MOMOA and BAUTISTA team up for MGM action comedy pic

PAR+ sets lead for FATAL ATTRACTION TV series / PAR+ missing the YELLOWSTONE train / Weekend TV + Movie preview

Nov 12, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY November 12, 2021.

Where It’s “DISNEY+ DAY” - their kinda D23 / DisneyCon event, so the TRAILER HOUSE section here should have a stacked Monday. Which I’m sure they hope puts their stock back in the right direction - DISNEY stock dropped over 7% yesterday based on… well everything I outlined in yesterday’s newsletter about their Q3 streaming numbers.

AND: ADELE gives her first in-depth interview to ROLLING STONE, in advance of her CBS / OPRAH special hitting on Sunday.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

MGM gets Jason Momoa + Dave Bautista buddy cop project after bidding war

Jonathan Tropper (APPLE TV+ “See”, CINEMAX’s “Banshee”) will write the script, a “Lethal Weapon”-ish buddy action comedy set in Hawaii… but not much else known yet except it’ll likely involve Bautista in a Speedo and Momoa in board shorts if that does somethin’ for ya.

No pricetag indicated for the pitch, or the actor paydays when it goes into production… sometime in 2023. Bautista and Momoa have pretty full dance cards in 2022. /Deadline

Ben Stiller directing + co-starring with Cate Blanchett in movie adaptation of 60s British TV series “The Champions”

The UK Sci-Fi spy series was about a group of UN agents who survive a plane crash in the mountains and get superhuman powers from an advanced civilization.

ITV America among the production companies… but TBD on a studio or streaming home for it. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

WB sets Jon M. Chu (“In The Heights”) to direct animated version of DR SEUSS book “Oh the Places You’ll Go!”. JJ Abrams / BAD ROBOT producing. /Deadline

IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE

IMAX sets new SVP of Marketing for their movie slate - Julie Fontaine coming over from NETFLIX. She’ll report into IMAX CMO Denny Tu. /THR
EPIX gets new SVP of Publicity, Eileen Quest who comes over from WARNER MEDIA where she was Vice President, Special Events. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

I mean it was in all the trades so i’m pretty sure. via giphy

HBO sets Ruth Wilson to star in “Mob Queens” series, based on the podcast

Lena Dunham & Dennis Lehane co-writing, Dunham will direct the story of Anna Genovese, 2nd wife of 1930s crime boss Vito Genovese who spilled the tea on her husband in subsequent divorce hearings. /Variety

ALSO IN TV

PAR+ casts Lizzy Caplan (“Masters of Sex”) in lead role for “Fatal Attraction” - the series. Search for the Michael Douglas role still underway, Alexandra Cunningham (“Dirty John”) wrote the script and will be the showrunner. /Deadline
CMA audience on ABC slightly below 2020 show at 6.8 Million. Slightly above “Chicago Fire” on NBC (6.6 Million). /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

“Yellowstone” is VIACOM CBS’s biggest 2021 TV hit - Broadcast or Cable. But it’s doing 0 for PARAMOUNT+

Sunday’s “Yellowstone” 11 Million viewer premiere night on the PARAMOUNT NETWORK was the biggest debut of anything on CBS or any VIACOM Cable Network this TV Season… or any TV network for that matter. But it’s not anywhere to be seen on PARAMOUNT+.

Thanks to VIACOM’s 2019 fire sale to raise $$ to launch PAR+ (SIMON & SCHUSTER and Black Rock headquarters sales, “Nora from Queens” streaming sale to HBOMAX, etc), PEACOCK is the show’s exclusive streaming home per another deal made at that time in early 2020 - something anyone who watched NBC’s Sunday Night Football last weekend probably noticed from the healthy promo presence.

“Yellowstone” Seasons 1-3 are only streaming on PEACOCK, and as soon as this Season 4 is done, it’ll be only on PEACOCK too. While Cable TV bundle subscribers can stream at least some S4 episodes via the yes-that-still-exists PARAMOUNT NETWORK app, PARAMOUNT+ is entirely missing out on VIACOM’s biggest TV phenomenon (save for the upcoming prequel “1883” in Dec).
- Couldn’t find any reporting how long the PEACOCK “Yellowstone” deal goes for (gotta figure it’s thru at least next year) or how much $$ VIACOM got for signing away the streaming rights for their biggest show. /CNET

ALSO IN MEDIA

SPOTIFY buys Audiobook distro platform FINDAWAY, as SPOTIFY looks to solidify its offerings vs. AMAZON MUSIC + AUDIBLE. Authors can also self-publish books on the service. No price indicated. /Variety

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

LIONSGATE was up 4% but that was about it. Unless you were BUMBLE who dropped close to 20% on earnings news that you people were not swiping enough for dates at the end of your Hot Vaxx Summers.

👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

FOCUS FEATURES “Belfast” - The Kenneth Branagh Fall film festival favorite hits Limited Theaters
NETFLIX “tick, tick… BOOM!” - The Lin Manuel Miranda directed movie about “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson hits Limited Theaters

STREAMING:

MOVIES

NETFLIX “Red Notice” movie - The Rock, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot - Stream or Add to Your List here
MGM “Rocky IV” - Stallone’s Extended directors cut hits PVOD
DISNEY+ “Home Sweet Home Alone” movie - The remake… no one was asking for. This whole thing baffles me. Stream or Add to Your List here
AMAZON “Mayor Pete” docu - Stream or Add to Your List here
DISNEY+ “Shang Chi” debuts on the streaming service - Stream or Add to Your List here

SERIES

APPLE TV+ “The Shrink Next Door” limited series - Will Ferrell & Paul Rudd - Stream or Add to Your List here
DISNEY+ “The World According to Jeff Goldblum” Season 2 - Stream or Add to your List Here
AMAZON PRIME “Always Jane” docuseries - 4 parts, about a transgender teenager growing up in NJ. Stream or Add to your List Here

SATURDAY

NBC - SNL is Jonathan Majors and TAYLOR SWIFT

SUNDAY

New “60 Minutes” at 7p on CBS
CBS “Adele: One Night Only” with Oprah at 8p
PARAMOUNT NETWORK “Mayor of Kingstown” - New series starring Jeremy Renner about a family running a town prison and… pretty much everything else, from creator of “Yellowstone”. Premieres at 9p or Stream or Add to Your List here on PAR+
SHOWTIME “Yellowjackets” series premiere - 4 women dealing with secrets and trauma from surviving a plane crash in the wilderness in their teens. Airs at 10p, or watch the first episode here now
NBC Sunday Night Football - CHIEFS at RAIDERS at 8p

WEEKEND READS + LISTENS

VARIETY has a good chat with Paul Thomas Anderson on “Licorice Pizza” including why the working title was “Soggy Bottom”

Kevin Durant is back with Season 2 of his podcast THE ETC’s and I enjoyed this ep with CHARLES BARKLEY, both as a 90’s NBA fan but also some good real talk on how people handle fame and money.

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

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

NETFLIX “VOIR” series trailer. Exec Produced by David Fincher, a series of “visual essays” looking at our personal connection to movies, and why the “Cinema” holds a special place among us. Catch it uh… Streaming at home on Mon Dec 6.

HBO “How To with John Wilson” Season 2 trailer. Premieres Fri Nov 26

HBO “Black and Missing” docuseries trailer. Looking at an organization trying to help Black families whose kids and loved ones go missing… who are 4X as likely not to be found vs White missing persons. Or be featured on Broadcast TV Morning Shows. Premieres Tue Nov 23