HOLLYWOOD
Matthew Belloni
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September 16, 2022
What the Hell Is Happening with ‘Ted Lasso’?
Apple’s zeitgeist-defining Emmys magnet has been plagued by production delays and the perfectionism of star-auteur Jason Sudeikis. But the biggest obstacle to Season 3 might be the unresolved question of how streaming blockbusters are valued, and who reaps the benefits, in the post-TV era of television.
Julia Alexander
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September 13, 2022
Apple’s Pixar Fantasy
Was Luck, John Lasseter’s high-budget, Pixar-inspired animated feature for Apple TV+, a flop? The convoluted answer reveals as much about the state of the streaming business as it does about Apple—or about Luck itself.
Eriq Gardner
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September 12, 2022
Ryan Kavanaugh’s Media-Legal Thriller
With Triller, the former Relativity honcho, who was basically run out of Hollywood, has remade himself as a social media eminence. But his most lasting impact may come from an incredibly unusual civil lawsuit.
Matthew Belloni
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September 12, 2022
Stallone’s Reality Bites & More Netflix Drama
A ‘Kardashians’-style unscripted show following Sly’s family (and his unfolding divorce) is the latest in a series of surprising, revenue-generating maneuvers for the ‘Rocky’ star as he re-capitalizes on his fame. Plus news on the latest Netflix re-org and seven questions about the Emmys.
Matthew Belloni
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September 9, 2022
The Book of Reed Hastings, Revisited
Two short years ago, the Netflix visionary and chief corporate philosopher wrote a business memoir extolling all the qualities that made his company totally unique, different, and special. So what happens when his stock tanks and he’s taking pages from everyone else’s playbook?
Julia Alexander
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September 6, 2022
Lord of the Ratings
In media and entertainment circles, it has become irresistible to reductively compare the first-day numbers for HBO’s House of the Dragon (10 million viewers!) and Amazon’s The Rings of Power (25 million streams!!). But dig a little deeper and the data tells a more interesting, and complex, story.
Eriq Gardner
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September 6, 2022
ICM Poopgate Update: There are Tapes!
A former ICM exec sued the agency after he was fired for allegedly defecating on the bathroom floor—a nasty rumor that he insists is untrue. There’s only one problem: ICM claims to have caught the incident on camera.
Matthew Belloni & William D. Cohan
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September 5, 2022
Netflix’s U-Turn & The Next CNN Purge
The real conversation inside Hollywood and Wall Street about Reed and Ted’s ad-tier about-face, Zaslav’s narrative heel-turn, Chapek’s ESPN dilemma, and the long arm of John Malone.
Matthew Belloni
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September 2, 2022
The Tendo Exit and the New Netflix
Back in 2018, Sarandos pitched Nagenda on the promise of building out a spare-no-expense team to focus only on making great studio-style movies, and running it with autonomy—the Netflix culture. Then the Great Correction happened.
Julia Alexander
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August 30, 2022
Netflix’s Catch-22 Milestone
At last, after an ambitious 2016 proclamation, more than half of Netflix’s library is composed of original programming. And yet, the company faces a complex challenge: as originals grow, so does consumer dissatisfaction. But how else can they entice new subscribers?
Eriq Gardner
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August 29, 2022
The Fugees, 1MDB & A Legal Saga of Our Times
Pras Michel is in legal hot water over his connection to Jho Low, the disgraced Malaysian financier (and former Leo DiCaprio buddy). During his heyday, Pras was always the third Fugee. Now he’s about to be the star of one of the most spectacular trials of the year.
Matthew Belloni
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August 29, 2022
Worry, Darling. Worry a Lot.
Is Olivia Wilde’s recent P.R. train wreck the result of sexism, or various unforced errors, or is it simply a near-term headache that will be absolved after her film Don’t Worry Darling proves that she was a media genius all along?
Matthew Belloni
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August 26, 2022
The Messy Rebirth of MoviePass
The original pennies-for-dollars, money-incinerating subscription phenomenon was literally too good to be true. But the inevitable failure of MoviePass also opened the door to a genuinely transformative idea: moviegoing as a service. All it needed was a better business model.
Julia Alexander
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August 23, 2022
Zaslav’s Disappearing Act
David Zaslav’s removal of some 36 shows and movies from HBO Max may make sense to Wall Street, but it’s hell for creators: There isn’t enough viewership data for them to argue their projects are valuable, and they have no control over whether they get pulled.
Matthew Belloni
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August 22, 2022
Cinemapocalypse Now
After an awful August, this year’s box office will likely finish at about $7 billion—up from last year, but about a third less than in 2019. A third. For movie theaters, the only solution is full-scale reinvention, meme-stock nonsense, or, as is increasingly common, Chapter 11.
Matthew Belloni
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August 19, 2022
Zaslav’s Hamptons-Hollywood Vanity Project
Since taking over WBD in April, David Zaslav has run the company like a cost-cutting vigilante… until it comes to an odd gangster movie project written by his Hamptons buddy, Nick Pileggi.
Julia Alexander
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August 16, 2022
Bob Chapek’s Funny Math on Streaming
No, Disney didn’t just surpass Netflix in total subscribers—unless you can justify 1+1=3. Inside the semantic-financial civil war over the most powerful number in streaming.
