Whither 'Walking Dead'?; Spidey Swings For $150M; Academy Merger?; Swift May Need To Shake It Off

What's news: What is the future of The Walking Dead franchise? Spider Man: Far From Home is swinging for a big holiday weekend, Netflix's talk show problem, and there has been a Flash shakeup. Plus: Should the TV and Film Academies merge? And ABC's fall premiere dates. --Alex Weprin July 03, 2019 What's news: What is the future of The Walking Dead franchise? Spider Man: Far From Home is swinging for a big holiday weekend, Netflix's talk show problem, and there has been a Flash shakeup. Plus: Should the TV and Film Academies merge? And ABC's fall premiere dates. --Alex Weprin Spider Man's Strong Start ►Here comes Spider Man. The Sony and Marvel Studios film Spider Man: Far From Home grossed between $40-$48 million at the box office on Tuesday, Pamela McClintock reports. That will be a new record for a Tuesday release, topping 2012's The Amazing Spider Man. Overall, Far From Home is tracking to draw $150 million or more over the six day holiday release window, delivering a big win for a box office that had been lagging in recent months as a number of franchise films fell flat. The film has already brought in more than $100 million overseas. [The story](. +One reason that Spider Man may be succeeding where Men In Black, Dark Phoenix, and others failed: it's connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Far From Home is being promoted as a crucial epilogue to this year's biggest film: Avengers: Endgame. Indeed, the film is the final movie in "Phase Three" of the MCU, setting up the next phase of the comic book movie universe. In addition, the recent rerelease of Endgame included an extended preview of Far From Home. [More](. Have you seen the movie already? Dan Gvozden [tracks down]( 50 easter eggs and references you may have missed in the film. The Flash is back on track. Borys Kit reports on a major shakeup on the movie based on the DC Comics franchise. Andy Muschietti, who directed the It movies, is in talks to direct, while Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson will write a new script for the film, with the studio moving on from the previous script. Ezra Miller, who has played the title superhero since 2016’s Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, is still attached to the project. [The details](. +Here's Richard Newby on why horror film directors and superhero movies tend to mesh well. [The column](. ►The Film and TV academies should merge, and their award shows the Oscars and Emmys should follow suit, Stephen Galloway writes in his column this morning. With a bevy of stars best known for their work in TV [being invited]( to join the Film academy this week, the lines between the platforms are blurring. Quote: "The osmosis we’ve seen between film and TV is increasing and will increase at a vertiginous pace as home entertainment improves, as screens get bigger and brighter, as 3D and VR enter the living room, as streamers continue to back thoughtful material of the sort the studios now largely shun... The ancient barriers between film and TV are tumbling down. So why aren’t the barriers between their most high-profile institutions, the movie and TV Academies?" [The full column](. Elsewhere in film... --Here's [the first trailer]( for Rian Johnson's murder mystery Knives Out. --Arnold Schwarzenegger [will return](to Comic-Con for the Terminator: Dark Fate panel. --A co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Sterling Van Wagenen, [was sentenced]( to six years in prison for a sex abuse case. --Well Go USA Entertainment [has acquired]( North American rights to Bernard Rose’s period action film Samurai Marathon. The Future Of 'The Walking Dead' ►Whither The Walking Dead? While the future of The Walking Dead TV universe is not in doubt, a shock decision by Robert Kirkman, the creator of the franchise, is raising questions about the original AMC show that started the zombie craze. Issue 193 of the Walking Dead comic book series, releasing today, [will be the final issue](, in a move calculated to surprise fans of the series. Quote: "I hate knowing what's coming," Kirkman wrote in the concluding pages of the issue. "As a fan, I hate it when I realize I’m in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I’m nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can feel when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel. Some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones are when they’re structured in such a way and paced to perfection so your brain can’t tell if it’s been watching for 15 minutes or 50 minutes ... and when the end comes ... you’re stunned." +So what does the unexpected comic finale mean for the AMC show? Well, with a series of movies and another TV spinoff in the works, the franchise appears safe. In addition (and without giving any plot points away) the comic book series ended in a way that the TV series can't replicate. Still, the surprise ending begs the question whether AMC's show could follow suit with some surprises of its own, as Josh Wigler notes. [The story](. ^Tweet of the day: Did Quibi have its origins in Breaking Bad? The New York Times' Kyle Buchanan [shares an outtake]( from an interview he did with Jeffrey Katzenberg in 2013, and what Katzenberg describes sure sounds a lot like the upcoming streaming service, albeit with Walter White as the frontman. ►ABC's fall premiere dates. Broadcast TV's premiere week is getting even more crowded. Disney-owned ABC will launch the new seasons of all of its scripted shows during the week, with Kids Say The Darndest Things launching in October. [The premiere dates](. +With ABC's schedule on the board, all of the broadcast networks have their fall release dates set. You