ViacomCBS Era Begins; Baby Yoda Backstory; Sundance Lineup; Eilish's Apple Payday

What's news: ViacomCBS starts trading, Sundance announces its lineup, Jon Favreau explains Baby Yoda's backstory, the Film Academy considers a category change, Billie Eilish's Apple payday, Vice's Jesse Angelo on Viceland's future. Plus: The Making of Bombshell, and the first trailer for Mulan. --Alex Weprin [The Hollywood Reporter]( [The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment DECEMBER 05, 2019 What's news: ViacomCBS starts trading, Sundance announces its lineup, Jon Favreau explains Baby Yoda's backstory, the Film Academy considers a category change, Billie Eilish's Apple payday, Vice's Jesse Angelo on Viceland's future. Plus: The Making of Bombshell, and the first trailer for Mulan. --Alex Weprin What's news: ViacomCBS starts trading, Sundance announces its lineup, Jon Favreau explains Baby Yoda's backstory, the Film Academy considers a category change, Billie Eilish's Apple payday, Vice's Jesse Angelo on Viceland's future. Plus: The Making of Bombshell, and the first trailer for Mulan. --Alex Weprin [ViacomCBS Starts Trading] ViacomCBS Starts Trading This morning newly-minted ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish, joined by vice chair Shari Redstone, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Gayle King and Spongebob Squarepants, rang the opening bell of the Nasdaq in Times Square, across the street from the company's headquarters at 1515 Broadway. "This is a historic moment, and it has come at the exact right time," Bakish said. "With this merger, ViacomCBS will be one of the largest and most influential content creators in the world." With a push of the opening bell button, the ViacomCBS era began. ►The merger closes as Wall Street debates the company's outlook. Management touts the firm's big U.S. TV audience share, content library, growing streaming services and international upside, but some analysts say investors want to see proof of the merger benefits over time, Georg Szalai reports. [The story](. +Shares of ViacomCBS rose slightly in the first few minutes of trading Thursday morning. +Bob Bakish wrote a memo to staff shortly after the merger was completed Wednesday, positioning the combined firm as "the most important partner in the media ecosystem." Quote: "We’ll deliver the largest share of the U.S. television audience and hold number-one positions in every demographic we serve," Bakish wrote. "Our reach will extend across every platform and every price point — including ad-supported and subscription-based streaming services — making us a cornerstone offering for distributors. The combination of our audience reach with our leadership in advanced advertising and marketing solutions will make us the go-to choice for advertisers and agencies." [The full memo](. +What's next? Bakish and Shari Redstone will appear at a company town hall at noon ET today, moderated by CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell. Bakish will also present next week at a conference in New York hosted by UBS. ^Sundance unveils a female-powered lineup. The indie festival, which is close to achieving its goal of gender parity, will debut films that center on a Russell Simmons rape accuser, Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and the opioid crisis, with names including Taylor Swift and Gloria Steinem. Quote: “I think my generation was more like, 'F*ck them, we’re going to have our anarchist world.' These kids are getting involved and they’re driven and they’re not taking no for an answer,” says Sundance director John Cooper. “I think that’s optimistic but it’s also reflected in the films that we’re seeing. Young people standing up for their own ideas and their own ideals.” [The full lineup](. Film Academy "favoring" consolidation of sound editing and sound mixing Oscars. Scott Feinberg reports that the branch's governors informed its members of the possible change in an email sent on Wednesday, calling it a reflection that "the lines that separated our responsibilities to the overall soundtrack of a motion picture are blurring." [The story](. +Why the Oscars rarely go for underdogs anymore. Stephen Galloway writes that a tighter awards window, lavish FYC campaigns and the return of A-listers en masse has limited the opportunities for indie breakouts and newcomers to reach Academy voters. "Ultimately, the absence of fresh faces stems from a more profound change in the industry at large that cannot be finessed by the Academy: the disappearance of the indie film." [The column](. More awards news, farther down... ViacomCBS Starts Trading This morning newly-minted ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish, joined by vice chair Shari Redstone, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Gayle King and Spongebob Squarepants, rang the opening bell of the Nasdaq in Times Square, across the street from the company's headquarters at 1515 Broadway. "This is a historic moment, and it has come at the exact right time," Bakish said. "With this merger, ViacomCBS will be one of the largest and most influential content creators in the world." With a push of the opening bell button, the ViacomCBS era began. ►The merger closes as Wall Street debates the company's outlook. Management touts the firm's big U.S. TV audience share, content library, growing streaming services and international upside, but some analysts say investors want to see proof of the merger benefits over time, Georg Szalai reports. [The story](. +Shares of ViacomCBS rose slightly in the first few minutes of trading Thursday morning. +Bob Bakish wrote a memo to staff shortly after the merger was completed Wednesday, positioning the combined firm as "the most important partner in the media ecosystem." Quote: "We’ll deliver the largest share of the U.S. television audience and hold number-one positions in every demographic we serve," Bakish wrote. "Our reach will extend across every platform and every price point — including ad-supported and subscription-based streaming services — making us a cornerstone offering for distributors. The combination of our audience reach with our leadership in advanced advertising and marketing solutions will make us the go-to choice for advertisers and agencies." [The full memo](. +What's next? Bakish and Shari Redstone will appear at a company town hall at noon ET today, moderated by CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell. Bakish will also present next week at a conference in New York hosted by UBS. ^Sundance unveils a female-powered lineup. The indie festival, which is close to achieving its goal of gender parity, will debut films that center on a Russell Simmons rape accuser, Jamal Khashoggi’s murder and the opioid crisis, with names including Taylor Swift and Gloria Steinem. Quote: “I think my generation was more like, 'F*ck them, we’re going to have our anarchist world.' These kids are getting involved and they’re driven and they’re not taking no for an answer,” says Sundance director John Cooper. “I think that’s optimistic but it’s also reflected in the films that we’re seeing. Young people standing up for their own ideas and their own ideals.” [The full lineup](. Film Academy "favoring" consolidation of sound editing and sound mixing Oscars. Scott Feinberg reports that the branch's governors informed its members of the possible change in an email sent on Wednesday, calling it a reflection that "the lines that separated our responsibilities to the overall soundtrack of a motion picture are blurring." [The story](. +Why the Oscars rarely go for underdogs anymore. Stephen Galloway writes that a tighter awards window, lavish FYC campaigns and the return of A-listers en masse has limited the opportunities for indie breakouts and newcomers to reach Academy voters. "Ultimately, the absence of fresh faces stems from a more profound change in the industry at large that cannot be finessed by the Academy: the disappearance of the indie film." [The column](. More awards news, farther down... [Baby Yoda Backstory] Baby Yoda Backstory ►Why Jon Favreau chose Baby Yoda: "We don't know a lot of details about his species." Favreau’s 2019 has included directing a blockbuster (The Lion King) and acting in two others, launching Disney+ with Star Wars series The Mandalorian and pioneering tech for the future of filmmaking: "It's really an exciting time," says THR's Producer of the Year, in an interview with Carolyn Giardina. Quote: "I think that part of what people really value is to be surprised and delighted, and I think that's becoming all too rare. It's very difficult to keep secrets about projects you're working on. By holding back on that one product [Baby Yoda], we knew that we may have had the disadvantage of not having toys available day and date, but what we got in exchange was an excitement surrounding the character, because everybody felt like they discovered him together. That emulated more what my experience growing up was like." [The interview.]( ►Billie Eilish lands massive payday for Apple TV+ documentary. The 17-year-old musician's big 2019 is culminating as she nears a deal with Apple TV+ for a documentary that comes with a $25 million price tag, Natalie Jarvey and Kim Masters report. The film, which has already been shot, was directed by R.J. Cutler and produced in collaboration with Eilish’s label, Interscope Records, for a budget that one source pegs at between $1 million and $2 million. [The story](. ►Marvel's animated Hulu comedy Tigra & Dazzler on pause amid creative overhaul. showrunner Erica Rivinoja and the comedy's entire writing staff have been let go from the series following creative differences with Marvel, Lesley Goldberg reports. Sources tell Goldberg that Rivinoja and her team had completed multiple scripts and outlines for others and were 15 weeks into a planned 20-week production cycle. [The story](. ►Gabrielle Union calls NBC meeting over America's Got Talent exit "productive." "We had a lengthy 5-hour, and what I thought to be, productive meeting yesterday," the L.A.'s Finest actor tweeted Wednesday. "I was able to, again, express my unfiltered truth. I led with transparency and my desire and hope for real change." NBC said there will be "further investigation" into the incident. [More](. Elsewhere in TV... --Daniel Fienberg reviews [Fox's new comedy The Moodys](... Robyn Bahr reviews [Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q](. --Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are [returning to HBO]( for a limited series about Watergate. The pair will star in and executive produce The White House Plumbers, which centers on E. Howard Hunt (Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Theroux), who planned the Watergate burglary that eventually brought down Richard Nixon's presidency. --BET [has greenlit]( Uptown, a three-part scripted miniseries set to tell the "comprehensive" story of Andre Harrell's New York record label Uptown Records. --The long, long journey to get an adaptation of graphic novel Locke & Key to the screen has an end date. Netflix will [debut a series](based on the Joe Hill-Gabriel Rodriguez comic on Feb. 7 — almost a decade after the first attempt at an adaptation. --South Park [took a very meta shot]( at Disney+ and streaming services last night. --Ratings: Airing an hour later than usual, The Voice [posted season-low ratings]( for NBC on Tuesday night. ►Big departure at Comcast: David L. Cohen, Comcast's senior executive VP, who has oversight of the company's corporate communications, government and regulatory affairs, public affairs, corporate administration, corporate real estate and security departments, will step down Jan. 1, 2020. He will become an advisor to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. [More](. +Revolving door: Frances Manfredi [has a new role](at NBCUniversal. The executive, who has spent the past eight years overseeing TV and film distribution, is moving over to the company's streaming service, Peacock, as president of content acquisition and strategy... See-Saw Films, the production company behind titles such as The King's Speech, Lion and Widows, [has hired]( Elinor Day for its growing TV arm... ^The making of Bombshell: How Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie re-created the "pervasive paranoia" of Fox News. Theron lost her voice for three weeks trying to inhabit Megyn Kelly in Jay Roach's Roger Ailes exposé, the first major movie inspired by the #MeToo movement. Quote: "[Two weeks before the start of production] I get a call from my agent saying, 'Don't say anything because we don't want everyone to panic, but your studio's out,'"director Jay Roach says. "I looked around and realized that our executives on it didn't even know." [The story](. Elsewhere in film... --Issa Rae will star in, [write and produce]( the English-language remake of Italian comedy-drama, Paolo Genovese’s Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers). --Taylor Swift is [ready to give people]( a glimpse into her life in her upcoming Netflix original documentary Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, set to debut at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23 --How to Train Your Dragon filmmaker Dean DeBlois [on his favorite scene](and Fox and the Hound influences. --Trailers: Here's [the first trailer]( for Disney's live action Mulan... Willem Dafoe and his beloved dog [go on a risky adventure]( in the trailer for Disney+'s Togo. Baby Yoda Backstory ►Why Jon Favreau chose Baby Yoda: "We don't know a lot of details about his species." Favreau’s 2019 has included directing a blockbuster (The Lion King) and acting in two others, launching Disney+ with Star Wars series The Mandalorian and pioneering tech for the future of filmmaking: "It's really an exciting time," says THR's Producer of the Year, in an interview with Carolyn Giardina. Quote: "I think that part of what people really value is to be surprised and delighted, and I think that's becoming all too rare. It's very difficult to keep secrets about projects you're working on. By holding back on that one product [Baby Yoda], we knew that we may have had the disadvantage of not having toys available day and date, but what we got in exchange was an excitement surrounding the character, because everybody felt like they discovered him together. That emulated more what my experience growing up was like." [The interview.]( ►Billie Eilish lands massive payday for Apple TV+ documentary. The 17-year-old musician's big 2019 is culminating as she nears a deal with Apple TV+ for a documentary that comes with a $25 million price tag, Natalie Jarvey and Kim Masters report. The film, which has already been shot, was directed by R.J. Cutler and produced in collaboration with Eilish’s label, Interscope Records, for a budget that one source pegs at between $1 million and $2 million. [The story](. ►Marvel's animated Hulu comedy Tigra & Dazzler on pause amid creative overhaul. showrunner Erica Rivinoja and the comedy's entire writing staff have been let go from the series following creative differences with Marvel, Lesley Goldberg reports. Sources tell Goldberg that Rivinoja and her team had completed multiple scripts and outlines for others and were 15 weeks into a planned 20-week production cycle. [The story](. ►Gabrielle Union calls NBC meeting over America's Got Talent exit "productive." "We had a lengthy 5-hour, and what I thought to be, productive meeting yesterday," the L.A.'s Finest actor tweeted Wednesday. "I was able to, again, express my unfiltered truth. I led with transparency and my desire and hope for real change." NBC said there will be "further investigation" into the incident. [More](. Elsewhere in TV... --Daniel Fienberg reviews [Fox's new comedy The Moodys](... Robyn Bahr reviews [Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q](. --Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux are [returning to HBO]( for a limited series about Watergate. The pair will star in and