Oscar Voting Needs to Simplify; 'Logan' Shreds Box Office; 'Survivor' Turns 500

What's news: Fox's R-rated Logan beat expectations in its U.S. box office debut and abroad. Plus: Why Feud got away with airing that expletive on basic cable, how Survivor made it to its 500th episode and what changes the Academy needs to make for the Oscars soon. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( March 06, 2017 What's news: Fox's R-rated Logan beat expectations in its U.S. box office debut and abroad. Plus: Why Feud got away with airing that expletive on basic cable, how Survivor made it to its 500th episode and what changes the Academy needs to make for the Oscars soon. — Matthew Belloni, Erik Hayden and Jennifer Konerman. Oscar Voting Needs to Simplify With a week of perspective after a now-infamous debacle, the Academy should reconsider its entire approach to the awards, along with much of its secretive way of doing business, Stephen Galloway writes: The current, preferential-voting system muddies the results — and the results become even more confusing given that different rules cover one category and another, and the nomination process versus who actually wins. Not too long ago, the Academy favored a basic, first-past-the-post approach — the same used to elect U.S. senators and congressmen: whoever gets the most votes wins. Now ballots are counted and redistributed; low-vote contenders are eliminated and their votes transferred, and then transferred again and again. [It’s a system rife with confusion](, and made worse by being handled in secret; it runs the risk of rewarding not so much the best film as the least bad. The Academy should consider a return to the simpler method, where whoever gets the most votes wins. Then make the precise vote tally available for public consumption. ↱ [Listen:]( Kim Masters' full interview with Oscars producer Michael De Luca is online via her KCRW podcast and is worth checking out. Plus, Kim and Matt offer their takes on the best picture fiasco and how the Academy handled the mess. ↲ At the box office... Pamela McClintock's notes: ► Logan nabs biggest opening of the year so far. Fox's acclaimed genre film scored an A- CinemaScore and now boasts one of the top showings of all time for an R-rated film or for a March release. ► Get Out is only getting bigger. The race-conscious horror film, directed by Jordan Peele, fell just 26 percent, a scant decline for a horror title. ► The Shack beat expectations. The Lionsgate title garnered the best showing for a Christian-leaning movie since Heaven Is for Real ($22.5M) almost three years ago. ► Moonlight has its biggest weekend yet. The best picture winner enjoyed a big post-Oscar boost in theaters, even though it is available on home entertainment. From A24, the art house movie earned $2.5M. [Full weekend wrap]( I [China box office: Logan hits $49M.]( Elsewhere in film... [^The first look at Deadpool 2 is now online.]( The Merc with the Mouth appeared in a short that is playing ahead of Logan. ICYMI... ► Universal's Fast 8 lands China release. The title will open in the Middle Kingdom on [Friday, April 14](, the same day it debuts in North America and several major markets worldwide, including the U.K. and India. ► Han Solo spinoff movie eyes The Wire star. Michael K. Williams is [in talks]( for the Star Wars standalone, joining an ensemble that includes Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke. ► Jared Leto circling Tron reboot at Disney. The studio is in the[very early stages]( of development for a new Tron movie, with the Oscar-winning actor aiming to star. ► Billy Lynn star Joe Alwyn added to The Favourite. Alwyn [will join]( newly minted Oscar winner Emma Stone in the period drama, directed by The Lobster helmer Yorgos Lanthimos. Rep Sheet Roundup: ESPN anchor Hannah Storm leaves CAA for Octagon … Dr. Phil leaves WME for UTA …The Missing star Abigail Hardingham signs with ICM … Digital duo Jack & Jack sign with CAA … Stranger Things’ Gaten Matarazzo and Noah Schnapp sign with law firm McKuin Frankel. [More here.]( They Can Say That on TV? Last night, FX's Feud used a word that is rarely heard on television, let alone ad-supported basic cable, Lesley Goldberg observes: Feud: Bette and Joan, from prolific producer Ryan Murphy, explores the famed behind-the-scenes clash between Hollywood stars Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon). During Sunday's series debut, Stanley Tucci's studio chief Jack Warner — in a heated discussion with Alfred Molina's Robert Aldrich — angrily called Davis a "cunt." "[We felt that it wasn't gratuitous](," Feud showrunner Tim Minear says. "It was gratuitous coming from the mouth of the character but it wasn't gratuitous in terms of the story that we're telling." Minear adds: "One well-placed epithet like that is like a bracing, toss of cold water in the audience's face and it says something. Not if you're dropping it every five seconds. So that's why it's there; it's there because that's the ugly soul that we're exposing a little bit." [Review: Feud](I [Showrunner Q&A]( I [Archives: Baby Jane 1962 review.]( Elsewhere in TV... ► Gilmore Girls may be revived again. Netflix exec Ted Sarandos told the U.K.'s press association that the streamer is in "[very preliminary](" talks with creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino for more episodes. ► Netflix renews One Day at a Time. The dramedy series, a remake of the 1975 original from legendary showrunner Norman Lear, debuted on the streaming service in January and will be getting [a second season](. [^On SNL: Kate McKinnon as Jeff Sessions](. The cold open was a parody of the 1994 film Forrest Gump. And, yes, "Vladimir Putin" makes a cameo. ► Survivor hits 500 episode (!) milestone. The season premiere, airing Wednesday, marks the 500th episode of the reality series since its debut in 2000. Host Jeff Probst reflects on the changes over the years. [Full Q&A.]( ► Jim Jefferies to host late-night show on Comedy Central. The comedian has been [tapped]( to host a weekly late-night talk show on the cabler with The Daily Show With Jon Stewart alum Jason Reich serving as head writer. Barbra Streisand: "Trump is making me gain weight." Tweetstorms by the President have been affecting her routine: "I start the day with liquids, but after the morning news, I eat pancakes smothered in [maple syrup!](" Sidney Poitier, and Family, at 90 The film icon, who turned 90 last month, invited THR to his private bash at Beverly Hills' Spago, where four generations of his family marked the milestone. [Photo]( I [Full story.]( What else we're reading... — "Bull riders become perfume pitchmen after Hollywood takeover." Erich Schwartzel's A-Hed column: "WME-IMG hunts for potential stars and Justin-Bieber lookalikes after buying a bull-riding circuit." [[The Wall Street Journal](] — "David Letterman returns." David Marchese's cover story interview: "we’ve brought him out of retirement to weigh in on life after television and his old frequent guest and punching bag, the man he calls Trumpy." [[New York](] — "Jack White's infinite imagination." Alec Wilkinson's new profile: "He used to be exclusively a rock star. Now he’s a songwriter, a producer, a label owner, and a furniture upholsterer, too." [[The New Yorker](] — "The first great paranoia movie of the Trump era." John Patterson on Get Out: "it will be hard for fiction or satire to outstrip reality, as it often has in paranoia classics of the past." [[The Guardian](] — "Virtual reality leads marketers down a tricky path." Janet Morrissey reports: "if a company tries to trim back on some of the niceties with an eye toward the budget, the target audience can quickly take note." [[The New York Times](] Today's Birthdays: Sam Taylor-Johnson, 50, Paul W.S. Anderson, 52, Patricia Heaton, 59, Catherine O'Hara, 63, James Ellroy, 69. 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