can see the full list of premiere dates, for every network, [here](. Casting roundup: Trevor Noah and Howie Mandel [will be](among the guests for comedian Kevin Hart's Laugh Out Loud network talk-show Hart to Heart... Jillian Bell has[joined the cast]( of sequel Bill & Ted Face The Music... Jesse Tyler Ferguson will be [the host]( of HGTV's reboot of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition... Pickups and cancelations: Bravo[is rebooting]( the Discovery Channel show Cash Cab. The original host, Ben Bailey, is on board, and the questions will have more of a pop culture focus... Syfy's Wynonna Earp [will return]( for a fourth season in 2020. A financing issue had grounded the show... Freeform's Kenya Barris comedy Unrelated is effectively dead at the Disney-owned cable network, with the cast being released and the script redeveloped... Elsewhere in TV... --What's the deal with WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service? [Here's THR's guide]( to the details we know so far, the executives, and the shows in development. --The BBC says three women [are now among]( its 10 highest-paid stars. Last year the top 12 were all men. --Showtime's Fox News drama series The Loudest Voice [got off to a slow start](in the ratings. --President Trump [is planning]( to hold a rally on the same day Robert Mueller testified before Congress. --AT&T is [considering selling]( its regional sports networks, with Sinclair a potential buyer. --What TV channels [are planning]( to cover President Trump's July 4 celebration live? Netflix's Talk Show Problem ►Does Netflix have a talk show problem? The streaming service has no shortage of offerings in the genre, with Patriot Act having just won a Peabody Award, and Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman continuing to secure big-name guests for their programs. Still, as The New York Times’ John Koblin [notes](, a number of efforts including Chelsea, The Break with Michelle Wolf and The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale fell flat. In fact, Netflix removed dozens of episodes of Chelsea from its service, the only time it has done so for a program it owned, spurring Times TV critic James Poniewozik [to quip]( "what, are they going to run out of Internet?" --Part of the blame seems to fall on Netflix’s on-demand model, which doesn’t seem to work well with topical programs. “When you’re at Netflix, people can wait a month and maybe it just doesn’t hold up,” Conan O’Brien’s producer Jeff Ross told the Times. “A daily show, how do you binge that?” +"It's my belief that the first streaming show that's really going to make it in this genre should probably be daily and given a six month ramp to try to make it happen,” Gavin Purcell, a former producer for Jimmy Fallon and Netflix’s I Love You America [wrote on Twitter](. “ In part, it may be harder for the streaming networks to do this because it doesn't fit their scripted model.” +In other Netflix news: It released a trailer for the [new season]( of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, and [the trailer](for the mockumentary Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein… This morning the company [announced a deal]( to build a major U.K. production hub at Shepperton studios, just a day after [telling U.K. parliament]( that they expect to continue working with local producers on original series. Taylor Swift may have to just shake it off. The pop star doesn't appear to have any grounds for a lawsuit to gain control of her master recordings, which were sold to a company controlled by Scooter Braun this week. That doesn't mean Swift will be powerless, as Ashley Cullins notes. Swift will still have a say in how her music is used, and could play fewer of her old songs at concerts, theoretically lowering their value. [The story](. +The Writer's Guild of America on Tuesday rejected an offer from Abrams Artists to end packaging fees. In a letter to Abrams' chairman, WGA executive director David Young outlines why the Guild rejected the offer. [More](. Series Regular podcast: This week Josh Wigler goes into the Upside Down, as the podcast focuses on the Netflix breakout Stranger Things. [Listen](. Revolving door: Asian film industry veteran Roger Garcia [will serve]( as the startup Hainan International Film Festival's top artistic advisor... The Atlantic [has hired]( Linzee Troubh as development director, a new role that will see her oversee the development of scripted and unscripted content from The Atlantic’s journalism... Cameron Farrelly, a former executive at Vice Media and Universal Music Group, [has joined]( Spotify as global creative director... ►Editor's note: Today In Entertainment will be off for the July 4 holiday. We will be back with a fresh issue bright and early the morning of Monday, July 8. What else we're reading... --"Are Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston teasing the Breaking Bad movie?" [[Vulture](] --"Elon Musk's 'Intergalactic media empire' fell apart, just months after launch." [[The Verge](] --"Meghan McCain, feeling like an ‘exhausted, defeated... caged animal,’ may exit ‘The View.’" [[The Daily Beast](] --"Meet Carly Rose: Child prodigy, reality TV flameout and your next indie-pop queen." [[LA Times](] From the archives... On July 3, 1985, Marty McFly skated into American theaters. Back to the Future, directed by Robert Zemeckis, then became a summer box-office win that spawned multiple sequels and propelled Michael J. Fox's career. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Audra McDonald, 49, Gloria Allred, 78, Ian Maxtone-Graham, 60, Montel Williams, 63, Olivia Munn, 39, Shoshannah Stern, 39, Tom Cruise, 57 Have a happy July 4th holiday! 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]( July 3, 2019