In August, when Disney convenes its next quarterly earnings call, the longtime duo act of CEO Bob Iger and CFO Christine McCarthy will not be reprised.
McCarthy abruptly stepped down Thursday to take family medical leave. She will stay on the payroll for through mid-2024, serving as an advisor to help with the transition as longtime company veteran Kevin Lansberry becomes interim CFO and a permanent successor is chosen.
The task of replacing McCarthy comes less than a year into Iger's encore engagement as CEO. He held the title for 14 years before passing the baton to Bob Chapek in 2020. When Iger replaced Chapek last November, the plan was for him to help identify his own successor ahead of the end of his contract in December 2024. Now, he will also need to oversee the selection of a key collaborator in the executive suite as the company faces a number of major financial challenges. >>>Past Palace Intrigue |
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Not So Fast - Warner Bros./DC’s The Flash is playing like a deeper universe superhero movie with around $9M in Thursday night previews. While the pic’s critical score on Rotten Tomatoes has fallen to 67% from 71% fresh, audiences are enjoying it more at 88%. That’s a good sign. >>>Comps
Overseas Execs Talk IP - The value of IP, franchise building and packaging was on the agenda at Seriencamp in Germany this week. Europe-based execs from Paramount+, Warner Bros International Television Production, NRK and Miso Film debated the merits of focusing on developing new projects based on well-known properties. >>>“Confusion In The Market ”
'Better Call Saul' "Saul's Gone" Script - Deadline’s It Starts on the Page features 10 standout drama series scripts in 2023 Emmy contention. It showcases the critical role writers’ work plays in a show’s success. All materials (the script and writers intro) were submitted before the WGA strike began on May 2. Here is the script for “Saul Gone” with an introduction from series co-creator Peter Gould, in which he writes about the beats he wanted to hit in wrapping up the series, and whether Jimmy/Saul really did find what he sought in the end. >>>Read It
Mile-High Man - As Denver throws a parade for the Nuggets, a new documentary project is poised to shine a light on one of the team’s all-time greats. David Thompson, a star for the Nuggets for eight seasons as well as a force in college basketball with the 1974 national-champion North Carolina State Wolfpack, is the subject of a film from Nelson George. The director's previous documentaries have featured ballerina Misty Copeland and baseball immortal Willie Mays. >>> Michael Jordan Before Michael Jordan |
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The TV spin-off from the most influential fantasy book of all time might have gone any number of ways: There were rumors of a new adaptation of Frodo’s story or a straightforward prequel about a young Aragorn. But the show that emerged, from showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne, is a stranger and more morally compromised beast, drawn from the appendices to Tolkien’s richly-detailed text and hinted-at histories to some of its peripheral characters. As shooting wraps up in the U.K. on second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — the last few weeks without Payne or McKay on set due to the WGA strike — the cast's hope is that all the fuss about budget and casting is behind them, and that the show can now be judged on its merits, as something that tries to tell an epic but also relevant story about how power can corrupt and goodness can, hopefully, endure. >>> Show's Stars Speak Out |
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Exclusive
Lauren Staerck (Trust) and Natasha Henstridge (Species) are underway in England on Cinderella’s Revenge, a film that Andy Edwards (Zombie Spring Breakers ) is directing for Mark Amin’s Sobini Films, that will give the classic fairy tale a horror twist. In the film, Cinderella (Staerck)’s wicked stepsisters and stepmother push her too far, leading her to swap her glass slippers in pursuit of blood-soaked vengeance with the help of her Fairy Godmother (Henstridge).
Exclusive
truTV has set a summer premiere for Season 4 of its comedy series Tacoma FD. Starring Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme, the fourth season will premiere Thursday, July 20 at 10 PM ET/PT. Guest stars joining this season include Tony Danza as a guardian angel and David Arquette as Teddy Dickosi, Captain Penisi’s rival for the approval of the Chief.
