Disney-Fox Vote; Biodoc Boom; LeBron’s Talk Show; Tom Arnold's Rant; Facebook Plunge; Roseanne on 'Hannity'

What's news: Disney and Fox shareholders are voting today on the $71.3 billion deal. Plus: Amazon's promising earnings, a boon for documentaries and Roseanne gives her first post-firing TV interview. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( July 27, 2018 What's news: Disney and Fox shareholders are voting today on the $71.3 billion deal. Plus: Amazon's promising earnings, a boon for documentaries and Roseanne gives her first post-firing TV interview. — Will Robinson ^Facebook keeps falling: In the wake of a missed earnings report Wednesday, the social media giant lost about $120 billion in value after markets closed Thursday, Paul Bond reports: + The dip: Shares of Facebook fell 19 percent. Thursday's earnings release was the first since Zuckerberg testified before Congress about his handling — or mishandling — of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal + Zuckerberg's hit: The drop in the price of the stock cost Facebook founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg more than $15 billion. + When the market closed: At the end of trading on Thursday, Facebook shares plunged $41.63 to $175.87, leaving the company with a still-hefty market capitalization of $510 billion, more than Walt Disney, Comcast and 21st Century Fox combined. [Full story.]( + Growing pains: Sarah Frier makes a note of the company's current size: "There are now 2.23 billion people using Facebook. That’s two-thirds of the world’s internet-connected population. That’s about the same size as Christianity. Who else can the company sign up?" [[Bloomberg](] * Healthy future still ahead: Lucas Shaw noted in Bloomberg's Hollywood Torrent newsletter that Facebook's stock dropped to its lowest price since May, and that its earnings miss was Facebook's first in three years. + InfoWars action: After a tough TCA session about handling controversial content producers, Facebook removed four videos off Alex Jones' platform, Jon Russell reports. [[TechCrunch](] New Era for Docs Exclusive neighborhood: The Fred Rogers doc Won't You Be My Neighbor? has made nearly $20 million and leads the documentary boom that has turned the genre into the darling of the domestic summer box office, Pamela McClintock reports: + Box office accolades: Won't You Be My Neighbor? has become the top-grossing biographical doc of all time domestically after passing the $8.4 million grossed by Amy, the 2015 film chronicling the life and death of Amy Winehouse. It is also the top-earning documentary in five years and the 14th biggest of all time, including big-studio nature movies, not adjusting for inflation. + Wins over last year: The top-grossing doc last year — excluding Disney's family-friendly nature doc Born in China ($13.9 million — was I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck's portrait of author James {NAME}, which attracted $7.1 million. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power topped out at just $3.7 million domestically despite the backing of Paramount.. [Full report.]( + "Golden era": Sean Fennessey spoke to Mister Rogers filmmaker Morgan Neville and others about the recent success of so many docs. “When I started, documentaries were like the spinach of filmmaking,” said Neville. “Nobody cared about them. Nobody wanted to pay for them. They weren’t sexy." [[The Ringer](] + More on the way: Two trailers were recently released for posthumous examinations of Hollywood stars: Magnolia's [look]( at SNL star Gilda Radnor's life, and Paramount's [take]( of Fast and Furious lead Paul Walker. Elsewhere in film... ► Disney's plastics ban. The Walt Disney Co. announced it will [stop]( using single-use plastic straws and plastic stirrers at all of its locations. Disney officials said in a news release Thursday that the policy will be in place by mid-2019 will eliminate more than 175 million straws and 13 million stirrers annually. ► Disney's Lady and the Tramp remake catches Justin Theroux. The Leftovers star is [in talks]( to lend his voice to the live-action/CH hybrid as the streetwise mongrel Tramp, who in the 1955 original falls in love with a pampered Cocker Spaniel named Lady. Charlie Bean (Lego Ninjago) is directing the remake, expected to debut on Disney's upcoming digital streaming service, which launches in 