AMC Networks’ James Dolan: Media Can’t Consolidate Until It Figures Out How to Monetize Content

13D and 13G reports. For those outside of the inside-baseball world of corporate finance: Forty-five days out from the end of the year, companies are required to have filed 13D and 13G disclosure forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are required for investors who amass 5% or more of a company’s total stock issue. Starting with this primer on how to monitor big-dollar investment bets, Variety will offer a quarterly survey of how the media and entertainment sector is faring among the world’s most sophisticated stock pickers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor AMC Networks’ Sentai Filmworks unit reached an agreement with Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) that provides exclusive rights for AMC’s anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service to distribute part of MBS’s future programming lineup in all global markets outside of Asia. The pact is Sentai’s biggest-ever deal for anime content, according to the company. The output deal encompasses MBS’s programming slate based on a collection of popular manga and light novel titles. All of the shows will be available exclusively on HIDIVE outside of Asia. Among the shows covered in the Sentai-MBS output is “The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior” (pictured above). The new show, scheduled to premiere in July 2023, is a 12-episode series based on hit fantasy light novel by Tenichi and published by Ichijinsha. The series is being directed by Norio Nitta and written by Deko Akao with animation by OLM.

Michaela Zee editor Woody Harrelson steps onto the court once again (“White Men Can’t Jump,” “Semi-Pro”) in the heartfelt sports comedy “Champions.” Directed by Bobby Farrelly, the remake of the 2018 Spanish film “Campeones” sees Harrelson as Marcus, a former minor-league basketball coach who leads a team of intellectually disabled players called the Friends. “It’s really hard to make an authentically funny and emotionally vulnerable film, and I thought they did such a wonderful job,” Kaitlin Olson, who plays Alex in the movie, told Variety Monday night at the New York premiere of “Champions.” “I met all the Friends and they’re such an incredible cast. They all showed up ready to play, and we just had the most amazing time.”

James Cosmo reckons his career is going into reverse – and finally, in his 70s, he’s doing a romcom.

When it was announced that AMC Theatres was going to adopt a new ticketing structure, dubbed Sightline, reactions were largely negative. (I might have ranted a bit myself.) Basically, the plan feels like a new way for AMC Theatres to punish its frequent customers by raising the prices on the “best” seats while offering a discount on what are clearly terrible seats that probably shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Foxtel Group and Warner Bros Discovery have renewed their multi-year content agreement, under which the Australian pay-TV operator and streamer will remain the home of HBO, Max Originals, Warner Bros and Discovery programming in Australia.

Goldston said in a statement. “I’m thrilled to work with this brilliant group to create premium content based on the most compelling true-life stories.”   The launch of Goldston’s new non-fiction division is the latest in a series of initiatives driving Candle Media’s growth, beginning with the acquisitions of Hello Sunshine and Moonbug Entertainment in 2021, followed by eight additional acquisitions in the company’s first 12 months of operations. Candle has close to 1,000 employees, with offices in Los Angeles, London, New York, Nashville, Montreal, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, and Singapore. “We have known James for many years, through our collective time together at Disney,” Mayer and Staggs added.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Former ABC News president James Goldston is joining Candle Media, founded and led by ex-Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, to head a new division focused on TV shows and movies based on true stories. Goldston will serve as president of the new division, which will produce scripted and nonscripted features and series “inspired by true stories,” according to Candle. Goldston spent 18 years at ABC News, including seven years as president, before exiting in 2021. overseeing all aspects of America’s number one news division, including #1 rated “Good Morning America” and “World News with David Muir.” He also led ABC News into the streaming era with a series of successful podcast and documentary projects for Hulu and Disney+, including “The Dropout,” produced by Rebecca Jarvis and her team, which became a successful podcast, documentary and Emmy-award winning scripted series for Hulu, and John’s Ridley’s “Let it Fall,” a duPont-Columbia Award-winning documentary on the LA riots. His teams have won five Edward R. Murrow Awards for Overall Excellence, and numerous other prestigious honors in journalism, including a Peabody, duPont-Columbia, and Emmy awards.

Former ABC News Chief James Goldston has joined Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media to head up a new division focused on scripted and non-scripted features and series inspired by true stories. Goldston will serve as President of the new group. 

