Claire Foy Goes Dark; 'I Killed Roseanne'; Ellison In Limbo; Netflix Sub Growth; Saudi Debacle Update; Top 50 Showrunners

What's news: After conquering TV with The Crown, Claire Foy sets her sights on blockbuster success with Sony's The Girl in the Spider's Web. Plus: How Annapurna is moving forward, Netflix's massive earnings win, The Conners finally arrives and inside Hollywood's dealings with the Saudis. — Will Robinson [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( October 17, 2018 What's news: After conquering TV with The Crown, Claire Foy sets her sights on blockbuster success with Sony's The Girl in the Spider's Web. Plus: How Annapurna is moving forward, Netflix's massive earnings win, The Conners finally arrives and inside Hollywood's dealings with the Saudis. — Will Robinson [On the cover:]( Claire Foy opens up on politics, fears and her dark journey from the queen to Lisbeth as she takes on a strikingly different version of female power, Anna Peele reports: + Doing it all: Sony is confident that when audiences see The Girl in the Spider's Web, they will understand why the studio enlisted someone best known for portraying the Queen of England to play Lisbeth Salander's pansexual cybergoth hacker. "I can't imagine there's a stronger one-two punch in I-can't-remember-how-long as the duality of those two characters and those two performances," says First Man co-star Ryan Gosling. + Ruled by anxiety: "I always think of myself as the villain," Foy says. "I always think, 'I must be the wrong one.' For example, people like Ryan Gosling meet someone, don't hear their name and say, 'I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.' I don't say anything because I'm worried they might judge [me]. I just keep quiet and hope maybe someday we'll be able to catch up, and then I have anxiety over it at nighttime." + Impending break: Being with her daughter, who is about to start preschool, is part of the reason Foy is about to take a long break from acting, just at the moment in her career where she surely has the most oppor­tunity. "If I do something, I want to be really there. I want to really enjoy it. And with First Man and Spider's Web, I know exactly why I did it and how I felt and what I learned. If I did anything now, I wouldn't know why I was doing it." [Full cover story.]( Annapurna's Shaky Foundation In limbo: An indie benefactor, Megan Ellison and Annapurna hit pause on new movies as a top executive departs and James Bond hangs in limbo, Kim Masters reports: + Finding new path: The company’s operations now are being reviewed by an executive (with experience in business, but not in Hollywood) dispatched by Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Megan “wasn’t running a financially responsible organization,” says a person with knowledge of the situation. The company is not going to greenlight any movies for more than a year, this person adds, but an Annapurna insider disputes that. + Inside the Ailes movie: Annapurna developed the project, initially at a cost of $45 million. (The film was to shoot in Los Angeles to accommodate Charlize Theron.) Annapurna began to try to reduce the budget and to cut the number of shoot days from 50 to 37 — a curtailed schedule that, according to a source, was deeply upsetting to Theron. Under pressure, Theron and her agents at WME brought in Bron Studios/Creative Wealth Media to finance a third of the movie. [Full story.]( Elsewhere in film... ► Will China try to block the Disney-Fox deal? Some investors fear Beijing may [weaponize]( its antitrust approval process as a way of retaliating against the president's escalating tariffs, Patrick Brzeski reports. ► What's fueling this year's box office boon? February's Black Panther and October's Venom are proving that hits can explode outside the crowded summer and holiday season, lifting overall revenue in 2018, Pamela McClintock analyzes. * The numbers: Domestic revenue, up nearly 10 percent from 2017, is now headed for a record year — analysts are projecting $11.6 billion to $11.8 billion, possibly even $12 billion — eclipsing 2016's $11.4 billion. [Box office details.]