| | What's news: Activist investor Daniel Loeb wants to split up Sony, Viacom is on the agenda at a big CBS board meeting today, a Men In Black spinoff and Shaft sequel go head to head at the box office. Plus: Huge Stanley Cup ratings, and Toy Story 4 reviews. --Alex Weprin | | | 'Shaft' vs. Aliens at the Box Office | | | ►Box office preview: The late nineties and early aughts were a great time for movies. This weekend's box office looks to turn back the clock, as the summer of spinoffs and sequels looks to that era for IP, with Men In Black: International and Shaft debuting in theaters to what is looking like a muted weekend. Mia Galuppo writes: | +Men In Black: International is tracking for a $30 million debut across 4,200 screens, and is likely to lead the weekend. Some industry experts are projecting that it could end up in the $35-$37 million range. The spinoff, which stars Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, is tracking well below all of the films from the original Men In Black trilogy. | +Meanwhile, Shaft--which stars Samuel L. Jackson and is a sequel to the 2000 movie of the same name--will debut in 2,900 screens, projected to draw $16-$19 million. The numbers. | +Sony and Marvel's Spider Man: Far From Home won't debut until July 2, but people with access to early tracking are placing an opening weekend of $154 million, with that number likely to rise as the marketing push increases ahead of the launch. The story. | ►Daniel Loeb wants to split up Sony again. The activist investor is once again targeting Sony, arguing that the company should split its entertainment and technology holdings. In an open letter and 102 page Powerpoint presentation released Thursday evening, Loeb's Third Point LLC revealed that it now has a $1.5 billion stake in the Japanese media and electronics giant. | +Loeb's plan: spin off the technology and semiconductor businesses, and create a "New Sony" built around Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and Sony Playstation. | +From Loeb's letter: "New Sony is levered to three of the most important secular growth drivers in the media space: 1) accelerating growth in console gaming revenue driven by in-game purchases and live services; 2) the shift in music and video consumption to subscription-based streaming services; and 3) the rising strategic value of music rights and film/TV libraries amid fierce competition for content among streaming distribution platforms." | +Loeb previously made a go at Sony in 2013, building up a $1 billion stake and arguing that the company needed to spin off its entertainment division. The company didn't budge, but he walked away with a nice gain on his investment. No comment from Sony as of yet on his new bid. More. | ►Column: "How Hollywood can beat the dictators." Hollywood should be doing more to take a stand against brutal dictators and countries that don't support human rights, Stephen Galloway writes. | --"What’s challenging for Hollywood is that its economy is intimately linked with dozens of countries that aren’t full-on dictatorships but are hardly models of democracy. Which leaves it in a quandary: Should it break loose from countries that inhabit a gray zone, even if they’re on the dark end of the spectrum? Or should it hang in there, praying things won’t get too bad and maybe will even improve?" The full column. | Elsewhere in film... | --Todd McCarthy reviews Toy Story 4. The full review. | --The Pixar film is getting rave reviews overall. Review roundup. | --Sony Pictures plans to skip a presentation at the CineEurope trade show next week, after also sitting out CinemaCon in April. Story. | --Lawmakers blast Jessica Biel for vaccine lobbying: "I wish the 1 percent would stop spreading disease to the 99 percent." Story. | --Supreme Court urged to make old movies digitally available. Story. | --China's censorship crackdown forced the cancellation of the Shanghai Film Festival's opening screening. More. | --John DeFore reviews the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston pic Murder Mystery. The review. | --Cuba Gooding Jr. arrested and charged for groping. Story. |
| | CBS-Viacom Deal Inches Closer | | | ►The CBS board meeting today could kickstart Viacom negotiations. A bid for Viacom is expected to come up when the CBS board of directors meets today. The meeting could lead to serious discussions with Viacom about merging the companies, effectively starting the process of bringing the two National Amusements-controlled companies together. | +There remain serious unanswered questions, as CNBC's Alex Sherman notes, including a Game of Thrones-esque uncertainty around which executives would run a combined company. By now it's clear that Viacom CEO Bob Bakish has the edge over CBS interim CEO Joe Ianniello (not to mention the support of Shari Redstone) for the CEO spot, but Sherman writes that the board wants CBS chief content officer David Nevins take on a senior role in a combined company. | +Then there is the question of price. While the Redstone-owned National Amusements effectively