DeGrasse Tyson Misconduct Claims; Netflix at Pinewood?; Marvel's Indie Boom; 'Ralph' Reigns; 'Paddington' Oscar Case

What's news: Fox and National Geographic are investigating sexual misconduct claims levied against Neil deGrasse Tyson. Plus: Ralph Breaks the Internet looks to repeat at the box office, Facebook licenses Joss Whedon shows and remembering President George H.W. Bush. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( December 01, 2018 What's news: Fox and National Geographic are investigating sexual misconduct claims levied against Neil deGrasse Tyson. Plus: Ralph Breaks the Internet looks to repeat at the box office, Facebook licenses Joss Whedon shows and remembering President George H.W. Bush. — Will Robinson ^"Rebuild" Hollywood: During the past year, individuals have learned a lot, but institutions haven’t changed at all, giving guilds the opportunity to step up, Maureen Ryan writes: + "Rotten" culture: I’ve spent a good chunk of 2018 talking to current and former employees who just wanted to do their jobs. But dozens of sources were prevented from doing just that in a safe and respectful environments, thanks to abusive, vindictive, harassing bosses whose reigns of terror were never checked in any meaningful way. Often, this toxicity was not just ignored but rewarded. * Poor prioritization: For every abuser and harasser who is tolerated and enabled, dozens of key creative folks get demoralized and leave. There’s a full-on war for talent these days, and driving people away — at all levels — is a bad idea. What if the next Shonda Rhimes had to endure a stint working for Brad Kern or Charlie Rose? Do you think she’d really pitch her projects to any division of CBS, given the culture that Moonves created? + Union power: The guilds were created to protect Hollywood workers from predatory production companies and studios and have since expanded their agendas. Now they need to evolve their agendas once again, to protect their memberships from abusive, predatory or toxic people. Whether those abusers are outside a given guild — or inside it. [Full column.]( Tyson Under Investigation Three different accounts: Fox and National Geographic are investigating Neil deGrasse Tyson after two women accused him of inappropriate touching and one woman alleged sexual assault, Katie Kilkenny reports: + The claims: Two women came forward with claims of inappropriate sexual advances in a [story in Patheos]( on Thursday, claiming groping and inappropriate sexual comments. In 2014 a first accuser, a former classmate of deGrasse Tyson's at the University of Texas in Austin, accused him of rape in a [blog post](. + Cosmos producers: "The credo at the heart of COSMOS is to follow the evidence wherever it leads. The producers of COSMOS can do no less in this situation. We are committed to a thorough investigation of this matter and to act accordingly as soon as it is concluded.” [Full story.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► Warner Bros. TV investigating Salim Akil domestic violence allegations. The Black Lightning and Love Is producer is [accused]( of abusive behavior in a lawsuit. The studio will interview cast and crew members of the two shows after Akil was sued for domestic violence and breach of contract by actress and writer Amber Dixon Brenner. ► Netflix eyeing lease at London's Pinewood Studios. The move continues in the streaming giant's play to set up production hubs around Europe, including Madrid as its first one, Matthew Garrahan and Judith Evans report. [[Financial Times](] ► Nick Nolte joins Pedro Pascal in The Mandalorian. The Thin Red Line actor joins a cast that also includes Gina Carano. The Disney+ series is already [in production]( and is heavy on visual effects, costumes and make-up, which will allow actors to come and go as well as, in some cases, be cast later in the production process than usual. -> Long read: Networks see their futures in their past. John Jurgensen details the current reboot and revival embrace that plays on viewers' familiarity, after years of networks trying to emulate cable's niche "prestige TV" era. "It used to be that I apologized for working in broadcast," says Fox President of Entertainment Michael Thorn. "Now I embrace it and own it." [[The Wall Street Journal](] ► NBC's Today correspondent Jeff Rossen exiting network. After more than a decade at NBC News, Rossen wanted [to expand]( his "Rossen Reports" branded consumer segments into a multiplatform franchise. ► The Walking Dead heads to China with Typhoon novel. Wesley Chu [will write]( The Walking Dead: Typhoon, the series' first story set in China, for Skybound Books. ► TWD to offer Atlanta set tours. Riverwood Studios [will open]( its doors in December, inviting fans to walk through the Hilltop, the Sanctuary, Glenn's final resting place, and more. ^Facebook licenses Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel in social viewing push: Joss Weedon's short-lived Firefly is also now streaming on the social network as a new social viewing experience it is [calling]( Watch Party, which gives users the ability to watch a show together with a friend. In memoriam... ► RIP George H.W. Bush. The 41st president of the United States died Friday at 94 years old. "The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those that have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens," son and former president George W. Bush said in a statement. [[The Washington Post](] Digital digest... ► Apple Music heads to Amazon Alexa. "The agreement is the latest sign of good relations between the two companies. It comes two weeks after Amazon announced it was working with