'Onward' Muted B.O. Win; Coronavirus Crash; PGA TV Deal; 'Plot Against America' Review

What's news: Pixar's Onward opens to a muted win, coronavirus chaos as market plunges and cancelations rack up, the PGA Tour inks a new TV rights deal with NBC, CBS and ESPN+, AMC Theatres hires a streaming liaison, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gets to keep his job, the DGA approves its studio deal. Plus: A review of HBO's The Plot Against America, and the new Black Widow trailer. --Alex Weprin [The Hollywood Reporter]( [The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment MARCH 09, 2020 What's news: Pixar's Onward opens to a muted win, coronavirus chaos as market plunges and cancelations rack up, the PGA Tour inks a new TV rights deal with NBC, CBS and ESPN+, AMC Theatres hires a streaming liaison, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gets to keep his job, the DGA approves its studio deal. Plus: A review of HBO's The Plot Against America, and the new Black Widow trailer. --Alex Weprin What's news: Pixar's Onward opens to a muted win, coronavirus chaos as market plunges and cancelations rack up, the PGA Tour inks a new TV rights deal with NBC, CBS and ESPN+, AMC Theatres hires a streaming liaison, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gets to keep his job, the DGA approves its studio deal. Plus: A review of HBO's The Plot Against America, and the new Black Widow trailer. --Alex Weprin [A Muted Debut For 'Onward'] A Muted Debut For 'Onward' ►Box office: Pixar's family animated offering Onward opened to a muted $40 million from 4,310 theaters in North America, one of the lowest nationwide starts for the storied brand. --It's unclear how much of an effect worries over the coronavirus had on moviegoing in the U.S. over the weekend, or whether Onward faced its own challenges. Comparisons to last year — when Captain Marvel opened to $153 million — were always going to be brutal. Overall, revenue for the weekend was down more than 50 percent from the same frame in 2019. --Universal and Blumhouse's The Invisible Man fell to No. 2 in its second weekend, declining a relatively narrow 46 percent to $15.2 million from 3,610 locations for a 10-day domestic tally of $52.9 million. Warner Bros.' adult drama The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck, debuted to $8.5 million from 2,020 theaters. While that's a sobering start for a movie boasting A-list talent and billed as a comeback for Affleck, it could have been worse. Some tracking services had the film opening to as low as $6 million (the high end was $10 million). The Way Back is the latest in a string of midrange misses for Warner Bros. and cost a reported $21 million to produce before marketing. [The box office numbers](. The continued outbreak of COVID-19 will be the story of the year, impacting every sector of the economy, all around the world. Circuit breakers were triggered at the open of the Stock market as a massive sell-off was underway. Meanwhile, [in the entertainment business](... ►Italian box office collapses as France tightens restrictions. The Italian box office for the weekend of March 5-March 8 came to $503,000 (€439,515), a 79 percent week-on-week drop and fully 95 percent off the same weekend a year earlier. And things are likely to get worse before they get better. On Sunday, Italy introduced new more restrictive quarantine measures, locking down a huge swath of northern Italy, amounting to 16 million people or around a quarter of its population, in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. [The story](. +Coronavirus cancelations continue: The Chinese government's flagship cinema event, the Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF), [has postponed]( its April 2020 edition... Magnolia Pictures' gerrymandering documentary Slay the Dragon is the latest film to have its [release date shifted]( amid concerns about the coronavirus outbreak... The American Film Institute[is postponing]( its Life Achievement Award gala due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. The annual ceremony, set to celebrate Julie Andrews this year, was scheduled for April 25 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles... Grammy-winning singer Ciara is the latest performer to [postpone a concert]( because of the rapidly spreading coronavirus... +Sunlight over the horizon: The Walt Disney Co.'s flagship theme park in China, the Shanghai Disney Resort, reopened several restaurant and shopping establishments near its entrance Monday, a tentative step toward the eventual reopening of the full facility. [More](. ►Directors Guild board approves new studio deal. The new pact features what the union described as "a nearly 50 percent increase in residuals" for work on streaming video platforms such as Netflix and Disney+, as well as healthy compensation gains that effectively equal or exceed three percent per year. The tentative deal now goes to the union’s membership for ratification, which is also expected. [The story](. A Muted Debut For 'Onward' ►Box office: Pixar's family animated offering Onward opened to a muted $40 million from 4,310 theaters in North America, one of the lowest nationwide starts for the storied brand. --It's unclear how much of