Verizon's $4.8B Yahoo Play; Roger Ailes' Next Moves; Stars Take DNC Spotlight; Comic-Con Winners and Losers

Happy Monday! THR's Michael Wolff and Seth Abramovitch are in Philadelphia for the Democrats' convention, which will have a much bigger Hollywood presence than last week's Trump show (no offense, Scott Baio). Plus: The summer of diminishing sequel returns continues with Star Trek and Ice Age, and which Comic-Con panels won and lost the weekend. — executive editor Matthew Belloni, assignment editor Erik Hayden [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment] July 25, 2016 Happy Monday! THR's Michael Wolff and Seth Abramovitch are in Philadelphia for the Democrats' convention, which will have a much bigger Hollywood presence than last week's Trump show (no offense, Scott Baio). Plus: The summer of diminishing sequel returns continues with Star Trek and Ice Age, and which Comic-Con panels won and lost the weekend. — executive editor Matthew Belloni, assignment editor Erik Hayden Roger Ailes' Next Moves After getting shown the door at Fox News over sexual harassment claims, what does CEO Roger Ailes do next? Michael Wolff poses this scenario in [his latest column:] Even at 76, the combative Ailes is not one to go quietly into retirement (even with whatever non-compete deal he struck). At the same time, the message from the Murdochs is that Fox News will necessarily change, if not under interim CEO Rupert Murdoch then eventually under whomever Murdoch and his sons choose to run the cash cow network. That means the red meat conservative audience is as up for grabs as it’s ever been. A responsible, kinder-gentler, less-intuitive, more corporate Fox News Channel might be expected to lose a good part of this audience anyway. If there’s a competitor, particularly a Roger Ailes-run competitor, that could happen overnight. More on Ailes... ► The New York Times has [a story] on the work culture at Fox News, which ran on the front page on Sunday, that includes more women speaking about sexual harassment at the cable network. ► Meanwhile, Donald Trump defended Ailes on NBC's Meet the Press, saying that "[he's a very good person]" and offering a vague response when asked if Ailes could run his campaign. Elsewhere... ► Yahoo finally gets sold to Verizon. The [$4.83B deal], officially unveiled today, adds the internet giant's media properties — including Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Tumblr and video ad platform BrightRoll — to Verizon's growing ad tech and media business, which was bolstered last year by the purchase of AOL for $4.4 billion. And CEO Marissa Mayer says she's staying. ► Nintendo shares plunge after Pokemon Go warning. Investors had seen the game's global popularity as a positive sign for Nintendo’s belated move into mobile gaming. But the company issued a brief statement after the close of trading Friday warning that the impact of the game's success on its profits would be "[limited]." ► Redbox parent company sold to private equity firm. Outerwall, which had been exploring strategic and financial alternatives, has been sold to funds associated with Apollo Global Management for $52.00 a-share, or [around $1.6 billion.] ► Hollywood M&A value hits multi-year high in first half. Total announced entertainment deal value [reached $18.8 billion] in the first six months of 2016, up 306.5 percent from $4.6 billion in the first half of 2015. Lionsgate-Starz, NBCUniversal-DreamWorks Animation and Wanda-Legendary helped the sector to its highest January-June deal value since 2013. ► AMC Theatres sweetens deal for Carmike. AMC Theatres will now acquire the theater chain for $1.2 billion in cash and stock and including debt. The companies had previously agreed to a $1.1 billion deal, or $30 per share, that [drew opposition] from some shareholders. It's Hillary's (And Hollywood's) Turn There's nary a reality star in sight as Lena Dunham, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Shailene Woodley and tons more celebrities descend on Hillary Clinton's big convention. Senior writer Seth Abramovitch outlines [what to watch for:] Americans can decide for themselves how much oomph is left in Sen. Bernie Sanders' step when he takes the stage tonight at the Walls Fargo Arena. Also set to speak on Monday is First Lady Michelle Obama, whose own 2008 DNC speech was, in yet another bizarre twist, partially cribbed by aspiring First Lady Melania Trump. Tuesday brings another heavy-hitter in Bill Clinton. Also scheduled for that day are Mothers of the Movement, consisting of the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and other African-Americans whose deaths have fueled the Black Lives Matter movement. Wednesday will feature President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and the convention will wrap up with the Clinton women — Chelsea and her mother. Tim Kaine will no doubt deliver another rousing, bilingual address like the one he gave in Miami on Saturday, further quieting rumors that he's "too boring" to inspire voters. **Miss the debut of Clinton-Kaine on 60 Minutes? [Watch here]. Also: UTA agent Jay Sures talks to THR about his friendship with Kaine and why he's the[right VP pick.]