executive produce The White House Plumbers, which centers on E. Howard Hunt (Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Theroux), who planned the Watergate burglary that eventually brought down Richard Nixon's presidency. --BET [has greenlit]( Uptown, a three-part scripted miniseries set to tell the "comprehensive" story of Andre Harrell's New York record label Uptown Records. --The long, long journey to get an adaptation of graphic novel Locke & Key to the screen has an end date. Netflix will [debut a series](based on the Joe Hill-Gabriel Rodriguez comic on Feb. 7 — almost a decade after the first attempt at an adaptation. --South Park [took a very meta shot]( at Disney+ and streaming services last night. --Ratings: Airing an hour later than usual, The Voice [posted season-low ratings]( for NBC on Tuesday night. ►Big departure at Comcast: David L. Cohen, Comcast's senior executive VP, who has oversight of the company's corporate communications, government and regulatory affairs, public affairs, corporate administration, corporate real estate and security departments, will step down Jan. 1, 2020. He will become an advisor to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. [More](. +Revolving door: Frances Manfredi [has a new role](at NBCUniversal. The executive, who has spent the past eight years overseeing TV and film distribution, is moving over to the company's streaming service, Peacock, as president of content acquisition and strategy... See-Saw Films, the production company behind titles such as The King's Speech, Lion and Widows, [has hired]( Elinor Day for its growing TV arm... ^The making of Bombshell: How Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie re-created the "pervasive paranoia" of Fox News. Theron lost her voice for three weeks trying to inhabit Megyn Kelly in Jay Roach's Roger Ailes exposé, the first major movie inspired by the #MeToo movement. Quote: "[Two weeks before the start of production] I get a call from my agent saying, 'Don't say anything because we don't want everyone to panic, but your studio's out,'"director Jay Roach says. "I looked around and realized that our executives on it didn't even know." [The story](. Elsewhere in film... --Issa Rae will star in, [write and produce]( the English-language remake of Italian comedy-drama, Paolo Genovese’s Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers). --Taylor Swift is [ready to give people]( a glimpse into her life in her upcoming Netflix original documentary Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, set to debut at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23 --How to Train Your Dragon filmmaker Dean DeBlois [on his favorite scene](and Fox and the Hound influences. --Trailers: Here's [the first trailer]( for Disney's live action Mulan... Willem Dafoe and his beloved dog [go on a risky adventure]( in the trailer for Disney+'s Togo. [Viceland's Coming 'Evolution'] Viceland's Coming 'Evolution' ►Vice Media's Jesse Angelo takes on the "corrupt system" of cable news. In a Creative Space interview with Jeremy Barr, his first wide-ranging interview since joining the company, the former New York Post leader and Murdoch confidant addresses digital skepticism and why Viceland will focus more on news and politics: "It will be an evolution, not a revolution." Quote: "[T]here are a lot of people who are completely rejecting the system. They see partisan advocacy journalism and partisan advocacy talking heads as part of a corrupt system that they wish to throw away. There is this moment where people are saying the system is broken, and they see places like CNN as part of that system, and they see us as authentic and honest and very much not part of that system." [The interview](. In gaming news... --Online image sharing platform Imgur has launched a dedicated in-app video game section, Melee. Described as the "most notable product launch since the company was founded in 2009," Melee will serve as a hub for Imgur's users to find and share esports highlights, news and updates on upcoming titles and content related to the gaming industry. [The story](. --Ahead of its annual YouTube Rewind highlight reel, which notes the top trends and biggest moments of the year on the site, the video-sharing platform unveiled its most watched video games list on Thursday morning. [The list](. --Nintendo posted its best-ever week (Nov. 24-30) of U.S. sales for its Nintendo Switch consoles over the holiday, selling 830,000 combined units of the Switch and its solely handheld counterpart, Switch Lite. [More](. The New York Film Critics Circle on Wednesday named Martin Scorsese's The Irishman as its best picture of 2019. Meanwhile, Benny and Josh Safdie won the best director award for Uncut Gems, and Quentin Tarantino won best screenplay for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, while Antonio Banderas, Laura Dern, Lupita Nyong'o and Joe Pesci were recognized in the acting categories. [The full list](. +The American Film Institute on Wednesday unveiled its picks for the year’s 10 best films along with its choices for the year's 10 best television programs. Film honorees included Joker, The Irishman, and Jojo Rabbit, while TV honorees included Veep, Chernobyl, and When They See Us. [The list](. +Also: Ted Sarandos [will be given]( the Golden Slate Award by the California