What I’m Hearing: Ari’s Body Slam, WGA Smoke Screens, Leo’s Day in Court

PREVIEW VERSION

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Welcome back to What I’m Hearing, coming at you from an undisclosed Spring Break location…

Programming notes: This week on The Town, Lucas Shaw and I debated Apple’s motivation for movies in theaters, Chris Lee revealed new reporting on Marvel’s CGI problems, and author Matthew Ball assessed the latest video game adaptations. Also, I broke down Disney’s various controversies on The Business (here), and explained how Bob Iger threw a Reedy Creek pie in Ron DeSantis’s face on CNBC (here) and NPR (here).

Discussed in this issue: Rupert Murdoch, Leo DiCaprio, Ari Emanuel, Lisa Nishimura, Meredith Stiehm, Mooky Greidinger, Arianna Bocco, Scott Stuber, Bill Kramer… and Peter Guber’s Israeli adventure.

But first…

DiCaprio Hits Up D.C.’s Hottest Club: Federal Court

Fresh on the heels of the Gwyneth Paltrow ski trial circus, I’m told that Leonardo DiCaprio will be...

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Decoding the Writers Strike Smoke Signals

Rumors of progress between the guild and the studios may be overstated as the two sides hardly negotiate in the negotiating room and guild leadership has leaned into a scorched-earth, down-to-the-wire strategy.

JONATHAN HANDEL

What sake pairs best with Kabuki theater? That’s the question I’m asking as the Writers Guild and studios finish a second week of negotiations ahead of their May 1 contract expiration. No, this isn’t a backdoor attempt to inaugurate Puck’s Wine & Spirits vertical—although why not?—but rather to say that if you think the WGA and studio alliance have spent the last ten business days cooperatively working through the tough issues with sleeves rolled up, you definitely need a drink. Or several...

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