Amazon Goes Global; Fixing the Oscars; DC's All-Female Squad; R.I.P. Alan Thicke; Best TV of 2016

What's news: Watch out Netflix, Amazon has revealed what many have speculated: It's taking the Prime Video service to about 200 countries. Plus: DC's all-female villain movie takes shape, chief TV critic Tim Goodman unveils his favorites of the year and Hollywood pays tribute to America's TV dad Alan Thicke. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment] December 14, 2016 What's news: Watch out Netflix, Amazon has revealed what many have speculated: It's taking the Prime Video service to about 200 countries. Plus: DC's all-female villain movie takes shape, chief TV critic Tim Goodman unveils his favorites of the year and Hollywood pays tribute to America's TV dad Alan Thicke. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. AMAZON GOES GLOBAL. The first take from Georg Szalai and Natalie Jarvey: Amazon has rolled out its streaming video service worldwide to more than 200 countries, [challenging Netflix], which launched globally, with the exceptions of China, North Korea, Syria and the Crimea. How much incremental spending would a worldwide video service rollout require? "We believe that the launch of a global video streaming service would require an additional $1 billion-$2 billion video content spend in 2017," Jefferies analyst Brian Fitzgerald wrote. The e-commerce giant, led by CEO Jeff Bezos, previously offered its Amazon Prime Video service in the U.S., U.K., Japan, Germany and Austria and said it was also planning a launch in India. What analysts are saying. Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter: "I think they're going global with only one show. Should they choose to, they can extend their reach with originals, but they cannot offer licensed content like Downton Abbey, HBO, Justified etc. without obtaining rights from licensors."[And more.] DC's All-Female Squad David Ayer is reuniting with Margot Robbie for Gotham City Sirens, a feature that will showcase the top female villains from the DC stable. Can the film take the DC Universe out of Marvel's shadow? Graeme McMillan [writes:] The Gotham City Sirens movie news, [a scoop] from Borys Kit yesterday, feels like an inevitability for DC's superhero cinematic universe. It's not just that Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn was, hands down, the breakout character of this summer's Suicide Squad. Nor is it that female-led movies is the one area where DC films are outpacing Marvel. But done properly, Gotham City Sirens could push one of DC's most beloved characters further into the forefront, underscore the studio's commitment to onscreen diversity in a genre that has so far been frustratingly conservative. Sirens also interestingly places Harley in the orbit of Poison Ivy, a competitive love interest for Harley in the comic book mythos. Should that be the direction DC chooses to move in, it'll also mean that the studio offers LGBT leads before Marvel, breaking new ground in a crowded marketplace once again. Elsewhere in film... ► [Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, reviewed.] In his mostly positive take, chief film critic Todd McCarthy writes that the first Star Wars standalone movie is "loaded with more battle action than any of its seven predecessors." The Lucasfilm title currently has an almost great Rotten Tomatoes score of 84 percent, slightly below Force Awakens' 92 percent. One anomaly: A scathing review from The New Yorker's Richard Brody, [titled] "Is It Time to Abandon the Star Wars Franchise?" ► Thelma & Louise, The Princess Bride enter National Film Registry. The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress also welcomed Point Blank, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Rushmore among the [25 motion pictures] selected this year to be preserved. ► Tonya Harding biopic enlists Sebastian Stan. The Captain America: Civil War actor will play Jeff Gillooly in [I, Tonya] from director Craig Gillespie. The film centers on the figure skater (played by Margot Robbie) and the sporting scandal that rocked the ice skating world in 1994. ↱ [The art of Hollywood negotiation.] Stephen Galloway's latest column: "The very producers who most espouse a liberal point of view have abandoned it ... subtly encouraging a Trumpian attitude even as they claim to renounce it. Our superhero pictures are all about good guys versus bad guys, about bashing the enemy rather than working with him." ↲ ► Lionsgate's Robin Hood: Origins finds Sheriff of Nottingham. Rogue One actor Ben Mendelsohn is in final [talks] to play the villain in the feature that stars Kingsman lead Taron Egerton as the English outlaw. Jamie Foxx is set to star as Little John. ► Ruben Fleischer to direct Chris Evans in Jekyll. The Zombieland helmer will [take on] the adaptation of BBC One's miniseries, which centers on a modern-day descendant of the literary figure. Marc Platt is producing with Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman. ► Birth of a Nation scores 6 NAACP Image Awards noms. The one-time Oscar hopeful was greeted enthusiastically at Sundance, but since Nate Parker's rape case resurfaced this summer, the film has failed to receive much recognition. [NAACP list.] ^The Animation Roundtable: Seven Oscar contenders — Seth Rogen, Byron Howard, Garth Jennings, Travis Knight, Mike Mitchell, John Musker and Mark Osborne — discuss when not to have certain characters kiss and avoiding ethnic stereotypes with Carolyn Giardina. [The conversation]. In Oscar-land... ► How many best picture nominees are enough? Scott Feinberg writes: I find it hard to believe that the Academy continues to allow anywhere from five to 10 best picture Oscar nominees (depending on vote totals), as opposed to simply [guaranteeing 10 finalists], when the latter would benefit everyone. ► A few ways the Academy can spruce up the awards: 1) Make the membership list public, but require all campaign outreach to go through the Academy. 