Thursday, March 21, 2019

The Kevin Tsujihara Fallout

As Disney closes its massive, $71.3 billion deal to acquire 21st Century Fox—a merger that will give Bob Iger’scompany the reins to Fox’s film and TV studio, FX, National Geographic, and Fox’s 30 percent stake in Hulu—one of the studio’s chief rivals is roiling in the wake of a major scandal. Earlier this week, the once-mighty Kevin Tsujihara—the first Asian-American to run a major Hollywood studio—announced his resignation from Warner Bros. following allegations of sexual impropriety. As Nicole Sperling reports, his exit has left Warner in chaos: “People are despondent. [Losing him] is a big change,” one former executive told her. “A new boss will be announced, and people are wondering, ‘What will happen to my job?’” Their anxiety is compounded by the fact that Tsujihara is leaving in the midst of AT&T’s acquisition of WarnerMedia, a deal the ex-exec was well-suited to negotiate, thanks to his business experience and background in finance and tech. Of course, as Sperling writes, the practically-minded Tsujihara also had another side: “the good-time party boy who enjoyed the limelight and could display a reckless lack of judgment.” It’s that Tsujihara who ultimately sealed his fate at Warner Bros.

Elsewhere in HWD, Sonia Saraiya is enthralled by The Act, Hulu’s new true crime-based limited series; K. Austin Collins wonders if anything will ever puncture the myth of Elizabeth Holmes, which got even more air in HBO’s The Inventor; Sperling previews Rocketman, a biopic with Bohemian Rhapsody-sized ambitions; and Yohana Desta tries to gather some string on Christopher Nolan’s top-secret next film.