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Disney plans to vacate storied Fox lot in Century City by year's end

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Disney plans to vacate storied Fox lot in Century City by year's end

Two of entertainment’s most famous brands, Fox and Disney, are parting ways in Century City.

Walt Disney Co. acknowledged Tuesday that it will be vacating the storied Fox Studio Lot, where it has been the primary occupant since Disney bought most of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019. The $71.3-billion deal did not include the studio real estate. However, it featured a provision that Disney would move in as a tenant for at least seven years.

Disney’s lease for space on Fox’s Pico Boulevard property in Los Angeles expires next March.

The company has no plans to renew its lease and instead plans to leave by year’s end, said Disney insiders who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The move puts pressure on owner Fox Corp. to find new tenants for the soundstages and office space where movies and television shows have been made for generations. Famous movies brought to life there include “Miracle on 34th Street,” “The Seven Year Itch” and “The Sound of Music.” The lot also is home to Fox Sports, the Fox broadcast network and the writers’ room for “The Simpsons.”

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Fox receives $50 million a year for leasing out the space, according to regulatory filings.

Disney is the largest tenant, but Fox executives say they are bullish on finding new occupants.

“The Fox Lot is second to none in terms of location and premium production and post-production facilities available,” Fox said Tuesday in a statement.

Disney has gradually shed its Fox DNA since the deal. In 2020, Disney retired “Fox” branding from the logos and assets it acquired from Fox to minimize confusion with properties that remain part of Murdoch’s empire, including Fox News.

Since the acquisition, dozens of television studio and FX network executives have remained in their longtime offices on the lot — a popular perk for those who live on Los Angeles’ Westside, allowing them to keep their shorter commutes.

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For the past six years, Fox’s Building 103, on the lot’s southeast corner, has been a Disney outpost.

But Disney has spent the past year taking steps to relocate teams to Burbank, where Disney has its own historic studio lot and an adjoining complex that houses ABC and Disney Animation.

Disney’s goal is to bring together a creative hub for its television groups, including the executives who had remained on the Fox lot, according to knowledgeable people who were not authorized to comment.

The company declined to comment on its plans for the Disney-owned television productions that remain on the Fox lot, including dramas “9-1-1” and “9-1-1: Lone Star,” produced by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear.

Early contours of the Disney-Fox transaction — orchestrated by Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and Murdoch — had envisioned the Century City compound as one of the assets included in the sale to Disney.

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But Murdoch’s oldest son, Lachlan, who serves as chief executive of Fox, insisted his company hold onto the prime real estate where Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe and Mel Brooks once worked. (Studio founder William Fox purchased 99 acres of land between Santa Monica Boulevard and Pico Boulevard 101 years ago. Fox, after taking a financial beating on the 1963 film “Cleopatra,” sold off much of its backlot, which now makes up a large swath of Century City.)

Lachlan Murdoch, whose office is in the Art Deco administration building, viewed the Fox lot as part of his company’s beating heart. He also recognized the value of the soundstages and ancillary production facilities, which have been in high demand during the gush of production to support the launch of several streaming services.

However, production in Los Angeles has not recovered from the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, and many shoots have been lured to other states and countries with generous tax incentives.

The shift comes as Fox has been seeking city approval for a $1.5-billion expansion of its Century City location, a project envisioned to add more than 2 million square feet of new building space, including multiple new soundstages, postproduction facilities and a new office building that fronts Avenue of the Stars.

As part of that redevelopment, four historic bungalows near the center of the lot are scheduled to be moved to another location closer to Olympic Boulevard.

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Disney’s departure will not dampen Fox’s ambitious plans for its Century City expansion, according to an executive who was not authorized to speak publicly. The Fox project is in the preliminary approval phase with the city.

Disney scooped up some valuable franchises through the Fox acquisition, including “Avatar,” “Alien” and Marvel’s “X-Men” and “Deadpool.” Disney also gained control of streaming service Hulu, which maintains its home base in Santa Monica.

