Jennifer Maas Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Roku reported its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing the company reached 81.6 million active accounts, an increase of 1.6 million from the previous quarter, and streaming hours rose to 30.8 billion, up from 29.1 million in Q4 2023. Wall Street forecast a loss per share of 61 cents on $848.62 million in revenue, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG, formerly Refinitiv. Roku reported adjusted loss per share of 35 cents on $882 million in revenue (+19% year over year).

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney deputy general counsel Jill Ratner has exited the Mouse House to join Sony Pictures Entertainment as executive vice president and general counsel. Beginning in her new role May 28, Ratner will be overseeing all SPE’s legal functions, compliance and labor relations, SPE music affairs, government/external affairs and corporate social responsibility teams. She will report directly to CEO Tony Vinciquerra.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Get your parasols out, because Netflix and Shondaland are launching a new “Bridgerton” fan event ahead of the show’s Season 3 premiere, and this one will encourage a great deal of strolling in the sun as you browse Regency-inspired merch. Per Netflix and Shondaland, on May 11 “a plaza in New York City will be transformed into the Bridgerton Promenade, a bustling Regency-era market reminiscent of the iconic ‘Bridgerton’ ‘Ton where fans are invited to immerse themselves into the world of ‘Bridgerton’ with interactive experiences, a showcase of the new products, photo opps, live merriment, exciting giveaways and more.” This marks “Bridgerton’s” second venture into live events, alongside the globe-trotting “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience,” which has been the site of nearly 50 proposals since it began touring.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Emily Henry‘s new romance novel, “Funny Story,” released April 23. “Happy Place” and “Book Lovers” author Emily Henry’s latest book “Funny Story” starts with its two leads, Daphne and Miles, sharing one very humorless tale: being left by their respective partners, Peter and Petra, a pair of childhood best friends who have realized their love for each other. And then Daphne gets kicked out of her house and has to move in with Miles, so Petra can move in with Peter.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Mattel Television Studios has tapped three new executives for key roles: Sidney Clifton as head of creative for animation, Cory Bennett Lewis as head of production, and Amy Suh as head of creative for live action, scripted and unscripted. The trio of execs will report directly to Mattel Television Studios chief Michelle Mendelovitz. “We are thrilled to welcome Sidney, Cory and Amy to Mattel,” Mendelovitz said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Netflix reported its first-quarter 2024 earnings Thursday, revealing it added a whopping 9.33 million paid subscribers. Analysts consensus estimates were for Netflix to add 3.93 million paid subs globally in Q1 (to reach 264.21 million), according to StreetAccount. Per Netflix, it has now climbed to 269.60 million subs as of March 31.

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.

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.

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 Five months ago, I spoke with Chance Perdomo about the Season 1 finale of “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V,” and I could feel his excitement vibrating through the phone. While any young star is likely to be thrilled to speak about their latest project, this interview felt palpably important to Chance, as it was the first time the 27-year-old British-American actor had been able to even promote Amazon’s “Gen V” due to his commitment to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which concluded one week after the finale aired.

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.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. and Legendary are hoping for a monster-sized opening weekend for “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and are tapping every method possible to pull in moviegoers, including partnering with Roblox to grab the attention of its young audience so that they will sway their parents to take them to the theater. Over the past two weeks, Warner Bros.

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 Take-Two Interactive has acquired video game developer Gearbox, the maker of the “Borderlands” franchise, from Embracer Group for $460 million. Per Take Two, the company “expects the transaction to deepen its successful relationship with Gearbox Entertainment and to provide increased financial benefits through a fully-integrated operational structure.” As part of the deal, Take-Two will acquire Gearbox IP, including “Borderlands” and “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands” franchises, games published by Take-Two’s 2K Games, as well as “Homeworld,” “Risk of Rain,” “Brothers in Arms” and “Duke Nukem.” Currently, Gearbox has six “key interactive entertainment projects in various stages of development,” per Take Two, which includes five sequels, two from “Borderlands” and “Homeworld” universes, and at least one “exciting new intellectual property,” all of which have been acquired in the sale.

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.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Advertisers plan to increase spend on in-video-game advertising by 40% this year, according to a new study, with total ad spend set to reach $8.5 billion in 2024 and increase to $11.5 billion by 2027. In IAB‘s “Changing the Game: How Games Advertising Powers Performance” report, which was revealed Tuesday, 86% of advertisers surveyed said gaming ad spend is “brand safe” and 85% are confident in their ability to measure the reach of games advertising.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Dancing With the Stars” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” staple Alfonso Ribeiro will host new wildlife series “Jack Hanna’s Passport” from Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG). The show will not star or feature wildlife expert “Jungle Jack” Hanna himself, but rather “take a fresh look at the most compelling stories from Hanna’s legendary career and his greatest past adventures across the globe.” “Jack Hanna’s Passport” will air weekend mornings starting April 6 on ABC owned and affiliated stations across the U.S.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Emily Henry fans had a field day last week when the author shared a St. Patrick’s day selfie of “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri and “Normal People’s” Paul Mescal. While Edebiri posted the original image to her Instagram, it was reposts from Henry and screenwriter Yulin Kuang that made fans start to assume that the actors may have been cast in one of the films being adapted from Henry’s romance books: “People We Meet on Vacation,” for which Kuang is writing the screenplay; “Beach Read,” with Kuang writing and directing; or “Book Lovers,” being developed by the company that produced Mescal’s “Aftersun.” The posts came just months after Mescal said in an interview that he hoped to star in a rom-com with Edebiri sometime in the next five years.

