After “The Diplomat” established the complex marriage between Keri Russell’s Kate and Rufus Sewell’s Hal, Season 2 digs into how the couple’s dynamic shifts after tragedy strikes.

“What we’re looking at is what happens after a trauma, what happens after a tragedy … the daily irritations and power struggles that happen that can be blown away in this kind of incident,” creator Debora Cahn told TheWrap. “It blows out all of the smoke of the mundane of a relationship, and suddenly, you’re dealing with the real heart of it.”

While Kate and Hal were inching towards a divorce by the onset of the Season 1 finale, the finale delivered an explosion in its final moments that left Hal’s fate hanging in the balance. Season 2 picks up just afterwards, with Kate dropping everything to tend to Hal, whose critical condition luckily stabilizes soon after Kate’s arrival.

“Something so monumental where something happens to a partner, it just refocuses everything,” Russell told TheWrap. “There’s a lot in our show that the up for debate about their competitiveness as a couple, or their push and pull and their hate and love and all of those things, but I think beyond all of that, they are each other’s protector. When this happens, you just drop everything, and everything else feels ridiculous and frivolous.”

While Russell admits Kate was “certainly entertaining other options” in Season 1, particularly via her alliance with British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), she points to the direction give by director Alex Grave, which saw Kate not even make eye contact with Dennison after learning about Hal’s accident. “She’s like, ‘That is done — that is so over,'” Russell said.

With Kate still reeling from the discovery that British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) was the one behind the terrorist attack that sent her to London, Russell adds that her discovery “only brings her closer to Hal,” saying “she trusts him from before all of this — she knows she can trust him, regardless of any sh–ty things she’s ever done to him. She knows that she can count on him.”

“The energy between them and the way they are is kind of unstoppable,” Sewell added.

With Kate and Hal standing as a (mostly) united front to take on the unfolding global crisis before them, Cahn admitted that she didn’t realize the marriage would become as central to the Netflix series as it has.

“It turns out that it really became a portrait of a marriage, and it was nice to know that that was happening,” Cahn said, “to be able to just dig deeper into that, and to know that we had Keri and Rufus, who worked together in this incredible way and have such a great time together, and that those Kate and house scenes are so engaging that you can write the 15-page scene and do it on TV — like, that’s not normal.”

While Hal made it out of the car bomb explosion, Season 1’s premiere reveals that Stuart’s aide, Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau), wasn’t as lucky. His death, which is treated with notable reverence for a minor character, sends Kate into a spiral as she considers whether she’s more like her husband than she cares to admit

“I liked the idea … that these two people who came together in a kind of a shared passion about their work, were being torn apart by … a different ethical line in the sand and different ideas about what was an acceptable amount of risk in trying to do this very important job,” Cahn explained. “The idea was to sort of re-create the wound that initially dealt such a such a terrible blow to their marriage, and that was [that] in the past, Hal did things that put people who work for them at risk, and those people died — or at least that’s how Kate sees it.”

Cahn aimed to put Kate in Hal’s shoes as she experienced the diplomatic community coming together to mourn Ronnie in a way that Cahn likens to the loss of a child in a relationship.

“Would her judgment of [Hal] change, and would she have more perspective on choices that he made and and what would that do to their relationship?” Cahn asked. “What would it do to the people around her — the people who looked up to her in the way that she initially looked up to Hal — there was a sort of a hero worship thing, and there’s a real loss of faith that happens when somebody who you care about that much and you respect that much does something that you feel kind of blithely endangers somebody else’s life.”

Season 2 also introduces Allison Janney as Vice President Grace Penn, a character that Cahn describes as an “unexplained, unexploded grenade that we had in our pockets, sort of waiting to deploy” after first mentioning the character — and her husband’s scandal — in Season 1. Janney’s appearance also reunites the “The West Wing” star with Cahn, who served as a producer on “The West Wing.”

