Disney Reorg Comes Into Focus; Starz to Revive 'Spartacus'; Ellen Barkin on Her Theatrical 'Poker Face' Performance; 'Your Place or Mine' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( February 10, 2023 What's news: Bill Damaschke is in final talks to lead WB's animation unit. News Corp. is set to cut 1,000 jobs. Amazon renews The Peripheral. Sony and Amazon are developing a Spider-Man Noir live-action series. Roseanne Barr has blasted Hollywood over its double standards on working with canceled comedians. — [Abid Rahman]( Disney Reorg Comes Into Focus ►Expanding fiefdoms. A day after Disney CEO Bob Iger previewed a reorganization that returns financial decision-making back to its creative ranks, newly anointed Disney Entertainment co-chairs Alan Bergman (film) and Dana Walden (television) have detailed their respective responsibilities. The promotions expand their power significantly — they’ll now oversee streaming businesses, including Disney+ and Hulu — and put the two execs on equal footing. Rebecca Campbell, chairman of international content and operations and a Disney veteran of more than two decades, has opted to leave the company as a result of the changes. [The story.]( —New era. THR's [Borys Kit]( has the scoop that veteran animation executive Bill Damaschke, who rose to lead DreamWorks Animation before its sale to NBCU, is in final talks to take over as head of Warner Animation Group, the beleaguered animation arm of Warner Bros. Pictures. The company has been leaderless since the exit of executive vp Allison Abbate, who departed in the summer of 2022 amid the shake-up that followed WB's merger with Discovery. [The story.]( —More media cuts. News Corp., the owner of The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, and Australia’s Foxtel, will cut more than 1,000 jobs, citing a difficult economic environment and rising interest rates. In the company’s fiscal Q2 earnings report, CEO Robert Thomson said that the company would shed about 5 percent of the company’s employees, or about 1,250 positions. The cuts, which will be completed by the end of the year, should save the company approximately $30m. [The story.]( —Ouch. Lionsgate swung to a Q3 net income of $16.6m, against a year-earlier loss of $45.6m, with overall revenue rising to $1b for the three months to Dec. 31, 2022. The studio's latest financial results included an $80.8m content write-down as it restructures its Lionsgate+ business, or formerly the STARZPLAY International division, after removing certain TV series from its service. [The results.]( 'Spartacus' Revival in the Works at Starz ►The shadow of Rome is vast. Starz is developing a revival of/sequel to Spartacus, the premium cable outlet's first original show to reach a wide audience. Series creator Steven S. DeKnight is writing the new take — Starz says it will “expand” on the original — and will serve as showrunner. Spartacus: Blood and Sand premiered in January 2010 on Starz and was a hit for the cabler, setting ratings marks that would stand for several years (eventually topped by the likes of Outlander and Power). [The story.]( —🎭 Thumbs up from the producers 🎭 Roland Emmerich's hotly-anticipated Roman gladiator TV series Those About to Die has added a number of actors to its cast. Lorenzo Richelmy, Tom Hughes, Sara Martins, Jojo Macari, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas and Moe Hashim will join Anthony Hopkins in the Peacock series. [The story.]( —Bring back Nic Cage! Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television are developing a Spider-Man Noir live-action series that will be written and produced by The Lost City scribe Oren Uziel. Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the producers of Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse animated movies which first brought the Spider-Man Noir character onto screens, helped develop the series with Uziel and will exec produce. Amy Pascal, who has a hand in all of Sony’s Spider-Man adaptations, is also an EP. [The story.]( —Moving to the center. Amazon has renewed the futuristic drama The Peripheral for a second season. The series, from creators Lisa Joy, Jonah Nolan and Scott B. Smith, is based on William Gibson’s 2014 book of the same name and premiered its eight-episode freshman run in October with a pair of episodes before wrapping its season Dec. 2. The series made Nielsen’s top 10 streaming chart once, the week of its finale, when its 394m minutes ranked eighth among original series. [The story.]( —Big week for zombies. The Last of Us didn’t make Nielsen's top 10 original series for the week, nonetheless had a strong debut on HBO Max. The Walking Dead, meanwhile, moved into second overall following the Netflix debut of its final episodes. The Last of Us amassed 223m minutes of viewing time on HBO Max in the few hours after its Jan. 15 premiere — that equates to about 2.79m HBO Max accounts watching the 80-minute episode. [The streaming rankings.]( Burt Bacharach 1928 - 2023 ►Velvety smooth. Burt Bacharach, the composer and orchestrator whose partnership with lyricist Hal David brought swanky sophistication to pop music in the 1960s, has died. He was 94. Bacharach died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles. The eight-time Grammy winner and three-time Oscar recipient composed the music for some 50 top 10 hits, including six that reached No. 1. [The obituary.]( —"There will never be anyone like him and as a songwriter, he set the bar." Diane Warren, Brian Wilson, Sheryl Crow and Emmy-winning screenwriter Larry Karaszewski were among a host of entertainment industry figures who publicly paid tribute to Bacharach. [The reaction.]( Rihanna Says Motherhood Encouraged Her to Perform at Halftime Show ►"It’s important for my son to see." Rihanna admits when she got the call to headline this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, she thought twice about the opportunity. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Big Game, the singer revealed that becoming a mom gave her the energy to take on the big event, especially with her 9-month-old son watching on. [The story.]