Open Thread

Deadline reports: Amazon stock rose 7% in after-hours trading after the tech company announced a 20-for-1 stock split and a $10 billion share buyback authorization. The stock finished the regular trading day at $2,785.58, up almost 3% in a stellar session across the board for Wall Street. Shares in the company have been comfortably above $3,000 throughout 2021 before slumping …

Pitchfork reports: Universal Music Group has suspended all of its operations in Russia and closed its offices in the country. UMG’s staff will continue to receive their salaries for an undetermined period, but artists will see most of their recording activity put on hold. “Effective immediately, we are suspending all operations in Russia and closing our offices there,” Universal Music …

Variety reports: “The Walking Dead” continues to live on at AMC, with the network greenlighting a spinoff centered on Maggie and Negan. The six-episode series will see the two characters traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own …

Variety reports: The 2022 box office has its first juggernaut. After years of promotion and more than few delays due to COVID-19, “The Batman” finally hit movie theaters this weekend. The Warner Bros. release grossed a hefty $57 million from 4,417 locations in its opening day, though that’s a sum that includes $21.6 million from Thursday preview screenings. The DC …

Deadline Hollywood reports: The US version of the Eurovision Song Contest has secured some big-name contestants, with Michael Bolton, Macy Gray, Jewel and Sisqó all confirmed to be competing in the inaugural competition, which launches this month. Each musician will represent their home state, with Bolton stepping up for Connecticut, Gray for Ohio, Jewel for Alaska and Sisqó for Maryland. …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Disney said Friday consumer streaming service Disney+ will introduce an ad-supported subscription in addition to its option without ads in the U.S. starting in late 2022. It said it will announce more details, including launch date and pricing, at a later date. The ad-supported offering is viewed as a building block in the company’s path to achieving …

Variety reports: Harvey Weinstein was caught with contraband Milk Duds in November, prompting a reprimand from L.A. County jail guards, according to records viewed by Variety. The Milk Duds were found during a search on Nov. 10, after Weinstein had a face-to-face meeting with Shawn Burkley, one of his attorneys. The Milk Duds were confiscated, and the guards warned that …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Global networks including the UK’s Channel 4 have picked up Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comedy series Servant of the People. The 2016 satirical show, in which, unbelievably, Zelensky played the President, before launching a campaign to become the real President three years later, has also been sold by distributor Eccho Rights to MBC in the Middle East, …

The Daily Beast reports: Sam Elliott didn’t hold back his anger—or blatant homophobia—for Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. In an interview for Marc Maron’s “WTF Podcast,” Elliott decried the Western as “a piece of shit” and compared the male characters to Chippendale dancers. “That’s what all these fucking cowboys in that movie look like,” Elliott said. “They’re all …

Deadline Hollywood reports: South Park has a long history of short turnarounds to focus on current events, and the promo for this week’s episode appears to be furthering that tradition. In a clip from “Back to the Cold War,” Mr. Mackay argues for a seventh nuclear-emergency drill in two days because, he says, “We are going to be prepared.” When …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Veteran actress Patti LuPone tested positive for Covid-19 before Saturday’s Broadway matinee of Company, triggering increased testing protocols for the rest of the performers and staff. LuPone is at home and is expected to be out until March 8. The 72-year-old, who has two Tony Awards and two Grammys, plays “Joanne” in the production alongside Katrina Lenk’s …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Piers Morgan vows to “cancel cancel culture” with his new TV talk show and “take those ultra woke lunatics head on.” The journalist and broadcaster was speaking to Sky News Australia on a visit to the country to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the channel, attending a party at the Sydney Opera House. Morgan’s new daily talk …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Mark Stroman, the veteran Fox and Endeavor marketing executive who helped launch memorable global campaigns including “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the “Nobody Better Lay a Finger On My Butterfinger!” campaign featuring The Simpsons‘ Bart Simpson, has died. Stroman died February 22 of complications from Covid, …

Variety reports: Sally Kellerman, who was Oscar nominated for her supporting role as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s “MASH” feature film, died Thursday in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 84. Among her other roles were a professor in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” and a Starfleet officer in the “Star Trek” episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” …

Variety reports: A new short documentary and exposé published by Vanity Fair accuses Jerry Lewis of sexual harassment and assault. The interviews with actresses such as Karen Sharpe and Hope Holiday were conducted by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the duo who tackled Mia Farrow’s allegations against Woody Allen in the HBO documentary series “Allen v Farrow.” Lewis was one …

Variety reports: Sherri Shepherd will launch her own daytime talk show in fall 2022, Variety has learned. The new syndicated series, titled “Sherri,” will slide into the Fox O&O time slots that are currently held by “The Wendy Williams Show,” as the hit gossip queen, Wendy Williams, continues to be in recovery for health-related issues. In a statement to Variety, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Britney Spears has landed a multimillion-dollar book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster. The big bucks pact came together over the past few months, Deadline has confirmed from sources close to the situation. According to the New York Post‘s Page Six, the deal is priced at $15 million, and will cover topics including her professional and her …

Deadline reports: Despite all the high-tech tricks, political posturing and pyrotechnics, the best part of the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics proved to be the athletes. Competing the past two weeks amidst rising international tensions, pandemic quarantines and with a heavy-handed host, the participants injected a bit of fun this morning into the tightly scripted affair. Following …

Variety reports: Rather than be able to claim any bragging rights for streaming or sales when his new album comes out Feb. 22, Kanye West’s deliberately limiting its listenership to one device … one that can only be purchased from him. So how much will it cost you to listen to “Donda 2” later this month? About $230 — assuming …

Deadline Hollywood reports: His reps declined to comment, but word in publishing circles is that Elliot Page’s memoir Pageboy sold to Flatiron Books for north of $3 million. The deal was made based on a 49-page proposal shopped by UTA. Deadline read the document, and it sounds like Page has a truly compelling story to tell about a long struggle …