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Ashley Cullins

Senior Business Editor

More from Ashley Cullins

Dick Wolf to Donate 200 Works of Art to The Met

Dick Wolf has made his mark on Hollywood — and soon the prolific producer will leave a lasting legacy at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Law & Order creator is gifting The Met more than 200 works of Renaissance and Baroque art — including rare pieces by Botticelli and Vincent van Gogh — as […]

Jeff Franklin Settles ‘Fuller House’ Fight

Nearly a year after an L.A. judge dismissed Jeff Franklin’s lawsuit over his Fuller House firing, he has voluntarily dismissed his appeal and reached a deal with Bryan Behar to also resolve their dispute over attorney’s fees. Franklin in April 2019 sued Behar alleging the showrunner orchestrated his ouster. He had been removed from Fuller […]

Activision Blizzard Reaches $54.8M Settlement to Resolve Pay Disparity, Discrimination Claims

Activision Blizzard has reached an approximately $55 million settlement with California’s Civil Rights Department to resolve pay disparity and discrimination claims, the agency announced on Friday. The gaming giant behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft had been accused of discriminating against women denying them promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing […]

‘A Christmas Story’ at 40: Peter Billingsley on Those 24-Hour Marathons and the Great ‘Die Hard’ Debate

The star of one of the most iconic Christmas films of all time has waded into one of the holiday season’s most divisive annual debates: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Peter Billingsley says yes — and in the season finale episode of his A Cinematic Christmas Journey podcast, which releases Dec. 15, he does […]

‘Jessica Jones’ Breakout Turns to ‘Designing Christmas’: A Chat With Susie Abromeit on Storytelling and Holiday Movies

‘Tis the season for holiday films. This year, Susie Abromeit is stepping into the spirit playing an interior designer tasked with a career-changing assignment — a Christmas charity ball — that requires working with a difficult, but handsome, stranger. Designing Christmas With You is the latest project from Abromeit’s four-picture deal with Great American Family, which was […]

Ava DuVernay Joins MasterClass Roster With Course on Filmmaking (Exclusive)

Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay is giving an up-close view of her work on the set of Origin in a new course on MasterClass — and The Hollywood Reporter has a first look at the teaser. DuVernay’s class “Reframe Your Thinking” will launch in early 2024. In the class, DuVernay shares how the skills she uses to […]

Marvel Settles Fight Over Spider-Man, Doctor Strange Rights

It looks like Marvel won’t be bringing its battle over the rights to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange into the new year. Attorneys for the company and the estate of Steve Ditko on Wednesday notified the court that they’ve reached an amicable settlement and expect a stipulation of dismissal with prejudice to be filed in the […]

‘Somm’ Director on Why His New Wine Doc Is Really a “Geopolitical Thriller”

When Jason Wise set out to make the fourth documentary in his Somm series it was intended to be a history and religion-centric film — “the Planet Earth of wine” — but after meeting a winemaker named Vahe Keushguerian in Armenia those plans changed. Somm: Cup of Salvation centers on Keushguerian and his daughter Aimee, […]

Why a Wave of High-Profile Sexual Assault Lawsuits Is Arriving Now

If it seems like the music industry is facing a moment of reckoning — this month, lawsuits were filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs, music mogul L.A. Reid and ex-Grammys CEO Neil Portnow — it might be, but it’s likely that these cases are making headlines all at once because a New York law that suspends […]

Improv Made Amy Poehler More “Resilient,” Now She’s Teaching a MasterClass

As an SNL alum and co-founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Amy Poehler knows a thing or two about improv. Now she’s sharing the lessons she’s learned throughout her career in a new MasterClass special. “The principles of improv have made me more creative, more resilient and more collaborative,” Poehler tells The Hollywood Reporter. “My […]

Next Gen 2023: The Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under

In 1993, Jurassic Park (the first one) was the No. 1 movie at the box office, The X-Files went to air and THR debuted its first list of the top 35 Hollywood execs 35 and under. In the 30 years that followed, Next Gen alums have created cinematic universes (Kevin Feige was selected in 2003) […]

Matthew Lillard on “Humbling and Exciting” ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Success and Creating Authentic Experiences for Fans

Matthew Lillard is in his Renaissance era. His latest film, Five Nights at Freddy’s, is smashing box office and streaming records, he has a new improv show premiering on Amazon’s Freevee next week, his Quest’s End whiskey sold out its first drop, and he runs a luxury gaming company, Beadle & Grimm’s, with four of […]