Variety 10/13/2021

We in the media have known for some time that Alan Horn would be retiring from Disney at year’s end, as Variety has reported. But somehow when Disney officially announced the news this week that indeed the 78-year-old leader would be leaving as of Dec. 31, it really hit me, and made me sad. I have enjoyed a great working relationship with Horn for so long, especially over these past nine years at Disney and the 12 before that when he headed Warner Bros. Of course, I knew him from his days at Castle Rock Entertainment, which he co-founded in 1987, though less well in his earlier jobs at 20th Century Fox and Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio’s Embassy Communications, where he launched his entertainment career. I have always said…

In 2014, Fox Searchlight methodically rolled out “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” a twee pastiche of old-world Europe, in movie theaters across North America. The quirky comedic drama, from director Wes Anderson, had an opening that would be familiar to most indie films: playing in only four theaters (two in New York and two in Los Angeles) before gradually checking into more venues. The studio was rewarded for its efforts, averaging more than $200,000 per location in its initial run and establishing art-house records that still hold. “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which eventually made $59 million in North America and $179 million globally and won four of nine Oscar nominations, remains a gold standard for commercial success in the arthouse space. “Any time you are mentioned for awards contention, it helps…

Franchise fever has come to fruition this fall. A surprisingly solid launch for the 2021-22 season for the broadcast networks has yielded two series renewals so far and even more important, signs of life in primetime. Series launches with built-in franchises have performed well, but viewers are also checking out wholly original concepts. CBS has given full-season orders to freshman dramas “NCIS: Hawai’i” and “FBI: International” after both shows won their respective time slots in their first week on air in Nielsen live-plus-7 ratings. The Sept. 20 fall season launch week was a predictably busy period, seeing a bevy of dramas, comedies and game shows drop debuts, as well as the return of a couple of familiar titles. Per Nielsen, “NCIS: Hawai’i” won its 10 p.m. Monday time slot in…

Dave Chappelle’s new Netflix program is called “The Closer,” but all the standup special has done this week is open wounds and political worm cans for the streaming giant. After some of Chappelle’s jokes were criticized as damaging to the trans community — and an ill-timed suspension of a trans person who recently happened to blast the special on social media — Netflix finds itself at an interesting crossroads: protecting employees while defending “artistic freedom.” The saga began in early October when reviews of “The Closer” quoted Chappelle as saying, “gender is a fact,” and that “every human being in this room … had to pass through the legs of a woman.” Opponents say this reinforces damaging narratives around trans people and isolates the LGBTQ community. Those critics include Terra…

Clayton Davis, Variety film awards editor, has been named journalist of the year by the National Assn. of Latino Independent Producers. Davis will be honored Oct. 13 as part of the organization’s virtual two-day Latino Media Fest event, which is designed to showcase the work of Latino content creators across a range of genres. A lifelong movie fan, Davis joined Variety in August 2020 and quickly established himself as a strong voice in covering Hollywood’s year-round awards marketplace. He is co-host of Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, and earlier this year he was tapped to co-host Variety’s weekly entertainment news series “The Take.” “Clayton has gone above and beyond not only with his teaching in the community but with his founding of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Assn.,” says NALIP executive director…

AWARD SCIRCUIT Coming up on the 20th anniversary of Halle Berry’s historic best actress win in 2002, we’re still looking for a second woman of color to join her. Now that the big four fall festivals — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — are over, only a few women of color are contenders in the actress race. And it’s possible that none of them will make the cut when the Oscar nominations are announced in February. (Last winter marked only the second time in Academy Awards history that two Black women — Viola Davis and Andra Day — were nominated for best actress in the same year.) So who is in the running for 2022? Berry, who won her Oscar for playing a waitress in “Monster’s Ball,” is making…