Jonathan Dolgen, Former Viacom Entertainment Chief and Fox Executive, Dies at 78

Andrew Cuomo is blaming cancel culture for his 2021 political downfall.

In the 26th episode of Deadline Strike Talk — which for below the liners signifies half a year without a paycheck that hasn’t come from Uber fares or waiting tables — host Billy Ray hits on a zeitgeist theme that gets voiced a lot by people who just feel that the business isn’t as remotely as exciting or near as much fun as it was before the folly that signatories put themselves into by chasing Netflix as it became the preeminent streamer. The result has put just about every other streamer pursuit in a position of being money losers that have strained the economics, and accelerated the demise of those conglomerates’ traditional networks, and so many other things.

Brent Lang Executive Editor FilmNation Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to Sean Baker’s new romantic dramedy film “Anora.” Following the acquisition, FilmNation sold rights internationally to Le Pacte in France, Lev in Israel, Kismet in Australia and New Zealand and Focus Features and Universal Pictures International in the rest of the world, excluding North America. The film was written and directed by Baker, who is best known for directing “Tangerine” and “The Florida Project.” It shot on location at the beginning of the year in Brooklyn and stars Mikey Madison, who appeared as Manson Family follower Susan “Sadie” Atkins in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Veteran character actress Elizabeth Hoffman, perhaps best known for her role as Beatrice Reed Ventnor, mother of the titular sisters played by Swoosie Kurtz, Sela Ward, Patricia Kalember and Julianne Phillips, on NBC’s ’90s drama series Sisters, has died. Hoffman passed away of natural causes on Aug. 21 at her home in Malibu, CA, her son Chris confirmed to Deadline’s sister pub THR. She was 97.

EXCLUSIVE: EVO Entertainment Group will begin operating as Elevate Entertainment Group, the company said Monday. Simultaneously, EEG has acquired Austin-based arthouse chain Violet Crown Cinemas.

EXCLUSIVE: Transatlantic production outfit MindRiot Entertainment has teamed with Trinity College, Dublin, to host a conference on the future of cinema and artificial intelligence led by veteran Microsoft exec Jonathan Foster. 

Columbian actress and beauty queen Alejandra Villafañe has passed away aged 34, after battling cancer for several months. She announced she'd been diagnosed with cancer in May and had been undergoing treatment in the months that followed. On 21 October, Alejandra sadly died.

The Windsors and The Crown, has died aged 66.Her agent confirmed that she passed away in hospital on Friday (October 20), after receiving a cancer diagnosis a month earlier.Gwynne, who played Camilla in the Channel 4 royal parody The Windsors, and Lady Susan Hussey in Season 5 of Netflix drama The Crown, also had a celebrated career on stage, receiving Tony and Olivier Award nominations.From "Billy Elliott" onstage to "The Windsors" and so much more onscreen, Haydn Gwynne was a total original. Every performance was matchless.

Michaela Zee Singer-songwriter Dwight Twilley, known for such hits as “I’m on Fire” and “Girls,” has died. He was 72. Church Studio, where Twilley recorded several songs including “I’m on Fire,” announced the news on Facebook, writing, “He peacefully departed this world, surrounded by the love of his life, Jan, and close friends.

A letter signed by more than 700 members of the Hollywood community is calling for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas as part of their attacks on Israel.

Jonathan Bailey, Caitriona Balfe and Dan Levy snap a group photo while attending a dinner celebrating the Loewe Foundation / Studio Voltaire Award held on Tuesday (October 10) in London.

Jonathan Dolgen, a respected longtime entertainment industry executive known for his tough dealmaking and attention to budgets while chairman of Viacom and earlier as President of Columbia Pictures’ film unit and head of television at Twentieth Century Fox, died Monday of natural causes at UCLA Medical Center. He was 78.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Shucked” will embark on a North American tour in the fall of 2024, one that will see the charmingly corny Broadway musical make stops in the likes of Austin, Chicago and Los Angeles. The tour will begin performances at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island before playing in over 30 cities in its first season. Currently, the show is scheduled to also hit Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Dallas, Durham, East Lansing, Fort Lauderdale, Greenville, Houston, Los Angeles, Madison, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, Schenectady, St.

Troubled musicals, like troubled friendships, can often seem like defeats lying in wait, sponging up every last second of loving care, effort and good intention. So Maria Friedman’s smartly tended production of that most troubled of stage properties, the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth backwards musical Merrily We Roll Along deserves all the applause – and ticket-buying business – it’s getting at Broadway‘s Hudson Theatre.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Raffaele Annecchino, the former president of Paramount Global who left the company last year, is launching a consultancy firm called Blue Ocean Media Partners. In its first deal, he has forged a partnership with Spain’s Mediapro Group, which is looking to expand its footprint in the Middle East.

“The events of the last couple of days have been quite difficult for everybody,” said filmmaker Jonathan Glazer as his film about a Nazi commander at Auschwitz screened Sunday at the New York Film Festival.

Caroline Brew editor Nick Wilkinson, veteran director of casting for theater and ABC Television, died on the island of Kauai on Sept. 29. He was 69.

Lady Cathy Ferguson, the wife of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, has died at the age of 84, the family have announced. The Ferguson family confirmed the death of Lady Cathy in a statement on Friday afternoon.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Most people don’t get a text from Bono in the middle of the night. But Jon Kamen, the CEO, chairman and co-founder of RadicalMedia, found himself fighting off jet lag on a recent business trip to Japan as he fielded messages from the U2 frontman. That pair had worked together on the One campaign, the musician’s push to eradicate AIDS and poverty in Africa, and this time Bono needed help launching ticketing for the band’s upcoming residency at Las Vegas’ newly launched venue, the Sphere.

Naman Ramachandran Disney sci-fi epic “The Creator” and Lionsgate U.K.’s horror franchise entry “Saw X” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office — and the race was almost too close to call. “Saw X” won the three-day total with £1.92 million ($2.31 million), while “The Creator” was just behind with £1.89 million ($2.27 million).