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Stephen Amell Doesn't Support Actors Strike; Hollywood Remembers Paul Reubens; Barbenheimer Memes Provoke Backlash in Japan; 'Talk to Me' Filmmakers Talk Sequel

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August 01, 2023

What's news: Euphoria star Angus Cloud has died at 25. Regal owner Cineworld has emerged from bankruptcy. The 2024 Super Bowl game will be the first to have a secondary broadcast. WBD is restructuring its ad sales division. Home Improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan has been arrested again. — Abid Rahman

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Stephen Amell Comes Out Against Actors Strike

►"It is a reductive negotiating tactic." Arrow and Heels star Stephen Amell became one of the first prominent actors to come out against the SAG-AFTRA strike. During an appearance at Raleigh’s GalaxyCon, Amell revealed his reasons for not supporting the stoppage, describing the union's strategy as "myopic." Despite his trenchant criticisms, Amell did repeatedly say he still supports his union. The story.

—Good news. Cinema giant and Regal Entertainment owner Cineworld has successfully completed its financial restructuring process and emerged from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the U.S. The exhibition company unveiled the news late on Monday along with new board members, including former top Warner Bros. executive Ann Sarnoff. The story.

—Slime news. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon will produce a second telecast of Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024, bringing its kid-focused coverage and green ooze in tow. The Nick telecast will mark the first time a Super Bowl has had an alternate presentation. CBS, Nick’s Paramount Global sibling, will carry the main broadcast. The story.

—ICYMI. Disney CEO Bob Iger is bringing aboard former top studio execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs to help advise on a possible sale of linear TV assets beyond ESPN, including the ABC broadcast network and the FX cable channel. Mayer and Staggs, who founded Candle Media in 2021, have been tapped as consultants to work alongside Iger, ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro and other Disney TV execs to figure out the studio’s legacy TV business. The story.

Paul Reubens 1952 - 2023

►"He will forever live in the comedy pantheon." Paul Reubens, the two-time Emmy winner who disappeared behind a tight gray suit and bright red bow tie to create and star as the awkward man-child Pee-wee Herman, has died. He was 70.

His death in Los Angeles was announced Monday on his official Facebook page. "Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit," the statement read. The obituary.

—"His surreal comedy and unrelenting kindness were a gift to us all." There was an outpouring of grief in Hollywood with the news of the death of Paul Reubens. A number of Reubens collaborators, including director Tim Burton, Laraine Newman and Natasha Lyonne, as well as comedy heavyweights Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien, Paul Feig, Dane Cook and Judd Apatow all posted loving tributes to the comedian on Monday night. The reaction.

—"Paul Reubens and Pee-wee Herman left a timeless and ageless mark on the culture." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reflects on the legacy of Paul Reubens, who was able to take his eternally youthful and immature alter ego from improv comedy stages to the big screen to Saturday morning television and Broadway, because Pee-wee Herman was a character for all ages and all generations. The critic's appreciation.

Angus Cloud 1998 - 2023

►"He was immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family." Angus Cloud, the actor who starred on HBO’s Euphoria for two seasons, has died. He was 25. Cloud’s family announced the news on Monday.

Cloud was walking down the street in Manhattan when he got cast as drug dealer Fezco on Euphoria, HBO’s Emmy-winning addiction drama from Sam Levinson and starring Zendaya. The role turned Cloud into a breakout star. His role was expanded in the second season, which ended on a major cliffhanger for his character following a S.W.A.T. raid. The obituary.

—"The spiritual center of Euphoria." Hollywood took to social media to pay tribute to Angus Cloud. Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, co-stars Colman Domingo, Storm Reid and Mason Shea Joyce as well as prominent creatives such as Questlove, Kerry Washington and Rachel Zegler all remembered Cloud's talent. The reaction.

Barbenheimer Memes Provoke Backlash in Japan

►Disrespectful. THR's Gavin Blair reports that #NoBarbenheimer has been trending on Japanese social media the last few days amid an angry response to the official U.S. Barbie Twitter account commenting on memes using the atomic bombings as jokes. Warner Bros. Japan has directly apologized for the actions of the U.S. Barbie movie account. Barbie is released in Japan on Aug. 11, less than a week after the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, respectively. The story.

—All change. THR's Alex Weprin writes that Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest major media company to reorganize and restructure its advertising sales division amid a lackluster year for ad sales. On Monday, the company unveiled its new structure, one that will be built around an agency holding company model. Under the new structure, Marybeth Strobel and Greg Regis will lead the agency-specific teams, with Strobel working with Omnicom, Magna and Dentsu, and Regis responsible for Publicis, GroupM and Horizon Media. The story.

—Free speech absolutist strikes again. Elon Musk and X are targeting a nonprofit whose research has blamed him for a rise in hate speech on the platform. X Corp., the parent company of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on July 20 wrote to the Center for Countering Digital Hate threatening legal action for making a “series of troubling and baseless claims that appear calculated to harm Twitter generally, and its digital advertising business specifically.” The story.

—Arrested. Former Home Improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan was arrested again in Eugene, Oregon, for felony assault in violation of the Abuse Prevention Act. On Friday, police responded to a physical dispute between a male, identified as Bryan, and an adult female, a spokesperson for the Eugene Police Department told THR on Monday. The former child actor was previously charged with fourth-degree assault in 2020. The story.

—No one is really canceled. After being cleared of all charges in his U.K. criminal trial, Kevin Spacey could be returning to cinemas sooner than expected. THR's Alex Ritman reports that Control, the U.K. indie thriller which cast Spacey in a voice role in late 2022 as he awaited trial over multiple counts of sexual assault, is aiming for a theatrical domestic release before the end of the year. The story.

'Talk to Me' Filmmakers Unpack That Ending, Talk Sequel

►"You know what? We'd like a sequel. I wouldn't be able to resist." For THR, Esther Zuckerman spoke to Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou about their Aussie horror film that racked up a $10m box office haul this weekend. The filmmaking brothers discuss the disturbing end to the film and the prospects of a followup to the A24 sleeper hit. Warning: Spoilers! The interview.

In other news...

—Loki S2 trailer shows off time travel — and Jonathan Majors

—Amazon Prime Video’s new releases coming in August

—Star Trek content headed to Paramount+ in Canada

—Abu Dhabi to build major studio complex with 11 soundstages

—Tamron Hall signs with UTA, Range Media

What else we're reading...

—Critic James Poniewozik writes that Paul Reubens’s oddball masterpiece Pee-wee’s Playhouse celebrated the kind of anarchy that captivates kids and freaks out adults [NYT]

—Inkoo Kang believes that the streaming era has made movies and television feel less special, and its only likely to get worse as Hollywood sabotages itself [New Yorker]

—With studios increasingly leaning on influencer content instead of professional reviews, Manuela Lazic writes that a shift from knowledgable writers to those simply in search of free tickets devalues cinema [Guardian]

—Jack Hamilton pens a tribute to Edi Patterson’s sublime Judy in HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones [Slate]

—Two years on from Netflix launching its games unit, Ash Parrish takes stock of the streamer's gaming philosophy [Verge]

Today...

...in 1973, George Lucas brought his nostalgic film American Graffiti to the big screen at the Avco Cinema Center in Los Angeles. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Jason Momoa (44), Jack O'Connell (33), Sam Mendes (58), Adrian Dunbar (65), John Carroll Lynch (60), David Wain (54), Daisy May Cooper (37), Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (45), Demián Bichir (60), Giancarlo Giannini (81), Lewis Smith (67), Oona Laurence (21), Kris Holden-Ried (50), Landry Allbright (34), Charles Malik Whitfield (51), Sally Pressman (42), Mrunal Thakur (31), Luke Eisner (27), Eduardo Noriega (50), Miracle Laurie (42)

Mark Seiler, the former president of RKO Pictures and Hemdale Films and CEO of Capella Films, died on July 7 after a long battle with Parkinson’s and complications from COVID-19. He was 75. The obituary.

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Written by José Vizcarra
on Tuesday, August 01, 2023 at 7:05 AM.

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