Chris Licht Says Tumultuous CNN Tenure Was ‘Exciting but Incredibly Challenging’ in Post-Exit Statement

Harry Potter films has expressed his annoyance at the “constant” stream of fans who turn up on his doorstep.The house in Bracknell, Berkshire, was used as the Dursley’s family home at 4 Privet Drive in Surrey for the first film, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone. For the later films, the street was recreated on a film stage due to logistical issues, which is now featured as part of the Warner Bros. Studio tour in London.Speaking to The Sun, the current owners of the house in Bracknell said they face a “constant” stream of fans who knock on the door.“We’ve had people in floods of tears,” the anonymous owner said.

Naman Ramachandran Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” led the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £4 million ($5.1 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The web-slinging animation now has a total of £16.2 million. Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts” debuted in second place with a healthy £2.9 million. In its third weekend, in second position, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” collected £2.1 million for a total of £19.9 million. In fourth place, another Disney title, “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3” earned £511,837 in its sixth weekend for a total of £35.5 million. Rounding off the top five in its fourth weekend was Universal’s “Fast X” with £475,640 and a total of £14.2 million.

now-former network CEO Chris Licht might open the door for Don's CNN resurrection.TMZ said Don and Chris had a long-standing tension. Following Chris' firing, CNN's Executive VP for Talent and Content Development Amy Entelis is now one of the people calling the shots, and she's been close with Don for nearly 15 years. Don's unceremonious spring termination (which came hours after Fox News showed Tucker Carlson the door) was dramatic and acrimonious, as he said he was let go without any notice whatsoever. "I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned.

The group of executives who are leading CNN on an interim basis made their first comments to staffers on Thursday, vowing to make “this period as smooth as possible.”

Chris Licht released a statement following his exit from CNN on Wednesday.

Chris Licht’s ouster as CEO at CNN, Joe Scarborough argued that Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav should have kept Licht on for the full term of his two-year-contract. “Zaslav gave Chris two years; I wish Chris had been given the two years Zaslav promised him,” Scarborough told The New York Times.

The abrupt yet not-all-too-surprising exit of Chris Licht from CNN is a bit of a relief for staffers who thought he was the wrong person for the job, but whoever succeeds him at the cable news network will face many of the same headwinds.

Top leaders of CNN’s PR team that oversaw The Atlantic’s disastrous profile of Chris Licht have been fired, TheWrap has confirmed. EVP and global head of communications and marketing Kris Coratti Kelly and head of strategic communications Matt Dornic were among those ousted.According to a source familiar with the decision, the network began cleaning out its communications team Wednesday, just hours after the embattled CEO exited amid plunging ratings and growing discontent within his news staff. The news comes following Licht’s firing on Wednesday.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Some people only get one chance to run CNN. Amy Entelis is about to embark on her second. The veteran news executive was one of three who took the reins at the Warner Bros. Discovery news outlet when Jeff Zucker, the previous chief, was forced out in February of last year after acknowledging a romantic relationship with Allison Gollust, once CNN’s chief marketing officer. Now Entelis will be part of a new trio leading the news giant after the Wednesday departure of former CEO Chris Licht. The challenges facing CNN have not diminished. Entelis will guide CNN’s news operations along with Virginia Moseley, recently named to oversee editorial operations, and Eric Sherling, recently appointed head of U.S. programming. David Leavy, a longtime Zaslav lieutenant who was named chief operating officer at CNN last week, will oversee business activities. The entire group must keep CNN moving forward as the 2024 presidential election cycle draws near, even as the outlet’s ratings have fallen and its staff has been buffeted by job cuts, programming changes and a seemingly endless cycle of senior executives coming and going.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic The departure of CNN’s Chris Licht, following his turbulent year atop the cable news network, places a pause on one of the great media stories of the decade so far. But even non-media-junkies can appreciate just how strange and how strenuously rocking had been Licht’s time at the network: It played out across screens. The trouble with being the place that invented the 24-hour news cycle is that those hours can come back to bite when you’re the story. There it was in politics, when Donald Trump’s “Town Hall,” with purported rising star Kaitlan Collins, gear-shifted into the first televised rally of the 2024 presidential cycle — with CNN’s air being used to depict an audience of Trump supporters cheering on his jibes. (No less an eminence than Christiane Amanpour, a CNN icon, registered her dissent in public.) There it was on the business pages, with Licht’s overseeing the dismantling of streaming product CNN+, on orders from Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav, setting the tone for his tenure. There it was at the Oscars, when Michelle Yeoh used her best actress acceptance speech to rebuke anchor Don Lemon’s bizarre on-air comments about a woman’s “prime” years. There it was in the gossip pages, after a Variety story about Lemon’s comportment toward his female co-anchors on the network’s flagship morning show, and then his ouster, leaked into the tabloids, and never seemed to be countered by any good news about the network. And, finally, there it was at length, with an all-access profile by the Atlantic’s Tim Alberta revealing Licht’s contempt for predecessor Jeff Zucker and the depths of his disdain for and, frankly, confusion about CNN’s mission.

