by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
MOVIES - From Deadline: Quiver Distribution announced they have completed production on the military action/science fiction film, "Agent Recon." It features legendary martial arts expert and action film and TV hero, Chuck Norris (The Expendables 2, "Walker Texas Ranger"). Quiver and will launch sales at the 2023 American Film Market (AFM), which takes place Oct. 31st to Nov. 5th.
AMAZON - From Deadline: Michael B. Jordan's production company, Outlier Society, will join Amazon MGM Studios to develop Rebecca Yarros' fantasy novel series, "The Empyrean," for television.
From Variety: Amazon MGM Studios is in the early stages of developing a TV series based on the 1982 film, "Poltergeist."
MOVIES - From THR: David Robert Mitchell is ready to make a sequel to his hit horror film, It Follows (2014). Mitchell is taking "They Follow" to the 2023 American Film Market (AFM), where film people try to find buyers for new films and projects. The fun starts Oct. 31st and ends Nov. 5th.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 10/27 to 10/29/2023 weekend box office is "Five Nights at Freddy's" with an estimated take of 78 million dollars.
From THR: It's 78 million dollar opening weekend gives "Five Nights at Freddy's" the largest box office opening for a Halloween weekend.
MOVIES - From Deadline: Jason Statham will star in the film, "Levon's Trade," directed by David Ayer from a script by Sylvester Stallone.
STREAMING - From Deadline: On Fri., Oct. 27th, Spectrum SportsNet and the Los Angeles Lakers announced the launch of "Spectrum SportsNet+." This is a new direct-to-consumer streaming subscription service that will deliver a 24/7 feed of Spectrum SportsNet programming, including live Lakers games and behind-the-scenes Lakers content. Now available, it is free to existing Spectrum SportsNet customers. Others will pay $19.99 a month or $179.99.
DISNEY - From THR: Disney releases a first-look at its film, "Disney's Snow White," a live-action version of its classic animated feature film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937). The other news is that the film is moving to a 2025 release date from its original March 2024 release date. This will be first of many release date changes as the Hollywood actors' strike continues.
AMAZON - From THR: Amazon's ad revenue soars to $12 billion - in the third quarter.
POLITICS - From Medium: Former President Barack Obama offers "Thoughts on Israel and Gaza."
BOX OFFICE - From Deadline: There is a new film in The Hunger Games franchise. "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" looks to have a strong box office debut.
MUSIC - From Variety: Taylor Swift, SZA, and Morgan Wallen lead the nominations for the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. The winners will be announced Nov. 19th.
MOVIES - From Variety: While promoting his new film, "Killers of the Flower Moon," Martin Scorsese comments on fellow director Quentin Tarantino's impending retirement.
SCANDAL - From Deadline: In a hearing today (Wed. Oct. 25th), New York Supreme Court Judge Michael Gaffey denied a defense motion to dismiss the domestic abuse charges that actor Jonathan Majors (Creed III) is facing. Judge Gaffey set a start date of November 29th for the trial.
MOVIES - From Deadline: "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two," starring Tom Cruise, changes its release date from June 28, 2024 to May 23, 2025.
NETFLIX - From Deadline: Filmmaker and media mogul Tyler Perry has struck a new, multi-year first-look deal with Netflix that will see him write, direct and produce features for the streamer. Perry signed a deal with Amazon Studios in November 2022 to write, direct and produce four features for Prime Video.
AMAZON - From Deadline: "Good Omens" hopes to be renewed for a third and final season on Amazon Prime. If it renewed, co-showrunner Douglas Mackinnon will not return. The series is based on the book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
SCANDAL - From Deadline: During his stand-up performance at the TD Garden in Boston on Thurs., Oct. 19th, comedian Dave Chappelle addressed the events in Israel-Palestine and the audience reacted with cheers, jeers, and walk-outs.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 10/20 to 10/22/2023 weekend box office is "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" with an estimated take of 31 million dollars.
DISNEY - From ScreenRant: Disney has confirmed "Zootopia 2," the sequel to its 2016 Oscar-winning hit, Zootopia. The sequel may not arrive in theaters until 2028.
OBITS:
From Variety: Television and film actor, Matthew Perry, has died at the age of 54, Saturday, October 28, 2023. Perry was best known for the role of "Chandler Bing" in the long-running former NBC sitcom, "Friends" (1994-2004), a role for which he received one Primetime Emmy nomination in the category of "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series." Perry would receive two more Emmy nominations for his guest role in the former NBC drama, "The West Wing" (2003) and another Emmy nomination for his starring role in the television film, "The Ron Clark Story" (2006, TNT). His final Emmy nod came as an executive producer on HBO Max's "Friends: The Reunion" special (2021).
