Hollywood Breakdown

As authorities continue what could be a months-long investigation into the on-set tragedy that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, those on the business side of things in Hollywood are wondering why Alec Baldwin was involved with “Rust” in the first place. Earlier this year, the actor and producer told The Hollywood Reporter, “I have six kids, I don’t want to work anymore.” Working for a short time on a $6 million movie like “Rust” may be a great deal for Baldwin, but after his pay day, it’s possible not much money was left for the crew, which led to cutting corners and ultimately, a deadly accident.

There’s continued unrest at Netflix following the release of the Dave Chappelle comedy special “The Closer,” which includes jokes that some consider transphobic and homophobic. This week, trans Netflix employees and allies staged a walkout and demanded the streamer invest more in content from trans creators. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that he “screwed up” when he previously wrote in a memo that on-screen content does not impact the real world. 

Netflix is in hot water after a series of failed PR moves following the release of Dave Chappelle’s new comedy special, “The Closer.” In the special, Chappelle makes antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic remarks, but Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has stood by “The Closer” in a series of memos, writing, “We have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.” 

Now trans Netflix employees and allies are planning a walkout on October 20. 

For a long time, WME and CAA have been the number one and number two agencies in Hollywood. Recently, CAA acquired ICM, the number four agency in terms of size, which now makes CAA bigger than WME and moves it to the number one slot. The merger is part of a wave of consolidation in Hollywood, as companies have had to get bigger to keep up with the tech companies who have taken over the industry. 

After more than a year of pandemic-related delays, “No Time to Die” is finally opening in U.S. movie theaters. The James Bond movie stars Daniel Craig as the famous secret agent for the fifth and final time and has already made more than $120 million overseas. Hollywood’s hope is that “No Time to Die” could come close to making $100 million at its domestic opening. 

Director Christopher Nolan’s long relationship with Warner Bros. ended when the studio released his last movie “Tenet” on the streamer HBO Max the same day it opened in theaters. For his next film, Nolan had several demands for potential studios, including a 110-day exclusive theatrical window. Nolan ended up picking Universal for his next project, a World War II drama about the creation of the atom bomb.

Formed in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the Time’s Up organization brought together many high-profile Hollywood women to fight workplace gender discrimination, but the nonprofit has been plagued with problems since the beginning. Recently CEO Tina Tchen resigned after it was revealed that she had supported former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his sexual harassment investigation. A few weeks later, the entire board of Time’s Up resigned.

As the pandemic continues to prevent crowds from going to the movies, Paramount decided to push the release dates of three upcoming films. “Top Gun: Maverick” is moving from November 19, 2021 to May 27, 2022. “Mission: Impossible 7” is going from May 27, 2022 to September 30, 2022. And “Jackass Forever” is shifting to October 22, 2021 to Feburary 4, 2022. There is a huge cost involved with delaying these movies, but Paramount is depending on money from theatrical releases and doesn’t want to put the films on streaming.

Mike Richards was announced, and then canceled, as the new host of “Jeopardy!” following a damning report in The Ringer that highlighted past sexist and racist statements he made on multiple podcast episodes. However, Richards still holds his position as executive producer of the famous game show. Industry insiders are wondering how Sony missed all of Richards’ red flags in the first place and why he gets to keep his job. 

Late summer and early fall was supposed to be the big return to movie theaters. But with the Delta variant on the rise, Hollywood is in a tough spot. Studios have to decide to put their big movies in theaters, knowing not as many people will come, or sell films to a streaming service and lose out on box office revenue.