( —"I realized it put me in a box." Idris Elba has opened up about the racism he has experienced in Hollywood and says he has "stopped describing myself as a Black actor." In a candid new interview, the Brit star explained that he doesn't want to be categorized in Hollywood as "the first Black" to do something adding that the obsession with race can sometimes be restrictive. [The story.]( —"We’re talking about misogynoir." Danielle Deadwyler offered her thoughts on Hollywood and systemic racism after she missed out on an Academy Award nomination for her role as Mamie Till-Mobley, in director Chinonye Chukwu’s Till. In a new interview, Deadwyler agreed with Chukwu's recent comments that "unabashed misogyny towards Black women" was the reason why the film did not receive any Oscar noms and then went on to describe the “residual effects” of systemic racism in society. [The story.]( —"I’m the only person who lost everything." Roseanne Barr blasted Hollywood for its double standards in working with comedians who ran afoul of cancel culture. In a new interview, Barr criticized ABC for firing her in 2018 from her top-rated sitcom Roseanne (which was subsequently re-branded The Conners), and compared her treatment to that of two other popular transgressive comics, Dave Chappelle and Louis C.K. [The story.]( Ellen Barkin on Her Theatrical 'Poker Face' Performance ►"The script was just too good. It was f**king hilarious." THR's [Jackie Strause]( spoke to Ellen Barkin on her turn as a sitcom icon who returns to the spotlight for a one-night-only reunion show in the sixth episode of Peacock's Poker Face, "Exit Stage Death." Barkin takes us behind-the-scenes of The Ghosts of Pensacola production (including the Stephen Sondheim nods). Warning: spoilers! [The interview.]( —"He's the most unreliable narrator." THR's [Christy Piña]( spoke to You star Penn Badgley about season four of the popular Netflix series. Badgley says his character Joe had “the most compelling reasons” to change and gives his thoughts on the season four shift that sees Joe become the victim of a stalker. Warning: spoilers! [The interview.]( —"We didn't want to take one another out of that place." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to Knock at the Cabin star Abby Quinn about M. Night Shyamalan's latest film and why she and her co-stars stayed in character on set. Quinn also said she agrees with her co-star Ben Aldridge regarding a key change that Shyamalan made from Paul G. Tremblay’s critically acclaimed source material, The Cabin at the End of the World. Warning: spoilers! [The interview.]( Film Review: 'Your Place or Mine' ►"An old-school charmer." THR's [Lovia Gyarkye]( reviews Aline Brosh McKenna's Your Place or Mine. The 27 Dresses and The Devil Wears Prada writer helms this Netflix romantic comedy about two long-distance best friends (Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher) who trade lives for a week. [The review.]( —"A gratifyingly fresh spin on an old formula." Lovia reviews Dave Franco's Somebody I Used to Know. Alison Brie and Jay Ellis star in this Amazon rom-com about a workaholic TV producer who reunites with her ex during his wedding weekend. [The review.]( Thank Pod It's Friday ► All the latest content from THR's podcast studio. —TV's Top 5. THR's [Lesley Goldberg]( and [Dan Fienberg]( break down the latest TV news. As always there's a run through of the week's TV headlines, there's also segments on Disney’s latest reorg and Showtime’s franchise strategy. You showrunner Sera Gamble drops by for chat. Plus Dan reviews ABC’s Not Dead Yet, Hulu’s Stolen Youth and HBO Max’s Harley Quinn special. [Listen here.]( —Behind the Screen. THR's tech editor [Carolyn Giardina]( podcast focuses on the filmmaking crafts. In this episode Carolyn spoke to Top Gun: Maverick VFX supervisor Ryan Tudhope. The Oscar nominee reveals that the live-action lensing of actors in cockpits flying was coupled with about 2,400 VFX shots to "capture the reality of what we had caught up in the air." [Listen here.]( —Awards Chatter. THR's executive awards editor Scott Feinberg talks to the great and the good of Hollywood. In this episode, Scott spoke to Kazuo Ishiguro. The Nobel-winning novelist best known for The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go reflects on his journeys from Japan to England and from writing songs to fiction and why he wanted to adapt Akira Kurosawa's film Ikiru, which he first saw as a boy, into a new film Living set in 1950s London. [Listen here.]( In other news... —Richard Plepler’s [Eden Productions recruits HBO exec]( —Sharon Levy [tapped as CEO of Endemol Shine North America]( —TFC taps [Sugar23 exec to spearhead production arm]( —Chris O’Donnell [signs with Gersh]( What else we're reading... —Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton have a simply incredible must-read report on Elon Musk firing a top Twitter engineer over his declining view count [[Platformer]( —Elizabeth Nelson reflects on the current fad for reboots on TV, writing that "the reboot that changes nothing will be uncanny and lifeless; the one that thinks itself more clever than its predecessor will turn out cynical and sour" [[NYT]( —Emily Baker-White reports on TikTok’s secret "heating" button that can make anyone go viral [[Forbes]( —With bona fide successes in Poker Face and The Traitors, Natalie Jarvey asks whether Peacock is finally taking flight [[Vanity Fair]( —Here's your Friday list: "Every M. Night Shyamalan film, ranked" [[AV Club]( Today... Today's birthdays: Elizabeth Banks (49), Uzo Aduba (42), Trevante Rhodes (33), Chloë Grace Moretz (26), Vince Gilligan (56), Emma Roberts (32), Laura Dern (56), Stephanie Beatriz (42), Dan Kwan (35), Keeley Hawes (47), Yara Shahidi (23), [Alexander Payne]( (62), Cho Yeo-jeong (42), Julius Onah (40), Karen Fukuhara (31), Makenzie Vega (29), Meadow Williams (57), Charlotte Vega (29), Francesca Neri (59) Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](mailto:tips@thr.com?subject=). 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 © 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. 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