Jennifer Maas Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Fox’s ad-supported streamer Tubi has struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to stream DC movies including “The Batman,” “Suicide Squad,” “Black Adam,” “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman,” as well as superhero series “Batwoman,” “Gotham” and “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” The above film titles, as well as “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” “Green Lantern” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” will hit Tubi’s on-demand lineup in 2024.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer It’s hard to measure the full impact of the Hollywood strikes — mainly because the TV and film industry will be facing the ripple effects for years to come — but a new study has revealed one significant immediate hit: 17% of Los Angeles-based showbiz workers lost their jobs during the work stoppages. According to the Otis College of Art and Design’s study, the first released under the college’s ongoing Otis College Report on the Creative Economy, following the WGA (which ran May 2-Sept.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer ABC Signature head of creative affairs Tracy Underwood has been elevated to president of the Disney-owned TV studio. Underwood, who has been at the studio since 2010, will be filling the role vacated in July by Jonnie Davis. Davis was named president of ABC Signature (then ABC Studios) in July 2019 in the wake of the 21st Century Fox-Disney merger.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery cable warrior Kathleen Finch is heading into her Super Bowl: the holiday season at Food Network.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Peacock is closing out 2023 with some good news: The Comcast-owned streaming service has reached 30 million paid subscribers. Additionally, according to Comcast CEO Mike Cavanagh, the platform saw $2.8 billion in losses this year (coming in under the $3 billion projected by the company back in January), and Cavanagh expects that figure to be the peak losses for Peacock as we head into 2024.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Kids Baking Championship” is cooking up a 12th season at Food Network and this installment of the Valerie Bertinelli and Duff Goldman-hosted competition will come with a whole new culinary curriculum for its young contestants. The fresh batch of episodes will debut Jan.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney‘s board named Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky chief Jeremy Darroch as new directors Wednesday. Additionally, Disney has announced that board member Francis A. deSouza, former president and CEO of Illumina, will not stand for reelection at the company’s upcoming annual meeting, “as he pursues new opportunities in the technology sector that will require his full attention.” The news comes one day after Disney held a company-wide town hall featuring CEO Bob Iger and his top lieutenants discussing the state of the business.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Indie streamer Nebula has picked up “Dracula’s Ex-Girlfriend,” a short film from YouTube star and actress Abigail Thorn that centers on how “toxic” relationships with the legendary bloodsucker have affected two of his exes. Described as “‘Jennifer’s Body’ meets ‘Euphoria,'” the “sexy and irreverent” short will debut in early Summer 2024 on Nebula under the Nebula Originals banner.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney (Iger hosted a similar town hall exactly a year ago to the day, upon resuming his post last November) following the surprise ousting of Bob Chapek, and on the heels of Disney reporting its most recent quarterly and full-fiscal-year earnings and taking a stumble at the Thanksgiving holiday box office with new animated film “Wish.” When asked by Muir if coming back to the position of CEO has been more challenging than he had anticipated, Iger, who originally ran Disney for 15 years from 2005-2020, said yes. “I knew that there were myriad challenges that I would face coming back,” Iger said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The film adaptation of Alice Clayton’s rom-com novel “Wallbanger,” set up at Tosca Musk’s romance-focused streamer Passionflix, has rounded out its cast with “Love Island” star Roselyn Sánchez, “And Just Like That” actor Cathy Ang and four more supporting cast members. Based on Clayton’s 2012 New York Times best-selling book, “Wallbanger” is an irresistible tale of exasperation at first sight, according to the film’s official synopsis.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer For the holidays, you can’t beat home sweet home — and that’s exactly where Chip and Joanna Gaines‘ Magnolia Network is taking you with its new seasonal special, “Holiday Party With Andrew and Zoë.” Premiering Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. Magnolia Network, and streaming same-day on Max and Discovery+, this hour-long even is hosted by Magnolia Network staples “Family Dinner” star Andrew Zimmern and Zoë François of “Zoë Bakes” as they throw a mashup Christmas/Hanukkah party for mutual friends in their hometown, Minneapolis.