More Films pushed from Jan-Feb theatrical release
CHRIS NOTH faces 2004, 2015 sex assault claims / SPIDER-MAN's huge Int'l 1st day / NETFLIX gets Frank Sinatra series
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY December 17, 2021.
Where I got positive feedback this week! Sadly it was from a Covid test so looks like I’ve entered New York City’s hottest club - #breakthru Omicron. I had light to medium flu-like fatigue and chest cough for 36 hours, but thankfully really the biggest downside to date was having to cancel on 2 shoots and an event this week.
It’s now at a manageable/mild cough after 48-ish hours which hopefully doesn’t have any surprises ahead, and 🤞my taste buds hold on. #thanksBooster!
But if there are more type-o’s than usual next week, just know I’m blaming covid.
ELSEWHERE IN “Wait is this 2020 or 2021?”: Over 100 NFL players have been placed in Covid-protocols this week (ie not playing this weekend). The league is mandating booster shots for players starting… 10 days from now on Dec 27. That is - for the 94% of them that are vaccinated. #AaronRodgersStillPlaying
Across the pond: Several PREMIERE LEAGUE matches in the UK have been suspended as a result of players having to sit out, with momentum building to take 3 weeks off entirely.
North of the border: The MONTREAL CANADIENS played their game last night with no crowd against the FLYERS. (Montreal won 3-2 btw)
PLUS: No-shows for major (and usually very expensive) concerts like The Eagles, George Strait and the Dead have hit 20% for some shows this month (usual rate is 1-2%) according to the WSJ.
AND: Covid cases have now doubled in NYC over the past 3 days, with test positivity rate almost tripling. Omicron was at 13% of new cases at the… start of the week, and many big BROADWAY shows are going on hiatus for today or the weekend. Cue the change to the TIMES SQUARE New Years Eve plan in 3…2…
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
“Spider-Man” earns $44 Million in first day internationally
Including $10 Million in the UK (about a 40% increase over “No Time to Die” opening day), and it had the biggest opening day for a film ever in MEXICO.
Will be curious to see if NYC Box Office is affected at all this weekend… hunch is no. /Deadline
UNIVERSAL moves BLUMHOUSE pic “The Black Phone” from Feb to June 24
Th UNI Q1 Movie Theater exodus continues. “The 355” is still slated for 3 weeks from now on Jan 7 in theaters only but…
Outside of the now In Theaters + PEACOCK “Marry Me” release on Feb 11, UNI doesn’t have another movie til April. /Variety
ALSO: STX bails as well, moves Guy Ritchie pic “Operation Fortune” from Jan 21 to March 18. Also pushes Chris Pine / Ben Foster action pic “The Contractor” off Mar 18 to Apr 1. /Deadline
AND: In case you’re wondering, WB doesn’t have any pics after “Matrix 4” until “The Batman” on March 4, so we can save any HBOMAX conversations for a while (if at all).
PLUS: If you find value in TWITTER film reviews - “Matrix 4” had a bunch yesterday. NetNet - better than pts 2 and 3 (#lowbar) but don’t get hopes up too high. And Jonathan Groff apparently was the scene stealer.
Next biggest looming Box Office question likely will be if “West Side Story” gets a surprise early debut on HBOMAX & DISNEY+ (maybe even a last minute CHRISTMAS gift?), but we’ll see how the weekend goes.
ALSO IN MOVIES
NETFLIX’s biopic of trailblazing politician Shirley Chisolm starring Regina King adds Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Andre Holland and Terrence Howard to the cast. “Shirley” is written and directed by John Ridley (wrote “12 Years a Slave”, created ABC’s “American Crime”). /Deadline
NETFLIX sets multi-year production deal with Spike Lee. No specific upcoming projects mentioned. /Variety
Ben Affleck clarified that his comments about drinking & feeling trapped in his marriage in his Howard Stern interview were unfairly edited in resulting internet posts, during his visit to Jimmy Kimmel (that link here). And reading the full transcript text from Stern in the article… like most things in the social media age - seems he has a point about clickbait.
📺 THE TV SET
NETFLIX gets Frank Sinatra series from Bill Condon
Mentioned this earlier in the week - Sinatra family & music label are on board. No deal price indicated. Condon will now get writing… /Deadline
THR reports on 2 detailed allegations of sexual assault against Chris Noth
Both women were in their early 20’s at the time of the alleged incidents. One from 2004, one from 2015. Noth calls the assault claims “categorically false”. Reporter Kim Masters also clarified these stories have been in the works since August & October respectively.
PELOTON & Ryan Reynolds have removed the internet-breaking ad with Noth from their socials.
