Trump Guilty Verdict Gets Huge Ratings; 'Cap 4' Reshoots Underway With New Mystery Character; 'Garfield' Wins Sluggish Weekend at Box Office; 'Clipped' Review

[View on web]( [New reader? Subscribe]( June 03, 2024 What's news: Sony Pictures Television is shuttering TriStar TV. John Legend has addressed the sexual assault allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs. Jennifer Lopez has canceled her upcoming national tour. Sally Buzbee has stepped down as executive editor of The Washington Post. BlackBerry was the big winner at the Canadian Screen Awards. — [Abid Rahman]( Do you have THR's next big story? Confidentially share tips with us at [tips@thr.com](. 17M-Plus Viewers Watch Trump Guilty Verdict ►Yuuuge ratings. TV news coverage of Donald Trump's guilty verdict in a New York trial drew a big crowd Thursday. Nearly 17m viewers watched coverage of the verdict on the three big cable news channels (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC) and broadcast networks ABC and CBS, based on early Nielsen ratings. Ratings figures for NBC weren’t immediately available, but it’s likely they’ll push the audience close to the 20m mark when added to the other networks’ totals. [The ratings.]( —"Undeniably fun to watch unfold live." During the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver reacted with glee to Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in his New York hush money trial. The comedian played a clip from NBC News’ live coverage of the verdict reading, where senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett verbally read “guilty” for each individual count. "She did that for all 34 different counts and it is so satisfying to watch," Oliver said. "I’d honestly be surprised if someone hadn’t already uploaded it to Pornhub by now." [The recap.]( —"Palestine on my mind, in my blood and on my heart." Gigi and Bella Hadid are joining forces to support relief efforts in Palestine. The supermodel sisters, born to a Palestinian American father, are collectively donating $1m, a sum that has been earmarked for equal distribution among four organizations with a focus on children and families: HEAL Palestine, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, World Central Kitchen, and United Nations Relief and Works Agency. [The story.]( —"This image was taken during a USO tour in 2016." Chris Evans offered some clarification after a resurfaced photo of him signing what initially appeared to be a missile sparked controversy. The image taken eight years ago began circulating on social media this week, which led some fans to wrongly criticize the actor for autographing what they claimed to be an Israeli bomb. However, the Captain America star took to his Instagram Story on Thursday to shut down the accusations. [The story.]( —"Believe women when they make these accusations." John Legend is addressing the sexual assault and abuse allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs, with whom he collaborated on a song last year. In a new interview, Legend noted he was "horrified" by the several allegations that had come out about Combs even before the news outlet released a video of the music producer physically assaulting former girlfriend Cassie Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. [The story.]( —"I never meant to imply that I didn’t get the part for nepotistic reasons — I think I totally did." Maya Hawke has made peace with the term "nepo baby." In a new interview, the Stranger Things star, daughter of actors Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, opened up about her path to Hollywood, acknowledging that she’s had an advantage because of her parents. "I’m comfortable with not deserving it and doing it anyway," she said. [The story.]( Adele Shuts Down Homophobic Heckler ►"Are you f***king stupid?" Adele paused her Las Vegas show on Saturday to respond to a homophobic heckler in the crowd. Per footage on social media, an audience member at Adele’s June 1 show could reportedly be heard yelling, “Pride sucks!” as the singer chatted with the audience between songs. "What was that? Did you just say, ‘Pride sucks?’" Adele responded. "Did you come to my fucking show and just say that Pride sucks? Are you fucking stupid? Don’t be so fucking ridiculous." [The story.]( —"I am completely heartsick." Live Nation announced Friday that Jennifer Lopez's upcoming This Is Me … Live Tour is canceled, citing "Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends." Lopez addressed fans via her On the Jlo newsletter writing, "Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary." The announcement comes amid reports that the tour faced poor ticket sales and speculation that there are marital issues between Lopez and Ben Affleck. [The story.]( —"He was cute, but yes he bit me." Taylor Momsen's latest performance with her rock band The Pretty Reckless will definitely go down as a memorable show for the singer. The Gossip Girl alum shared on Instagram Friday that she was bitten by a bat while opening for AC/DC’s Power Up Tour in Sevilla, Spain, on Wednesday. As a result, she noted that she must undergo two weeks of rabies shots. [The story.]( —"I’m hopeful that we will soon reach a tentative agreement that members will want to ratify." IATSE and major Hollywood studios and streamers have paused negotiations over the union’s Area Standards Agreement after the two parties did not reach a deal in their previously allotted time. The crew union updated members on Saturday that the two sides did not come to an agreement in their two-week bargaining period, and that additional negotiations dates were expected to be scheduled for later in June. [The story.]