exited his position of CEO at CNN on Wednesday morning and, for many online, it was no big surprise. A fairly large swath of folks on Twitter actually dubbed it “karma” for Licht’s firing of CNN anchor Don Lemon.Licht’s one-year tenure as CEO and Chairman of CNN Worldwide was turbulent from start to finish, with a disastrous Donald Trump town hall and an unflattering profile in The Atlantic finally breaking staff morale.

the ousting of his handpicked CNN CEO Chris Licht in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday.“I have known Chris for many years and have enormous respect for him, personally and professionally. This job was never going to be easy, especially at a time of great disruption and transformation, and Chris poured his heart and soul into it,” Zaslav wrote.

Fox News Digital in a Wednesday report that posted just a couple of hours before Warner Bros. Discovery brass announced the ouster of CEO Chris Licht. David Zaslav handpicked Licht last April to replace Jeff Zucker, the successful but divisive longtime CNN leader ousted after disclosing an affair with one of his direct reports.

Chris Licht will be leaving CNN after just one year as chief executive and chairman.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN CEO Chris Licht will leave his post after a little more than a year at the helm after losing the support of staff and enacting a series of chaotic editorial changes under the direction of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. David Zalsalv, CEO of the embattled news outlet, told staffers Wednesday of the decision during CNN’s reglar editorial call, according to two people familiar with the matter. Amy Entelis, a longtime CNN executive who worked with previous chief Jeff Zucker and helps manage talent relations; Virginia Moseley, recenlty named to oversee editorial operations; and Eric Sherling, recently appointed head of U.S. programming, will oversee CNN for an interim period, Zaslav said. David Leavy, a longtime Zaslav lieutenant who was named chief operating officer at CNN last week, will oversee business activities.

Chris Licht is stepping down as the chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, ending a tumultuous tenure as the first leader of the network under parent Warner Bros. Discovery.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who said there could be more bundling in the future.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who backed David Zaslav’s recent suggestion that rival streamers should bundle together.

Donald Trump town hall in May was met with widespread criticism. Cooper’s vigorous defense of the networks decision drew even more backlash.

CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Chris Licht addressed the bombshell profile in The Atlantic in comments to network staffers on Monday, telling them, “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Some multi-millionaires enjoy collecting vintage automobiles. Others take to the charity circuit or try to influence politics from behind the scenes. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has his own hobbies. One of them is taking a crowbar to what he believes are underperforming cable assets and renovating them wholesale. Zaslav has swung the wrecking ball time and again in his years leading the company once known as Discovery Communications, a collection of cable networks that had specialized in so-called “unscripted” programming — reality shows and documentary series. In 2008, he struck a pact with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions to transform the network once known as Discovery Health into OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network; scrapped a network once co-owned in part by The New York Times to create the true-crime stalwart Investigation Discovery; and flipped the outlet once known as Discovery Travel & Living Network into Planet Green, a network focused on the environment. When that didn’t pan out, it became Destination America in 2012, centered on American culture. In 2010, he tried to revamp Discovery Kids by forging a joint venture with toymaker Hasbro. Last year, the company refashioned DIY Network, an HGTV sibling focused on fix-it programming, around popular home-repair entrepreneurs Chip and Joanna Gaines and called the result Magnolia.