Apple to carry the latter's newest products." [[CNN Business](] Ratings notes... ► Dirty John launches as Bravo's biggest scripted series ever. After three days of delayed viewing, the Dirty John premiere [brought in]( 2.09 million viewers — 41 percent more than the second most-watched scripted show ever on Bravo (that would be the 2014 series debut of Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, with 1.48 million). ► Will & Grace hits all-time low as TNF reaches all-time high. Will & Grace managed just a 0.6, down 0.1 from its last episode to a new series low. The Dallas Cowboys' win over the New Orleans Saints hit a 14.6 household rating in metered markets, [growing]( by 36 percent over the same week a year ago. The arts scene... ► How London's Victoria & Albert Museum boosted Hollywood's historical cred. The London institution's Cast Courts [reopened]( Saturday with a replica of a 100 A.D. silver cup clutched by Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur and other historical copies used in films from Indiana Jones to Alien. Rogue One spinoff series enlists Americans producer as showrunner. Stephen Schiff is [captaining]( the ship for Diego Luna's Disney+ Star Wars project. On the big screen, his most recent screenwriting credits include 2017's American Assassin and 2010's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Spike Lee's Urgency Awards Chatter's 250th episode: The scrappy, tough-as-nails New York filmmaker Spike Lee, behind classics such as Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, reflects upon the challenges of making indie films over the last 32 years and what he makes of Hollywood and America's fraught relationship with race in the past and present, Scott Feinberg reports. + Timely release: Lee seeks his first ever best director nomination at the Oscars with BlacKkKlansman, a period dramedy that recounts the true story of a black cop who infiltrated the KKK back in 1978. It sadly seems as relevant as ever today, a point hammered home by Lee's decision to close the film with footage of the August 2017 Charlottesville riots. "We were in pre-production [when that happened]," the 61-year-old says. "I saw it on CNN, and I knew that it had to be the ending." + Early struggles: Lee's student film was accepted at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's prestigious New Directors/New Films festival and won a Student Academy Award in 1983. Lee assumed he would be in high demand. "I had an agent," he recalls, "but I couldn't even get an ABC afterschool special." For a young black filmmaker in the mid-'80s, he concluded, the only path to a career as a director would be through indies. [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( Elsewhere in film... ► Ralph Breaks the Internet heading for $27M-$29M in second weekend. The only new wide offering is The Possession of Hannah Grace, which [looks to open]( to a far-from-scary $6 million. MGM and New Line's Creed II and Universal's The Grinch are fighting for second place at around $16 million for the weekend, although Creed II could pull ahead and approach $20 million. ► Roma Mexico screening canceled because proceeds were designated for migrant caravan. Director Alfonso Cuaron [criticized]( the government for the decision, adding, "We will find a way to bring the film to the people of Morelos and to help the caravan." ► Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Hemingway partner for college football drama. The synopsis for the project reads: Set in the world of college football, Work Horses [exposes]( the huge discrepancies between the lives of the players and the universities that make millions off of them. Amazon Studios is behind the feature. ► Colin Farrell joins Matthew McConaughey in Guy Ritchie's Toff Guys. Michelle Dockery will [step into]( shoes previously worn by Kate Beckinsale in the film. ► Samuel Goldwyn Films takes Russian blockbuster Sobibor for North America. Konstantin Khabenskiy [directed]( the WWII drama, which is Russia's submission for the 2019 foreign-language Oscar. ► Juno Films takes South African Oscar contender Sew the Winter to My Skin for N.A. Jahmil X.T. Qubeka's nearly dialogue-free epic [tells]( the true tale of a notorious outlaw and folk hero in pre-apartheid South Africa. ^Marvel stardom helps fuel indie boom for supporting actors: Guardians star Karen Gillan and Ant-Man actor David Dastmalchian are parlaying superhero success into low-budget passion projects, Aaron Couch reports: + Production loop: Marvel has always had a symbiotic relationship with the indie world, relying on indie directors like James Gunn, Ryan Coogler, Taika Waititi and the Russo brothers to power its creative engines. In turn, when its talent returns to independent filmmaking, they come back armed with tools from the Marvel Universe. [Full story.]( On the festival circuit... ► Turin joins Venice, Rome in signing gender parity charter. The Northern Italian fest is the latest [to sign]( the 5050x2020 charter. Musical notes... ► Dr. Luke aims to ensure he's getting cut of Kesha's Rainbow album. Summary judgment motions — and supporting evidence — are [made public]( in a high-profile battle over what she and her reps said about an alleged rape, Eriq Gardner reports. ► Black Eyed Peas face backlash over planned Saudi Arabia performance. The Human Rights Foundation is [calling upon]( the alternative hip-hop group, Enrique Iglesias, Jason DeRulo and more to cancel upcoming concerts in the name of human-rights abuses. ► Ariana Grande breaks YouTube premiere record with "thank u, next" video. At its peak, there were more than 829,000 simultaneous viewers. The highly teased video re-created scenes from the iconic 2000s flicks Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Bring It On and 13 Going on 30. [Watch.]