Batfleck No More; States vs. H'Wood; Gunn's 'Suicide Squad'; Smollett Update; Euro's Poor Box Office

What's news: Despite a global record set at the box office, why did Europe have a down year? Plus: The polar vortex affects TV production, Kelly Kahl vows a CBS culture shift and Facebook's big earnings after a year of controversy. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( January 31, 2019 What's news: Despite a global record set at the box office, why did Europe have a down year? Plus: The polar vortex affects TV production, Kelly Kahl vows a CBS culture shift and Facebook's big earnings after a year of controversy. — Will Robinson ^States' rights?: As Massachusetts legislators seek to withhold tax credits from Showtime's SMILF pending an investigation, other local governments may follow suit to keep dollars from going to projects that don't prevent bad behavior, Bryn Elise Sandberg reports: + What's at stake: This year, SMILF would be eligible for a generous 25 percent tax credit for all its 2018 filming (Massachusetts law requires projects to complete shooting before applying for money back). According to sources, the production hasn't yet applied for those tax incentives, but it is technically eligible to do so until the end of 2019. * New ground?: Whether the state is legally able to withhold those credits from the production — which one on-the-ground source says is "unprecedented" — is another matter. "If [any production has] a hard time complying with a diversity and inclusion plan, they probably shouldn't be doing business in Massachusetts," State Sen. Nick Collins says. + Other provisions: Illinois warns applicants that a production with low racial or female representation may be denied entry to the program, and New Jersey has a component of its tax credit that offers an additional 2 percent in rebates to productions that meet diversity thresholds for cast and crew. Legislation that former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed last summer included new anti-harassment and diversity amendments. [Full story.]( Euro Slump What's to blame?: With theatrical revenue off across all major markets on the continent, Netflix is the obvious culprit, but insiders say aging theaters (no air conditioning in Italy?) are a major factor, Scott Roxborough reports: + The damage: In Europe's five biggest territories — the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy — box office returns ranged from tepid to terrifying. Germany saw ticket revenue plunge 16 percent to $965 million, the first time in years the territory failed to clear the $1 billion mark. Italian cinemas had their worst year in a decade, with grosses down 5 percent to $633 million. + Infrastructure problems: "The Brits have invested in their theaters, and they've taken real risks," one frustrated German distributor tells THR. "In Germany, your average theater lobby hasn't been painted since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why would anyone pay $12 to take your date to a place like that?" [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► Paramount Pictures undergoes layoffs in restructuring. Those cuts, said to be about 1.5 percent of the total number of employees at the company, were [described]( by as a part of a "transformation" that "impacts a very small number of our work force." The cuts were said to impact the finance, legal, business affairs and TV teams. ► Super Bowl to sack moviegoing after dismal January. The sole new nationwide offering is Sony's Miss Bala, a remake of the Spanish-language film of the same name. The $15 million action-thriller, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Gina Rodriguez, is tracking to open in the $6 million-$10 million range. [Box office preview.]( ► Berlin Film Festival to sign gender parity pledge. Cannes and Venice have [already committed]( to the pledge, which commits festivals to equal male and female representation in top management and to transparency in their selection process. ► China's first big-budget sci-fi to get U.S. release. In addition to The Wandering Earth, CMC Pictures also will [distribute]( celebrity writer-turned-director Han Han's much-anticipated Chinese car race movie Pegasus in North America. ► Kino Lorber nabs Alicia Vikander-narrated climate change doc. The Canadian film Anthropocene, by directors Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky, [is set]( for a September theatrical release. ► Mid East banner Front Row recruits former Disney exec to aid production push. Nicolas Torloting [joins]( as COO of the company, which has already announced an Arab-language remake of Italian hit Perfect Strangers. ► FilmStruck replacement from Criterion Collection to launch in spring. The video distributor is [prepping]( an April 8 launch for its new streaming service, The Criterion Channel, which will house more than 1,000 classic and contemporary films. ► Midnight Rider railroad company settles with Sarah Jones' family. The company that owned the railroad where Jones — a production assistant on the Gregg Allman biopic — was killed in 2014 has [settled]( a wrongful death lawsuit from her family. Deals and developments... ► James Gunn in talks to direct Suicide Squad sequel. The move is not entirely unexpected as Gunn was [already writing]( the script for the follow-up, which Warner Bros. just slotted for an August 2021 release. ► The Batman will arrive June 2021. Director Matt Reeves has been teasing the noir aspects he [plans to employ]( for the film. * Ben Affleck hangs up the cowl. The actor's future as the character has been in doubt since July 2017. With the announcement of The Batman release date, Affleck shared a tweet that THR has confirmed is the actor [saying goodbye]( to the role. "Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life," Affleck wrote. ► Ted Melfi in talks to direct sci-fi adventure Harry's All Night Hamburgers. The Hidden Figures filmmaker is in final negotiations [to direct]( the parallel universes adventure for Warner Bros. ► Quatermass movie reboot in the works at Legendary, Hammer Films. David Farr (The Night Manager) is [set to pen]( the script as the 1950s British science-fiction series returns to the big screen. ► Priyanka Chopra developing film based on Netflix's Wild, Wild Country doc series. The actress is [working with]( Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson on the project. Casting call... ► Zendaya circling Denis Villeneuve's Dune. She [would play]( Timothee Chalamet's onscreen love interest, Chani. ► Bella Thorne nabs lead in thriller Girl. Double Dutch International [is shopping]( writer/director Chad Faust's feature directorial debut at the European Film Market in Berlin. ► Chloe Grace Moretz to star in Max Landis-penned action horror Shadow in the Cloud. Endeavor is [shopping]( the WWII-set film, from Chinese-New Zealand director Roseanne Liang. [Quoted:]( "Many have contacted us about accepting the 4% challenge, but I’m proud to say 40% of @DisneyStudios’ upcoming movie slate is being directed by women and we are striving for more!" — Bob Iger. ^Louise Linton hits Sundance looking for deals: The wife of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made a quiet visit to Park City in a bid to launch her four-woman production company "across the ocean of Hollywood," Rebecca Keegan reports: + Getting her footing: Linton has been quietly building Stormchaser, her production company hiring three other women to help her run it. The company takes its name from a dinghy Linton’s brother rowed in Scotland that has “Stormchaser” written on the side in blue electrical tape. “It was obviously intended to be a big name for a little boat,” Linton says. [Full story.]( Sundance developments... + The deals: Netflix [circling]( AOC doc Knock Down the House... Hulu [takes]( the Untitled Amazing Johnathan Documentary... Julius Onah thriller Luce [goes to]( Neon, Topic. + The reviews: The thrilling & [heartrending]( Sea of Shadows... Corporate Animals [misuses]( ensemble... The [best]( from the fest's Indie Episodic Program. Latest reviews... ► Sony's Miss Bala. "Gina Rodriguez's incarnation soldiers through it all with a kind of can-do fortitude. Ultimately, this doesn't translate into any emotional revelations or arresting insights other than the obvious," Todd McCarthy writes. [Full review.]( Legal briefs... -> Is Harvey Weinstein better off with his new legal team? After the disgraced mogul's top lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, exits ahead of the May trial in a New York sexual assault case, four high-profile attorneys have been [enlisted](, Ashley Cullins details. ► Fox's Alita: Battle Angel hit with trademark lawsuit. Epic Stone Group on Wednesday sued 20th Century Fox for trademark infringement and unfair competition in Florida federal court, [claiming]( it owns the rights to "Battle Angel" and has been selling merchandise bearing the mark for more than a decade. The arts scene... ► Swizz Beatz partners with UTA Artist Space to present new show highlighting "black renaissance" works. Curated by Nicola Vassell, the exhibition [opens]( Feb. 13 — amid L.A.'s confluence of art fairs including Frieze LA and Art Los Angeles Contemporary — with works by Kehinde Wiley (portraitist of Barack Obama), Kerry James Marshall and more. In memoriam... ► RIP Michael Forman. The chairman of the board and CEO of the Decurion Corp., the privately held parent company of ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres, died Tuesday at 83. [Obit.]( ► RIP Dick Miller. The veteran character actor and star of Roger Corman's 1959 cult classic A Bucket of Blood — and who played Murray Futterman in Gremlins — died Tuesday at 90. [Obit.]( ► RIP Louisa Moritz. The actress — one of Bill Cosby's sexual assault accusers — was best known for her role as Rose in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which she starred alongside Jack Nicholson. She died last week at 72. [Obit.]