[“We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.”]
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Comics Review: "REBEL MOON: House of the Bloodaxe #2" is a Family Affair
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Review: DreamWorks' "ORION AND THE DARK" Takes on Childhood Fears
Friday, February 9, 2024
Review: "A MADEA HOMECOMING" Doesn't Come Out Quite Right
Friday, January 12, 2024
Comics Review: "REBEL MOON: House of the Bloodaxe #1" Has a Heavy Metal Vibe
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Comics Review: "BIG GAME #5" Brings in the Big Names
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Negromancer News Bits and Bites from Nov. 12th to 18th, 2023 - Update #19
by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:
ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
STREAMING - From Deadline: Recent horror movie hit, "The Exorcist: Believer" (the sequel to the 1973 hit, "The Exorcist"), will begin streaming on Peacock December 1st.
BOND - From BritishVogue: Oscar-winning actress, Olivia Colman ("The Favourite"), says she wants to play the new "M" in the next James Bond film.
MOVIES - From Variety: Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio says that he has thanked Oscar-nominee Sharon Stone for paying his salary in order for him to be in director Sam Raimi's revisionist Western, "The Quick and the Dead" (1995). At the time, Stone wanted DiCaprio in the film, but the studio, TriStar Pictures, refused to cast him.
MOVIES - From Deadline: "Dune: Part Two" moves up its release date to March 1st, 2024 from March 15th. The sequel to 2021's Oscar-winning Dune was originally slated to be released earlier this month (November).
TELEVISION - From Deadline: ABC has announced its post-strike midseason broadcast schedule. Everything kicks off Jan. 22nd with a two-hour premiere of "The Bachelor."
STREAMING - From Deadline: Paramount+ is ending its drama "SEAL Team" after the upcoming seventh season. The series originated on CBS, where it remained for five seasons before moving to Paramount+ for Season 6.
DISNEY - From Variety: Disney CEO Bob Iger says that "Frozen 3" in in the works and that there might be a "Frozen 4." The films would be the second and third sequels to the Oscar-winning 2013 film, Frozen.
MOVIES - From Variety: Christopher Nolan suggests his recent acclaimed hit film, "Oppenheimer," on Blu-ray and own it at home and put it on a shelf "so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you." "Oppenheimer" arrives on Blu-ray Nov. 21st.
TELEVISION - From Variety: CBS is bringing its hit sitcom, "Young Sheldon," to an end with the series upcoming seventh season. "Young Sheldon" Season 7 will debut Feb. 15th and will end with a one-hour series finale set for May 16th, 2023.
From Deadline: The cast of the CBS sitcom, "Young Sheldon," reacts to the news that the upcoming seventh season will be the series' last.
DISNEY - From Variety: Disney is merging Disney+ and Hulu into one application sometime in late March 2024. Customers who have the current Disney+/Hulu bundle will be able to beta test the new merged app beginning in December.
SCANDAL - From Deadline: Samuel Haskell IV, the 35-year-old son of prominent television producer, Sam Haskell, has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a headless torso was found several miles from his Los Angeles home. He has been charged with three counts of murder for the deaths of his wife and her parents.
STAGE - From Variety: Oscar-nominee Steve Carell will make his Broadway debut playing the title character in a revival of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” (1897). The production, which will be performed at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, will begin previews April 2, 2024, and open on April 24, 2024.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: CBS has unveiled its mid-season 2023-24 schedule, which will feature new and returning series arriving mid-Feb. 2024. Two planned new 2023-24 series, the "Matlock" reboot and Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans, Jr.'s "Poppa's House," will now debut in the 2024-25 season.
NETFLIX - From Deadline: Netflix has attached Denzel Washington to play the ancient Carthaginian general, Hannibal, in an untitled epic drama that will reteam Washington with his frequent collaborator, director Antoine Fuqua. John Logan will write the screenplay.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 11/10 to 11/12/2023 weekend box office is Disney/Marvel Studios' "The Marvels" with an estimated take of 47 million dollars.
From Here: A review of "The Marvels" by Leroy Douresseaux.
DISNEY - From Deadline: The first trailer for Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out 2" has set a viewership record for Disney films. It has had 157 million views in 24 hours. The film is set for a June 14, 2024 debut in theaters.
