| | | What's news: It's magazine day! This week's cover story goes inside the conflicts and delays plaguing HBO's Euphoria. George Clooney, IATSE have endorsed Kamala Harris. Peacock now has 33m streaming subs. Spotify has hit 246m paying subs. The Venice Film Festival has revealed its 2024 lineup. — Abid Rahman Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at tips@thr.com. |
What's Ailing 'Euphoria'? Tragedy and Trauma Inside TV's Buzziest Show ►On the cover. Earlier this month, HBO announced that Euphoria will head back into production in January 2025, almost three years after the premiere of season two of the Emmy-nominated show. THR's editor-at-large Kim Masters goes inside the long Euphoria delay, writing that the sudden death of producer Kevin Turen, a fractured creative partnership and mounting friction between star Zendaya and creator Sam Levinson almost derailed the hit series. The cover story. | Kamala Harris Fires Up Hollywood's Power Brokers ►They're back! THR's Benjamin Svetkey reports that almost overnight, big-dollar Hollywood Democratic donors who had been nervously sitting on their checkbooks since Joe Biden’s June 27 debate debacle have been lining up to shower millions on hometown girl Kamala Harris. Some donors are enthused by Harris, some because it's a "fresh start that Biden wasn’t giving them" and a few who are crazy enthusiastic just to stick it to Silicon Valley: "F*** these Trump-loving techies." The story. —"We’re all so excited to do whatever we can." George Clooney has endorsed Kamala Harris. The actor and influential Democratic donor announced his support for the current Vice President and her quest for the Oval Office on Tuesday morning. The move comes as Harris has secured enough support from Democratic delegates to become the party’s official nominee for president. The story. —"We are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation." In her first public appearance since Biden announced that he is ending his campaign, a confident and composed Harris paid tribute to the president but made no mention of her presidential bid at a scheduled event welcoming the NCAA champions to the White House. The story. —"The most pro-union administration in history." IATSE is also endorsing Harris. The union, which represents more than 170,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in Hollywood and across the entertainment industry, said it voted unanimously to endorse the vice president. IATSE is the first Hollywood entertainment union to endorse Harris, and the decision comes after the union ratified its new contract with the studios last week. The story. —America tunes in. Almost 12m people tuned in to see the breaking news of Biden withdrawing from the 2024 campaign, Nielsen says. Cable news channels and broadcast networks were largely caught by surprise at the announcement, which the president delivered via social media about 1:45 p.m. ET on Sunday. Fox News had the news out first, at 1:50 p.m., and also drew the largest audience, with MSNBC — Jen Psaki, Biden’s former press secretary, was anchoring at the time — following shortly thereafter. The ratings. —"This act puts Joe Biden in league with history’s most selfless leaders." Stephen Colbert praised Joe Biden's decision to step aside from the 2024 election during his Late Show monologue on Monday, calling the president a “selfless leader.” He also retired his beloved pair of Biden aviator sunglasses, which he has used to impersonate the president on the show. The recap. |
WBD Set to Match Amazon's NBA Bid ►"Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league." Warner Bros. Discovery is making a play to keep NBA rights, telling the league that it will match Amazon's bid for a package of games. The company said Monday that it intends to match Amazon’s bid, which is for about $1.8b per year, or more than $20b over the course of the deal. Amazon’s deal is a streaming-only package, while WBD’s TNT Sports televises the games on TNT and also streams them on Max. It is not clear, however, if the NBA will actually allow WBD to match the deal. The story. —🤝 Sold! 🤝 Warner Bros. Games has acquired Player First Games, the developer of the recently launched MultiVersus free-to-play platform fighter videogame. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Player First Games, based in Los Angeles, will join Warner Bros. Games and continue to be led by co-founders Tony Huynh, CEO and Chris White, chief technology officer. Huynh and White will report to Carlos Barbosa, vp and studio head of Warner Bros. Games San Diego, the development studio that has provided production support for MultiVersus. The story. —"We expect to be awarded." NBC is (almost) officially back in the NBA business. On Comcast’s earnings call Tuesday morning, president Mike Cavanagh outlined the new deal with the league, noting that while it isn’t quite done yet, with WBD trying to match Amazon’s bid, the company does not expect to be impacted by the matching offer. "Our expectation is that soon an 11-year rights deal between ourselves and the NBA will be announced," said Cavanagh. The story. —Mixed bag. Peacock grew its Q2 revenue and narrowed its loss to $348m. The streamer ended June with 33m paying subscribers, compared with 33.5m as of the end of March — but that sub figure was well above the year-ago figure of 24m. Meanwhile, parent company Comcast’s core cable and telecom business once again lost pay-TV and broadband subscribers in Q2. The company lost 120,000 broadband users in the latest period, up from a 19,000 drop in the second quarter of 2023. The results. —Humming along. Spotify hit 246m paying subscribers in Q2 2024, up 12 percent year-over-year. The total number of paid subscriber additions, up 7m, was 1m above guidance. The music streamer added a less expensive ad-free plan in June, for $10.99 a month, which does not include its audiobooks offering. Prices had been raised on the other plans earlier that month. The results. —Election bounce incoming. Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision reported higher U.S. revenue of $799m in Q2 as a 2 percent ad revenue gain outweighed a 1 percent drop in subscription and licensing revenue, as well as “other” revenue. The company also reemphasized that its streaming business, which had ended 2023 with more than 7m subscribers, would indeed turn profitable in the back half of 2024. And it predicted a “great” second half of 2024 due to the U.S. presidential election. The results. |
BBC to Lay Off 500 Staff by 2026 ►Deep cuts. The BBC will lay off 500 more staff members by March 2026 in a bid to become a “leaner, more agile organization” as its annual report tells a tale of financial difficulty for the U.K. broadcaster. The BBC’s headcount is down by 10 percent in the last five years, a reduction of almost 2,000 roles, and a voluntary redundancy scheme has launched today. The news came as BBC Commercial, the broadcaster’s commercial arm, reported lower fiscal-year results, but CEO Tom Fussell touted hits like Bluey and Baby Reindeer, as well as areas of upside. The story. —Moving up. Sony Pictures Entertainment has promoted Drew Shearer to executive vp and chief financial officer. He assumes the post on Oct. 1. and will succeed Philip Rowley, who will step down after joining the Hollywood studio as CFO in 2016. Shearer has spent nearly 30 years at Sony, joining the studio in 1996 as director of internal audit for Sony Corporation of America, before working as finance director of Sony Pictures Television Studios and divisional CFO of Sony Pictures Television’s global businesses. The story. —🤝 Refinancing deal 🤝 AMC Entertainment Holdings has reached a debt refinancing deal that will push up to $2.45b of debt maturities from 2026 to 2029 and beyond. The restructuring deal aims to give AMC breathing room on its balance sheet to pay down an estimated $4.5b in long-term borrowings. “This agreement represents an undeniably strong vote of confidence by our lenders in AMC’s future and provides AMC with the necessary financial flexibility to capitalize on an expected strong industry recovery trajectory,” CEO Adam Aron said in a statement. The story. —🤝 Ratified 🤝 WGA East members at Pineapple Street Studios ratified its first collective bargaining agreement, gaining a three-year contract with protections against AI and increased salary minimums. The 22 members of the bargaining unit at the Pineapple Street Studios includes producers, editors, engineers and other staff who work on such podcasts as Classy, Wondery’s Ghost Story, Paper Kite’s Million Dollar Advice and HBO’s Succession Podcast. The story. |
'Homicide: Life on the Street' Gets Streaming Home at Peacock ►Finally! Homicide: Life on the Street, one of the more critically acclaimed dramas of the past 30 years, has at last found a streaming home. Starting Aug. 19, Peacock will feature all seven seasons and 122 episodes of the former NBC show, as well as the series-wrapping Homicide: The Movie from 2000, all remastered for HD and 4K viewing. The series followed detectives in Baltimore’s homicide unit and was praised for its acting and a more realistic depiction of detective work — including some cases that don’t get solved. The story. —🎭 New face 🎭 Two-time Emmy nominee Maura Tierney is joining NBC's Law & Order in the fall, playing an NYPD lieutenant. Her casting comes after Camryn Manheim departed the series after three seasons of playing Lt. Kate Dixon. Tierney is the second new(ish) castmember on the long-running crime procedural; Tony Goldwyn joined L&O midway through last season after the departure of the show’s longest-serving castmember, Sam Waterston. The story. —🎭 Expanding 🎭 Amazon Prime Video is beefing up the cast for its crime drama Countdown. Violett Beane, Uli Latukefu and Elliot Knight have joined the series, which comes from creator Derek Haas. They join a cast that also includes Jensen Ackles, Jessica Camacho and Eric Dane. Ordered to series in June, Countdown centers on LAPD officer Mark Meachum (Ackles), who — after a broad-daylight murder — is brought into a secret task force with agents from a host of law enforcement agencies. The story. —"I can’t wait to see William Warwick on the screen." BlackBox Multimedia will adapt Jeffrey Archer's crime thriller novel Nothing Ventured for television. The 2019 novel, the first book in best-selling British novelist’s famed William Warwick series, sees the character through his time as a detective in the art squad as his career moves through drugs, murder, royal protection, Olympic Games security, and finally, counter-terrorism. BlackBox is