DISNEY settles Scarlett Johansson lawsuit for reported $40+ Million total
REGE-JEAN PAGE doing NETFLIX heist film / SUPER BOWL sets LA Rap Halftime show / New TV & Movies this weekend
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY October 1, 2021.
Where lets have our poolside Friday morning coffee Big Willie Style. Ok fine - Grande Willy Style #StarbucksRules. Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith just bought this house in Hidden Hills for $11.3 Million, making it their 8th house. Totally ruining their “house for every day of the week” lifestyle approach so far 🙄.
AND: October’s here 👋🍁 .
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
DISNEY & Scarlett Johansson settle lawsuit
2 days after the CAA / ICM deal. Hmm 🤔. No terms disclosed but DEADLINE puts her resulting overall “Black Widow” check at $40+ Million which I’m thinking includes the initial $20 Million payday DISNEY “casually mentioned” in their first attacking statement against Scarlett.
Also of note - the tone from DISNEY’s corporate PR department toward Scarlett and the matter overall certainly has… taken a turn:
“We appreciate her contributions to the MARVEL Cinematic Universe and look forward to working together on a number of upcoming projects, including Disney’s “Tower of Terror.” /THR
Well that was definitely worth the months-long PR headache.
NETFLIX sets Regé-Jean Page to star in heist film from “Fargo” series creator
Noah Hawley writing & directing, the Russo Bros (“Avengers” movies) producing. Zero plot details or timeline available. /Deadline
ALSO IN MOVIES
“No Time To Die” hits about a $6.8 Million opening day in the UK. That’s roughly 25% below “Skyfall”, but then again that was in 2012. And it’s ahead of “Spectre”… though that one had a Monday opening in 2015 so, comps a bit tough all around. /Deadline
BLUMHOUSE adds Anna Chlumsky to directorial debut of John Logan (“Gladiator”, “Skyfall” writer), an untitled horror movie set at a gay conversion camp. Kevin Bacon already set for the movie. /Deadline
HOLLYWOOD PUBLICITY BIZ MOVES
Leslie Sloane’s VISION PR hires Jeffrey Chassen to head the LA office. They previously worked together at BWR, but Jeffrey was the head of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s production company for the past 2 years. /THR
DISNEY names Nicole Marostica as VP of Film Publicity, coming over from WB where she was VP of Publicity for Unscripted. /THR
📺 THE TV SET
NETFLIX’s Adrian Grenier social media thriller “Clickbait” tops NIELSEN streaming chart for first week of September
I don’t usually pay much mind to this chart as it tracks “total minutes viewed”, and well, it’s NIELSEN... but regardless of how accurate it might be - for a show that had very little promotion, this is impressive.
Esp compared to say the buzz and love that the Korean show “Squid Game” is getting in the media this week (also here on GQ) - “Clickbait” has gotten… basically 0% of that since its late August launch. /THR
Also interesting on these NIELSEN charts - the great majority of the most popular content by far on streaming services (again, in terms of total minutes streamed 🤷♂️) is still licensed shows from TV Networks.
FREEFORM orders Phoebe Robinson series “Everything’s Trash”
Based on her book. She’ll play a 30-something podcast star who has to learn how to “adult” when her brother becomes a political candidate. Phoebe’s IRL bro is a State Senator in OHIO. /THR
ALSO IN TV
STARZ renews “BMF” for Season 2. /Variety
FX’s “Shogun” limited series sets cast, led by Hiroyuki Sanada (“Lost”, “Army of the Dead”) and Anna Sawai from “F9". Currently shooting in Vancouver. /THR
AMAZON orders 4-part docuseries about a transgendered teen, “Always Jane” . Premieres Fri Nov 12. /Deadline
Sean Penn returns to shoot his STARZ, NBCU-produced WATERGATE limited series “Gaslight” for 2 weeks. All crew he will be working with are vaccinated (not just “Zone A”) . /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
NFL sets LA hip-hop heavy SUPERBOWL halftime show
DR. DRE, SNOOP, KENDRICK plus EMINEM, and MARY J BLIGE will put on the halftime show at LA’s Sofi Stadium on February 13 (a bit later this year given the expansion to a 17 game season).