-------------------------
ACTORS STRIKE:
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA has produced a summary of its "2023 Tentative Agreement" that ended the 118-day long actors' strike. SAG-AFTRA members can begin voting on the agreement tomorrow, Tues., Nov. 14th. The voting can continue until the first week of December.
From IndieWire: The site takes a look at the details of the tentative agreement between SAG-AFTRA (the actors' union) and the AMPTP (the Hollywood studios) that ended the 118-day actors' strike.
From Deadline: The SAG-AFTRA national board, by a majority vote, approved the tentative agreement reached with the AMPTP to end the actors' strike. Now, the actors vote...
From Variety: The Hollywood studios have agreed to adjust language on artificial intelligence (AI) in their contract negotiations with SAG-AFTRA to end the 117-day actors' strike.
From THR: SAG-AFTRA is evaluating the studios' "last, best and final offer" to end the actors' strike.
From Deadline: The studios have delivered a new contract deal to SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, and more strike talks are scheduled to be held this weekend.
From Deadline: Striking actors are set to meet the studios today for Halloween negotiations, but they are still "far apart on key issues."
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (actors) and AMPTP (studios) will resume strike negotiations tomorrow (Tues., Oct. 24th).
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher says that the offer from top-earning Hollywood actors to chip in some money to help end the strike "isn't legally compatible with the union's contract.
From Deadline: Top earning Hollywood actors want to chip in some money to end the SAG-AFTRA strike.
From Deadline: George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry and Scarlett Johansson were among a group of top talent guild members that spoke Tuesday (Oct. 17th) with guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland for a detailed debrief, we hear.
From Deadline: The movie studios via AMPTP have suspended their talks with striking actors via SAG-AFTRA. The snag seems to be that actors want "2 precent of potential profits" on streaming.
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (the actors) and AMPTP (the studios) are to resume strike talks Wed., Oct. 11th, as the actors strike enters Day 88.
From Deadline: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Hollywood studios CEOs met for strike talks for the first time since the actors went on strike July 14th. They plan to meet again, Wed., Oct. 4th.
BREAKING - From Deadline: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.
From WGAContract: The WGA contract page has additional information on the settlement.
From WGAContract: A summary of the new agreement.
------
From Deadline: The actors’ strike is now in its 63rd day. Now, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the "SAG-AFTRA Magazine" of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”
From Deadline: Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra says that Hollywood unions need to embrace AI.
From Deadline: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav says the industry must focus and fight to resolve the writers and actors strikes.
From Deadline: Hollywood’s superstars are answering the call from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, donating $1 million or more each to help their fellow performers during the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Among the big donors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
From Deadline: If you are interested, here is a list of the film and TV productions SAG-AFTRA has granted waivers to continue filming.
From Variety: International superstar, Dwayne Johnson, makes a seven-figure contribution to the "SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund." Foundation president, actor Courtney B. Vance, says the amount will remain confidential.
From Variety: Why haven't A-list stars joined the SAG-AFTRA picket line?, asks "Variety."
From Deadline: Author George R.R. Martin, whose works were the basis for HBO's "Game of Thrones," says the strikes will be long and bitter.
From Variety: Halted film productions due to the writers and actors strikes are costing each Hollywood studio at least 600,000 dollars per week.
From Variety: Said at a strike meeting: “Without a transformative change in SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with the AMPTP, the acting profession will no longer be an option for future generations of performers, and actors already working in the industry will need to pursue other careers in order to survive.”
From Deadline: If you are a "social media influencer" who is NOT a member of SAG-AFTRA, you can be barred from future membership for promoting a film or television series during the actors' strike.
From Variety: The SAG/AFTRA strike begins in New York and Los Angeles. Hollywood actors began striking today, Fri., July 14th.
From Deadline: The site has the video of the powerful strike speech given by SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, the actress best known for CBS' former sitcom, "The Nanny."
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA is already preparing strike picket signs in case the actors' strike begins next week.
From Deadline: The Hollywood studios via the AMPTP has given Canadian actors a new contract, including a 5 percent raise.
--------------------
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Negromancer News Bits and Bites from Nov. 1st to 11th, 2023 - Updated #25
by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:
ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
GRAMMYS - From Deadline: The nominations for the 2024 / 66th annual Grammy Awards have been announced. The "Barbie" soundtrack leads with 11 nominations, while SZA leads individual artists with nine nominations. The winners will be announced Feb. 4th, 2024.