2) Remove the shorts categories from the telecast. 3) Allow members to vote only in their specific area of expertise, as well as for best picture and best foreign-language film. [And more.] Newly updated Oscar standings. In the latest heat index of awards contenders, Feinberg checks in on the state of the race after the Golden Globe nominations (Hacksaw Ridge and Arrival are on the move). [Full forecast.] R.I.P., Alan Thicke Alan Thicke, who died Tuesday at the age of 69, was known to many viewers as a TV dad who represented the whole of sitcom fatherhood, Daniel Fienberg [writes:] If you grew up watching a certain kind of sitcom in the '80s, Alan Thicke was a paragon of a certain kind of TV patriarchy. In the multi-cam comedy of many of our lives, Alan Thicke was indeed our father. Thicke often was the part who represented the whole of TV sitcom fatherhood. He was the part who represented the whole of being Canadian. Even if he hadn't been a talk show host for years, Alan Thicke was more talk show host than any actual talk show host, more game show host than most other game show hosts. Long after Growing Pains ended (and was followed by a couple of TV movies), Thicke's biggest acting credits came when you needed to stunt a sitcom character's father, because when Alan Thicke came onscreen, that saved at least half of the writing you might otherwise do. ► [Tribute: "Paragon of '80's TV Fatherhood"] | [Reactions] I [Obit] I [A final interview.] Elsewhere in TV... ► TNT orders Rashida Jones dramedy to series. The cabler has handed out a [series order] for Claws. Originally developed as a half-hour, single-camera comedy at HBO, the hourlong dramedy is set in a South Florida nail salon. The 10-episode series will debut in 2017. ► Hulu plans Foxy Brown reboot. The streamer is [developing] a TV series based on the 1974 cult classic film. Minority Report alum Meagan Good is signed on to star, which hails from studio MGM TV. Good will also exec produce alongside her husband, DeVon Franklin. ► Fox re-ups contracts for top drama and comedy execs. Drama head Terence Carter and comedy head Suzanna Makkos have inked [new deals] that will see them stay put at the network. Carter will add event series oversight to his duties at the network. ↱ [New Nashville boss talks CMT move for season 5]: Marshall Herskovitz tells THR about "slowing down" the storytelling, those two series regular departures and the leap from ABC to CMT ("I don't want to be where I'm not wanted"). ↲ ► WGN America closes book on Salem. The cabler has opted [to end] the witchy drama with its current third season. The series, produced by Fox 21 Television Studios was the first scripted original greenlit by the network. Its January season finale will serve as a series finale. ► TBS renews People of Earth and Search Party. The Turner network has [renewed] the first-year comedies for 10-episode second seasons in 2017. According to the cabler, Earth is currently averaging 4.3M viewers per episode across all platforms. ► IFC renews Stan Against Evil. The horror series launched Halloween week and has since ranked as one of IFC's most successful original series debuts. Time shifting among adults 18-49 also is said to have helped [double] the Dana Gould-created series' returns. ► TV Land cancels Impastor after two seasons. The single-camera comedy starring Michael Rosenbaum has been [canceled], making it the second of TV Land's single-camera fare to be axed. ► ABC expands comedy lineup. Black-ish, The Goldbergs, Speechless, Fresh Off The Boat, The Middle and American Housewife have all received orders for [additional episodes] at the network, signaling a strong half-hour slate at ABC, which expanded this fall. ► Lin-Manuel Miranda's Kingkiller Chronicle adaptation takes shape. Leverage creator John Rogers has been tapped to [write the pilot] and serve as showrunner on the project, which is being developed simultaneously with a film adaptation. In THR, Esq:. [CNN] discrimination lawsuit revived by appeals court ... A [Fox reporter] claims harassment by Roger Ailes in discrimination suit ... Screenwriter [Mark Boal] settles with government in Bergdahl tapes dispute ... Lawsuit claims [Fox] and a private equity giant schemed to strip American Idol producer. Goodman's Best TV of 2016 THR's chief TV critic Tim Goodman struggled with the 500+ scripted series on air this year to narrow it down to a best-of list, from old reliables to brilliant newbies (Atlanta) and underseen gems (The A Word). Ranking his favorites, he [writes]: Having given up trying to argue the pointlessness of top 10 lists in the Platinum Age of Television, I posit another new reality to glom onto, and this one is strangely comforting: It's impossible not only to watch every scripted series out there, but to watch every episode of the ones you actually manage to watch. [The top series? FX's The Americans.] A great series from the start, it cemented its place at the top of all television with a fourth season that paid off on the plotting and emotional investment of the first three seasons with ingenuity, dramatic brilliance and grace. Exceptional writing, an acting tour-de-force and a show as much about marriage as spying, The Americans is a standout treasure. [The full list.] Today's Birthdays: Vanessa Hudgens, 28, Tammy Blanchard, 40, Miranda Hart, 44, Natascha McElhone, 47, Dee Wallace, 68. Follow The News Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.] ©2016 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe] | [Manage Preferences] | [Privacy Policy] | [Terms of Use] December 14, 2016