From Deadline: In a joint statement to "People," the five surviving leads of the former NBC sitcom, "Friends": Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer said “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family. There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
From Deadline: Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, paid an emotional tribute to his former classmate, "Friends" actor, Matthew Perry, who died on Sat., Oct. 28th. They both attended Rockcliffe Park Public School in Ottawa, Canada.
From Deadline: The Hollywood "breaking news" site, "Deadline," has a page dedicated to the recently deceased "Friends" actor, Matthew Perry.
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From
Deadline: The film and television actor,
Richard Roundtree, has died at the age of 81, Tuesday, October 25, 2023. Roundtree is considered to be "the first black action hero" for his most famous role, the private detective, John Shaft, in the 1971 film, "Shaft." He played the role in two sequels, "Shaft's Big Score!" (1972) and "Shaft in Africa" (1973), as well as a series to TV films for CBS during the 1973-74 broadcast season. He would return to the role in the "contemporary sequels," "Shaft" (2000) and "Shaft" (2019). In addition to his film roles, he made numerous TV appearances, including in such TV miniseries and series as "Roots," "Murder, She Wrote," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Desperate Housewives," to name a few.
From Deadline: Richard Roundtree (1942-2023) - a life in photographs.
From Deadline: Samuel L. Jackson offers a remembrance of his late co-star, Richard Roundtree.
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ACTORS STRIKE:
From Deadline: Striking actors are set to meet the studios today for Halloween negotiations, but they are still "far apart on key issues."
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (actors) and AMPTP (studios) will resume strike negotiations tomorrow (Tues., Oct. 24th).
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher says that the offer from top-earning Hollywood actors to chip in some money to help end the strike "isn't legally compatible with the union's contract.
From Deadline: Top earning Hollywood actors want to chip in some money to end the SAG-AFTRA strike.
From Deadline: George Clooney, Emma Stone, Ben Affleck, Tyler Perry and Scarlett Johansson were among a group of top talent guild members that spoke Tuesday (Oct. 17th) with guild president Fran Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland for a detailed debrief, we hear.
From Deadline: The movie studios via AMPTP have suspended their talks with striking actors via SAG-AFTRA. The snag seems to be that actors want "2 precent of potential profits" on streaming.
From Variety: SAG-AFTRA (the actors) and AMPTP (the studios) are to resume strike talks Wed., Oct. 11th, as the actors strike enters Day 88.
From Deadline: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Hollywood studios CEOs met for strike talks for the first time since the actors went on strike July 14th. They plan to meet again, Wed., Oct. 4th.
BREAKING - From Deadline: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to end its strike after nearly five months. The parties finalized the framework of the deal Sunday when they were able to untangle their stalemate over AI and writing room staffing levels.
From WGAContract: The WGA contract page has additional information on the settlement.
From WGAContract: A summary of the new agreement.
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From Deadline: The actors’ strike is now in its 63rd day. Now, SAG-AFTRA leaders are ramping up their rhetoric against the studio heads, accusing them in the latest issue of the "SAG-AFTRA Magazine" of “behaving like petty tyrants,” “would-be feudal lords” and “land barons in feudal times.”
From Deadline: Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra says that Hollywood unions need to embrace AI.
From Deadline: Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav says the industry must focus and fight to resolve the writers and actors strikes.
From Deadline: Hollywood’s superstars are answering the call from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, donating $1 million or more each to help their fellow performers during the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Among the big donors are Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.
From Deadline: If you are interested, here is a list of the film and TV productions SAG-AFTRA has granted waivers to continue filming.
From Variety: International superstar, Dwayne Johnson, makes a seven-figure contribution to the "SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund." Foundation president, actor Courtney B. Vance, says the amount will remain confidential.
From Variety: Why haven't A-list stars joined the SAG-AFTRA picket line?, asks "Variety."
From Deadline: Author George R.R. Martin, whose works were the basis for HBO's "Game of Thrones," says the strikes will be long and bitter.
From Variety: Halted film productions due to the writers and actors strikes are costing each Hollywood studio at least 600,000 dollars per week.
From Variety: Said at a strike meeting: “Without a transformative change in SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with the AMPTP, the acting profession will no longer be an option for future generations of performers, and actors already working in the industry will need to pursue other careers in order to survive.”
From Deadline: If you are a "social media influencer" who is NOT a member of SAG-AFTRA, you can be barred from future membership for promoting a film or television series during the actors' strike.
From Variety: The SAG/AFTRA strike begins in New York and Los Angeles. Hollywood actors began striking today, Fri., July 14th.
From Deadline: The site has the video of the powerful strike speech given by SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, the actress best known for CBS' former sitcom, "The Nanny."
From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA is already preparing strike picket signs in case the actors' strike begins next week.
From Deadline: The Hollywood studios via the AMPTP has given Canadian actors a new contract, including a 5 percent raise.
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