start in the modern history of Pixar. The pic’s domestic 10-day total is $65.5m. THR's Pamela McClintock writes that the film’s hold means it’s being helped by strong word of mouth.

The news for DC and Warner Bros.’ The Flash — which opened last weekend opposite Elemental to a sobering $55.1m — grew worse as it fell off 72 percent to $15.3m for a domestic cume of $87.6m. Unlike Elemental, The Flash received poor exit scores. (The studio had hoped for a decline of 55 percent.) Insiders concede to Pamela that the film is a huge miss and is being rejected by audiences on a wholesale basis. Overseas, The Flash is also underwhelming, earning $26.6m in its second weekend from 76 markets for a foreign cume of $123.3m and a total cume of $210.9m globally. The box office report.

—China’s first big blockbuster of the summer. Lost in the Stars, a mystery thriller produced by As One Productions, opened to $98.3m over the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday weekend. With advance ticket sales for Monday added to the tally, the film easily crossed the $100m mark. Ticketing app Maoyan projects Lost in the Stars, co-written by Chen Sicheng, the hitmaking writer-director behind the Detective Chinatown franchise, to eventually earn over $400m. The China box office report.

'AJLT' Boss on the Series' (Many) Sex Scenes

►"This season was going to be about life, and sex is such a big part of life." And Just Like That kicks off its second season with a provocative, two-and-a-half minute montage, featuring six of its seven main characters in moments of intimacy — and its seventh, watching an intimate scene on television. THR's Lacey Rose spoke to showrunner Michael Patrick King about why he chose to open the show up, sexually, with the racy montage. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.

—"Peggy’s in a life-or-death possible situation at the end." THR's little rascal Ryan Gajewski spoke to Patricia Arquette about the bloody finale to the Apple TV+ series High Desert. The actress opens up about her hopes for a second season of the series in which she plays a recovering addict seeking a new life as a private investigator. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.

—"This has been an amazing run. What a dream job." THR's Brian Davids spoke to Cobie Smulders about her new Disney+ Marvel series Secret Invasion. The Marvel veteran, who was first seen in the MCU in 2012, talks the surprising moment in the series that she has kept quiet about for years and addresses whether the door is still open for a multiverse-type return someday. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.

THR Critics Pick the 10 Best Films of 2023 So Far

►Strong year. THR's film reviewers — David Rooney, Sheri Linden, Lovia Gyarkye, Jon Frosch, Leslie Felperin and Jordan Mintzer — choose their faves from the first half of the year, including a Michelle Williams-Kelly Reichardt collab, Miles Morales’ latest adventure and an aching love-triangle drama. The list.

In other news...

—Fremantle banner signs first-look deal with producer Patrick Daly’s Caledonia

—The Old Young Crow, Way Better take top prizes at Palm Spring International ShortFest

—International Cinematographers Guild names Alex Tonisson national exec director

—SkyShowtime names former Disney executive Hristina Georgieva chief business officer

—L.A.’s plastic-surgery after-care spots offer luxe hotel rooms, infrared light therapy and even medicinal leeches

What else we're reading...

—Max Seddon writes that Prigozhin's aborted rebellion exposes deep flaws in Putin’s regime [FT]

—Lucas Shaw looked at the numbers and found that film and TV profits at the major studios have collapsed over the last decade [Bloomberg]

—Dana Hull and Ashlee Vance report that the Musk vs. Zuckerberg cage fight "might actually happen" [Bloomberg]

—With the 40-year anniversary of Twilight Zone: The Movie this year, Jason Bailey recounts the still hard-to-believe production of the John Landis-directed segment, where a shocking accident killed 3 people [NYT]

—With Taylor Swift drawing on Stevie Nicks' fashion sense, Clara Thorp looks into why the boho, rock-goddess aesthetic lives on [BBC]

Today...

...in 1963, Universal unveiled, in color, the 91-minute feature King Kong vs. Godzilla in theaters stateside. The Toho production title had been billed in ads as “the most colossal conflict the screen has ever known!" The original review.

Today's birthdays: Ariana Grande (30), Jason Schwartzman (43), Aubrey Plaza (39), Nick Offerman (53), Paul Thomas Anderson (53), Sean Hayes (53), Chris O'Donnell (53), Jacob Elordi (26), Chris Isaak (67), Jennette McCurdy (31), Harley Quinn Smith (24), Ana Ularu (38), Eric Nelsen (32), Robert Davi (72), Mark McKinney (64), Ian Tracey (59), Matt Letscher (53), Gino Vento (37), Gedde Watanabe (68), Michael Paul Chan (73), Andrew Bachelor (35), Valerie Pachner (36), Rebecca Budig (50), Natsuki Hanae (32), Parry Shen (50), Patty Smyth (66), Travis Fine (55)

Dean Smith, who won a gold medal as a sprinter at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics before becoming a top-notch Hollywood stunt performer who worked on a dozen films starring John Wayne, has died. He was 91. The obituary.

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Written by José Vizcarra
on Monday, June 26, 2023 at 7:15 AM.

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