Sun Valley Deals?; Fighting Disney; FTC vs YouTube; World Cup Scores

What's news: Sun Valley kicks off today, will any deals be made? The Stranger Things phenomenon continues, and big numbers for the Women's World Cup final. Plus: A potential regulatory problem for YouTube, and can any studio compete with Disney at the box office? --Alex Weprin July 09, 2019 What's news: Sun Valley kicks off today, will any deals be made? The Stranger Things phenomenon continues, and big numbers for the Women's World Cup final. Plus: A potential regulatory problem for YouTube, and can any studio compete with Disney at the box office? --Alex Weprin Deals Or No Deals? ►The talk of Sun Valley: What will the media and technology moguls discuss at Allen & Co.'s Sun Valley retreat, which kicks off today? Expect talk of deals, the continued rise of streaming, and the increasing pressure on social media companies, Paul Bond writes. Aside from the big media deal on everyone's radar, CBS-Viacom, a number of smaller deals are in play, with Starz and Univision both in play. [The story](. +“There are two narratives. One is who is going to get eaten up?” one executive slated to attend[tells]( New York Post's Alexandra Steigrad. "The other, the deal-minded mogul says, is that 'the value of a company is being defined by great IP,' referring to intellectual property, whether it’s a brand, a TV franchise or an archive of movies. 'Those who don’t own their own IP aren’t going to make it." Still, as Jessica Toonkel [writes]( for The Information (subscription required), this year there are "plenty of sellers but few buyers." +Tied to the start of Sun Valley, New York magazine [has a big feature](on Shari Redstone out this morning, headlined “Last Woman Standing.” Irin Carmon talks to friends and acquaintances of Redstone, and learns more about her complex relationship to her father Sumner, the potential Viacom-CBS merger, and the abrupt end of her friendship with Les Moonves. ^Can anyone challenge Disney's box office dominance? Stephen Galloway finds that competitors to the studio are increasingly skeptical, choosing instead to pick their battles. "They've got a movie out on all the best play dates," former Sony Pictures vice chairman Jeff Blake tells Galloway. "You'd be crazy to put a big picture against them." Indeed, Disney now controls more than 35% of the domestic box office, more than two and a half times what it controlled a decade ago, and that number is expected to rise. [The story.]( ►[Tweet of the day](: "As I reported back when Universal bought Red Notice, Dwayne Johnson was supposed to get $21M plus 30% of the profits. Now that Netflix is presumably buying out his profit points in advance, that could be a VERY big check." --WSJ reporter Ben Fritz, following [the surprise deal](to shift Johnson's upcoming movie "Red Notice" from Universal's theatrical calendar to Netflix next year. +The day in deals: The family of former South Africa president Nelson Mandela is[forming a media company](, Mandela Media, in partnership with produce Michael Sugar and ad agency DMA United... Amazon is giving a straight-to-series 10 episode order for a new comedy from Amy Poehler and Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver. Previously titled Harlem, the single-camera comedy follows the lives of four black women — friends from their college days at NYU — as they navigate sex, relationships and chasing their dreams.... Elsewhere in film... --John Turturro's spinoff of The Big Lebowski, called The Jesus Rolls, [will be released]( in early 2020. --Disney released a cast photo for The Lion King, but a number of observers on social media [were wondering](, where is James Earl Jones? --The Farewell director Lulu Wang [will direct]( sci-fi feature Children of the New World. --Anaheim police are[investigating]( after video of a fight at Disneyland went viral. New Netflix Numbers ►Just how popular is Netflix's Stranger Things? According to data from the streaming service, 40.7 million accounts have watched at least part of the series' third season in the four days since it debuted over the holiday weekend. As Rick Porter notes, "[t]hat's the fastest a Netflix original has ever accumulated such a large audience, according to the streamer." That data is self-reported, so take it with a grain of salt, but it continues Netflix's trend of selectively releasing viewership numbers to bolster its programming narrative: namely that the service is a hit machine, not just a video library. [The story](. +The numbers are also consistent with data that Nielsen shared with reporters in May of this year. Nielsen found that Stranger Things was--by far--the most popular Netflix original, drawing just shy of nine million viewers on the launch day for season two. The next-best performer was season two of 13 Reasons Why, which debuted to four million viewers on its launch day. At the press breakfast, Nielsen svp of product leadership Brian Fuhrer called the performance of Stranger Things "an anomaly" compared to the rest of Netflix's originals lineup. Still, the data from Nielsen lends credence to Netflix's eye-opening numbers +The numbers may also explain why Netflix seems to view Stranger Things as its best chance at creating a major pop culture franchise, as Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw and Randall Williams [report](. Netflix has inked partnerships with the likes of Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Schwinn tied to the new season. "The company, with worldwide subscribers approaching 160 million, is beginning to angle for a piece of the $122 billion consumers spend on entertainment-linked merchandise," and it views Stranger Things as its ticket in. +More Netflix news: The streaming service [is adapting]( the 2017 indie video game Cuphead into an original