HOLLYWOOD
Ken Basin
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September 12, 2024
A Path Back to Sanity in TV Deals
“Cost plus” is the licensing model on which the Peak TV era was built. It has also become one of the drivers of the business’s decline. How can better dealmaking help set the industry back on a path toward sustainability?
Scott Mendelson
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September 9, 2024
The ‘Beetlejuice’ Boomerang
Not all legacy sequels work out, but ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ had a number of factors guiding its success—multigenerational appeal, the return of Tim Burton, and a pair of stars who are nearly as relevant now as they were more than 30 years ago.
Matthew Belloni
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September 6, 2024
Hollywood’s 10 Percent Problem
According to a new study, only one-tenth of the 500+ movies either released or scheduled for release by the major studios and streamers between 2022 and 2026 actually came from an internal development slate. Is this the new normal, or a wake-up call that the system has become far too risk-averse?
Matthew Belloni
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August 30, 2024
How the Zaz Fire Sale Could Play Out
Coming off a stock price nadir, with its legacy TV business cratering, Warner Bros. Discovery has reached the point where it may need to sell some stuff. Herewith, a rating of marketable assets and the highly speculative likelihood that David Zaslav will part with them.
Eriq Gardner
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August 27, 2024
Rapino’s Email Trail & Iger’s Musk Suit Headache
Live Nation’s fight to keep its C.E.O. from being deposed over the 2021 Astroworld concert tragedy appears to have backfired. Meanwhile, after a setback in the Gina Carano case, Disney is grappling with a deposition headache of its own.
Scott Mendelson
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August 27, 2024
Assessing MGM Under Amazon Rule
From August 2022, when Amazon officially acquired MGM, through to this past weekend’s flop Blink Twice, the studio released copious features greenlit by predecessors Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy. So, how’d they do? Not great… but not awful considering the grim new normal.
Lesley Goldberg
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August 27, 2024
The Best and Worst Deals of the Peak TV Era (Part 3)
The third and final (for now) installment of our semi-conclusive and detail-rich list of the most costly showrunner deals, nine-figure pacts that led to zero new shows, and biggest underperformers of Hollywood’s hyper-inflated Peak TV era. Plus, the ones that really worked, too.
Lesley Goldberg
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August 22, 2024
The Best and Worst Deals of the Peak TV Era (Part 2)
The latest installment of our semi-conclusive and detail-rich list of the most costly showrunner deals, nine-figure pacts that led to zero new shows, and biggest underperformers of Hollywood’s hyper-inflated Peak TV era.
Eriq Gardner
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August 21, 2024
CAA Hits the Mattresses Against Its Defectors
Bryan Lourd’s CAA is lobbing serious allegations at its former employees, accusing them of contract breaches, loyalty breaches, and tortious interference by coaxing clients and at-will employees to jump ship.
Scott Mendelson
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August 20, 2024
7 Lessons From Hollywood’s Good-Not-Great Summer
Overseas matters more than online controversies, younger moviegoers already want to relive their youth, audiences are hungry for old-school movie stars, and other revelations from this year’s better-than-expected blockbuster season.
Lesley Goldberg
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August 19, 2024
The Best and Worst Deals of the Peak TV Era (Part 1)
A conclusive and detail-rich list of the most costly showrunner deals, the nine-figure pacts that led to zero new shows, and the biggest underperformers of Hollywood’s hyper-inflated Peak TV era.
The Editors
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August 19, 2024
The Making of ‘True Detective: Night Country’
A lively conversation with the talented filmmakers and actors behind the fourth season of the hit HBO and Max show.
Matthew Belloni
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August 16, 2024
It’s Go-Shop Time for Paramount
Edgar Bronfman Jr. may be publicly kicking the tires, but the special committee of the board has so far delivered what Shari Redstone wants. There’s little reason to think the committee won’t deliver again.
Matthew Belloni
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August 16, 2024
Ari Emanuel vs. Casey Wasserman: Behind the Poaching of Billie Eilish
The tabloid drama preceding Billie and Finneas ditching the Wasserman talent agency for WME has exacerbated an only-in-Hollywood frenemy feud between two of the industry’s biggest egos, with potentially major business repercussions.
Scott Mendelson
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August 12, 2024
What Women Moviegoers Want
After years of ignoring female-focused melodramas, romantic comedies, cat-and-mouse thrillers, etcetera—a string of hits like It Ends With Us may finally convince Hollywood to revisit some of its tried-and-true genres.
Matthew Belloni
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August 9, 2024
Hollywood Finally Faces the Cable-pocalypse
The entire media sector is entering a new, more sinister stage of the linear TV meltdown, with massive write-offs at Warner Discovery and Paramount… and yet, the situation confronting WBD C.E.O. David Zaslav is perhaps the most concerning.
Scott Mendelson
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August 5, 2024
No Need to Survive Until ’25?
Has the box office finally bottomed out? Despite a rough first quarter, ’24 is shaping up to be an inflection year, with an encouraging fourth quarter upon us.