FOX Business’ Jackie DeAngelis reports on the Disney earnings report, which exceeded expectations. Then, Capitalist Pig hedge fund’s Jonathan Hoenig, former investment banker Carol Roth, 1 Empire Group’s John Burnett and American University School of Public Affairs’ Capri Cafaro add their analysis.
Familiar faces will be front and center for reboots of two recent Disney classics that spawned a combined six movies and took in some $400 million at the box office.
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Rick Moranis, who starred in 1989's sci-fi comedy "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" will return for the update while "Gilmore Girls" star Lauren Graham will head up the new edition of the 1996 sports comedy, "The Mighty Ducks." Moranis and his movie family are slated for theatrical release while Gilmore's hockey team will be part of the lineup for the new streaming service, Disney+.
Joining Moranis will be Josh Gad, who will play Moranis' grown-up son, according to Deadline, who looking to be a great scientist like his father, accidentally shrinks his kids. The Moranis original had two spinoffs -- "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" and "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves," the latter of which was a direct-to-video release. The two theatricals made some $281 million.
The original "Mighty Ducks" featured Emilio Estevez in a tried-and-true Hollywood format, taking a group of young scrappy underdogs and leading them to a surprising victory. In the new series, the Ducks have become decidedly un-scrappy and are now a powerhouse on ice. But once Graham's son is cut from the Mighty Ducks team, she decides to take on the hockey legends and according to Deadline, in the "win-at-all-costs culture of competitive youth sports."
"The Mighty Ducks" was not only the basis of two sequels (the three movies combined made $119 million), it also inspired an animated series which aired on ABC and the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon. However, it's biggest spinoff was unquestionably the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, a 1993 NHL expansion team that was awarded to the Walt Disney Company.
For $50 million, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner saw synergies no media or sports company had ever experienced.
“Hockey is great for the Disney Co.,” Eisner told the Los Angeles Times in 1993, “It’s possible the Ducks will be on Channel 9 [then Disney-owned KCAL-TV], we’ll have Duck merchandise in our Disney Stores, and hockey-related shows on the Disney Channel. And I’m sure there will be some Mighty Duck parades down Main Street in Disneyland after we win 39 games our first season.”
According to Variety, at one point, the Mighty Ducks merchandise outsold all other NHL teams combined and accounted for an unbelievable 80 percent of the NHL’s $1 billion in merchandise sales.
However, by the early 2000s, a lack of success on the ice, a failure to launch an ESPN West-branded sports network that would have been the home of the Mighty Ducks and a work stoppage in the NHL combined to force Disney to sell the team for $75 million in 2005. The team was stripped of its Disney branding and is now just known as the Anaheim Ducks.
The reboots come at a time when Disney is capitalizing on remakes and continuations: The brand in 2019 became the first studio in history to surpass $10 billion in global box office revenue for one calendar year on the heels of films like “Aladdin,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Frozen II,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Toy Story 4."
The last time we saw Jim Carrey on the big screen was in 2016’s “Dark Crimes,” a disgusting drama that was partly set in a fetishistic Polish brothel where prostitutes were beaten for fun. That dreck seemed to be the end of an era; the collective obituary for Ace Ventura, Truman, the Cable Guy, Bruce Almighty and the rest of Carrey’s classic characters.
But an alien hedgehog has come to the rescue.
Carrey is back in peak comedic form playing the villainous Dr. Robotnik in “Sonic the Hedgehog,” a pleasant new family film based on the old Sega video game. If the title makes you wince, know the movie is a lot better than it deserves to be. You’ll actually care about what happens to the prickly blue dude, even if you never cared about getting to zone seven.
Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), a spunky extraterrestrial who can run at superspeed and emit electricity, has been hiding out from baddies on his home planet in idyllic Green Hills, Mont. But — have you heard? — Earth also has its fair share of evildoers, and when Sonic accidentally causes a blackout across the Pacific Northwest, one comes looking for him: Robotnik.
Carrey’s mad scientist is a mustachioed, wily, anti-social genius who tries to outsmart Sonic with an army of drones and other modern tech. The actor brings back many of his best quirks: that booming laugh, superfast talking, eyebrow acrobatics. Robotnik deserves a spinoff. Sonic evades the crackpot with some help from the local sheriff, Tom (James Marsden), who takes him on a road trip to find his missing bag of gold teleportation rings.
Courtesy Paramount Pictures and Sega of America
“Sonic the Hedgehog” is very much in conversation with “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu,” which is a sentence Pauline Kael never had to write. Both films take a cute, albeit flat, video game character, toss him in a buddy-cop story and coax out some surprising humanity. For instance, Tom is about to take a job with the San Francisco PD to escape dull Green Hills, but clear-eyed Sonic gives him a renewed appreciation for small-town America. That didn’t happen in the video game.
Director Jeff Fowler’s movie also takes full advantage of Sonic’s speediness for a number of solid jokes. In one of the best scenes, the blue guy sprints to resourcefully win a trucker bar brawl.
