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HOLLYWOOD

Netflix film chief Scott Stuber has passed on the rare opportunity to spend $150 million on a Nancy Meyers romantic comedy.

Netflix Priced Itself Out of the Nancy Meyers Business

Backend “buyouts” allow streamers to compete with studios for top projects and A-level stars. But that system has ballooned up-front fees to the point where Netflix said no to a bankable filmmaker and her $150 million Scarlett Johansson movie.
Matthew Belloni • March 17, 2023
Julia Alexander • March 15, 2023
Hulu M&A Hunger Games
After Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger took the gloves off and announced that all options are on the table regarding Hulu, conversations around the streamer’s future have been fairly myopic.
The conversation surrounding Hulu has become oversimplified and binary, suggesting that either Disney buys Comcast’s third of the company, or Comcast buy’s Disney’s two-third’s stake. But that’s unreflective of the complex industrial phase that streaming has entered.
Matthew Belloni • March 14, 2023
The Tom Cruise Oscar Failure
Paramount executives, the Academy leadership, and Oscars producers believed until last week that Tom Cruise would attend.
The ‘Top Gun’ star’s absence is part of a larger problem for the Oscars—namely, nobody except Fan Bingbing wants to attend these days unless they’re actively flacking a project. But isn’t Cruise supposed to be the industry’s global ambassador?
The wallet buster for Fox and the Murdochs in Dominion v. Fox News will whittle down to two calculations: putative damages, and alleged “diminution of enterprise value.”
Eriq Gardner • March 13, 2023
Inside the Murdoch-Dominion Settlement Chatter
Right now, either Dominion or Fox is misjudging the financial situation. So which side is it?
Jimmy Kimmel will host his third Oscars this Sunday.
Matthew Belloni • March 10, 2023
Behold, the 2023 Awards Season Awards!
Puck’s second annual, totally subjective and partially grievance-based salute to the oddities and embarrassments of Hollywood’s interminable Oscar season.
WBD C.E.O. David Zaslav and chairman of Liberty Media John Malone.
Eriq Gardner • March 7, 2023
A Zaz Legal Melee For the Ages
Bricklayers, government workers, the Newhouses, ‘Batgirl,’ and Chris Wallace’s CNN+ deal are all factoring into two suits contesting the formation of Warner Bros. Discovery—and, more bizarrely, contesting each other!
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro.
Julia Alexander • March 6, 2023
ESPN’s Play for Worldwide Sports Streaming Domination
Live sports remains the final frontier for streaming. Can ESPN, with its decades of credibility, figure out the puzzle that has already eluded Amazon and Apple?
Paramount Global chairwoman Shari Redstone and C.E.O. Bob Bakish in 2017.
Matthew Belloni • March 6, 2023
Why Won’t Shari Redstone Sell Showtime?
Paramount’s owner and her C.E.O., Bob Bakish, thwarted a $3 billion-plus bid from David Nevins in favor of their own plan to merge Showtime with Paramount+. But some analysts and company investors think that’s as insane as five ‘Billions’ spin-offs.
WGA West president Meredith Stiehm (pictured) and writer Michael Winship sent a rallying email to members on Monday after executive director and lead negotiator David Young took medical leave three weeks before studio negotiations.
Matthew Belloni • March 3, 2023
A Hollywood Writer Strike Setback?
The departure of the WGA’s fiery, feared chief negotiator and a key omission in the union’s demands raise questions about its leverage at an uncertain moment for the new streaming economy.
Netflix co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos.
Julia Alexander • March 1, 2023
Netflix’s Growth Play & Zaz’s New Era
A deeper dive into the latest trends in this new front of the streaming wars: Ted Sarandos developing market price elasticity and David Zaslav’s pillars of fresh growth.
Eriq Gardner • February 27, 2023
An Obama-Fugees-DiCaprio Legal Riddle for the Ages
Will the former president have to testify in rapper Pras Michel’s trial?
Peter Jackson after winning the best director Oscar for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
Matthew Belloni • February 27, 2023
11 Burning Questions About the First Two Months of Hollywood ’23
Is Costner the highest-paid actor on TV? Do the studios actually want a writers strike? Why is Zaz suing Paramount? And are the new Lord of the Rings movies for real?
In the grand scheme, even with all the challenges Disney faces, the issue of what to do with the Fox assets is a good problem to have.
Matthew Belloni • February 24, 2023
What If Disney’s Fox Deal Wasn’t So Terrible?
Bob Iger’s $71.3 billion play for streaming-age scale has been branded by some as too pricey for the new era of austerity, but the assets and executives could be a secret weapon in the war to become Hollywood’s last studio standing—if that’s what Iger wants.
AMC Networks chairman Jim Dolan recently appointed his spouse and longtime AMC board member, Kristin Dolan, as the company’s new C.E.O.
Julia Alexander • February 22, 2023
Can AMC+ Be Saved?
The niche streamer—a Dolan family pet project which just beat Wall Street’s expectations—seems like fish food in the streaming wars. But has it already negotiated its way out of an acquisition?
When rumors leaked earlier this month that Yellowstone may end after its current fifth season because Kevin Costner is locked in a standoff over his shooting dates, few associated with the show were surprised.
Matthew Belloni • February 21, 2023
Casualties of the Costner-Yellowstone Crossfire
Taylor Sheridan and the cast, crew, and executives behind TV’s No. 1 show have been frustrated by its star’s ego and unavailability for years. Now, as new details emerge in a standoff over Costner’s shooting days, Paramount’s Redstone and Bakish are ready to place their bet on the Sheridan-verse.
Delaware Supreme Court judge Eric Davis will have to determine whether Fox News host Maria Bartiromo’s comments about Dominion voting machines were a false assertion of fact or some sort of color commentary.
Eriq Gardner • February 20, 2023
Will Fox News Win Its Legal War?
Yes, Tucker and Hannity’s texts look bad for Fox. But the nuances of the Dominion case are more complicated than the sensational headlines.
Alex Spiro, a superstar Quinn Emanuel partner, is representing Tesla.
Eriq Gardner • February 20, 2023
Elon’s Next Big Case
Tesla’s racial harassment imbroglio will call into question the carmaker’s culture and public animosity against its C.E.O. It will also highlight the bravery and temerity of a former elevator operator.
‘Fire of Love’ narrator Miranda July, Director Sara Dosa, Producer Shane Boris and Puck’s Dylan Byers on stage at The Theater at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.
The Editors • February 16, 2023
The Making of “Fire of Love,” a Volcanic Romance
Over two exclusive events, Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander interview the documentary filmmakers about turning hundreds of hours of archival footage into an explosive documentary love story.