an effect worries over the coronavirus had on moviegoing in the U.S. over the weekend, or whether Onward faced its own challenges. Comparisons to last year — when Captain Marvel opened to $153 million — were always going to be brutal. Overall, revenue for the weekend was down more than 50 percent from the same frame in 2019. --Universal and Blumhouse's The Invisible Man fell to No. 2 in its second weekend, declining a relatively narrow 46 percent to $15.2 million from 3,610 locations for a 10-day domestic tally of $52.9 million. Warner Bros.' adult drama The Way Back, starring Ben Affleck, debuted to $8.5 million from 2,020 theaters. While that's a sobering start for a movie boasting A-list talent and billed as a comeback for Affleck, it could have been worse. Some tracking services had the film opening to as low as $6 million (the high end was $10 million). The Way Back is the latest in a string of midrange misses for Warner Bros. and cost a reported $21 million to produce before marketing. [The box office numbers](. The continued outbreak of COVID-19 will be the story of the year, impacting every sector of the economy, all around the world. Circuit breakers were triggered at the open of the Stock market as a massive sell-off was underway. Meanwhile, [in the entertainment business](... ►Italian box office collapses as France tightens restrictions. The Italian box office for the weekend of March 5-March 8 came to $503,000 (€439,515), a 79 percent week-on-week drop and fully 95 percent off the same weekend a year earlier. And things are likely to get worse before they get better. On Sunday, Italy introduced new more restrictive quarantine measures, locking down a huge swath of northern Italy, amounting to 16 million people or around a quarter of its population, in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. [The story](. +Coronavirus cancelations continue: The Chinese government's flagship cinema event, the Beijing International Film Festival (BIFF), [has postponed]( its April 2020 edition... Magnolia Pictures' gerrymandering documentary Slay the Dragon is the latest film to have its [release date shifted]( amid concerns about the coronavirus outbreak... The American Film Institute[is postponing]( its Life Achievement Award gala due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. The annual ceremony, set to celebrate Julie Andrews this year, was scheduled for April 25 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles... Grammy-winning singer Ciara is the latest performer to [postpone a concert]( because of the rapidly spreading coronavirus... +Sunlight over the horizon: The Walt Disney Co.'s flagship theme park in China, the Shanghai Disney Resort, reopened several restaurant and shopping establishments near its entrance Monday, a tentative step toward the eventual reopening of the full facility. [More](. ►Directors Guild board approves new studio deal. The new pact features what the union described as "a nearly 50 percent increase in residuals" for work on streaming video platforms such as Netflix and Disney+, as well as healthy compensation gains that effectively equal or exceed three percent per year. The tentative deal now goes to the union’s membership for ratification, which is also expected. [The story](. [ESPN+ Scores With New PGA Tour Deal] ESPN+ Scores With New PGA Tour Deal ►ESPN+ to become PGA Tour streaming home, CBS and NBC extend rights deals. In terms of broadcast and cable TV, CBS and NBC will maintain weekend coverage of most FedExCup tournaments, with CBS averaging 19 events each season, compared with 20 previously, and NBC averaging eight events, compared with 10 previously, over the years covered by the deals. --PGA Tour Live, the subscription video service that was launched in 2015, will live exclusively on the ESPN streaming service starting in 2022 and will be "dramatically expanded." [The story](. ►AMC Theatres hires Mark Pearson to forge strategic alliances with streamers. Pearson's arrival at AMC marks the first time that a major theater circuit has hired an executive dedicated to working with streaming outfits. Cinema operators and streamers — namely, Netflix — have often been at odds with each other, since theater circuits are reluctant to carry titles that are made available almost immediately on smaller screens. [The story](. ►Twitter strikes a deal with activist investor to keep Jack Dorsey as CEO. Elliott Management and Twitter have a deal that will see Silver Lake invest $1 billion into the company, and the company undertake a $2 billion share repurchase program. [The details](. ►John Oliver slams Disney-owned streamer for censoring Last Week Tonight jokes about Disney. Oliver started out Sunday night's episode by explaining that Disney-owned Hotstar, which distributes the series in India, decided to, in his words, "self-censor," and did not upload a recent episode of Last Week Tonight that was critical of Narendra Modi, India's prime minister. --"What's worse is, it's apparently not even the first time they have censored us," Oliver said. "We've discovered that they've been quietly doing it for a while now, but not for the reason that you might expect." [More](. ►On Saturday Night Live: Elizabeth Warren made a [surprise appearance]( in