Variety 12/21/2021

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF As I mention in my cover interview with Bob Iger in this week’s issue, when you look back at his impressive 15-year run as CEO, it’s funny to think about how many people in the industry and the media — myself included — underestimated him. For the decade that Iger worked under then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, leading up to his run to succeed him in 2005, people frequently used the term “empty suit” when referring to Iger. Of course, we were all proven wrong, and Iger admits that even though the lack of support at the time was excruciating, his strong track record as CEO even wound up surprising him: “I exceeded my own expectations.” He says that more than anyone else he ever worked with, Eisner taught him…

In true Hollywood fashion, omicron delivered the year’s biggest cliffhanger just as the holiday season began kicking into higher gear. With COVID-19 cases surging anew and cancellations piling up, the pandemic reclaimed the spotlight it never fully lost. On most people’s minds in the industry: How big a retrenchment will the variant cause in 2022 and how long will it last? In the past week, a series of Broadway shows, including “Hamilton,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and “Moulin Rouge!,” went dark due to COVID. Some TV shows, such as CBS’ new comedy “Ghosts,” also had to halt production as a result of COVID exposure. “Saturday Night Live” scaled back its last show of the year at the last minute after numerous cast and crew members tested positive. iHeartRadio…

For high-level Hollywood dealmaking, 2021 was defined by two big transactions involving historic studios: Warner Bros. and MGM. Discovery’s stealth takeover of WarnerMedia and Amazon’s purchase of MGM — both of which are awaiting regulatory approval — are multibillion-dollar consolidation bets fueled by industry disruption and the transition to streaming. Big-money deals for hot content factories including Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Moonbug Entertainment reinforced the rise of the “creator economy” amid the gold rush for content, as did Spotify’s eye-popping agreement to pay $60 million for a three-year exclusive deal with Alex Cooper to distribute her podcast “Call Her Daddy.” Beyond the high-gloss deals, there was plenty of other buying and selling in media and entertainment that amounted to signposts for where businesses are heading and how innovation is…

A tally of the year’s most-watched TV networks seems wildly incomplete in the 2020s without Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus or HBO Max in the mix. But with no real apples-to-apples way of comparing viewership on the streaming platforms to linear consumption, we’ll continue to measure them in different ways, at least for now. In the land of the linear, sports continue to save the day, helping stabilize viewership this year for at least two of the four major broadcast networks. Double-digit dips remain the reality for most of the basic and premium networks — a trend that becomes more acute as even those networks’ owners eagerly shoo viewers away from that old-fashioned delivery system and onto their newfangled streaming services. Here, Variety recounts the TV winners and…

Thanks to glamorous Paris-set shows like “Lupin” and “Emily in Paris” topping Netflix charts — and daring French female directors Julia Ducournau (“Titane”) and Audrey Diwan (“Happening”) winning top prizes at the Cannes and Venice film festivals — France drew more eyeballs worldwide in 2021 than it has in years. A groundbreaking agreement with global streamers to invest up to €300 million ($333 million) in French content looks to continue that trend. And building on all that momentum, the government is splashing soft money to help French creatives and locations conquer international markets, with a focus on the U.S. In the streaming era, where language barriers and borders are more permeable, creatives are becoming go-to ambassadors, as evidenced recently by French President Emmanuel Macron’s massive investment scheme, France 2030, which…

The mobile app for ViacomCBS’ Paramount Plus tallied nearly 2.2 million total U.S. downloads in November, an almost twofold increase from the comparable number one month prior, according to data provided to Variety Intelligence Platform by Apptopia. New titles “Adele: One Night Only,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “South Park: Post COVID” were likely the biggest app drivers. Curiously, the streamer’s app also began to rise following Nov. 7, which could have been due in part from some consumers anticipating the debut of “Mayor of Kingstown” or the Adele special. One December title that could move the needle for Paramount Plus is new “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883,” which ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish last month suggested would be one of the streamer’s strongest scripted originals to date. For more data from VIP+,…