However, some things still jabbed at me like a certain animal’s spines. Considering Sonic is already a product, there is a preponderance of product placement here that goes beyond the usual Toyota or carefully placed bottle of Champagne. The film especially leans heavy on gags with tech brands, such as Uber and Apple, which don’t jibe with the character. Why would a naive extraterrestrial hedgehog who innocently refers to the police chief as “doughnut lord” make a joke about Amazon using drones to deliver packages? It’s a kids movie, not “Weekend Update.”
And, even after the much-publicized rejiggering of Sonic’s appearance after online backlash to the movie trailer, the whole movie retains a somewhat twee look like Main Street, USA at Disney World. I’m not saying they should’ve made “Mad Max,” but more reality would’ve raised the stakes. And the spikes.
In the wake of six new felony criminal charges against him, Jussie Smollett is fighting legal battles on two fronts as the city of Chicago is expected to continue its lawsuit to recover the cost of the investigation.
The former “Empire” actor, 37, was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack against him in January 2019. He is already facing a civil case brought on by the city of Chicago that seeks to have the actor reimburse the department for the $130,000 spent on investigating the alleged attack as well as other costs that reportedly total close to half a million.
In a statement to Fox News, the City of Chicago's Law Department said the city has no intention of dropping its civil case in the wake of the renewed criminal charges against Smollett.
“We look forward to reviewing the indictment and, as we have said previously, the City stands by our original complaint seeking to recover costs for Mr. Smollett’s false statements," the statement said. "We again thank the Chicago Police Department detectives for their hard work on this case the original investigation.”
Jussie Smollett now has six new charges against him connected to his alleged hate crime attack in January 2019.
(AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Smollett, who is black and gay, originally was charged last year with disorderly conduct for allegedly staging the hate crime attack with brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who worked on “Empire” with Smollett.
In January 2019, Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Chicago Subway sandwich shop at approximately 2 a.m. The actor alleged that the masked men taunted him with homophobic and racial slurs, beat him and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing.
Actor Jussie Smollett is still facing a civil lawsuit from the city of Chicago.
(AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
He said his attackers, at least one of whom he said was white, told him he was in "MAGA country" — a reference to President Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."
Harvey Weinstein's lawyer has insisted she would not engage in an intimate relationship without a signed "consent form". But who would a codified consent form actually protect - and would it stand up in court?
"If I was a man today in today's world, before I was engaging in sexual behaviour with any woman, today, I would ask them to sign a consent form," attorney Donna Rotunno told the New York Times Daily podcast.
When pressed, she added: "Why not? Take all the question out of it. Make it easier on everybody."
The 41-year-old said she had never been sexually assaulted because she had not "put [herself] in that position".
Ms Rotunno's answer did not make explicit reference to Mr Weinstein's accusers, but it mirrors his denials.
His ongoing defence to five rape and sexual assault charges - fronted by Ms Rotunno - hinges on the contention that the producer's actions were consensual, including in one "loving" relationship.
Mr Weinstein is one of more than 40 men accused of sexual misconduct defended by Ms Rotunno. Of these, she has lost just one.
Her words drew swift rebuke from victim's advocacy groups who said the "self-serving" comments amounted to victim blaming.
"The narrative that the ability to avoid rape is under the victim's control is probably good for her business, but has no basis in fact," said a spokeswoman for the Rape, Abuse and National Incest National Network - the largest anti-sexual violence organisation in the US.
But the comments also renewed discussion surrounding efforts to formalise consent in intimate relationships.
The now-defunct LegalFling app, for example, promised to "turn the #MeToos into #iFlings" by asking participants to request and gain explicit consent for specific sexual acts.
"Having an app that clearly shows the rules of engagement as well as personal preferences, can remove misunderstandings and prevent unintentional bad situations," LegalFling said on its website.
Another, We-Consent, asked participants to record a 20-second clip providing video confirmation that they wished to engage in a sexual act.
These two apps - and those like them - have failed to take off, which suggest that codifying sexual consent in any way remains a rarity.
Both suggested they provided a foundation for legal protection. LegalFling promised to enter users into a "live contract", giving participants quick access to cease and desist letters or penalty payments if a breach of contract occurred.
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But such an app, or even a notarised consent contract like that suggested by Ms Rotunno, would have minimal legal bearing.
"In theory, it might be an idea. But in practice, it's just not feasible," says Karen Truszkowski, a Michigan lawyer who exclusively represents children and young adults who have been sexually assaulted.
Any type of legal contract is effectively voided after a party breaches the contract, Ms Truszkowski said. But for all sexual encounters, consent can be withdrawn at any point, rendering such a contract legally useless.
"How would either party enforce that?" she says. "If someone changes their mind, he can't make her have some type of activity."
"There's no protection for either party, it doesn't protect the victim or the alleged perpetrator," Ms Truszkowski adds. "I think it's a misfire."
A consent contract could, perhaps, be used in court to speak to a person's state of mind, or to raise reasonable doubt on an accuser's claims, said Lori Anne Thomas, a Toronto defence attorney.
