‘The Traitors’ Producer All3Media Up For Sale

Chris Licht released a statement following his exit from CNN on Wednesday.

The day that SAG-AFTRA began its talks with Hollywood studios over its own film and TV contract with a strike authorization in hand, picketing Writers Guild members on Wednesday hit up Disney and Warner Bros in Burbank.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic The departure of CNN’s Chris Licht, following his turbulent year atop the cable news network, places a pause on one of the great media stories of the decade so far. But even non-media-junkies can appreciate just how strange and how strenuously rocking had been Licht’s time at the network: It played out across screens. The trouble with being the place that invented the 24-hour news cycle is that those hours can come back to bite when you’re the story. There it was in politics, when Donald Trump’s “Town Hall,” with purported rising star Kaitlan Collins, gear-shifted into the first televised rally of the 2024 presidential cycle — with CNN’s air being used to depict an audience of Trump supporters cheering on his jibes. (No less an eminence than Christiane Amanpour, a CNN icon, registered her dissent in public.) There it was on the business pages, with Licht’s overseeing the dismantling of streaming product CNN+, on orders from Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav, setting the tone for his tenure. There it was at the Oscars, when Michelle Yeoh used her best actress acceptance speech to rebuke anchor Don Lemon’s bizarre on-air comments about a woman’s “prime” years. There it was in the gossip pages, after a Variety story about Lemon’s comportment toward his female co-anchors on the network’s flagship morning show, and then his ouster, leaked into the tabloids, and never seemed to be countered by any good news about the network. And, finally, there it was at length, with an all-access profile by the Atlantic’s Tim Alberta revealing Licht’s contempt for predecessor Jeff Zucker and the depths of his disdain for and, frankly, confusion about CNN’s mission.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who said there could be more bundling in the future.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who backed David Zaslav’s recent suggestion that rival streamers should bundle together.

Today, Outfest announced the Opening and Closing Night gala film selections for the 41st edition of the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, taking place from July 13 – 23 in Los Angeles, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America. The festival will open with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto, and the 11-day event will close with Chasing Chasing Amy, directed by Sav Rodgers. The Opening Night Gala will screen at the Orpheum Theatre, with the Closing Night Gala screening at The Montalbán Theatre.

Former Warner Bros. President of Sales and Distribution, D. Barry Reardon, passed at the age of 92 on May 27 in Vero Beach, Florida.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the dates of its 77th edition which will take place May 14-25, 2024. This year’s festival wrapped May 27 with Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” winning the Palme d’Or, Jonathan Glazer’s “A Zone of Interest” take home the Grand Prize, and Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves” nabbing the Jury Prize. The jury of the 76th edition was presided over by Ruben Ostlund, the two-time Palme d’Or winning director of “The Square” and “Triangle of Sadness.” The first post-pandemic edition, 2023 was marked by an overall well-received Official Selection lineup and a strong presence of American talent and studios. Some of the anticipated films spotlighted at the festival included Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”, Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Wes Anderson‘s “Asteroid City,” as well as Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Pedro Almodóvar’s short film “Strange Way of Life” and Pixar’s “Elemental.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Golden Trailer Awards has unveiled its nominees for its 23rd annual extravaganza taking place on Thursday, June 29th at The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards show honors the creative teams that are tasked with condensing two-hour films into two-minute trailers.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Jamie Cooke is supercharging “original documentaries that push the boundaries” from his Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Turkey region by greenlighting around 10 docs per year.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

Sigourney Weaver will premiere on Aug. 4. The seven-part series is based on Holly Ringland’s same-name debut novel. According to the synopsis, “When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past. Alice finds solace in the native plants and flowers growing in her Australian backyard. She, too, begins to grow from her past, but soon must fight for her life against the man she loves.”

