AT&T's $780M WarnerMedia Writedown; AMC's Reddit-Fueled Stock Surge; 'Modern Family' Mega-Deal

[The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment JANUARY 27, 2021 What's news: AT&T takes a $780 million writedown on WarnerMedia as HBO Max subscribers top 17 million, studios hold out hope for a return to theatrical normal, Modern Family's streaming mega-deal, studios keep up production as Los Angeles reopens, why AMC Theatres stock surged nearly 300 percent Wednesday morning, a Spy Kids reboot, a Great Gatsby TV series, NBC holds out Olympic hope. Plus: Analyzing the awards race, and the perils of Passing. --Alex Weprin [The Perils of 'Passing'] The Perils of 'Passing' ►On the cover: Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga's racial-identity movie Passing and why Rebecca Hall was the "perfect person" to direct. When the helmer was seeking financing for her directorial debut, producers worried that she wasn't the right person to adapt the novel about a Black woman who "passes" for white, Tatiana Siegel reports. Then they learned of her personal connection to the project, premiering at Sundance. --"That was our initial concern, and when I met her in person, I brought it up and was really frank about it, how I'm nervous about having a white woman telling a story about passing," proucer Nina Yang Bongiovi recalls. "And that's when she revealed to me that her mother is actually African American. On the maternal side of her family, generations have passed because of light skin. So, Rebecca's actually mixed race. And that was something that was extremely profound to me because that makes her the perfect person to tell this story. And that's why we wholeheartedly signed on." --"I was flailing around. Identity is a hopelessly complex issue," Hall explains. "But I read the book, and I was powerfully moved by it in a way that was really difficult for my 25-year-old brain to handle. I think much better when I'm writing than when I'm speaking, which is why being a public figure has always been a little bit problematic for me," she laughs. "So, my solution to understanding was to sit down and adapt it into a screenplay." [The cover story](. ►AT&T reported Wednesday that it had taken a $780 million writedown against WarnerMedia, "from the impairment of production and other content inventory at WarnerMedia, with $520 million resulting from the continued shutdown of theaters during the pandemic and the hybrid distribution model for our 2021 film slate." It also wrote down more than $15.5 billion for its video business, with DirecTV losing 617,000 subscribers in the quarter. [The story](. +Meanwhile at HBO Max: The streaming service, buoyed by an eight-months-in-the-making distribution deal with Roku and the Christmas Day release of Wonder Woman 1984, ended the year with 17.17 million activated users, twice as many as at the start of the fourth quarter, AT&T disclosed on Wednesday. HBO Max now reaches 37.665 million total subscribers. That compares with 28.7 million subscribers, including 8.6 million activated users, as of the end of September. Combined, HBO and HBO Max had 41.5 million U.S. subscribers as of the end of 2020, compared with 38.0 million as of the end of September. [More](. [Studios Hope For a Return To Normal] Studios Hope For a Return To Normal ►Studios hold out hope for theaters’ return to normalcy. In delaying tentpoles, rather than sending major titles to streaming platforms, much of Hollywood is betting that audiences will be comfortable going back to cinemas after the vaccine rolls out, Pamela McClintock writes. --“The studios have delayed the vast majority of their major releases until movie theaters are back in business for a very simple reason. A theatrical release is their biggest source of revenue on these titles, and they cannot be profitable without such a release,” says John Fithian, president-CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “The tunnel of this pandemic for exhibitors has been long, but the light at the end of that tunnel looks very bright indeed.” [The story](. +AMC Theatres is in the news Wednesday, as it stock opened at over $20 a share. It had closed at $5 per share on Tuesday. The surge was driven by casual traders on Reddit and TikTok, looking for an opportunity squeeze hedge funds and make a little cash in the process. [The story](. +Meanwhile in Japan: The Japanese box office plummeted more than 45 percent in 2020 after the novel coronavirus pandemic briefly shuttered cinemas in the country and weighed on moviegoing throughout much of the year. Total ticket sales revenue clocked in at $1.38 billion (143.3 billion yen), down from $2.39 billion (261 billion yen) in 2019, which had set an all-time record. Still, better than the west! [More](. In