Still, some analysts and investors say that Disney vastly overpaid for the properties, which put the Burbank entertainment behemoth in a weakened position when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

That spring, Disney took on additional debt after its theme parks shuttered, movie theaters closed and sports leagues called time out.

Disney has looked to cut costs for the last couple of years.

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Movie Reviews

Jeremy Schuetze’s ‘ANACORETA’ (2022) – Movie Review – PopHorror

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Jeremy Schuetze’s ‘ANACORETA’ (2022) – Movie Review – PopHorror

PopHorror had the chance to check out Anacoreta (2022) ahead of its streaming release! Does this meta-horror flick provide interesting story telling or is it a confusing mess.

 

Let’s have a look…

Synopsis

A group of friends heads to a secluded woodland cabin for a weekend getaway, planning to film an experimental horror movie. As the shoot progresses, the project begins to fall apart—until a real and terrifying presence emerges from the darkness.

Anacoreta is directed by Jeremy Schuetze. It was written by Jeremy Schuetze and Matt Visser. The film stars Antonia Thomas (Bagman 2024), Jesse Stanley (Raf 2019), Jeremy Schuetze (Jennifer’s Body 2009), and Matt Visser (A Lot Like Christmas 2021)

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My Thoughts

Antonia Thomas delivered an outstanding performance as the female lead in Anacoreta. It was remarkable to watch her convey such a wide range of emotions with authenticity and depth. I was continually impressed by her ability to switch seamlessly between different dialects. I absolutely loved her delivery of the dialogue of telling The Scorpion and the Frog fable.

Anacoreta employs a distinctive, meta-horror style of storytelling. The narrative follows a group of friends creating a “scripted reality” horror film, and as the plot unfolds, the boundary between their staged production and their actual lives becomes increasingly blurred. This was interesting, but at the same time frustrating as a viewer.

Check out Anacoreta on Prime Video and let us know your thoughts!

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Todd Meadows, ‘Deadliest Catch’ deckhand, dies at 25

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Todd Meadows, ‘Deadliest Catch’ deckhand, dies at 25

Todd Meadows, a crewmember on one of the fishing vessels featured on the long-running reality series “Deadliest Catch,” has died. He was 25.

Rick Shelford, the captain of the Aleutian Lady, announced in a Monday post on Facebook and Instagram that Meadows died Feb. 25. He called it “the most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”

“We lost our brother,” Shelford wrote in his lengthy tribute. “Todd was the newest member of our crew, he quickly became family. His love for fishing and his strong work ethic earned everyone’s respect right away. His smile was contagious, and the sound of his laughter coming up the wheelhouse stairs or over the deck hailer is something we will carry with us always.

“He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” he added. “Todd will forever be part of this boat, this crew, and this brotherhood. Though we lost him far too soon, his legacy will live on through his children and in every memory we carry of him.”

A fundraiser set up in Meadows’ name described the deckhand from Montesano, Wash., as a father to “three amazing little boys” who died “while doing what he loved — crabbing out on Alaskan waters.”

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According to the Associated Press, Meadows died after he was reported to have fallen overboard around 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, told the AP. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.

Meadows was a first-year cast member of “Deadliest Catch,” the Discovery Channel reality series that follows crab fishermen navigating the perilous winds and waves of the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The show debuted in 2005. No episodes from Meadows’ season has aired.

Deadline reported that the show was in production on its 22nd season when the incident occurred, with the Shelford-led Aleutian Lady being the last of the vessels still out at sea at the time. Production has subsequently concluded, per the outlet.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Todd Meadows,” a Discovery Channel spokesperson said in a statement that has been widely circulated. “This is a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

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Meadows is the latest among “Deadliest Catch” cast members who have died. Previous deaths include Phil Harris, a captain of one of the ships featured on the show, who died after suffering a stroke while filming the show’s sixth season in 2010. Todd Kochutin, a crew member of the Patricia Lee, died in 2021 from injuries he sustained while aboard the fishing vessel, according to an obituary. Other cast members have died from substance abuse or natural causes.