Exclusive
Lana Condor (To All The Boys franchise), Andrew Koji (Bullet Train), Ross Butler (Shazam! franchise), Sung Kang (Fast & Furious franchise) and Elodie Yung (The Cleaning Lady) are among those starring in Worth the Wait, a romantic comedy marking the U.S. directorial debut of award-winning Taiwanese filmmaker Tom Shu-Yu Lin (The Garden of Evening Mists), which has wrapped production in Vancouver and Kuala Lumpur. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
5 - The number of Emmy nominees there'll be in the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category this year. The late night community had feared there would be only four. |
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More News
✂️ The Sussexes have separated from Spotify, Deadline has confirmed. As part of their reported $20M deal with Spotify, inked back in 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had the podcast Archetypes, which the latter hosted. The podcast, which explored labels that held women back, and touted such guests as Trevor Noah, Mariah Carey, Mindy Kaling and Serena Williams, won’t be getting a second season despite talks. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are rethinking their deals to find better homes and partnerships for content. There’s also a chance that Archetypes could wind up elsewhere.
📺 Tucker Carlson said his former producer resigned from Fox News after putting up the "wannabe dictator" chyron about President Biden.
🎥 At the Tribeca Festival, David Fincher talked with fellow filmmaker Steven Soderbergh about remastering Se7en and his reluctance to watch his old films.
🕷️ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse won’t be getting a release in the United Arab Emirates, Deadline has confirmed. Apparently, the point of contention has to do with Gwen Stacy, and whether the character is trans. Reuters, who first had the story, reports that Vox Cinemas has pulled the movie without explanation. Also that the UAE Media Council is reportedly objecting to the film, saying it is contrary to the values of the UAE.
🤔 HBO has responded to a Page Six report that The Idol would likely not return for a second season. “It is being misreported that a decision on a second season of The Idol has been determined,” HBO wrote in a tweet. “It has not, and we look forward to sharing the next episode with you Sunday night.”
🏆 Cypher, written and directed by Chris Moukarbel, took the best U.S. narrative feature prize at the Tribeca Festival. The pseudo-documentary about the rise of Tierra Whack world premiered at the fest last week. Smoking Tigers won Best Performance in the U.S. narrative category for Ji-Young Yoon as well as Best Screenplay for So Young Shelly Yo. |
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Trending  Ted Lasso is moving its way up the Nielsen streaming charts. As the Season 3 finale (and potential series finale) approached, the Apple TV+ series made its way to No. 4 on Nielsen’s overall Top 10 list for the week of May 15 to May 21 with 769M minutes viewed. That marks its highest ranking on the Nielsen list to date.
🔻 It's been a tough run of late for live sports. Both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals ended this week with historically low viewership across each 5-game series. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Glenda Jackson, the double Oscar-winning British actress and former Labour MP, has died at at her home in Blackheath, south-east London, following a brief illness. She was 87. Jackson was perhaps best known for her two Oscar-winning performances in Ken Russell’s 1970’s pic Women in Love, a D. H. Lawrence adaptation, where she starred alongside Alan Bates and Oliver Reed and 1973’s A Touch of Class. Jackson also won a BAFTA Best Actress gong for Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). 🕯 Homer Jones, an electrifying wide receiver for the New York Giants who still holds the NFL record for career yards per reception at 22.3 yards, died Wednesday in Texas from lung cancer. He was 82. Jones was the first player to “spike” the football after a touchdown. He reportedly did so after then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle threatened fines to players who threw the football into the stands. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths in 2023: A Photo Gallery |
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On the Radar
Fri - The Flash and Elemental open; Biden arrives in CA
Sun - U.S. Open golf champion crowned
Mon - Juneteenth; Mission: Impossible world premiere; Trump Fox News interview
Tue - Gracie Awards luncheon
Wed - Secret Invasion premieres |
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Peacock Place - L.A. Live, Anschutz Entertainment Group’s downtown Los Angeles sports and entertainment district, will bear streamer Peacock’s name throughout, starting July 11. As part of a multi-year naming rights agreement between AEG and Peacock, the 7,100-seat concert and special events venue formerly known as Microsoft Theater will be renamed Peacock Theater. The entertainment district’s 40,000-square-foot open-air plaza, formerly known as XBOX Plaza, will now be known as Peacock Place. Peacock will also become the exclusive streaming partner for the complex. |
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