the cold open... Host Daniel Craig gave a "[sneak peek](" at No Time To Die... There was a [coronavirus sketch](... Rachel Dratch's Debbie Downer [returned](... Craig also appeared in a [Knives Out-themed sketch](... +Backstage: Elizabeth Warren and Kate McKinnon, in matching cerulean sweaters, goofed off backstage in a down moment and took part in the #FlipChallenge, which has TikTok users getting creative with a line from Drake's "Nonstop." [More](. In other news... --Raindog Films, the U.K. production company set up by Colin Firth and former Sony Music CEO Ged Doherty, is [planning to expand]( into TV following an investment from the U.K. Creative Content EIS Fund. --The final trailer for Marvel's Black Widow [dropped Monday]( and it is nearly three-minutes of eye-popping action. --Parasite has become the [highest-grossing foreign-language film]( in the U.K., ending the the 16-year reign of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which had held the top spot since 2004. --The European film industry [has united behind]( Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof. Rasoulof, whose political drama There Is No Evil won the Golden Bear for best film at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, is facing prison at home after Iran authorities summoned him on March 4 serve a one-year sentence for alleged propaganda against the government. On Monday, the European Film Academy, along with the German and Italian academies and film festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Amsterdam issued a statement protesting the decision and expressing their “deepest concern” for Rasoulof. --The Walking Dead sets up [a brutal battle](: Who will die next? ESPN+ Scores With New PGA Tour Deal ►ESPN+ to become PGA Tour streaming home, CBS and NBC extend rights deals. In terms of broadcast and cable TV, CBS and NBC will maintain weekend coverage of most FedExCup tournaments, with CBS averaging 19 events each season, compared with 20 previously, and NBC averaging eight events, compared with 10 previously, over the years covered by the deals. --PGA Tour Live, the subscription video service that was launched in 2015, will live exclusively on the ESPN streaming service starting in 2022 and will be "dramatically expanded." [The story](. ►AMC Theatres hires Mark Pearson to forge strategic alliances with streamers. Pearson's arrival at AMC marks the first time that a major theater circuit has hired an executive dedicated to working with streaming outfits. Cinema operators and streamers — namely, Netflix — have often been at odds with each other, since theater circuits are reluctant to carry titles that are made available almost immediately on smaller screens. [The story](. ►Twitter strikes a deal with activist investor to keep Jack Dorsey as CEO. Elliott Management and Twitter have a deal that will see Silver Lake invest $1 billion into the company, and the company undertake a $2 billion share repurchase program. [The details](. ►John Oliver slams Disney-owned streamer for censoring Last Week Tonight jokes about Disney. Oliver started out Sunday night's episode by explaining that Disney-owned Hotstar, which distributes the series in India, decided to, in his words, "self-censor," and did not upload a recent episode of Last Week Tonight that was critical of Narendra Modi, India's prime minister. --"What's worse is, it's apparently not even the first time they have censored us," Oliver said. "We've discovered that they've been quietly doing it for a while now, but not for the reason that you might expect." [More](. ►On Saturday Night Live: Elizabeth Warren made a [surprise appearance]( in the cold open... Host Daniel Craig gave a "[sneak peek](" at No Time To Die... There was a [coronavirus sketch](... Rachel Dratch's Debbie Downer [returned](... Craig also appeared in a [Knives Out-themed sketch](... +Backstage: Elizabeth Warren and Kate McKinnon, in matching cerulean sweaters, goofed off backstage in a down moment and took part in the #FlipChallenge, which has TikTok users getting creative with a line from Drake's "Nonstop." [More](. In other news... --Raindog Films, the U.K. production company set up by Colin Firth and former Sony Music CEO Ged Doherty, is [planning to expand]( into TV following an investment from the U.K. Creative Content EIS Fund. --The final trailer for Marvel's Black Widow [dropped Monday]( and it is nearly three-minutes of eye-popping action. --Parasite has become the [highest-grossing foreign-language film]( in the U.K., ending the the 16-year reign of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which had held the top spot since 2004. --The European film industry [has united behind]( Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof. Rasoulof, whose political drama There Is No Evil won the Golden Bear for best film at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, is facing prison at home after Iran authorities summoned him on March 4 serve a one-year sentence for alleged propaganda against the government. On Monday, the European Film Academy, along with the German and Italian academies and film festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Amsterdam issued a statement protesting the decision and expressing