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‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

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‘Hoppers’ review: Pixar’s best original movie in years

“So it’s like Avatar?” one character quips in Disney and Pixar’s “Hoppers,” bluntly translating the film’s high-concept premise for the sugar-fueled kids in the audience. And yes, the comparison is apt. The story follows a nature-obsessed teenage girl who manages to quite literally “hop” her consciousness into the body of a robotic beaver in order to spark an animal rebellion against a greedy mayor determined to bulldoze their forest for a freeway. 

It’s a clever hook. The kind of big, elastic idea Pixar used to make look effortless. “Hoppers” does not reach the rarified air of “Up,” “Wall-E,” or “Inside Out,” but after a stretch of uneven originals like “Turning Red” and “Luca,” and outright misfires such as “Elemental” and “Elio,” this feels like a genuine course correction. The environmental messaging is clear without being preachy, the animals are irresistibly anthropomorphized, and the studio’s once-signature emotional sincerity is back in sturdy form.

Pixar can afford to gamble on originals when it has a guaranteed cash cow like this summer’s “Toy Story 5” waiting in the wings, but “Hoppers” earns its place in the catalogue. Director Daniel Chong crafts a warm, heartfelt film that occasionally strains under the weight of its own ambition, yet remains grounded by character and theme. Its meditation on conservation and animal displacement feels timely in a way that never tips into after-school-special territory.

We meet Mabel, voiced with bright conviction by Piper Curda, as a child liberating her classroom pets and returning them to the wild. Her moral compass is shaped by her grandmother, voiced by Karen Huie, who imparts wisdom about nature’s sanctity. True to both Pixar tradition and the broader Disney playbook, this beacon of guidance does not survive past the opening act. Loss, after all, is Pixar’s favorite inciting incident.

Years later, Mabel is still fighting the good fight, squaring off against the smarmy Mayor Jerry, voiced with slick menace by Jon Hamm. He plans to flatten the glade where Mabel and her grandmother once found solace. Mabel’s resistance feels noble but futile. The animals have already mysteriously vanished, the machinery is coming, and her last-ditch plan involves luring a beaver back to the abandoned forest in hopes of jumpstarting the ecosystem.

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That’s when the film gleefully pivots into mad-scientist territory. At Beaverton University, Mabel discovers her professor, voiced by Kathy Najimy, has developed a device that can project human consciousness into synthetic animals. The process, dubbed “hopping,” allows Mabel to inhabit a robotic beaver and infiltrate the forest from within. It’s an inspired escalation that keeps the film buoyant even when the plotting grows predictable.

Her new posse includes King George, a lovably beaver voiced by Bobby Moynihan with distinct Bing Bong energy; a sharp-tongued bear voiced by Melissa Villaseñor; a regal bird king voiced by the late Isiah Whitlock Jr.; and a fish queen voiced by Ego Nwodim. As is often the case with Pixar, even in its lesser efforts, the world-building is meticulous. The animal hierarchy, complete with titles like “paw of the king,” is layered with jokes that play for kids while slyly winking at adults.

The plot ultimately follows a familiar template. Scrappy underdog rallies community. Corporate villain twirls metaphorical mustache. Emotional third-act sacrifice looms. At times, you can feel the machinery working a little too cleanly. Pixar, and Disney at large, has grown increasingly reliant on sequels and established IP, and “Hoppers” does not radically reinvent the wheel. In an animated landscape where films like “K-Pop: Demon Hunters,” “Across the Spider-Verse,” and “Goat” are pushing stylistic and narrative boundaries, being safe and sturdy may not always be enough.

And yet, there is something refreshing about a Pixar original that remembers how to tug at the heart without squeezing it dry. “Hoppers” is playful, peppered with cheeky needle drops, and builds to a sweet emotional catharsis that may or may not have left this critic a little misty-eyed. It feels earnest and engaged. 

“Hoppers” may not be top-tier Pixar. But it is a welcome return to form, a reminder that the studio still knows how to marry big ideas with a bigger heart.

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HOPPERS opens in theaters Friday, March 6th.

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