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Even Meghan Markle can’t fathom what has made her old USA Network drama “Suits” pop off on streaming services this year, but she’s here for it. While walking the red carpet at Variety’s Power of Women event Thursday, Markle, The Duchess of Sussex, was informed by Variety’s senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson that the legal drama has now crossed 45 billion minutes streamed on Netflix and Peacock combined, as of Nielsen’s latest weekly streaming report, released earlier Thursday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of “Gen V, titled “Guardians of Godolkin,” now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. As a member of the “Gen V” cast, Chance Perdomo has gone through many on-set experiences specific to those in “The Boys” franchise: being repeatedly covered in fake blood and bodily fluids, shooting scenes with giant genitalia, and saying some truly filthy lines coming out of a superhero’s mouth. But Perdomo has another surprising connection to “The Boys.” “I came into this as a fan of ‘The Boys,’ I actually had originally auditioned for Hughie, years ago.” I read it and I thought it was such a great script.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Former head of drama development at Disney’s 20th Television Michelle Mendelovitz has been named head of Mattel Television Studios. In her new role, Mendelovitz will oversee the development, production, and distribution of Mattel’s slate of episodic content on broadcast and streaming globally.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav‘s name graced many a picket sign during the Writers Guild of America’s 148-day strike, with everything from his exec comp to content-cutting choices called out in writers’ anti-Hollywood studios jokes. Now that the work stoppage is over, the writers might consider reexamining their opinion of Zaslav, who concedes the WGA was “right about almost everything.” In a profile published by Wednesday by The New York Times Magazine, Zaslav said he does not regret the concessions that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) made to finally close that tentative deal with the writers union Sept.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Tosca Musk‘s romance-centric streamer Passionflix has found the leads for its film adaptation of Alice Clayton’s 2012 New York Times best-selling romance novel “Wallbanger.” Playing the steamy love story’s leads Caroline and Simon are “Heels” vet Kelli Berglund and “Hidden Strike” actor Amadeus Serafini. “Wallbanger” is an irresistible tale of exasperation at first sight, according to the film’s official synopsis.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The publisher of best-selling romantasy book “Fourth Wing” is working to “swiftly” resolve the “frustrating” misprint issues with “Iron Flame,” the sequel from author Rebecca Yarros, which sold more than half a million copies on its Tuesday release day alone. Entangled Publishing, the owner of Red Tower Books, the imprint behind “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame” issued a statement to Variety on Friday, following numerous social media posts and online customer reviews that cited misprints with physical hardback copies of “Iron Flame,” as well as the new holiday edition of “Fourth Wing,” both released Nov. 7.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of “Gen V, titled “Guardians of Godolkin,” now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. You’ve had a week since the “Gen V” Season 1 finale to theorize about where Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Andre (Chance Perdomo), Jordan (Derek Luh/London Thor) and Emma (Lizze Broadway) are at the end of “The Boys” spinoff’s cliffhanger episode. So, do you have a plausible explanation for the medical facility with no doors that the four supes are stuck in? It’s OK, we don’t either, and just like “Gen V” showrunner Michele Fazekas, star Luh is no help to us by keeping his lips sealed — even though he’s finally allowed to talk about the Amazon series after the SAG-AFTRA strike ended — and refusing to be the spoiler-ific Tom Holland of the Vought Cinematic Universe.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer NBCUniversal has laid off less than 50 employees across three divisions: Peacock marketing, NBCUniversal Entertainment and ad sales. The majority of these cuts, approximately 30 to 40, were made at Peacock as part of a restructuring under CMO Shannon Willett, a source within the company told Variety.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains massive spoilers for Rebecca Yarros‘s best-selling fantasy novel “Fourth Wing” and its sequel “Iron Flame,” released Nov. 7. It could be a while before the “Fourth Wing” TV series that’s in the works at Amazon makes it to the screen, but with the release of the sequel novel titled “Iron Flame,” we have more than enough source material to begin anticipating the small-screen adaptation that’s set to cover all five planned books in the series.