Moviegoing Confidence Returns; Why The TV Nets Are Spending $100B On The NFL; Roku Continues Content Push

[The Hollywood Reporter]( Today In Entertainment MARCH 20, 2021 What's news: Moviegoing confidence returns, the Oscars tap a familiar director, Roku buys This Old House, NFL deals analysis, CBS' True Lies series pushed, Meghan Trainor inks NBCU deal. Plus: Amber Ruffin talks Peacock series, and Lizzo's Amazon project. --Alex Weprin [Moviegoing Confidence Returns] Moviegoing Confidence Returns ►Moviegoing confidence hits highest level since pandemic began. Leading Hollywood entertainment polling firm National Research Group has been surveying moviegoers on a weekly basis since the pandemic began on their comfort level in returning to theaters. Thursday of this week was a milestone day. For the first time since the pandemic crippled the theatrical experience a year ago, those saying they would feel "very" or "somewhat" okay about buying a movie ticket hit a record-best of 57 percent. --The results came two weeks before Hollywood tentpole Godzilla vs. Kong debuts on the big scree and as cinemas in Los Angeles and New York City — the country's two biggest moviegoing markets — flip on the lights. Godzilla is also debuting simultaneously on HBO Max. [The story](. ►Oscars tap familiar director for COVID-altered telecast. Five-time Academy Awards telecast director Glenn Weiss — [yes, the guy who proposed to his girlfriend during his 2018 Emmy acceptance speech]( — will be back for a sixth time. And while his return could signal a business-as-usual approach to the event, producers insist it's quite the opposite. --“Our plan is that this year’s telecast will look like a movie not a television show, and Glenn has embraced this approach and come up with ideas of his own on how to achieve this," said Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh in a joint statement on Friday. "We’re thrilled to have him as part of the brain trust." [The story](. [Roku Keeps Up Content Push] Roku Keeps Up Content Push ►Roku continues its content push: The streaming device maker has acquired the full library and production studio for the long-running home improvement series This Old House. The deal — Roku acquired TOH Intermediate Holdings, LLC, which owns the This Old House business, from TZP Group — includes more than 1,500 episodes and a combined 60 seasons of This Old House and companion series Ask This Old House, along with all digital assets and the shows' production studio. Past seasons are available on the Roku Channel, and episodes from the current seasons of the two shows become available after their first airing on PBS. [The story](. ►NFL deal analysis: "The National Football League's eye-watering 11-year, $100 billion media [rights deals]( will have repercussions for the media and entertainment industry for years to come — but it may not hasten the end of linear TV as its currently set up," I wrote. --"So while some analysts, like LightShed's Rich Greenfield, argue that the deal marks 'the day the multichannel TV bundle died,' and others like The New York Times' Kevin Draper [write]( that they 'are fundamentally broadcast/cable television deals,' the agreement actually walks a fine line, with the companies keeping one foot firmly planted in pay-TV, while dipping the other toe in the streaming waters to feel things out. It's a point of view shared, in fact, by the NFL. [The analysis](. +In other sports news: The Tokyo Olympics organizers on Saturday announced that this year's games will not allow for foreign spectators. That's bad news for Olympics fans that travel to the games every four years (or the Olympic sponsors who usually fly their clients out), but good news for NBC in that it means that the country fully intends to host. ['True Lies,' Delayed] 'True Lies,' Delayed ►CBS is taking some more time with a True Lies reboot. The network has rolled the pilot off cycle in order to give producers — including James Cameron, who wrote and directed the 1994 movie on which it's based — more time to work on it. Sources tell THR that the goal is to film the pilot over the summer. [The story](. +Meghan Trainor is breaking some new ground for NBCUniversal. The Grammy-winning singer has signed a cross-platform overall deal with NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. The pact is the first of its kind for the company and will cover both scripted and unscripted projects across NBCU's portfolio, including NBC, Peacock and cable networks USA, Bravo, E!, Syfy, Oxygen and Universal Kids. The first project under the deal is a comedy series in development at NBC. [More](. +Lizzo is making a new reality series for Amazon. The project is a reality competition series involving full-figured participants. The goal is to find people talented enough to accompany the three-time Grammy winner on stage for her next tour. [The details](. +A crewmember on ABC's The Conners died Thursday after suffering a medical emergency on the show's set. The man, whose identity is being withheld, was working on the show's stages at CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles when he suffered a "fatal medical event," per a statement from The Conners producer Werner Entertainment. [The story](. +Amber Ruffin welcomes "telling an uncomfortable truth" in Peacock series. On her own late night talk show (now picked up through September), Ruffin delves into issues of race and more while still lifting the weight of the week’s news, mixing monologue, original music and sketch. [Ruffin speaks with Michael O'Connell about the show](. +FX is teaming with Ramy director and executive producer Christopher Storer on a pilot. The Disney-owned cable network has handed out a pilot order for The Bear, a half-hour show about a young chef who takes over his family's restaurant in Chicago. [More](. ►Heat Vision news: Actor James Ransone, who appeared in Scott Derrickson’s Sinister horror movies, [has reteamed with the filmmaker]( for more scares and chills. Ransone, who also appeared in Stephen King’s It Chapter 2, has joined the cast of The Black Phone, the adaptation of a Joe Hill short story that Derrickson is directing for Blumhouse and Universal... In other news... --At the virtual SXSW film festival, The Fallout [has earned]( the grand jury award in the narrative feature competition. --Focus Features is [set to release]( Edgar Wright’s documentary directorial debut The Sparks Brothers on June 18, 2021. --Freestyle Digital Media [has acquired]( North American rights to Michael Parks Randa and Lauren Smitelli’s inclusive musical romancer Best Summer Ever after a SXSW festival premiere. --Filmmaker Oge Egbuonu, who directed the buzz-generating documentary (In)Visible Portraits, [has signed]( with Sugar23, the company founded by Oscar-winning producer and manager Michael Sugar, for representation. --Starlight Media CEO Peter Luo on [why he remains optimistic]( for China-Hollywood relations. --Charlie Ergen, the billionaire chairman and former CEO of Dish Network, [took home $94.7 million]( in total pay for 2020, according to an SEC proxy filing issued on Friday. --Kal Penn [on hosting]( virtual Writers Guild Awards: "I just want to make people laugh." --Sunday Night Football [among most-watched]( programs for women over 50. What else we're reading... --"A long overdue exhale at Disney California Adventure before Disneyland’s reopening" [[LA Times](] --"Carl Reiner's archives will go to the National Comedy Center" [[NY Times](] --How Covid-19 supercharged the advertising ‘triopoly’ of Google, Facebook and Amazon" [[WSJ](] --"Is AppleTV+ for real yet?" [[The Ringer](] Today's birthdays: William Hurt, 71, Spike Lee, 64, Holly Hunter, 63, Michael Rapaport, 51, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, 85. [Image] [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( Is this e-mail not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2021 The Hollywood Reporter, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA, 90025 All rights reserved. MARCH 20, 2021 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( [MANAGE PREFERENCES]( [PRIVACY POLICY]( [TERMS OF USE](