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While the Emmys drew mixed reviews, the film festivals closed to strong applause this week, not only for their movies (we’d forgotten some) but for their star turnout (forgot a few of them, too).

The rules of survival in Hollywood have always fascinated me. “Consistency is the key – always present yourself to studios as a total bitch,” Bette Davis once confided. “Never delude yourself into thinking that a star can become a loyal personal friend,” advised Billy Wilder. “Since studios always lie, a producer’s mandate is to come up with bigger lies,” said David O. Selznick.

News junkies this week are agitated over the disappearance of CNN’s Reliable Sources, but cable news network chiefs have a deeper concern: the disappearance of reliable anchors.

As actors ponder their Emmy acceptance speeches for Sept 12, one wonders whether some incipient Adrian Lester envy might creep into their thoughts. Lester, the Black British actor, won a Tony nomination for playing both a German Jewish banker and a female character in The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway. At the Emmys, actors like Jennifer Coolidge and Steve Martin will likely win kudos for essentially playing themselves, with great aplomb.

David Zaslav is a busy man, but I think he would benefit from a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock. They had this in common: Facing cycles of disruption, each decided to call a “time out” to gain perspective and design new strategies.

A growing number of consumers are defying the media maze by paying a visit to their neighborhood movie theaters. It’s simpler to buy a ticket than re-subscribing to Netflix or Disney+.

Hollywood is spending a lot of time and money in its effort to steer around the culture wars, but some contend it’s a hopeless mission: A growing sector of society is so polarized that “left” and “right” have melted into a blur. Hence a same-sex kiss between Lightyear power rangers stirs angst in Florida and bans in the Middle East, while Elon Musk goes viral when he confusingly announces he’s no longer “a liberal” (he’s still the world’s richest man).

Where do great movies come from? When Netflix started creating its own shows a decade ago, Ted Sarandos and his colleagues put that question to select creatives around town. It was a smart exercise – but most respondents insisted there was no answer.

With our nation increasingly divided, several media gurus over the July 4 break decreed that Hollywood owed filmgoers a “feel-good-about-America” movie. Something unifying and patriotic, like a contemporary Yankee Doodle Dandy.

“It was like a palace of pitching. There’s never been any place like it.”

“Unless you happen to be Tom Cruise, launching a new movie today is a study in frustration. Or self-destruction.”

Having paid my $8.50 to see Top Gun: Maverick last weekend, my local cineplex inadvertently improved my appreciation of the film. For three minutes the sound clicked off and, minus dialogue, I was instantly caught up in the soaring jets, hyper-caffeinated cast and the durable charisma of its star. Then sound returned, the story unfolded and reality set in: This is not really a plot but a superbly crafted business plan, half video game and half military recruitment film. It’s the perfect structure for a Tom Cruise genre-bashing blockbuster.

It was an intimate cocktail party. Tom Cruise wore a cheerful smile so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to test it. “For someone who’s just been fired, you look very happy,” I said. “Sumner Redstone figured you would be angry by the press release.”

Box office is big news this week, not so much for its totals as for its totemic significance. Throngs will greet Top Gun: Maverick, but will kids join the grownups to see a nearly 60 year-old actor starring in a sequel to a 36 year-old hit? At the other end of the audience spectrum, will seniors conquer their torpor to catch the new Downton and even lure their kids – the movie is dubiously titled Downton Abbey: A New Era to motivate the youth quadrant.

The American Cinematheque has announced David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is the newest addition to the group’s board of directors.Zaslav spearheaded the recent transaction between AT&T and Discovery, Inc.

Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this occasional column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business.

For a brand that touts its genius at “storytelling,” the Magic Kingdom faces ever-growing problems in telling its own story.

The timing seemed propitious: Eager to entice new subscribers, CNN+ was about to unfurl a multi-part exposé of Fox News and its 91-year-old patriarch, Rupert Murdoch. It would be juicy material for the new streaming platform, with newsies on the left hammering their rivals on the right. How could it fail?

Show business thrives on risk — even existential risk. Take this Broadway moment when new shows are opening at a pace that shocks even grizzled veterans – 15 in April alone. Of course, some will quickly be shuttering due to Broadway’s two dire enemies: critics and Covid. Ticket buyers must navigate a complex landscape.

It is a story steeped in action and intrigue, but is it true?

Chris Rock was supposed to deliver the big laugh, not the big slap, but to comedy practitioners the Oscars debacle seemed an appropriate metaphor for the state of their craft.

Bob Chapek, the Disney CEO who is under siege, hopefully does not watch much TV. If he does, he’ll see a succession of fellow CEOs who seem prone to self-destruction — Adam Neumann of WeWork, Travis Kalanick of Uber, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, etc. — portrayed on buzzy TV series. Viewing these shows back to back, the stolid Chapek might wonder whether the CEO is extinct as a folk hero.

Pre-Oscar week always spells angst for Hollywood, but will voters feel better if a “feel good” movie is crowned Best Picture?

IASTE president Matthew Loeb pushed back today against the plan to pre-tape several categories in an attempt to tighten up Sunday’s Oscarcast, saying, “We believe a deviation for some crafts and categories but not others is detrimental.”

He is a TV news star: His views are populist, his subtext racist. His advocacy is passionate and his TV audience is vast, despite suspicion that he pursues an agenda above and beyond his own.

As events continue to play out, “Z” has instantly become the most ominous symbol in the world’s culture and economy.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorLongtime Variety reporter Dave McNary was remembered as a consummate journalist who deeply loved covering the movie business during American Cinematheque’s Tribute to the Crafts, held Monday night at Santa Monica’s Aero Theatre.Sharon McNary, a longtime journalist for KPCC-FM who was married to Dave McNary for 21 years, was on hand to accept a posthumous award for her husband, presented by Variety co-editor in chief Cynthia Littleton. Dave McNary died in 2020 at the age of 69 after suffering a stroke.“I never saw anyone work as hard as he did,” Sharon McNary told the crowd.She noted that her husband loved this time of year, when film kudos are in full swing.

For the past seven years, Chris Licht’s favorite comic has been Stephen Colbert. As the new chairman of CNN, Licht’s focus has instantly shifted to the brilliant ex-comic from Ukraine named Volodymyr Zelensky, whose heroics are the story of the hour.

Gregory Peck was angry. As president of the Motion Picture Academy, the star announced he would veto the admission of a new voting member on grounds that he lacked professional qualifications. The Academy was becoming too populist in 1967, he argued. It must retain its elite status.

David Zaslav, who is famously gregarious and high-energy, has been oddly quiet lately with an absence of media interviews or social events on his schedule. Even his regular booth at the Polo Lounge has been somnolent.

Even as it celebrates its 27 Oscar nominations this week, Netflix unveiled its mega-slate of 86 titles for 2022. That’s far more than any traditional studio this year.

“Why can’t he learn how to give a better speech?” With the State of the Union address looming next month, Joe Biden’s Hollywood critics and supporters increasingly ask that question as they see his approval ratings tank even as his policies gain favor.

“I’m done.”

The press agent was in a dour mood. “Once upon a time this was the hot season,” she told me. “The town came to life.”

A pained observation: The only intriguing stories on Hollywood this week consisted of obits – all kinds of obits. There were obits reminding us of the remarkable lives of Sidney Poitier, Peter Bogdanovich and Betty White. Also speculative obits about the Golden Globes, sentimental obits about the extinct 20th Century Fox and even speculative obits about MGM and ICM.

I have always been a sucker for comeback stories, especially at a time like this when careers veer dramatically between triumph and cancellation – though some comebacks may raise questions (see below).