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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports: As the Walt Disney Co. looks beyond the current coronavirus crisis and to a horizon where its worldwide theme parks and resorts are able to re-open, Disney executive chairman Bob Iger has floated the possibility of taking visitors’ temperatures. Still, Wells Fargo separately downgraded Disney’s stock on Tuesday, with analysts there noting that attendance at the parks “could …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

The Verge reports: Quibi is the latest streaming service to launch in an increasingly crowded market — and it might be the weirdest one yet. Instead of relying on big franchise names or extensive catalogs of old content, like Disney Plus, Peacock, or HBO Max are doing, Quibi is betting big on a mobile-first strategy. Its “quick bites” of content …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: Food Network host Ina Garten is navigating the pandemic quarantine in a unique way. At 9:30 AM earlier this week, she posted a video of herself whipping up a pitcher of Cosmopolitans. “You need a big pitcher, because I like to make a lot of cosmos,” Garten said. “You never who’s gonna stop by…. wait a minute, …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Billboard Magazine reports: South by Southwest 2020 will see the light of day after all, albeit online rather than on the ground in Austin, Texas. Amazon Prime Video is teaming with the festival to launch a so-called film festival collection. Filmmakers who had been scheduled to screen films at the fest were notified this morning and will be able to …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports: In a worst-case scenario, the concert industry could lose almost $9 billion if coronavirus quarantines don’t lift by the end of the year, according to a study just published by the trade publication Pollstar — and that figure does not include associated businesses such as transportation, production, marketing, concessions, security, sponsorships and more. While Pollstar projected a $12.2 …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: HBO is doing its part to provide some entertainment relief for everyone who’s staying home amid the coronavirus crisis. The premium cabler is making nearly 500 hours of top programming available to stream for free for a limited time on HBO Now and HBO GO without a subscription beginning Friday, April 3. The content includes every episode …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports: Adam Schlesinger, a musician and songwriter highly regarded for his work as a member of Fountains of Wayne and an Emmy-winning songwriter for TV’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” has died as a result of coronavirus complications, Variety has confirmed. He was 52. An EGOT contender, Schlesinger has been nominated for Oscars, Tonys, Grammys and Emmys and won the latter two …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: A COVID-19 casting scam has been trolling actors for nude audition videos and their passport information for a fake fashion show in Paris. “We find it appalling that someone would use this global crisis to take advantage of our members and those who aspire to work under our contracts,” SAG-AFTRA said Tuesday. “It is even more troubling …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

The New York Daily News reports: New York City is so short on morgue space for coronavirus victims that FEMA is hauling in trailers to store all the bodies. “We are sending refrigeration trucks to New York to help with some of the problem on a temporary basis,” FEMA regional direction Thomas Von Essen said at Manhattan press briefing with …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: Joe Diffie, one of country music’s biggest stars in the early 1990s, died Sunday from complications caused by contracting the COVID-19 virus. He was 61 and his death was confirmed by his publicist. Diffie was a traditional country artist, drawing on his honky-tonk background and deep, rich voice to craft a string of hits after his debut. …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: Back in November, UCP announced Joe Exotic, a limited series starring and executive produced by Kate McKinnon. Four and a half months later, interest in the project, based on Joe Exotic, the second season of Wondery’s Over My Dead Body podcast, is skyrocketing because of the massive popularity of the Netflix docuseries Tiger King, about the real-life …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

CBS Philadelphia reports: The number of coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania has soared above 2,200 as more deaths have been reported across the Delaware Valley. Health officials reported Friday an additional 531 COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to 2,218, including 637 cases in Philadelphia. The number of coronavirus cases jumped by 154 on Friday in the city. “Our notable increase …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Thursday said it will be altering long-standing rules for Golden Globe motion picture eligibility and screenings for the coming year, change that could include the unheard of step of first being seen even on broadcast TV. However, producers and studios must prove they had a “bona fide theatrical release planned to …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: The 74th Annual Tony Awards, scheduled to air live on CBS on Sunday, June 7 from New York’s Radio City Music Hall, has been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date, presenters announced today. Presenters the Broadway League, the American Theater Wing and CBS will coordinate for the new date once the ongoing shutdown has …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: Two days before the Season 1 finale of Star Trek: Picard, Patrick Stewart is offering fans new and old a gift while stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak. With video cameos from Star Trek: Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green, Anson Mount and Michelle Yeoh, Stewart, who plays the onetime U.S.S. Enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard on the CBS All …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: As the number of new cases of the coronavirus shows signs of abating in China, a smattering of cinemas re-opened in a handful of provinces across the country this weekend. On Friday, there were 486 movie theaters back at work, while Saturday the total was upped to 507, local reports say. These small steps to get China …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: More television shows are donating their medical supplies to hospitals amid the coronavirus outbreak. In the latest gestures, FX’s Pose and NBC’s Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. made the donations. “Today we donated all our prop supplies to Mount Sinai hospital to help nurses and doctors battling the Covid outbreak,” Pose co-creator Ryan Murphy wrote …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: Netflix is giving back to the creative community as the entertainment industry reels from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. In a company blog post Friday, Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, said the streamer has established a $100 million fund to help those workers hardest-hit in the television and film industry by the outbreak. Most of the …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: A New York bankruptcy judge Thursday approved the sale of the iconic Moviefone movie listings service for $1 million as part of the bankruptcy of its parent company Helios & Matheson Analytics. That oddly-named holding company shot to fame by starting, growing and ultimately badly bungling the MoviePass subscription service, which is next on the auction block. …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

The Associated Press reports: Rosie O’Donnell is reviving her old daytime talk show for one time only — and her guest list is impressive. A who’s-who of Broadway and Hollywood — including Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Neil Patrick Harris, Morgan Freeman, Gloria Estefan and Barry Manilow — plan to join O’Donnell on Sunday for a live streaming “The …

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