( —Big changes. Sally Buzbee has stepped down as executive editor of The Washington Post, the newspaper announced on Sunday. In the newsroom restructuring, Matt Murray, former editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, will replace Buzbee until the 2024 U.S. presidential election in November, after which Robert Winnett, deputy editor of The Telegraph Media Group, will take on a newly-created editor role. [The story.]( 'Cap 4' Reshoots Underway With New Pages, New Mystery Character ►22 days. THR's [Borys Kit]( reports that Captain America: Brave New World has begun a round of additional photography in Atlanta, with a new actor in the cast. Giancarlo Esposito is officially on the call sheet in an undisclosed, but sources say, villainous role. The shoot will run 22 days, according to insiders. Among the added elements will be some new action sequences. Julius Onah remains the director. Borys writes that Brave New World has been operating under a hazy shroud ever since it wrapped principal photography in the spring of 2023. [The story.]( —Fantastisk! Peanut Butter Falcon filmmakers Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson have been tapped to adapt and direct the remake of Riders of Justice for Lionsgate. The original 2020 Danish film starred Mads Mikkelsen and followed a recently-deployed soldier who returns home to care for his teenage daughter after his wife is killed in a tragic train accident. Shawn Levy, Dan Levine of Dan Cohen of 21 Laps Entertainment are producing the film after Lionsgate earlier picked up the English-language adaptation rights. [The story.]( —🏆 Glenn is a Golden God! 🏆 Matt Johnson’s satirical comedy BlackBerry earned the best movie honor at the Canadian Screen Awards on Friday, which also tapped the Canadian Indigenous TV series Little Bird as the best TV drama. In earlier prize-giving this week, BlackBerry picked up hardware for best adapted screenplay, cinematography and a best supporting comedy performance trophy for Glenn Howerton. BlackBerry also won Johnson the best director honor, and Jay Baruchel the best comedy performance trophy. [The winners.]( —Wait, what? The Tribeca Festival will feature five short films made using technology from OpenAI. The films will use OpenAI’s Sora, which is a text-to-video model that accepts textual descriptions and generates video clips based on them. This is the first time films using this technology will be showcased at the festival. [The story.]( TV Viewers Are Aging. These Shows Bring In the Oldest Audiences ►Oldies and goldies. THR's [Rick Porter]( breaks down the demo numbers for the networks and finds that CBS has the grayest primetime audience (and the largest one), while Fox’s five animated series helped age down that broadcaster during the 2023-24 season. [The analysis.]( —Absorbed. THR's [Lesley Goldberg]( has scoop on Sony Pictures Television shuttering its TriStar TV banner. Sources say that TriStar TV exec vp Jennifer Turner and senior vp development Nicole Norwood are leaving as the division is being folded into the larger Sony TV fold. No additional layoffs are expected to come as part of the move. The decision to absorb TriStar TV into the larger Sony Pictures Television fold comes at a time of industry-wide consolidation in an era of belt-tightening following the end of the Peak TV phenomenon. [The story.]( —🎭 Criminal finds 🎭 Charlie Hunnam has been tapped to star in Amazon Prime Video's adaptation of Ed Brubaker’s comic series Criminal. Picked up to series in January after nearly a year in development, Criminal is described as an interlocking universe of crime stories based on the multiple Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series created by Brubaker and Sean Phillips. The Sons of Anarchy star will play Leo, aka Coward, a brilliant master thief who sees all the angles, and specializes in plans with no guns and no violence. [The story.]( —Stepping away. Nazanin Boniadi, a series regular from the first season of Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is not coming back for the second season. The Tehran-born British actress, who played Bronwyn in season one, had previously posted on Instagram that she was taking a break from acting to focus on activism. "I stepped away from acting in September 2022, to focus solely on the #WomanLifeFreedom uprising in Iran and to advocate for the people of my homeland who have been risking everything for freedom," she wrote. [The story.]( —📅 Dated 📅 The ninth season of Suits will head to Netflix on July 1, the streamer announced on Sunday. The final installment of last year’s viral phenomenon was previously only available on Peacock. The news came as cast members Patrick J. Adams, Sarah Rafferty, Dulé Hill, Amanda Schull, Abigail Spencer and former USA Network president Jeff Wachtel reunited on Sunday for a reunion panel presented by Tudum at the ATX TV Festival in Austin. [The story.]