Electronic records suggesting a consensual relationship either before or after an alleged assault could add weight to a defence of mistaken belief in consent, she said. "But it's really not proof."
"It does not matter if you have ironclad agreements with two lawyers on either side: that person does not have to continue with that behaviour," Ms Thomas said.
And some advocates for victims of sexual violence argue that the emphasis on clearer consent is a distraction from the real problem: the actions of perpetrators.
Listening to Ms Rotunno, "what struck me is how ingrained the trope is of 'this is your fault'", said Sharyn Tejani, director of the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, founded in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which is dedicated to aiding victims of sexual harassment.
The insinuation is that "if you hadn't done X, you would be fine," she continued. "The idea that it's somehow on [the victims of sexual violence] to stop it."
"Lots of people sign contracts when they go into the workplace and terrible things happen to them," Ms Tejani said. "It's the fault of the person who's doing it and the system that allows it to happen."
Ms Truszkowski agrees.
"You're putting the blame on the survivor, or the victim," she says.
"Why do we have to keep teaching girls how to say no when we should be teaching our boys not to assault them?"
Smollett, 37, was an actor on the Fox show "Empire" on January 29, 2019 when he reported to police that he had been attacked in Chicago in an incident that ended with a noose around his neck. Police initially investigated the case as a possible hate crime.
After investigating, then-Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, said Smollett had paid brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo -- whom he met on the TV show -- $3,500 to stage the attack for publicity.
Johnson said Smollett, who is gay and black, wanted to take "advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career."
Smollett has repeatedly denied making up or orchestrating the attack.
Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx recused herself from the case in mid-February in responseto rumors she was connected to Smollett'sfamily. First assistant state's attorney Joe Magats became the lead prosecutor.
Smollett was initially indicted in March on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct, charges that were later dropped.
Dan K. Webb was assigned as a special prosecutor in August to investigate how local prosecutors handled the case.
A hate crime investigation
Smollett told detectives that he was walking back from a Subway sandwich shop at about 2 a.m. when he was attacked by two people yelling racial and homophobic slurs.
He said the attackers struck him, doused him with a chemical substance and put a noose around his neck.
With the rope and Smollett's sweater in their custody, authorities began to investigate a possible hate crime. Interviews with more than 100 witnesses and extensive camera footage led police to take the Osundairo brothers into custody as they came through airport customs returning to the US on February 13.
Police reveal a new story
But after speaking with the brothers, their attorney told police "something smelled fishy."
Further investigation led police to footage of the brothers buying supplies, including the rope, that would be used in the attack, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they also found that Smollett texted the brothers days before the incident saying he needed their "help on the low," phone records showed that he talked to them before and after he said the attack took place and prosecutors said that Smollett even took them to the scene to show them where it should take place to be caught on camera.
Chicago police no longer believed a hate crime had taken place. They believed Smollett made a false report and paid the brothers to stage an attack because, they said, he was dissatisfied with his salary.
Legal and career fall out
On February 20, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that Smollett was facing a felony charge of disorderly conduct for filing a false report. He was arrested the next day and soon after was released on a $100,000 bond.
The charges triggered a reversal from the "Empire" producers who had stood by Smollett. On February 22, to "avoid further disruption on set," they announced the decision to remove his character from the final two episodes of the season.
After his release, Smollett went to the set to apologize to the cast and crew but maintained his innocence, a person at the meeting told CNN.
In March, a grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts.
As a "deferred type of prosecution," Smollett agreed to forfeit his $10,000 bond and do community service, Magats said.
Smollett's attorneys saw it as vindication, but Chicago Mayor at the time Rahm Emmanuel described it as a "whitewash of justice" that sends a message that people with power and influence are held to a different standard.
With no criminal charges on the table at that point, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit against the actor to recover the more than $130,000 in police overtime utilized to investigate Smollett's claim of a hate crime.
The Osundairo brothers filed a lawsuit against Smollett's legal team for defamation over claims including that they attacked the actor and dealt steroids.
In August, Webb was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the decision to drop the charges -- and was given authority to file new charges as appropriate. Early this year, Chicago police issued a search warrant ordering Google to turn over a year of Smollett's personal data including search history, photographs, files and geolocation to Webb.
On Tuesday, Webb said in a statement his office "has now completed all of its investigative steps regarding Jussie Smollett, and has made the decision to further prosecute Mr. Smollett."
A Cook County, Illinois, grand jury returned a six-count indictment against him for making false reports to police that he was a victim of a hate crime
Smollett's attorney Tina Glandian said the special prosecutor "has not found any evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever related to the dismissal of the charges against Mr. Smollett."
"Rather, the charges were appropriately dismissed the first time because they were not supported by the evidence," Glandian said in a statement.
Smollett is scheduled to appear in court February 24.
CNN's Darran Simon, Faith Karimi, Jason Hanna, Lisa Respers France, Pierre Meilhan, Ray Sanchez, Sara Gonzalez, Ryan Young, Eliott C. McLaughlin, Amanda Watts and Brad Parks contributed to this report.