( ► Feature filming in L.A. ticks up for third consecutive quarter. On-location [filming]( in the Greater Los Angeles Area was up 3 percent in the third quarter of 2018, according to a new FilmL.A. report released Tuesday. A total of 9,734 shoot days were logged during the period. ► Idris Elba joins Cats musical film adaptation. Elba will join Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Ian McKellen in the film to be [directed]( by Tom Hooper. Elba would play Macavity, a master criminal. ► Keira Knightley to star in Miss World comedy-drama Misbehaviour. Coming from The Crown producer Left Bank Pictures and Pathe, which is [introducing]( the film to buyers at the American Film Market, Misbehaviour is being directed by two-time BAFTA winner Philippa Lowthorpe (Three Girls), one of only two women to have won a BAFTA for direction. ► Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga join next Annabelle movie. The untitled third installment is being written and directed by Gary Dauberman, who [penned]( the previous two installments. The film will once again center on the demonically possessed doll Annabelle, who has been hidden by the Warrens. ► Saban Films picks up King of Thieves starring Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent. Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone and Charlie Cox also [star]( in the film from Theory of Everything director James Marsh. ► Former Marvel president raises $5 million for new comics venture. Bill Jemas [received]( seed money from Lightspeed Venture Partners, an early investor in Snapchat. ► EgyptAir pulls in-flight magazine after Drew Barrymore scandal. Egyptian officials say the carrier had [agreed]( with its publisher, Al-Ahram advertising agency, to stop printing more copies of the October issue of the magazine Horus, and pull the ones already placed onboard the fleet's aircraft. [Quoted:]( "We are not just objects to entertain the world. ... We women in Hollywood, we are voices. We have deep thoughts and ideas and beliefs and values about the world, and we have the power to speak and be heard and fight back when we are silenced." — Lady Gaga, during Elle magazine's 25th annual Women in Hollywood celebration. ^Taking a stand: Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor is giving back a $400 million investment from the Saudi government after an outcry over a missing journalist as others are "trying to figure out what makes sense" in an entertainment industry quick to take cash from dubious sources, Tatiana Siegel reports: + Impact of pulling out: Endeavor became the first Hollywood entity with real money at stake to take a stand on journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance. Earlier this year, the Saudi government announced that it was opening up the country to theatrical film releases — a move expected to spur about $1 billion per year in box-office revenue (in comparison, China generates about $8 billion annually). For a major studio, operating in Saudi Arabia likely would mean more than $100 million per year added to the balance sheet. + Rocky partnerships: Some say the Saudi predicament is another example of Hollywood being too quick to embrace a country with a dismal human rights record. China has poured billions into U.S. entertainment companies despite the regime’s history of abuse and aggression toward its people. Miramax was purchased in 2016 by the Bein Media Group, a sports and media company with ties to Qatar, which has been accused of sponsoring terrorism. [Full story.]( Legal briefs... ► Literary group goes to court to stop Donald Trump from violating the First Amendment. The Pen America Center says Trump is using his power to unconstitutionally punish and intimidate The Washington Post, CNN, NBC, the White House press corps and others who cover his administration. [Details.]( Musical notes... ► Sir Richard Branson expands music empire with launch of Virgin Fest. Branson did not reveal a location or date for the festival. He did, however, say that the festival falls in line with Virgin's longtime focus. “The heart of the Virgin brand has always been music and entertainment,” he said after accepting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [High-tech fest.]( Honorees... ► Crazy Rich Asians named breakout ensemble at Hollywood Film Awards. Amandla Stenberg of The Hate U Give and John David Washington of BlacKkKlansman will also be honored with breakthrough acting awards. [Winners.]( Wedding bells... ► Lady Gaga engaged to Christian Carino. The 32-year-old thanked her "fiance" Christian Carino as she finished speaking Monday night at Elle's 25th annual Women in Hollywood event. Gaga was [sporting]( a rock on her left hand as she gave an emotional speech in which she spoke about sexual assault and mental illness. Coming attractions... ► Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgard are forbidden lovers in post-WWII Germany in Aftermath. Jason Clarke co-stars as Col. Lewis Morgan, Knightley's husband, in the big-screen adaptation of Rhidian Brook's 2013 novel. [Watch.]