other theatrical news... +Spy Kids creator Robert Rodriguez is partnering with Skydance Media and Spyglass Media Group to relaunch the family movie franchise. Skydance Media optioned the rights to reboot the Spy Kids property with IP owner Spyglass Media Group and Rodriguez, who will write and direct the next movie in the franchise. [The story](. +New Line has picked up The Parenting, a project that puts an LGBTQ twist on the horror-comedy genre. Kent Sublette, the co-head writer of Saturday Night Live, will write the script and Craig Johnson, the helmer perhaps best known for the 2014 comedy The Skeleton Twins, is in negotiations to direct. [More](. +Alyssa Milano will star in a feature film adaption of Nora Roberts' romance thriller Brazen Virtue for Netflix. Monika Mitchell is set to direct, having worked with the streamer on The Knight Before Christmas and the popular series Virgin River. Suzette Couture, Donald Martin and Edithe Swensen adapted the screenplay. [More](. +Also: British actor Joel Fry, who appeared in Danny Boyle’s Yesterday, has joined Succession star Sarah Snook to star in Persuasion, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel that Mahalia Belo is directing for Searchlight. [More](. ►As Los Angeles lifts stay-at-home order, studios keep up production. With more than a dozen projects from studios like Warner Bros., Disney, Universal and CBS resuming shooting or planning to do so in February, industry sources are quick to point out that the request to halt filming was a recommendation and not a mandate, Bryn Sandberg reports. [The story](. ['Modern Family' Mega-Deal] 'Modern Family' Mega-Deal ►Modern Family has found not one but two streaming homes for its vast 11-season library. Disney-backed Hulu and NBCUniversal's Peacock will share streaming rights for all 250 episodes, with the family comedy from creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd making its debut Feb. 3 on both platforms. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available. --The multiple-year deal marks the first time the entire library of the five-time Emmy-winning Modern Family will be available on both a subscription and an advertiser-backed service. Peacock will rotate 12 episodes (starting from the pilot) on its free service, with the remainder available to subscribers. [The story](. +The Great Gatsby is coming to television. A+E Studios and ITV Studios America are teaming with writer Michael Hirst for a big-budget TV series based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's iconic novel. A network is not yet involved as the co-producers plan on shopping the series to premium cable and streaming outlets. --Envisioned as a closed-ended miniseries, Hirst (Elizabeth, The Tudors, Vikings) will pen the script and exec produce alongside Groundswell Productions' Michael London (Sideways, Milk). Fitzgerald's estate is also involved as Blake Hazard, a great-granddaughter of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and a trustee of the estate, will serve as a consulting producer. [The story](. +NBC’s Olympic fears: Broadcaster awaits decision on Tokyo games. The conglomerate was looking to the Olympics to turbocharge its Peacock streaming service. Last year’s pause forced the company to circle back to its advertising partners for revised terms, a source at a competing network notes. Discovery, likewise, was hoping to use the games to bolster its Discovery+ streaming service in Europe. [The story](. +Serial season three is getting the TV treatment. HBO is developing an untitled limited series based on the 2018 third season of the podcast that explored the criminal justice system at work in Cleveland. Host Sarah Koenig will exec produce alongside LeBron James and his SpringHill banner. [The story](. +Amy Adams is headed to the Old West with her next producing project. The six-time Oscar nominee's Bond Group Entertainment and A24 have landed rights to Anna North's novel Outlawed and will develop it for television. [The details](. +Apple is going back into the spy game. The tech giant has renewed the Israeli spy thriller Tehran for a second season on the TV+ platform. The show is the first non-English language series to earn a pickup from Apple. [More](. +The Blacklist will remain active for another season on NBC. The network has renewed the drama for a ninth season in 2021-22. The pickup comes after just three episodes of season eight have aired, owing largely to production delays at the start of the season brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. [More](. ►The recent flurry of awards news could shape Oscar race more this year than most. THR awards columnist Scott Feinberg sorts through the awards announcements this week: "Most Academy members are stuck