ANIMATION - From THR: Just as it shelved the "Batgirl" movie last year, Warner Bros. is shelving its live-action/animation hybrid, "Coyote Vs. Ace," which finished principal photography in New Mexico last year. The films stars John Cena.
DISNEY/NETFLIX - From Deadline: Disney CEO Bob Iger says that he won't "chase bucks" by licensing its "core brands" (Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars) to its rival, Netflix. However, it is in talks with Netflix over other titles.
STRIKE - From Deadline: The actors' strike is over. SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, have agreed to a new three-year deal with the Hollywood studios. The strike will officially be over 12.01 a.m. Pacific Time (PT).
MOVIES - From Deadline: Sony is co-financing with Nintendo a live-action movie based on the video game franchise, "The Legend of Zelda." Wes Ball of "The Maze Runner" franchise is set to direct.
AMAZON - From Variety: Amazon Prime Video has dropped a new trailer for the second season of its popular "Reacher" series. Prime will drop three of the new season's episodes on Dec. 15th.
MOVIE - From Variety: What Ridley Scott had to say to a television historian about "historical inaccuracies in his new film, "Napoleon" (starring Joaquin Phoenix), and what he'll say to the Oscars if he ever wins.
CELEBRITY - From Variety: Jeremy Renner says that he has tried every type of therapy to heal from his near-fatal snow plow accident back in January (2023).
MOVIES - From Deadline: Paramount is remaking its 1974 Burt Reynolds prison football movie, "The Longest Yard," again. This time it will be written by Rodney Barnes, who executive produced and wrote HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty." Barnes is also the writer of the comic book, Killadelphia, with artist Jason Shawn Alexander. The film was remade in 2005 with Adam Sandler in the lead.
DISNEY - From THR: FX has renewed its drama, "The Bear," for a third season. The series air exclusively on Hulu.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 11/3 to 11/5/2023 weekend box office is Universal Pictures' "Five Nights at Freddy's" with an estimated take of 19.4 million dollars.
MARVEL - From Variety: What comes after the Marvel Cinematic Universe? What will dominate in its place? It's not likely to be high-falutin' says Variety's Owen Gleiberman.
CELEBRITY - From Deadline: "Friends" actor, Matthew Perry, was laid to rest Friday afternoon at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles near Warner Bros Studios. His "Friends" co-stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer attended the service. Perry died Oct. 28th at his home in Los Angeles.
MOVIES - From Deadline: DreamWorks Animation has changed the release date of its live-action version of its hit 2010 animated film, How to Train Your Dragon. The new release date is June 13, 2025, moved up from March 14, 2025.
ANIMATION - From IndieWire: GKIDS has released the official English-dub trailer for "The Boy and the Heron," the new film from the legendary Japanese director, Hayao Miyazaki.
EMMYS - From THR: The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announced on today (Thurs., Nov. 2nd) the nominees for the 2nd Annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards. Disney leads with 92 nominations. The date for the awards ceremony will be announced at a later date.
DISNEY - From Deadline: Disney is going to pay Comcast 8.61 billion dollars for its remaining 33 percent stake in the streaming service, Hulu.
MOVIES - From TheAtlantic: This link leads to an excerpt from David Grann's non-fiction work, "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the F.B.I." The book is the source material for Martin Scorsese's new film, "Killers of the Flower Moon."
CULTURE - From NYT: Maine resident and legendary novelist, Stephen King, wrote a piece about the mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine. He starts by writing "There is no solution to the gun problem..."
TELEVISION - From THR: Seasame Workshop has announced that "Sesame Street" is set to undergo some major renovations. The long-running PBS children’s series will be getting a creative overhaul for its 56th season, which will debut in 2025.
OBITS:
From Deadline: Television and film actor, Peter White, has died at the age of 86, Wednesday, November 1, 2023. White was best known roles on such daytime soap operas as "All My Children" and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." White was one of the original cast members of the hit off-Broadway play, "The Boys in the Band" (1968), and he reprised his role in the play in the 1970 film adaptation directed by William Friedkin.
