News that Apple will shell out $1 billion to produce big-screen features annually is great for exhibition and the production community. But in reality, doing the math, the streamer was already bound to spend at least a billion on this year's feature slate.
Still unclear in the wake of Bloomberg's initial report on the tech giant's plans: whether deals would need to be renegotiated if the pics go theatrical. Streamers typically buy out talent’s backend upfront. With talent and filmmakers this big, it only makes sense to give the projects a wide big-screen push. Apple shelled out $120M for Will Smith's Emancipation, which had no reported box office dollars to show for itself in its limited release, nor downstream revenues.
Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, which Apple has poised to world premiere at Cannes, already has a theatrical release set through Paramount for sometime this year. With $1B in product every 12 months, Apple will be in great need of a theatrical and distribution partner on future films, and Paramount could be a contender. Amazon Studios used to distribute and market its movies this way; Before building an internal infrastructure, the streamer would release through other studios including Lionsgate or STX.
On the other hand, if Apple is going full-on theatrical, why not build its own internal marketing and theatrical divisions like Amazon did? Especially if it’s going to commit billions and money is no object. >>>Pros And Cons |
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| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
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Getting Hitch-ed - Paramount Pictures has preemptively acquired a remake of the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock-directed psychological thriller Vertigo, with Robert Downey Jr. eyeing the James Stewart role of a former police detective. The script will be written by Steven Knight, the See and Peaky Blinders creator who just signed on to write a Star Wars film. >>>Has Hitchcock Estate's Blessing
Solidarity In Studio 8H - Saturday Night Live’s editorial crew said yes to its first-ever union contract at the Lorne Michaels-led NBC late-night show. Five days after the Editors Guild and NBCUniversal reached a tentative deal to advert an April 1 strike, the 20-plus person SNL editorial crew unanimously voted Tuesday night to ratify the agreement. >>>Pay Increases Of 7.5%-33.5%
‘Bad Cinderella’ Broadway Review - An initial thought after seeing Bad Cinderella, the latest musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is: well, she isn’t that bad. For better and worse. >>>Greg Evans' Take
Two Thumbs Up - Fox just announced Season 2 renewals for two freshman drama series, anthology Accused and missing person drama Alert: Missing Persons Unit, both from Sony Pictures TV and Fox Entertainment. >>>Status Report On 7 Others
"Narcotized By Algorithms...Distracted By Doomscrolling" - New York Times Co-Chief Film Critic A.O. Scott announced the end of his 23-year run, and it's probably for the best. For film criticism to fight the tide of apathy engendered by shortened attention spans and social media, it needs critics whose work reflects passion and advocacy. In other words, a Pauline Kael-like presence. >>> Peter Bart's Column |
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The Shield creator and S.W.A.T. showrunner Shawn Ryan is venturing into a new genre territory with The Night Agent, a slick conspiracy thriller that just debuted on Netflix.
In an interview with Deadline, Ryan recounted the wild story behind adapting The Night Agent novel, which he listed in December 2020 tweets about his favorite books of the year under “Books I Read, Decided To Adapt For Television And May Have Already Finished Writing The Pilot Episode.”
Crediting The Night Agent with reigniting his passion to write, Ryan explained the changes he made to the book. The writer-producer provided some clues where the series, produced by Sony Pictures TV, would go from here if it’s renewed for a second season and whether any characters besides star Gabriel Basso's Peter Sutherland would return. >>>The Interview |
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Exclusive Oscar and Emmy winner Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, The White Lotus standout Meghann Fahy, Dakota Fanning and the Flora and Son duo of Eve Hewson and Jack Reynor are in various stages of negotiations to star in Netflix’s The Perfect Couple. Exclusive Sons of Anarchy alum Tommy Flanagan has signed on to star alongside Academy Award winner Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas and more in the crime thriller Sleeping Dogs from Nickel City Pictures. Pic reunites Flanagan with Crowe following their work together in Gladiator. Essence Atkins and Tetona Jackson are joining Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr in the latter pair’s CBS family comedy. The untitled project, which picked up a pilot order in February, has also set Andy Ackerman as director and exec producer of the pilot. |
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More News
💡 In his keynote interview at Series Mania, HBO and HBO Max Chairman and CEO Casey Bloys revealed Mike White has talked him through the plan for another run of The White Lotus. "He’s just pitched us the idea for the third season, and it’s great, a really fun idea," Bloys said.
🤠 Amazon has set the creative team for its Butch & Sundance series. The adaptation, which has Regé-Jean Page and Glen Powell in talks to star, will see Alex Metcalf serve as showrunner with Kaz Firpo and Ryan Firpo serving as co-showrunners.
👆 Outer Banks took over Nielsen’s U.S. streaming chart for the week of February 20 to 26. Following the release of Season 3 on February 23, the Netflix series drew nearly 3.2B viewing minutes during that measurement interval.
🏎️ The BBC has confirmed that Top Gear has been put on hold following Andrew Flintoff's crash last year, with a decision on the show’s future set to be made “later this year.” |
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Trending  Walt Disney World workers have reached a tentative agreement with Disney for a pay raise to $18/hour by the end of this year. Raises will be retroactive to October 2022, which is when the previous contract expired.
🔻 The CW is undergoing another round of staff cuts, the latest in a steady stream of layoffs and high level departures since Nexstar closed a deal to take 75% ownership in the broadcaster last October. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Martin Wiley, a veteran producer and executive whose credits include Acts of Violence, Never Talk to Strangers and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, died March 20, his son Cameron told Deadline. He was 65. 🕯 Gunter Nezhoda, a recurring and popular competitive bidder in A&E’s long-running show Storage Wars, died Tuesday in Utah six months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He was 67. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries | |
On the Radar
Fri - Daisy Jones & The Six finale; Gwyneth Paltrow to testify in court
Sun - Yellowjackets S2 premiere
Wed - Riverdale S7 premiere |
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Nervous Tik - Lawmakers of both parties pilloried TikTok and expressed frustration at what they saw as CEO Shou Zi Chew’s evasive answers during a highly publicized, packed session of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It was a rare congressional hearing where there was near total agreement on the criticism of a company and a witness, albeit not all members said that TikTok should be banned and some focused their comments on social media privacy in general. |
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