'Rust' Budget: Star, Producer and Armorer Fees Revealed; 'Wicked' Movie to Star Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande; Mayer and Staggs In $3B 'CoComelon' Deal

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( November 05, 2021 What's news: Lionsgate is looking at spinning off Starz. Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have made their second major media acquisition. Regina King and David E. Kelley are adapting Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full for Netflix. Eternals has been banned in most Gulf states over gay characters. Plus: Hulu's Wu-Tang: An American Saga is renewed for a third and final season and Fox's Fantasy Island is renewed for a second — [Abid Rahman]( 'Rust' Budget: Star, Producer and Armorer Fees Revealed ►"I’m not sure why they needed six producers taking fees." The producers of the movie Rust earmarked $650,000 to pay themselves, $7,913 to pay their armorer and $350,000 as a contingency in case anything went wrong. That’s according to a draft of the production budget for the New Mexico-set Alec {NAME} Western obtained by THR, a fairly typical one for a film of its price, say experts who reviewed the document. {NAME} was set to earn $150,000 as lead actor and $100,000 as producer, while $7,913 was earmarked for armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and $17,500 was set aside for the rental of weapons and $5,000 for rounds. [The story.]( —Ratification vote. IATSE has released to members its 49-page memorandum of agreement, with workers set to begin voting on Nov. 12. The document summarizes in greater legal detail the tentative Basic Agreement and Theatrical and Television Motion Picture Area Standards Agreements with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. [The story.]( —Power driven. Lionsgate brought in 18 million global subscribers through its Starz streaming service as revenue for its fiscal Q2 dropped to $887.8 million, down from the previous quarter’s $901.2 million. [The results.]( —"Unlock significant shareholder value." Also on Thursday, Lionsgate revealed it is officially exploring its options for Starz, considering a separation of the pay-TV and streaming business and its studio operations. [The story.]( —Improving environment. Cinema giant Cinemark reported a narrowed loss for Q3 compared with the year-ago period, which had been hit hard by the pandemic, and touted positive box office trends. The company posted a quarterly loss of $77.8 million, which compared with a loss of $147.6 million in the same period of 2020. [The results.]( —Exceeding estimates. AMC Networks said its U.S. advertising revenue jumped 22 percent during Q3 and that it has seen continued streaming subscriber growth. Total revenue increased 24 percent in the third quarter to $810.8 million and quarterly operating income jumped 35 percent to $188.3 million. [The results.]( 'Wicked' Movie to Star Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande ►1, 2, 3, and I come with the wicked. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will star in Universal’s adaptation of the hit musical Wicked. Erivo will play Elphaba while Grande will play Glinda in the film set to be directed by Jon M. Chu. A billion dollar musical, Wicked adapts the novel by Gregory Maguire, and is a take on the Wizard of Oz story, telling of the friendship between the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch. [The story.]( —Smiles, everyone! Smiles! Fox has picked up a second season of Fantasy Island starring Roselyn Sanchez, which had its inaugural run during the summer. The show from Sony Pictures TV, Gemstone Studios and Fox Entertainment is a reboot of the 1977-84 ABC show led by Ricardo Montalban. [The story.]( —Dream team. Regina King and David E. Kelley are joining forces to executive produce an adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel A Man in Full for Netflix. The streamer has given a straight-to-series order for the drama, which will run six episodes. Kelley will write and serve as showrunner, and King is set to direct the first three episodes. [The story.]( —"Real-world consequences." George Clooney penned an open letter addressed to U.K. tabloid The Daily Mail to “refrain” from publishing pictures of his children, twins Ella and Alexander. Citing Amal Clooney’s work as a human rights lawyer, the actor wrote that maintaining their children’s anonymity would help with keeping them safe from terrorist groups. [The story.]( —We believe. Trey Parker and Matt Stone made a surprise appearance ahead of Thursday night’s free fan performance of The Book of Mormon at New York’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre, just a day ahead of the show’s Broadway re-opening. [The story.]( Mayer and Staggs Secure $3B 'CoComelon' Deal ►♫This is the way we make a deal♬ Former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have made their second major acquisition for their new Blackstone-backed content venture. Their still, incredibly, unnamed company has acquired Moonbug Entertainment, the parent company of the kids shows, and bane of parents everywhere, CoComelon and Blippi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports pegged the value of Moonbug at $3 billion. [The story.]