The prescription for an ailing U.S. box office came this weekend in the form of the forgetful blue fish of Disney-Pixar’s “Finding Dory.” Pulling in an estimated $136.2 million in the U.S. and Canada, the picture became the highest-debuting animated film of all time, boosting a sluggish summer...
In a bold stroke, Sumner Redstone and his daughter said they were replacing five members of Viacom Inc.’s governing board, including Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman -- a move aimed at putting them in uncontested control of the beleaguered media company. The new board members...
The ongoing Sumner Redstone corporate soap opera continued Thursday with the move by mogul and his daughter Shari to unseat five members of Viacom Inc.’s governing board. Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Dauman was among the board members who the Redstones want ousted, along with George...
Media giant 21st Century Fox is replacing the longtime chief of its movie studio, marking the latest move by Chief Executive James Murdoch and Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch to put their stamp on the company. Twentieth Century Fox Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos will step down...
Hulu is ramping up its slate of kids programming with a multinetwork licensing agreement with the Disney-ABC Television Group. The expansive deal, which was announced Thursday, would bring over 500 episodes and a selection of original movies from Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD to Hulu....
Though Chinese authorities may be warning citizens against embracing “Western values,” Chinese moviegoers showed exceptional enthusiasm for “Captain America: Civil War” last weekend. The Marvel Studios film sold $96.1 million in tickets in its first three days in theaters. Joe Russo, who directed...
Disney’s “The Jungle Book” continued its strong swing through China in its second week of release, earning nearly $50 million in the seven days ending Sunday and approaching $100 million after just 10 days in theaters. Director Jon Favreau’s update of the 1960s classic accounted for half of all...
The Emmys divided the variety category into talk shows and sketch series last year, essentially booting “Saturday Night Live” – the only perennial variety nominee that wasn’t a talk show – into its own division. And yet, “SNL” lost the sketch Emmy to the much funnier “Inside Amy Schumer,” which...
Dish Network customers throughout the country have been without programming from Tribune Media’s 42 TV stations - including Los Angeles CW affiliate KTLA - since Sunday night as the two companies are deadlocked over a new carriage fee agreement. The Englewood, Colo.- based TV satellite provider...
Fewer than one in five movies released in theaters last year were shot in California, according to a new study that highlights the competitive challenges the state faces for Hollywood’s money. A study by FilmLA Inc, a nonprofit group that handles film permits in the city and county, found that...
The Grammys will air on CBS through 2026, thanks to a new deal between the network and the Recording Academy. The contract extension announced Wednesday replaces the 10-year pact signed in 2011. It improves the financial terms for the Recording Academy as well as securing a broadcast and streaming...
The forgetful blue fish of Pixar’s “Finding Dory” is poised to boost the U.S. box office this weekend, and make the sluggish start to this summer’s movie season a distant memory. The long-awaited sequel to “Finding Nemo” is expected to gross as much as $120 million in ticket sales from the U.S....
Sumner Redstone briefly visited his treasured movie studio Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles last week, but Viacom board members say their efforts in recent weeks to meet with the 93-year-old media mogul have been thwarted. Viacom’s lead independent director, Frederic Salerno, on Tuesday sent an...
The revolving door at Viacom spun again on Tuesday with the exit of MTV reality programming boss Lauren Dolgen. Dolgen, who had been with the network for 19 years, was instrumental in the launch of the popular “16 and Pregnant”/”Teen Mom” franchise. The position will not be replaced. Her departure...
The Directors Guild of America and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees hailed the passage of a bill by the House that would help curb the number of unqualified foreign directors and movie and TV crew members that are approved for U.S. visas. The Oversee Visa Integrity with...
Sumner Redstone’s former companion, Manuela Herzer, is renewing her legal effort to have Redstone declared mentally incompetent, comparing the ailing 93-year-old billionaire media mogul to the bumbling “King Lear” in the William Shakespeare tragedy. “The comparison of waning Sumner Redstone to...
