More FANTASTIC BEASTS pics now questionable, FATHER STU Easter gamble fails at box office
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE is 2022’s specialty box office hit / THE BATMAN hits HBOMAX/ Jon Batiste joins THE COLOR PURPLE
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY April 18, 2022.
Where hopefully you too are not getting your taxes in this morning like some people 😳 👈. Although my form this year did show me that I’m definitely not in the same tax bracket of PARAMOUNT GLOBAL CEO Bob Bakish in 2021. Sorry - I forgot the #spolieralert there.
Bakish made about $20 million last year, roughly half of what he got in 2020 - I mean hey “The Offer” isn’t cheap, money’s gotta come from somewhere.
Bob’s salary was $3.1 Million 💵, and then $16.8 Million in “non-equity incentive plan”, aka a bonus that’s not cold-hard Ted Sarandos-style cash.
Speaking of whom, Bakish’s payday is about half of the NETFLIX leaders… and the Zazlav money at WBD, and 2/3 of the Chapek money at DISNEY.
AND: SNL is taking the next 2 weeks off, Benedict Cumberbatch will host on May 7 to start a run of 3 shows to end out the year, with ARCADE FIRE handling the tunes.
PLUS: “The Batman” hits HBOMAX today - STREAM HERE
OH: Remember that NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet that sold for $2.9 Million a year ago? Yeah the guy who bought it can’t even get $5,000 for it now. 🥸
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
BOX OFFICE
“Fantastic Beasts… Dumbledore” : $43 Million ($193 Million global)
International $$ should save the $200 Million budgeted pic but… a greenlight for the previously planned 4th and 5th installments is a risky gamble at best with these kind of Box Office numbers.
Beasts pt1 (2016): Open weekend US: $74 Million, ends with $811 Million global
Beasts pt2 (2018): Open weekend US: $62 Million, ends with $651 Million global and… a very disappointed Potter fan audience
The Definition of a franchise in search of a purpose. There currently is no script for a 4th pic.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” : $30 Million ($232 Million global)
A so-so 58% drop but still doing great business esp given “Beasts” drawing a somewhat similar family audience (if not a bit older)
“The Lost City” : $6.5 Million ($79 Million US, $99 Million global)
Even lower drop (28%) than last weekend - while it will likely not hit $100 Million US, it’ll get close as the only fun date pic out there for… well it feels like most of 2022 really.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” : $6.1 Million ($18 Million US)
Increased theater count about 75% to 2200, got the same gross as last weekend and continues to do strong biz esp. for a movie that’s not an easy sell. 👏
Already outgrossed “Licorice Pizza” in the US, and likely “The French Dispatch” very soon.
“Father Stu” : $5.6 Million ($8 Million incl full 5 day release)
The EASTER weekend / Faith audience gamble didn’t pay off here for Wahlberg (pic was on 2700 screens).
While I couldn’t find a budget #, Wahlberg told INSIDER that he put “millions and millions” of his own money into the project, seeing the movie as “God choosing me to make the film”. The pic went over budget which Mark had to cover as well. (The SONY deal was more of a marketing/distro thing it seems).
Did get an “A” cinemascore which may help a bit in the weeks ahead with older audiences.
“Morbius” : $4.7 Million ($65 Million US)
Down 54%, will barely earn back its budget in the US (not including rev share payments to movie theaters)
“Ambulance” : $4 Million ($15 Million US)
Will only make about a little over half of its production budget ($40 Million) back on US grosses.
WB adds Jon Batiste to “The Color Purple” pic
He’ll play the sweet-talking piano man husband to Taraji P. Henson’s “Shug Avery” character. Will hit theaters Christmas-time next year. /THR
ALSO IN MOVIES
HBOMAX sets KJ Apa (TheCW’s “Riverdale”) and Isabel May (“1883”) to lead their DC “Wonder Twins” pic. /THR
AND JUST GONNA PUT THIS HERE: Pete Davidson left his management at BRILLSTEIN GREY, still repped by ICM.
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📺 THE TV SET
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
No TWITTER news broke over the weekend, but about that “poison pill”…
The board enacted ‘poison pill’ rules on Friday, essentially meaning current investors can increase their stakes at a lower price, thus making it harder for Elon to take control of the company.
Sure it’ll be a quiet week ahead… /Deadline
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
Good Friday was off.
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👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
AMC “Better Call Saul” final season pt1 at 9p
🕵️♀️ THE WEEK AHEAD
TUE - NETFLIX earnings call / subscriber updates late afternoon
WED - “Russian Doll” Season 2 drops on NETFLIX
THU - HBOMAX updates subscriber counts in the AM, and drops “The Flight Attendant” Season 2
FRI - The world finally gets Nicolas Cage as Nicolas Cage… without the pretense of a character name in “The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent”
SUN - “Barry” Season 3 hits HBO, “Gaslit” hits STARZ
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
Nothing new but yet again, despite a pretty eh SNL, PLEASE DON’T DESTROY delivered the goods… as they tried to write a song for LIZZO.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
LIZZO “About Damn Time” - Unlike the song from another A-list artist that we got last week… very much looking forward to hearing a lot of this one on the radio this Summer. New album drops July 15.
If you need some new tunes:
Email me anytime - just Reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-SEAN MCNULTY
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM