Hollywood is in a protracted period of change. Consolidation amongst the old guard and the rising influence of the streaming services has somehow made this town less corporate, more creative, but also somehow more cautious at the same time. Throw in the facts the #MeToo movement has led to significant change (at least for the moment) and talent keeps somehow screwing up on social media, and it was quite a year.
READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019
Disney officially secures 20th Century Fox
It was proposed in 2017, but after Comcast got into a bidding war in May, there was some concern in the Mouse House the acquisition wouldn’t occur. Instead, the cable, NBC and Universal studios conglomerate ended up pushing Disney’s original $51 billion bid to $71.3 billion which was finally agreed upon in July. By October, Disney and Fox announced a new leadership structure for Walt Disney Television, Walt Disney Television Studios, and ABC Entertainment. By November rumors were flying the sale would officially be completed sometime in January after numerous regulatory agencies signed off. The merger of the assets has left a lot of questions to be still answered (How much will Disney control change Hulu? What will happen to the Fox Marvel titles? What is the long-term strategy for FX?) but the repercussions are already being felt across the industry as we’ll discuss later on.
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READ MORE: The 25 Best Films Of 2018
Click here for our complete coverage of the best and worst of 2018.
Peak TV still hasn’t peaked
Peak TV hasn’t peaked yet. In 2018, 495 original scripted programs were produced. That’s up slightly from 487 in 2018. Moreover, for the first time, streaming services provided the most with broadcast barely in second over pay cable. If you consider the fact that figure doesn’t include all of the new reality programmings in the either such as Netflix’s “Nailed It!” or even CBS bringing “Celebrity Big Brother” into the fold, you’ll recognize there is still a ton of content being produced. Will it slow down in 2019?
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READ MORE: The 50 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2019
James Gunn fired from “Guardians of the Galaxy 3”
In the midst of July’s San Diego Comic-Con, fan favorite director James Gunn was fired by Disney from helming “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” one of the few Marvel Studios titles in pre-production at the time. Gunn came under fire for tweets he’d made years ago regarding pedophilia and rape, among other topics. Tweets that were brought to the forefront by conservative twitter after Gunn criticized pundit Ben Shapiro. Many believed Disney acted too hastily and many of the “Guardians” cast voiced their support for him as fans waged a campaign to get him reinstated. That hasn’t happened, but the talent reaction was so negative that the film was effectively put on ice even with rumors of new directors being considered. That being said, when a new installment will actually come to pass, however, remains to be seen.
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READ MORE: The Best TV Shows Of 2018
“Black Panther” exceeds all expectations
Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Studios had high box office expectations for Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” but they had no idea it would become a cultural phenomenon. Not only did the superhero flick become the most critically acclaimed superhero film since “The Dark Knight” (88 on Metacritic), but it earned a staggering $700 million in the U.S. and $1.3 billion worldwide. The domestic figure makes it the no. 3 highest grossing film in history after “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avatar.” The global figure of $646 million puts it at no. 9 all-time overall, an incredible achievement for an industry that still believes African-American led films won’t play overseas. “Panther” also hit home for many in the Black community who finally saw themselves represented on screen and in the fictional nation of Wakanda, a country more technically and socially advanced than most of the world. As the year ends, “Black Panther” has earned numerous critical accolades and finds itself on the precipice of an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
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READ MORE: The Worst Films of 2018
Disney+ is revealed, and Netflix starts canceling Marvel Series
Not only did Disney acquire Fox, but it officially announced its Disney+ streaming service that will launch in 2019. The Netflix competitor will debut with dedicated channels for at least Pixar, Walt Disney Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and Nat Geo. Coincidently, less than a month before Disney’s official announcement, Netflix canceled both Marvel Television’s “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist.” This was something of a surprise considering the critical response of the former, but things got more curious when Netflix let the seemingly popular “Daredevil” go a few weeks later. Why may you ask? Because according to independent audience research it was still one of the service’s most popular shows. The future of Marvel Television on Netflix is clearly short (a second season of “The Punisher” and a third season of “Jessica Jones” arrive in 2019), but the bigger question is whether these now popular characters (and the actors who play them) will find new life on Disney+. Reportedly, the original Netflix-Marvel deal says they cannot appear on any other service for two years, and Marvel Studios (not Marvel Television) is guiding the MCU content for the new service.