2019. ► Rocketman adds Bryce Dallas Howard. Paramount's Elton John biopic has [cast]( the Jurassic World actress to play John's (Taron Egerton) mother. ► Charlie's Angels sets reboot's cast. Sony casts Naomi Scott (Disney's upcoming Aladdin remake) and British newcomer Ella Balinska to [fill out]( the trio led by Kristen Stewart. Elizabeth Banks, who's is directing, will also play Bosley, the face of the enigmatic and never-seen owner of the detective agency, Charlie Townsend. ► Crazy Rich Asians' promising tracking. Warner Bros.' Wednesday, Aug. 15 entry is [tracking]( for a five-day domestic debut in the $20 million range, one of the better showings for a romantic comedy in recent times. As expected, the film is generating the most interest among younger females, according to those with access to early tracking. ► Paul Haggis must face rape lawsuit in NY. Haggis is [facing]( the allegation of raping publicist Haleigh Breest in 2013, Eriq Gardner reports. Haggis sued her for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Breest sued back, and her case is the one that will continue. ► IATSE, producers reach tentative agreement. The union that represents most unionized film and TV crew members are [close]( on a new three-year agreement, but at least one Local is recommending non-ratification. ► SPE hires head of global HR. Stacy Green, [armed]( with more than two decades of experience in human resources and cultural transformation, previously worked for a number of leading entertainment and media companies, including NBCUniversal, A+E Networks. At SPE, Sony replaces George Rose, who is retiring at the end of the summer. [Quoted:]( "A private humiliation became a public turning point." — Michelle Williams, on effect of All the Money in the World reshoots pay gap. ^Awkward success. With Friday's vote on the Fox acquisition, Disney CEO Bob Iger is about to become the most powerful mogul in Hollywood history, but columnist Stephen Galloway [notes]( that he also has suffered through a string of executive scandals and public relations blowups in recent years. ► Hunter Killer trailer sets sail to enemy waters. Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman and Common [star]( in the thriller. Butler plays American submarine Capt. Joe Glass as he leads a group of elite Navy SEALs in a mission to kidnap the Russian president, before time runs out. Lionsgate's pic opens Oct. 26. ► Deluxe to acquire The Walk VFX house Atomic Fiction. Atomic Fiction will [become]( part of Deluxe-owned VFX brand Method Studios. The terms of the deal, which is expected to close during Q3, were not disclosed. Atomic Fiction was founded in 2010 by a couple of alums of Robert Zemeckis' former Imagemovers Digital facility, and since then, they have been Zemeckis' go-to VFX house. ► Hollywood marketing firm Ant Farm shuttering. Ant Farm has [crafted]( trailers and television spots for virtually all of the major Hollywood studios over the years, both for movies and television. The company was founded by Barbara Glazer and Michael Greenfield in 1996. ► Ellen Burstyn James Caan starring in rom-com. The duo are [leading up]( Astute Films' Welcome to Pine Grove!, which is described as Mean Girls meets Golden Girls. Michael Lembeck (Santa Clause 2) is directing. ► Adaptation of Marie Lu's Legend lands at BCDF Pictures. After being at CBS Films, the best-selling dystopian YA novel's film and TV rights have a [new home](. Joseph Muszynski will write a new script based on the first novel. ► RIP Harry Gulkin. The veteran Canadian film producer best known for [producing]( classic Canadian films like Lies My Father Told Me and Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang died Monday at 90. ► GKIDS acquired North American distribution rights to MFKZ. The animated film from France’s Ankama and Japan’s Studio 4°C was [co-directed]( by French comic artist Guillaume “Run” Renard and Shoujirou Nishimi, who previously served as director of animation on Studio 4°C's Tekkonkinkreet. Sony taken to court over Slender Man threats. After acquiring rights to a creepypasta internet meme, Sony attempted to [warn]( Phame Factory, which had planned to digitally distribute a movie titled Flay, against infringing its intellectual property, Eriq Gardner reports. Phame Factory asserts its movie doesn't infringe Sony's trademarks and copyrights. Arnold's Fiery TCA Dispatches from TCA: The star of Viceland's new docuseries was the standout at an otherwise calm day of TCA's summer session. Daniel Fienberg, current TCA president, emails in his three Thursday takeaways: 1. Stalking is very 2018. Spotted: Lonely Boy. Back on TV again. Now as a romantic stalker in You, a new drama coming to Lifetime this fall and already renewed for a second season. You might find it creepy, but he has another blonde in his sights! What will Serena say? XOXO - Gossip Girl. (Also, Penn Badgley's new drama plays on a lot of very current insecurities about toxic masculinity and social media stalking and it's prepared to stir up conversation.) 