NBC has “the big game” this year, and is definitely gonna have to pay their ‘bleep’ guy a little extra. /THR
ALSO IN MEDIA
Chairman (and owner of the NBA Champion MILWAUKEE BUCKS) Marc Lasry resigns. His investment fund was part of a $35 Million investment in OZY in 2019. However his $$ remains in the company. /THR
Major advertisers like FORD and TARGET are stopping their OZY ad spends. Ironically the advertiser list includes GOLDMAN SACHS 🤦♂️. /WSJ
OZY went into production on “The Carlos Watson Show” in 2020, telling guests the show would air on A&E. A&E had not ordered the show, in fact it had already rejected it. /NY Times
Watson also lied when he told people in 2019 that Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne had invested in OZY MEDIA. They had not. /CNBC - who was also the media partner for OZY FEST 2019.
CLUBHOUSE adding recording features:
CLIPS - Record 30 second clips of public rooms for social sharing
REPLAY - Record entire room conversations, presumably for later posting as a podcast. The format where most people will probably listen to it.
The features will start rolling out widely sometime early November. /THR
SPOTIFY adds PODCAST Polls and Q&A ability for people who house their podcasts using SPOTIFY’s ANCHOR platform (and those functions only work when listening on SPOTIFY). Here’s a video explainer for anyone inclined.
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
Another slightly down day on Wall Street, Media stocks included. Except if you’re AMC THEATERS. Naturally. That was up 7%.
ALTICE also bounced back a bit from their broadband-losses drubbing this month, up 6%.
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
SONY “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” - Only in theaters
WB/HBOMAX “The Many Saints of Newark” - Go see it in theaters with your Bing crew, or you can go against David Chase’s wishes at your own risk and Stream it here at Home
MGM “The Addams Family 2” - In theaters or you can also stream it at home on PVOD for $20
STREAMING:
MOVIES
NETFLIX“The Guilty” - Jake Gyllenhaal as a 911 operator having a hell of a night. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Click Here to Watch or Add to Your List
AMAZON PRIME “Hotel Transylvannia : Transformania” (pt 4) - I’d give you a link but I tried finding it via Google search for 90 seconds and gave up.
SERIES
NETFLIX “Maid” - Limited series based on the best-selling memoir starring Margaret Qually as a young mom escaping an abusive relationship, trying to make a life for her daughter as a maid. Click here to Watch or Add to your List
NETFLIX “Seinfeld” - Click here to Add to your List It’s also no longer airing on TBS - will begin airing exclusively-on-cable on COMEDY CENTRAL starting Oct 9 (and continues airing in usual local TV station syndication).
DISNEY+ “Fauci” documentary. (see AMAZON / Hotel Transylvannia problem re: a link). Come on people.
AMAZON PRIME “My Name is Pauli Murray” docu. Click here to Watch or Add to your List
TV:
BBC AMERICA “The Graham Norton Show” - New Season returns at 11p
CBS Friday Night Lineup returns with new episodes.
SATURDAY
NBC SNL Season Premiere - With Owen Wilson and Kacey Musgraves. And I’m guessing more than one Che joke about the name Cosmo Jost. 1130p as always, but now also live-streaming on PEACOCK
SUNDAY
BASEBALL Season is over.
New “60 Minutes” at 7p on CBS including a sitdown with the FACEBOOK whistleblower who was seemingly behind many of the big WSJ FB pieces in September.
WEEKEND READS
Aaron Sorkin in VANITY FAIR on the return of “To Kill a Mockingbird” to BROADWAY and… yeah Scott Rudin, a former producer on the show:
“Listen, I think Scott got what he deserves. He’s lying flat on the mat right now, and I don’t know how it’s helpful for me to stand on his torso and kind of jump up and down.”
New PARAMOUNT CEO Brian Robbins gives his first sitdown/profile to the WSJ.
WARNER MEDIA Studio head Ann Sarnoff sits down with VANITY FAIR.
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
MGM “Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago” trailer. The directors cut with 40 more minutes of footage, and at least 2 more lines from Drago. Hits FATHOM theaters on Thu Nov 11. You can buy tickets those screenings here.
Hits Digital & VOD rentals the next day Fri Nov 12. Tho gotta say this trailer woulda been 10X better with music from the “IV” soundtrack 😏 #RobertTepperRules
IMDBTV “Justice Judy” series trailer. Judge Judy comes to streaming: Same attitude, Different robe. Premieres Mon Nov 1.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
BRANDI CARLILE “You and Me on The Rock” - From her new album “In These Silent Days” that dropped today.
Listen to the album here on SPOTIFY or here’s the song:
If you need new tunes:
Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE