Variety 10/4/2022

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Looking back over a decade of disruption in entertainment, there’s a case to be made that Amazon has been the biggest change agent among the tech giants that have barreled into Hollywood. Netflix was born as a content distributor. YouTube and Facebook are intent on selling eyeballs to advertisers. Apple made its first big move into content more than 30 years ago with Pixar. But Amazon wasn’t a given, especially considering how costly and complex producing original content is. The e-commerce titan’s efforts have reached new heights over the past four and a half years with the dawn of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” steered by our cover subject, Jennifer Salke, who has led Amazon Studios since early 2018. From the start of Amazon’s original content…

Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Peter Chan Ho-sun is far too intellectual to call himself an “arms dealer,” as Sony Pictures has in casting itself as an unattached supplier to streaming platforms. But politeness and Bob Dylan references aside, Chan’s new company, Changin’ Pictures, aims to become a major independent purveyor of premium Asian TV content for the streamers. The company is using this week’s Busan Intl. Film Festival as its launchpad and will unveil the first five series of its 20-title pan-Asian slate. “We can’t wait for the streamers to finance a show, judge it with their algorithms and test screen things.” —Peter Chan Ho-sun Chan’s thesis is that global audiences are hungry for Asian content but have not been able to access it easily under legacy film and TV distribution…

Mitch Lowe, the former CEO of MoviePass, recently published a book, “Watch and Learn,” in which he offers business and life lessons from a self-described “Zen disruptor.” On his press tour, he has been repeatedly asked to explain why his company imploded. He has answered that the subscription service had a good strategy, but not enough time. “We ran out of money,” he told the “Bloomberg Businessweek” podcast. The SEC has a different take. Late last month, it filed a fraud complaint against Lowe and Theodore Farnsworth, the CEO of parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics, stating the execs knew their business model would never be profitable, and lied about it over and over again. MoviePass is hardly the first company to make extravagant claims about future profitability, only to…

Trevor Noah became the latest late-night host to announce his departure last week, joining an exodus including Samantha Bee, “Desus & Mero” and James Corden. Noah, who was Jon Stewart’s handpicked successor at “The Daily Show,” did not set an end date, but indicated he missed being on the road after seven years in the hosting chair. • Samantha Bee: In July, Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the plug on “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” after seven seasons on TBS. What’s next: She’s producing a kids’ sketch show called “Best Day Ever.” • “Desus & Mero”: Desus Nice and the Kid Mero decided to go their separate ways after four seasons on Showtime, announcing their series’ end in July. • James Corden: In April, “The Late Late Show” host revealed that he…

Bestselling fantasy author and “House of the Dragon” executive producer George R.R. Martin is caught in the crossfire of the heated battle over inclusive casting — and some of his fans are calling for a boycott of his upcoming book due to comments by his coauthors. Out Oct. 25, “The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One” is being touted as a “deluxe reference book” for those itching to learn more about Westeros’ most powerful family. When Martin publicized it on social media last week, thousands of fans responded in outrage, many calling out the problematic behavior and “history of racism” of his coauthors, married couple Linda Antonsson and Elio M. García Jr. “I will not be buying anything with Linda and Elio attached…