$200M For 'Lion King'?; CBS Goes Dark; YouTube FTC Settlement; 'Walking Dead' At Comic-Con

What's news: CBS stations went dark on DirecTV overnight, Disney's The Lion King is roaring to a $180 million+ opening weekend, The Walking Dead rules the roost at Comic-Con's second day, YouTube settles with the FTC, and two Emmy nominees get disqualified. Plus: The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. --Alex Weprin July 20, 2019 What's news: CBS stations went dark on DirecTV overnight, Disney's The Lion King is roaring to a $180 million+ opening weekend, The Walking Dead rules the roost at Comic-Con's second day, YouTube settles with the FTC, and two Emmy nominees get disqualified. Plus: The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. --Alex Weprin 'Lion King' Ready To Roar ►Disney's The Lion King is tracking to have an enormous opening weekend, based on early Friday returns. Pamela McClintock writes that the film is now looking at a debut weekend domestic haul of between $180 million-$200 million. That would be good for the second-best opening for any film this year, behind only Avengers: Endgame, which opened to a record-breaking $357 million. [The numbers](. +The Lion King opened to $23 million in [Thursday night previews](, teeing up its strong weekend. It's already earned more than $130 million overseas. +Disney's marketing effort for the film is massive, Chris Thilk writes, including a "very carefully planned out ‘pulse’ campaign," that kicked off in November 2018, according to Disney president of marketing Asad Ayaz. [The details](... The music for the remake is [largely the same]( as the original animated classic, "but there's something jarring about seeing photo-realistic animals sing," Josh Spiegel writes. Breaking overnight: CBS stations have gone dark on AT&T's platforms after the two sides failed to come to terms on a new carriage agreement. CBS stations in more than a dozen cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other major markets are impacted, affecting about 6.6 million viewers. AT&T told its DirecTV and U-Verse customers to use the local streaming app Locast, or to sign up for CBS All Access if they want to watch CBS programming. --Dueling quotes: AT&T says it "asked CBS to keep them available while we continue to negotiate. CBS removed them instead. This is completely CBS’s decision." CBS says it offered a 30 day extension for negotiations but AT&T declined. "While we continue to negotiate in good faith and hope that AT&T agrees to fair terms soon, this loss of CBS programming could last a long time." [More](. ^ A documentary about Jeffrey Epstein has been scrapped after the filmmaker, Barry Avrich, decided the subject matter was too inappropriate for exploration. "As I began to dig further into the story, the subject matter became more distasteful to me and I honestly felt there wasn’t much of an audience who would be interested in this film," he said. [More](. +One of the most eyebrow-raising elements of Epstein's rehabilitation after being released from prison was his relationship to Peggy Siegel, the New York-based event planner known for her star-studded movie screenings and power-packed social events. Gary Baum and Scott Feinberg dig into the relationship between Siegel and Epstein, which saw the disgraced financier cover travel expenses for the publicist. He was, in turn, a regular at many of her events after his release from prison. [The story.]( ►Let's talk about that Cats trailer. Not even the presence of Taylor Swift and Jennifer Hudson could stop the blowback from the trailer after it was released. The film uses motion capture and CGI to create the characters, leading to what some outlets called an "uncanny valley" situation, Carolyn Giardina writes. "In the case of Cats, the faces of the actors portraying the cats is clearly identifiable, as is human anatomy and movement. So much so, that one has to wonder to what extent the filmmakers considered the use of makeup and costumes, as was the case in the Broadway production." [More](. Elsewhere in film... --The suspect in the Kyoto arson attack is still too badly burned [to be questioned]( by police. --Two new Halloween films [are coming]( in 2020 and 2021. --Universal Pictures [has nabbed]( an untitled holiday comedy pitch based on an original idea from Booksmart director Olivia Wilde and writer Katie Silberman. --Top Gun and the [complicated legacy]( facing Maverick. Comic-Con Day Two The latest from Comic-Con: An appearance by Mark Hamill brought Hall H [to its feet]( as he accepted the Comic-Con Icon Award... Warner Bros. and DC Comics [merged their booths together](for the first time... Some enterprising citizen forked over more than $1,100 to have [a plane fly above Comic-Con]( with a banner targeted to WarnerMedia executives: “WB #ReleasetheSnyderCut of Justice League,” the banner said, referring to an extended version of the film as originally imagined by director Zack Snyder... But more than any other series, Friday at Comic-Con was dominated by The Walking Dead... --In Walking Dead news: A [shock announcement](revealed that the three upcoming Walking Dead films focusing on Andrew Lincoln's character Rick Grimes will be released exclusively in theaters, thanks to a partnership with Universal Pictures. The films were originally slated to run on AMC... AMC [debuted the trailer]( for season 10 of the zombie apocalypse show, it will be [the last season]( for Danai Gurira... Details [were revealed]( about the third spinoff of the series, and the cast [was announced](... Fear The Walking Dead [was renewed]( for a sixth season... --In TV news: Hulu [surprised the crowd]( by releasing the full eight-episode season of the Veronica Mars reboot a week early... Star Kristin Bell said she is [ready to continue]( playing the character if the series performs well... The CW is