Film Commission and Film Liaisons in California Statewide (FLICS), the organization of local film offices across the state... Jeopardy host Alex Trebek is [set to receive]( the Icon Award at the Canadian Screen Awards... Zack Gottsagen is [set to be honored]( with the Rising Star award at the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival gala...Casting roundup: Elle and Dakota Fanning will [play onscreen sisters]( in TriStar Picture's adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale... Josh Brener and Jon Rudnitsky have[joined the cast]( of Universal love story All My Life... Dan Stevens [has joined]( the cast of Martin McDonagh's dark comedy-thriller play Hangmen... What else we're reading... --"Sorry, Martin Scorsese—I watched The Irishman on my phone" [[WSJ](] --"David Simon, Hollywood’s foul-mouthed antagonist fighting for better pay" [[Bloomberg](] --"Billie Eilish isn’t stressing over the Grammys. She’s busy worrying about the end of the world" [[LA Times](] --"Zack Snyder shares photo of the elusive Justice League Snyder cut" [[Vulture](] From the archives... On Dec. 5, 1984, the Beverly Hills Cop franchise was born as the R-rated Eddie Murphy film hit theaters, becoming a $300 million-plus earner in its run. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Margaret Cho, 51, Frankie Muniz, 34, Gabriel Luna, 37, Paula Patton, 44. Viceland's Coming 'Evolution' ►Vice Media's Jesse Angelo takes on the "corrupt system" of cable news. In a Creative Space interview with Jeremy Barr, his first wide-ranging interview since joining the company, the former New York Post leader and Murdoch confidant addresses digital skepticism and why Viceland will focus more on news and politics: "It will be an evolution, not a revolution." Quote: "[T]here are a lot of people who are completely rejecting the system. They see partisan advocacy journalism and partisan advocacy talking heads as part of a corrupt system that they wish to throw away. There is this moment where people are saying the system is broken, and they see places like CNN as part of that system, and they see us as authentic and honest and very much not part of that system." [The interview](. In gaming news... --Online image sharing platform Imgur has launched a dedicated in-app video game section, Melee. Described as the "most notable product launch since the company was founded in 2009," Melee will serve as a hub for Imgur's users to find and share esports highlights, news and updates on upcoming titles and content related to the gaming industry. [The story](. --Ahead of its annual YouTube Rewind highlight reel, which notes the top trends and biggest moments of the year on the site, the video-sharing platform unveiled its most watched video games list on Thursday morning. [The list](. --Nintendo posted its best-ever week (Nov. 24-30) of U.S. sales for its Nintendo Switch consoles over the holiday, selling 830,000 combined units of the Switch and its solely handheld counterpart, Switch Lite. [More](. The New York Film Critics Circle on Wednesday named Martin Scorsese's The Irishman as its best picture of 2019. Meanwhile, Benny and Josh Safdie won the best director award for Uncut Gems, and Quentin Tarantino won best screenplay for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, while Antonio Banderas, Laura Dern, Lupita Nyong'o and Joe Pesci were recognized in the acting categories. [The full list](. +The American Film Institute on Wednesday unveiled its picks for the year’s 10 best films along with its choices for the year's 10 best television programs. Film honorees included Joker, The Irishman, and Jojo Rabbit, while TV honorees included Veep, Chernobyl, and When They See Us. [The list](. +Also: Ted Sarandos [will be given]( the Golden Slate Award by the California Film Commission and Film Liaisons in California Statewide (FLICS), the organization of local film offices across the state... Jeopardy host Alex Trebek is [set to receive]( the Icon Award at the Canadian Screen Awards... Zack Gottsagen is [set to be honored]( with the Rising Star award at the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival gala...Casting roundup: Elle and Dakota Fanning will [play onscreen sisters]( in TriStar Picture's adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale... Josh Brener and Jon Rudnitsky have[joined the cast]( of Universal love story All My Life... Dan Stevens [has joined]( the cast of Martin McDonagh's dark comedy-thriller play Hangmen... What else we're reading... --"Sorry, Martin Scorsese—I watched The Irishman on my phone" [[WSJ](] --"David Simon, Hollywood’s foul-mouthed antagonist fighting for better pay" [[Bloomberg](] --"Billie Eilish isn’t stressing over the Grammys. She’s busy worrying about the end of the world" [[LA Times](] --"Zack Snyder shares photo of the elusive Justice League Snyder cut" [[Vulture](] From the archives... On Dec. 5, 1984, the Beverly Hills Cop franchise was born as the R-rated Eddie Murphy film hit theaters, becoming a $300 million-plus earner in its run. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Margaret Cho, 51, Frankie Muniz, 34, Gabriel Luna, 37, Paula Patton, 44. [Image] [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Is this e-mail 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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