2. Tom Arnold is profane and determined. In the most intense panel of this young press tour, Tom Arnold was nearly monosyllabic when asked about his famous, disgraced ex-wife Roseanne Barr, but when it comes to Donald Trump and the notorious pee-pee tape, he's rather [verbose]( and enthusiastic and certain that his new Viceland show isn't just going to uncover new dirt on POTUS, but it will lead to a presidential resignation. We'll see how that goes. 3. Scripps is back! The return of Netflix and Amazon to the press tour after brief absences may be getting the press, but the Scripps family of cable networks made their first TCA appearance in a decade on Thursday, with appearances by Food Network and HGTV. No lie, critics have been champing at the bit to pepper the Property Brothers with questions. + More on Arnold: The star of Viceland's new show The Hunt for the Trump Tapes, [unleashed]( a sublime polemic against Donald Trump. "I'm going to do this until he resigns," said Arnold. "He is a crazy person. He is putting this country on the precipice of war right now." +> * Criticism of Apprentice producer: "Mark Burnett says he's a Christian, and he lets that man do all that bullshit and he let a sexual harasser work on his show." Elsewhere in TV... ► HBO picks up LeBron James barbershop-set talk show. The premium network has [ordered]( a handful of episodes of the program – which first bowed in 2016 on James’ Uninterrupted digital site, Marisa Guthrie reports. The first show bows Aug. 28 at 11 p.m and features James, business partner Maverick Carter, Jon Stewart, Snoop Dogg, New York Giants' Odell Beckham Jr., New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green and Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker. ► HBO releases Camping teaser. The comedy from Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner stars Jennifer Garner as Kathryn, the obsessively organized and aggressively controlling wife to David Tennant's Walt as the couple and their friends embark upon a four-night outdoor trip to celebrate Walt's 45th birthday. [Watch.]( ► Amazon surges in second quarter. The e-commerce giant [earned]( $5.07 a share during the quarter, more than double the expected $2.50. Although Amazon missed on revenue — bringing in $52.9 billion, under the $53.4 billion analysts were anticipating — the earnings gain, up from 40 cents per share a year earlier, was enough to send the stock up slightly during after-hours trading. ► Amazon inks first-look deal with Larysa Kondracki. The Picnic at Hanging Rock showrunner will [develop]( new series for Amazon Studios via her Smadginelli Inc. banner, with the option to serve as director for select series. ► Twitter stock drops in pre-market trading. The social media company [reported]( higher second-quarter revenue, but lower monthly active usage as it purges "fake" accounts, which sent its stock down sharply in pre-market trading. Twitter posted a record quarterly net income of $100 million, compared to a loss of $116.4 million in the year-ago period. ► The Crown finds more heirs. Netflix has cast Josh O'Connor (Florence Foster Jenkins) and Marion Bailey (Allied) to [take over]( the roles of Prince Charles and the Queen Mother, respectively. They replace Julian Baring and Victoria Hamilton in the roles. ► Netflix orders post-apocalyptic dramedy. Daybreak, based on Brain Ralph's graphic novel, [comes]( from co-creators by Aron Eli Coleite and Rampage director Brad Peyton. The series, with 10 episodes ordered, will follow a 17-year-old high school outcast who goes searching for his missing girlfriend in post-apocalyptic Glendale, California. ► Netflix producing biopic on Nike founder. Netflix [picked]( up the rights to Knight’s best-selling memoir, Shoe Dog. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who wrote The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, are writing the script for the adaptation focused on the creation of Nike and Knight and will be produced by Frank Marshall and Knight. ► Showtime sets end for The Affair. The premium cable network has [renewed]( the drama series for a fifth and final season. The Affair has four episodes left in its current season, with its finale set to air Aug. 19. ► ABC teams Jerrod Carmichael, Nate Bargatze. In one of the first sales of the season, the network [linked up]( Carmichael and Bargatze for a family comedy based on the life of the latter. The untitled project landed at ABC with a sizable put-pilot commitment and is being redeveloped after the script narrowly missed a pilot order last season at Fox. ► Speechless taps John Cleese for season premiere. The ABC sitcom is [headed]( to London for a two-part season three premiere. Cleese stars in the premiere in a as Martin, the hot-tempered, grudge-holding, sharp-witted and irresistibly charming father to Minnie Driver's Maya. ► Trump star vandal offered help from 2016 perp. James Otis told THR he is going to [retain]( a lawyer for Austin Clay, the man arrested on July 25 after he allegedly destroyed Trump's star located at Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue. Otis also tried to post the $20,000, but a GoFundMe started for Clay worked to make it happen before Otis could arrive. [Quoted:]( "There is only one Buffy. One Xander, one Willow, Giles ... They can't be replaced. Joss Whedon's brilliant and beautiful series can't be replicated. I wouldn't try to. But here we are, 20 years later … and the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new Slayer." — Showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen, addressing backlash about her Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. ^Roseanne on Hannity. Barr made her first televised TV appearance after ABC fired her on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, [claiming]( she thought Valerie Jarrett was Iranian. “I’ve apologized a lot. It’s been two months. I’ve apologized and explained and asked for forgiveness,” Barr said. ► Ex-Fox News exec behind White House press crackdown. Bill Shine, who's now working in the Trump administration as deputy chief of staff, was "absolutely" [responsible]( for the ban of CNN's Kaitlan Collins, a source close to CNN told THR. Adds a Rebublican close to the White House: "For a deputy chief of staff to be doing this kind of stuff feels very incongruous and very inappropriate." ► Lifetime gives Greg Berlanti's You early renewal. Before the drama premiered Sept. 9, a second season has been [handed out](. Picked up to series in April 2017, the thriller follows an obsessive yet brilliant 20-something named Joe (Penn Badgley), who uses the hyper-connectivity of today's technology to make the woman of his dreams (Elizabeth Lail) fall for him. ► Lifetime, Robin Roberts partner up. A mix of scripted projects and documentaries, the GMA anchor's banner Robin Roberts Presents will first [take on]( the subjects of gospel singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson and adult kidnap survivor Alexis Manigo. Each will be translated into a film. ► AHS adds Versace breakout for key role. Cody Fern has been [tapped]( to play the role of Michael Langdon, an older version of the Antichrist baby of Evan Peters' Tate Langdon/Rubber Man and Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) in the season one finale. ► BBC's SVOD adds Piers Morgan news show, original drama. BritBox, the subscription video streamer from BBC Studios and ITV, in which AMC Networks also has a stake, is set to become the U.S. home for Good Morning Britain, the news magazine show – aired on ITV in the U.K. – featuring Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid. ► Facebook casts Judith Light in Queen America. The Transparent actress is the latest to [join]( the pageant dark comedy. Light will play the former pageant coach of Catherine Zeta-Jones' character who transformed her from a trailer-park girl. ► Spotify posts second-quarter loss. The music streamer now [boasts]( 83 million paid subscribers. With 180 million ad-supported active monthly users in its stable, Spotify is now larger than rival Apple Music; the uptick in paid subscribers