Former Warner Bros. President of Sales and Distribution, D. Barry Reardon, passed at the age of 92 on May 27 in Vero Beach, Florida.

The New York Times.“I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it,” Zucker said, according to those sources.Zucker’s abrupt resignation in February 2022 put a spotlight on Gollust, his longtime lieutenant and the network’s chief marketing officer. Gollust, who had worked with Zucker for decades and rejoined CNN in 2013 as his “closest colleague,” had been identified as the woman with whom he had a “consensual relationship,” which he didn’t disclose to CNN owner at the time, AT&T, in apparent violation of company policies.Gollust resigned two weeks after Zucker’s ouster and following a WarnerMedia investigation into Chris Cuomo and his efforts to help his brother, former New York Gov.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Jamie Cooke is supercharging “original documentaries that push the boundaries” from his Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Turkey region by greenlighting around 10 docs per year.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

Charna Flam With a few mystifying teasers and less than two months until the premiere of the live-action “Barbie” film, audiences still don’t know exactly how the film will unfold. But the production team has started to reveal insight into the film — including how they caused an international pink paint shortage. In a recent Architectural Digest profile with production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer and director Greta Gerwig, the group explain that they set out “to capture what was so ridiculously fun” about Barbie’s world, but especially that of Architectural Digest’s subject: Barbie’s Dreamhouse. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much,” Gerwig stated. She shared that “the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount” — evoking the feeling of never forgetting “what made [her] love Barbie” as a young girl.

The Los Angeles Times in 1999. “He is one of the few people who really did change the game. Everyone who knows anything will tell you he revolutionized this business and he is a visionary.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that the George Clooney directed MGM title, The Boys in the Boat, is set to hit theaters on Monday, Dec. 25, as a wide release.

The question on the mind of all Ted Lasso fans, and some of its stars, is will there be a Season 4 or any spin-offs of the Apple TV+ series.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Back in April, James Gunn told me what he was looking for in the new Man of Steel for “Superman: Legacy.” “The next Superman has to be someone who has all the humanity that Superman has, but he’s also an alien,” he said. “It’s gotta be somebody who has the kindness and the compassion that Superman has and be somebody who you want to give a hug.” He added, “We have some really great choices, which I’m excited about.” Could former “The Bold and the Beautiful” star Pierson Fodé be on Gunn’s list? I hear that the 31-year-old actor could be in the running for the coveted role. Sources tell me that Fodé sent in a self-tape, which included a montage of footage showing his very Clark Kent-like childhood on a farm in the small town of Moses Lake, Wash. I’m told Gunn liked what he saw.

EXCLUSIVE: Lifetime is expanding its lifestyle programming via its Home.Made.Nation strand.

CNN on Thursday named longtime Discovery Inc. executive David C.

David Leavy, a top executive at Warner Bros. Discovery, as been named COO of CNN Worldwide.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s giant action tentpole “The Fall Guy” on the way, Ryan Gosling remains one of Hollywood’s most in-demand leading men. But that wasn’t always the case. The Oscar nominee recently told GQ magazine that his rise to leading man got its start because he landed his first few roles on the belief that he wasn’t leading man material to begin with. Gosling’s acting breakthrough came in 2001 with his leading role in Henry Bean’s “The Believer,” in which he played a Jewish kid from New York who becomes a Neo-Nazi. Gosling is none of these, but he said “the fact that I wasn’t really right for it was exactly why [Henry] thought I was right for it.” The actor got similar feedback when he went to audition for “The Notebook,” Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 Nicholas Sparks adaptation that turned Gosling and co-star Rachel McAdams into romance icons.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor David Leavy, a longtime confidant of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, was named chief operating officer of CNN Thursday, in a move that May free up CEO Chris Licht to focus on news programming, but could add a new level of scrutiny to the activities of the news giant within its corporate parent’s portfolio.

Last year, the movie talk of the summer was Ezra Miller‘s erratic behavior and how it potentially threatened the theatrical release of Andy Muschietti‘s “The Flash. But EW reports that, according to Muschietti and his sister, Barbara Muschietti, the threat of the blockbuster being shelved was never legitimate.