Disney Appeals Loss In DeSantis Lawsuit; Apple Music, TV Segment Sees Record Revenue; Tim Burton to Direct '50 Foot Woman' Remake

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( February 02, 2024 What's news: Matthew Macfadyen has picked his next TV project. Brad Pitt is looking to reunite with Quentin Tarantino on The Movie Critic. Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams are in talks to join Taika Waititi’s next movie. FX's Dave is taking an indefinite break. Netflix has canceled Obliterated. YouTube has passed 100m subscribers. Amazon spent almost $19b on content in 2023. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. Disney Appeals Loss In DeSantis Lawsuit ►Not giving up. Disney is appealing its loss in a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who allegedly violated the entertainment giant’s First Amendment rights by taking over a special tax district with the authority to control development around Disney World. In a notice filed on Thursday, Disney challenged a ruling dismissing the suit to a federal appeals court. [The story.]( —Showdown set. The Disney board battle with Nelson Peltz and his Trian Partners now has an end date: April 3, 2024. That’s the day that Disney has scheduled its annual shareholder meeting, in which Peltz’s Trian and another activist Blackwells Capital have submitted their own names to join Disney’s board. Trian is targeting Disney directors Michael B.G. Froman and Maria Elena Lagomasino, and recommending Peltz and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. Blackwells is nominating Craig Hatkoff, Jessica Schell and Leah Solivan. [The story.]( —"Lowball" offer. THR's [Lachlan Cartwright]( reports The Messenger founder Jimmy Finkelstein held a last minute discussion with Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong about buying the media startup before it shuttered. The news comes just days after the LAT laid off 115 newsroom employees. Soon-Shiong spoke with Finkelstein on Tuesday and then offered what has been described as “lowball” figure for the flailing publication, but by Wednesday the offer had fallen through, according to the sources. [The story.]( —More bad news. Just one day after folding, The Messenger was sued by former employees. The proposed class action, filed in New York federal court on Thursday, alleges that the news outlet failed to give more than 300 employees proper notice of their terminations in violation of the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires at least 90 days notice of a mass layoff. [The story.]( Apple Music, TV Segment Sees Record Revenue ►Behemoth. Apple hit an all-time revenue record in its services sector, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and more, during its first quarter ended Dec. 30. Net sales for services in the quarter hit $23.1b, up from $20.8b a year earlier. Recent price increases helped buoy revenue, with Apple raising the price of Apple TV+ in the U.S. to $9.99 a month from $6.99 a month in the late fall and also increased the price of Apple One bundle. [The results.]( —Milestone passed. YouTube has quietly become a giant subscription business. The Alphabet-owned video platform said Thursday that it now has more than 100m subscribers to YouTube Music and YouTube Premium services. The 100m number includes trial subscribers, and is of Jan. 2024, per a company post. The YouTube news also comes in the same week that Universal Music Group, one of the largest labels, pulled its song catalog from TikTok after the two companies couldn’t come to terms on a deal. [The story.]( —"We’ll be able to continue investing meaningfully in content over time." As Amazon leans further into advertising via its Prime Video service (ads were turned on there earlier this week), the tech giant’s overall ad business hit $14.6b in Q4 2023, the company said in its latest earnings report. On the company earnings call, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the company has "increasing conviction that Prime Video can be a large and profitable business on its own." [The results.]( —About that content spend. As Amazon leans into investing in Prime Video, MGM, Freevee and live sports, the company said that its 2023 content spend totaled $18.9b. The tech giant spent $16.6b on content in 2022, approximately $7b of which was spent on "Amazon originals, live sports and licensed third-party video content included with Prime." The company did not break out that figure for 2023. [The story.]( Tim Burton to Direct 'Attack of the 50 Foot Woman' Remake ►From Big Eyes to big woman. The classic B-movie Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is getting a remake from Tim Burton and Gillian Flynn. Burton is attached to direct the movie from a script by the Gone Girl scribe. Warner Bros. is behind the project, which will be a re-imagining of the 1950s genre film, which had the logline: "Turned into a giantess by an alien, a woman finds her husband in a bar with a floozy." Hmmm. [The story.]( —Reunion on the cards? Brad Pitt is looking to reunite with Quentin Tarantino for The Movie Critic, the maverick filmmaker's 10th and apparently final film. The duo previously collaborated on Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with the latter film landing Pitt an Oscar. It is unclear if the actor has a deal for the Tarantino movie, but he will be tied up working on a F1 racing feature for Apple and director Joseph Kosinski for much of the rest of the year. Filming on The Movie Critic would then commence, either late this year or in early 2025. [The story.]