came via its Family Plan program, which does better at reducing churn, or customer defections, than with individual users. ► Omarosa plans "explosive" memoir. Former President Donald Trump aide and Apprentice contestant Omarosa Manigault Newman has a [memoir]( coming called Unhinged. Gallery Books announced Thursday that it will be released on Aug. 14. Comedy Central nabs BoJack Horseman reruns. Seven months after syndication giant Debmar-Mercury took four seasons of the animated Netflix comedy out to market, Comedy Central [acquired]( the library. The Viacom-owned cable network will launch the freshman run of the Netflix comedy from creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg on Sept. 26. A Stand Against Body Shaming No more beach body obsession: The Good Place's Jameela Jamil and her #IWeigh Instagram campaign serves to remind women they're worth more than the shape of their body, Jillian Forstadt reports: + The inspiration: Jamil wants to combat photo spreads criticizing actresses' bodies, which appear frequently in publications around the globe and have a predominantly female readership. + Hollywood joining in: A number of public figures have openly supported "I Weigh," including British model Charli Howard and The Good Place star Kristen Bell, who made her own #IWeigh post on Instagram. "I think she's someone who's kind of like an archetype of what the messaging could be within Hollywood," Jamil says of Bell. + Troubling past: "I think I didn't eat a meal between the age of 14 and 17, and I stopped menstruating, which is a very bad sign of poor health for a young woman," Jamil detailed her severe anorexia. "And this was before social media." [Full interview.]( What else we're reading... — "Demi Lovato's Relapse Is a 'Teachable Moment for Hollywood.'" Ryan Hampton writes: "We all have a responsibility to talk about addiction honestly — without glamorizing it or demonizing the people who struggle with it. Demi has chosen to become a face and a voice for the recovery movement. She’s an example of how Hollywood can respond to addiction in a positive, progressive way." [[THR](] — "Boardroom Turmoil Aggravates Univision’s Problems." Shalini Ramachandran and Benjamin Mullin report: "Clashing egos and feuds over the company’s future have engulfed the U.S.’s largest Spanish-language broadcasting outlet." [[Wall Street Journal](] — "The Hippie King of Cryptocurrency." Neil Strauss profiles former child actor Brock Pierce: "'We’re going to rebuild Puerto Rico with money that we saved from the IRS in a Robin Hood fashion,' he says with a smirk." [[Rolling Stone](] — "Pranks and Masculinity." Emily Nussbaum writes on Who Is America? and Nathan For You: "Cohen's new characters are all straight white men; for all his heralded edginess, Baron Cohen clearly knows that cross-identity disguises won’t fly—and, as a result, his show is, by default, but without much self-awareness, about white masculinity." [[New Yorker](] — "A Star Is Broken (and Then Reborn)." Todd S. Purdum watches Trump's new star being installed: "The speed with which the ruined star was replaced on Wednesday suggests that the chamber must have a ready stock of letters spelling D-O-N-A-L-D T-R-U-M-P on hand. And the intensity of feeling about this president on both sides of the partisan and cultural divide suggests that it probably should." [[The Atlantic](] What else we're watching... + "Jake Tapper: It's unpatriotic to obstruct the Russia probe." [[Late Show](] + "Jeff Ross on roasting Bruce Willis, Dennis Rodman & Blake Griffin." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] + "Martha Stewart and Seth whip up desserts." [[Late Night](] + "Leslie Jones got to backup dance for Jennifer Lopez." [[Tonight Show](] From the archives... + On July 27, 1984, Prince released Purple Rain to the world. Fueled by an electric, classic album, Warner Bros.' musical stormed the box office: "Even those who aren’t Prince fans are likely to be captivated by its energy, enamored with its simple, often poignant storyline." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Taylor Schilling, 34, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 41, Seamus Dever, 42, Maya Rudolph, 46, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, 48, Bryan Fuller, 49, Cliff Curtis, 50, Donnie Yen, 55, Norman Lear, 96. 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 27, 2018