( * Grande becomes most streamed artist worldwide on Spotify. Grande [reached]( the Spotify milestone after surpassing the mark of 46.9 million monthly listeners, overtaking Selena Gomez for the worldwide No. 1 spot. Book report... ► Michelle Obama book sells more than 2 million copies in 15 days. The former First Lady's memoir, Becoming, is [selling]( at a faster pace than memoirs by Hillary and Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Podcast: If Beale Street Could Talk editors discuss "pressure" of the adaptation. Joi McMillon, who became the first black woman to be nominated for an Oscar in film editing, and Nat Sanders discuss the Moonlight best picture mix-up and their latest film with Barry Jenkins on Behind the Screen. [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( The Plight of 'Paddington' Give it a chance: Every year, engaging films like the Paddington 2 are largely ignored by serious-minded Academy voters, so maybe they loosen up and make room for movies that give audiences a good time, Gregg Kilday writes: + Popular Oscar problem: The idea carried the suggestion that the best picture winner would inevitably be viewed as unpopular. But categorizing some movies as enjoyable doesn't necessarily mean others are not enjoyable. Calling Roma, for example, "enjoyable" would be too simplistic to call the film, as it elicits so many emotions and is more than that. + Smile-inducing pics: Admittedly, being "enjoyable" is a subjective concept. An enjoyable movie could be defined as a film that gives audiences a certain euphoric lift — it sends them out of the theater (or off the airplane) on a pleasurable high. Most Pixar movies probably would qualify. Judging by early reactions, so might Mary Poppins Returns. And, last season, given how long it held on at the box office, The Greatest Showman elicited joy for many. [Full column.]( What to watch this weekend... THR critic Daniel Fienberg sends his recommendation: This is a good weekend for our previous What to Watch This Weekend homework assignments to finally pay off! Did you tune into Netflix's Elite and HBO's My Brilliant Friend when we told you to? Then [check out]( Netflix's Baby, which is like if those two shows had a precocious, very Italian child. It's not quite as good, but it's only six episodes long and they're all under 50 minutes. And remember a few weeks back when we said that if you'd watched Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman already, the most underappreciated of Netflix's adult animation offerings is the ribald '70s saga F Is for Family? Well, there's a new foul-mouthed season that just premiered on Friday, and it's nearly as good as those other two great Netflix cartoons and more people should be talking about it! What else we're reading... — "What the Movies Taught Me About Being a Woman." Manohla Dargis writes: "There isn’t a causal relationship between viewer behavior and the screen. There doesn’t have to be. Because movies get into our bodies, making us howl and weep, while their narrative and visual patterns, their ideas and ideologies leave their imprint." [[The New York Times](] — "He Suspended Me From ESPN, But We’re Still Friends." Jemele Hill catches up with former boss John Skipper: "Perspective builds over time. The Trump ordeal was just a juicy headline, not a relationship-defining event. I don’t owe Skipper anything (and vice versa), but he did change my life." [[The Atlantic](] — "The Rise and Fall of a Celebrity Supernova." Lili Anolik reflects: "[Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan & Britney Spears in 2006] understood what nobody else did: that Hollywood wasn’t a geographical location, it was a state of mind." [[Vanity Fair](] — "The Oscars Need a Breakthrough Performance Award." Sean Fennessey contends: "If the Oscars want to start messing with expectations, futzing with the levels to create a new kind of noise, I suggest something that is frivolous but also not insulting to the whole conceit of the show." [[The Ringer](] — "A Scrubs Reunion." Kathryn VanArendonk gathers the sitcom's cast together — creator Bill Lawrence: "The way the show became weird, quite honestly, is we lived in a time that once your show had a very passionate fan base, you knew you could stay on for a while if you kept feeding people what they’re enjoying." [[Vulture](] What else we're watching... + "Michelle Obama's eight years of 'making the abnormal, normal.'" [[Late Show](] + "Dolly Parton's husband wants a threesome with Jennifer Aniston." [[Tonight Show](] + "Michael B. Jordan loses it at Steve Carell’s dolls." [[Graham Norton](] + "Late-Night Lately: Conan in Japan, Jon Stewart interviews Colbert, hosts on climate change" [[THR](] From the archives... + On Dec. 1, 1983, Universal premiered Brian De Palma's 170-minute, R-rated gangster remake Scarface in New York: "Other than an unflinching, intense and extraordinary performance from Al Pacino as the Cuban-born gangster Tony Montana, this gruesome offering has little to recommend." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Zoe Kravitz, 30, Janelle Monae, 33, Riz Ahmed, 36, Akiva Schaffer, 41, Emily Mortimer, 47, Sarah Silverman, 48, Nestor Carbonell, 51, Bette Midler, 73, Woody Allen, 83. Enjoy reading this? Six days a week, look for Today in Entertainment in your inbox to stay up-to-date on the industry. Sign up for this newsletter (and others) at [THR.com/Newsletters](. 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]( December 1, 2018