Disney Hits Back At Charter Claims, Says It Offered Pay-TV Operator “The Most Favorable Terms” And Proposed An Extension To Keep ESPN And Other Networks From Going Dark

Michaela Zee “The Nun II” spooked the box office with $13 million on opening day, including $3.1 million in previews. The ninth and latest chapter in Warner Bros.

“The Nun II” has already raked in $3.1 million in box office previews, ahead of the horror/thriller’s debut this weekend.

One last story from Jon Bernthal’s podcast with David Ayer about “Suicide Squad.” Sorry, but this one’s full of juicy tidbits. OK, Bernthal has a podcast called “Real Ones,” where he brings his friends on mostly.

Welcome to the 19th installment of Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast. It is a task Oscar-nominated filmmaker Billy Ray took on at the beginning of the Writers Guild strike against AMPTP, and who knew he would be engaged in it longer than it would have taken him to shoot a picture.

EXCLUSIVE: Roku has begun removing titles including scripted shows Most Dangerous Game starring Christoph Waltz and Slip from Zoe Lister-Jones.

Lee” to the Michael Keaton-directed thriller “Knox Goes Away”) given the uncertainty about what has been agreed to. Still, buyers seem impressed with what’s available to purchase.

At its Max streaming event earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans. The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling. See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

David Zaslav said today that Warner Bros. Discovery had anticipated putting Hollywood strikes in the rear-view mirror this month, but with no end in sight, “We are really going to fight to get this resolved.”  

“I don’t know that much in particular about this dispute, but it feels like this is a moment,” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav about the current showdown between big cable provider Charter and the Disney.

This is Day 128 of the WGA strike and Day 55 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Just as this summer’s New York City wildfire smoke, LA hurricane and sneaker-melting heat have brought home the reality of climate change, the Disney-Charter carriage battle is foregrounding the fragility of the pay-TV bundle.

Naman Ramachandran Sony’s “The Equalizer 3” has finally toppled the six-week reign of “Barbie” atop the U.K. and Ireland box office. Antoine Fuqua’s action thriller, headlined by Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning, debuted with £2.7 million ($3.4 million), per numbers from Comscore.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery expects the ongoing Hollywood strikes to have a $300 million-$500 million negative impact on the company’s 2023 earnings.

The financial impact of ongoing actors and writers strikes as a number on it now as Warner Bros. Discovery said today it’s looking at a hit of $300 million to $500 million in adjusted EBTITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for 2023.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Labor Day is more than a long weekend of beaches, barbecues and block parties. It’s a national celebration marking the economic and social contributions of American workers. How ironic, then, that SAG-AFTRA members are observing this 141st Labor Day on strike against a global industry that refuses to fairly recognize the contributions of the workers who power its economic success.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Barbie” has conquered North America, and now, the world. Greta Gerwig’s fantasy-comedy has generated $1.36 billion at the global box office, overtaking Universal and Illumination’s animated adventure “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.35 billion globally) as the highest-grossing worldwide movie of the year.

Despite bad weather conditions, the crew of Warner Bros. series The Winchesters was instructed to keep filming. Shortly thereafter, lightning struck a crew member.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Shares of several big media and entertainment companies tumbled Friday as investors considered the potential fallout from an impasse between cable giant Charter Communications and media titan Walt Disney Co. On Thursday, Disney said it had pulled major networks such as ESPN and ABC from Charter systems after the two companies could not come to terms on a renewal of their carriage license. Charter’s systems reach a little under 15 million subscribers in markets that include New York City and Los Angeles.

If the debate a few years ago was the streaming glut age created an era of #TooMuchContent, we’ve got some good news for you: things are slowing down and the current SAG and WGA strikes likely aren’t helping. But the streaming age, and the Wall Street downturn that arrived last year have definitely caused a new epoch of disruption we’re still experiencing and aren’t sure where things will land.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Mexico’s foremost animation forum, Pixelatl, kicks off Sept. 5 in Guadalajara with an array of activities that includes screenings, conferences, panels, works-in-progress sessions, master classes and pitches amid a myriad of sections.

It is possible that in his search for CNN’s next boss, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav simply checked back through the news network’s archives. 

Glen Powell teamed up with his “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Devotion” co-stars on Wednesday as they hit the picket lines outside Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California in support of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

Max is adding an on-screen top 10 ranking of trending titles, joining Netflix and other streaming rivals that offer the feature.

