ROUGH MORNING TV’S A.M. NEWS MAINSTAYS ARE GRAPPLING WITH FORCES BEYOND THEIR CONTROL BY BRIAN STEINBERG P.46 PETER TRAVERS “THE MOVIE HITS YOU LIKE A SHOT IN THE HEART.” FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION DAN DELEEUW, MATT AITKEN, RUSSELL EARL, DAN SUDICK DISNEYSTUDIOSAWARDS.COM © 2020 MARVEL Untitled-25 1 1/17/20 1:36 PM P.4 6 CONTENTS Dawn Patrol Morning news programs shake up the status quo in order to draw viewers in an ever-growing field. By BRIAN STEINBERG P.5 2 ‘Mockingbird’ Takes Flight The Broadway hit sets a one-day Madison Square Garden show to bring the story to 18,000 kids. By BRENT LANG P.5 7 Awards Contenders Variety examines international film, documentary and shorts Oscar hopefuls. Plus: Art Directors Guild, WGA and VES kudos. DAYTIME DUO Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw anchored “Today” in the late 1970s and early ’80s. (COVER) ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN STAUFFER; (THIS PAGE) EVERETT COLLECTION (THIS PAGE) BRIAN STAUFFER; BY ILLUSTRATION (COVER) VARIETY 3 CONTENTS P.8 7 Multi-hypenate 50 Cent to be honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard TOP BILLING 17 MOURNING KOBE BRYANT The Laker legend’s influence stretched further than the basketball court ALSO INSIDE 19 FEATHERING HER NEST Cathy Yan talks about moving from indies to directing the 10 big-budget “Birds of Prey” FIELD NOTES Musings 24 STRICTLY BUSINESS on hot topics Media giants are making smaller moves — with an eye 12 to the future PLUGGED IN What’s trending 28 IN THE RUNNING at Variety.com Issa Rae talks with Variety about what made her want to 20 become a filmmaker TOP 100 Variety’s list of the top-gross- EXPOSURE ing domestic and internation- al films of the past year. 33 PARTIES Oscar nominees luncheon; P.4 2 Grammy parties; SAG Awards; Sundance events Japanese rock star 44 DIRT Tak Matsumoto lists “Back to the Future” star his BevHills spread Christopher Lloyd puts Monte- cito, Calif., home on the block ARTISANS 97 TURNING BACK TIME Quentin Tarantino and his production team brought 1960s L.A. back to life 99 DUAL VISION Director-lenser Reed Morano paired up with DP Sean Bob- bit for ‘The Rhythm Section” “It was based on a lot of jujitsu, a REVIEWS lot of wrestling, tackling people to the ground, a little bit of crossbow, P.1 0 1 a little bit of gun training. Huntress 101 FILM needs to be able to do a little bit “On the Record” of everything.” “On the Record” review Mary Elizabeth Winstead, at the opening of 103 TV Harleywood in Hollywood, on training for her “Hillary” role in “Birds of Prey” p.40 50 CENT: LILI FORBERG/SHUTTERSTOCK; WINSTEAD: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; ON THE RECORD: MARTYNA STAROSTA/SUNDANCE INSTITUTE STAROSTA/SUNDANCE MARTYNA ON THE RECORD: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/SHUTTERSTOCK; WINSTEAD: LILI FORBERG/SHUTTERSTOCK; 50 CENT: 4 VARIETY Untitled-25 1 1/17/20 1:40 PM ® INCLUDING B E S T O R I G I N A L SCREENPLAY STORY BY BONG JOON HO | SCREENPLAY BY BONG JOON HO AND HAN JIN WON A“ MASTERFUL PIECE OF SCREENWRITING AWARDS” DAILY FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION NOMINEEWINNER NOMINEE BEST ORIGINAL BEST ORIGINAL BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY SCREENPLAY SCREENPLAY WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA NATIONAL SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS BAFTA KI-WOO You said you had a plan. What are we going to do about-- (quiet) The basement. Ki-Tek is silent for a long moment. His face is cold and emotionless. KI-TEK Do you want to know how you make a foolproof plan? KI-WOO How? KI-TEK Don’t plan at all. Have no plan. Ki-woo, confused. KI-TEK (CONT’D) If you plan, something will always go wrong. That’s life. 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