“I don’t dream big enough sometimes, and one of our great Netflix execs was like, ‘Well, have you considered bringing Allison in?’ And I just never believed that it would work — I didn’t think she would say ‘yes,’ and it was just a mind-blower when I called her up, and she did,” Cahn said. “We hadn’t seen each other in a few years, and it was kind of terrifying writing for her again. I was very intimidated by it, and it just turned out to be as magical as we hoped.”

“I was such an enormous fan of ‘The West Wing’ and everything I’ve ever seen her do, so to have her to the news that she was coming on board was such a competence in the show,” Sewell said, applauding her for being fun to work with and prepared on set. “It was just a treat.”

As Grace operates in a prim and pinned up way that is foreign to Kate, Russell noted that Grace’s challenge to Kate ends up bringing Kate and Hal closer. “If anyone is pushing or pulling either of us, it brings us closer, so I think a foil is good because it just makes them tighter,” Russell said. “Although so much of the end of last season was about kind of this disintegration, this season, I think, there’s a lot of things that have brought them together.”

As Kate and Grace present foils of alternative ways to engage with femininity on the political stage, their conversations parallel discussions regarding the upcoming presidential election — though the show was written well before VP Kamala Harris stepped up to become the 2024 presidential nominee.

“We like to be in conversation with what’s happening in the world, but we’re not trying to be a dramatization of real life events or political figures — and then s–t got real … the show was suddenly skating dangerously close to what was going on in the world,” Cahn said. “And on a certain level, it’s exciting. But I also don’t want to present the impression that we’re making a comment on this particular presidential race, although we’re talking about a presidential race. And boy, a lot of the characteristics are similar.”

“The Diplomat” Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

The post ‘The Diplomat’s’ Creator, Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell Dig Into Season 2’s Post-Trauma Dynamic: ‘They Are Each Other’s Protector’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The move comes after Lombardini oversaw long, contentious negotiations with the top guilds last year that included strikes by two of those groups, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA. Those strikes have been blamed as part of what’s led to the entertainment industry’s contraction through this year, with an uncertain future ahead.

She had long been planning to retire in 2025, according to an AMPTP spokesperson.

“We are incredibly grateful to Carol for her many years of leadership at the AMPTP and wish her the very best in her retirement,” an AMPTP spokesperson said in a statement to media. “We are glad Carol isn’t going far as she will continue to serve as President while we continue to conduct a full search for her successor, and that she will then move to an advisory role as we continue our transition to the next generation leaders at the AMPTP.”

Lombardini has been with the AMPTP for more than 40 years, beginning with the group’s inception in 1982.

This news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

The post Carol Lombardini to Leave AMPTP Presidency Next Year appeared first on TheWrap.

World Series viewership soared for Game 5 as the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed victory over the New York Yankees.

As the Dodgers and Yankees went head-to-head for the fifth time this World Series, Game 5 brought in 18.6 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox streaming services, according to Nielsen. Viewership peaked at 21.27 million viewers on Fox from 11:15-11:30 p.m. ET.

Wednesday night’s audience on Fox ranks as the biggest audience a Game 5 has seen since 2017, when Game 5 between the Houston Astros and the Dodgers scored 18.96 million viewers. The Dodgers-Yankees matchup also saw a 58% uptick in viewership compared to last year’s 2023 World Series Game 5, which brought in a viewership of 11.48 million.

Overall, the 2024 World Series averaged 15.81 million viewers, the best average audience since 2017.

Game 4, which could have clinched a World Series sweep for the Dodgers before the Yankees came back in an unexpected win, brought in 16.7 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox streaming services. That number accounts for 16.28 million from Fox alone, and the game peaked at 18.22 million viewers from 10:15-10:30 p.m. ET.

Like Game 5, Game 4 broke several World Series viewership records as it became the most-watched Game 4 on Fox since 2016, when the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians scored 16.71 million viewers. Viewership for Game 4 was also up 92% when compared to the 2023 World Series Game 4, which scored 8.48 million viewers.

Game 3 scored 13.64 million viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming platforms, with 13.21 million viewers coming from Fox alone. Viewership for Game 3 was up 63% from last year, and marked the most-watched Game 3 since 2018, when the Boston Red Sox and the Dodgers’ Game 3 matchup brought in 13.3 million viewers.

