General
‘Friends’ Is Older Than Some of Its Biggest Fans
Nancy Coleman, The New York Times
One of Lacy Roberts’s favorite episodes of “Friends” is the series finale, which aired in 2004. She wouldn’t be born until two years later.
E! People’s Choice Awards nominees include Shawn Mendes and Scarlett Johansson
Marianne Garvey, CNN
Official voting begins Wednesday for the E! People’s Choice Awards, which honor fan favorites in movies, TV, music, and pop culture. Some of the categories include the comedy movie of 2019, the action movie of 2019, the male and female stars of 2019, the animated movie star of 2019, the competition contest of 2019 and the bingeworthy show of 2019.
WGA Board Opposition Candidate Marc Guggenheim Proposes 50-50 Packaging Revenue Sharing With Agents & Ending Split Packages
David Robb, Deadline Hollywood
Marc Guggenheim, opposition candidate for the WGA West board of directors, has floated a proposed solution to the guild’s 20-week standoff with Hollywood’s talent agencies: Writers and agents would share packaging fees 50-50 after the agents are “made whole” from the 10% commissions they give up in packaged deals. He’d also do away with most split-fee packaging deals, in which agencies share the fees.
Film
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Co-Writer Exits Sequel Amid Pay Disparity Dispute
Rebecca Sun, The Hollywood Reporter
A year after Crazy Rich Asians opened No. 1 at the box office (on its way to a $238.5 million global gross) and raised Asian representation in Hollywood to new heights, its sequels have been slow to launch. Although director Jon M. Chu had hoped to keep the creative team intact, co-writer Adele Lim no longer is involved with the project, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Welcome to TIFF, a Guide to This Year’s Oscars Lightning Rods
Adam Nayman, The Ringer
“I really loved that, did you?” asked the woman sitting beside me at a sold-out mid-afternoon screening of Green Book toward the end of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Before the film began, she told me that she had been seeing two movies a day for a week straight; she booked the time off of work and picked what to see based on which films sounded like they “had a good story.”
Summer Box Office Wrap: Five Things We Learned From a Lackluster Popcorn Season
Rebecca Rubin, Variety
Summer 2019: It was the best of times (for Disney), it was the worst of times (for basically any other studio). It’s been something of a mixed bag at the box office during the stretch between May and August, the four-month period officially defined as summer moviegoing season.
Toronto Film Fest Chiefs Talk Diversity Goals and Avoiding Controversy
Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter
On a sweltering day in August, Joana Vicente notes the lack of a landline phone or much else in fellow Toronto International Film Festival co-head Cameron Bailey’s calm and pared-down Bell Lightbox office. “He’s minimalist,” says Vicente, whose own office is almost equally spartan — but at least has a working phone.
The horror-comedy movie ‘Ready or Not’ is the surprise hit of the summer
Travis Clark, Business Insider
Fox Searchlight’s “Ready or Not” snuck into the late summer movie season and the horror-comedy is the latest horror movie to become a hit relative to its low budget. The movie rolled into 2,855 US theaters on August 23 with $8 million.
Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Not Expected to Be a Buyer at Toronto Film Market
Tatiana Siegel, The Hollywood Reporter
After escaping a bankruptcy scare and restructuring its debt in late August, Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures is moving forward with full steam and is “excited about the path ahead,” says chief content officer Sue Naegle. But a pivot is a near certainty after the company blew through roughly $200 million in revolving credit used to release such box office misfires as Destroyer ($5.6 million globally), The Sisters Brothers ($13.1 million) and the August release Where’d You Go, Bernadette ($7.5 million).
‘Birds of Prey’ Teaser Will Only Show in Theaters
Anna Tingley, Variety
DC Comics seems to be making a pointed effort to get fans to the theater. The trailer for its forthcoming film “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” will only be shown in cinemas before “It: Chapter Two” and won’t be available online, Variety has confirmed.
Television
‘Friends’ Is Turning 25. Here’s Why We Can’t Stop Watching it.
Wesley Morris, The New York Times
Once upon a time, we made do with less television. Three broadcast networks dominated everything.
Jason Jones’ ‘The Detour’ Latest Scripted Cancellation at TBS
Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
The Detour has hit its final roadblock. TBS has canceled the Jason Jones-led family comedy after four seasons.
Why ‘Friends’ Won’t Get Rebooted
Saul Austerlitz, The New York Times
Nothing, outside of the Super Bowl, gathers titanic television audiences together anymore, but let’s conduct a thought experiment: How many people would tune in to see Joey Tribbiani say “Howyoudoin’?” one more time?