animated series. Netflix [also renewed]( drama The Society for a second season. Plus: 11 burning Stranger Things [questions]( after season three. ^A YouTube decision to keep an eye on: According [to Bloomberg](, the FTC is considering whether having ads disabled on channels targeting children could bring the Google-owned video platform in line with the agency's children's privacy rules. During a call with advocacy groups, FTC chairman Joe Simons brought up the idea in response to suggestions that YouTube should move all of its child-focussed content to a separate platform or app. By disabling ads on kids videos, the channels and videos could remain on the main platform. Whatever agreement the FTC and YouTube come to could have a significant impact on the digital video market, which counts children's programming as one of its largest and most important genres of programming. +Related: The Wall Street Journal [reports that](regulators are scrutinizing the web auctions that underpin the digital advertising economy, and power YouTube's monetization efforts. The New Yorker on YouTube's [complicated efforts]( to keep the platform "neutral." Casting roundup: American Ninja Warrior Jr. [has tapped]( Paralympian swimmer Victoria Arlen as a co-host, alongside Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbajabiamila. She replaces Laurie Hernandez, who is training for the 2020 Olympics... Samuel L. Jackson, Marisol Nichols, and Max Minghella [are joining]( the Chris Rock-led reboot of horror franchise Saw... Ryan Reynolds has[joined the cast]( of the Dwayne Johnson-Gal Godot heist flick Red Notice... Elsewhere in TV... --Aziz Ansari [addresses]( sexual misconduct allegation in Netflix special: "I just felt terrible" --Disney-owned Freeform took to social media[to defend]( Halley Bailey's casting in the live-action Little Mermaid remake. Bailey appears in Freeform's Grown-ish. --Sarah Jessica Parker revealed that she was [forced to report]( her male co-star to her agent following his inappropriate behavior on set. --"Love Island boss [compares]( U.S. version to Game of Thrones: 'You don't want to wait for a recap'" --Robyn Bahr [reviews](Comedy Central's South Side. World Cup Win ►The Women's World Cup Final scored for Fox and Telemundo. Sunday's match, which saw the U.S. defeat the Netherlands, drew a total of 15.87 million average viewers, split between Fox, Telemundo, and streaming. Fox had 13.98 million viewers, with an additional average minute audience of 289,000 streaming the game. Telemundo added 1.6 million Spanish-language viewers. The ratings were significantly higher than the men's final a year ago, which drew 12.5 million viewers, but down from the 2015 Women's World Cup Final, which drew a combined audience of more than 25 million viewers. Rick Porter [has the numbers](. +Elsewhere in ratings: Data from Tunity Analytics, which measures out-of-home viewing, said that the World Cup final averaged 6.9 million out-of-home viewers... ABC [led Sunday night](thanks to Celebrity Family Feud, while CBS' Big Brother gave the network a demo win. Neal Moritz will be able to openly litigate his claim that Universal Studios has breached an oral agreement for Hobbs and Shaw. On Monday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected Universal's contention that the dispute belonged in arbitration. Moritz takes credit for being one of the driving forces behind the blockbuster franchise based on The Fast and the Furious and alleges that he spent a year and a half working on the forthcoming spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham before he was ultimately booted from the film. Eriq Gardner [has the story](. +Attorneys for actor Kevin Spacey asked a judge to throw out the criminal sexual assault case against him after the accuser asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked about text messages that Spacey's team says were deleted from his phone. [More](. Behind The Screen podcast: Carolyn Giardina talks to Col. Terry Virts, a former NASA astronaut and ISS commander, who is making his directorial debut with a documentary tied to an ambitious world record attempt. [Listen.]( Revolving door: Fox Entertainment's SideCar, a sort of semi-studio for for the broadcast network, is [filling out its executive team](under Gail Berman. The new hires are: Hend Baghdady, executive vp development and production; Susan Lierle, senior vp business and legal affairs; Jeff Nemon, senior vp drama development; Alana Romoff, vp development; Matthew Chadwick, vp alternative development and production; and Eduardo Lopez-Mendez, manager business and legal affairs... Showtime [has hired]( former Turner executive Michael Engleman as its chief marketing officer. He will oversee marketing for Smithsonian Channel and Pop TV... Jennifer Watson has [been promoted]( from senior vp production to executive vp production at MRC TV... Vancouver Film Festival executive director Jacqueline Dupuis [will step down]( after the upcoming 2019 edition this fall... What else we're reading... --"Billionaire Blavatnik wants a piece of America's biggest sport." [[Bloomberg](] --"The war to win creators." [[Axios](] --"Netflix won't be felled by recession, bond markets, debt or cash losses." [[Media Redef](] --"How Facebook fought fake news about Facebook." [[Bloomberg](] From the archives... On July 9, 1999 American Pie hit theaters, bringing with it a new era of raunchy teen comedies. The film helped launch the careers of a number of notable names, including Jason Biggs, Tara Reid, and Mena Suvari. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Brian Dennehy, 81, Chris Cooper, 68, Courtney Love, 55, Dean Koontz, 74, Fred Savage, 43, Jack White, 44, Jimmy Smits, 64, Nigel Lythgoe, 70, Tom Hanks, 63. 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 9, 2019