( —"Come for the drama, stay for the hugs." THR critic [Angie Han]( reviews Amazon’s Tampa Baes. The reality show follows the interpersonal drama and day-to-day lives of a group of young lesbian friends within the Florida city's thriving LGBTQ community. [The review.]( —Mother of God! Brit producers Jed Mercurio and Jimmy Mulville and their HTM Television banner have inked a multiple-year, first-look TV deal with Disney’s 20th Television. Under the pact, Mercurio (creator of the must-watch Line of Duty series) and Mulville will create and develop new projects for the studio as they expand from U.K. productions into U.S. originals. [The story.]( —RTL+'s game plan. Following the huge news that Europe's largest commercial TV network RTL has launched a multimedia streaming service, THR's [Scott Roxborough]( looks at how the nascent RTL+ plans to take on Netflix and other services that have had a long head start. [The analysis.]( —The saga discontinues. Hulu has handed out a third and final season renewal for Wu-Tang: An American Saga, the scripted drama series based on the true story of the influential rap group. The news comes a week after season two of the series starring Ashton Sanders and Shameik Moore wrapped. [The story.]( —Banned. Marvel’s Eternals will not screen in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Qatar. The all-star superhero film, which was due for release across the Gulf region on Nov. 11, is understood to have been met with a series of edit requests by the local censors, edits that Disney was not willing to make. Sources suggest the decision was likely made over the inclusion of a same-sex couple who share a kiss. [The story.]( Thank Pod It's Friday ►All the latest content from THR's podcast studio. —TV's Top 5. [Lesley Goldberg]( and [Dan Fienberg]( break down the latest TV news. This week the guy's discuss the return of dating show Joe Millionaire on Fox, and Dan Levy and Eugene Levy squaring off with new shows on rival streamers. They preview November's TV lineup including The Shrink Next Door, Hawkeye, Cowboy Bebop and more. Dexter: New Blood 's Clyde Phillips is the showrunner in the spotlight. And Dan offers reviews of Apple’s Dickinson and Netflix’s Big Mouth. [Listen here](. —Awards Chatter. Awards analyst [Scott Feinberg]( talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In the latest episode, Scott speaks to David Chase. The Sopranos creator opens up as never before about what inspired that series and its new prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, how his feelings about film versus TV have evolved over the years and, in a major disclosure, what really happened to Tony Soprano at the end of the series finale. [Listen here](. —Behind the Screen. Tech editor [Carolyn Giardina]( podcast focuses on the filmmaking crafts. In this episode, Carolyn speaks to Mihai Malaimare Jr. and Martin Whist, the director of photography and the production designer respectively for Netflix's The Harder They Fall. [Listen here.]( In other news... —Film review: Robert Alexander's [A Man Named Scott]( —Film review: Brian Vincent’s [Make Me Famous]( —Film review: Adam Sjoberg and Seanne Winslow's [The Falconer]( —Film review: Vanessa Lapa’s [Speer Goes to Hollywood]( —Film review: M. Cahill's [Porcupine]( —Mahershala Ali is a dying man considering cloning in [Apple’s Swan Song trailer]( —ESPN Classic channel to [shut down on Jan. 1]( —Exclusive: Timothy Olyphant boards [Daisy Jones & The Six at Amazon]( —John Wick creator sets [spy drama Candygram at ABC]( What else we're reading... —Young Women Say They Met Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy For Sex And It Turned Violent And Humiliating [[Insider]( —"We Feel Pride": Old Western Gets New Life Dubbed In Navajo Language [[The Guardian]( —Spotify Has Tried Being Netflix. Now It Wants to Be YouTube [[Bloomberg]( —AMC+ Doesn’t Want to be Netflix [[Vulture]( —Kanye West Admits He’s Still a Trump Supporter and Slams the Me Too Movement [[Daily Beast]( Today... ...in 1993, Columbia Pictures unveiled James Ivory’s adaptation of The Remains of the Day in theaters. The film would go on to earn eight Oscar nominations at the 66th Academy Awards, including best picture. [The original review](. Today's birthdays: Famke Janssen (57), [Tilda Swinton]( (61), Sam Rockwell (53), Robert Patrick (63), Judy Reyes (54), Tatum O'Neal (58), Elizabeth Bracco (64), Seth Gilliam (53), Jonny Greenwood (50), Kris Jenner (66), Art Garfunkel (80), Alexa Chung (38) William Lucking, the rugged character actor who portrayed the old-school biker Piney Winston on the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy, has died. He was 80. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by Penske Media Corporation. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. Visit the [Preferences Center]( to update your profile and customize what email alerts and newsletters you receive. Copyright © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. All rights reserved. 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90025 [View in Browser]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Your Privacy Rights]( | [Ad Choices]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Unsubscribe](