HBO at Crossroads; Lando in 'Star Wars IX'; Clooney's Crash; Sumner's Girlfriend Saga; WB Tram to Hollywood Sign

What's news: Warner Bros. appears to have an ambitious plan tied to the Hollywood sign. Plus: A familiar face returns for Star Wars: Episode IX, a Fox shareholder sues to stop Disney's acquisition and a new look at Sumner Redstone's personal drama. — Erik Hayden [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( July 10, 2018 What's news: Warner Bros. appears to have an ambitious plan tied to the Hollywood sign. Plus: A familiar face returns for Star Wars: Episode IX, a Fox shareholder sues to stop Disney's acquisition and a new look at Sumner Redstone's personal drama. — Erik Hayden When the Bidding Ends Too much? As Disney and Comcast compete for Fox assets, "the price may go higher still if Comcast comes back with an offer in the $90 billion range. Is the cost worth it, even for such scarce assets?" asks [The Wall Street Journal]('s Elizabeth Winkler: -> "The market already seems uneasy every time the price tag increases; but the deal will be judged over several years, and its success will only become clear down the road." -> "As Disney attempts to launch two new streaming services ... it will end its licensing agreements with other distributors such as Netflix. That will mean losing a huge source of revenue." + Fox shareholder sues to stop Disney's acquisition. Eriq Gardner writes: "Robert Weiss, leading other shareholders, filed his lawsuit on Friday in Delaware federal court. The lawsuit alleges that a proxy statement filed on June 28 omits or misrepresents the company's financial projections and the data underlying financial valuation analyses. [Details.]( Elsewhere in film... ► LAT: "Warner Bros. wants to build a $100-million aerial tramway to the Hollywood sign." + "The 95-year-old studio on Monday told city officials it would foot the bill for an aerial tramway to transport visitors to and from the Hollywood sign, starting from a parking structure next to its Burbank lot." + "The tramway would take visitors on a 6-minute ride more than 1 mile up the back of Mt. Lee to a new visitors center near the sign, with pathways to a viewing area," Ryan Faughnder reports. [[Los Angeles Times](] ► AP: George Clooney released from hospital after motorcycle accident. The actor "was taken to the hospital in Sardinia and released after being involved in an accident while riding his motorcycle, hospital officials said. The John Paul II hospital in Olbia said Clooney was released Tuesday." [[Associated Press](] ^Skyscraper, reviewed (opening Friday). Dwayne Johnson must save his family from a burning building in Rawson Marshall Thurber's Die Hard wannabe. [THR:]( "Check your brain at the door." + Early Tomatoes score: [55]( percent. Takes: [NY Post:]( "The whole film feels as if it’s on autopilot, or maybe written by artificial intelligence." [EW:]( "Really wants to be Die Hard, and isn't." ► Lucasfilm enlists Billy Dee Williams for Episode IX. The fan favorite Lando Calrissian actor will indeed be [returning]( to the Star Wars film franchise for the first time since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. ► Blumhouse teams Jeremy Renner with Jamie Foxx. Ahead of a fall production start for Spawn, the Avengers actor is [joining]( Foxx in the adaptation of the comic book. Todd McFarlane is directing. ► Marvel casts J.B. Smoove in Spider-Man sequel. The comedian[joins]( fellow franchise newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal, who is set to play the villain Mysterio in Sony's sequel to 2017's Spider-Man: Far From Home. ► Roadside nabs Julia Roberts-Lucas Hedges drama. The distributor [will release]( Ben Is Back, which wrapped production in February in New York, on Dec. 7, a plum spot for awards-season hopefuls. ► Ethan Hawke-Noomi Rapace Thriller finds distribution. Smith Global Media has [picked up]( Stockholm with an early 2019 U.S. theatrical release planned. The film is based on the story of a 1973 bank heist. *Mark your calendar: Cannes unveils 2019 dates. Next year's festival [will run]( May 14-25, sticking to the Tuesday through Saturday schedule launched for the first time earlier this year. Johnny Depp sued over new film. "A film crew member says in a lawsuit that Johnny Depp twice punched him on the Los Angeles set of a movie about the killing of the Notorious B.I.G., and that he was fired from the production," the Associated Press [reports.]( Sumner's Girlfriend Saga New book excerpt: For years, Sydney Holland and Manuela Herzer ruled the aging Viacom-CBS mogul's L.A. mansion, until a medical crisis, a secret fiance and some frantic texts gave Shari Redstone a path to regain control of her father’s empire. Keach Hagey writes: + September 2014: Sumner returned from the hospital to his Beverly Park compound a shadow of his former self. He could not stand on his own. He required a catheter. He would never eat another meal again. And perhaps worst of all, the aspiration had, according to Manuela, caused brain damage that left his speech limited almost entirely to monosyllabic grunts. He was more dependent on Manuela and Sydney than ever, and Shari’s hostility to them only made him push her farther away. + “I just called to tell him that I love him and that I would be there tomorrow and all he kept saying was, ‘Leave Sydney and Manuela alone,’” Shari wrote her children Sept. 15. “He said it 100 times. He was not interested in the fact that I love him or that [her son] Tyler and I were coming out.” [Full King of Content excerpt.]