( Box Office: 'Garfield' Wins Sluggish Weekend ►Yikes. It’s another bummer of a weekend at the summer of box office, where overall domestic revenue looks to be down 69 percent from a year ago as Hollywood and theater owners continue to grapple with a lack of big event pics. And year-to-date revenue is now down 24 percent over last year. For some, there is reason to smile. Alcon and Sony’s The Garfield Movie easily purred past Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga to top the weekend chart with an estimated $14m for a domestic tally of $51.6m. Alcon fully financed the $60m film, which crossed the $100m mark overseas for a global tally of $152.2m. THR's [Pamela McClintock]( writes that Furiosa, costing a pricey $168m to produce, fell a steep 59 percent to $10.75m, dashing hopes that it could rebound after a disappointing Memorial Day opening. The dystopian epic is also stalling overseas, where it took in only $21m from 77 markets for a global total of $114.4m ($49.7m domestic, $64.7m international). [The box office report.]( Charlie Brooker on Predicting the Future With 'Black Mirror' ►"I feel like I'm living in a simulation." THR's queen of chat [Jackie Strause]( spoke to Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker about the upcoming seventh season of Netflix's speculative fiction anthology series. Brooker discusses the sequel to "USS Callister" and reveals that the AI-focused season six episode "Joan Is Awful" wasn't the first time he saw the writing on the wall for humanity, but it was the timeliest. [The interview.]( —"I feel like I know her because of all the conversations I’ve had with her sisters." For THR, Brande Victorian spoke to The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson executive producers Melissa Moore, Jesse Daniels and Brie Miranda Bryant about the 10-year journey in making the harrowing Lifetime docuseries. The trio discuss the 50 interviews they conducted for the documentary and how O.J. Simpson’s death impacted the process. [The interview.]( —"Jerry Bruckheimer is relentless." THR's [Brian Davids]( spoke to filmmaker Joachim Rønning about his new feature, Young Woman and the Sea. The Norwegian director discusses the film's upgrade to a theatrical release and also talks Tron: Ares, which he reveals has wrapped principal photography: "I'm going back into the dark editing room for a year." [The interview.]( —"None of us said a word to anyone." THR's nicest man [Chris Gardner]( spoke to Jamie Lee Curtis about keeping her memorable appearance in The Bear a secret. The actress reveals how she and the bosses of the hit FX show pulled off one of the greatest guest-starring roles of her career without anyone knowing. [The interview.]( TV Review: 'Clipped' ►"A thematically intriguing tonal mess." THR's chief TV critic [Dan Fienberg]( reviews FX/Hulu's Clipped. Laurence Fishburne and Ed O’Neill lead an unwieldy depiction of the Clippers/Donald Sterling Scandal with fictionalized versions of Doc Rivers, V. Stiviano, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and more in this six-part limited series. [The review.]( —"Unscripted Game of Thrones revels in its excess." Dan reviews HBO's Ren Faire. Lance Oppenheim (Spermworld) documents the fight to take over the helm of the Texas Renaissance Festival in this three-part doc that chronicles a somewhat silly power struggle. [The review.]( In other news... —Netflix’s [new releases coming in June]( —Amazon Prime Video’s [new releases coming in June]( —TV premiere dates 2024: [The complete guide]( —Hacks star [Hannah Einbinder teases her debut stand-up special in new trailer]( —Law Roach and Jeremy Pope [among honorees at 2024 Native Son Awards]( —Simone Biles returns: [How to watch the 2024 U.S. Gymnastics Championships online free]( —Where [to stream The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson online]( —An indie [rap label founder’s eclectic L.A. abode]( —Jon Bon Jovi [says Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi had a "very small family wedding"]( —Mandy Moore [is expecting her first daughter]( —[Martin Starger]( Nashville and Mask producer, dies at 92 —[Jac Venza]( PBS pioneer and Great Performances creator, dies at 97 ​​​What else we're reading... —Ben Child asks the question we're all thinking: Why should Furiosa’s disappointing box office stop a new Mad Max movie? [[Guardian]( —Mark Gurman reports that Apple is seeking a senior engineer to help build a television and sports app for Android [[Bloomberg]( —With Google's AI for search riddled with wrong and sometimes dangerous results, Nitish Pahwa writes that the tech giant has entered its "Elizabeth Holmes era" [[Slate]( —Jesus Jiménez and Aaron Boxerman explain the latest Gaza cease-fire proposal [[NYT]( —Jennifer Maloney writes that through hefty marketing, novel flavors and TikTok videos, Dr. Pepper has tied Pepsi to become America's No. 2 soda [[WSJ]( Today... ...in 1988, director Penny Marshall brought Tom Hanks and Big to theaters, where the film eventually grossed $150m worldwide and became a pop culture classic. [The original review.]( Today's birthdays: [Anderson Cooper]( (57), Imogen Poots (35), Michelle Keegan (37), Suzi Quatro (74), Tate Taylor (55), John Hodgman (53), Jason Jones (51), Josh Segarra (38), James Purefoy (60), Louis Hofmann (27), Anne Winters (30), Louis Partridge (21), Suzie Plakson (66), Penelope Wilton (78), Alison Oliver (27), Bill Paterson (79), Scott Valentine (66), John Rothman (75), Zayne Emory (26), Lalaine (37), Arianne Zucker (50), Lindsay Hollister (47), Pico Alexander (33), John Moulder-Brown (71), Clive Mantle (67), Nikki M. James (43), Amar Chadha-Patel (38), Maddison Jaizani (29), Rebecca Callard (49), John Dykstra (77), Peter Thorwarth (53) Mitchell Block, the executive and Oscar-nominated documentarian who was behind such powerful films as Poster Girl, Big Mama and The Testimony, has died. He was 73. [The obituary.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} by The Hollywood Reporter. 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