Similarly, Game 2 ranked as the most-watched World Series Game 2 on Fox since 2018 as the Dodgers-Yankees second matchup brought in 13.44 million viewers. Game 2 also saw a 65% uptick from last year’s Game 2, which scored 8.15 million viewers.

The post Dodgers World Series Victory Over Yankees Scores 18.6 Million Viewers, Biggest Game 5 Audience Since 2017 appeared first on TheWrap.

“It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” is a Halloween staple, particularly for those who don’t love to do the whole scary movie thing at night (for the record, we’ve got some good Halloween movies for you scaredy-cats too). It’s sweet, and most importantly, it’s fun-sized, clocking in under 30 minutes.

And even better, it’s streaming! Here’s everything you need to know.

Where is the special streaming?

You can watch it on Apple TV+ this year, or buy a Prime Video premium subscription.

When did “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” come out?

The special first debuted back in October 1966. It quickly became an annual watch for fans everywhere.

Is the Great Pumpkin literally just a big pumpkin?

No, silly. The Great Pumpkin is like the Halloween version of Santa. According to Linus, he rises from the pumpkin patch every year on Halloween to deliver toys to kids who believe in him.

The post Where to Stream ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown’ appeared first on TheWrap.

“I was talking to Sarah Aubrey, who’s the head of Max content, and we were like, ‘What could we do that would really give something to the fans that’s different than what we would do for a normal premiere?’ That was the inception of this,” Jen Weinberg, SVP of Talent Relations, Events & Awards for HBO and Max, told TheWrap. “This is a tentpole show for our company. We have a lot of resources going into it. We’ve all identified that we love [this show], and we want the world to love it as much as we do.”

The result was a global premiere that included roughly 450 fans in addition to the cast, crew, press and notable influential people who are always invited to events such as these. Everyone present was able to experience a customized exhibition that did everything from showcasing costumes and props used in the series to allowing attendees to create their own special edition and spice-inspired perfume. Instead of keeping the worlds of fandom-fueled events and press parties separate, HBO found a way to combine them without sacrificing the experience for either group.

It was easy enough to determine who to invite on the cast, crew and press side. However, recruiting fans proved to be an interesting challenge, one that HBO used its panel at New York Comic Con to solve. During the panel for “Dune: Prophecy,” which was filled to capacity by 4,000 people, a select group of people found golden tickets under their seats, inviting them to the premiere. Fans were also given the opportunity to receive a ticket as part of the NYCC “Wear Your Allegiance” promotion, which asked attendees to come dressed to the Comic Con activation in their best “Dune” cosplay.

“Usually, it stops at [Comic Con], and then everything else is for the masses. In this instance, we said, ‘Let’s take a group from Comic Con and actually carry them through a continued activation.’ This is kind of our part two of that,” Weinberg said. “Not everybody gets to participate, but the ones who do are really lucky.”

To ensure the experience felt intimate, the team utilized a timed entry system. Certain influential guests were allowed in first. They were then followed by members of the cast, crew and press. Finally, the invited fans were allowed into the exhibit after the screening.

The premiere event took the form of something akin to an expanded art exhibit. Roughly six weeks before the premiere, HBO consulted with the crew in Budapest to determine what aspects from the show they wanted to highlight. This line of communication resulted in the exhibit showing off the latest props, costumes and VFX images from the upcoming series. Key people who worked on the project, such as series co-developer Alison Schapker, gave quotes that were put on the walls of the reimagined Jazz at Lincoln Center. And because “Dune: Prophecy” tells the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the team knew they wanted to show off some of the costumes worn by the Truthsayers.

Bojana Nikitovic, the costume designer for the series, helped select which pieces would be used in the exhibit. “We try to choose those that are going to represent the Sisterhood and the Corrino family in the best way,” Nikitovic told TheWrap. “It took quite a long time.”