( Netflix threw two parties in one weekend after first best picture nod. After Roma [scored]( its big Oscar nomination, Netflix hosted parties with talent from other studios also welcome, including Rami Malek (20th Century Fox) and Timothee Chalamet (Amazon). 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](. CBS Culture Shift Long road ahead: CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl discusses the atmosphere around the company, a post-Big Bang Theory life and whether broadcast networks are overly reliant on spinoffs, Lesley Goldberg reports: + Fixing culture: "[The corporation has] been doing a lot of listening, a lot of interaction — more so than in the past," Kahl asserts. "The actors talked today that every show has a seminar with HR professionals talking about what is and what is not acceptable behavior. We are 100 percent committed to a safe and collaborative workplace." + Future of Chuck Lorre collabs: "We will do shows with Chuck as long as Chuck wants to do shows with us. I can't speak for him but I do believe he's had a very good experience with us and I'd like to think very possible you can enjoy both experiences and take something away from each," Kahl says. "I certainly hope he will be in business with us for many years to come. He is the best in the business and a great partner." [Full interview.]( -> Good Fight season three leans into Trump's "storm." Showrunners Michelle and Robert King rolled out a trailer for the upcoming 10-episode stint, noting that it would be taking cues from the way it ended the second season. “We have a few backup plans if the world runs ahead of us,” added Robert King. [Watch.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► Chicago PD searching for "persons of interest" in Jussie Smollett attack. "Detectives located a surveillance camera that shows potential persons of interest [wanted for questioning]( in reference to the assault & battery of Empire actor," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted. ► Polar vortex stops filming on Empire; NBC Chicago shows stay inside. The frigid weather in the Midwest has [also halted]( production on Fox's first-year drama Proven Innocent. ► Charter loses 22,000 pay TV subs in Q4. Quarterly earnings came in at $296 million, or $1.29 per share, below Wall Street estimates. That compared with $9.6 billion in the year-ago period, which was boosted by a tax benefit from a reduction in the deferred tax liability as a result of tax reform. [Details.]( ► Discovery says it is "not for sale" after CNBC report. "We remain [extremely confident]( in our growth strategy in the U.S. and globally," Discovery says after CNBC suggests it was interested in selling to CBS or a potentially recombined CBS-Viacom. ► "Amazon Seizes TV’s Biggest Stage, After Shunning Mass-Market Ads." Jeff Bezos' company will air two ads during Sunday's Super Bowl, Suzanne Vranica reports, with one 90-second ad touting the company's products and a 60-second trailer for new series Hanna. Ad time this year on CBS is going for $5 million for a 30-second spot. [[The Wall Street Journal](] ► CBS All Access orders series of Stephen King's The Stand. The drama has received a 10-episode order at the SVOD platform, where it [will join]( The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, among others. ► Fox renews The Masked Singer. The gonzo talent competition is the 2018-19 TV season's [highest-rated]( new series. ► NBCUniversal, CTV partner on The Transplant medical drama. NBCUniversal International Studios, led by Jeff Wachtel, [will handle]( international distribution on the drama about a Syrian refugee working as a doctor in a Toronto trauma unit. ► Fox News gets in on former politician hiring spree, adds Trey Gowdy. The network [hired]( the former South Carolina congressman a day after CBS News hired Jeff Flake. ► AMC, BBC America to simulcast Killing Eve season two. The BBC America breakout's profile will get a boost with an additional broadcast on a more [widely available]( sister channel. [Quoted:]( "I don’t want to be a part of the law firm thing. There are enough people involved in that. I hope and pray that that era — somebody having that much power, a man or a woman; seems like it's mostly men but I’m sure there are some women mixed in there somewhere, sometime — is, hopefully, over." — Cybill Shepherd, on her possible recourse against Leslie Moonves. ^Facebook's year of crisis doesn't dent Q4 earnings: The social network grew quarterly revenue by 30 percent to $16.9 billion during the final three months of 2018 and earned $2.38 per share, Natalie Jarvey details. * Slow growth. The company ended the quarter with 2.32 billion monthly active users, up 9 percent from the same period last year. Daily active users also grew by 9 percent to 1.52 billion. [Full story.]( -> Facebook suffers setback in fraud lawsuit over data harvesting for Trump election: A federal judge rules that one county prosecutor is primarily serving the interests of Illinois with an action targeting the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting. As a result, the social media giant finds itself facing a potentially inhospitable forum, Eriq Gardner reports. [Details.]