Sony's Big 'Passengers' Bet; Behind Warner Bros. Shakeup; Writer Roundtable Unveiled; Facebook’s TV Plan

Jimmy Kimmel is getting paid how much to host the Oscars? He let it slip yesterday. Plus: Warner Bros. ousts its head of production, CBS plans a Honeymooners reboot, Facebook enters TV production and THR unveils its annual Writer Roundtable. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment] December 15, 2016 Jimmy Kimmel is getting paid how much to host the Oscars? He let it slip yesterday. Plus: Warner Bros. ousts its head of production, CBS plans a Honeymooners reboot, Facebook enters TV production and THR unveils its annual Writer Roundtable. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. Jennifer Lawrence + Chris Pratt + big budget + sci-fi love story = ? The review embargo just lifted for Sony's $150M tentpole Passengers. So how is it? From THR critic Sheri Linden: "There is, at first, a thrilling what-if in Jon Spaihts’ screenplay, which concocts [a sort of Titanic in outer space], with dollops of Sleeping Beauty and Gravity thrown into the high-concept mix. Under less shiny, by-the-numbers direction, the story might have soared, or at least been more stirring. Yet while Passengers offers a few shrewd observations about our increasingly tech-enabled, corporatized lives, its heavy-handed mix of life-or-death exigencies and feel-good bromides finally feels like a case of more being less. Whatever the critical consensus, though, the marquee leads are sure to entice moviegoers seeking grown-up action-adventure." Other early reviews haven't been kind. EW gave it a D+, Variety said it was "lost in space" and The Guardian offered a two star review (out of five) for the film. How risky is it for Sony? Film reporter Tatiana Siegel emails: Given that the title hasn't picked up early awards season accolades, all hope rests on the sci-fi film's box-office performance. The film's billboard campaign has relied entirely on the two mega-stars Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, with little indication of the plot. If Passengers fails to ignite with theatergoers upon its Dec. 21 release, much of the blame will be pinned on studio chief Tom Rothman, who green lit the budget with Lawrence and Pratt earning their full freight. Pratt's fee is said to be $10M to $12M and Lawrence [is being paid $20M.] Behind Warner Bros.' Shakeup After months of speculation, Warner Bros.' film head Greg Silverman is exiting the studio, while Toby Emmerich has been promoted to president with creative oversight of both Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. Rebecca Ford and Borys Kit [report]: There have been repeated rumors over the past few years that Silverman would exit as the studio suffered some less-than-optimal performances at the box office, but he re-upped in January in a deal that was expected to last three years. Now, Emmerich will not only oversee both Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, but will see further increase in power as he'll now share greenlight authority with Kevin Tsujihara. [Context? Lots of recent bombs:]In the past two years, the studio has seen several box-office disappointments, the biggest of which was 2015's Pan, which grossed a dismal $127M worldwide, along with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Jupiter Ascending. Even the studio's DC superhero films, expected to be home runs, suffered from poor reviews. Emmerich has been running Warner Bros.’ sister division since 2008, making consistently profitable comedies and horror movies due to smart budgeting. This year alone, New Line released Central Intelligence ($217M worldwide) and The Conjuring 2 ($320M worldwide). Elsewhere in film... ► High stakes for Matt Damon's $150M Chinese epic The Great Wall. Correspondent Patrick Brzeski writes: The tentpole fits into a potentially lucrative mold that few big films have actually managed to make successful. The title was developed as a U.S.-China co-production — and it has received that difficult-to-land designation from Chinese regulators. [The takeaway:] If the film does big business in both middle America and the Middle Kingdom, expect more such fusions to be greenlit — if it bombs in either market, big budget co-pros will continue to inspire trepidation. ↱ Trailer watch: [Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk] trailer arrives with stars Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh and Harry Styles (yes, that Harry Styles). Also, [Despicable Me 3's first trailer] introduces Gru's new villain voiced by South Park's Trey Parker. ↲ ► Disney's live-action Cruella finds director. Mozart of the Jungle co-creator and theater director Alex Timbers is [in talks] to helm Cruella, the 101 Dalmatians character that will star Emma Stone. ► Michelle Obama to host Hidden Figures screening at The White House. The First Lady will [welcome] the cast and director of Fox 2000's biographical drama today before opening nationwide Jan. 6. ^The Writer Roundtable: Six Oscar contenders — Tom Ford, Kenneth Lonergan, Pedro Almodovar, Noah Oppenheim, Allison Schroeder and Taylor Sheridan — address a Trump movie, dream projects and when to kill a scene with Stephen Galloway. [The conversation.] ► Lin-Manuel Miranda partners with Sony for animated musical Vivo. Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote the book for Miranda's In the Heights, [penned the feature] about a musically inclined capuchin monkey. The Croods helmer Kirk De Micco is set to direct. Lawyers help "faithless electors" vote their conscience. On Monday, the Electoral College will vote for President — presumably cementing Trump’s win. "If Donald Trump shoots someone on Fifth Avenue in front of witnesses, electors from most states are REQUIRED to still vote for him," says Michael Hawley of the Electors Trust. ["That can't be right."] Fienberg's Best of TV 2016 Two very different takes on the Trial of the Century, an underseen British crime procedural and a news comedy show were among the best things to watch this year, according to TV critic Daniel Fienberg's year-end take. [He writes]: As it stands, my Top 11 list includes streaming shows, shows from England, animated shows and, yes, a movie that premiered at Sundance and is going to be nominated for an Oscar, but is still part of ESPN's 30 for 30 franchise. The best series? O.J.: Made in America. It took maybe 15 minutes for Ezra Edelman's 30 for 30 documentary to make it clear that I was in the hands of a master storyteller. [Dan Fienberg's full list] | [Todd McCarthy's best films list.] | [Tim Goodman's best TV list.] Elsewhere in TV... ↱[Jimmy Kimmel is getting paid how much to host the Oscars?] Yesterday, the late-night host let it slip on The Kevin & Bean Show that he'll receive $15,000 to emcee the awards show. The sum might seem low, but Kimmel had a theory: "I think it's illegal to pay nothing." ↲ ► 21st Century Fox finalizes offer to take full control of Sky. Early today, the companies said that Fox had offered to buy full control of Sky in a £10.75 per share preliminary deal that values it at[roughly $23.2 billion.] ► The Honeymooners reboot in the works at CBS. The [multicamera comedy] hails from Muppets alum Bob Kushell, who will pen the script for the new take, centering on two couples — best friends and neighbors like the original. ► Facebook will start paying for original shows. After years of serving as a distribution platform, Facebook is speaking with video producers about shows specifically for its mobile-first video environment. "Our goal is to [kickstart the ecosystem]," says newly hired exec Ricky Van Veen. ► Showtime's Emmy Rossum pay gets resolved. The Shameless star, who had been holding up the dramedy's season eight renewal, has come to terms with producers. Sources say Rossum had[an offer] of equal pay on the table. It's unclear if she received more than co-star William H. Macy. ↱ [Quoted, Leonardo DiCaprio]. The actor, who appeared with the late Alan Thicke on Growing Pains, paid tribute: "When Alan Thicke walked in the room, quite frankly, no one was cooler. I miss him already." Read what Norman Lear and his Growing Pains co-stars had to say [here]. ↲ ► Another How I Met Your Mother spinoff is in development. [How I Met Your Father] comes from This Is Us writers Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. The original series creators also had a potential 2014 spinoff that starred Greta Gerwig and voice narration of Meg Ryan, but it was surprisingly not picked up to series. ► Star Trek: Discovery enlists Walking Dead star. Sonequa Martin-Green — who will continue to portray Sasha on Walking Dead as a series regular — will take on the [starring role] in the CBS All Access digital reboot set to debut in May 2017. ► Fox plans Empire and Star crossover episode. Lee Daniels, a co-creator and executive producer on both music dramas, had been tight-lipped about any possible connections between the two series, but confirmed they existed within the same universe. [A first look.] ↱ R.I.P., Bernard Fox. The character actor best known for playing the womanizing witch doctor Dr. Bombay on Bewitched died Wednesday. He was 89. [Full obit]. ↲ ► The CW's Riverdale adds Molly Ringwald. The Breakfast Club favorite will have a [recurring gig] on the upcoming Archie Comics drama. Riverdale, set in present day, premieres on The CW Thursday, Jan. 26. ► Skydance TV expands relationship with Laeta Kalogridis. Under the [pact], the Avatar alum will develop projects for the company. Her first TV forays are the Netflix adaptation of Altered Carbon as well as a take on anime franchise Sword Art Online. SAG Award noms welcome Stranger Things, ignore The Americans. New shows (The Crown, Westworld) [made a splash] with voters, establishing momentum they hope will still be there seven months from now when Emmy voters get their ballots. [SAG: S][nubs] | [Film analysis] Flashback: 'Dune' vs. 'Starman' A rewind to this weekend in 1984: In the lead-up to the holidays it was Universal's big budget (and troubled) Dune vs. a well-reviewed Jeff Bridges sci-fi love story, Starman, among openers. As THR reviewer Kirk Ellis described at the time, the $40M David Lynch sci-fi epic based on Frank Herbert's classic novel was in trouble. "Fans shouldn't mind the excessive length and too-deliberate pacing, and while those elements could well render the picture's infinite intelligence inaccessible to certain other audiences, it is nonetheless a hotter property than the inexplicably cold feet of its distributor, Universal, would seem to indicate," he pointed out in his [Dune][review]. Starman, meanwhile, was thought to be the better box office bet. As critic Duane Byrge noted in his [Starman review], "It would not be surprising if Starman outdistanced, by a quantum leap, its sci-fi Christmas competition. An amusing and appealing storyline plus the winning performance of Jeff Bridges as a friendly extraterrestrial lend it major box-office potential." So which title topped the box office? Neither at first. Eddie Murphy's star turn in Beverly Hills Cop ("[a silver-bullet performance]," as THR put it) carried the weekend with $11M in its second outing, while Dune managed to hit $6M in its debut and Starman disappointed with a $2M initial take. The kicker: Both Dune and Starman have seen recent movement on the reboot front. Late last month, Legendary Pictures nabbed the rights to Dune to develop the title [across film and TV properties]. Meanwhile, last April, Borys Kit had the scoop that Night at the Museum helmer Shawn Levy signed to direct a[Starman reboot]for Columbia Pictures. Today's Birthdays: Charlie Cox, 34, Michelle Dockery, 35, Adam Brody, 37, Reginald Hudlin, 55, John Lee Hancock, 60, Don Johnson, 67. 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 15, 2016