Trey Parker and Matt Stone , co-creators of South Park , have signed a sweeping renewal with ViacomCBS that will keep the show on Comedy Central through 2027 and send 14 original movies to Paramount+. The official announcement of the deal did not specify a dollar figure but multiple press reports pegged it at $900 million, one of the richest ever. While the new pact is a sign of the company looking to feed its own platforms, ViacomCBS set a lucrative licensing pact with WarnerMedia for a chunk of the show’s library to stream on HBO Max, though it retained many key rights. Two of the original South Park films will premiere on Paramount+ in 2021, with two a year planned through 2027. “Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humor to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO -MTV …
NBC “Encouraged” As HFPA Passes New Bylaws In Hopes To “Once Again Partner Meaningfully With Hollywood” – Update
(UPDATED with NBC & dick clark production statements) The 2022 Golden Globes remain canceled , but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is praying its latest set of self-described reforms can finally turn things around with Tinseltown. “Three months ago, we made a promise to commit to transformational change and with this vote we kept the last and most significant promise in reimagining the HFPA and our role in the industry,” HFPA board president Ali Sar said Thursday after all the members’ vote to approve bylaw reforms ere tallied by Ernst & Young. “All of these promised reforms can serve as industry benchmarks and allow us to once again partner meaningfully with Hollywood moving forward.” With top studios, publicist and talent still keeping the HFPA at arm’s length over its lack of diverse membership and long history of institutional and personal misconduct, that frayed partnership may be far from repaired with this recent set of voting and …
Lionsgate Latest To Delay Return-To-Office Date Amid Delta Surge, Will Require Vaccines Upon Return
Lionsgate is the latest Hollywood studio to press pause on reopening its offices as the U.S. experiences a rise in the Covid Delta variant. We’re hearing that the company is pushing its return-to-work date for employees at its Santa Monica HQ from a previously announced September 7 date to October 4. All employees returning to the office will be required to be fully vaccinated. That policy applies to full-time, part-time and temporary employees as well as independent contractors and visitors, we’re hearing. The news comes as several Hollywood companies spanning studios, agencies, management and PR firms and law offices hit the brakes on plans to a full return to offices. Most like Lionsgate have scrapped September dates and are hoping to reassemble their troops sometime the following month, while they’re also having to make a call on vaccination requirements. On Wednesday, Netflix confirmed it is now requiring Covid-19 vaccines of its staffers and those visiting its offices. …
‘Cherish The Day’: Richard Roundtree & Terri J. Vaughn Join Season 2 Of OWN Anthology Drama Series
EXCLUSIVE: Richard Roundtree ( Family Reunion ) and Terri J. Vaughn (The Steve Harvey Show) have been tapped for recurring roles opposite Henry Simmons and Joy Bryant in season 2 of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network ’s and Ava DuVernay’s anthology drama series Cherish the Day . Additionally, Angel Kristi Williams (Really Love), Sheldon Candis (Baltimore Boys) and Merawi Gerima ( Residue ) will direct episodes this season. Cherish the Day, from DuVernay, ARRAY Filmworks and Warner Bros. Television, is an anthology series that chronicles the relationship of one couple, with each episode spanning a single day. In season two, the rekindling of a romance is told — the love story of Ellis Moran (Simmons) and Sunday St. James (Bryant), who fell in love in high school but find themselves reunited in beautiful New Orleans. Ellis is a former basketball player who is now a single father of two, and Sunday is a vegetarian celebrity chef on the cusp of fame. Each episode of the …
‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Renewed For Season 2 By Disney+
Just ahead of the Season 1 finale, Disney+ has renewed LucasFilm’s animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch for a second season for premiere in 2022. “Fans have enthusiastically embraced the action and drama of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and we are excited to see the Star Wars animated universe continue to expand on Disney+,” said Michael Paull, President of Disney+ and ESPN+. “As the dedicated streaming home for the Star Wars franchise, we can’t wait for the second season of this fan-favorite animated series.” The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch – a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on …
Continue Reading about ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Renewed For Season 2 By Disney+ →
Colson Whitehead’s ‘Sag Harbor’ Series Adaptation In Works At HBO Max From Laurence Fishburne & Boat Rocker
