How Roblox’s Growing Entertainment Division Teamed Up With Warner Bros. to Drive Kids to ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Video game publishing giant Take-Two Interactive is laying off 5% of its workforce, approximately 600 employees, and canceling several projects currently in development as part of a cost-cutting initiative across the company behind “Grand Theft Auto.” Take-Two filed paperwork with the SEC Tuesday regarding the downsizing, which it says will be “largely complete” by the end of 2024. “The Company estimates that it will incur approximately $160 million to $200 million in total charges in connection with the Plan,” per Take-Two’s filing.

Coachella debut, Ice Spice has made a guest appearance during PinkPantheress‘ recent New York concertAfter play Coachella for the first time ever on April 13, rapper Ice Spice left California to make her way down to New York, where her friend and collaborator PinkPantheress was performing. PinkPantheress had brought her ‘Capable of Love’ tour to New York, where she treated fans to a tight setlist, packed with her biggest hits – and a surprise or two.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor David Porter, an ad industry veteran and former Turner exec, is joining Warner Bros. Discovery as head of ad sales research, data and insights. Porter reports to Jon Steinlauf, Warner Bros.

Warner Bros is getting back in business with The Color Purple director Blitz Bazawule, with the studio landing rights to the tentatively titled Black Samurai with Bazawule directing. He wrote the pic on spec and will also produce under his Inward Gaze banner.

John Rood, a former longtime exec at Disney and Warner Bros, is joining consulting and research firm Magid as Chief Brand & Communications Officer.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The “Jet Lag: The Game” creators Sam Denby, Ben Doyle and Adam Chase have set their next reality travel competition series, “The Getaway,” to debut this summer on indie streamer Nebula. The show, which unlike “Jet Lag” (where episodes drop later on YouTube) will be available exclusively on Nebula, follows six creators on a road trip through the American West as they compete in a game of social strategy and deception. While the majority of the details surrounding “The Getaway’s” format are being kept under wraps by Denby’s Wendover Productions, Variety has confirmed the cast includes Foreign Man in a Foreign Land, Matt Krol, Morning Brew’s Dan Toomey, Georgia Dow, Patrick “Patch” Lacey and Steven Bridges.

Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker – which was pulled from TIFF in 2022 over “rights issues” — starts a theatrical debut today at the IFC Center, moving to LA’s Landmark’s Nuart next weekend and expanding thereafter with about 85 booking so far — a nice outcome for the mixed-media coming-of-age dark superhero parody that “had gone into into hibernation mode” until Outfest LA Film Festival, said Frank Jaffe, whose distribution company Altered Innocence acquired it then. It’s U.S premiere garnered a Special Mention in the North American Narrative Feature Competition.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Buck Bothered and Bewildered,” the fourth episode of “9-1-1” Season 7 on ABC. Apart from a sticky synergy stunt at the Bachelor mansion, the 100th episode of “9-1-1” didn’t feature any emergencies that rival the most off-the-wall disasters the show has experienced during its seven-season run. But it did conclude with potentially the most shocking moment the Ryan Murphy-produced first-responder show has ever seen: a kiss between the ostensibly straight Evan “Buck” Buckley (Oliver Stark) and another male character.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Neal Freyman and Toby Howell’s “Morning Brew Daily” is coming to indie streamer Nebula in a deal that will see media company Morning Brew launch four news-focused channels on the platform. Beginning Monday, Nebula subscribers will have access to Morning Brew, “Morning Brew Daily,” “Good Work” and “Maxinomics.” Here are the descriptions for the respective channels, per Nebula: As part of the recent reveal of its upcoming slate, creator-owned platform Nebula announced plans for “Nebula News.” According to Nebula, the addition of Morning Brew’s content “signals the first of many channel expansions.” “Devin was integral behind the scenes to the development of Nebula’s early successes, so he has a better understanding than most of what we’re building and why,” Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Selena Gomez is finally leaving her house. Following four seasons of her pandemic-born HBO Max show “Selena + Chef,” shot entirely in her own kitchen, the “Only Murders in the Building” star will join chefs in their own environment, rather than over Zoom, for the debut of her new series “Selena + Restaurant” May 2.

EXCLUSIVE: Action megastar Keanu Reeves has partnered with Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens to co-produce a documentary on the life story of Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, the iconic athlete who introduced mixed martial arts to the world.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Sega is selling off “Company of Heroes” developer Relic Entertainment and laying off 240 employees across Sega’s Europe and UK-based teams, including Creative Assembly and Sega Hardlight. The cuts make Sega the latest video game company to downsize its staff in 2024.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Giancarlo Esposito‘s new AMC crime drama “Parish” is getting the cable network’s red-carpet rollout treatment, airing ad-break free immediately after Sunday’s “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” finale and then without commercials all the way into a first look at “The Book of Carol,” the second season of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.” Simultaneously debuting on AMC+, “Parish” will premiere at 10:15 p.m. ET and open with a brief “presented by” message from Crown Royal, the episode’s lone sponsor. Then, it will run without interruption.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Fox Entertainment is restructuring its operations into three divisions: network, studios and sales. As part of this re-org, Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade has promoted Michael Thorn to president of Fox Television Network and upped Fernando Szew to head of Fox Entertainment Studios.

In what is no surprise, Warner Bros Motion Picture Group is getting into business with its Dune and Wonka star Timothée Chalamet, and has hammered a multi-year first look feature film deal with the Oscar nominee as actor and producer.

Julianna Margulies and rising star Cole Escola were among the special guests at Alan Cumming‘s second and final night of his one-man show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer A video game based on HBO’s dark teen drama “Euphoria” is a key suggestion from this year’s edition of Fandom‘s Inside Entertainment study, which highlights the “entertainment and gaming tug of war.” Per the user-contented-centric entertainment platform’s 2024 survey, which was released Monday, drama is potentially the top “untapped” genre for gaming companies, as drama fans who play video games prefer these genres: role-playing (RPG): 73%, adventure: 72%, simulation: 62%, sandbox/open world: 62%, puzzle: 60%. “What do we know about ‘Euphoria’ and why was it such a big hit? Obviously, you have an amazing cast, storyline — but what is the story? And it was a really interesting take on the genre at the time, because if you think about the other shows that were coming out, they are a lot more positive than ‘Euphoria,'” Fandom’s director of sales research and insights Ally Saraniti told Variety.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Sesame Street” parent company Sesame Workshop has named Dannette “Danni” Hill its first-ever chief people officer. In this newly created role, Hill will oversee human resources, leading a division that supports “innovative best practices and organizational excellence” for Sesame Workshop, per the global impact nonprofit.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “We Were Dangerous” is a surprisingly funny film for a movie that’s central conflict is the sterilization of a group of young women on the fringes of society in 1950s New Zealand. Knowing the project, which debuted at SXSW in Austin March 8, is executive-produced by from Taika Waititi and Carthew Neal’s Piki Films certainly informs how the film approaches its troubling topic — much like the production company’s Holocaust-set “Jojo Rabbit” — with such levity, the majority of the credit for the heartfelt tone goes to a trio of women: writer Maddie Dai, director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu and producer Morgan Waru.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “The Barefoot Contessa” Ina Garten has set her invitation list for the fourth season of her Food Network series, “Be My Guest With Ina Garten,” including actress Jennifer Garner. Premiering April 21 at 12 p.m.