Picking those pieces was a balancing act in and of itself. Not only did Nikitovic have to make sure she didn’t choose any pieces that contained potential spoilers for the series, but she also had to keep in mind that these costumes would be displayed on a mannequin. “There are really good costumes that you cannot show their beauty on the mannequin. You have to put it on,” she explained.

These working costumes were carefully packaged and sent to production designer and founder of Lateral Objects Stefan Beckman in New York. Previously, Beckman worked with Max on its activation for “And Just Like That.” The team also asked Nikitovic to instruct a production manager who would be in New York on how to style the clothes. That way, all the pieces on the mannequins as well as the 10 ushers dressed as Truthsayers for the event looked as accurate as possible.

Though the props, costumes and stills from the series were secured, the team still wanted to bring another dimension to the event. That’s when they started playing with the idea of spice, the psychedelic drug that is paramount to the “Dune” universe. Mocktails composed of interesting flavor combinations were provided at the exhibit, and attendees were encouraged to make their own scent through Olfactory, a custom fragrance company based in New York. Olfactory even introduced two new scent add-ins — cinnamon and pomegranate — specifically for the event. There was even a portrait studio, which allowed guests to create and share a rippling branded video of themselves.

All in all, it was a ton of work. But it happened in the interest of getting fans, members of the press and influential guests excited for the upcoming show. “We’re one page of a 100-page marketing plan that goes out for each one of these projects. But if we’re going to put the resources into it, we want to do it and we want to really make it work for us,” Weinberg said.

Though it’s impossible to know exactly which single factor most leads to increased viewership, there’s reason to think specialized events such as these help raise awareness for shows. HBO held the premiere for “The Penguin” at the same Lincoln Center location earlier this fall. For Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti’s gritty take on Gotham, they outfitted the space with halal stands and hotdog carts as ushers walked around carrying pretzel-adorned umbrellas. That event was more traditional in that it did not include a fan push. So far, the series has been a ratings hit, dominating Samba TV’s Weekly Wrap Report.

“It was a different rollout plan, but obviously we’re looking for the same kind of return to viewership on the platform, and that’s why we do this,” Weinberg noted. “The whole idea of having a party isn’t to just have a party and to celebrate. It’s to let people know that something big is happening and spread that word. Then we hope that that translates to viewership.”

Weinberg came to HBO and Max in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when it was especially difficult to be in the events space. “I started when people were sending boxes to houses because people were stuck at home,” she recalled.

Because of capacity restrictions put in place by the pandemic, Weinberg and her team had to rethink how they approached events overall.

“We rebuilt the whole way that we do things, because people started socializing differently,” Weinberg explained. “Our events started really small and intimate, and then they started to grow. But it gave us a chance to look at them and say, ‘OK, if we’re going to have a party and we’re going to put people in a room, who are the right people to be in that room? Who’s going to help you tell your story?'”

That process has led to several customized events that have happened this year alone. For example, the premiere for “Hacks” Season 3 couldn’t be more different than the “Dune: Prophecy” premiere. Instead of a fan-packed theater that seats 800, the team went with a more intimate approach. Each of the 125 people invited to the event at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles was “a highly thoughtful invitation.” That premiere didn’t even include a screening.

“[The cast and crew’s] network of friends is an incredibly influential group of people. We were like, ‘Let’s tap into that network,'” Weinberg said. “So everything we do is fairly thoughtful.”

Looking ahead, the SVP doesn’t expect each of HBO and Max’s premieres to be as fan-focused as the one for “Dune: Prophecy.” “This wouldn’t make sense for everything,” she said. But if in time this exhibit is dubbed successful and a fan-focused activation makes sense for the property, Weinberg is on board with potentially opening up more premieres to fans.

“In success, we would do it again. But I think it has to really make sense for the IP. We don’t like to rinse and repeat,” Weinberg said.

“Dune: Prophecy” premieres Nov. 17 on HBO.

The post ‘Dune: Prophecy’: How HBO Used Comic Con to Turn Its Global Premiere Into a Fan-Focused Experience | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.

Collin Farrell’s turn as Gotham City’s bird-like crime boss has held the top spot for six consecutive weeks and shows no sign of stopping, with two more episodes to go in the Max/HBO series.

Now, let’s count the creepies. “Woman of the Hour,” in second place again this week, tells the how-can-this-be-real-life story of serial killer Rodney Alcala appearing as a contestant on “The Dating Game” in the 1970s. Newcomer “Don’t Move” is No. 4 this week, with 1.1 million households watching the Netflix horror movie in the first three days it was available.

Director M. Night Shyamalan, no stranger to the mysterious and spooky, enters the chart with his latest feature film, “Trap.” A summer theatrical release, it comes in at No. 8 this week following its addition to the Netflix library. Closing out our spooky section is “This Is The Zodiac Speaking,” yet another serial killer-focused docuseries hit for Netflix, at No. 9. This time, the focus is the so-called Zodiac Killer who frightened the Bay Area in the 1960s.

Now for some (slightly) lighter fare.“The Lincoln Lawyer” Season 3 stays at No. 3 on the chart for the second straight week. Netflix’s popular game show “Love is Blind” also maintains its hold onto No. 5.

Rugged individualism is rewarded on the remainder of the chart. “The Old Man” stars Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow as old-time intelligence agents looking to save the world. The Season 2 finale arrived on Hulu on Oct. 24. That’s followed by “Tulsa King,” the Paramount+ series about a mob boss (Sylvester Stallone) fresh from jail and setting up a new racket in the title city. Finally, “Territory,” a new Netflix ranching drama that feels a bit like “Yellowstone” by way of the Australian outback, makes its streaming chart debut this week. It lands at No. 10. 

The big story on linear this week is a scripted series topping the chart. “Tracker,” on CBS, has been a steady presence near the top of the chart since it returned for its second season. The show has likely been aided by its air time immediately following one of the behemoths of linear viewership: CBS’s Sunday Night Football game (the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report excludes sports content). This week, it followed the New England Patriots and New York Jets game, which helped put it over the top.

Competition shows take the next three spots, with two airings of “The Voice” coming in at No. 2 and No. 4 and “Dancing with the Stars” sandwiched between them. That block is followed by a quartet of scripted shows, with NBC and CBS trading off spots. “Chicago Med” (NBC) is No. 5, followed by “FBI” (CBS) at No. 6. We return to Chicago (and NBC) with “Chicago Fire” at No. 7, then go back to CBS for “The Equalizer” at No. 8.

Two airings of “Wheel of Fortune” on ABC close out the chart this week.

The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television sourced from viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households, balanced to the U.S. Census.

The post Spooky Stories Climb the Streaming Top 10, But ‘Penguin’ Still Reigns Supreme | Chart appeared first on TheWrap.

Yvonne Strahovski’s character Maggie and her husband James (Scott Speedman) have to make some truly heart-wrenching decisions that impact their entire family in the Season 1 finale of the Peacock sci-fi series “Teacup.”

TheWrap spoke with the actress about the “horrific” day that unfolds as Maggie tries to determine which one of the trapped humans are possessed by the hostile alien Assassin so she can protect her son Arlo (Caleb Dolden), who is Assassin’s target since he is also host to the benign alien Harbinger.

Assassin jumps through several hosts in the final episode, ending up in Maggie’s daughter Meryl (Émilie Bierre). Maggie and James already know that the only way to defeat Assassin is to drown the host and then try to revive them. Both don gas masks so Assassin can’t jump into their bodies and set about the grim task of drowning their daughter. The drowning works and Meryl lives — but not before Assassin jumps to James, which means Maggie now has to kill her husband.

TheWrap: That was a pretty traumatic finale. Did you film that all in one day? 

Yvonne Strahovski: Very traumatic. It took a few days, especially the drowning sequence. They built the bathroom separate from the original bathroom set to get those specialty overhead shots.

How emotionally draining was it to do that?

It was fairly emotional … you’re investing everything into this moment of what it would be like to put yourself through something as horrific and unimaginable as drowning your own daughter and then having to revive her. So yeah, it was a pretty tough day. I think it goes down in history as one of the heavier days [in my career].

