Variety 8/19/2021

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF I want to give a huge shout-out to our Herculean six-person team of editors and writers — Brent Lang, Cynthia Littleton, Gene Maddaus, Michael Schneider, Matt Donnelly and Joe Otterson — who collectively pulled off this week’s incredibly comprehensive cover story. The piece, titled “Battle Royal,” chronicles and analyzes what Scarlett Johansson’s legal battle with Disney over her “Black Widow” compensation means for future talent deals, and it also documents and breaks news about some of the eye-popping salaries earned by Hollywood’s biggest stars of film and television. Media companies’ priorities have radically shifted to populating their streaming platforms with as much high-profile content as possible to sign up as many subscribers as possible — profoundly altering the metrics of success and how talent gets paid in this newfound,…

The toppling of powerful men by #MeToo accusations in Hollywood and beyond has become a familiar phenomenon to Americans in the post-Harvey Weinstein era, but in China, such reckonings remain rare. This month, however, two high-profile cases in which public opinion, official rhetoric and institutional action all aligned in favor of the female victims have reignited debate over whether a #MeToo movement can flourish within China’s highly censored confines. Chinese-Canadian pop icon Kris Wu was arrested Aug. 16 on rape charges in the wake of allegations last month that he seduced young, drunk women. Earlier this month, tech giant Alibaba fired a manager for “overly intimate acts” after a female subordinate accused him of raping her while she was blacked-out drunk on a work trip. Both cases went viral, dominating…

Behind the scenes, the TV news biz is reeling as top talent exit rarefied posts for new ventures, worn out after an intense year covering the Trump administration and the rise of the coronavirus. Four of TV’s top news programs — ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “CBS Evening News,” “NBC Nightly News” and the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” morning franchise — are on the hunt for executive producers. Some prominent TV journalists are testing nontraditional ventures, while “CBS This Morning” shook up its roster by bringing in football analyst Nate Burleson to share anchoring duties with Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil. Across the industry, there’s a collective sense of exhaustion. “There’s extreme burnout and fatigue coming off the campaign and the pandemic, and nothing is really being done to combat…

Without making light of the situation, the existential conundrum facing the concert industry — which was poised for an ambitious return this summer after 18 months of lockdown, only to see its plans upended by COVID variants and spikes — can be summarized in a tale of two Jasons. On one hand, there’s country superstar Jason Aldean, who recently told a New York audience, “The coolest thing to me right now is that I don’t see one fucking mask. I’ve had just about enough of that shit.” (Chants of “USA! USA!” followed.) On the other is outspoken Americana luminary Jason Isbell, who on Aug. 9 was among the first artists to take a stand requiring proof of vaccination to be admitted to any of his shows. Despite considerable pushback, Isbell…

AWARDS CIRCUIT One of the most unusual quirks of this year’s Emmy nominations was the fact that Quibi managed to land eight of them — quite a feat, given that the streamer doesn’t actually exist anymore. (Quibi wound up with a much higher tally than plenty of networks that, well, are still in business.) Quibi shut down in December, less than a year after its much-heralded launch. The Jeffrey Katzenberg-Meg Whitman startup and its promise of delivering “quick bite” content to users exclusively on their phones became a bit of a punchline in the industry. But the programming itself was rather solid, attracting top Hollywood producers and stars. Clearly TV Academy voters found it Emmy-worthy: Last year, Quibi won two Emmys (for “#FreeRayshawn”). This year’s three nominated Quibi shows —…

As Roku kicks the tires on NBC’s canceled “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” it’s the latest streamer to potentially play hero for TV fans yearning to see their favorite bubble shows saved. It’s a common refrain: Revive a canceled series with a vocal fan base, and then capitalize on the attention that comes with acquiring a show with that rabid following. Netflix has done it several times, with AMC’s “The Killing,” A&E’s “Longmire,” ABC’s “Designated Survivor,” Lifetime’s “You” and Fox’s “Lucifer.” Hulu early on revived “The Mindy Project,” also from Fox. And Amazon gave a second life to Syfy’s “The Expanse” and now, Pop TV’s “Flack.” (Then there’s Yahoo! Screen, which launched — and folded — with the final season of NBC’s “Community.”) But shifting a broadcast or cable show to streaming…