What Really Happened With Fred Savage on ‘The Wonder Years’
It was as Fred Savage was preparing to direct his ninth episode of ABC’s reboot of The Wonder Years that a group of six women on the crew united to take action. Despite their fears about possible repercussions, in February they sent a complaint to Disney and subsequently spoke to an HR executive regarding their […]
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DC Films’ Walter Hamada Was on the Brink of Exit After ‘Batgirl’ Cancellation
Amid the shelving of the HBO Max film Batgirl and the clear desire of Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to find new leadership for the DC universe, DC Films president Walter Hamada has come to the verge of exiting the studio and consulted with counsel, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Hamada has now agreed […]
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Alan Horn on Rejoining Warner Bros.: “I See Myself as a Consigliere”
More than 10 years have passed since Alan Horn left his role as president and COO at Warner Bros. As the executive acknowledged at the time, he didn’t jump — he was pushed, or rather shoved, in spite of having overseen such successes as the Harry Potter franchise and the Dark Knight trilogy. “The notion […]
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Kim Masters: The Last Time I Covered a Rupert Murdoch Divorce
When I heard that Rupert Murdoch’s fourth marriage was not going to last long enough to get to the seven-year itch, it brought back vivid and somewhat unsettling memories of his previous marital split from the remarkable Wendi Deng. Why I would ever have anything to do with Rupert Murdoch’s marital problems is a valid […]
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No One Is Fired in Hollywood, So Why Was Disney’s Peter Rice?
Hollywood is a place where no matter how fired you are, you’re not fired. At Disney alone, studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg wasn’t fired when then-chairman and CEO Michael Eisner tossed him out a window in 1994. Michael Ovitz wasn’t fired when Eisner did the same in 1996. Tom Staggs wasn’t fired when Bob Iger pushed […]
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Disney Insiders, Hollywood Execs Stunned at How Bob Chapek Ousted Peter Rice
One of the most powerful executives in media was meeting with a group of people the morning of June 9 when he heard the news that Disney CEO Bob Chapek had abruptly fired chairman of entertainment and programming Peter Rice. “Chapek just made another massive mistake,” this exec announced. The market may have agreed: Disney […]
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As David Zaslav Reshapes Warner Bros., Are His New Film Execs on the Same Page?
After the many months of courtship — the meals spent flirting with every agent who matters and every executive with even a vague hope of running some part of the Warner Bros. film studio — the rubber and the road are beginning to meet for boss of bosses David Zaslav. Relieved as everyone was to […]
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Michael De Luca, Pam Abdy Reach Deal to Lead Warner Bros. Film Division (Exclusive)
Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studio management structure is taking shape, sources with knowledge of the matter tell The Hollywood Reporter, as the executive team of Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy have reached a deal to run Warners and New Line as soon as Amazon releases them from their contracts at MGM — as soon as […]
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Tom Cruise, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and the Uneasy Echoes of Hollywood Past
Top Gun: Maverick, set to open May 27, sits at a sky-high 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. After seemingly endless pandemic miseries, it feels like there are whole audience quadrants hungry for an old-school, PG-13 popcorn movie, a throwback for parents who can revel in nostalgia while their kids enjoy the action. But Top Gun […]
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‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Spoiled by Netflix Monopoly Game, Duffer Brothers Upset
As if Netflix didn’t have enough worries lately: An effort to promote Stranger Things season four has been turned upside down. Images have leaked online from an official Monopoly board game tie-in pegged to the long-awaited new season of the retro sci-fi hit. The images from the game’s cards — which first started circulating last […]
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MGM Shake-Up: Michael De Luca, Pam Abdy Exiting as Amazon Era Begins (Exclusive)
MGM has just seen its first significant executive exits following the studio’s acquisition by Amazon. Michael De Luca, the motion picture group chairman of MGM, has resigned, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. Pam Abdy, MGM’s motion picture group president, is also exiting. “We will depart our roles this summer,” the duo wrote in a memo […]
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Netflix’s Big Wake-Up Call: The Power Clash Behind the Crash
Before we get to the deep dive on the internal drama at Netflix — the internecine battles among top leadership that more than one source calls “the Hunger Games” — let’s pause to let the town enjoy this moment. The thing about schadenfreude is that the freude (joy) is usually savored when the schaden (the […]
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