Cox Reaches Agreement To Carry ESPN’s ACC Net
Jon Lafayette, Broadcasting & Cable
With college football season already underway, Disney Media Distribution reached an agreement that will give ESPN’s new ACC Network carriage to Cox Communications subscribers, the companies said Wednesday. The network will be available in all Cox markets.
Technology and New Media
No, Netflix Is Not Abandoning Its Binge Format
Maya Salam, The New York Times
There’s a chill in the air, and for a certain cozy-inclined television viewer, that means curling up with a cable-knit blanket to binge “The Great British Baking Show” on Netflix. But those who tuned in on Friday may have been surprised that only one episode of the reality cooking competition was available.
Disney+ Streaming Service to Reach 82 Million Subscribers Worldwide by 2024: Study
Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter
Disney’s upcoming Disney+ streaming service will reach 82 million subscribers worldwide by 2024, according to a forecast from Digital TV Research. “Netflix’s dominance of global SVOD is falling, although the company will add 79 million subs between 2018 and 2024 to take its total to 219 million,” it said in its report.
‘Grace and Frankie’ to End With Season 7 on Netflix
Joe Otterson, Variety
“Grace and Frankie” has been renewed for Season 7 at Netflix, which will also be the show’s final season. The final season will consist of 16 episodes.
Blessed Be the Sequel! Hulu Buys Rights to New Handmaid’s Tale Book
Devon Ivie, Vulture
What, you thought you could get out of Gilead that easily? Days prior to Margaret Atwood releasing the sequel to her best-selling Handmaid’s Tale novel, The Testaments, Hulu and M&G have already swooped in and snagged the rights to adapt it.
Inside Activision Blizzard’s plan to win TV budgets for esports
Seb Joseph, Digiday
Game developer Activision Blizzard is chasing TV budgets by making it easier for advertisers to compare esports and traditional sports audience behavior. The games developer is sharing viewing numbers for the last two regular seasons of its flagship esports event, the Overwatch League.
Netflix May Target Russia, Eastern Europe, Australia for Originals Next, Study Suggests
Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter
Where will Netflix go next? The global streaming giant — which already boasts 152 million subscribers worldwide — has ratcheted up its non-English language production as it rapidly expands its service outside the U.S.
Facebook Watch To Fund Raft Of News Shows From European Publishers
Peter White, Deadline Hollywood
Facebook Watch is funding a slew of news shows across Europe as part of its latest programming slate. The digital platform is rolling out a raft of shows, produced in partnership with publishers in France, Germany and Sweden.
Google Is Fined $170 Million for Violating Children’s Privacy on YouTube
Natasha Singer and Kate Conger, The New York Times
Google agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $170 million fine and make changes to protect children’s privacy on YouTube, as regulators said the video site had knowingly and illegally harvested personal information from children and used it to profit by targeting them with ads.
Snap Renews 3 Original Shows and Expands E!’s ‘What the Fashion’ to Twice Per Week
Sean Burch, The Wrap
Snap Inc. has renewed three original series, including shows produced by NBCU and MTV, and expanded its E! original series “What the Fashion” to airing twice per week, TheWrap exclusively learned on Wednesday.
YouTube network Studio71 is expanding into streaming
Tim Peterson, Digiday
Digital entertainment company Studio71 has acquired more than 50 CTV apps from video technology firm Unreel Entertainment to give Studio71 a network of more than 200 owned-and-operated CTV apps.
Streaming Service IFC Films Unlimited Expands Through Apple TV Channels In U.S. And Canada
Mike Fleming Jr., Deadline Hollywood
IFC Films is always a player at the Toronto Film Festival in acquiring films and launching awards-season entries — the Hirokazu Kore-eda-directed The Truth makes its North American debut here — but the company is making news of another kind. IFC has solidified its new streaming channel, IFC Films Unlimited, by expanding to Apple TV channels, both in the U.S. and Canada.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
The Season of Scarlett Johansson: Two Hot Films, Her Marvel Future, Woody Allen and a Pick for President
Rebecca Keegan, The Hollywood Reporter
When Scarlett Johansson met writer-director Noah Baumbach for lunch in 2016 to talk about a role, she was in the midst of a private ordeal, divorcing her second husband, Frenchman Romain Dauriac. Baumbach, who didn’t know about Johansson’s pending split, was eager to discuss an unusually exposing film he was writing.
The Boris Brexit meltdown is the best show on TV
Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times
You gotta love a system of governance where the success of a key piece of legislation, the career of a prime minister and possibly, you know, the fate of the world can be altered by a guy deciding to change seats in the middle of a speech.
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