From THR: American television writer-producer, Peter S. Fischer, has died at the age of 88, Monday, October 30, 2023. He co-created the former CBS television mystery series, "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-96) with the late television producing partners, Richard Levinson and William Link. Fischer executive produced the series first seven seasons and wrote nearly three dozen of its episodes. Fischer also wrote multiple episodes of such series as "Marcus Welby," "Columbo," and "Ellery Queen," to name a few. He shared three "Outstanding Drama Series" Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on "Murder, She Wrote."
---------------------
ACTORS STRIKE:
From Deadline: The SAG-AFTRA national board unanimously approved the tentative agreement reached with the AMPTP to end the actors' strike. Now, the actors vote...
From Variety: The Hollywood studios have agreed to adjust language on artificial intelligence (AI) in their contract negotiations with SAG-AFTRA to end the 117-day actors' strike.
From THR: SAG-AFTRA is evaluating the studios' "last, best and final offer" to end the actors' strike.
From Deadline: The studios have delivered a new contract deal to SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, and more strike talks are scheduled to be held this weekend.
From Deadline: Striking actors are set to meet the studios today for Halloween negotiations, but they are still "far apart on key issues."
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (actors) and AMPTP (studios) will resume strike negotiations tomorrow (Tues., Oct. 24th).
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher says that the offer from top-earning Hollywood actors to chip in some money to help end the strike "isn't legally compatible with the union's contract.
From Deadline: Top earning Hollywood actors want to chip in some money to end the SAG-AFTRA strike.
From Deadline: George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry and Scarlett Johansson were among a group of top talent guild members that spoke Tuesday (Oct. 17th) with guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland for a detailed debrief, we hear.
From Deadline: The movie studios via AMPTP have suspended their talks with striking actors via SAG-AFTRA. The snag seems to be that actors want "2 precent of potential profits" on streaming.
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (the actors) and AMPTP (the studios) are to resume strike talks Wed., Oct. 11th, as the actors strike enters Day 88.
From Deadline: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Hollywood studios CEOs met for strike talks for the first time since the actors went on strike July 14th. They plan to meet again, Wed., Oct. 4th.
BREAKING - From Deadline: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.
From WGAContract: The WGA contract page has additional information on the settlement.
From WGAContract: A summary of the new agreement.
------
From Deadline: The actors’ strike is now in its 63rd day. Now, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the "SAG-AFTRA Magazine" of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”
From Deadline: Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra says that Hollywood unions need to embrace AI.
From Deadline: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav says the industry must focus and fight to resolve the writers and actors strikes.
From Deadline: Hollywood’s superstars are answering the call from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, donating $1 million or more each to help their fellow performers during the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Among the big donors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
From Deadline: If you are interested, here is a list of the film and TV productions SAG-AFTRA has granted waivers to continue filming.
From Variety: International superstar, Dwayne Johnson, makes a seven-figure contribution to the "SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund." Foundation president, actor Courtney B. Vance, says the amount will remain confidential.
From Variety: Why haven't A-list stars joined the SAG-AFTRA picket line?, asks "Variety."
From Deadline: Author George R.R. Martin, whose works were the basis for HBO's "Game of Thrones," says the strikes will be long and bitter.
From Variety: Halted film productions due to the writers and actors strikes are costing each Hollywood studio at least 600,000 dollars per week.
From Variety: Said at a strike meeting: “Without a transformative change in SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with the AMPTP, the acting profession will no longer be an option for future generations of performers, and actors already working in the industry will need to pursue other careers in order to survive.”
From Deadline: If you are a "social media influencer" who is NOT a member of SAG-AFTRA, you can be barred from future membership for promoting a film or television series during the actors' strike.
From Variety: The SAG/AFTRA strike begins in New York and Los Angeles. Hollywood actors began striking today, Fri., July 14th.
From Deadline: The site has the video of the powerful strike speech given by SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, the actress best known for CBS' former sitcom, "The Nanny."
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA is already preparing strike picket signs in case the actors' strike begins next week.
From Deadline: The Hollywood studios via the AMPTP has given Canadian actors a new contract, including a 5 percent raise.
--------------------
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Negromancer News Bits and Bites from October 15th to 21st, 2023 - Update #24
by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:
ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
TELEVISION/POLITICS - From Deadline: President Joe Biden‘s 15-minute, Oval Office address on Thursday night (Oct. 19th) drew an estimated 20.3 million people across 10 networks. The President called for U.S. support for international crises in Israel and Ukraine.
