Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who most memorably played Ruth in the “Mudd’s Women” episode of the original Star Trek, has died her family announced. She was 76.
09.12.2022 - 00:03 / deadline.com
An increasingly aggressive Federal Trade Commission will sue to block a proposed $69 billion merger between Microsoft and leading video game developer Activision Blizzard announced early this year. It said the deal would hand the tech giant and Xbox maker too much control of top videogame franchises, “enabling it to harm competition in high-performance gaming consoles and subscription services by denying or degrading rivals’ access to its popular content.”
The acquisition of the company behind Call of Duty — which would be Microsoft’s largest ever deal as well as the biggest ever in the video gaming industry — “would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business,” the FTC said in its complaint issued Thursday.
The agency, newly emboldened under chair Lina Khan and with an expanded vision of its antitrust mandate, has become increasingly front of mind as companies consider deals. It recently, and successfully, sued to block Paramount Global’s $2.2 billion sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House. The coming lawsuit will be one of the biggest tests of FTC’s ability to check the power of big tech. It did not sue to block Amazon’s acquisition of MGM.
Today the agency pointed to Microsoft’s “record of acquiring and using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles,” including in its acquisition of ZeniMax, parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Microsoft made several Bethesda’s titles including Starfield and Redfall Microsoft exclusives despite assuring European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles, the FTC said.
“Microsoft has already shown that it can
Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who most memorably played Ruth in the “Mudd’s Women” episode of the original Star Trek, has died her family announced. She was 76.
They’re heading home. Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani will celebrate the holidays together at the country singer’s ultra-private 1,300-acre property in Oklahoma.
Yesterday, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson decided to post an update about the “Black Adam” franchise. Keep in mind, the previous update was about how the film was profitable and things were looking good for the film, financially.
We all knew changes were afoot, and new studio chief James Gunn revealed today that more DC Studios announcements would arrive in January, but today, there’s been one more casualty added to the old Water Hamada-led DCEU. “Black Adam 2” will not be moving forward.
A star-studded proposal! Rosie O’Donnell shared that her son Blake O’Donnell popped the question to his girlfriend, Teresa Garofalow Westervelt, during a performance of Phantom of the Opera.
EXCLUSIVE: BET has signed a first-look non-scripted deal and a second-look scripted deal with Mary J. Blige and her production company, Blue Butterfly.
Darren Aronofsky‘s latest film, “The Whale,” hit theaters last weekend, so now audiences get a glimpse at Brandon Fraser‘s buzzy lead performance (read The Playlist’s review of the film here). But what does Aronofsky have next on the horizon? EW reports (via The AV Club) that it may be a musical; and not just any musical, but one of his 2010 smash hit “Black Swan” with Natalie Portman.
EXCLUSIVE: Christina Milian (Step Up: High Water) and Steven Strait (The Expanse) will topline the thriller Body Language from MarVista Entertainment, which has wrapped production. Others set for the film directed by Cory Miller, which marks Milian’s first as a producer, include Annie Gonzalez (Flamin’ Hot), Gregg Wayans (Kidding) and Robert Belushi (Ballers).
When Chadwick Boseman passed away a couple of years ago, there were folks talking about possible replacements for the actor in the role of T’Challa in the “Black Panther” franchise. A name that was brought up for that role, and really any sort of Wakandan role, was John Boyega.
EXCLUSIVE: Blake Shelton and Carson Daly are brewing up impressive ratings at USA Network with their new game show, Barmageddon.
Refresh for updates…The Black List — the annual roundup of Hollywood’s best-liked unproduced screenplays — has begun unveiling the titles selected for 2022.
Cooking for Christmas! Blake Shelton revealed some of his and Gwen Stefani‘s favorite holiday traditions — and the couple are big proponents of the culinary arts.