The Walt Disney Co. is initiating the largest of its three planned round of layoffs as it continues driving toward a target of $5.5 billion in cost savings.
From Monday through Thursday, thousands of workers will be let go across the company's entertainment, sports and theme park divisions. By the end of the latest wave, about 4,000 of the targeted 7,000 in cuts will have been made, company officials estimate. A final round is expected before the start of summer.
Disney Entertainment Co-Chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden delivered the difficult news to workers in a memo on Monday morning. The corporate move has been widely anticipated over recent weeks, with employees referring to it as "the big one" or, more ominously, as a "bloodbath." Like its peers in the media sector, Disney is reckoning with an ongoing decline in the lucrative pay-TV arena and uncertainty around theatrical moviegoing at the same time it is funding its streaming business, whose profit potential remains unproven. >>>Balancing Linear Decline With Streaming Push |
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Striking Development - As exhibitors celebrate the post-pandemic box office resurgence at CinemaCon, the motion picture industry is bracing for a potential WGA strike. Studio sources say that while the 2024 theatrical release calendar would remain roughly intact in the first six months after the strike, beyond that it gets squishy. >>>Q4 In Question
Profit Centers - Deadline's Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournaments found the top 10 films raked in more than $2.5 billion in profit for their creators. >>>The Big-Margin List
'Prima Facie' On Broadway - Killing Eve star Jodie Comer claims Broadway as her own in her tour de force performance in Prima Facie, a scalding indictment of the law and its limits that opened this past weekend at the Golden Theatre. >>>The Deadline Review
WGA Vs. The Agencies, Four Years On - Four years ago today, more than 7,000 WGA members fired their agents en masse – a show of solidarity at the start of the guild’s historic two-year campaign to reshape the talent agency business that still is playing out today, emboldening the guild in its ongoing negotiations with the studios for a new film and TV contract. >>> "We Are To Be Taken Seriously And Feared" |
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John Fithian, longtime president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, is taking a final bow next week in Las Vegas at CinemaCon. His successor, Michael O’Leary, spoke with Deadline on exhibition’s resurgence, screen count, specialty film, windows and not obsessing about Netflix anymore. >>> Read The Interview |
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Exclusive
Just days after criminal charges were dropped against Rust actor and producer Alec Baldwin in the tragic on-set death of DP Halyna Hutchins, Deadline has learned that the Oscar nominee and multi-Emmy winner is set to star in Mike Hatton’s feature directorial debut, Hollywood Heist.
Peaky Blinders and Gangs of London star Joe Cole has been cast as lead in real-time BBC thriller series Nightsleeper. He’ll play opposite Alexandra Roach in the drama, which is from Nick Leather. Filming is underway in Glasgow, Scotland.
Succession star Brian Cox has been cast in the James Bond-inspired unscripted competition show 007's Road to a Million. He will appear as The Controller, described as "an enigmatic character who controls the fate of the contestants" in the Prime Video series, which launches later this year.
In Brief - Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: Dr. Sullivan is back for Season 2 of Max reboot...The Wheel Of Time added four recurring characters for Season 2. |
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More News
🎤 Comedian Richard Lewis announced via social media that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and is finished with his stand-up career. The Curb Your Enthusiasm regular said he plans to focus on writing and acting and added that he's "on the right meds, so I'm cool."
🌟 France’s main energy workers union is threatening to cut power supplies for the Cannes Film Festival next month as part of ongoing protests against unpopular pension reforms.
✊ SAG-AFTRA’s National Board voted unanimously last week to approve a resolution “strongly in support” of the WGA in its ongoing negotiations for a new film and TV contract. “It is long past time for the studios, streamers, and other employers in the entertainment industry to remove roadblocks to fair and equitable wages and working conditions,” the resolution states."
🕺 Twitter has removed labels denoting “Government-Funded Media” for news outlets NPR, PBS, the BBC and others after criticism from the organizations that the label is not an accurate representation of their editorial independence. France Televisions President Delphine Ernotte Cunci said Twitter's attempts to categorize public broadcasters in such a way were "terrifying."
⚠️ Twitter's new verification process is revealing some loopholes, with a parody account branding itself after MTV's The Challenge earning a gold check mark indicative of a legitimate business account. The discovery follows the suspension of a fake account purporting to be representing Disney Junior, also with a gold check, after it tweeted profanities and a racial slur.
🔥 Talk about a euphoric experience at Coachella Saturday: fans were treated to a surprise performance by Zendaya during Labrinth’s set at the desert music festival. The star of Euphoria performed the final two songs of the set — “I’m Tired” and “All for Us,” which was written for her HBO series.
💰 Paramount Global said Friday that, pending court approval, it will receive $167.5 million in settlement of a suit by shareholders of the former CBS Corp. against some of the broadcaster’s former officers and directors, including Shari Redstone and Joseph Ianiello. Called a derivative suit, it’s filed on behalf of the company, whose parent is getting the cash. |
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Trending  Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie stayed on course with its third weekend estimate notching an $58.2M, which is the best third weekend for an animated movie ever.
🔻 There will be no second season for National Treasure as Disney+ has opted not to renew the freshman adventure series. The show, from Disney Branded Television and ABC Signature, is an expansion of the National Treasure movie franchise told from the point of view of young heroine Jess. |
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Obituaries 🕯 Len Goodman, the former Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars judge, has died aged 78. Goodman’s agent confirmed his death and said he had “died peacefully, surrounded by his family” in hospital. Goodman was head judge on Dancing with the Stars, taking on that role from 2005 until last year. 🕯 Australian comedian Barry Humphries , best known for his comedic character Dame Edna Everage, has died at age 89, his family has confirmed. The veteran entertainer had been unwell in a Sydney hospital, suffering complications following hip surgery last month. 🕯 Duane Earl Poole, a writer and producer for Aaron Spelling, Hanna-Barbera and Sid & Marty Krofft whose credits include Hart To Hart, The Love Boat, The Smurfs and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, died of cancer on April 1 in Studio City, CA. He was 74. 🕯 Michel Dimopoulos, former director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, has died. He was 74. Dimopoulos served as Thessaloniki’s artistic director from 1991 to 2005. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
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On the Radar
Mon - CinemaCon starts
Tue - Spotify & Alphabet earnings; The Flash screens at CinemaCon
Wed - Roku & Meta earnings; Disney at CinemaCon
Thu - Comcast, Snap & Amazon earnings; James Corden's final Late Late Show
Sun - WH Correspondents Dinner |
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Slug, Uh...Slogan - John Oliver took another swing at his show's so-called "business daddy," Warner Bros. Discovery. Poking fun at the WBD's decision to combine streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+ to create what it now calls Max, the Last Week Tonight host then delivered his read on the Max value proposition.
"Hey, do you like HBO but want ads, the Property Brothers but also don’t like HBO? Max!"
He then suggested a tagline: "There’s entertainment in watching a company die!" |
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