Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav (Getty) |
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As the dust settled on the frenzy of cancellations and removals of HBO Max series from the platform earlier this week, Warner Bros Discovery revealed the true extent of the content cuts. In a SEC filing Wednesday, the company raised its target for content impairment and development write-offs to $2.8-$3.5 billion, up from the previously announced $2-$2.5 billion.
Also on Wednesday, additional indications emerged about which series are being taken off HBO Max as part of the cost-cutting effort. They include Raised By Wolves, Head of the Class and The Time Traveler’s Wife as well as reality shows FBoy Island, Legendary and Finding Magic Mike. They join shows like Westworld, The Nevers, Minx and The Love Life.
The plan is for the series owned by WBD to be packaged and licensed to third-party FAST (free, ad-supported streaming television) channels while the company also works on its own FAST offering next year. >>>"Additional Impairments" Possible |
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'Legally Blonde' Meets 'Ted Lasso' - After a major bidding war among top streamers, Amazon Prime Video has landed All Stars, a half-hour comedy series starring and executive produced by Reese Witherspoon, with a big two-season straight-to-series order. All Stars follows a former cheerleader from Daytona Beach (Witherspoon) who cons her way across the pond to teach cheerleading at a school in coastal England and has to show a ragtag group of students – and herself – how to be All Stars. >>> Witherspoon's 1st Comedy Series
Hidden History - Sources tell Deadline that Amblin Entertainment has optioned film rights to Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra, the podcast from MSNBC and Maddow’s production company Surprise Inside. As of right now Steven Spielberg will just produce the film, with the director job open, but insiders add that his longtime collaborator Tony Kushner, (who will also executive produce) and Danny Strong are in talks to co-write. Ultra, a production of MSNBC and NBC News, is an eight-episode podcast series. >>> Examines Seditious Plot Against U.S.
4 For 10 - Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures have added four new cast members to the 10th Saw film. Renata Vaca (Midnight Family), Paulette Hernandez (Crown of Tears), Joshua Okamoto (VGLY) and Octavio Hinojosa (How to Survive Being Single) are the latest to join the sequel, which has also locked up Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Michael Beach and the actor who plays the billion-dollar horror franchise’s Jigsaw Killer, Tobin Bell. >>> Shawnee Smith Also Circling
Spotlight - Oscar nominated actress Isabelle Huppert is taking on Marianne, a film featuring just one character, from Hyde Park International, Cine@ and James Ireland and Alex Pettyfer’s Dark Dreams Entertainment. The pic, though set in New England, was shot outside of Paris. >>>Targeting Major Festival Launch
The CIA's Bonnie & Clyde - NBC is developing The Chase, a crime drama from Supergirl alumna Azie Tesfai and Universal Television. Written and executive produced by Tesfai, the story centers on undercover CIA agent Robert who falls for his target, Katherine, and the changes that ensue as their escape goes sideways when they’re captured by the American government. >>> Hunted Become The Hunters |
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QUOTABLE: “Will and Chris are good people… Hollywood has seen some really nasty things in our business over the years. We have to find some compassion, some forgiveness in our hearts, for each other.”- Emancipation director Antoine Fuqua on moving forward after lead actor Will Smith’s “slap heard ‘round the world” at the Oscars |
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Usually content to let their logo on the front end of films speak for them, Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner sat down with Deadline in a prolific moment and amid a series of anniversaries that go beyond the 20th for their holiday classic Love Actually: They reached 30 years together at a company that turns 40 next year. The duo recently scored a big hit in the George Clooney-Julia Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, and have Matilda the Musical playing in UK theaters, and opening on Netflix elsewhere for Christmas, with the Lena Dunham-directed Catherine Called Birdy released by Amazon and The Swimmers by Netflix. The latter, after playing the Toronto and Zurich festivals, has ranked near the top of Netflix’s most-watched films globally since its release. Here, the Working Title partners explain their recent surge, and the keys to their longevity. >>>Read The Interview |
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Melissa McCarthy (Courtesy) |
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Exclusive A Christmas Story - Universal and Working Title have set Melissa McCarthy to star in an untitled Christmas-in-New York movie that will be written by Love Actually scribe Richard Curtis and directed by Sam Boyd. The film is a fairy-tale comedy about a workaholic man who enlists the help of a magical genie to help win his family back before Christmas. >>>Reunion
Exclusive What's Cooking? - Christina Milian (Step Up: High Water) and Steven Strait (The Expanse) are toplining the thriller Body Language from MarVista Entertainment, which has wrapped production. Body Language centers on a Director of Personnel for a major security firm who excels at reading people. The skill is put to the test one night when her fiancé’s enigmatic college buddy visits to cook a celebratory engagement dinner. >>> Milian's Producing Debut
Exclusive Pandemic Prose - Tony Hale (Being the Ricardos), Zosia Mamet (The Flight Attendant) and Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) are set as leads in The Decameron, Netflix’s soapy period dramedy based on Giovanni Boccaccio's short stories. Set in 1348 when the Black Death is striking the city of Florence, the series follows a handful of nobles who retreat with their servants to a grand villa to wait out the pestilence with a lavish holiday. >>> Sex Romp Turned Scramble For Survival
Exclusive The Hollywood Shuffle - Saturday Night Live‘s Chloe Fineman is set to lead the comedy Big Time, which Jonathan Glickman’s Panoramic Media recently picked up. Big Time follows a time-hopping, crass 1940s starlet who tries to claw her way to the top in modern-day Hollywood, despite being ridiculously unwoke. >>> Based On A Bestseller
In Brief - SmartLess Media Is launching four new podcasts: Bad Dates hosted by Jameela Jamil, Amy Always Wins hosted by Rob Corddry, Owned hosted by Rex Chapman and Just Jack & Will, a Will & Grace rewatch podcast hosted by Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack… Broadway's upcoming Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has added Dear Evan Hansen‘s Jordan Fisher, Stranger Things ‘ Gaten Matarazzo and Tony-winning Ruthie Ann Miles to its cast. |
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Premiere Dates & Renewals - Disney+ has announced a Season 2 renewal for The Santa Clauses.
