July 16, 2024

What's news: Joe Scarborough addressed MSNBC's decision to pull Morning Joe on Monday. The Tenacious D world tour has been canceled after Kyle Gass made a joke about the Trump shooting at a gig. Disney is investigating a hack at the company. The big 3 music labels are suing Verizon for failing to curb piracy. Netflix has revealed a first look at Stranger Things S5. — Abid Rahman

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Hollywood Turns on Katzenberg as Dump Biden Movement Fizzles

►"People are pissed." In light of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the calls for Joe Biden to step aside have dissipated somewhat — but Democrats in Hollywood are surveying the wreckage and looking for someone to blame. THR's Lachlan Cartwright writes that many are pointing a finger at Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former DreamWorks co-founder, Quibi co-creator, and currently Biden’s campaign co-chair. Lachlan writes that for months, Katzenberg has not only been bragging about his intimate access to the president but assuring anyone who would listen (and write a check) that Biden was in tip-top mental shape. The story. 

—"It’s essentially a toss up race." In an unedited interview that ran in its entirety, a defiant President Biden told NBC News anchor Lester Holt that it was a mistake when he recently said that he wanted to put Donald Trump back in “a bullseye,” yet did not cave on his criticism of Trump’s mean and often violent rhetoric. The president grew testy with Holt as he was hammered with questions about his debate performance, the chorus of people calling for him to quit the race, and an odd comment made about Trump before he was shot. The recap. 

—"We’ve talked about it off the air, we’ll talk about it on the air." Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough says that he was “surprised” and “disappointed” after NBC leadership pulled his show Monday in favor of rolling breaking news coverage about the Trump shooting. Scarborough, joined by co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, opened the show by expressing some clear frustrations with what happened. The story.  

—"How is this happening in America in 2024?" The Late Show is airing live this week in conjunction with the Republican National Convention, but Stephen Colbert opened Monday’s episode with a prerecorded message condemning the assassination attempt against Trump. "My immediate reaction when I saw this on Saturday was horror at what was unfolding, relief that Donald Trump had lived and, frankly, grief for my beautiful country — and then fresh horror, as we learned that attendees had also been shot, one of whom died at the rally," he said. The recap. 

—"There is no autopilot setting for democracy." Seth Meyers opened Monday’s Late Night monologue without jokes, calling the assassination attempt against Trump "poison to our democracy." "Political violence must be rejected in all its forms — it is both morally wrong and a poison to democracy,” Meyers said in a somber monologue. "We must all condemn it and repudiate it and do everything in our power to stop it." Meyers said his prep for Monday’s show felt reminiscent of the day his Late Night team crafted their response to the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021. The recap.  

—"It will never leave me." THR's Alex Weprin spoke to correspondents from NBC, CBS, the BBC and Fox News, who recount the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Trump. The BBC's Gary O’Donoghue recalls: "The vast majority of people I spoke to that night were incredibly respectful... [A] guy came past, and he didn’t want to be interviewed, and just simply walked up to me and said, ‘they shot first. This is f-ing war.’ And that, I have to tell you, that sent a shiver up my spine that I will never, ever forget." The story. 

—America tunes in. The Trump shooting on Saturday led millions of viewers to tune in to TV news coverage. Broadcast networks and cable outlets quickly moved to special coverage of the shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania. In primetime Saturday, a combined 16.07m people watched coverage of the shooting on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, according to early Nielsen figures (ratings data from NBC wasn’t immediately available). Viewing peaked in the 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT hour with almost 19m people watching across those five outlets. The story. 

—"I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form." The Tenacious D world tour has been canceled after a joke from band member Kyle Gass about the Trump shooting during a performance in Australia sparked global outrage. Tenacious D is the musical act made up of Gass and his creative partner Jack Black. Black posted on Instagram Tuesday morning that he was “blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday.” The story. 

Box Office Grosses May Surpass Pre-COVID Levels in 2026

►That’s the good news… Global box office and total cinema revenue will surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2026, but admissions won’t do so over the next five years. So says a new report from PwC, the international accounting and consultancy firm. In PwC’s annual Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report, the firm diagnoses plateauing streaming revenue per user, forecasts ad revenue to hit $1t, and calls business model reinvention in the entertainment industry "an existential imperative." The story. 

—Major hack. Disney is the apparent victim of a cybersecurity incident, with hackers claiming to possess more than one terabyte of data from the company. The hacktivist group “Nullbulge” is claiming responsibility for the hack. The group describes itself as “a hacktivist group protecting artists’ rights and ensuring fair compensation for their work.” The leaked info includes a trove of internal communications, images, logins, studio information, ad campaigns and other information, almost all appearing to be from the Slack platform. The story. 

—🤝 Sold! 🤝 Dream Machine FX, a global collective of VFX houses, has acquired Important Looking Pirates, the studio that worked on blockbuster series such as Stranger Things, Shogun and Fallout, a continuation of its string of purchases in the industry. Stockholm-based ILP is known for creating realistic-looking water simulation and underwater scenes, as well as complex creatures and lifelike environments. It helped make effects for Westworld, The Last of Us and several titles in the Star Wars franchise. The story. 

—Piracy suit. A collection of major record labels have sued Verizon for turning a blind eye to users who illegally download content, a significant effort to curb piracy against one of the leading gatekeepers of the internet. In a $2.6b lawsuit filed on Friday in New York district court, the three major music conglomerates — Universal, Sony and Warner — joined by a host of other publishers, say they’ve notified Verizon of hundreds of thousands of repeat infringers, but that company refuses to expel them. The story. 

Richard Simmons' Cause of Death Under Investigation

►Under investigation. The official cause of death of celebrity fitness guru Richard Simmons is under investigation, though there is “no foul play” involved. The Medical Examiner’s Office announced Monday that his cause of death has been deferred, meaning that an investigation and additional testing are needed. Simmons’ cause of death was unknown when his death was announced. A rep for Simmons told THR that he died earlier Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. His brother Lenny has since said that the news "was really a shock." The story. 

—"My thing was, 'Oh, look how many people I helped.'" Richard Simmons said he was still focused on his fans in a rare interview two days before his death. The celebrity fitness guru told People last Thursday that he was still reaching hundreds of fans through phone calls and emails on a daily basis. “I know people miss me,” Simmons said. “And you know what? I miss them, too. But I’m able to reach them through phone calls … and through emails. And I do leave the house sometimes. But I’m in disguise.” The story.

—"Too young, too talented, too loving, too grateful, too early." Shannen Doherty had recorded five episodes for the Charmed rewatch podcast The House of Halliwell before her death on July 13. In the last episode of Doherty’s Let’s Be Clear — released on Monday, July 8, before her passing — the Charmed alum had announced alongside her friend and former Charmed costar Holly Marie Combs that she was joining The House of Halliwell hosted by Combs, Brian Krause and Drew Fuller. The story. 

—Tragic death. Award-winning reporter and author Evan Wright, who was known for immersion journalism on American subcultures and writing the book Generation Kill, which he helped adapt into the HBO miniseries of the same name, died by suicide July 12. He was 59. In the weeks before his death, Wright had been promoting the new Max documentary, Teen Torture, Inc., in which he is interviewed about his time in The Seed, a South Florida-based so-called “scared straight” program for at-risk adolescents. The story. 

'HOTD' Actor on Aegon's Fate and Future

►"What he loses physically, he gains emotionally and mentally." THR's James Hibberd spoke to House of the Dragon actor Tom Glynn-Carney about episode five of season two of the HBO fantasy series. Glynn-Carney discusses the fallen and crippled king's possible conflict with Aemond and adjusting to his rather different new reality. Warning: Spoilers! The interview. 

—First look! Netflix has revealed a first look at the cast and sets of Stranger Things season five. Below is a behind-the-scenes video that includes shots of the Hawkins kids (are they still kids?) in character, as well as some of the sets. The Duffer Brothers noted that final season production is about halfway finished. The season is expected to premiere sometime in 2025. The story. 

—🎭 Filling out 🎭 The Acolyte star Jodie Turner-Smith is the latest addition to the stellar ensemble cast for Paramount+ with Showtime drama The Agency. The show stars Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright and Richard Gere. The Agency centers on "Martian" (Fassbender), a covert CIA operative who’s ordered to abandon his undercover assignment and return to the agency’s London station. Turner-Smith will play Sami Zahir, a professor of social anthropology who has a history with "Martian." The story.

—🎭 Two more 🎭 Elander Moore and Jason Forbes have joined the cast of the BBC and CBS' joint period project King & Conqueror, about the Battle of Hastings. They join a previously confirmed star-studded line-up including James Norton as Harold, Earl of Wessex, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William, Duke of Normandy, Emily Beecham as Edith Swan-neck, Harold’s wife, and Clémence Poésy as Matilda, William’s spouse. The story. 

Timothée Chalamet Circling Josh Safdie's Next Film

►🎭 Final talks 🎭 Timothée Chalamet is in final negotiations to star in A24's upcoming feature Marty Supreme. Plot details are under wraps, but the movie is said to be a fictionalized original work. Josh Safdie is set to helm the film from a script he co-wrote with Ronald Bronstein. Producers include Safdie, Chalamet, Bronstein, Eli Bush and Anthony Katagas. The project reunites Safdie with A24 after the company produced his two most recent films, Good Time and Uncut Gems, both of which he co-directed with his brother Benny Safdie. The story. 

—Snapped up. Lionsgate has acquired the North American, U.K. and Ireland rights to John Carney’s musical comedy Power Ballad, which stars Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd. The project, which was recently shot in Dublin, follows Rudd as a wedding singer and Jonas as a flagging pop star who come together to write a song to comedic consequences. Carney previously directed the critically acclaimed films Sing Street, Begin Again and Flora and Son. The story. 

—Vegas bound. The American Film Market has unveiled the first group of exhibitors, set for the inaugural Las Vegas event to run Nov. 5 to 10. The Independent Film & Television Alliance said 145 companies so far will be in the new location at the Palms Casino Resort for AFM, including Lionsgate, A24, Neon, Voltage Pictures, AGC Studios, Black Bear, Altitude Film Sales, Protagonist Pictures, WME Independent and XYZ Films. The new business hub for the 45th edition sees AFM leaving behind L.A. and longtime venue at The Loews in Santa Monica. The story.