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney+ topped 150 million streaming subscriptions by the end of its fiscal fourth quarter of the year, up from 146.7 million in the previous quarter. On Wednesday, Disney reported Core Disney+ subscriptions are at 112.6 million subs, as of the quarter ended Sept. 30, and the India-based Disney+ Hotstar is at 37.6 million.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nebula, which launched in 2019, describes itself as a creator-focused, creator-built, creator-first premium streaming service — akin to a Netflix or Hulu, but with the ethos of Patreon. The four-year-old indie streaming service, which is backed by creator-owned management company Standard and a minority stake held by Curiosity Stream, costs $5 a month or $50 a year and currently totals 650,000 subscribers and passed 100,000 daily active users in October.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “The Boys” Season 4 will pick up where “Gen V” Season 1 left off, just ahead of an in-universe presidential election. And from the looks of the first promo images released by Amazon for the new episodes of “The Boys,” the Vought supes led by Homelander (Antony Starr) are going to have a good Election Day, and Billy Bucher (Karl Urban) and The Boys are going to be left crushed by defeat.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav opened the company’s quarterly earnings presentation with remarks on the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, remaining “hopeful” that the work stoppage will end “soon” following the Hollywood studios’ move to adjust AI language in its “last, best and final offer” to the actors union. “We are hopeful we will reach a resolution to the SAG-AFTRA strike soon,” Zaslav said during WBD’s third-quarter earnings call Wednesday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar reported its third-quarter 2023 earnings Wednesday, revealing TV ad revenue was down overall 23% for the July-September quarter. Meanwhile, the CW network made quarter-over-quarter progress on its path to profitability by narrowing its losses to $60 million. For the CW, which was formally acquired by Nexstar in October 2022 from Paramount Global and Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Roots founders Questlove and Black Thought‘s have sold a significant stake in their production company Two One Five Entertainment to Peter Chernin’s content studio The North Road Company. Under the pact, North Road will finance future film, TV and other creative projects from Two One Five, which previously produced the Oscar-winning documentary “Summer of Soul,” “The League” and “Descendent.” The partnership will also see North Road helping Two One Five expand its scripted slate after years of mainly focusing on unscripted content.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Jon Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Rita Wilson and more stars performed as a tribute to U.S. veterans and their families at the New York Comedy Festival and Bob Woodruff Foundation’s Stand Up for Heroes event Monday. Held at David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the night included performances from musicians and comics, including Stewart, Springsteen, Wilson, Josh Groban, John Mellencamp, Tracy Morgan, The War and Treaty, Jimmy Carr, Ronny Chieng and Shane Gillis.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Episode 8 of “Gen V,” the Season 1 finale (“Guardians of Godolkin”), now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video. Marie (Jaz Sinclair) survived her first semester at supe college Godolkin University — barely — but it doesn’t look like she’s going into a second one any time soon. As the Season 1 finale of “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” concludes, Marie and her friends stuck inside some kind of hospital room with no doors and no clue how they got there. For now, “Gen V” co-showrunner Michele Fazekas is mum on what comes next.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer AMC Networks reported its third-quarter 2023 earnings Friday, revealing it had added 100,000 subscribes across AMC+ and its other niche streamers in Q3, following two straight quarters of declining subs. Streaming subscribers stand at 11.1 million as of Sept. 30, up 1% from where they ended at 11 million at the conclusion of Q2 in June.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Chip and Joanna Gaines‘ Magnolia Network is producing four unscripted series with a family-friendly focus for Max, including one called “Human vs Hamster” that, aptly, pits humans against hamsters in challenges. The unscripted projects, which are set to debut in 2024, are described as “ambitious large-scale competitions” and “out-of-the-box social experiments” that are intended to create a co-viewing experience on Max for parents and children.