Business Features
Marvel’s Movie Math: Comic Creators Claim It’s “Bait and Switch” On Payments
In July 2021, Scarlett Johansson stunned Hollywood with a lawsuit accusing Disney of breach of contract for sending Black Widow day-and-date to Disney+, a move her lawyers said diminished its box office (and the star’s backend compensation). As that legal battle stretched into the summer, two other Black Widow stakeholders were quietly seeking what they […]
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Hollywood’s Mirage Earnings Season: Fear That the Worst Isn’t Here Yet
It’s the economy, stupid. The phrase made famous in the 1992 presidential campaign could well be on Wall Street’s mind as entertainment giants report their second-quarter earnings in late July and August. After all, the upcoming quarterly results might not look so bad, as streaming hits like Stranger Things and Obi-Wan Kenobi respectively boost viewership […]
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Why That Reality TV Song Sounds Familiar (But Isn’t)
Tune in to a hit reality show these days and you’re likely to hear a trend: songs extolling the empowered, girlboss lifestyle, from artists you’ve probably never heard of. While the reality landscape was once soundtracked by top 40 hits on shows like The Hills, today’s content takes a different approach, relying heavily on music […]
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Hollywood’s Chief Diversity Officers Tell All
This is the first in an ongoing series on the status of progress with inclusion in Hollywood. *** Latasha Gillespie remembers having a doctor’s appointment on May 30, 2020. It was five days after George Floyd was suffocated by a police officer, his excruciating nine-minute, 29-second death — captured on video and witnessed by millions […]
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Private Equity Money Picks Hollywood as Smart Bet Even in Downturn
Hollywood executives may be worried about a cooling in content spending, but the smart money doesn’t seem to be. Even though companies like Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney have indicated that they will be more prudent with their content investments, private equity firms are continuing to invest in entertainment assets at a torrid pace. […]
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Bob Chapek’s Sun Valley Challenge: Define His Vision for Disney
This week Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek, joined by dozens of others representing the business and political elite, is in Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual Sun Valley Conference, hosted by the boutique investment bank Allen & Co. Instead of conducting business next to the wood-paneled walls of the bank’s New York office (many […]
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Digital Creators Rethink Hollywood As Some Push to Work On Their Own Terms
It may have seemed unthinkable a few years ago for top actors to be on social media, sharing the minutiae of their day or interacting with fans in the comments. But today, most major stars have turned to social platforms like Instagram, YouTube and, more recently, TikTok to boost their fan followings and make some — […]
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Even Top Creators Find That Star Power Is Fleeting
VidCon, the marquee gathering for creators and influencers, was poised for a triumphant return to Anaheim after its two-year COVID-19 hiatus. And this year, TikTok — the once upstart platform that skyrocketed during the pandemic to more than 1 billion-plus active users — was taking over YouTube’s spot as the conference’s title sponsor, promising the […]
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Talent Shortages and an Exploding Volcano: How Hollywood’s Top Physical Production Executives Get It Done
These heads of production are the folks who make your favorite movies and TV shows happen, from 'Top Gun: Maverick' to 'Ms. Marvel.' Here, they talk trade secrets, location-scouting drones and rising costs from COVID: "It's incredible what we can do."
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Hollywood Aims to Trim Production Costs Amid Inflation Surge, Supply Chain Pain
The entertainment industry is buckling under the weight of inflation exacerbated by persisting supply chain turmoil, physical production executives and studio operators tell The Hollywood Reporter. Amid a record year for production levels after bouncing back from the pandemic, studios are grappling over how to build sets within budget and on time. “The accessibility of […]
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Europe’s Theatrical Window Standoff Gives Studios Pause Over Strategy
After two years of pandemic upheaval, one of the biggest debates in the movie industry appears to be settled. The return of the old-fashioned blockbuster — see the supersonic success of Paramount Picture’s Top Gun: Maverick ($900 million and counting) and Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion, which is closing in on $650 million worldwide — has […]
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Las Vegas Sports Betting Giants Roll the Dice on Hollywood Talent
Hollywood has come to accept that content is the primary weapon in the streaming wars. Quietly, as legalized online sports betting spreads across the country, content also has become the weapon of choice for digital casino operators and betting firms looking for that edge in what has been an expensive grab for consumer dollars. And […]
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