Colson Whitehead ’s novel Sag Harbor is getting the small screen treatment. Boat Rocker Studios has put in development Pulitzer Prize-winner Whitehead’s novel Sag Harbor as a television series at HBO Max . Daniel “Koa” Beaty is attached to write the pilot. Laurence Fishburne and Helen Sugland’s Cinema Gypsy Productions (grown-ish, black-ish) is on board to executive produce. “Colson is a once-in-a-generation author who has the unique ability to craft beautiful and authentic stories that captivate and transform readers and Sag Harbor is a true expression of that gift,” said Katie O’Connell Marsh, Vice-Chair, Boat Rocker Studios. “We’re thrilled to be working with HBO Max, Cinema Gypsy, and Koa to bring this coming-of-age story to the screen.” Set in 1985, Sag Harbor tells the story of Benji Cooper, one of the few Black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. Every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of African …
HFPA Plan To Send Members On Pricey Trip To Venice Film Festival Scuttled By Covid Restrictions
EXCLUSIVE: A deep-pocketed effort to send members of the addled and reform-promising Hollywood Foreign Press Association to the Venice Film Festival this year has been kiboshed due to a resurgence of the coronavirus. Expected to cost tens of thousands of dollars out of diminishing HFPA coffers, the Golden Globes group’s decision to not fork out travel for what one insider called “a vacation by any other name” was made in the past 24 hours, I’ve learned. Unlikely to change, the verdict comes as voting results on further bylaw and board changes by the fractured HFPA are expected to be made public today. (UPDATE: The bylaws passed; read the story here .) Before events seemingly shut down the trips, the HFPA was intent on paying up to $5,000 apiece for around at least a dozen members accredited at the September 1-11 festival to attend screenings and have sit-downs with participants. Providing some cover for the HFPA, the plan was actually signed off on by …
Pluto TV Reaches $1 Billion Annual Revenue Milestone A Year Ahead Of Schedule
EXCLUSIVE: Pluto TV, which was founded in 2014, has become a $1 billion-a-year business a year ahead of schedule. The free streaming service’s parent company, ViacomCBS , confirmed the annual revenue milestone during its second-quarter earnings call with analysts. CEO Bob Bakish had previously signaled the billion-dollar mark would be hit in 2022. Viacom acquired Pluto for $340 million in cash in January 2019, months before reuniting with CBS. “The power of Pluto TV is unquestionable,” Bakish said on the call, saying it will “comfortably” hit the $1 billion threshold this year. He noted that the U.S. version now has 200,000 hours of programming available, a level that has doubled in the past year. Pluto’s free, ad-supported offering is now available in 25 countries around the world and has 52 million active users each month, per the latest stats today from ViacomCBS. It was the leading contributor to a 102% year-over-year surge in overall streaming revenue at the …
Festival In Focus: Why Sarajevo Is Shining The Spotlight On Local TV Drama
One of the major highlights of this year’s edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival is the launch of its new TV awards. The festival aims to elevate the visibility of drama series emerging from the former Yugoslavia region with these new Heart of Sarajevo TV Awards and will dish out awards across several categories in the TV arena including Best Drama Series, Best Comedy, Best Series Creator(s), Best Actress, Best Actor and Rising Star. Sixteen series from region that premiered between September 2019 and May 2021 have been nominated and the winners will be judged by a jury of several hundred film and television professionals across the region. Awards will be given out at the beginning of the festival this year, so as not to clash with its film awards. The jury will form the nucleus for a professional academy, which will make decisions regarding future awards. It’s a big step for the fest, but a natural one, says Sarajevo Film Festival co-director Jovan Marjanović, who …
Continue Reading about Festival In Focus: Why Sarajevo Is Shining The Spotlight On Local TV Drama →
Netflix Acquires Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Venice-Bound ‘The Lost Daughter’ In Deal With Endeavor Content
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has taken remaining worldwide territories including in the U.S. on Maggie Gyllenhaal ’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter . Starring Olivia Colman , Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson , Peter Sarsgaard and Paul Mescal, the drama is set to world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival next month. The deal was negotiated by Endeavor Content and includes most major markets. Oscar nominee Gyllenhaal also produced the project and adapted the script that’s based on the eponymous 2006 novel by Elena Ferrante. The story follows a woman whose beach vacation takes a dark turn when she begins to confront the troubles of her past. Rounding out the cast are Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ed Harris and Dagmara Domińczyk. The film was shot in Greece in 2020. Gyllenhaal says, “I’m thrilled to be working with Netflix again. They have supported so much of the work I am most proud of, and this is no exception. Netflix has consistently championed …