Variety 10/25/2023

Peter Morgan has spent nearly two decades chronicling the royals. It started with 2006’s “The Queen,” the critically acclaimed biographical drama that won Helen Mirren an Oscar (before she won a Tony for returning to the role in Morgan’s play “The Audience”). She certainly had rich material: The film depicts Queen Elizabeth II’s stubbornness and pique as she refuses to mourn Princess Diana in public. And having brought his vision of Her Majesty to film and stage, Morgan, now one of the most powerful showrunners in TV, is bringing Netflix’s “The Crown” in for a landing. In its sixth and final season, the series once again returns to the tragic death of Diana. But this time it shifts its focus away from the queen and considers the heartache and angst…

International correspondent K.J. Yossman may never have had the chance to take tea with the queen, but she sat down with the king of historical fiction, Peter Morgan, for this week’s cover story. When not obsessively spoiling her dog, deputy awards & features editor Jenelle Riley can be found covering entertainment and awards for Variety — including this week’s look at the season’s Oscar contenders. Illustrator Nico Ortega says, “When I received the assignment to illustrate the Wondery story, the path was clear: how to try to balance the success of the company with the societal benefit of the content they produce.” Cover photographer Jason Hetherington says of “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan, “Peter is such an intelligent and entertaining human. We laughed the whole way through the session.”…

Without Swift and Scorsese, the October box office would have been a ghost town long before Halloween ever hit. It was thanks to two unconventional releases — Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” one distributed by an exhibitor and the other backed by a major streaming service — that anyone went to the movies at all. It may get worse before it gets better. Hollywood hoped SAG-AFTRA and studios would resolve their contract negotiations by the end of October. But the strike drags on, preventing major stars from promoting their new films and adding to exhibitors’ anxieties about the upcoming holiday season. “The lack of any resolution in labor conflicts is bad news for movie theaters,” says Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice…

It’s been 30 months since Season 1 of “Invincible” — the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series — wrapped up on Prime Video, but don’t expect the show to spend time catching audiences up on the story when it finally returns Nov. 3. “Almost no consideration was made on that front,” says Kirkman, who also executive produces the show. Instead, Season 2 plunges viewers right back into the tumultuous life of high school senior and titular superhero Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) — as well as the show’s no-holds-barred violence and cutthroat dramatic intrigue. As Kirkman explains, it’s all meant to keep “Invincible” distinctive in a superhero-saturated landscape. • How did the reception to Season 1 affect how you approached Season 2? It made me willing to push things…

For three decades, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios has been offering live terror experiences in Southern California and Florida — primarily via a series of mazes where the undead chase crowds with chain saws and scary movies come to life. Over decades, licensed characters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees have haunted the studio backlot. But on a recent Wednesday in October, the annual attraction was hosed down not with fake blood but a slew of corporate owner NBCUniversal’s intellectual property. An entire house was erected to celebrate the catalog of Blumhouse, the studio’s low-budget horror partner. A troupe of M3GAN robots busted out creepy dance moves every 10 minutes starting at 8 p.m. on the dot. Chucky dolls and the possessed children of “The Exorcist: Believer” spooked fans…

• ‘FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S’ Blumhouse’s video game adaptation will receive the full fire hose of Symphony’s power: more than 2,350 promos across daytime TV, premium cable, Comcast networks and NBC local affiliates. • M3GAN’S HOUSE An actual Blum house has popped up at Universal Studios Hollywood, inviting guests to see the deranged robot dance, cuddle up with possessed tweens and answer the Black Phone. • FOOTBALL FRIGHT For the “Exorcist: Believer” theatrical rollout, Universal Pictures conjured a deal to heavily promote the new trilogy on “NBC Sunday Night Football” and during the Big Ten Conference. • BLOODY SCARY Halloween celebrations across the pond have boomed over the past two decades. Comcast’s vast U.K. network Sky now has a full horror channel, with a curated film list from Jason Blum.…