( Awards Chatter podcast — Quincy Jones. The living legend, one of only 21 EGOTs, opens up to Scott Feinberg about falling in love with music, being black in Hollywood, talent cultivation (Michael Jackson, most famously) and discovery (from Oprah to Will Smith) and what he thinks of music and America today. [Listen.]( Netflix Strikes Back Fruitful Q3: Netflix added significantly more subscribers than expected during the third quarter of the year, bringing its total memberships up to more than 137 million, Natalie Jarvey reports: + Wall Street cheers: The streamer also grew revenue by 34 percent to $4 billion in revenue during the quarter, in line with Wall Street's expectations, and earned 89 cents per share, more than the 68 cents per share that was anticipated. The strong financial report drove the company's stock up more than 13 percent during after-hours trading. + What drove growth: Third-quarter growth in memberships was driven by international additions, where Netflix still has a lot of room to grow and attract new members. In the overseas markets, Netflix added 5.87 million memberships, while it added 1.09 million in the U.S. All told, it added 6.96 million members. + Touting influence: The company also called out its ability to mint stars, showing how the Instagram followings for many of its titles' top stars have grown. Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown, for instance, has added 17.6 million Instagram followers since the show first launched on Netflix in 2016. Noah Centineo has added 13.4 million since the Aug. 17 debut of To All the Boys I've Loved Before. [Full story.]( + Netflix criticizes Euro quota: Scott Roxborough emails: Netflix expressed its [objections]( to new European legislation that will require it to meet quotas of 30 percent EU content in its online catalog as well as contribute to local subsidy bodies, but said it will not have much problem meeting the obligations and that they won't greatly impact "customer satisfaction". Essentially, Netflix is saying they will do what the EU wants, even if they don't agree with it. Not surprising, given how important international growth is to Netflix, since growth in North America is slowing down. + Streaming TV's arms race: WarnerMedia joins an armada of well-funded competitors looking to take on Netflix's over-the-top dominance, but a crowded landscape may become a zero-sum game, Paul Bond reports. ["There's a shakeout coming."]( * Warners shutters Korean streaming service DramaFever: The nine-year-old subscription business, which Warner Bros. [acquired]( in 2016, had been part of a multi-pronged streaming effort by the studio that also included the classic movie service FilmStruck and the recently launched DC Universe. About 20 percent of the staff will be laid off as part of the shutdown. Elsewhere in TV... ► Dawn Olmstead gets solo oversight of UCP, Wilshire Studios. Andra Shapiro will [take over]( business affairs for NBCU Cable Entertainment, helping to fill the void created after George Cheeks was tapped to run NBC Entertainment alongside Paul Telegdy. ► Fox's Maria Bartiromo seems to lean toward dropping Saudi conference. "It just feels like it flies right in the face of this expectation that this was the guy to modernize Saudi Arabia," she said on Tuesday's Mornings With Maria of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. ["Do you do business with a killer?"]( ► Viacom's MTV, Nickelodeon unveil China partnerships. MTV is [teaming]( with WebTVAsia to bring shortform video content to Generation Z, while Nickelodeon will develop animation projects. ► Grimm spinoff in the works at NBC. The new show would build on the world [established]( in Grimm, which ran for six seasons on NBC before ending in 2017. ► Ashleigh Banfield, Carol Costello, Michaela Pereira exiting HLN. Network head Ken Jautz announced the changes in a memo to staffers Tuesday. "The current cable news landscape is dominated by politics," he said. "Our live news shows have not benefitted from this trend given our story mix. However, HLN’s longform programs have been [performing very well](." ► FX's NYT show The Weekly pushed back to 2019. A source with knowledge of the show told Jeremy Barr that the series has been [delayed]( by staffing, creative and production issues, but the spokesperson says that's not the case. "We put together a large staff very quickly, and they are already in production on several stories," the spokesperson countered. ► Netflix's Tales of the City welcomes back Paul Gross, fills out cast. The continuation of the series [based on]( Armistead Maupin's novels will feature a host of LGBTQ people in front of and behind the camera. ► Immigrant TV characters are more criminalized than reality. More than a third (34 percent) of immigrants on TV are associated with crime, and 11 percent of immigrant characters are depicted as formerly or currently incarcerated or headed to jail, whereas in reality less than 1 percent of foreign-born people have been incarcerated at the state or federal level, according to a THR and Define American study. [Results.]