Selome Hailu HBO said “Hello, angel” to 913,000 viewers when it aired the series premiere of “The Idol” on Sunday night. Provided by Warner Bros. Discovery, that number points to Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on HBO’s cable channel combined with WBD’s own data regarding streams on Max. For context, “Euphoria” drew 1.1 million viewers when it premiered in 2019. (Max had not yet launched, meaning viewers were counted across HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now.) Levinson’s second HBO outing is therefore 17% behind his first. The trajectory of “Euphoria” Season 1 viewership was mostly flat, peaking with 1.2 million viewers of the finale, meaning that “The Idol” could still manage to beat out “Euphoria’s” early performance if its audience continue to grow. But there’s only one month left to achieve that, as the drama’s first season will run for a short five episodes.

After the massive weekend success of Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there are a lot of rival studios that are looking at executing their comic book IP differently on the big screen. Quite often, animated superhero projects are released directly to the home (think Warner Bros DC’s myriad superhero toon movies like 2010’s Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam and Disney+/Marvel Studio’s avant garde series What If?). Leave it to the guys who bedazzled many with the near half billion grossing The Lego Movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, to revolutionize the family animated genre once again.

Charna Flam With a few mystifying teasers and less than two months until the premiere of the live-action “Barbie” film, audiences still don’t know exactly how the film will unfold. But the production team has started to reveal insight into the film — including how they caused an international pink paint shortage. In a recent Architectural Digest profile with production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer and director Greta Gerwig, the group explain that they set out “to capture what was so ridiculously fun” about Barbie’s world, but especially that of Architectural Digest’s subject: Barbie’s Dreamhouse. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much,” Gerwig stated. She shared that “the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount” — evoking the feeling of never forgetting “what made [her] love Barbie” as a young girl.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Barry Reardon, who led theatrical distribution at Warner Bros. for nearly 20 years starting in the late 1970s, died on May 27 at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 92. A respected 31-year industry veteran, Reardon was known as the “dean” of theatrical distribution and was credited with transforming the way that studio films are marketed and released. During his tenure, the industry began to place more of an emphasis on daily and weekend box office reports and expanded the scope of the all-important summer blockbuster season. At the time of his retirement in 1999 — after 21 years at the studio and 17 as distribution chief — he exited with an enviable track record. Under his leadership, the studio had 22 films cross the $100 million mark domestically — an impressive milestone since movie tickets were much less expensive back then, and one that’s proven to be challenging to match again in these pandemic times. And Warner Bros. spent most of those years among the top three studios in terms of North American box office share.

Tatiana Siegel “The Flash” is almost here, and the rollout has been anything but typical.  With just 13 days to go before the film’s June 16 release, titular star Ezra Miller has done no press and will make a low-profile appearance at the Los Angeles premiere on June 12, only posing for photos rather than doing interviews. The film’s director, Andy Muschietti, and cast members Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle and Michael Shannon, as well as fellow DC Universe superhero Jason Momoa, will also hit the red carpet that will be missing the standard press gauntlet. Typically, the star of a $190 million tentpole will promote the film in interviews across print, TV and oftentimes podcasts spanning multiple continents. (Harrison Ford has been ubiquitous in the run-up to the June 30 bow of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” including a high-profile showing at the Cannes Film Festival.)

warns could be used as “plagiarism machines” to craft scripts without writers. According to a WGA memo, the strike is costing Hollywood’s economy $30 million a day. Jack Kyser, the chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, estimated that the 2007-2008 strike cost his state $2.5 billion; this time the estimate of potential damages are likely to top at least $3 billion. Midway through the last strike, Kyser told the L.A.

The Supernatural franchise is coming to end — at least for now — as The Winchesters has not been able to get a second season anywhere. Producing studio Warner Bros. Television’s efforts to set up the Supernatural prequel series at another network or streaming platform following its cancellation by the CW have been unsuccessful. All possible avenues have been exhausted, and the search for a new home has come to an end, despite a strong #SaveTheWinchesters campaign led by series executive producer (and Supernatural star) Jensen Ackles.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that the George Clooney directed MGM title, The Boys in the Boat, is set to hit theaters on Monday, Dec. 25, as a wide release.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The summer movie season is heating up in theaters this June with the releases of Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” and Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but streamers are also set to make some noise with the arrival of big tentpoles. From Netflix unveiling the sequel to one of its biggest original movies in history (the Chris Hemsworth-starring “Extraction 2”) to Michael B.