( Digital digest... ► Snap creative exec exits for commercial directing role. Rylee Ebsen [joined]( Snapchat when it had around 30 employees and became head of the messaging app's in-house creative agency. ► WME signs popular streamer Jacksepticeye. The Irish content creator [boasts]( more than 20 million subscribers on the video-sharing platform. Casting call... ► Netflix's You casts Haunting of Hill House breakout as season two female lead. Victoria Pedretti [will play]( a character named Love Quinn, an aspiring chef in Los Angeles who works as a produce manager at a grocery store. From the Live Feed... ► The latest Masked Singer celeb. Who took off the unicorn mask in the Fox reality hit's fifth episode? [Spoilers.]( Jackie Strause emails: Natasha Lyonne stars in Netflix's Russian Doll, the new genre-bending series she co-created with Amy Poehler. At the core of what reveals itself to be a high-concept premise is a version of Lyonne's real-life story — "an autobiography [wrapped]( in a mind-bending concept," she says. Epix exec raises $30K for Complex Networks' content head after fire. Melanie Moreau, the head of premium content development at Complex Networks, says she was [shocked]( by the outpouring of support from the content community after her Malibou Lake house was destroyed in November, Lindsay Weinberg reports. Netflix's Ratings Ploys Playing its own game: The company's staggering but unverified ratings numbers and its history of withholding information drive its competitors crazy while creating mystique and value, Tim Goodman writes: + Selective sharing: Doesn’t it seem odd that Netflix is touting 40 million in four weeks for Sex Education show but never noted such numbers for, say, Stranger Things? Why note 80 million for Bird Box but not a peep about Roma figures? Does it mean those numbers are bad? I doubt it. Basically Netflix is playing with numbers in a freakishly bewildering way because it creates an angry little vortex of questions and wonder in the minds of rivals. + Indictment of cablers: Ratings gurus at broadcast networks and ad-supported cable channels are going to nitpick those Netflix numbers to death, but no amount of anti-spin is going to make them less disturbing. I mean, if You couldn't launch on Lifetime where, theoretically, it had a better chance than on most other channels, what does that say? [Full column.]( What else we're reading... — "You Know the Lorena Bobbitt Story. But Not All of It." Amy Chozick profiles: "They always just focused on it ... And it’s like they all missed or didn’t care why I did what I did." [[The New York Times](] — "Why Empire Actor Jussie Smollett's Attack Deeply Hurts." Ernest Owens writes: "It’s important to acknowledge that the hate Smollett faced as a black gay man was a bi-product of society’s tolerance of racism and homophobia. There is racial bias in how LGBTQ people are protected in mainstream society, as there is homophobia in how black people are protected within their own community." [[The Daily Beast](] — "Comedy Central Wants You to Watch Its New Shows on Cable." Nicole LaPorte reports: “‘Super funny’ is obviously the primary one and the first thing we think about. But then the second is ‘personally relatable’ and ‘storytelling.’ That’s just the evolution of TV right now, and that’s what audiences are craving.” [[Fast Company](] — "Alia Shawkat’s Quiet Rebellion." Rachel Handler interviews the actress: "You have to have a routine. You have to be healthy. I don’t believe that a tortured artist makes the best work. It works for some people, but it wouldn’t last. I’ve been getting in a routine, starting to write again." [[Vulture](] — "2018 Was a Breakthrough for Asians in Hollywood — Except for Oscar." Jane Hu poses: "That Hollywood conceives of contemporary Asia as primarily a business market, moreover, has not seemed to encourage any further diversification on that front." [[The Ringer](] What else we're watching... + "Kenan Thompson & Kel Mitchell once scalped Super Bowl tix for dinner at Chili's." [[Tonight Show](] + "Kevin Hart & Stephan James battled on the basketball court." [[Late Late Show](] + "Max Greenfield brings his child to (Stephen's) work." [[Late Show](] + "Megan Mullally had baby talk chat with Harrison Ford." [[Late Night](] From the archives... + Today in 1999: Fox premiered animated series Family Guy from then-25-year-old Seth MacFarlane. Fox canceled the show in 2002 and eventually brought it back in 2005, where it's run since: ''There was this fan base that was lying dormant. That base brought a whole new group with it. Were we surprised at the response? I'd be lying if I said no.'' [[The New York Times](] Today's birthdays: Megan Ellison, 33, Justin Timberlake, 38, Bobby Moynihan, 42, Kerry Washington, 42, Paul Scheer, 43, Portia de Rossi, 46, Minnie Driver, 49, Jonathan Banks, 72, Jessica Walter, 78. 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 31, 2019