Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY June 13, 2022.

Where I actually have some news for once 🙋‍♂️ (it’s about time I start pulling my weight around here).

NEWS ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

The folks at THE ANKLER have kindly asked me to join their product, and after a tough negotiation over how many times I can use my favorite Colin Farrell gif in a given month… I’m excited to say that THE WAKEUP will be joining there starting tomorrow.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

If you already pay to subscribe to THE ANKLER - Nothing changes for you, in fact you probably know all this already courtesy of Janice Min’s note to you yesterday.
If you’re a freeloader to THE ANKLER - There will be instructions in tomorrow’s newsletter about signing up to get THE WAKEUP.

BUT:

If you don’t get THE ANKLER… or you’re like “Wtf is THE ANKLER??” -
- FIRST - It’s a great newsletter product that I’ve linked to here quite a few times, launched by Richard Rushfield who writes their flagship newsletter all about the inner workings of Hollywood and its execs. It has grown to include other newsletters such as analysis from ENTERTAINMENT STRATEGY GUY and insider HOLLYWOOD scoops with their HOLLYWOOD TRANSOM newsletter.
- SECOND - You’ll also get a special offer in tomorrow’s newsletter with instructions to sign up.

SO BASICALLY: More to come tomorrow and this week, just wanted to communicate that all to you today. And for any new readers - you can probably just skip to the Casey Kasem gif.

hopefully the panda helps soften the blow? via giphy

SEAN, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? I LOVE FREE THINGS!

Totally get it. I’ve seen your schwag closet. As some of my very first readers & friends know (and a big, BIG thanks to those key folks who helped me shape it in the pre-launch phase), I initially started THE WAKEUP to see “Is this a thing??”, without… any semblance of a real plan for it. Yes seriously.

And I love doing it - not too many people sit on earnings calls for fun 🥳 . Well maybe Rich Greenfield, although with the money he makes I’m sure he throws that in for free.

But while fun, THE WAKEUP takes several hours each day to put together. Being a #medianerd🤓 is a real time-suck. Who knew writing was like, a job?

AND: After 1.5 years of doing THE WAKEUP every weekday… the only way something like this becomes viable is either with Advertising (which I have 0 background in), or by making it a paid Subscription… which honestly I would have done myself at some point soon.

ALSO: As some of you know, my entertainment biz background is as an executive and a producer - not as a journalist, so the opportunity to work and learn from Janice, Richard and THE ANKLER team is frankly one I’m still wrapping my head around.

SO: As I probably wrote in your high school yearbook, it’s not the end of a journey but rather the start of a new one - and I really hope you’ll continue along with me!

No matter what - you can always you can connect with me here on Linked-In, and now, on with the countdown…

AND: Here are your 2022 TONY AWARD winners list. Also Jennifer Hudson beat Tracy Jordan to the EGOT, adding her “T” as a co-producer on Best Musical winner “A Strange Loop”.

ALSO: Dave Koechner was arrested for his 2nd DWI in 6 months earlier in June in Ohio. He previously was arrested on NYE in LA.

PLUS: If you’re having the shakes from Johnny & Amber withdrawal… your dealer NBC News has your fix with an hour-long primetime special with Amber & Savannah Guthrie this Friday at 8p 🥴.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

BOX OFFICE

“Jurassic World: Dominion” : $143 Million ($389 Million global)
- Pretty much matched the last one (“Fallen Kingdom” did $148 Million in June 2018).
- Kinda between “Top Gun” ($127 Mil) and “Doctor Strange” ($187 Mil) 3-day openings.
- 46% of ticket buyers were 18-34 year-olds.
- IMAX was 8% of the total, which is basically their typical take on a movie.
- But… 25% of Global tix were for 3-D screenings (13% of US gross) - it’s back!
- $52 Million was from CHINA (tho remember UNI only keeps about $13 Million of that). Biggest US pic debut there this year by far… as “Top Gun” and “Doctor Strange” both are not being allowed to show there.
“Top Gun: Maverick” : $50 Million ($393 Million US, $747 Million global)
- Still just a 44% drop, even more impressive when you factor in the loss of all higher-priced IMAX and Premium format screen $$ this weekend.
- Will overtake “Doctor Strange” US total next weekend, already beat “The Batman” ($369 Million). But hey superhero movies had a nice run.
“Doctor Strange…” : $5 Million ($398 Million US, $930 Million global)
“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” : $2.3 Million ($27 Million US)
The Bad Guys” : $2.3 Million ($95 Million US, $230 Million global)
“Downton Abbey: A New Era” : $1.6 Million ($40 Million US)
- Has now hit it’s $40 Million budget with the US gross (minus rev shares with theaters).

ELSEWHERE AT THE BOX OFFICE

Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” fell 65% in week 2, to $375k. US total stands at $2 Million for NEON.

Matt & Ben’s NIKE Shoe-guy biopic at AMAZON adds big names

Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans and Chris Messina all taking roles in the currently-shooting pic.

Matt’s playing NIKE exec Sonny Vaccaro who put the whole Air Jordan thing together… although apparently Michael Jordan won’t be seen in the movie as a character - he’ll only be talked about. huh.

Ben’s playing NIKE founder Phil Knight (still🤞 his hair style matches what HBO did with Knight in “Winning Time”) and directing.

Bateman is Vaccarro’s NIKE boss, Rob Strasser
Viola is playing Jordan’s mom Dolores
Tucker is playing an instrumental junior NIKE exec
Wayans is playing a college hoops coach at U OF IOWA, who brokered the Jordan-Vaccarro relationship
Messina is playing Jordan’s famous agent David Falk

Of note - former WB Pics head and rumored soon-to-be head of Matt & Ben’s new company Jeff Robinov is a producer on this too. /Deadline

PARAMOUNT sets Lindsey Beer to write + direct a “Sleepy Hollow” reboot

She just did their upcoming “Pet Sematary” prequel, no word on her take although it’s been 23 years since the Johnny Depp movie produced by Scott Rudin so… certainly updatable. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

NETFLIX adds Uma Thurman and Henry Golding to “The Old Guard 2”. Charlize & cast are returning, although it’ll have a new director - Victoria Mahoney, who did 2nd Unit on “Rise of Skywalker” and has directed a lot of TV. /Deadline
SONY is gonna re-release “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in theaters Labor Day weekend, with an expanded “More Fun Stuff” version featuring expanded and additional scenes. /THR
FANDANGO head Paul Yanover is leaving after a decade at the NBCU property. Will McIntosh, EVP of something called NBC Sports Next is adding the FANDANGO Prez role to his duties. Paul will leave later this Summer, next destination TBD. /Variety

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📺 THE TV SET

NETFLIX orders “Squid Game” Season 2

There’s not much else to know other than:

“Gi-hun returns. The front man returns. The man in the suit ddakji might be back. You also will be introduced to Young-hee’s boyfriend, Cheol-su.”

So. Kinda just here for the gif. /Deadline

NBA FINALS audience falls to about 8 Million in Game 4 on ABC

Games 1 thru 3 were doing about 11-12 Million each… although this is likely more due to being on Friday night when more people are watching out of home (the 8 Million doesn’t account for that yet).

Still this Finals matchup is gonna fall on the lower side of interest vs. other NBA Finals historically, despite being close so far (tied 2-2). Game 5 is tonight. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

APPLE TV+ renews “Schmigadoon!” for a 2nd season. This one will be set in musicals from the 60’s & 70’s, and all cast are returning 🎶. /Deadline
AMAZON renews “The Boys” for a 4th season. /Variety
APPLE TV+ keeping Friday Night MLB games free for everyone through July ⚾️. /9to5Mac
HBOMAX cancels “Made for Love” after 2 seasons. /Variety
PEACOCK’s mysterious series from Jason Woliner (“Borat 2” director) is casting… adds Frank Grillo, Rosanna Arquette, Dennis Haysbert and others but still no details about what this is 🤐. /Deadline
NETFLIX sets Kim Catrall to co-star in former CW pilot “Glamorous”. About a a gender non-conforming queer person (YT’er Miss Benny) who goes to work for a cosmetics queen (Catrall). 10 episodes, shooting this Summer. /Variety

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

NETFLIX is creating more mobile video games based on their series

“Money Heist”, “Shadow and Bone”, “Too Hot to Handle” and “The Queen’s Gambit” are up next. Wait a “Queen’s Gambit” game?? Oh right 😬. /Deadline

INDIA’S IPL Cricket Streaming rights go to VIACOM / PAR (and RELIANCE) for $2.6 Billion

That’s for a 5 year deal, starting with the next season in March 2023, and streaming rights only.