The finale ends up being a bit like the John Carpenter movie, “The Thing,” where nobody knows where Assassin is, and everybody suspects everybody else.

Yes. It’s definitely the theme of the show, not being able to trust anyone. And I thought it gave us a great starting point into that theme that Maggie and James are already at odds, and she doesn’t trust him because he’s been unfaithful. It added to the stakes of all the other craziness and horror that occurs throughout the season.

I was not expecting that twist where Assassin goes into James and he tries to fight it as much as he can. Can you talk about the scene when Maggie realizes what’s happened?

It’s really complex, not an easy moment. Before all the craziness happened, when she found out that he had been unfaithful, she probably did want to murder him in her mind. But under the weird circumstances of what’s going on, they’re oddly united again in their one common goal to protect their children at all costs.

I think there’s a very sad and tragic understanding between them of what actually has to occur, at the end, when they both realize that he is now Assassin. And there’s that one fleeting moment where Maggie runs out of the bathroom and sees James in the kitchen, transforming, and he has that one final cognitive moment, James gives her that look, and that was so, so powerful in that moment, because that’s the last time he’s really James.

And then her recently revived daughter is begging her not to do it, which makes it extra difficult.

I imagine this family needs to have a hell of a lot of therapy in Season 2 — if there’s a Season 2 — to move past all these horrible things that have happened, especially the kids. It’s unimaginable. What would you do in these kinds of scenarios? That’s the fun of being on a on a show like this, you’re trying to marry family drama and real relationships with these very farfetched ideas that happen in a genre piece like this. You’re toeing the line between those two elements.

Have you had discussions about what a second season would be like?

We’ve talked a little bit about the “what if” of it all, and the idea of the world expanding a bit more. Season 1 was all about this contained farm, contained family, and everyone that was involved within the scope of that, [Season 2 would be about] what it would mean to expand further into the town.

And there’s more twists there at the end, where we meet friends of McNab (Rob Morgan) and think everything is fine, and then these two other people show up and take them out, and again, the main characters don’t know who to trust.

It’s exciting. We have the introduction of this new character with a megaphone who gives us a speech. And suddenly the problem is a lot bigger than what they have anticipated. It’s devastating for all involved, but hopefully exciting for an audience watching to go, “Okay, this is a much bigger problem.”

As far as we know, Harbinger is still in Arlo. Is that your understanding too?

Yes, Harbinger is still in Arlo and Assassin is out there somewhere.

Can we assume that James is definitely dead?

I’m 99% sure he’s dead, but anything is always possible. [Showrunner Ian McCulloch confirmed to EW that the character did die in the freezer trap.]

What would you like to see in Season 2, if it happens?

I think expanding into the other characters and getting a bigger understanding of what exactly is going on. Now that they have an understanding of the various different puzzle pieces, it’s about putting the puzzle together and then trying to figure out exactly how to combat what’s going on.

All episodes of “Teacup” are now streaming on Peacock.

The post ‘Teacup’ Finale: Yvonne Strahovski Unpacks Maggie’s ‘Horrific’ Life and Death Decisions, and That Drowning Scene appeared first on TheWrap.

The results were bolstered by a 19% year over year increase in advertising services revenue to $14.3 billion, which includes sales to sellers, vendors, publishers, authors and others through programs such as sponsored ads, display and video advertising.

Net sales for its subscriptions services segment, which includes annual and monthly fees associated with Amazon Prime memberships, as well as digital video, audiobook, digital music, e-book and other non-Amazon Web Services subscription services, grew 11% to $11.3 billion during the third quarter.

Here are the top-line results:

Net income: $15.3 billion, compared to $9.9 billion a year ago.

Earnings per share: $1.43 per diluted share, compared to $1.14 expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue: $158.9 billion, up 11% year over year, compared to $157.07 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Operating income: $17.4 billion, compared to $11.2 billion a year ago.

In January, Prime Video launched its ad-supported tier, which serves as the default for all subscribers and is available to more than 200 million monthly viewers, including 115 million in the United States.  