A swarm of Supernatural fans joined the picket line at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles on Thursday to catch a glimpse of series creator Eric Kripke as well as the cast and other writers who had reunited in solidarity with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

The CW and Sinclair Broadcast Group have reached an affiliate renewal deal spanning 35 markets, including the launch of the broadcast network on stations in Seattle and Pittsburgh.

Mortal Kombat fighters are in a Mortal Kombat 11 trailer that reveals his long-time love for the abundantly bloody series.This is one of two promotional trailers that Bautista appears in for the forthcoming game. The other features the actor recruiting students, baristas, musicians and more to answer the call of “Mortal Kombat” in anticipation of the reboot.“Obviously, my voice is gone now from screaming ‘Mortal Kombat‘ all day,” said Bautista in the second trailer while playing the game, with shots from the sets of the first trailer.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Production is under way on season two of “The Twelve,” a crime drama which follows a controversial murder trial as seen through the lens of the 12 jury members, ordinary members of the public with their own realities and struggles. On completion, it will screen on Foxtel’s Binge streaming service.

ongoing Writers Guild Of America (WGA) strike took place.Speaking on the newly launched Strike Force Five podcast on Spotify – featuring Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and John Oliver – Kimmel spoke of his initial plans to retire from hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this year, though his perspective on the matter has since changed due to the ongoing writers’ strike.“I was very intent on retiring right around the time where the strike started,” Kimmel said on the premiere episode of the Strike Force Five podcast. “And now, I realize, Oh yeah, it’s kind of nice to work.”Seth Meyers quipped in response: “Kimmel, c’mon, you are the Tom Brady of late night… you have feigned retirement.” However, Kimmel insisted that he was serious about retiring: “I was serious, I was very, very serious.”In early May, the WGA announced that it was going on strike; Hollywood’s first in 15 years.

Selena Gomez has deleted an Instagram post about Only Murders In The Building after being accused of breaking strike rules.The singer and actor appears in the recently-released third season of the Hulu/Disney+ show alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.Earlier today (August 30), a post appeared on the singer’s official Instagram account which tagged the show’s official account. As part of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, members aren’t allowed to promote their work via interviews or social media posts.The post has now ben deleted, and it hasn’t been confirmed whether the post in question constituted rule-breaking, but some online have accused the post of being “tone deaf” amid the ongoing strikes.Following a break down in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), the latter’s national board of directors voted unanimously on July 13 to join writers by going on strike.It will mark the first time in more than 60 years that actors and writers have gone on strike simultaneously.SAG-AFTRA – Hollywood’s largest union, which represents 160,000 actors and performers – and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are seeking an increase in base pay and residuals in the age of streaming, while other negotiations relate to safeguards against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence in the industry.The WGA strike, which began on May 2, occurred following unsuccessful negotiations with AMPTP, who represent major Hollywood studios like Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Paramount, Warner Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: Amid growing speculation of internal divisions within the C-suites and a lack of any apparent path forward to end the writers and actors strikes, the chiefs of Hollywood’s biggest studios are set to gather today.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director On the latest episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s “Inside of You” podcast (via Insider), “Harry Potter” actor Bonnie Wright admitted that her character’s lack of screen time in the Warner Bros. film franchise was “a little bit disappointing.” Wright played Ginny Weasley across the eight “Harry Potter” movies, and she was just 9 years old when she filmed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Little did she know then that Ginny Weasley would become a prominent supporting character and the wife of Harry Potter in the books.

James Corden is to give his first industry interview since leaving the Late Late Show and returning to the UK at the RTS Cambridge Convention next month.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery is widely expected to name Mark Thompson, the former New York Times Co. and BBC leader who has demonstrated a knack for guiding media into digital realms, as the latest executive to oversee CNN, according to a person familiar with the matter, putting in place the fifth executive structure around the news giant since early 2022.

EXCLUSIVE: DC’s The Flash, the Justice League spinoff movie starring Ezra Miller in the title role, pulled in1.1M US households in it’s Live+2 Day window on Max per Samba TV. The Andy Muschietti directed Warner Bros. title hit Warners streaming service on Aug. 25.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zendaya is hoping to get evil in the near future. During a video interview for Elle magazine, the Emmy winner said she would like to play a villain role in the future. Zendaya noted that the majority of her output as been playing “the good guy,” which is a trend she wants to break.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In a cross-streamer promotion, Max subscribers will get a sampler platter of AMC+ programming in September and October — for no extra charge. Starting Sept. 1 and available through Oct.