What I’m Hearing: J.J.’s Setback and Chapek’s Board

Hi, I'm Matt Belloni, and this is What I'm Hearing...
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Happy Tonys Sunday! I’m pleased to announce you can now find old What I’m Hearing editions in one place on the Puck website. Go to my author page (here) and click on “newsletters.” Fun!

Also, I admit defeat on my Jurassic World: Dominion prediction. I took the under on the $140 million tracking, and it came in at an estimated $143.4 million domestic ($389 million worldwide, including $52 million in China). I guess life (and dinosaur movies) will find a way.

Discussed in this issue: J.J. Abrams, Dan Abrams, Channing Dungey, Michelle Yeoh, Paul Buccieri, Peter Rice, Mindy Kaling, Rob Manfred, Susan Arnold, and…The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans.

But first…

Who Won the Week: Luis Silberwasser

While Hollywood people have been obsessing over the relatively minor Warner Bros. film studio jobs, this TelevisaUnivision exec and Discovery alum nabbed one of the most powerful gigs in sports media, with oversight of Warner Bros. Discovery’s N.B.A., M.L.B., N.H.L. and N.C.A.A. March Madness broadcasts, as well as input on the Olympics in Europe.

Runner up: James Goldston, the former ABC News leader, whose shepherding of the Jan. 6 hearing kickoff telecast generated nearly 20 million viewers across networks. (My colleague Tara Palmeri, who worked for Goldston, had a terrific column deciphering his news production philosophy.)

P.S. As a reminder, you're receiving the free version of What I’m Hearing at . For full access to Puck, and to each of my colleagues, you can subscribe here.

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Dear J.J., Welcome to the New Warner Bros…

Abrams, who has a $250 million overall deal with Warner Bros., risks becoming a casualty of the new cost consciousness in Hollywood as David Zaslav’s management team wonders, what are we actually getting for all that money?

MATTHEW BELLONI

Yes, that was J.J. Abrams sitting quietly in the lobby of Amazon Studios in Culver City a couple weeks ago. Abrams, sometimes dubbed the Spielberg of his generation, had journeyed east of the 405 for a meeting with Amazon’s content chiefs Mike Hopkins and Jennifer Salke. Ostensibly the chat was to gauge interest in Amazon buying a piece of Bad Robot, which Abrams and his wife/partner Katie McGrath have grown into one of the premiere independent film and TV companies. But Abrams is also attempting to salvage his $200 million-plus sci-fi series Demimonde that HBO, which had been developing the show with Bad Robot for four long years, just rejected in very public fashion.

Networks pass on expensive series all the time, even if this would have been the first show Abrams created himself since Fringe in 2008, as well as a nice pickup for Channing Dungey, head of Warner Bros. Television, HBO’s sibling company and Bad Robot’s TV home since 2019. What’s more intriguing about the meeting, though, as well as similar conversations with Apple that have taken place lately, is the question of whether J.J. will take Bad Robot’s entire deal from Warners to another home. After all, new Warner Bros. Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav has let media reports circulate that not only is Demimonde a no, he’s also not thrilled with the output of Bad Robot, which has a 5 year, reported $250 million deal for film and TV. Given Abrams’ stature in Hollywood, that qualifies as a slap in the face...

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