TELEVISION - From Variety: NBC has given a series order to "Dr. Wolf," a medical drama starring Zachary Quinto. Because of the ongoing actors' strike, it is not known if it will be a midseason replacement or be held for the 2024-25 television season.
MOVIES - From Variety: By skipping movies studios and partnering directly with AMC Theatres to distribute "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," Christopher Nolan says Swift has shown studios how "incredibly valuable" movie theaters are.
NETFLIX - From Deadline: Wall Street is hot over Netflix's latest quarterly earnings report.
STREAMING - From Variety: Director Baz Luhrmann took the over two million feet of film he shot for his 2008 film, "Australia" (starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman), and is turning that film into a six-part series, "Faraway Downs." Series debuts November 26th on Hulu.
TELEVISION - From THR: For the first time, the Walt Disney Company is revealing how profitable its sports network, ESPN, is. In fiscal 2022, the worldwide leader in sports made $16 billion in revenue and $2.9 billion in profit. In comparison, the rest of the "entertainment division" made $2.1 billion from $39.6 billion in revenue.
From Variety: The Walt Disney Company is plotting to move ABC's "Good Morning America" from its Times Square studios.
MOVIES - From Variety: In an interview, Austin Butler (Elvis) says that fellow Oscar-nominee, Tom Hardy (Venom), liked to joke around on the set of Jeff Nichols' motorcycle drama, "The Bikeriders." However, when the "Action!" was called, Butler says that Hardy turned very intense. The film's release may be delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strike.
DISNEY - From Variety: Rick Riordan, the author of the "Percy Jackson" book series, says that he is honored that some of his fans call him "Uncle Rick." He talks about bringing Percy Jackson to Disney+ and fighting racist trolls and reviving the series after 20th Century Fox's failed Percy Jackson film series, which began with 2010's "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief."
MOVIES - From Deadline: Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson ("Rain Man") will direct Oscar-winning actor, Al Pacino ("Scent of a Woman"), in "Assassination," a JFK-thriller written by David Mamet (Ronin).
SCANDAL - From Variety: New Mexico prosecutors will present a new case against Alec Baldwin in regards to his involvement in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film, "Rust."
ANIMATION - From Variety: The English-dub voice cast of "The Boy and the Heron," the new film from the legendary Japanese director of animated film, Hayao Miyazaki, has been announced. The big names include Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Willem Dafoe, Mark Hamill, and Robert Pattinson, to name a few. Miyazaki's last film was 2013's The Wind Rises.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Idris Elba is narrating and producing a National Geographic documentary series with the tentative title, "The Color of Victory: Heroes of WW2." The series will focus on people of color who fought in World War II.
NETFLIX - From Deadline: According to a recent interview she gave, actress Millie Bobby Brown is ready to move on from her breakthrough series, Netflix's "Stranger Things." She says that it is preventing her from telling stories that she is passionate about.
ANIMATION - From Variety: Adult Swim's hit animated series, "Rick and Morty," debuts new voice actors. Ian Cardoni is the new voice of "Rick Sanchez" and Harry Belden is "Morty Smith." Their names appeared in the credits for the Season 7, which premiered last night (Sun., Oct. 15th). Cardoni and Belden replaces series co-creator, Justin Roiland, who voiced both characters before he was fired in January 2023 by Adult Swim.
POLITICS - From MeidasTouch: Former Manhattan DA prosecutor, Karen F. Agnifilo, put together a comprehensive list of nearly all of Donald Trump’s threats against judges, witnesses, prosecutors and more ahead of his gag order hearing today. The list begins with Trump's Sept. 29th, 2020 debate call for the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by."
TELEVISION - From Variety: Recently, comedian Jerry Seinfeld teased a reunion of his beloved former NBC sitcom, "Seinfeld" (1989-98). Once of his co-stars from the series, Emmy-winning actress, Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Elaine Benes") says that she does not know what the hell Jerry is talking about.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 10/13 to 10/15/2023 weekend box office is AMC Theatres/Variance Films' "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" with an estimated total 97 million dollars.