** Comic-Con's Winners and Losers After four dizzying days, San Diego Comic-Con 2016 is in the books. Who were the winners and losers? TV news editor Lesley Goldberg, Heat Vision editor Aaron Couch and senior writer Borys Kit pick the best showings. [A few selections:] ► DC's Wonder Woman. The footage Warner Bros. showed was strong, and [fans responded]. And those in Hall H, including young girls, also went crazy for Gal Gadot as Woman Woman. ► DC's Justice League. The footage the studio showed, with [its quippy tone] and one-liners, was meant to convince fans that Zack Snyder's follow-up will indeed be different than Batman v Superman. ► Marvel Studios. [A big Black Panther casting]? A [day in the life of Peter Parker]? The [hilarious mockumentary] on what Thor was doing during Captain America: Civil War? Yep. And they closed out with a bang: Brie Larson [as Captain Marvel]. ► Marvel TV. The TV side's first panel at SDCC with streaming giant Netflix earned a standing ovation after news of Daredevil's renewal and well-received promos for Luke Cage, Iron Fist as well as The Defenders. A day later, ABC's own Marvel drama, Agents of SHIELD, tapped Gabriel Luna to play famed anti-hero Ghost Rider. And FX dropped [the trailer] for Fargo creator Noah Hawley's X-Men take Legion. ► Bates Motel. A&E's little-watched but critically adored Psycho prequel announced that pop icon Rihanna [will recur] as Janet Leigh's iconic Marion Crane in what was revealed to be its fifth and final season. Talk about going out with a bang. And the losers of the week: ► DC TV. It's becoming increasingly hard to keep track of the musical chairs in the DC TV universe. And then there's Supergirl, where not even the arrival of Superman could save this panel from being a total dud. At least it wasn't Fox's Gotham, which was [exiled] out of the block. ► HBO's Game of Thrones. Always a must-see at Comic-Con, the panel [underwhelmed] in the cavernous Hall H. With showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss both in attendance, little new information was unveiled about season seven and the fantasy drama's mega-stars skipped the trip. ► WB's King Arthur. Amid a packed presentation featuring DC heroes, a Harry Potter prequel and Kong: Skull Island, the Guy Ritchie project got lost in the shuffle. It didn't help that star Charlie Hunnam was the only talent there to carry the water, and the footage was [not a clear hit], either. ► The MIA film studios. This year featured the smallest selection of film studio presentations in recent memory. This year, Fox cited piracy as a concern for sitting this one out, but it missed key opportunities to connect with fans on its September Tim Burton movie Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Burton at Comic-Con? Heaven!) and December's Assassin's Creed. **For all trailers, news and interesting stories from Comic-Con, see THR's[full coverage here.]** 'Star Trek,' 'Ice Age' Suffer Sequelitis It was a topsy-turvy weekend at the box office. Star Trek Beyond beamed up a strong $59.6 million, more than enough to win the weekend and marking one of the best openings of summer to date, senior writer Pamela McClintock[reports:] However, the third chapter in Paramount and Skydance Productions' rebooted franchise came in 14 percent behind the opening of 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness ($70.2 million) as Hollywood battles a bad case of sequelitis. It's nothing compared to Ice Age: Collision Course, which fell off a cliff in its domestic debut with $21 million — 55 percent behind the 2012 launch of Ice Age: Continental Drift ($46.6 million) and the worst showing for an animated studio tentpole in a decade. The good news: Collision Course, which eked out a fifth-place finish, is faring better overseas, grossing another $30 million this weekend from 60 markets for a foreign total of $178 million and global cume of $199 million. New Line and Warner Bros.' supernatural horror film Lights Out, which cost under $5 million to make, tied with Ghostbusters for No. 3 with a better-than-expected $21.6 million. ► [Full weekend box office] I [Video recap] I [Full China box office]. Elsewhere in film... ► Jackie Chan's Skiptrace rockets to $60M in China. The four-day opening haul marks [the biggest bow] of Chan's career, topping the $54 million Dragon Blade earned during its Thursday-to-Sunday debut last year. ► Sand fire destroys film sets. The Santa Clarita wildfire destroyed sets at Sable Ranch, which "has been the site of various TV and film shoots, including 24, The A-Team, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Maverick, Wipeout and The Bells of Coronado," the Associated Press [reports]. ► A summer movie season debate. From Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates to Tarzan's anachronistic abs, the chills of The Conjuring 2 to the charm of KStew, THR film critics dissect a summer movie season [short on escapism]. ► "How Shakespeare Taught Me the Movie Business Is Dying." That's the headline for executive features editor Stephen Galloway's new column on a film industry in decline. [Worth reading here.] Justin Lin opens up. Joining Scott Feinberg's Awards Chatter podcast, the Star Trek Beyond filmmaker, who made his name at Sundance before helming four Fast and Furious blockbusters in eight years, opens up about his youth as an undocumented immigrant and his "most personal" film. [Listen here.] 'Pokemon Go' But For 'Star Wars' After the overwhelming success of Pokemon Go, augmented reality has entered the big-time, with Hollywood carefully exploring future possibilities, contributing editor Carolyn Giardina [reports:] Various studios have already shown a keen interest in AR. And it is poised to become ubiquitous, predicts Ben Grossmann, who won an Oscar for the visual effects on Hugo and is now a co-founder and CEO of Magnopus, a L.A.-based firm that is developing applications for AR. “Imagine taking elements of the Star Wars universe and bringing them into the real world. Pokemon Go is also going to justify the development of more advanced systems and make it attractive for companies to invest in AR,” Grossmann explains. [A warning:] Danny Kaye, exec vp of global research and technology strategy at Fox Home Entertainment, notes that "it’s going to take time to develop. If you are going to put a computer on your head, it has to be smaller, lighter and more affordable for a mass market." Today's Birthdays: Matt LeBlanc, 49, Darren Star, 55, David Denman, 43. Follow The News Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.] ©2016 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. 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