( —Please don't kill Sean Bean. Amazon MGM Studios has ordered Deep Cover, a U.K. original action comedy movie starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Orlando Bloom. The feature sees three improv actors hired by the police to help stage low-level stings. The cast also includes British national gems Sean Bean, Nick Mohammed, Ian McShane, Paddy Considine and Sonoya Mizuno. Tom Kingsley will direct from an original script by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow. Production on Deep Cover begins Feb. 5 in London. [The story.]( —Yet another Sundance pickup. Will & Harper, Josh Greenbaum's doc about friends Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, has landed at Netflix in a massive eight-figure deal. The doc is about friends reconnecting after a major life event, and those friends just happen to be Ferrell and former Saturday Night Live head writer Steele. Following Steele coming out as a trans woman, the duo set out together for a cross-country trip, during which they talk in depth about their friendship and the experience of being trans in America. [The story.]( —Doing the robot. Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams are in talks to join Taika Waititi’s next movie, Klara and the Sun. The Kiwi filmmaker has been attached to the Sony 3000 project since May last year, with the film adapting the novel from Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go author Kazuo Ishiguro. The Brit author's book was published in 2021, and is told from the point of view of Klara, a robot companion. If deals are made, Ortega will play the robot, while Adams will play a mother who purchases it for her teenager. [The story.]( —Bravo cinematic universe. Denise Richards and NeNe Leakes are leaning into their Real Housewives alum status with their new Lifetime movie, Hunting Housewives, that is set to air March 9. The thriller, that co-stars Kym Johnson Herjavec and Melyssa Ford, is about four harried housewives who plan a weekend spa getaway but end up stranded in the wilderness when their plane goes down. The channel announced a number of upcoming projects with Bravo standouts, including Lisa Rinna, who will co-star with daughter Delilah Hamlin in Mommy Meanest. [The story.]( —We want God Emperor of Dune! Denis Villeneuve has revealed he will not go beyond three Dune films, despite there being six books in Frank Herbert’s famed sci-fi series. In a new interview, the Canadian filmmaker said, "Dune Messiah should be the last Dune movie for me." Villeneuve's Dune: Part One and upcoming Part Two are sourced from Herbert's first book, 1965's Dune, with Dune Messiah the second book in the series. [The story.]( Macfadyen, Shannon to Star in James Garfield Assassination Drama ►"The epic and stranger-than-fiction true story." Emmy-winner Matthew Macfadyen has picked his next big TV project. The Succession star has been cast alongside Michael Shannon in a new Netflix drama series from Game of Thrones producers David Benioff, Dan Weiss and Bernie Caulfield. The series, Death by Lightning, is a dramatic retelling of the rise of U.S. President James Garfield (Shannon) and his subsequent assassination by Charles Guiteau (Macfadyen). [The story.]( —Giving the people what they want. NBCUniversal’s expansion of the Suits universe is taking another step forward. Following the runaway success of the former USA Network legal drama on streaming platforms last year, NBC has ordered a pilot for a companion series. The project, from Suits creator Aaron Korsh, is called Suits: L.A. and will be set in the same world as the original show — but will follow a new group of characters. Universal Studio Group’s UCP, which produced the original, is also behind the spinoff. [The story.]( —One and done. Netflix has canceled its action comedy series Obliterated after a single season. The series, from Cobra Kai creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald, was originally developed for TBS, where it earned a straight to series order in 2019. As TBS cut back on its scripted output, however, Obliterated became a free agent and landed at Netflix in May 2022. The comedy premiered Nov. 30 and landed in the streamer’s worldwide top 10 list of English-language series for six weeks. [The story.]( —"Feels like a good time to press pause." Dave Burd, aka Lil Dicky, is taking a step back from his FX comedy Dave after three seasons. It’s not a cancellation, those close to the show are quick to point out, but there are no plans for a return of Dave any time soon. Burd plans to "focus on music and other ventures" on his break from his show. [The story.]( —Cobenheads assemble! Netflix rang in 2024 with a huge opening week for its series Fool Me Once. The thriller based on a novel by Harlan Coben scored better than 3b minutes of viewing in the week of Jan. 1-7, easily leading Nielsen’s streaming charts for the week (it premiered on New Year’s Day). The series had the biggest single week for any streaming show since August, when Suits (with a much higher episode count) brought in 3.24 billion minutes of viewing. Fool Me Once had more than twice the viewing total of the second-place show, Reacher. [The streaming rankings.]( Larry David Attacks Elmo on Live TV ►Larry no! Elmo's having a rough week. First the internet trauma dumped on the Sesame Street icon after his viral post on X, and on Thursday morning, Larry David attacked the cheerful red puppet on live TV. The curmudgeonly Curb Your Enthusiasm star was waiting for his upcoming segment to promote his HBO comedy’s final season on NBC’s Today when he abruptly surprised everyone by walking onto an unrelated live segment featuring Elmo, grabbing the puppet’s face and mock pummeling it. [The story.]( —"I’m not as young as I used to be!" Anthony Anderson spent a night in the emergency room following an on-set fight that left him with minor injuries, the Black-ish star told fans early Thursday. Anderson wrote on Instagram that the incident was a "movie set fight gone wrong" featuring "me against two goons and a chair." In his post, the actor went on to write that his CT scan and X-rays showed that nothing was fractured and broken, but that he suffered a deep bruise in his back. [The story.]