controls both companies, that would not prevent lawsuits from other shareholders arguing that they got a raw deal if the acquisition price is too high. | +At an industry event Thursday night, Bakish sounded nonplussed. "This is the third time we're having a conversation about this," Bakish said during a session at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. "We'll see what happens." | ►Speaking of CBS, the network released is fall 2019 premiere dates. Most new and returning shows will debut Sept. 23-29, with Seal Team, SWAT, and Madam Secretary returning in October. The dates. | Last night in late night... | --Jimmy Kimmel dares Tom Hanks to shoplift a cardboard cutout of himself [Jimmy Kimmel] | --President Trump signals his interest in 2020 election interference [Stephen Colbert] | ►Casting Update: Daniel Radcliffe is joining the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive special on Netflix... James Purefoy has been cast in Hulu drama Fertile Crescent... The upcoming sequel Bill And Ted Face The Music is adding Kid Cudi to the cast... Idris Elba and race car driver Ken Block will front a car stunt show for Quibi... Tracee Ellis Ross will star in and produce the Daria spinoff Jodie for MTV Studios... Lili Reinhart will star in Amazon series Chemical Hearts... | TV's Top 5 Podcast: Lesley Goldberg and Daniel Fienberg talk to the creator of Vida, Tanya Saracho, about the evolution of LGBTQ storytelling. Listen. | Elsewhere in TV... | --Disney shares rise on streaming upgrade from Morgan Stanley analyst. More. | --The showrunner of HBO's Succession talks about how they incorporate real-life media scandals into the show. Story. | --The Democratic National Committee released the list of the 20 candidates that will appear in the first Democratic debates, which will air on NBC's platforms later this month. | --Anchors, broadcasters, and Discovery CEO David Zaslav toasted CNN president Jeff Zucker at Syracuse University's Mirror Awards. Story. | --Daniel Fienberg reviews the HBO comedy Los Espookys. The review. |
| Best NHL Ratings In 25 Years | | | ►Stanley Cup game 7 scored ratings gold for NBC. The deciding game, which saw the St. Louis Blues win their first Stanley Cup over the Boston Bruins, drew the best ratings for any NHL game in a quarter century, with 8.9 million viewers including live streams. Also included: ratings for Press Your Luck, The Amazing Race, Card Sharks, and Match Game. The numbers from Rick Porter. | --Out of home numbers: According to data from Tunity Analytics, which measures out-of-home TV viewing, game 7 averaged 6.7 million OOH viewers. That was up 136% from Tunity's estimate for game 6, which averaged 2.8 million viewers. | --What about ABC?: Last night's NBA Finals game 6, which saw the Toronto Raptors beat the Golden State Warriors for the NBA Championship, will deliver a win to ABC, but how will the numbers stack up to previous years? | CAA moves to oust WGA lawsuit over lack of standing: "CAA filed a motion Thursday in a California state court seeking to boot the Writers Guild of America from its own litigation on the grounds that the organization has no standing to sue over conduct relating to individual members and that each instance of packaging involves distinct circumstances that preclude a class-action type approach." More. | ►Obituaries: Lew Klein, who launched the careers of Dick Clark and Bob Saget, and helped create American Bandstand, has died at 91, Sylvia Miles, an Oscar nominee for Midnight Cowboy and Farewell, My Lovely, has died at age 94. Jim McMullan, an actor who appeared in Dallas, Downhill Racer, and Shenandoah, has died at 82. | Revolving door: Imax has hired Mo Rhim and James Toney as senior VPs... Paradigm has signed Schitt's Creek star Emily Hampshire... Warner Bros. TV has named four executives to oversee development and current programming: Clancy Collins-White, Adrienne Turner, Maddy Horne, Odetta Watkins... White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will step down at the end of the month... | What else we're reading... | --"Louise Linton, aka Mrs. Steven Mnuchin, Is Sorry." [LA Mag] | --"Apple makes Comcast and Charter sell iPads, other devices as part of mobile deal." [CNBC] | --"The Problem With IMDb’s Rating System." [The Ringer] | --"Patricia de Stacy Harrison, of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, on YouTube and Trump." [NY Times] | --Spotify is pushing podcasts with an update to its premium app. [The Verge] | From the archives: | --Today in 1967, Columbia Pictures released To Sir, With Love, starring Sidney Poitier. The film's title song, To Sir With Love, performed by Lulu, became Billboard's top pop song of the year. [The New York Times] | Today's birthdays: Diablo Cody, 41, Donald Trump, 73, Jay Roach, 62, Yasmine Bleeth, 51, Kevin McHale, 31. | Thanks for reading! Please send me feedback, tips, and suggestions so that I can help make Today In Entertainment more useful to you. You can email me at Alex.Weprin@THR.com. |
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