at home wondering which of the overwhelming number of films on Academy Screening Room, the Academy's members-only streaming app, are actually worth prioritizing. (215 are currently live; more are being added regularly.) Usually interactions with other voters — 'word of mouth' — help them to make those decisions. But this year, of course, those aren't happening." [The story](. +Film Independent has unveiled its nominations for the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards, a major stop on this year's virtual awards season. Eliza Hittman's Never Rarely Sometimes Always scored a leading seven nominations, including for best feature, with Lee Isaac Chung's Minari landing six nods and George C. Wolfe's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Chloé Zhao's Nomadland scoring five nominations each. [The full list of nominees](. +Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods took top honors from the National Board of Review, with the Netflix Vietnam War feature being named best film and Lee winning best director. The film's cast also received best ensemble honors while late star Chadwick Boseman was recognized with the NBR Icon Award. [The full list of winners](. +The USC Libraries has announced its finalists for the 33rd USC Scripter Awards, which celebrate scripts adapted from pre-existing literary material, will take place virtually this year on Saturday, March 13. [The nominees](. +And: Riz Ahmed, for his acclaimed portrayal of a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing, will be this year's recipient of the Palm Springs International Film Festival's Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor. [More](. Revolving door: Larry Kudlow, the banker-turned CNBC anchor-turned Trump economic adviser [will return]( to television, this time for Fox News Media...CAA [has named]( Rachel Rusch co-head of its motion picture talent department. Rusch, who also leads the agency’s comedy department, will work with Franklin Latt in leading the motion picture talent division... ICM Partners [has promoted]( 14 agents, including seven from its 2020 class and seven more newly minted agents this year... Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas [has hired]( veteran producer Khaliah Neal to join her new production company De La Revolución Films as head of film and TV... ►TV reviews: Daniel Fienberg reviews Syfy's Resident Alien, writing that the show struggles to find a consistent tone, layers in more artificial storytelling obstacles than the premise requires and only occasionally figures out how to use its appealing cast. [The review](. +Inkoo Kang reviews HBO's The Lady and the Dale, writing that "TV’s longform documentaries are seldom so illuminating, or entertaining." [The review](. In other news... --After playing a video game avatar in two Jumanji movies, Kevin Hart has [officially signed on]( for another type of gaming adventure, with the actor closing his deal to star in Lionsgate's adaptation of Borderlands. --Faizon Love will [not be moving forward]( in his lawsuit against Universal Studios over promises made in the wake of how the studio marketed Couples Retreat around the globe. --Sony Pictures TV [has signed 88rising](, the emergent company that spotlights modern global Asian culture, to a first-look deal. --Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management [have acquired]( the Sony Pictures animation campus property in Los Angeles. --In a lesson to defense attorneys, an L.A. judge [has denied]( an anti-SLAPP motion filed by producers of The Doctors — in response to a fitness influencer's suit over a botched butt implant removal procedure — because it was filed too early. --Here's a [first look]( at Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana in Spencer. --Bruce Kirby, the veteran character actor perhaps best known for portraying the gullible Sgt. George Kramer on the long-running NBC series Columbo, [has died](. He was 95. --Tyler Perry has [received both doses]( of the COVID-19 vaccination, and he decided to use the experience, via a BET special, to help inform those who remain skeptical about taking a jab. What else we're reading... --"Pandemic woes create tough outlook for Hollywood and FilmLA" [[LA Times](] --"Mike Nichols's heartburn" [[Vulture](] --"Martin Baron, who oversaw a dramatic Washington Post expansion, announces retirement" [[Washington Post](] --"How the head of Marvel Entertainment and a headstrong lawyer quietly convinced Donald Trump to free a West Baltimore man" [[Baltimore Sun](] Today's birthdays: Patton Oswalt, 52, Mike Patton, 53, Mimi Rogers, 65, Alan Cumming, 56, Daisy Lowe, 32. [Image] [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? 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