Lily James is just one of the big names attending the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards in London on Sunday evening, and the actress looked stunning when she made her entrance on the red carpet.The Cinderella actress wore a white Tamara Ralph gown which had a daring cross-hatch detail across the bust, making her overall look beautifully eye-catching. Lily smiled for photographs on the red carpet before her way into the ceremony, which is being held at the Royal Festival Hall.WATCH: Princess Kate's incredible BAFTA looks from over the years It comes soon after the Mamma Mia actress was spotted reuniting with her ex-boyfriend, Matt Smith earlier this week.

Pippa Middleton has shown off her stunning toned figure in a gorgeous white swimsuit as she enjoyed a sun-soaked family holiday abroad. The mum-of-three recently jetted off to St. Barts, an island in the Caribbean, with her racing car driver husband James Matthews, 47.

James Dolan, interim executive chairman of AMC Networks, made a rare appearance on the company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, addressing a major exec change and the strategy for facing a complicated operating environment.

AMC Networks posted strong fourth-quarter results, with total revenue rising 20% over the prior-year quarter to $964.5 million, while earnings per share jumped almost fivefold to $2.52.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer AMC Networks reported its fourth-quarter 2022 earnings Friday, two days after naming Kristin Dolan, wife of the company’s owner, James Dolan, its new CEO. The company says it ended 2022 with 11.8 million paid streaming subscribers across all of its targeted streamers: AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE. Those digital offerings are in addition to the company’s linear channels AMC, BBC America (a joint venture with BBC Studios), IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and IFC Films. That’s a slight increase of 700,000 customers from the end of Q3, when AMC Networks reported it had reached 11.1 million subs. Meanwhile, U.S. ad sales fell 12% in the quarter.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer AMC Networks has named Kristin Dolan CEO. Dolan, a longtime AMC Networks board member and wife of the company’s owner, James Dolan, will begin her new role Feb. 27. Her appointment to the position comes months after Christina Spade, formerly CFO of the company, stepped down in November after a very brief stint as chief, following the exit of interim CEO Matt Blank. Once Spade left, James Dolan was named interim executive chairman while a search began for another AMC Networks CEO, and announced that “large-scale layoffs” would be hitting the company amid a stall in growth at streaming AMC+ and its smaller platforms Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE.

The fate of AMC Networks has always been determined by its controlling shareholders, the Dolan family, and now Kristin Dolan will get a chance to get the ailing programmer back on track.

The Wall Street Journal that Kristin Dolan has been a steady presence inside AMC, attending meetings and keeping an office on the executive floor. She founded the marketing analytics company Firm 605 and is a member of AMC Networks’ board.The executive search, which is reportedly being conducted in partnership with recruiter Sucherman Group, follows the departure of former CEO Christina Spade in November after just three months in the role.Representatives for AMC Networks and Sucherman Group did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.Following his appointment as interim executive chairman, Dolan announced a “large-scale layoff affecting about 20% of AMC Networks’ staff and “cuts to every operating area.”“As I am sure you are aware our industry has been under pressure from growing subscriber losses,” Dolan wrote in a memo to employees at the time.

I Am Cuba would probably still be locked away in a vault in Russia,” Scorsese continued. “He also produced films that really counted, by Werner Herzog, Paul Schrader, Norman Mailer, Jean-Luc Godard, Barbet Schroeder, Agnieszka Holland and others.

Top 10 Highest Paid Entertainers of 2022, thanks to the majority sale of his production company Plan B in December. According to Forbes, the actor/producer earned $113 million after all fees were paid and also earned $30 million from acting roles in “Bullet Train,” “Babylon” and “The Lost City.” Through Plan B, Pitt has produced Oscar-winning films “Moonlight,” “12 Years A Slave” and “The Departed.” Pitt, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” also took home a Best Picture statuette for “12 Years a Slave.” He was outranked by Tyler Perry, who founded his own studio in Atlanta in 2015. Perry raked in $175 million in 2022 and has an estimated $1 billion fortune.The complete top 10 on Forbes’ Highest-Paid Performers of 2022:1.

departure of former CEO Christina Spade in November after just three months in the role. That same month, interim executive chairman James Dolan announced a “large-scale layoff” affecting roughly 20% of its staff and “cuts to every operating area.”Additionally, AMC pulled the plug on Season 2 of “61st Street” starring Courtney B.