their “deepest concern” for Rasoulof. --The Walking Dead sets up [a brutal battle](: Who will die next? ['Plot Against America' Review] 'Plot Against America' Review ►Review: HBO's The Plot Against America. "What do you do when speculative fiction no longer feels so speculative?" writes Daniel Fienberg. "That's the challenge facing The Wire collaborators David Simon and Ed Burns in their HBO limited-series adaptation of The Plot Against America. Simon and Burns aren't always able to conquer the challenges of [Philip] Roth's text — it's a great book, if not the most fluidly transferrable story to the small screen — but they've certainly crafted a six-hour nightmare with an insidious creep." [The review](. The week ahead... --In TV: Westworld returns to HBO for its third season on Sunday... ABC airs a two-part Bachelor finale Monday an Tuesday... On My Block returns to Netflix Wednesday... [More](... --In film: Friday the 13th will finally bring The Hunt to theaters, as well as the sci fi action flick Bloodshot, and the Christian biographical drama I Still Believe... --Weinstein sentencing: Harvey Weinstein will be sentenced on Wednesday. ►Max von Sydow, the legend of Swedish cinema who dueled with Death in a game of chess in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and portrayed the resolute Father Merrin in William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), has died. He was 90. Von Sydow, who starred in 11 films directed by Bergman, typically playing a tormented protagonist, died Sunday, March 8 at his home in Provence, France. [The obituary](. +Obituaries: [Danny Tidwell](, a finalist on Fox's So You Think You Can Dance?, died Friday, according to his brother and fellow dancer, Travis Wall. Tidwell was 35... [Nicholas Tucci](, an actor who appeared in the horror film You’re Next and SyFy’s Channel Zero, died Tuesday after battling an unspecified illness, according to his father, who shared the news on Facebook. Tucci was 38... [McCoy Tyner](, the groundbreaking and influential jazz pianist and the last surviving member of the John Coltrane Quartet, has died. He was 81... What else we're reading... --"What Bernie Sanders gets right about the media" [[NY Times](] --"The most important media businesses of the (past &) future" [[Matthew Ball](] --"Spanish-language radio is booming in L.A. But local DJs say they can barely make rent" [[LA Times](] --"How House Party brought the black teenage experience to the mainstream" [[The Ringer](] Today's birthdays: Chingy, 40, Juliette Binoche, 56, Brittany Snow, 34, Steve Wilkos, 56, Matthew Gray Gubler, 40. 'Plot Against America' Review ►Review: HBO's The Plot Against America. "What do you do when speculative fiction no longer feels so speculative?" writes Daniel Fienberg. "That's the challenge facing The Wire collaborators David Simon and Ed Burns in their HBO limited-series adaptation of The Plot Against America. Simon and Burns aren't always able to conquer the challenges of [Philip] Roth's text — it's a great book, if not the most fluidly transferrable story to the small screen — but they've certainly crafted a six-hour nightmare with an insidious creep." [The review](. The week ahead... --In TV: Westworld returns to HBO for its third season on Sunday... ABC airs a two-part Bachelor finale Monday an Tuesday... On My Block returns to Netflix Wednesday... [More](... --In film: Friday the 13th will finally bring The Hunt to theaters, as well as the sci fi action flick Bloodshot, and the Christian biographical drama I Still Believe... --Weinstein sentencing: Harvey Weinstein will be sentenced on Wednesday. ►Max von Sydow, the legend of Swedish cinema who dueled with Death in a game of chess in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and portrayed the resolute Father Merrin in William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), has died. He was 90. Von Sydow, who starred in 11 films directed by Bergman, typically playing a tormented protagonist, died Sunday, March 8 at his home in Provence, France. [The obituary](. +Obituaries: [Danny Tidwell](, a finalist on Fox's So You Think You Can Dance?, died Friday, according to his brother and fellow dancer, Travis Wall. Tidwell was 35... [Nicholas Tucci](, an actor who appeared in the horror film You’re Next and SyFy’s Channel Zero, died Tuesday after battling an unspecified illness, according to his father, who shared the news on Facebook. Tucci was 38... [McCoy Tyner](, the groundbreaking and influential jazz pianist and the last surviving member of the John Coltrane Quartet, has died. He was 81... What else we're reading... --"What Bernie Sanders gets right about the media" [[NY Times](] --"The most important media businesses of the (past &) future" [[Matthew Ball](] --"Spanish-language radio is booming in L.A. But local DJs say they can barely make rent" [[LA Times](] --"How House Party brought the black teenage experience to the mainstream" [[The Ringer](] Today's birthdays: Chingy, 40, Juliette Binoche, 56, Brittany Snow, 34, Steve Wilkos, 56, Matthew Gray Gubler, 40. [Image] [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. MARCH 09, 2020 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( [MANAGE PREFERENCES]( [PRIVACY POLICY]( [TERMS OF USE](