Currently, Amazon Prime, which includes Prime Video, costs $14.99 per month or $139 a year. A membership that only includes Prime Video and none of the company’s shipping benefits costs $8.99 a month. Users can pay an extra $2.99 per month for an ad-free experience.

In September, it was revealed that Amazon secured more than $1.8 billion in advertiser commitments for its streaming services during its inaugural upfront presentation in New York City — topping the tech company’s internal expectations.

“Advertising remains an important contributor to profitability in the North America and international segments. This quarter, we saw strong growth on an increasing large base of advertising revenue,” chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky told analysts on Thursday. “There are many opportunities to further expand our ads offering in areas that are driving growth today, like sponsored products, as well as more recent growth areas like Prime Video Ads.”

During the quarter, the tech giant launched a new generative AI feature around video generation and live image capabilities for advertisers, which makes it fast and easy for brands to deliver short, animated campaign images.

Amazon also touted the launch of Season 2 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” on Prime Video, the addition of Apple TV+ to the streamer’s collection of over 100 add-on subscription channels in the U.S. and last week’s “Thursday Night Football” game between the Cowboys and the Giants drawing over 17 million viewers, becoming the most-streamed NFL regular season game ever.

“As we get into the holiday season, we’re excited about what we have in store for customers,” Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement. “We kicked off the holiday season with our biggest-ever Prime Big Deal Days and the launch of an all-new Kindle lineup that is significantly outperforming our expectations; and there’s so much more coming, from tens of millions of deals, to our NFL Black Friday game and Election Day coverage with Brian Williams on Prime Video, to over 100 new cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities that we’ll share at AWS re:Invent the week after Thanksgiving.”

Jassy also told analysts that AWS has released nearly twice as many machine learning and generative AI features as the other leading cloud providers combined. He also noted the AWS AI business is a “multi-billion dollar revenue rate business” that continues to grow at a triple digit year over year percentage — more than three times faster than AWS itself.

North America segment sales grew 9% year-over-year to $95.5 billion, while its operating income came in at $5.7 billion, compared to $4.3 billion a year ago. International segment sales jumped 12% year-over-year to $35.9 billion, while operating income was $1.3 billion compared with a loss of $100 million in the prior year period. AWS segment sales increased 19% year-over-year to $27.5 billion, while operating income grew to $10.4 billion from $7 billion a year ago.

Operating cash flow grew 57% to $112.7 billion for the trailing 12 months, compared with $71.7 billion for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2023. Free cash flow increased to $47.7 billion for the trailing 12 months, compared with $21.4 billion during the same period a year ago.

Looking ahead at the fourth quarter of 2024, Amazon expects net sales in the range of $181.5 billion to $188.5 billion, or growth of 7% to 11% compared with the prior year period, while operating income is expected to be between $16 billion and $20 billion, compared with $13.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The post Amazon Ad Sales Rise 19% to $14.3 Billion in Q3 appeared first on TheWrap.

“If I found out, Emma,” Watters said, pausing to look directly into the camera, “was going into the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that’s the same thing as having an affair.”

Watters chuckled at this point, presumably because DiGiovine is a producer on “The Five” and thus had been directly addressed.

“That, to me,” Watters continued before being interrupted by the rest of “The Five” panel breaking out in incredulous laughter.

“Let him finish,” interjected panel guest George “Tyrus” Murdoch.

“…Violates the sanctity of our marriage,” Watters continued.

” Yes,” Murdoch agreed.

“What else is she keeping from me?” Watters went on. “What else has she been lying about?”

“Why would she lie to you?” Jeanine Pirro interrupted. “Have you threatened her? Why would she lie to you?”

“Oh, they want me to tease,” DiGiovine said from offscreen.

“Why would she do that and then vote Harris? Why would she say she was voting Trump, and I caught her, and then she said I lied to you for the last four years?” Watters continued.

“You intimidate her,” Pirro said.

“It’s OVER,” Watters shouted in apparent mock-outrage. “Emma, that would be D-Day.”