( [Quoted:]( "It is a good thing that those who write a book do not exercise a sort of veto right: the director must build his work, set up his show in complete freedom. Whatever happens, books do not need protection: they are there, definitively fixed, patient and invulnerable." — Elena Ferrante, on how involved authors should be in their adaptations. ^New era: TV boss Bruce Helford reveals for the first time what it was like to kill off Roseanne, the character who launched his career — and why a heart attack would have been "cowardly": + How to do it: Roseanne's death would have to be reverent to the woman who was so beloved by her family. And the result would have to leave no shadow over Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky, DJ and all of Lanford. It was a crucial story point so that the other characters could truly move on boldly with their lives, evolve and grow. * Owed a debt: And on a personal note, Roseanne helped launch my career, and while we had our disagreements (she once fired me in Roseanne's original run), I wanted a respectful sendoff for her, too: one that was relevant and could inspire discussion for the greater good about the American working class, whose authentic problems are often ignored by broadcast television. If you watched the first episode, I hope you'll agree we did that. [Full column.]( + The Conners move on: "'What happens when you have a missing matriarch?'" actress Sara Gilbert recalls the spinoff's guiding question. "It's happened to people all over the world at some point in their journey — it redefines a family, and people have to take on different roles. That felt like the most authentic story we could tell and something people can relate to." [Q&A]( + How Roseanne reacted: "I AIN’T DEAD, BITCHES!!!!" the comedian and actress [tweeted]( just an hour after the episode finished airing. In a more measured joint statement with her friend Rabbi Shmuley Boteach released late on Tuesday, they said the "opioid overdose lent an unnecessary grim and morbid dimension to an otherwise happy family show." + Ratings fall short of Roseanne: In metered-market households Tuesday night, The Conners drew a 7.5 rating/12 share, off about 35 percent from the 11.6/19 for Roseanne's premiere in March. It was Tuesday's second highest-rated show in metered markets, behind NCIS (8.1/13). [Ratings breakdown.]( Latest reviews... ► ABC's The Kids Are Alright. "There's much to like in [the series], partly owing to the era being ripe with possibilities and partly because [Tim] Doyle's sense of humor about his childhood rings mostly true as it reflects and finds well-earned comedy in nostalgia," Tim Goodman praises. [Full review.]( From last night... ► This Is Us follow Jack to Vietnam. Creator Dan Fogelman, episode co-writer and Vietnam vet Tim O'Brien, star Milo Ventimiglia and new cast member Michael Angarano explain to Jean Bentley how the hour came about. [Spoilers.]( Digital digest... ► Real World revival from MTV Studios lands at Facebook Watch. Facebook execs in Cannes for MIPCOM talked about [rebooting]( the long-running reality series on a streaming platform, with social media tools to connect audiences. ► YouTube experienced global outage. The video-sharing site [experienced]( technical problems on Tuesday night. Outage tracking site Down Detector showed that users in Europe, Japan, and the East and West coasts of the U.S. were particularly affected with outages, which began at 9:16 p.m. EDT. Legal briefs... ► Ex-CNN pundit Jason Miller files $100M lawsuit over abortion pill story. Miller, who also served on President Donald Trump's communications team, says a Splinter.com story was [fabricated]( to ruin his life. Goodbye to childhood... ► Long read: Original Big Bird actor leaves Sesame Street after nearly 50 years. Dave Itzkoff profiles 84-year-old Caroll Spinney ahead of his departure: “I always thought, How fortunate for me that I got to play the two best Muppets? Playing Big Bird is one of the most joyous things of my life.” [[New York Times](] Coming attractions... ► Adam Sandler's 100% Fresh is his first comedy special since 1996. The comedian continues his collaboration with the streaming giant, previously striking a four-film distribution deal that included original films The Ridiculous 6 and The Do-Over. [Watch.]