- Fox is bringing back its competition format Lego Masters for a fourth season in 2023-2024.
- The CW has set premiere dates for new DC superhero drama Gotham Knights and the S3 return of Superman & Lois at 9 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14, respectively.
- Reality dating series Farmer Wants A Wife hosted by Jennifer Nettles is set to premiere on Wednesday, March 8 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
- The final chapter of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly is set to air on January 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
- Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble‘s comedy series The Sex Lives of College Girls has been renewed for a third season at HBO Max.
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BY THE NUMBERS 1,312 screenings - The number of showings, out of 3,000, that Avatar: The Way of Water lost on preview day in China due to the country's Covid struggles |
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More News
😀😮 New DC co-CEO James Gunn had some good news for fans, and some bad news, judging by fans' reaction: The first project in the regime's pipeline will be a new Superman movie written by Gunn himself. The bad news? It's an early-days take and will not feature fan-favorite Henry Cavill in the famous cape.
🕹 Prime Video has given a series order to God of War, a project based on PlayStation’s hugely popular ancient mythology-themed video game. Co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios in association with PlayStation Productions, God of War will premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
🛑 The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi at their San Francisco home in October told police that he also planned to target a list of other public figures, including actor Tom Hanks, Hunter Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom. The revelation came at a preliminary hearing for the suspect on Thursday.
👾 Streaming bundle provider FuboTV blamed a "criminal cyber attack" for disrupting service during Wednesday's France-Morocco World Cup soccer match. The company says it contacted law enforcement and is investigating the incident.
✉️ Tyler Perry is set to helm his fourth movie at Netflix, Six Triple Eight, which follows the 6888th battalion, the only all-Black, all-female troop in the World War II effort. The women of the 6888th were given a herculean task: sort through and fix the three-year backlog of undelivered mail. They sorted 17 million pieces of mail in half the time they were given. The motto that kept them going each day was one they created themselves: “No Mail, Low Morale.”
📌 NBCUniversal announced dates for its NewFronts and upfronts presentations while touting the ways it has “fueled fandom, growth and innovation” in 2022. The NewFronts presentation will be May 4, while the upfront at Radio City Music Hall will by on May 15, once again giving NBCU the leadoff spot in the upfront week’s slate of pitches.
🎶 - Apple Original Films announced the theatrical release of a new sing-along version of holiday musical comedy Spirited starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer in 100+ U.S. theaters starting this Friday.
🍯 A prequel feature and series inspired by the A.A. Milne children’s classic Winnie-the-Pooh is under development in a joint production between U.S. companies Baboon Animation and IQI Media. The origin story announcement comes less than a year after the first 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh book entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2022. In Brief - CNN anchor Ana Cabrera confirmed she is leaving the network after a 9-year run....Warner Bros Discovery announced its plans to celebrate its namesake studio’s 100th anniversary next year… The Washington Post announced layoffs are coming in 2023. |
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Trending  HBO Max comms chief Raina Falcon has been upped to become SVP, Communications, HBO & HBO Max Content. Falcon will lead the bi-coastal department managing all original program publicity. She will be responsible for all communications for the programming executives as well as crisis and reputation management.
🔻 Hollywood’s seven major film studios all received poor grades in GLAAD's latest report card on LGBTQ inclusivity, its 10th annual Studio Responsibility Index. The report was released this morning. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Stephen Boss, better known as DJ tWitch of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, who also was a contestant-turned-judge on So You Think You Can Dance, died Tuesday in a Los Angeles hotel room, reportedly by suicide. He was 40. Boss' death prompted an outpouring of loving remembrances which began with one from DeGeneres herself : “Over a decade ago I met someone who changed my life and our show,” the host said. “I’m talking about you tWitch…I love you so much.” There were additional tributes from Adam Lambert, Leah Remini, Questlove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Paul Feig and members of the Hollywood dance community like Derek Hough, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Carrie Ann Inaba and Cheryl Burke. 🕯 See the 400-plus influential figures we've lost this year in Deadline's 2022 Hollywood & Media Deaths photo gallery. |
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On the Radar Thu - Brendan Fraser on Kimmel
Fri - Avatar: The Way of Water opens
Sun - World Cup Final; First day of Hanukkah
Mon - Jan. 6 Committee’s final hearing |
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And Justice For All - Angelina Jolie met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday — as well as Senators John Cornyn, Patrick Leahy and Joni Ernst — to press for passage of the Justice for All Reauthorization Act. Jolie’s spokesperson said that she has worked on a provision to give crime victims access to crime reports and other evidence. |
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