Female Directors Dip in '18; Inside Depp v. Heard; Tribune Blackout; Penny Marshall's Final Film; Where's Oscars Host?; Coachella Lineup

What's news: A new study details that female directors helmed fewer top 100 films in 2018 than the previous year. Plus: The box office officially sets a new annual record, Tribune goes dark on Spectrum services and inside Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( January 03, 2019 What's news: A new study details that female directors helmed fewer top 100 films in 2018 than the previous year. Plus: The box office officially sets a new annual record, Tribune goes dark on Spectrum services and inside Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard. — Will Robinson ^Female directors down in '18: A new "Celluloid Ceiling" report from San Diego State University finds that while women made incremental gains in other behind-the-scenes roles in 2018, the percentage of directors who were women was down 3 percent from 2017, Gregg Kilday reports: + The numbers: A survey of the top 250 films of 2018 at the domestic box office found that women comprised just 8 percent of the directors involved, a number that was down 3 percentage points from the 11 percent in 2017. It's also 1 percent below the 9 percent recorded 10 years ago, in 1998. The percentages of women directing films in the top 100 and top 500 films declined as well. + Behind-the-scenes employ lacking: Only 1 percent of films employed 10 or more women in the key behind-the-scenes roles it surveyed. In addition to the 8 percent of women who served as directors, women account for 26 percent of producers, 21 percent of executive producers, 21 percent of editors, 16 percent of writers and 4 percent of cinematographers. + Researchers' takeaway: "The study provides no evidence that the mainstream film industry has experienced the profound positive shift predicted by so many industry observers over the last year," Dr. Martha Lauzen, executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, writes. "Without a large-scale effort mounted by the major players — the studios, talent agencies, guilds and associations — we are unlikely to see meaningful change." [Full story.]( Where's the Oscars Host? Still waiting: Sources within the Academy's 300-person staff and 54-person board of governors have no idea how things are progressing, but they are growing concerned as Hollywood's biggest night rapidly approaches, Scott Feinberg reports: + Hosting criteria: They do not want someone who is socially divisive (especially after the Kevin Hart debacle), having concluded that politically outspoken hosts have contributed to the show's ratings declines in recent years; and they do not want someone who primarily appeals to older viewers, who are likely to watch the show regardless of who hosts. + Feinberg's lean: Telecast producer Donna Gigliotti could probably make a run at Jennifer Lawrence, who she helped turn into a star with Silver Linings Playbook. There are several others who are worth pursuing, including Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover and Neil Patrick Harris, who might want to try to redeem himself after the sub-par 87th Oscars. The ideal hosts, for me, would be Oscar winner John Legend, possibly paired with his wife Chrissy Teigen. [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► 2018 box office revenue soars to record $11.9B in the U.S., hits $42B globally. In terms of the number of people going to the movies in 2018, attendance in North America is [expected to be up]( 4 to 5 percent. Foreign box office revenue was $29.8 billion, a 1 percent uptick over 2017 ($29.5 billion). Globally, revenue was up 2.6 percent over 2017, when combined worldwide ticket sales landed at a then-record $40.6 billion. * China box office growth slows to 9 percent in 2018; ticket sales reach $8.9B. Chinese state media reported that growth [slipped]( from a rate of 13.5 percent in 2017, but the full picture is somewhat murkier, Patrick Brzeski details. * Aquaman sails past $200M in North America. The tentpole, directed by James Wan and starring Jason Momoa in the titular role, finished Tuesday with a North American total of $216.3 and $606.6 million overseas for $822.9 million globally. Elsewhere, Mary Poppins Returns clears $115 million domestically and $200 million globally, while Holmes & Watson [fades fast](. ► LAPD makes arrest in star Hollywood home burglaries. Benjamin Eitan Ackerman, 32, of Los Angeles was arrested after it was discovered in September that he allegedly had numerous high-price items [reported stolen]( from the stars' homes, Cdr. Cory Palka, head of the LAPD Hollywood division said during a media