( + July 2018. Eriq Gardner writes: Sometime soon, Sumner Redstone could make history in California by becoming the first living individual in the state to go to trial over the massive fortune he’ll be bequeathing when he dies. A trial was set to begin on July 16, but on Monday after a last-second petition to an appeals court, a judge temporarily put the trial on hold. [Details in THR, Esq.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► Netflix's Ava DuVernay project finds stars. Michael K. Williams, Vera Farmiga and John Leguizamo have been tapped [to lead]( the director's Central Park Five limited series. DuVernay will write and direct. ► CBS is staggering its fall premieres. The network is rolling out new episodes over the last week of September and the first week of October. And just because the network no longer has Thursday Night Football doesn't mean viewers won't be seeing a little bit of The Big Bang Theory on Mondays. [Details.]( ► Reese Witherspoon launching VOD channel. Hello Sunshine, the actress and producer's production company, [will have]( two unscripted series available on AT&T's DirecTV for a monthly fee. ► PBS, ITV to adapt Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon. Screenwriter Andrew Davis (War & Peace) is set to bring the book to life, with Red Planet Pictures having been commissioned [to produce]( the drama. ^HBO's "broad" mandate: the questions so far. Reading the tea leaves of new WarnerMedia chief's town hall pledge to go "[bigger and broader](" to compete with Netflix. Lesley Goldberg asks: 1. Can HBO maintain quality while dramatically increasing the quantity? While Netflix has spent lavishly to offer scripted originals for multiple demos (think children's shows, animation, sci-fi, LGBTQ, etc.), few would argue that all Netflix programming comes with same stamp of "quality." 2. How much of a cash infusion will AT&T provide? HBO's annual programming budget has been in the $2 billion ballpark, say sources, which pales in comparison to the $8 billion Netflix is spending this year. Amazon, meanwhile, has another $4.5 billion to play with, Hulu clocks in at $2.5 billion and Apple has at least $1 billion earmarked for originals. 3. Will HBO staff up? Will Stankey's plan to grow HBO force the network to speed up its process? "HBO is super precious, that's their brand. They need to be less precious if they want to succeed in today's world," says one agent. [Many more questions.]( More TV... ► Netflix unveils new Orange Is the New Black trailer. When Jenji Kohan's prison dramedy returns July 27, Piper (Taylor Schilling) and the inmates move to max. [Full clip.]( ► Bravo enlists Jerry O'Connell for late-night show. The actor is set [to host](a new late-night talk show, titled Real Men Watch Bravo, premiering this fall. He will co-exec produce the series with Andy Cohen. ► History scores ratings feat with live ode to Evel Knievel. Evel Live, which followed three big stunts taped live in Las Vegas, set social feeds aflutter and averaged a whopping [3.5 million viewers]( over three hours on the A+E-owned network. New: full Drama Actor Roundtable video arrives. Jason Bateman, Darren Criss, Jeff Daniels, Michael B. Jordan, Matthew Rhys and J.K. Simmons talk about the key to longevity and freedom in Hollywood. [60-minute chat.]( UTA's Artist Space Opening soon: UTA Fine Arts has a new gallery home in a Beverly Hills building "that's 200 yards from the main steps of UTA," says Joshua Roth, a former art lawyer (and son of CAA founding partner Steven) who heads up the five-person division. [Story.]( What else we're reading... — "Netflix isn’t being reckless." Matthew Ball argues: "The company doesn’t want to be a leader in video, or even the leader in video - it wants to monopolize the consumption of video; to become TV." [[Redef](] — "Is YouTube Premium worth paying for?" Guy Lodge notes: "Early signs for the video site’s new premium service are promising - if no threat to Netflix just yet." [[The Guardian](] — "An oral history of Step Brothers." Alan Siegel writes: "This is the true story of Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, and John C. Reilly’s side-splittingly twisted exploration of male arrested development." [[The Ringer](] — "Stephen Lang unveils family foundation grant to immigration lawyers." Joelle Goldstein writes: The Avatar actor "recently committed a $100,000 grant to a partnership with Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC)." [[THR](.hollywoodreporter.com/news/avatar-star-stephen-lang-teams-immigration-justice-corps-reunite-families-1124657)] — "How one tweet about Nicki Minaj spiraled into internet chaos." Joe Coscarelli writes: "A hip-hop writer became the target of superfan ire - and the rapper’s own fury - after she posted a message about Ms. Minaj’s musical direction." [[New York Times](] Today's birthdays: Wyatt Russell, 33, Jessica Simpson, 39, Chiwetel Ejiofor, 42, Adrian Grenier, 43, Sofía Vergara, 47, Peter Serafinowicz, 47. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( July 10, 2018