known for its popular Paramount+ drama series The Serial Killer’s Wife, The Castaways and The Ex-Wife. The story. | Venice: 'Joker 2,' 'Maria,' and 'Wolfs' Make Lineup ►Heading to the Lido. The Venice Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled its official, star-packed lineup for its 81st edition, which runs from Aug. 28 to Sep. 7. Joker: Folie à Deux, Todd Phillips‘ sequel to his 2019 Golden Lion-winning Joker, will also bow in Venice. Fest favorites Brad Pitt and George Clooney will return to the Lido with Wolfs, an action drama from Jon Watts. Also competing is Broken Rage, the latest feature from legendary Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. The lineup. —Here, there and everywhere. The Beatles are getting some attention at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Two films about the legendary Liverpool band have earned spots in the fest’s doc section. Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ doc One to One: John & Yoko focuses on the intense and public relationship between the two artists. Also included is Things We Said Today from Romania’s Andrei Ujica, on the other hand, is a look at the band’s famous and first North American tour – a film that was supposed to be ready 10 years ago. The story. —"The arm the MCU so desperately needed." Marvel's hotly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine premiered in New York on Monday night. Though official reviews for the film will post later this week, a flood of reactions to the film hit social media after the premiere screening, and the consensus seems to be that Marvel may have a monster hit on their hands. The reaction. —🎭 Ensemble assembling 🎭 THR's Ryan Gajewski and Borys Kit have the scoop on major casting news for Sony's reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Madelyn Cline, star of Neflix’s Outer Banks, and Camila Mendes, who starred in CW’s long-running Riverdale, are in talks to lead the ensemble. Also in negotiations are Tony nominee Sarah Pidgeon, Atlanta ’s Tyriq Withers and Jonah Hauer-King, who played Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. were in talks to reprise their roles from the initial movie. The story. —🎭 Villain found 🎭 Sharon Stone has joined Bob Odenkirk to star in Nobody 2, Universal’s sequel to the 2021 surprise hit produced by 87North. Odenkirk is reprising his role as a mild-mannered family man who is secretly a former government assassin. And while no plot details are being revealed, it is known that Stone will be the piece’s chief villain. Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto is set to direct the film. The screenplay is by Derek Kolstad, Aaron Rabin, Odenkirk and Umair Aleem. The story. In other news... —Emily in Paris S4 trailer sees Lily Collins trying to move on after bombshell finale —Pachinko stars Yuh-Jung Youn, Jin Ha confront family and business conflict in S2 trailer —Jake Paul’s W raises $14m from Paris Hilton, Naomi Osaka, Lil Durk and Fanatics’ Michael Rubin —Michael Jackson’s signed drawings set for auction in Los Angeles —Geoff Isenman named CEO of Campside Media —Jerry Fuller, “Travelin’ Man” and “Young Girl” songwriter, dies at 85 —Abdul “Duke” Fakir, last of the original Four Tops, dies at 88 —Jill Schary Robinson, author and mother of UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer, dies at 88 What else we're reading... —Philip Bump looks at the remarkable contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on nearly every measure [WaPo] —Edward Helmore reports on the renewed focus on Trump's his age and mental acuity now that Biden has dropped out [Guardian] —With the elevation of Harris to the top of the Dem ticket, Jamie Dettmer writes that Trump may have made a mistake picking J.D. Vance as a running mate [Politico] —An unimpressed Roxana Hadadi writes that Amazon's The Boys has become point-and-laugh political satire at its worst [Vulture] —Jeré Longman and Suhasini Raj report on India's hopes for track medals at the upcoming Paris Olympics, and the enthusiasm in the country to host a summer games [NYT] Today... ...in 2004, Warner Bros. unveiled Halle Berry in Catwoman, a would-be blockbuster that disappointed with critics and audiences and grossed $82m globally. The original review. Today's birthdays: Shawn Levy (56), Daniel Radcliffe (35), Woody Harrelson (63), Kathryn Hahn (51), Marlon Wayans (52), Eriq La Salle (62), Lili Simmons (31), Tosin Cole (32), Ronny Cox (86), Charisma Carpenter (54), Paul Wesley (42), Stephanie March (50), Benjamin Flores Jr. (22), Gratiela Brancusi (35), Tom Mison (42), Belinda Montgomery (74), Edie McClurg (79), Silvia Colloca (47), Anna Maria Mühe (39), Suriya (49), Reece Ritchie (38), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (30), Lydia Cornell (71), Shane McRae (47), Larry Manetti (77), Rick Glassman (40), Krysta Rodriguez (40), Britne Oldford (32), Matilda Ziegler (60), Pippa Bennett-Warner (36), Pepe Serna (80), Stephen Martines (49), Samantha Beckinsale (58), Abby Donnelly (22), Jim Acheson (65) |
| Carla Balenda, who starred alongside Dana Andrews and Claude Rains in the RKO Pictures thriller Sealed Cargo and portrayed Mickey Rooney’s girlfriend on the NBC sitcom Hey Mulligan, has died. She was 98. The obituary. |
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