Oscar's Sliding Morality Scale; TV News' Post-Election Shuffle; Bowie's Final Year; Xmas Box Office Crunch

What's news: Sure, Rogue One opened huge, but now comes the real Christmas competition, with Universal's animated Sing leading an especially competitive holiday period. Plus: Why the personal problems of some Oscar contenders (but not others) haunt their movies. And: Author Bruce Handy offers an in-depth look at David Bowie's final year. — Matthew Belloni and Erik Hayden. [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment] December 20, 2016 What's news: Sure, Rogue One opened huge, but now comes the real Christmas competition, with Universal's animated Sing leading an especially competitive holiday period. Plus: Why the personal problems of some Oscar contenders (but not others) haunt their movies. And: Author Bruce Handy offers an in-depth look at David Bowie's final year. — Matthew Belloni and Erik Hayden. Oscar's Scale of Moral Punishment Why do some personal troubles stick to movies while others seem to not bother voters? As awards season starts to get serious, Matt [writes:] Some have questioned why Casey Affleck, a best actor frontrunner for Manchester by the Sea, has not been subject to Nate Parker-style scrutiny for the two sexual harassment lawsuits filed against him in 2010 by a female producer and a director of photography who claimed Affleck tormented them during the making of the bizarre mockumentary I’m Still Here. Affleck denied the allegations and settled the suits for a reported $2 million. So far, he’s picked up a Gotham Award and a Critics’ Choice win. Mel Gibson, once banished to directors jail for personal behavior, recently won plaudits for Hacksaw Ridge. And voter forgiveness seems to apply to some (Affleck) but not others (Nate Parker), with insider access counting for something. This time of year, it’s all about getting voters to actually see the contenders. And while one Oscar-nominated producer recently told me he felt an “ickiness” when deciding to pop in his Hacksaw screener, he did it anyway and liked the film. Note: Matt and Kim Masters discussed Mel, Casey and the Oscar morals issue on her KCRW radio show this week. [Listen here.] ↱ Holiday box office preview. Pamela McClintock writes: Sci-fi romance Passengers, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, may nab $45M to $50M for the six days including a Wednesday opening, although Sony is being more conservative with a $35M-plus estimate. Illumination Entertainment and Universal's Sing [has the best shot] of trumping holdover Rogue One and claiming the No. 1 spot, but it will be tough. Sing is projected to take in at least $65M and $75M for the stretch. [A wild card:]Fox's $125M video game epic Assassin's Creed. The film, starring Michael Fassbender, has fared even worse with critics than Passengers. The movie is predicted to earn $30M to $35M for the six days, but it could come in ahead of expectations if fans of the video game come in force. ↲ Elsewhere in film... ► Disney crosses record $7B in global ticket sales this year. With the $290.5M worldwide opening of Rogue One, the studio commands an unprecedented portion of market share, including more than 24 percent in North America (or nearly a fourth of all tickets sold). [Shot:] The company has released the four top-grossing films of 2016 so far: Marvel's Captain America: Civil War ($1.15 billion), Pixar's Finding Dory ($1.03B), Disney Animation's Zootopia ($1.02B) and, from its live-action studio, The Jungle Book ($967M). [Chaser:] Disney hasn't been immune to big misses. Alice in Wonderland sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass, which cost $170M to make before a major marketing spend, grossed just $299.5M globally, compared to $1.025B for the original in 2010. ► Also: China's box office flatlined this year. Patrick Brzeski writes: The year began with projections that China was on the verge of becoming the world's largest movie market, but 2016 might end up being remembered as the year the country's film sector fell back to earth. After expanding 48 percent in 2015, it is projected to grow [just 4.5 percent] this year. ► Blade Runner sequel unveils trailer. And it looks moody! The film, featuring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, also stars Jared Leto, Robin Wright and Ana de Armas. Denis Villeneuve is directing the Alcon Entertainment film. Sony Pictures is co-financing the movie. [Watch here.] ► John Wick sequel gets first look. Keanu Reeves' hit man is back, along with franchise newcomers Common, Laurence Fishburne and Ruby Rose. "Never stab the devil in the back" is the tagline for the Lionsgate title this time. [Watch here.] ↱ [Assassin's Creed, reviewed.] Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard reteam with their Macbeth director Justin Kurzel for an adaptation of Ubisoft’s game franchise. The takeaway: "almost two hours of convoluted hokum." ↲ ► In-depth: Brian Grazer on his career, missed Oscar. In conversation with Stephen Galloway for his Hollywood Masters series, the producer gets candid about the arc of his career, sharing specific interesting anecdotes about Apollo 13. [Full transcript.] ► Meryl Streep to be honored with major LGBT award. The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBT civil rights organization, is tapping one of Hollywood's biggest guns for special recognition at its annual East Coast banquet in February. [Details.] New! Pre-Christmas Oscar standings. Scott Feinberg shares his latest take on the race in the aftermath of Golden Globe and SAG noms, the rise of Rogue One and the fall of Passengers — and just ahead of the holiday break. [Full forecast.] Reality TV's Next Frontier Broadcast networks are joining cable rivals in developing their own unscripted projects to avoid seeing the spoils of success go elsewhere, Michael O'Connell [writes:] This year saw NBCUniversal and CBS Studios form their own alternative operations in an effort to get in on the selling side — improving profitability with streaming deals and international sales and often lowering the pressure to generate ratings in an era of waning linear tune-in. In the best-case scenario, a successful format can generate hundreds of millions of dollars. “We’ve seen the business and economics on the other side, so we said, ‘Let’s double down and really invest in the content business,'" notes NBC Entertainment alternative group president Paul Telegdy, who already handed out series orders from his studio to a performance show from Jennifer Lopez (World of Dance), an entrepreneurial competition from Tyra Banks (Funded) and projects from LeBron James and Amy Poehler. [However:]The networks, at the moment, have virtually zero ownership of top reality franchises. American Ninja Warrior, The Bachelor, MasterChef and America's Got Talent all belong to outside studios and producers. Elsewhere in TV... ^Behind the new Celebrity Apprentice. "I always thought it would be interesting to sit there, but I never thought it would happen," says Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reached out to his CAA agent when Trump left the series. "It seemed like he was going to do that for another 4,000 years." [Set photos] I [Schwarzenegger's hot seat.] ► USA renews Shooter for season two. The drama, starring Ryan Phillippe, has helped the cabler improve its fortunes on Tuesdays. With an [average of 2.6M total viewers] and 974,000 among adults 18-49 (with seven days of DVR), Shooter ranks as USA's top new series year-to-date among total viewers. ► Showtime's Shameless will live to season eight. The premium cabler announced that the William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum starrer will be returning in 2017. Production on the [12-episode season] will begin in May. ↱[A&E boss explains KKK documentary series.] "We were filming during the campaign, but that's not what drove our interest," says Rob Sharenow. "I have concerns that people will put a wall up, thinking it's a political statement." ↲ ► FX's Fargo enlists David Thewlis for season three. The Harry Potter grad has booked a [series regular role] in the anthology as a mysterious loner interacts with Ewan McGregor, who stars in the season. The show is set for a 2017 debut. ► HBO's new Girls promo highlights character tensions. Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke don't appear to be getting along too well in the latest look at the sixth and final season of the show, which returns in February. [Watch here.] Trump sparks TV news reshuffle. Marisa Guthrie writes: Like contestants on a reality show, the political media are being forced to play a waiting game until the President-elect picks a press secretary and begins to set the rules. "Is he even going to have press briefings?" asks one TV news executive. "[Who knows?]" David Bowie's Final, Imaginative Year As the year anniversary of Bowie's death approaches, collaborators on the icon's off-Broadway show Lazarus share accounts of a cancer-stricken artist productive and engaged until the end. In an in-depth piece, Bruce Handy [writes:] Henry Hey, musical director of the off-Broadway show Lazarus, was struggling late last year to find a date to record a cast album. Unconventional, impressionistic off-Broadway musicals don't always go to the expense of making cast albums, but this one was a no-brainer: Its book was co-written by David Bowie, its score featured 18 of his songs and its cast was headlined by actors Michael C. Hall and Cristin Milioti, both well known to theater aficionados and TV audiences. Hey's problem was the show's limited run. "We found the one date that worked for the cast," says Hey. "It just so happened to be that day." That day was Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. News would break early that morning that Bowie had died the previous day. He had been fighting cancer for a year and a half but kept the severity of his illness so private that his death shocked some of his closest collaborators. "[None of the cast knew about David's situation]," says Hey, who had been aware of Bowie's illness, though not necessarily that the artist was nearing his end. But there was no thought of cancelling the studio date. "I wrote to the cast and said, 'Look, we have to do this thing because this is what he wanted.' And everybody showed up and gave it their all." Today's Birthdays: Jonah Hill, 33, Todd Phillips, 46, Terry George, 64, Dick Wolf, 70. 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 20, 2016