AMAZON/ANIMATION - From Variety: Keith David, Stephanie Beatriz, and Kimiko Glenn are set to star in the new adult animated series “Hazbin Hotel.” The first season will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in January 2024.
MOVIES - From Deadline: Focus Features says that it will release "Lisa Frankenstein," the Diablo Cody-written horror film, Feb. 9th, 2024. Cody won an Oscar for writing the film, "Juno."
OBITS:
From Variety: American television actress, author, and businesswoman, Suzanne Somers, has died at the age of 76, Sunday, October 15, 2023. Somers was best known for the role of Chrissy Snow on ABC's former hit sitcom, "Three's Company." ABC fired her from the program in a contract dispute after the series' fifth season. She also starred in the syndicated sitcom, "She's the Sheriff" (1987-89) and on the long-running former ABC-CBS sitcom, "Step by Step" (1991-98). She earned a single Daytime Emmy nomination for her talk, "The Suzanne Show" (Lifetime, 2013).
From Variety: American film and television actress, Piper Laurie, has died at the age of 91, Saturday, October 14, 2023. Laurie was best known for roles in such films as "The Hustler" (1961), "Carrie" (1976), and "Children of a Lesser God" (1986), the three films for which she earned her three Oscar nominations. Her eight Primetime Emmy nominations came for her roles in such series as "The Thorn Birds" (1983), "St. Elsewhere," and "Twin Peaks." She won her lone Emmy for her role in the 1986 TV movie, "Promise."
----------------------------
ACTORS STRIKE:
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher says that the offer from top-earning Hollywood actors to chip in some money to help end the strike "isn't legally compatible with the union's contract.
From Deadline: Top earning Hollywood actors want to chip in some money to end the SAG-AFTRA strike.
From Deadline: George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry and Scarlett Johansson were among a group of top talent guild members that spoke Tuesday (Oct. 17th) with guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland for a detailed debrief, we hear.
From Deadline: The movie studios via AMPTP have suspended their talks with striking actors via SAG-AFTRA. The snag seems to be that actors want "2 precent of potential profits" on streaming.
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (the actors) and AMPTP (the studios) are to resume strike talks Wed., Oct. 11th, as the actors strike enters Day 88.
From Deadline: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Hollywood studios CEOs met for strike talks for the first time since the actors went on strike July 14th. They plan to meet again, Wed., Oct. 4th.
BREAKING - From Deadline: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.
From WGAContract: The WGA contract page has additional information on the settlement.
From WGAContract: A summary of the new agreement.
------
From Deadline: The actors’ strike is now in its 63rd day. Now, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the "SAG-AFTRA Magazine" of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”
From Deadline: Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra says that Hollywood unions need to embrace AI.
From Deadline: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav says the industry must focus and fight to resolve the writers and actors strikes.
From Deadline: Hollywood’s superstars are answering the call from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, donating $1 million or more each to help their fellow performers during the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Among the big donors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
From Deadline: If you are interested, here is a list of the film and TV productions SAG-AFTRA has granted waivers to continue filming.
From Variety: International superstar, Dwayne Johnson, makes a seven-figure contribution to the "SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund." Foundation president, actor Courtney B. Vance, says the amount will remain confidential.
From Variety: Why haven't A-list stars joined the SAG-AFTRA picket line?, asks "Variety."
From Deadline: Author George R.R. Martin, whose works were the basis for HBO's "Game of Thrones," says the strikes will be long and bitter.
From Variety: Halted film productions due to the writers and actors strikes are costing each Hollywood studio at least 600,000 dollars per week.
From Variety: Said at a strike meeting: “Without a transformative change in SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with the AMPTP, the acting profession will no longer be an option for future generations of performers, and actors already working in the industry will need to pursue other careers in order to survive.”
From Deadline: If you are a "social media influencer" who is NOT a member of SAG-AFTRA, you can be barred from future membership for promoting a film or television series during the actors' strike.
From Variety: The SAG/AFTRA strike begins in New York and Los Angeles. Hollywood actors began striking today, Fri., July 14th.
From Deadline: The site has the video of the powerful strike speech given by SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, the actress best known for CBS' former sitcom, "The Nanny."
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA is already preparing strike picket signs in case the actors' strike begins next week.
From Deadline: The Hollywood studios via the AMPTP has given Canadian actors a new contract, including a 5 percent raise.
--------------------