conference. Depp and Heard's contentious relationship... ► Legal documents shed new light dual abuse accounts. The stars' volatile relationship, and previously unreleased testimony from their 2016 divorce, is expected to be central to Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit against U.K. tabloid The Sun, Ashley Cullins reports. * Conflicting reports: In the deposition transcripts obtained by THR, Amber Heard claimed that on May 21, 2016 at the L.A. residence, Depp threw her phone at her "as hard as he could" and it hit her in the face. She claims he then grabbed her by the hair and she screamed for help. * Depp's account. The actor, in a July 2018 filing in The Sun defamation lawsuit, claimed Heard was "aggressive and violent" and punched him in the face twice the night of April 21, 2016 after he was late to her birthday dinner. The night of May 21, he said he went to the penthouse to retrieve some of his belongings and brought two of his security guards with him because he "was concerned about what Ms. Heard might do." * Burden of proof. In the U.K. the allegedly defamatory statement is generally presumed false unless the defendant can prove it was true. For that reason, testimony about the alleged abuse will play prominently in Depp's U.K. case — where it is up to The Sun to disprove Depp's claims of what happened that night. [Full story.]( The Globes are near... ► Sam Rockwell, Jessica Chastain and Harrison Ford set to present. Lena Waithe and Halle Berry are also [slated to appear]( during Sunday's awards show. On the festival circuit... ► Adam McKay's Vice wins best picture at Capri, Hollywood Fest. The 23rd edition of the festival wrapped on Jan. 2. Alfonso Cuaron was honored with best director for Roma. The film also took home the honor for best foreign language film and best production design for Eugenio Caballero and Barbara Enriquez. [Winners.]( ^Inside Penny Marshall's unfinished final film on Dennis Rodman: The Big and League  of  Their  Own director was prepping a documentary about her NBA provocateur friend, even on the December day she died, Ben Svetkey reports: + Keeping a lookout: Marshall had been making the movie since 2012, after Rodman, who had been sporadically shooting a doc with another director, asked her to take over. Marshall was worried about her friend and decided to accept the offer to direct his doc, if for no other reason than to keep an eye on him. "She always said she was addicted to crazy," says Russell LaFreniere, the film's first director, who became a producer after Marshall took over. "I think she saw a little of herself in Dennis — she'd been through difficult times, too. She really cared about him. And once she came onto the movie, it opened doors." [Full story.]( Latest reviews... ► Sony's How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. "Pulling off a rare three-peat, [the film] is a tender, spirited coming-of-age CG-animated feature that proves every bit as emotionally resonant and artistically rendered as its 2010 and 2014 predecessors, if not even more so," Michael Rechtshaffen hails. [Review.]( * What critics are saying. Only five reviews are in, but the praise is universal: 100 percent on [Rotten]([Tomatoes](, and an 82 on [Metacritic](. For your consideration... ► Letitia Wright, Lakeith Stanfield, Barry Keoghan among BAFTA rising star nominees. Unlike all other categories, the winner of the rising star award is [chosen entirely]( by the public. Daniel Kaluuya won the award in 2018. Musical notes... ► Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino headline Coachella 2019 lineup. Tame Impala, Janelle Monae, The 1975, Solange, Kid Cudi, Khalid and Idris Elba are also among the scores of performers. [Lineup.]( ► Barack Obama makes Billboard chart debut. The former president appears on Hamilton's "One Last Time" remix. Obama [landed]( at No. 22 on the Jan. 5-dated Hot R&B Songs chart with "One Last Time (44 Remix)." From the stage... ► Broadway hits new high in record holiday week. Several shows topped previous highs, led by Hamilton with a [historic weekly haul]( north of $4 million, helping to push annual box office to a dizzying $1.8 billion. In memoriam... ► RIP Daryl Dragon. The musician best known as the Captain from the group The Captain and Tennille died due to renal failure on Wednesday. He was 76. [Obit.]( ► RIP Kader Khan. The veteran Bollywood actor and writer died on New Year's Eve in a Toronto hospital after a long illness. He was 81 years old. [Obit.]