expected to reveal details about its DC Comics crossover episodes today. One thing we know: Brandon Routh [will return]( to the role of Superman... Archer [was renewed]( for season 11 at FXX... --Also: Netlfix held [a surprise screening]( of the full first episode of its ambitious upcoming series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance... The streaming service also [revealed the first trailer](for its upcoming series The Witcher... New footage [was released]( from Rick & Morty's fourth season... Amazon [picked up a second season]( of its superhero series The Boys a week ahead of its series premiere... The [first trailer]( for Amazon's Carnival Row... --And finally: Many of the cast members of Game of Thrones [discussed]( the controversial final season... Avengers: Endgame directors The Russo Brothers [announced that]( they will produce an adaptation of the indie comic Grimjack, and that they are also adapting the classic cartoon series Battle of the Planets... Marvel [is launching]( a new Dr. Doom comic... Image Comics has a hot new [comic series launching](, Undiscovered Country... ^Three days after the 2019 Primetime Emmy nominations were announced, the TV Academy has rescinded two of them. Better Call Saul short Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security is no longer eligible for the Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category or performance (star Jonathan Banks) since it did not meet the minimum required runtime of two minutes for at least six episodes. In its place, Sundance's short form Nick Hornby comedy State of the Union (pictured above) gets a spot in the series race and Ryan O'Connell, star of the Netflix series Special, joins the actor race. [The story.]( ►ESPN is reminding its talent not to wade into politics. The Disney-owned cable channel sent a memo to staff after host Dan Le Batard ripped into President Trump during his show. "It's not about the message," reads the memo from ESPN evp Norby Williamson. "It's about the use of [the] ESPN platform." [The story](. Elsewhere in TV... --Facebook has [inked a deal]( with horror studio Crypt TV to create exclusive programming for its Watch video platform. --ABC's Holey Moley and Family Food Fight both [fell to season lows]( in Thursday's ratings. --Kathy Griffin talked the 2020 campaign and Donald Trump [at the premiere]( for her hybrid documentary/comedy special. --This weekend's OZYFest event in Central Park was [preemptively canceled]( due to an expected heat wave. --Veep Boss David Mandel [pays tribute]( to Mad Magazine. YouTube Strikes Privacy Deal ►YouTube settles with FTC. The Google-owned video platform had been under scrutiny for violating children's privacy regulations. [According to]( The Washington Post's Tony Romm and Elizabeth Dwoskin, the settlement--which has not been publicly announced yet--includes a multimillion dollar fine, though it isn't clear what other steps the FTC will require. The deal was backed by the Commission's three Republicans, and opposed by the two Democrats. "ICM Partners moved Friday to dismiss the Writers Guild of America suit filed against it and three other agencies, asserting that the guild and individual plaintiffs are 'abusing the court system, brazenly asking this Court to declare packaging illegal' despite the guild having permitted the practice under a now-terminated agreement with the Association of Talent Agents." [The story.]( +A lawsuit over the horror franchise It is haunting Warner Bros., Eriq Gardner reports. "Frank Konigsberg and Larry Sanitsky, executive producers of the first adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel, It, say they were wrongfully denied an opportunity to participate on Warner Bros' recent It movies." [More](. +Katy Perry took the stand on day one of the “Dark Horse” copyright infringement trial. Technical difficulties initially marred her appearance, before being resolved. [More](. ►Apollo 11: 50 years later. 50 years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. You will have no shortage of options to revisit the momentous event on TV today. CBSN will stream the network's original coverage led by Water Cronkite... NASA TV [will stream]( the video shot that day as well... Fox News will be live from Kennedy Space Center all day...CNN and MSNBC also have coverage during their news hours... Discovery, CNN, BBC America and PBS all have documentaries about the moon landing running in primetime today... NBC News anchor Lester Holt [reflects]( on watching the moon landing as a kid... Awards Chatter podcast: David Crosby is the guest on this week's podcast, but in an Awards Chatter first, host Scott Feinberg is forced to [end the interview]( early and toss Crosby out of the studio because of his behavior. [Listen](. Casting roundup: The third spinoff of The Walking Dead franchise has [set its cast](... Thirteen years after he last donned Superman's cape, Brandon Routh will [play the superhero again]( in The CW's annual Arrow-verse crossover... Tiffany Haddish and Christina Hendricks [will guest-star]( in the Hulu animated series Solar Opposites... What else we're reading... --"Hollywood writers struggle to get on same page in fight against agents." [[WSJ](] --"Coming Soon To a Theater Near You. Very Soon" [[NY Times](] --"How the original Lion King came to life" [[The Ringer](] --"The Los Angeles movie thaters you need to know if you love film" [[LA Times](] From the archives... On July 20, 1984, Fox released the R-rated college comedy Revenge of the Nerds. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Carlos Alazraqui, 57, Carlos Santana, 72, Cormac McCarthy, 86, Gisele Bündchen, 39, Judy Greer, 44, Julianne Hough, 31, Roberto Orci, 46, Sandra Oh, 48, Scout Willis, 28. 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. 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