Business of Hollywood Intro for August 11, 2023 Dear Gossips, Earlier this week, entertainment journalist and awards prognosticator Scott Feinberg sent an email to studios and award campaign managers, more or less demanding preferential screenings of Oscar hopefuls. Feinberg is the executive editor of awards for The Hollywood Reporter, and frequently hosts their for-your-consideration events and roundtable discussions, By Sarah • Aug 11, 2023 09:10 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for August 10, 2023 Dear Gossips, Over the last few years, I’ve been writing about Netflix’s strategic push into East Asia and the overwhelming success of that decision given the still-increasing popularity of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean scripted and unscripted programming. As the New York Times reported last month, “Netflix is the By Lainey • Aug 10, 2023 09:36 am
Business of Hollywood Intro for August 9, 2023 Dear Gossips, Billy Porter is making headlines today. We all know Billy Porter, right? As he describes himself in the Evening Standard, Billy says, “I won an Emmy. I’m a fashion icon. Now they need me. Winners write their history, because I’m not supposed to be here looking By Lainey • Aug 09, 2023 09:26 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Bradley Cooper sets the bar The Venice Film Festival starts at the end of the month, kicking off what is sure to be a strange fall festival season, even after enduring the weird pandemic years. Assuming the WGA and especially SAG-AFTRA strikes will still be going on—which they almost certainly will be —stars will By Sarah • Aug 08, 2023 01:08 pm
Business of Hollywood The strike isn’t ending anytime soon On Friday, August 4, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) met for the first time since their original negotiations broke down on May 1. This is the first overture toward the WGA to restart negotiations between writers and studios, and it did not go By Sarah • Aug 08, 2023 12:20 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Barbillion In its third week of release, Barbie has powered past $1 billion at the global box office. Greta Gerwig is now the highest-grossing female director, and the only woman to solo direct a billion-dollar film (Captain Marvel director Anna Boden, along with co-director Ryan Fleck, is also a billion-dollar lady By Sarah • Aug 08, 2023 09:54 am
Business of Hollywood Reality stars are pushing back Looks like the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are having an impact beyond writers and actors. Reality stars are paying attention to what the writers’ union and the actors’ union have been doing and what they’re asking for from the producers and the studios and it would appear that it’ By Lainey • Aug 04, 2023 12:46 pm
Business of Hollywood The Movie Star Donations Dwayne The Rock Johnson made headlines last week for his “historic” seven-figure donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation which, understandably, is especially in need right now during the work stoppage. Courtney B Vance, the Foundation’s president, told Variety this week that: “…the SAG-AFTRA Foundation is currently processing more than 30 By Lainey • Aug 04, 2023 10:37 am
Douchebags Intro for August 1, 2023 Dear Gossips, One of the most popular memes that’s emerged over the last few years is from the Arrowverse. It’s a photo of Grant Gustin posing at the gravesite of Oliver Queen. Forever posting this pic because Stephen Amell hates it. Support union supporter Grant Gustin!! pic.twitter. By Lainey • Aug 01, 2023 09:47 am
Douchebags Brad Pitt in (delayed) solidarity For a couple of weeks now, since SAG-AFTRA officially decided to go on strike alongside the WGA, eyebrows have been raised over Brad Pitt’s F1 film, Apex, because they initially claimed that they’d be shutting down production in support of the writers and actors only to show up By Lainey • Jul 31, 2023 11:51 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Intro for July 31, 2023 Dear Gossips, Barbie continued to do big business at the box office this weekend with another $93 million domestically and $122 million from 70 markets outside North America which means it is fast approaching the billion dollar mark and will likely get there in a couple of weeks, if that. By Lainey • Jul 31, 2023 09:34 am
Douchebags A Convenient Brad Pitt Romance Update Earlier this week, Sarah wrote about Dwayne Johnson’s donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and her opening sentence made me laugh: “…it’s a battle of the A-listers as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a seven-figure donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund, while everyone wonders if Brad Pitt is By Lainey • Jul 28, 2023 12:43 pm
Business of Hollywood This Barbie is on strike Speaking of the strategic deployment of celebrities to the picket lines during the double strike, here is Alexandra Shipp, hot off the success of Barbie, picketing in Los Angeles yesterday. It’s a smart move, sending Shipp—recognizable but not a major star—to the picket line during Barbie’s By Sarah • Jul 28, 2023 11:25 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Prepare for the Barbification of movies Barbenheimer smashed the box office—as I thought, the actual opening weekend box office for both Barbie and Oppenheimer was higher than the estimates—which means we are now in for a nightmare of toy movies hoping to catch Barbie’s lightning in a bottle. (Funny how off the back By Sarah • Jul 27, 2023 11:51 am
BFFs The Octogenarian Stone and his biggest fan Mick Jagger turned 80 years old yesterday. There was a big party in London where Mick was joined by three of his daughters, Jade, Elizabeth, and Georgia May, and also retired ballerina Melanie Hamrick. It was recently reported that they’re now engaged. They’ve been together since 2014 and By Lainey • Jul 27, 2023 10:53 am
Business of Hollywood The Sweet Spot of Striking Actors As Sarah noted the other day in her post about Dwayne The Rock Johnson’s historic donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, major movie stars have largely stayed away from the picket lines – intentionally. The big name celebrities, she wrote, are a distraction. There’s already so much misinformation about this By Lainey • Jul 26, 2023 03:24 pm
