Variety 6/8/2022

The trial in a civil suit against Bill Cosby got underway in a Santa Monica courthouse last week. Judy Huth is accusing the disgraced entertainer of sexually assaulting her in the 1970s when she was a teenager. I reached out to one of Huth’s attorneys, Gloria Allred, and she emailed me her response: “Ms. Huth alleges in her lawsuit that she was the victim of sexual battery by Mr. Cosby when she was 16 years old,” she says. “We are honored to represent Ms. Huth and to seek justice for her in a California court of law.” Allred further tells me, “Bill Cosby’s lawyers said that my role as an advocate for various women claiming to be victims of his conduct might make me a witness in this case.” Since…

Paramount has been on a sizzling run: Five of its 2022 releases, a crop that includes “Scream,” “Jackass Forever,” “The Lost City” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” opened in first place at the domestic box office, with “Top Gun: Maverick” outpacing them all. Brian Robbins, who took over as head of the film studio in September, says its recent track record reaffirms the value of releasing movies in theaters before debuting them on streaming or home entertainment. And he argues that the box office performance is partly due to a new approach that has seen the studio become more collaborative with corporate cousins such as CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon. • Why was “Top Gun: Maverick” successful? I’d be lying if I said we knew that “Top Gun” was going to…

It was a public show of “no hard feelings.” On June 3, Toby Emmerich had lunch with Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy at the Polo Lounge, a hub of deal-making and power eating, in a move that was clearly designed to send a signal of solidarity to Hollywood. The bread breaking came just a day after Emmerich announced that he would step down as head of Warner Bros.’ film studio. De Luca and Abdy will soon join the company, though in a reduced role; they will oversee Warner Bros. and New Line but will not have control over Warner Bros. Animation and DC Films. But there might be more on the menu. De Luca and Abdy have told people that they expect to have input in what DC does…

CNN is breaking up with an old habit that has defined cable news for decades. Erin Burnett, Jim Sciutto and Don Lemon are still talking about the latest headlines on CNN, but their new boss thinks they can do so without the visual aid of a long-time TV news crutch: a graphics block on-screen that tells viewers they are hearing about “Breaking News.” The words appear frequently during all kinds of news broadcasts, whether they be of the cable, evening or morning variety — and even when the news is not breaking at all. Chris Licht, installed by Warner Bros. Discovery as CNN’s new chairman and CEO, thinks the chyron needs a rest. “It has become such a fixture on every channel and network that its impact has become lost…

With the June 17 debut of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” Jenny Han’s career has taken another big leap forward. The bestselling YA author of “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” had a hands-on role in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming adaptation of “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” her 2009 coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl, serving as creator and co-showrunner on the series. “It’s been a long time in the making,” says Han, who began writing YA novels in her early 20s. “There has been quite a lot of interest in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ over the years, but it never felt like the right fit because deep down I realized I wanted to do it myself.” But Han didn’t have any screenwriting experience at the time and…

Johnny Depp scored a clear and unexpected victory in court last week. His attorney, Ben Chew, implored the Virginia jury to restore his name, his reputation and his career, and the jury responded — finding that Depp’s ex-wife, Amber Heard, had defamed him when accusing him of domestic violence. But while jury verdicts are binary — liable or not liable, guilty or not guilty — Hollywood does not work that way. Depp has suffered tremendous reputational damage, much of it self-inflicted, and still has a lot of work to do if he wants to revive his career. “It’s not a light switch,” says Howard Bragman, a crisis consultant to celebrity clients. “It’s a road back.” In Depp’s favor, the trial mobilized a passionate, digitally savvy fan base, and gave him…