( —"I've never seen Hollywood this scared and clueless, and at the mercy of Wall Street." Issa Rae got candid about her thoughts on the current state of the entertainment industry. In a new interview, the actress/writer/producer blamed Hollywood executives for going back on their promises to increase representation and diversity. The Insecure star feels executives are getting too involved with the creative choices surrounding projects, adding that "there aren’t a lot of smart executives anymore." [The story.]( Inside 'The Chosen' Phenomenon ►"We bristle every time someone calls this a faith show." If you head out to movie theaters this weekend, you’re likely to see The Chosen on the marquee. The TV show, a historical drama based on the life of Jesus, is rolling out its fourth season theatrically, two episodes at a time, over the next month, before dropping in its entirely on apps and streaming platforms. THR's [Lacey Rose]( spoke to the show's president, Brad Pelo, about how a crowd-funded show about Jesus has now been watched by 200m people. [The interview.]( —"We're both these little theater '90s nerds." THR's Abbey White spoke to Evan Rachel Wood and Darren Criss about starring in the Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. The Westworld actress and American Crime Story star open up about deciding to take the stage together, their personal connections to their characters, and their love for Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. [The interview.]( —"I'm incredibly grateful for everyday I'm on the show, and I will be grateful up until whenever my last day is." For THR, Demetrius Patterson spoke to Chicago Fire star David Eigenberg about season 12 of the long-running NBC firefighter drama. Eigenberg discusses his love for the city, why he reached out to the writers to spark Herrmann’s season 12 arc, and why he accepts a “changing of the guard” so many seasons into a drama. Warning: Spoilers! [The interview.]( 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. This week's episode begins with the headlines with news on Colin From Accounts, Obliterated, Hijack, Matthew MacFayden's next show, pilot season and Hulu cracking down on password sharing. THR TV features editor [Mikey O’Connell]( drops by for a wide-ranging discussion on streaming in the ad-tier age. There's a section on February TV and another on the newsy Next on Netflix event. And Dan reviews Genius: MLK/X, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. [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 Martin Scorsese. The legendary filmmaker reflects on the tug of war that he has always felt between his faith and the reality of his life, and how that has shaped the films that he has made; the origins and evolution of his special relationships with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio; how his latest film Killers of the Flower Moon is sort of an amalgam of all of his prior films. [Listen here.]( In other news... —TV premiere dates 2024: [The complete guide]( —Back to Black: [First trailer for Amy Winehouse biopic released]( —Julianne Moore [plots for power in steamy trailer for Starz's Mary & George]( —Netflix [reveals first look at Squid Game S2]( —Tina Fey reunites with [30 Rock co-stars in Booking.com Super Bowl ad]( —Gwyneth Paltrow [to headline Yahoo’s Makers conference in Los Angeles]( —William Shatner [to be honored by Visual Effects Society]( —"De-Extinction" company [Colossal moving into entertainment, hires veteran exec Emily Castel]( —MPTF [adds Paramount's Nicole Clemens, producer John Goldwyn to board]( —Hollywood law firm [Jackoway Austen promotes 5 to name partners]( —[Adele Springsteen]( Bruce Springsteen’s mom, dies at 98 ​​​What else we're reading... —With The Flight Attendant, Julia, Our Flag Means Death and Rap Sh!t getting the chop at Max recently, Josef Adalian gets to the truth behind the streamer's cancellation spree [[Vulture]( —Ten years on from the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, critic Peter Bradshaw writes that the actor's supreme talent still shines bright [[Guardian]( —Nick Bilton talks to Tim Cook about why the Apple CEO is going all in on the new $3,500 Vision Pro headset that the company believes will change home entertainment [[VF]( —Jordan Hoffman writes about his chaotic final days working for doomed media startup The Messenger [[Intelligencer]( —Here's your Friday list: "The 50 best Law & Order: SVU guest stars, ranked" [[Parade]( Today... ...in 2018, Sony Pictures Classics released Sebastian Lelio's A Fantastic Woman in North America. Produced by Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín, the film starred trans actress Daniela Vega and won the Academy Award for best foreign language film at the 90th Oscars. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: Shakira (47), [Paul Mescal]( (28), Laura Poitras (60), Gemma Arterton (38), Julia Fox (34), Tom Blyth (29), Zosia Mamet (36), Brent Spiner (75), Jennifer Westfeldt (54), Christie Brinkley (70), Barbara Sukowa (74), Daniel Palladino (64), Michael T. Weiss (62), Emily Rose (43), David Jason (84), Rich Sommer (46), Salvatore Esposito (38), Ellie Bamber (27), Antonio Ortiz (25), Martin Spanjers (37), Franz Rogowski (38), Blake Clark (78), Marissa Jaret Winokur (51), Alex Sharp (35), Soni Bringas (22), Amelia Eve (32), Nina Bloomgarden (26), Jenny Lumet (57), Jordan Carlos (46) This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. Please add email@email.hollywoodreporter.com to your address book to ensure delivery to your inbox. 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