Business Features
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…
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Are Romantic Comedies Theater-Worthy? Creatives Hear Mixed Messaging From Studios
By now, the narrative is familiar: After slumping box office results, the romantic comedy genre was mostly abandoned in theaters in favor of superhero extravaganzas and IP-driven fare. Then <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/netflix/" id="auto-tag_netflix_3"…
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David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery Empire Takes Shape: Less Red Tape, More “Accountability”
When Discovery CEO David Zaslav and a handful of colleagues visited AT&T’s Dallas headquarters in May 2021 to finalize the megamerger that would create Warner Bros. Discovery, some in the…
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Does Hollywood Need to Rethink Its China Strategy?
When news spread in February that Warner Bros.’ The Batman had been granted an official release date in China of March 18, just two weeks after its North American debut, it was cause for…
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Bob Chapek’s Missteps Fuel Confidence Crisis at Disney
Disney is in uncharted waters. From 1984 to 2020, the company had only two CEOs: Michael Eisner from 1984 to 2005 and Bob Iger from 2005 to 2020. Now Bob Chapek, with two years in the job, is facing
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MGM’s Amazon Era Begins With Big, Unanswered Questions
In the summer of 1981, MGM coveted Rocky and James Bond. The studio, formed in 1924 through the merger of Metro Pictures Corp., Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Productions, had an eye…
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As Disney Reels Over “Don’t Say Gay” Bill Response, Staffers Debate Whether to Take Public or Private Stand
Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family. That’s been an unspoken rule at Disney — as in much of corporate America — for generations. But, in a dramatic departure from the…
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Megadeals Roil Video Game Worker Unionization Efforts
Is the video game labor movement finally at a turning point? Over the past several years, workers within the largely nonunion U.S. industry have grown increasingly vocal about workplace…
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Behind Disney+’s Ad Pivot: A Drive for Streaming Profits
Disney’s reveal March 4 that it would launch a less expensive, advertising-supported tier of Disney+ spurred consternation from some Wall Street analysts, with firms like MoffettNathanson…
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Oscars’ TV Ratings Headache Turns Into a Migraine
In the late 1940s and early ’50s, Hollywood studios began to reconsider — and in several cases pulled —their financial support of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/oscars/" id="auto-tag_oscars_1"…
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How Hollywood Unions Wield “Do Not Work” Orders Against Employers
In April 2021, in the aftermath of The Hollywood Reporter’s investigation of megaproducer Scott Rudin’s allegedly abusive behavior toward former employees, some in the theater community responded…
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David Zaslav Doesn’t Need a CNN Problem: What Was Jason Kilar Thinking?
With the DiscoveryWarnerMedia deal on track to close in a matter of weeks, David Zaslav is getting exactly what he didn’t need: a dumpster fire at CNN. Yes, the network has been…
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