( Viacom sues Netflix for employee poaching. Netflix is already being sued by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation — set to be acquired by Disney — over the poaching of two executives. In June, a California appeals court gave the green light for Netflix to assert counterclaims challenging Fox's alleged bullying of employees into "take-it-or-leave-it" deals, Eriq Gardner reports. [Details.]( TV's Most Powerful Showrunners Peak TV's power players: THR's annual rundown of the most influential creators includes those EPs with the Netflix gold — congratulations again, Ryan Murphy — but also accounts for talent making an impact with infinitely smaller resources, Michael O'Connell reports: + Jesse Armstrong: With breakouts increasingly difficult to come by, this British import hijacked the summer TV conversation and giving HBO its latest watercooler show with Succession. The drama, a thinly veiled satire of the Murdoch and Redstone families, averaged 4 million weekly viewers and saw creator 46-year-old Armstrong (Peep Show, The Thick of It) become one of the hottest stateside scribes. + Ava DuVernay: With her celebrated small-screen foray Queen Sugar entering its fourth season, DuVernay, 46, continues to give opportunities to first-time showrunners and directors on the OWN hit. The coming year sees her expand her TV empire to broadcast with Red Line and streaming with Central Park Five. + Ryan Murphy, Tim Minear, Brad Falchuk: Murphy's $300 million deal with Netflix sent shockwaves through the industry in February. He already has dramas Ratched and The Politician set up at the streamer. Up until recently, the 52-year-old split showrunning duties across his massive 20th Century Fox TV roster with Falchuk and Minear. [Top 50 list.]( The showrunning forefather... + Norman Lear, One Day at a Time showrunners talk Trump and tackling taboos: Bryn Elise Sandberg chats to the trio — Lear on working for Netflix vs. a network: "It has more to do with the human condition than the headline. I find it frustrating. It inhibits what you can deal with." [Roundtable.]( What else we're reading... — "TV has more work to do for the working class." Sandra Gonzalez writes: "Raising Hope and The Middle, which just went off the air earlier this year, also baked the family's precarious financial situations into the fabrics of the show, standing out among other major-network TV families, who skew upper-middle class." [[CNN](] — "Timothée Chalamet Is the Perfect Movie Star for 2018." Chris Lee asks around the industry: "To hear it from an assortment of Hollywood hands ... Chalamet [is] an actor who has come to be viewed as emblematic of a cultural shift that calls into question the very essence of modern male masculinity." [[Vulture](] — "The Devil Instagrams Prada." Stephanie Baker and Robert Williams report: "Prada is finally emerging from three years of falling profits set off by a slowdown in China and compounded by a failure to recognize that the internet had fundamentally transformed the luxury business. 'We made a mistake,' [co-CEO Patrizio] Bertelli says." [[Bloomberg Businessweek](] — "Tiffany Haddish Has a Plan." Cara Buckley profiles: "Haddish’s new goal is create an empire, though she is not sure exactly how to go about it, or if it will be in the entertainment business or what. But she wants to have 40 or 50 people working for her who will be able to buy houses, put their kids through school, and pass their money down." [[New York Times](] — "Netflix's Latest Conquest? Billboards Along the Sunset Strip." David Ng reports: "Netflix in recent months has purchased at least 18 billboard faces from Regency Outdoor Advertising, in a deal estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars, according to ad industry insiders. ... Concentrated around Sunset Plaza and the Chateau Marmont, [they're] already Netflix-branded." [[Los Angeles Times](] What else we're watching... + "Lin-Manuel Miranda on Hamilton in the US vs. UK." [[Late Show](] + "John Krasinski pranks Jimmy Kimmel in Brooklyn." [[Jimmy Kimmel](] + "Keira Knightley gets mistaken for Natalie Portman & Britney Spears." [[Late Late Show](] From the archives... + On Oct. 17, 1968, Steve McQueen roared into theaters with Bullitt, a car-chase-filled actioner that nabbed two Oscar nominations at the 41st Academy Awards: "It is simply one of the most exciting and intelligent action films in years, probably the best good-cop film we can expect to encounter." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Max Irons, 33, Felicity Jones, 35, Matthew Macfadyen, 44, Wood Harris, 49, Mark Gatiss, 52, Mike Judge, 56, Rob Marshall, 58, Norm MacDonald, 59, George Wendt, 70, Michael McKean, 71. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( October 17, 2018