November 19, 2018: Oscars Governors Awards Honor Cicely Tyson and Address Wildfires, Miami Approves New Location for Ultra Music Festival, Disney Is Spending More on Theme Parks Than Its Film Companies

1. OSCARS GOVERNORS AWARDS HONOR CICELY TYSON AND ADDRESS WILDFIRES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 10th annual Governors Awards took place Sunday at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles. The event honored actress Cicely Tyson and addressed the wildfires that have ravaged California. The Hollywood Reporter: "The red carpet was scaled down, and Academy president John Bailey opened the evening with remarks about the catastrophe. 'Many thousands of our fellow Americans are homeless. Nearly 1,400 people are still unaccounted for,' Bailey said. 'Some of our own history was lost in the same fire, at Paramount Ranch, home to the Academy’s summer screenings of silent films.' The evening’s honorees included Cicely Tyson, 93, whose groundbreaking career spans from the movie Sounder to Fried Green Tomatoes to The Help; composer Lalo Schifrin, 86, who wrote the scores for such films as Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry, and Rush Hour and wrote the theme for the television series Mission: Impossible, a signature of the more recent film franchise; and publicist Marvin Levy, whose four-decade partnership with Steven Spielberg began on the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind and led to him working on the publicity campaigns for such films as E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, and Lincoln. The Academy also presented its Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to married producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, a duo whose shared legacy includes the Bourne films, Munich, and The Sixth Sense. Kennedy, who stepped down from their company Kennedy/Marshall in 2012 to become president of Lucasfilm, is the first woman to receive the Thalberg since the Academy created it in 1937." https://bit.ly/2S03dza

2. MIAMI APPROVES NEW LOCATION FOR ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL: The City of Miami has approved Ultra Music Festival's move to Virginia Key Beach Park in 2019. The festival agreed to pay $2 million to move to the new venue, with money going toward the park's trust. Commissioners Joe Carollo and Keon Hardemon cast approving votes. Miami New Times: "'I don't like how this has been done,' Carollo said. He wasn't happy about how quickly the city agreed to the resolution and believes that through ticket sales and sponsorships, Ultra can afford to pay around $3 million. There was also plenty of opposition from the public during a hearing this morning. Most of the criticism came from Key Biscayne residents. Many critics see Ultra as a source of noise and traffic, and some residents worry that schoolchildren at the nearby MAST Academy would be exposed to drugs and alcohol. (Because Ultra starts on a Friday afternoon, classes presumably won't be in session for the duration of the festival.) ... City Manager Emilio Gonzalez said in a statement: 'The [commission’s] vote in favor of an agreement with Ultra Music Festival keeps this world-renowned event in our global city, while providing operating funds for a long-desired African American History Museum at Historic Virginia Key Beach.' Ultra will need to prove it can hold the event with minimal disruption, because the agreement with the city is revocable. Carollo warned he wouldn't hesitate to ban the festival from returning to Virginia Key in 2020. Virginia Key will be Ultra's fourth venue in its 21-year history. It was started in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes on the sands of Miami Beach near the Collins Park area before moving the festival in 2001 to downtown Miami, where it bounced between Bayfront Park and Bicentennial Park (present-day Museum Park)." https://bit.ly/2TsWmiW

3. DISNEY IS SPENDING MORE ON THEME PARKS THAN ITS FILM COMPANIES: In the next five years, Disney is slated to spend more on its theme parks than Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm combined. The New York Times: "For the 2018 fiscal year, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had an operating profit of $4.5 billion, an increase of more than 100 percent from five years earlier. For comparison, Disney Media Networks, home to ESPN and ABC, had a profit of $6.6 billion, a 3 percent decline. Each of Disney’s six theme park resorts around the world is undergoing major expansion, along with Disney Cruise Line. Michael Nathanson, a longtime media analyst, estimates that Disney will spend $24 billion on new attractions, hotels, and ships over the next five years. That’s more than Disney paid for Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm combined. 'It can’t just be special—it has to be spectacular,' Bob Chapek, Disney’s theme park chairman, said during a hard-hat tour of a 14-acre construction site at Disney World where 'Star Wars'-theme rides, shops, and restaurants were taking shape. Overhead, crews were sculpting spires designed to look like the petrified remnants of once-towering trees on a distant planet. ... Disney faces an enviable challenge: Even with steady price increases for peak periods—single-day peak tickets at Disneyland in California now run $135—visitor interest often exceeds capacity at some properties. 'You can only let so many people in a park before you start to impede on satisfaction level,' Mr. Chapek said. So Disney’s expansion plan is more ambitious than building a Black Panther roller coaster here or introducing an Incredibles character there. The goal is transformation—adding significant capacity to Disney’s most popular parks (Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea) and giving others major upgrades (Epcot, Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris) to help attract visitors more evenly throughout the empire." https://nyti.ms/2Q56hN6

* LOCAL NEWS *

LAS VEGAS:  Esports entertainment company Allied Esports has entered a multiyear naming rights partnership with electronics brand HyperX, rebranding Allied Esports’ property at the Luxor Hotel & Casino to HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas.

LOS ANGELES:  The County of Los Angeles, Grand Park, and the Music Center will hold the annual Los Angeles County tree lighting ceremony November 26 at Grand Park. 

For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

NEW YORK:  Atlas Kitchen, a contemporary Chinese eatery, has opened on the Upper West Side. The restaurant features a menu helmed by chef Kaiyuan Li, highlighting China’s eight regional flavors. The 3,000-square-foot space, which was designed by New Practice Studio, seats 74 guests. 

For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

SAN FRANCISCO:  The 52nd annual California International Antiquarian Book Fair will take place February 8-10, 2019, at Oakland Marriott City Center. The event, which is sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, will feature collections of nearly 200 booksellers from more than 20 countries. The event will also have a special exhibit celebrating the works of Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum.

WASHINGTON, D.C.:  Drink Company’s fourth annual holiday pop-up bar, Miracle on 7th Street, will run November 23 through December 31 at 1839 7th Street N.W. 

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With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

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