Although to note - this is very breaking news as of 830am, and some reports have SONY in the mix here (possibly they got the TV package?) so more to come tomorrow. This headline is from THR to note.

But more of note - current rights DISNEY+HOTSTAR doesn’t appear to be anywhere in the conversation.

Back to the $2.6 Billion - the service is called VIACOM 18 there, although PARAMOUNT GLOBAL only now has a smaller stake in the venture

INDIA media conglomerate RELIANCE is a big investor
As is James Murdoch… of those Murdochs (he’s the non #MAGA one), who put in a lot of money earlier this year with another guy with a lot of walkin around money, Uday Shankar.

DISNEY+ HOTSTAR (what DISNEY+ is called in INDIA, with 43+ Million subscribers) previously had the IPL rights for the past 5 years, both TV and Streaming for about half that price (about $500 Million a year), and has played a key role in the subscriber growth #s for DISNEY+.

The next IPL season isn’t until March thru May (in terms of popularity - it’s INDIA’s NFL), so DISNEY+ streaming numbers may not take an immediate hit… but certainly will come 2023:

The subscriber bump from the start of this year’s IPL season represented half of DISNEY+’s total gains in Q1.

Granted - it’s hard to justify the $500+ Million a year cost when DISNEY+HOTSTAR total annual revenues are in the $500 to $750 Million range, but either way… likely another big headache for Bob Chapek. Although at least this headache isn’t entirely self-inflicted.

The TV rights are still up for auction today and expected to get around $3 Billion, and there are also much lower cost overseas rights and some smaller carve out packages avail, so more to come tomorrow. /THR

FOR COMPARISON - IPL rights should total about $6 Billion for 5 years.
NFL rights ran about $50 Billion for US rights alone over 5 years in their most recent renewals.

OF NOTE: AMAZON shocked everyone by dropping out on Friday before the process even started, as they were previously thought to be a very top contender.

ALSO IN MEDIA

The Sheryl Sandberg FACEBOOK story may not be over… big internal review going on as to potential use of company resources on personal matters over several years. /WSJ
GOOGLE paying out $118 Million to about 15k female employees to settle gender discrimination case (roughly $7800 per employee not accounting for any law firm fees etc… which I have in my head usually being about 35 to 40% of the payout typically, but I’m not 100 on that).
- The lawsuit that spurred it cited a study that GOOGLE paid female employees approx $17k a year less than males with the same job titles. /Deadline

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

#InflationReport

NETFLIX -5% ($182.94)

AMAZON -5% ($109.65)

ENDEAVOR -5% ($21.34)

WBD -5% ($14.86)

SNAPCHAT -6% ($13.28)

LIONSGATE -6% ($9.51)

BUZZFEED -6% ($2.06)

CINEWORLD (REGAL Cinemas) -7% ($0.30)

SPOTIFY -8% ($102.23)

ROBLOX -9% ($27.76)

ROKU -10% ($82.71)

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👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

HBOMAX “The Card Counter” - Paul Schrader pic with Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish hit the service - STREAM HERE

ABC NBA Finals - Game 5 at 9p

🕵️‍♀️ THE WEEK AHEAD

TUE - “Halftime” JLo doc hits NETFLIX

WED - New Melissa McCarthy series “God’s Favorite Idiot” hits NETFLIX

NHL Stanley Cup begins, Colorado vs Tampa Bay

THU - “Father of the Bride” reboot hits HBOMAX

NBA Finals Game 6 on ABC

FRI - PIXAR is finally back in movie theaters with “Lightyear”

SAT - Golf’s US OPEN today and tomorrow

SUN - Father’s Day!

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

No new trailers but a few good Michael Che on HOWARD STERN clips, talking about Chris Rock - the slap and Che’s relationship with him, and a “Half Viagra” SNL sketch that didn’t make the show that would totally kill.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New HALSEY “So Good”

If you need some new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime - just Reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-SEAN MCNULTY

@theseanmac on TWITTER

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The Wakeup

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