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Academy floats Popular Film honor; it does not go well
It’s been a rough year for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but nothing was more of a debacle than when the organization floated the idea of a “popular film” Oscar to membership just before the fall festival season began. The idea seemed to be a concession to ABC who strategically cornered AMPAS leadership after weak ratings for the 90th Oscars (something their own promotion and having ABC talent Jimmy Kimmel return as host might have had something to do with). Despite few details on the Academy’s plans, the public and internal backlash were more than AMPAS ever anticipated and led to The Academy putting it on hold for another year. Recently, AMPAS president John Bailey has insisted the new category or honor “isn’t dead yet,” but with blockbusters such as “Black Panther” and “A Star is Born” looking like safe Best Picture nomination bets, he may have a hard time convincing members it’s truly necessary.
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Kevin Hart quits as host of the Oscars
Another public relations disaster for the Academy came with the hiring of Kevin Hart as Oscars host. The popular actor and stand-up had a string of box office hits on his resume and killed it as a presenter in 2016. His announcement as 2019 Oscar host came relatively late in the game on Dec. 4. Most hosts are announced by October which meant the Academy had a hard time finding someone they wanted to take the job (and/or someone they and ABC agreed on). Less than three days later, Hart dropped out of the proceedings. Hart was criticized for tweets he’d made in 2009 and 2010 referencing gay men, homosexuality and the word “fag.” According to Hart, the Academy asked him to apologize for the statements, but he refused, saying he’d already apologized before. No one has found these apologies and Hart won’t say when they occurred and, instead, just decided to drop out. At publication, the 91st Academy Awards is still without a host and may go without one for the first time in 30 years.
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“Crazy Rich Asians” is a U.S. phenomenon
Warner Bros. hoped their Jon M. Chu-directed adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s bestseller would turn into a breakout hit, but despite the fact it was the first movie with an all-Asian cast in 25 years they could not have anticipated the emotional reaction many viewers had. Inclusion is a big theme of 2018 from films such as “Black Panther” and TV shows such as “Pose.” “Crazy Rich Asians” meant a tremendous amount to the Asian-American or Asian-North American community specifically as it earned $174 million domestic (the first romantic comedy to earn over $100 million since “Trainwreck” in 2015). But ask stars Constance Wu, Michelle Yeoh or Henry Golding, and they’ll tell you the personal reactions they’ve received from grateful fans have been the most passionate of their careers.
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Shondra Rhimes, Kenya Harris, and Ryan Murphy jump to Netflix
As Netflix grows, the streaming service will increasingly face new competition from entertainment conglomerates such as Disney-Fox and Comcast who are prepping competing projects and have vast libraries of popular shows and movies to offer. Moreover, one of Netflix’s key issues is that popular shows that air on other networks first or are evergreen, such as “Friends,” still rank as their most popular content. In order to counter that, Netflix wooed three of television’s most popular and acclaimed creators, Shondra Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” “How To Get Away With Murder”), Kenya Harris (“Black-ish”) and Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “Feud,” “American Crime Story”), to leave leave ABC and Fox/FX, respectively, for even more creative freedom with the streaming service. Money talked, but so did the ability to venture into new creative realms their previous networks simply couldn’t provide.
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Les Moonves fired as CBS CEO as CBS-Viacom merger put on hold
The #MeToo movement may have hit a peak early in 2018, but as the year rolled on victims continued to speak out whether it was in front of the U.S. Senate or to journalists covering the entertainment business sector. Following the downfall of Harvey Weinstein, the biggest fish to meet his maker was longtime CBS CEO, Les Moonves. A “star” to Wall Street and many in the media biz, Moonves was fired after decades of sexual harassment were made public, a problem that was seemingly systemic at CBS and CBS News. That would have been a major story in and of itself except for the fact that Moonves was in the middle of a legal battle with Sumner and Shari Redstone to either halt or control a potential merger of CBS and Viacom dictated by the family who has controlling shares in both companies. Moonves is now gone and while CBS cleans ups its mess the boards for both companies have agreed to not move forward with merger talks for at least two years. That decision has only made long-term planning at both conglomerates (Viacom controls MTV, Paramount Pictures, BET and Nickelodeon) somewhat precarious. Especially with other entities interested in both parties.