( Melissa McCarthy joins Awards Chatter podcast. The star opens up to Scott Feinberg about how she ventured into standup and improv; why she planned to quit showbiz before landing Gilmore Girls; how the success of Bridesmaids and her Emmy win for Mike & Molly changed her career and the new film for which she's garnering career-best reviews. [Listen]( | [Subscribe]( Tribune Goes Dark Spectrum in crosshairs: Channels operated by Tribune Media have gone dark for subscribers the cable TV brand of Charter Communications, potentially depressing viewership for upcoming NFL playoff games should the two parties not reach an agreement in time for weekend, Paul Bond reports: + Effect of blackout. The blackout consists of 33 TV stations in 24 markets across the U.S., including Seattle and Indianapolis, where interest in playoff games featuring the Seahawks (against the Dallas Cowboys) and Colts (against the Houston Texans) are considerably high. + Hard bargaining position. "It is unfortunate that Tribune has decided to pull its programming from our customers' lineups," Charter said in an email to Bond. "Tribune is demanding an increase of more than double what we pay today for the same programming. That is more than we pay any other broadcaster. They're not being reasonable." * Tribune's side: "We've offered Spectrum fair market rates," said Tribune Media senior vp Gary Weitman. "Spectrum has refused our offer and failed to negotiate in a meaningful fashion." [Full story.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► Disney, Verizon FiOS disclose multiyear deal. Beyond the usual channels, including Freeform, some local ABC stations and various iterations of both ESPN and the Disney Channel, the new agreement will include the ACC Network when it [launches]( on Aug. 22. FiOS has about 4.5 million TV subscribers in the U.S. ► New Netflix CFO was fired for job shopping. The contract for Spencer Neumann, who was just fired from Activision Blizzard, had a "'covenant not to shop' for employment outside the company, except during the last six months of his contract, which ran through April 2020," Christopher Palmeri and Anders Melin report. [[Bloomberg](] ► CBS' Big Bang Theory enlists Kal Penn, Sean Astin. Penn and Astin will play Dr. Campbell and Dr. Pemberton, respectively, a team of physicists who [accidentally confirm]( Sheldon and Amy’s super-asymmetry theory. An airdate for the episode has not yet been determined. -> How The Bachelor is evolving its vetting process. "We’re evolving and changing and doing the best you can, but at the end of the day, there’s stuff that’s going to come up and there’s stuff that’s going to happen," Chris Harrison candidly tells Jackie Strause about how the show plans to tackle controversy when it arises during Colton Underwood's season. [Full interview.]( Ratings notes... ► NFL ratings rise 5 percent in 2018. Games on CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and NFL Network [averaged]( about 15.8 million viewers — slightly below that figure including two games played in London, slightly above without them — an improvement of 800,000 viewers on the 2017 season. ► Fox's The Gifted begins 2019 with series low. The Marvel series [drew a 0.5 rating]( in the demo, 0.1 below its previous low. Lethal Weapon held steady at 0.7 with an earlier start time. From last night... ► Who was the first celeb eliminated on The Masked Singer? Athletes and performers sang in elaborate head-to-toe costumes on Fox's new singing competition hosted by Nick Cannon. [Spoilers.]( ^Vicki Lawrence remembers how Carol Burnett once saved her job: Ahead of Burnett receiving an honorary Golden Globe TV career award named for her, the longtime collaborator shares memories of their friendship and reveals how Mama's Family really found its voice in the ladies' room, Lesley Goldberg reports: + Comedy lessons: "Aside from the craft of being funny, I learned how you would like the business of show business to run," Lawrence says. "There wasn't room for egos or crazy behavior; you just didn't do that. It was a nurturing environment. If you were doing something incredibly funny and she wasn't in the sketch, she'd be the first one out of her dressing room, standing on the stage, leading the laughter with the audience." [Full interview.]( Digital digest... ► Apple sales slow in China. The tech giant is having trouble navigating the U.S.-China trade war, Jack Nicas reports. "The company said Wednesday that it expected revenue of about $84 billion in the quarter that ended Saturday, down from a previous estimate of $89 billion to $93 billion. That would be a nearly 5 percent decline from the same quarter a year ago." [[The New York Times](] Legal briefs... ► DOJ demands radio station be ordered to register as Russian agent. DOJ attorneys [file counterclaims]( after RM Broadcasting alleges that no registration is required from its "commercial contract" with a Russian Federation-owned news agency. In memoriam... ► RIP Bob Einstein. The two-time, Emmy-winning writer and actor who recurred on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and created the character of Super Dave Osborne died at 76. [Obit.]( ► RIP "Mean" Gene Okerlund. The longtime broadcaster for WWE passed, the company announced. Okerlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. He was 76. [Obit.]( Gaming sales in U.K. bigger than combined revenue of music, home video. Gaming sales [reached]( $4.859 billion in 2018 thanks to FIFA 19, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, while The Greatest Showman dominated the video and music charts. Before Its Time 25 years too early: Decades before Crazy Rich Asians broke box office records, The Joy Luck Club seemed poised to open the floodgates for Asian-American representation in Hollywood. Production assistant on the film and current culinary writer Eddie Lin reflects why it didn't: + Non-diverse set: It's evident on screen that the cast was comprised of mainly Asian Americans, but the crew was made up of quite a few Asians too. According to film editor Maysie Hoy, who is Chinese-Canadian, when she and her Chinese assistant were hired to take over from a white editor and his white assistant, the white assistant jeered, "Round eyes are leaving now." I still remember this story, decades later, because it shattered my erstwhile idyllic experience of working on my first Hollywood movie. + Cautionary tale: [This is] a warning to keep the exuberance in check until Hollywood really does come around and makes being Asian onscreen a non-newsworthy event. But perhaps this time it’s different. Maybe #OscarsSoWhite and #StarringJohnCho were thorny enough to get under the skins of executives. Could it be that Fresh Off the Boat rocked the boat hard enough to make waves? Or have Asian-Americans become more passionate and active about being represented in media? [Full column.]( What else we're reading... — "Laura Dern’s Big Little Truths." Sloane Crosley profiles the actress: "She is a fearless actor, which is Hollywood for 'not afraid of looking ugly,' but in her case, the fearlessness goes beyond the superficial. She has created a cottage industry out of playing deeply flawed, funny, cringe-inducing, infuriating anti-heroines." [[Vanity Fair](] — "What Netflix’s Involvement in Nigeria’s Massive Film Industry Means." Renee Bagslint explores: "Netflix could have better chances in penetrating the country’s elite market, as richer people in Nigeria and across Africa have easier access to reliable power supply and internet." [[The Conversation](] — "Mexico City as the Director of Roma Remembers It (and Hears It)." Kirk Semple accompanies Alfonso Cuaron to his childhood neighborhood: "The point of departure was to explore personal wounds, family wounds, but also wounds that I shared collectively with the whole country and maybe with humanity. ... The presence of the city, in that sense, is fundamental." [[The New York Times](] — "Is the End of Netflix's Golden Age in Sight?" Mark Sweney explores: “Individually any one of the big Hollywood studio groups does not make up a huge proportion of Netflix’s catalogue, maybe 4% or 5% of total hours. ... If one or two pull their content Netflix can plug the gap. But if the market gets more aggressive against Netflix, it is going to get tougher." [[The Guardian](] — "The Case for Why Big Tech Is Violating Antitrust Laws." Former New York assistant attorney general Sally Hubbard explains: "The tech giants have 'platform privilege' — the incentive and ability to prioritize their own goods and services over those of competitors that depend on their platforms. By doing so, they contend they are improving their products and benefiting customers." [[CNN Business](] From the archives... + Today in 2000: Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comics strip stopped its daily production after nearly 50 years as Schulz coped with colon cancer. The strip ended altogether a month later after Schulz died: "For a time between the late 1950's and the mid 1960's Peanuts was ... was, in the persons of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy Van Pelt and her brother, Linus, a distillation of modern childhood, an ongoing parable of contemporary American existence." [[The New York Times](] Today's birthdays: Florence Pugh, 23, Brooke Williams, 35, Nicholas Gonzalez, 43, Danica McKellar, 44, Dan Harmon, 46, Matt Ross, 49, Mel Gibson, 63. 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.]( ©2019 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( January 3, 2019