Apple Music’s 15 million users will soon wake up to a dramatically different layout for the streaming service. The company announced a significant redesign at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday in San Francisco. The year-old service, which still trails Spotify’s 30 million paid users, will...
When it comes to executive compensation, few corporate chieftains have soared to the sky-high levels enjoyed by Sumner Redstone and his top lieutenants, Leslie Moonves and Philippe Dauman. CBS Corp. Chief Executive Moonves and Viacom CEO Dauman are the second and third highest- paid executives,...
Bolstered by a bevy of marketing partners and the exhibition muscle of its parent company’s cinema chain, Legendary Entertainment’s “Warcraft” smashed its way into the box-office record books last week in China, earning $156 million in its first five days in theaters. The long-awaited fantasy film...
“American Crime” and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” are among the TV shows selected to receive state tax credits. In the first round of credits allocated for the second fiscal year of the expanded tax credit program, the California Film Commission on Monday said 11 TV projects have been approved for $65...
Broadway’s acclaimed smash “Hamilton” pushed the ratings for the annual Tony Awards telecast on Sunday to its highest level in 15 years. The ceremony from the Beacon Theatre that aired from 8 to 11:15 p.m. averaged 8.73 million viewers, an increase of 35% over the 2015 ceremony. The preliminary...
A sequel about married paranormal investigators, "The Conjuring 2," ascended to the top of the Friday box office, outperforming runners-up "Warcraft" and "Now You See Me 2." The three debuts supplanted last week's box-office leader "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," which landed...
Robert Iger first set foot on the site in China that would become a Walt Disney Co. theme park 17 years ago. Back then the 963-acre site was mostly agricultural land, but now it has been transformed into Shanghai Disney Resort, a $5.5-billion project that has become an important symbol of Disney’s...
Battle for control of Viacom flared up with the Sumner Redstone family working to line up prospective new board members, and Viacom executives countering that the clan’s recent actions – including efforts to scuttle a sale of nearly half of Paramount Pictures – could harm other investors. The Redstone...
KCBS-TV Channel 2 has scored a major win by becoming the official TV home to preseason Rams games. Under the multiyear partnership, CBS 2 will provide the team’s hometown market with exclusive telecasts of Rams preseason games, excluding match-ups that will be broadcast by the National Football...
ESPN’s acclaimed documentary “O.J.: Made in America” is putting the sports cable channel in the TV binge-watching business. The final three parts of the five-part film directed by Ezra Edelman, which examines the recent history of race relations through the rise and fall of football star and actor...
Beverly Hills-based talent agency WME/IMG has created a joint venture in China to expand its business in the world’s most populous country. The deal was done with the Chinese arm of Sequoia Capital, the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm. Other investors are the Shenzhen, China-based Internet...
Whether the Orcs and humans of “Warcraft” can appeal to American moviegoers remains an open question, but there’s little doubt about their pull in China. The Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures film has grossed up to $92 million in China in its first two days of release, according to studio...
Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said the planned sale of a 49% stake in Paramount Pictures has hit a speed bump because of the battle with the company’s controlling shareholder, Sumner Redstone, but that Viacom is pushing forward with its pursuit of a strategic investor for the Melrose Avenue...
SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s largest labor union, announced that its two health plans will combine at the start of 2017, a long-sought goal of leaders who pushed to merge the two formerly separate unions five years ago. The merger will allow members of the union, which represents approximately 160,000...
Viacom’s executive exodus continued this week with the sudden exit of Nickelodeon veteran Russell Hicks from his role as president of content development and production. Hicks, who had been with the company for 18 years and was primarily based in Burbank, announced his departure Wednesday. His...
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing actors and other performers in Hollywood, recently asked the state of California to open an investigation into allegedly unsafe vocal recording sessions held by companies in the video game industry. In a letter sent to the state’s Division of Occupational Safety...
Film adaptations of massively popular video games are still a tough sell in the U.S. But with their new big-budget movie “Warcraft,” Universal Pictures and Legendary Pictures are betting they can take over the rest of the world. The movie, which cost an estimated $160 million to make, has all the...