Epstein’s H’wood Circle; Sarnoff's WB Hurdles; HBO to the Max; R.I.P. Rip Torn; Inside 'Lion King' Premiere; New THR Cover

July 10, 2019 What's news: WarnerMedia introduces HBO Max, as Ann Sarnoff takes control at Warner Bros., Arnold Schwarzenegger and Serena Williams will make shows for Snapchat, and who could buy Univision? Plus: Inside The Lion King premiere on Hollywood Blvd. --Alex Weprin The Philanthropy Issue [On the cover](: THR's Philanthropy Issue features Cheryl and Haim Saban, who talk to Tatiana Siegel about 2020 politics, including which candidates they will support (not "disaster zone" Bernie Sanders), and give a first look at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, to which the couple gave a $50 million donation at the urging of Disney CEO Bob Iger. On the Academy Museum: "Haim discussed the proposal with Cheryl, who advised, 'Are you crazy not to? It's your legacy.' Haim recounts. 'Then I went and I opened the dictionary to see what it means, 'legacy.' ' True to his word, Haim got back to Iger quickly and said yes. 'I was actually kind of surprised,' Iger explains. 'We were raising a fair amount of money, but clearly a gift of this size opens a lot of people's eyes. It just gets attention.' Cheryl's mindset on the matter was simple. 'We have benefitted greatly from this industry,' she says. 'For us, it's important to give back." On Bernie Sanders: "'We love all 23 candidates,' Haim says, then pauses. 'No, minus one. I profoundly dislike Bernie Sanders, and you can write it. I don't give a hoot. He's a communist under the cover of being a socialist. He thinks that every billionaire is a crook. He calls us 'the billionaire class.' And he attacks us indiscriminately. 'It's the billionaire class, the bad guys.' This is how communists think. So, 22 are great. One is a disaster zone.'" [The story](. +Oprah Winfrey's $22.5M charity donation and 11 more major Hollywood gifts from the likes of Ryan Murphy, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington and more. [The list](. ^There's a new sheriff on the Warner Bros. lot. With WarnerMedia’s streaming strategy finally beginning to take shape (more below), Marisa Guthrie speaks to friends and former colleagues of new Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff to try and understand the out-of-the-box hire made by AT&T. With the company’s TV studio, film studio, TV channels and streaming service all making a play for original films an TV shows, managing relationships between these divisions could become a top priority for the executive, who has an extensive operations background. Quote: “On the Warner Bros. lot, says a former high-level insider, the fear is that the TV studio will become ‘the key supplier to a service being run by another part of the company.’ In that case, Sarnoff would be seen as in effect subordinate to [Bob] Greenblatt, who, as the former programmer of NBC and Showtime, has the creative experience and talent relationships that she lacks.” [The story](. Elsewhere in TV... --Ryan Murphy and Janet Mock [talk with The Hollywood Reporter](about Tuesday's heartbreaking episode and the impact they hope the FX series has in today's sociopolitical climate. --When Trump attacks Fox News, the network[tends to stay silent](. --A Lord of the Rings online multiplayer game[is in the works]( at Amazon, which is also developing its LOTR TV franchise. --Arizona State University [is awarding]( its 2019 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism to NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, news anchor for NBC. --Robyn Bahr [reviews]( the HBO documentary I Love You, Now Die. Epstein's Hollywood Circle ►Jeffrey Epstein moved freely in Hollywood circles even after his 2008 conviction, Tatiana Siegel and Marisa Guthrie report. "The billionaire, arrested July 6 for sex trafficking of minors, attended high-profile events like the Batman v Superman premiere and frequented Oscar season parties even as the #MeToo movement took down other powerful figures." [The story](. ►The veteran Emmy winning and Oscar and Tony-nominated actor Rip Torn passed away Tuesday at the age of 88. Torn, known for his Emmy-winning role as Artie the Producer on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show, and for his Oscar-nominated turn in the drama Cross Creek, lived an incredibly colorful life. He had been targeted by the FBI, and was accused by Dennis Hopper of pulling a knife on him (Torn later said that it was Hopper who pulled the knife on him). After speaking out against the Vietnam War in 1970 on The Dick Cavett Show, someone fired a bullet through his window. [The obituary](. +Obituaries: [Eddie Jones](, the dependable stage veteran who portrayed the kindly Pa Kent on the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, has died at age 84... [H. Ross Perot](, the Texas billionaire who rose from a childhood of Depression-era poverty and twice ran for president as a third-party candidate, has died at age 89 after battling Leukemia... ^WarnerMedia's streaming service has a name... and a strategy. The name will be HBO Max. The strategy: use HBO and WarnerMedia's vast content library--including the sitcom Friends--as a building block for the new service. There remain many unknowns, but on Tuesday the [curtain was pulled back]( on the company's plans. --The content: Lesley Goldberg emails: "First The Office, now Friends. As media behemoths NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia prepare to launch their streaming services, both are shelling out millions to land rights to their own iconic comedies. Less than two weeks after NBCU outbid Netflix in a $500 million deal for The Office, HBO Max paid $425 million to stream Friends exclusively for five years. Here’s a quick snapshot of which streaming services have which major content: HBO Max: Friends, Game of Thrones and all previous and all HBO originals, CW originals, four features from Greg Berlanti, two Reese Witherspoon-produced movies as well as original series like Dune: The Sisterhood and Anna Kendrick comedy Love Life, plus likely new content from J.J. Abrams pending a new overall deal with the prolific producer… Disney+: Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and library content including The Simpsons… NBCUniversal: The Office and originals like Emmy Rossum vehicle Angelyne… Netflix: Original films and TV series including Stranger Things, new originals from Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy and Kenya Barris; library titles; franchises including The Chronicles of Narnia and Magic: The Gathering… CBS All Access: Multiple Star Trek TV series, The Twilight Zone and The Good Fight… Amazon: Originals like Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and (likely multiple) Lord of the Rings TV series… Hulu: FX fare, YA-focused Marvel series and flagship originals like The Handmaid’s Tale and scores of library content..." --The price: The Wall Street Journal's Joe Flint [pegs]( HBO Max's price as "slightly higher" than HBO Now's $15 per month. That puts the service in a tough competitive spot, despite its vast library. Netflix's standard plan costs $13 per month, while Disney plans to launch Disney+ at $7 per month, and offers Hulu starting at $6 per month. NBCUniversal's upcoming streaming service will be free for cable subscribers, with a price TBD for everyone else. Analyst Matthew Ball called the price "a huge problem" in a [series of tweets](. "Here's the thing, Max can't cost too much more because $15 is a brutal starting point." ►Last year's Paradise wildfire is being [turned into a movie.]( Matthew Heineman, the filmmaker behind biopic Private War, set to write and direct a drama for Focus Features. Elsewhere in film... --The Endeavor initial public offering is "not for the faint of heart," in large measure due to its substantial debt, a [Wall Street analyst warned]( on Tuesday. --The Woman In The Window film, starring Amy Adams, is [getting reworked]( by Disney. --Woody Allen [in Spain](: "I don't think of political or social movements" --The Oscar winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron and the Los Angeles artist Betye Saar [will be feted]( by LACMA at its ninth annual Art+Film Gala. Another Deal On The Horizon? ►Who wants to buy Univision? With investors in the Spanish-language broadcaster eyeing an exit, there are only a handful of companies that could make sense as buyers, Paul Bond finds. Disney makes the most sense, but fresh off its Fox acquisition it may not have the stomach for a deal. Viacom and Fox Corp. could also be in play. "An insider with knowledge of the process says Univision seeks a 'strategic acquisition. It’s an asset suited for a larger business with scale.'" [The story](. ►Arnold Schwarzenegger and Serena Williams will make shows for Snapchat. Natalie Jarvey reports that the move is "part of Snapchat’s effort to create more opportunities for creators on its platform after past complaints from homegrown stars that it hasn’t done as much to help them build an audience as competitors YouTube and Instagram have." The move comes as VidCon kicks off in Anaheim. [The story](. ^Aaron Couch and Kirsten Chuba email from 'The Lion King' premiere: "Aside from the star-studded cast of Donald Glover, Beyonce, Seth Rogen and Alfre Woodard, Hollywood's A-list (and many of their kids) came out to support The Lion King on Tuesday night. The red carpet and afterparty on Hollywood Blvd. included a Destiny's Child reunion with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, as well as guests Jamie Foxx, Tiffany Haddish, Tracy Morgan, Ali Wong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Robin Thede, Raven Symone, Justin Baldoni, Meghan Trainor, Diplo and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Director Jon Favreau took the stage at the Dolby Theatre to bring up each cast member, and revealed that there's a single non-animated shot in the film. In his pre-screening speech, Favreau graciously honored by name the writers and directors of 1994’s Lion King and introduced his cast —with the entrance of Glover and Beyonce (who [also announced]( a new Lion King-themed album) bringing the crowd to its feet for a standing ovation. Though Beyonce was the evening’s biggest star, Favreau was the man of the hour, spending the night greeting well-wishers wowed by the innovative technology that allowed him to re-reinterpreted the Disney classic into photo-realistic images. Favreau was flanked by Billy Eichner and Rogen at the after party — with the duo’s new spin on Timon and Pumbaa earning praise from original Lion King directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, both of whom singled them out as standouts to THR." +First reactions to the film from attendees of the premiere. [More](. ►BET has tapped Netflix veteran Devin Griffin to serve as the GM of the company's upcoming streaming service BET+. "[F]ollowing my time at Netflix, I got to see the power of being able to program content for audiences that are either underserved or starved." [The story](. +Revolving door: Camryn Manheim, the veteran TV actress and Golden Globe winner for ABC's legal drama The Practice, is [making a bid]( for SAG-AFTRA's national secretary-treasurer office... The Center For Communication will honor Disney-ABC ad sales chief Rita Ferro with the Frank Stanton Award for Excellence in Communication at its annual luncheon later this year... Jay-Z [is heading]( into the legal marijuana industry as a chief brand strategist in partnership with a California cannabis product company Caliva... France's CanalPlus [is cutting]( up to 500 jobs... Tom Tardio has [been named]( CEO of the Napa Valley Film Festival... Philip Lader [is joining]( the board of directors of AMC Theaters... Casting roundup: Tyrese Gibson will [star in and produce]( action thriller The Inside Game... The upcoming Mortal Kombat movie, based on the video game series of the same name, [has tapped]( actor and martial artist Joe Taslim to play the superhuman fighter Sub-Zero... What else we're reading... --De Niro and Netflix bet that New York can be a new Hollywood [[NY Times](] --A former Vanity Fair writer criticizes the handling of her 2003 profile of JeffreyEpstein [[NY Times](] --The great race to rule streaming TV [[NYT Mag](] --Coming to a streaming service near you: shows costing as much as big-budget movies [[WSJ](] --Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul just teamed Up to make a mezcal called 'Dos Hombres' [[Esquire](] From the archives... On July 10, 1981, John Carpenter unveiled his R-rated dystopian thriller Escape From New York in theaters. [The Hollywood Reporter's original review](. Today's birthdays: Cary Fukaunaga, 42, Adrien Grenier, 43, Arlo Guthrie, 72, Jessica Simpson, 39, Peter Serafinowicz, 47, Sofia Vergara, 47. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2019 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( July 10, 2019