Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY February 14, 2022.

Where here on Valentines Day, do know that I hold each WAKEUP subscriber dear in my heart. Well at least the ones that open the email regularly.

Otherwise much to… let’s face it - likely most of the country’s disappointment, the LA RAMS are your SUPER BOWL Champions. But in the competition LA really cares about… The OSCARS are going from a no-host approach, to a 3 host approach. Will have a different host for each hour, Talent TBD.

ALSO: Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman will host the INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS, now 3 weeks before the OSCARS on Sun March 6.

AND: Another sad start to a week in 2022 as legendary comedy director Ivan Reitman died Saturday night in his sleep at age 75.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

BOX OFFICE

“Death on the Nile” : $12.8 Million ($33.5 Million Global)
- The #1 opening is nice for the adult-skewing pic, although at a $90 Million budget… still a ways to go. Numbers so far mirroring “House of Gucci”.
“Jackass Forever” : $8.05 Million ($37 Million US)
- Steep but not surprising 65% drop from opening weekend
“Marry Me” : $8 Million
- Not great… but DEADLINE has the budget at just $23 Million so it won’t be a major loss.
- Obviously was also avail to PEACOCK PREMIUM’s 16 Million subscribers - but no data there.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” : $7 Million ($759 Million US, $1.8 Billion global)
- Will surpass “Avatar” on the all-time US Box Office list probably today or tomorrow.
“Blacklight” : $3.6 Million
- About the same as Liam’s last 2 pics… that were released when NY, LA and many other theaters were closed. May be time to put the final nail in the “Liam Nesson movie” theatrical release thing as he’s not even covering Marketing costs anymore.

OTHERWISE AT THE BOX OFFICE

“Moonfall” plummeted over 70% in week 2, now at $15 Million total, will likely finish up near $20 Million total. LIONSGATE had $15 Million production investment, plus about $20+ Million in Marketing on it.

“Licorice Pizza” almost 3X’d theater count on OSCAR noms to 2000-ish… saw box office +40% to $923k. Total now at $14 Million.

“Drive My Car” crossed $1 Million total, now at $1.2 Million and playing in 127 theaters.

SONY’s “Uncharted” opened to $22 Million Internationally incl the UK, RUSSIA and SPAIN, before its US debut this Friday.

“Sing 2” crossed $300 Million globally, now at $310 Million total, pretty much half of the first movie.

ALSO IN MOVIES

Simu Liu joins “Barbie” at WB, with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera. No word on roles other than Barbie & Ken. /THR
PARAMOUNT sets Kingsley Ben-Adir to play Bob Marley in biopic (he played Malcolm X in “One Night in Miami”). The “King Richard” team of Zack Baylin and Reinaldo Marcus Green are writing and directing respectively here as well. /Variety

📺 THE TV SET

WBTV signs “Scrubs”, “Ted Lasso” co-creator Bill Lawrence to $100+ Million deal

He was already under a deal there that still had time on it… but APPLE TV+ was lining up with their checkbook as soon as he could leave, and WB doubled down.

In addition to “Lasso”, Bill has 2 more shows coming up at APPLE TV+, all produced by WBTV. /Deadline

Clive Owen, Emma Corrin lead cast of new FX limited series from “The OA” creators

Called “Retreat”, from Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij (also directing here).

About a reclusive billionaire (why are they always so reclusive??), who invites 12 people to a retreat at a bomb-ass location… when one of them is found dead. Corrin’s character fights to prove it was murder. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

Jon Stewart’s APPLE TV+ show is going weekly when it returns March 3. The show dropped just 4 episodes in the Fall, bi-weekly. APPLE PR outlined 4 topics for the new run… but didn’t specify if the show would go beyond March. /THR
NETFLIX’s “My Unorthodox Life” Season 2 just got a lot more interesting… Julia Hart was fired on camera last week and her husband is divorcing her, claiming she has taken over $850k out of their company for personal use. /PageSix
“Tiger King” director doing a NETFLIX docuseries on that Crypto-thief couple who was arrested for stealing/laundering $4.5 Billion of Bitcoin… last week. The man moves fast. /THR
CBS ordersWordle-esque game show “Lingo” hosted by RuPaul - although to note the show’s development preceeded Wordle and is a game that’s been around for a long while. Will debut later this year. /THR
CBS signs Marg Helgenberger to return to “CSI: Vegas” in one-year deal. /Deadline
MAGNOLIA NETWORK orders 5 new series, rewews 3 incl “Magnolia Table with Joanne Gaines”. Details in the link for the inclined. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

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🏦 STOCK NOTES:

VIMEO +15% ($12.95)

BUZZFEED -6% ($4.15)

Otherwise a slightly down day on Friday for most but no big moves.

If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:

The Wakeup
Get the key Hollywood + Media Biz news to know by 8:30am EST each morning.
By Sean McNulty

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NETFLIX “Ali Wong: Don Wong” - STREAM HERE

🕵️‍♀️ THE WEEK AHEAD

TUE - VIACOMCBS earnings late afternoon - new PAR+ #s

WED - YE 3 part docu “jeen-yuhs” hits NETFLIX

IAC and AMC NETWORKS earnings in the AM, ALTICE in the PM

THU - ROKU earnings at 5p

FRI - The Holland-Wahlberg action adventure pic “Uncharted” hits theaters, “Mrs Maisel” hits AMAZON.

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

UNIVERSAL “Nope” trailer - In case you want to start your week freaked out, well done UNI Marketing! In theaters July 22.

HBOMAX “Winning Time” series trailer - Another fantastic spot for this show… which unfortunately has the most confusing branding:

This series is branded as HBOMAX (not HBO), and is on the HBOMAX YT page (not HBO’s)…. but is airing on HBO, and dropping on HBO’s usual Sunday cadence, not HBOMAX’s usual Thursday premiere day. So… Trailer #win, Messaging #fail. Premieres Sun Mar 6. on HBO. and HBOMAX.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New song from ARLO PARKS “Softly” - a great listen as always.

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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MARRY ME falters as DEATH ON NILE wins…