General
Hollywood Studios Begin to Weigh in on New Georgia Voting Law
Bryn Sandberg, The Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood studios are beginning to publicly denounce Georgia’s newly passed voting law. ViacomCBS is the first major entertainment industry corporation to clearly condemn the restrictive bill, which President Joe Biden has called “Jim Crow in the 21st century.”
Supreme Court Allows FCC to Move Forward With Changes to Media Ownership Rules
Ashley Cullins, The Hollywood Reporter
The Federal Communications Commission was within its rights to loosen restrictions regarding media outlet ownership, the U.S. Supreme Court has held, and it doesn’t need empirical data to justify its decision.
Hollywood Studios Release Carbon-Emissions Report, Showing Wide Variance Among Productions
Todd Spangler, Variety
How big of a carbon footprint does a TV show or movie take up? It depends on a number of variables — and the differences can be significant.
Judge Orders Lil Nas X Satan Shoes off the Market for Now
Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter
A federal judge has swooped in to stop Lil Nas X’s limited-edition satanic-themed Air Max 97 shoes from being sold. Or at least, whatever has not already been shipped.
South Korea’s HYBE, Home of BTS, Acquires Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings
Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter
In a bold expansion into the U.S. music landscape, South Korean entertainment company HYBE, formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, aka the home of BTS, is acquiring Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings.
British Theater Owner Seeks Bigger Role on Broadway
Charles Passy, The Wall Street Journal
The Ambassador Theatre Group, a British-based company that owns or operates venues in New York and elsewhere, is looking to strengthen its position on the Broadway scene, even as the industry remains shut down by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Film
AMC Entertainment Seeks Approval to Sell 500 Million New Shares
Kelly Gilblom and Katherine Doherty, Bloomberg
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is seeking investor approval to issue as many as 500 million new shares, an opportunity for a financial cushion while the theater chain works to draw fans back to the movies.
Inside the Surprising Plan to Transform the Oscars
Britt Hennemuth, Vanity Fair
Some of us may feel done with COVID-19, but it’s clear that the disease is not done with us. That’s why plans for this year’s Oscars, set to take place April 25, are “etched in Jello,” according to Steven Soderbergh.
Waiting for the Blockbusters… and the People
Aric Jenkins, The Ringer
It’s Saturday night in Manhattan and the weather is splendid. An unseasonably warm March afternoon brought out droves of New Yorkers earlier in the day, and now they’re crowded into bistros surrounding the Flatiron District, excitedly dining both outdoors and in.
As US Movie Theaters Reopen, Overseas Shutdowns Could Stall Box Office Recovery
Jeremy Fuster, The Wrap Pro
Movie theaters in the U.S. may be on the road to recovery, but the still-widespread cinema closures in South America and Europe are creating headaches for Hollywood studios as they try to figure out how to release films that rely heavily on overseas box office.
Movie Sales Agents & Packagers Mull June Online Presales Market In Lieu Of The Usual Cannes
Andreas Wiseman, Deadline Hollywood
Discussions are ongoing between dozens of top sales agents and the leading U.S. packaging firms about when they will do their main movie pre-sales business this summer.
Ava DuVernay’s ‘New Gods,’ James Wan’s ‘The Trench’ DC Movies Not Moving Forward at Warner Bros.
Aaron Couch and Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter
Warner Bros. and DC Films’ upcoming slate is moving forward without Ava DuVernay’s “New Gods” and James Wan’s Aquaman spinoff, “The Trench.” “As part of our DC slate, some legacy development titles including ‘New Gods’ and ‘The Trench’ will not be moving forward,” Warner Bros. and DC said in a statement.
Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Release Date Delayed One Week
Jordan Moreau, Variety
The release date for “Uncharted,” Sony’s film adaptation of the popular video game series starring Tom Holland, has been delayed yet again.
Television
In a rare admission, MTV says its programming offers a dim view of mental health
Steven Zeitchik, The Washington Post
When “Jersey Shore’s” Ronnie Ortiz-Magro got into an on-camera fight with his sometime-girlfriend Jen Harley a few years ago, words quickly grew heated. “You’re driving me crazy,” Ortiz-Magro yelled at Harley in the show, an episode of the spinoff “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.”
Derek Chauvin trial brings Court TV to a new generation
Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times
When cameras in courtrooms emerged in the 1990s, Court TV was the groundbreaking cable network that gave the viewers a front-row seat to the notorious trials of William Kennedy Smith, O.J. Simpson and the Menendez brothers.
CBS Strikes Two-Year Deal With NATAS to Broadcast the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2021 and 2022
Danielle Turchiano, Variety
The Daytime Emmy Awards will be broadcast on CBS in 2021 and 2022, as the Eye network struck a two-year deal with the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).
Fox News Takes on Late-Night Comedy With Right-Leaning Show
Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg
Fox News is entering the late-night talk-show wars. The Rupert Murdoch-controlled network is moving its in-house political satirist, Greg Gutfeld, over to an 11 p.m. weeknights slot where he can go joke-to-joke with other late-night hosts, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, who start about a half-hour later.
Technology and New Media
Who’s Buying Music NFTs Anyway? The Fans and Crypto Whales Fueling the Craze
Billboard Staff, Billboard
Kim Kang, a 28-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles, became wealthy by investing early in the cryptocurrency Ethereum. But he sees more potential in blockchain, the digital-ledger technology that enables the existence of cryptocurrencies.
Hemisphere Buys Lions Gate’s 75% Stake in Pantaya Video Service
Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
Hemisphere Media Group Inc. is buying out Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.’s majority stake in the Spanish-language streaming service Pantaya, boosting its investment in online video as the audience for regular TV shrinks.
Can Spotify Beat Clubhouse at Its Own Game?
Scott Nover and Mark Stenberg, Adweek
Spotify wants to be all things audio. That means leveling a charge at popular social audio-platform Clubhouse this week through its purchase of sports-focused audio app Locker Room and its parent company, Betty Labs.
How Bandcamp Is Changing the Conversation Around Payments in the Streaming Era
Tatiana Cirisano, Billboard
Dylan Baldi, the frontman of the cult favorite garage-rock band Cloud Nothings, has a new favorite holiday. “I don’t care about Christmas anymore,” he jokes over the phone from his home in Philadelphia.
Podcast Studio Wondery, Now Owned by Amazon, Plans to Double Staff This Year
Todd Spangler Variety
Wondery has been swallowed by Amazon — and the e-retailing giant’s deep pockets and global reach promise to accelerate the podcast publisher’s growth.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
Roku’s streaming plans aim to fill the gaps Netflix can’t
D. Cooper, Engadget
Ask anyone to name the world’s biggest streaming services, and they’ll likely trot out the usual suspects: Amazon, Netflix or Disney. What’s less likely to feature is The Roku Channel, the homegrown, ad-supported streaming service for Roku users.
Why Post-Pandemic Awards Campaigns Will Still Be Digital First (and Often Virtual) | Pro Insight
Jon Selman, The Wrap Pro
The shift from promoting movies during awards season physically to doing so digitally was well underway even before the coronavirus came along. But the pandemic has dramatically accelerated this evolution.
Raya, ‘The Equalizer’ and Wanda Maximoff are strong female characters taking the lead
Lisa Respers France, CNN
Fierce female roles have always existed in Hollywood, but as the industry sees more female directors and producers, there has been a recent influx of more powerful female characters on both big and small screens.
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