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 What does the future hold for Paramount Global? The odds of a seismic M&A event seem to be increasing: Private-equity firm Apollo Global has reportedly offered $11 billion for Paramount’s Hollywood studios. Short of carving up the “mountain of entertainment,” as the Paramount+ tagline boasts, analysts say the overture could drive up bidding for the entirety of Paramount Global — which is what Shari Redstone, who owns a controlling stake in the media conglomerate, is understood to prefer. Given that backdrop, let’s consider what Paramount Global comprises — and the potential effect of selling it off in its entirety or in pieces.

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.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Epic Games‘ “Fortnite” will now allow creators to build their own Lego Islands in the game using Lego templates, props, consumables and items. There are four different templates currently available to get players started using Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and Fortnite Creative. “Fortnite” creators who choose to publish their own Lego Islands and are signed up for the Fortnite Island Creator Program will be eligible for payouts.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer A Marvel video game, “1943: Rise of Hydra,” is set for 2025 release. The title, which hails from Skydance New Media and Marvel Games, will focus on characters Captain America and Black Panther (who at that time was King T’Chanda, also known as Azzuri) in World War II.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer This year’s “Candy Crush All Stars” tournament is set to be the “world’s largest casual mobile gaming tournament in history” with a $1 million prize pot. Per “Candy Crush” maker King, “The stakes are higher than ever in this year’s All Stars tournament, with the prize pot quadrupling to $1M from last year.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Former Activision Blizzard executive Chris Paulson has been named Skybound Games‘ executive vice president and general manager of games publishing. In his new role, Paulson will lead commercial strategy and go-to-market efforts for Skybound’s ambitious slate of games, including a new “secret project” Skybound revealed in connection with Paulson’s hiring announcement Monday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer When this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) kicks off Monday at the Moscone Center in San Fransisco, one topic is sure to be hanging over those in attendance at the five-day event: who has a job and who doesn’t — and who might still lose theirs soon. Rather than sweep the uncomfortable subject of the thousands of layoffs that have hit the video game industry recently under the rug, GDC leadership has specifically tailored GDC 2024’s programming lineup to address the issue head on and offer assistance to the out-of-work attendees looking to make the most out of participating in the 38th annual conference while unemployed.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer A new independent gaming studio led by vets of “Doom” developer id Software has launched with initial seed funding from Sisu Game Ventures. Named emptyvessel, the gaming studio will focus on developing AAA video games.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer New Drake-produced doscuseries “Magic City: An American Fantasy” debuted at SXSW Monday night to a roaring crowd packed with friends, patrons and fans of the project’s titular iconic Atlanta strip club, Magic City. After the first episode of the three-part doc, which does not yet have a distributor or platform attached, was screened, producer Cole Brown and director Charles Todd fielded a few questions from the audience, including “Was there anything too explicit to put in the documentary?” “We wanted to walk a fine line with nudity, in particular, where you can’t make a documentary about a strip club and not have any nudity, it just isn’t true to form, and you’re trying to tell the true story,” Brown said. “At the same time, we didn’t want it to be salacious, gratuitous.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Despite the popularity of Disney’s “Star Wars” franchise, Daisy Ridley says her career stalled when she finished her run leading the film trilogy with 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.” “There weren’t that many offers coming in,” Ridley said during a Sunday panel at SXSW in Austin. “It’s not that there wasn’t any… I remember finishing and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s quiet and strange.'” According to Ridley, she didn’t feel fully comfortable leading the latest “Star Wars” trilogy until she had reached the final movie, “The Rise of Skywalker.” “It took, honestly, making the third film till I felt like ‘OK, I’m good.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer When “My Dead Friend Zoe” filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes set out to adapt his own experiences as an Army vet onto the big screen, he made two very big changes: gender-flipping the main characters and two women of color in the roles. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales, “My Dead Friend Zoe” is a dark dramedy that follows Merit (Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Morales), her dead best friend from the Army.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Sony Pictures Entertainment is upping its head of television Ravi Ahuja to president and chief operating officer of the entire studio. While not explicitly stated by SPE chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra in his internal memo regarding Ahuja’s appointment to the No.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines will mark the 10-year anniversary of the HGTV show that rocketed them to home-reno fame with the debut of a new season, “Fixer Upper: The Lakehouse,” in June. Per its official description, this new edition of “Fixer Upper” follows Chip and Joanna as they take on a unique mid-century modern lakehouse flip near Lake Waco, a new neighborhood for the home renovation duo based in Waco, Texas.