Watch the clip below:

Speaking of “D-Day” and violating “the sanctity of marriage,” Watters was married to Noelle Inguagiato from 2009 to 2019, and they have twin daughters. Inguagiato left Watters in October, 2017 after he admitted to cheating on her with DiGiovine. She filed for Divorce the following March.

In a statement at the time, Fox News confirmed the affair, saying in a statement provided to New York Daily News, “Within 24 hours of Jesse Watters voluntarily reporting to the Chief of Human Resources in November 2017 that he was in a consensual relationship with a woman on his staff, management met with both parties and a decision was made for the woman to be transferred to work on another program on the network where she currently remains.”

The divorce was finalized a year later and Watters, who was 40 at the time, married DiGiovine, who was 26, that December.

The circumstances of his current marriage have occasionally produced some awkward moments for Watters, and for Fox News. In 2022 things got particularly awkward on “The Five” after he effectively admitted that had a somewhat not-entirely-honest means of courting DiGiovine, telling his co-hosts he once let the air out of her tires so she would have to ask him for a ride home. To reiterate, she was his employee at the time.

Then in September, 2023, Watters argued against letting workers work remotely with this curious reasoning: “What about office romance? You have no office romance.”

His co-hosts quickly shut him down, with Pirro urging him, “you don’t want to go there,” and Fox News contributor Richard Fowler adding, “That’s the third rail! Stop while you’re ahead.”

And then in January of this year, after Watters criticized Houston-area Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw for several stock trades, Crenshaw responded in part, “he cheated on his wife and then left her with twins while he went off with another Fox producer.”

The post Jesse Watters Says His Wife Secretly Voting for Kamala Would Be ‘Same Thing as Having an Affair’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

The new clip was unveiled to fans Thursday at Lucca Comics & Games, Europe’s biggest Comic Con. It starts off much in the same way the first season of the South Korean Netflix original did. “I would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all. Once each of the games has concluded, you may call for a vote. If the majority agrees, you may take the accumulated prize money and leave,” one of the red-clad and masked guards calmly explains. Watch the clip below:

It’s only when a bee lands on a woman playing Red Light, Green Light that the stakes of these twisted games are revealed. After she swats at it, the robot doll shoots her in the head, causing mass pandemonium. The rest is by the books. As this new crop of players panic, alliances are formed and people are pushed to their limits. At least that’s the case until Gi-hun interrupts a group game.

“I’ve played these games before! If we don’t stop this, they’ll kill us all!” he screams.

In the silence, a single man speaks up, asking him, “Why the hell would you come crawling back?”

Though Gi-hun may have good intentions, the same can’t be said about his competitors. As players chant “one more game,” text tauntingly flashes by, telling the audience “There is no stopping the game.” Watch the full teaser above.

This second installment will see Gi-hun on a mission. After the horrors he experienced in the games last time, he’s now on a mission to expose the truth of this competition. But those good intentions may fall flat in the face of millions of won. In addition to Gi-hun, the teaser shows the returns of Lee Byung-hun as the mysterious Front Man, and Wi Ha-jun as detective Hwang Jun-ho.

Check out new images from this upcoming season below:

Created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, “Squid Game” took 12 years of development. In only 12 days it rose through the ranks on Netflix, becoming the streamer’s most-watched series of all time. The series was watched 265.2 million times in its first 91 days on Netflix. It also dominated Netflix’s Global Top 10 for nine consecutive weeks, which was a first for a non-English series.

Season 1 was also a critical darling, earning 14 Emmy nominations and six wins. Those included a nod for Outstanding Drama Series, the first non-English-language work to be nominated in the category, and an Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series win for Lee Jung-jae, marking the first time an Asian actor won the award for a non-English part. “Squid Game” also won for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Lee Yoo-mi, Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode and Outstanding Stunt Performance.

“Squid Game” Season 2 premieres Dec. 26 on Netflix.

The post ‘Squid Game’ Previews ‘One More Game’ in New Season 2 Trailer, Photos appeared first on TheWrap.