The Business

George Clooney and his long-time producing partner Grant Heslov talk about their new movie “The Midnight Sky,” a post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama, now on Netflix. Heslov and Clooney discuss recent sea changes in the industry, especially at Warner Brothers, the studio they called home for 20 years. Plus, the politically engaged pair addresses the recent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

Bryan Fogel won Netflix its first feature documentary Oscar with his Russian doping exposé “Icarus.” Critics at Sundance raved about his latest film, “The Dissident,” about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. So why didn’t Netflix call to lock up the rights? Fogel shares why his new documentary had streamers running scared. And Tom Ortenberg, the executive who had the guts to distribute the film, explains why his company Briarcliff Entertainment wanted to take it on. 

Abigail Disney’s father Roy was Walt's nephew. For her, being a Disney came with so much baggage that she almost ditched the name altogether. In part two of our interview, Abigail Disney explains why she feels it’s her duty to speak out when the company that bears her family’s name seems to have gone astray. And banter buddies Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw look at the year to come in Hollywood. 

The pandemic pummeled production. WarnerMedia started a war with its windows-shattering sneak attack. And Quibi, we hardly knew you. Banter buddies Matt Belloni and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw join Kim Masters for a 2020 mega banter. Plus, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans ranks the streamers. 

Abigail Disney's father was Walt’s nephew Roy. He led a shareholder revolt in 2004, when he got fed up with Michael Eisner's management of the Mouse House. Abigail Disney keeps close tabs on the company and has lots to say about current management. As 32,000 theme park workers lost their jobs while top executives had their full salaries restored, Disney says, “I don’t believe the company and the magic can survive this kind of corporate behavior.”

With Hollywood fuming following WarnerMedia’s announcement that all its 2021 movies will stream on HBO Max the same they open in theaters, prolific producer Jason Blum weighs in. Blum has long thought the theatrical window should be shorter, but not totally smashed. And Kim Masters and Matt Belloni banter about the continued industry blowback directed at WarnerMedia and Disney’s recent investor presentation.

WarnerMedia announced it will put Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 movie slate on HBO Max the same day those films open in theaters. The move will change theater-going as we know it. Then, Kamilah Forbes created a stage version of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s powerful book “Between the World and Me” in 2018. She explains why and how she adapted again, this time for the screen. Her film version of “Between the World and Me” is now on HBO Max.

Director Aneesh Chaganty wanted an actress who really uses a wheelchair to star as a teenaged girl with disabilities in his new thriller, “Run.” And she needed to be able to do action scenes. He found Columbia University student Kiera Allen. Now on Hulu, “Run” tells the story of a mother-daughter relationship gone extremely awry. It’s the first thriller to star an actor who uses a wheelchair since the 1940s.

Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos has weathered some big storms in the movie business, though nothing compares with COVID. But even as productions struggle and theaters are shuttered, Gianopulos has faith that one day, people will go back to the movies.

Greta Thunberg began a school strike movement in 2018 outside the Swedish parliament. It gained momentum in Sweden, then spread through the rest of Europe and the world. Filmmaker Nathan Grossman documents her rise to become one of the world’s most prominent climate change activists. His new Hulu documentary is “I Am Greta.”