ALSO IN TV
SHOWTIME gives “Yellowjackets” a Season 2. /THR
NETFLIX sets production deal with MEGAN THEE STALLION. Described broadly as a deal for “series and other projects”, no initial projects mentioned. /THR
NBC adds Sam Waterston to “Law & Order” revival, reprising “Jack McCoy” character. Series premieres Feb 24. /Variety
HBO sets “The Big Short” co-writer Charles Randolph to write a limited series about the race to make a Covid vaxx, Adam McKay exec producing. /THR
TBS renews “American Dad” for 2 more seasons. This on top of the new season that premieres Jan 24. /Deadline
HBOMAX renews “We’re Here” reality/docu show for a 3rd season. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
CAA (+ICM)’s majority owner TPG is going public
The $109 Billion private equity firm has stakes in many companies like SPOTIFY, VICE and… whatever STX Films is turning into.
They were also the company that did the DIRECTV spinoff with AT&T this Summer (TPG owns 30% of it now).
What does this mean for CAA? Well besides likely some nice stock options for the former guys in the mailroom… probably not too much. It’ll now be part of a publicly traded company, but a very small percentage of it (i.e. not a publicly traded company like ENDEAVOR).
I’d think it’s also unlikely CAA’s revenues will be broken out as a separate financial line item in TPG’s quarterly earnings reports to give some public insight into the state of the CAA business every 3 months… but a boy can dream. /Variety
ALSO IN MEDIA
REDDIT has also filed paperwork to go public… but no timeline indicated. The CFO they hired this year also oversaw SNAP’s IPO in 2017. /Variety
It last reported Daily Active Users about… a year ago, at 52 Million, and reportedly was planning on doubling employees to 1400 this year. But as they’re in an SEC “quiet period” as part of the IPO process, no updated business stats have been released.
SPOTIFY buys WHOOSHKA - a company whose tech allows Radio broadcasters to record / turn radio shows into podcasts, and swap out the ads for dynamic-insertion (basically how podcast ad-tech works). Will become part of SPOTIFY’s MEGAPHONE podcast hosting business. /THR
SPOTIFY also adding a 1-5 star ‘rating’ feature for users to give podcasts, mimics APPLE, but without the ability to leave a comment.
WARNER MUSIC buys MEGAN THEE STALLION’s label, 300 ENTERTAINMENT. Also home to YOUNG THUG and MARY J BLIGE, and imprint is already distributed by WMG division ATLANTIC. 300 is run by former WMG EVP Kevin Liles. No price reported. /Variety
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
ROKU + 7% ($219.01) as investors ignore that bear-ish MORGAN STANLEY analyst from Wednesday.
AT&T +7% ($23.71) - Wall Street’s gonna Wall Street… as this unusual-for-AT&T stock pop also was based on a MORGAN STANLEY stock price projection upgrade. Which given that the stock is basically at a 5 year low (#StankeyEra) I mean how much worse could it get?
CINEWORLD (REGAL Cinemas) +11% ($.43) as investors bought the dip, and at 43 cents a share… sure why not. Although based on the vacancy rate for new movies on the Jan and Feb calendar - future looks a bit dicey.
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
SONY “Spider-Man: No Way Home” - Only in Theaters
SEARCHLIGHT “Nightmare Alley” - Only in Theaters
AMAZON “The Tender Bar” - Opens in NY / LA, goes wider Wed Dec 22
NETFLIX ”The Lost Daughter” - Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. In Limited Theaters. Comes to Netflix on Dec 31
STREAMING:
MOVIES
APPLE TV+ “Swan Song” - Mahershala Ali emotional drama about a dying man who clones himself as a way to provide for his family after he’s gone. Stream or Add to Your List here
HULU “Mother/Android” - Chloe Grace Moretz as an expectant mother trying to get to safety in Boston when robots revolt. No link came up in a search.
SERIES
NETFLIX “The Witcher” Season 2 - Stream or Add to Your List here
AMAZON “With Love” - Siblings in a Latino family navigate their love lives through various family holidays during the year. Stream or Add to Your List here
SATURDAY
NBC SNL - Paul Rudd and Charli XCX
TIGER WOODS plays golf with his son on NBC at 2:30p in the PNC Father / Son Championship (Also on Sunday).
TNT HBCU College Basketball doubleheader special (produced by Michael B. Jordan):
NC CENTRAL vs HAMPTON, and HOWARD vs NC A&T, with a dunk contest in between the games. 1st tipoff is at 1p
NFL NETWORK - RAIDERS at BROWNS at 430p, PATS at COLTS at 820p. Aka the weekend that the NFL NETWORK points to every year when cable companies ask them “Why do we pay you for your channel again?” (NFL NET also has an exclusive game coming up Christmas night).
SUNDAY
PBS “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at 730p
New “60 Minutes” at 7p on CBS
NBC Sunday Night Football - SAINTS at BUCS at 8p
PAR+ “1883” - Distant prequel / spin-off of “Yellowstone” - Stream or Add to Your List here
TNT “Claws” - 4th and final season premiere at 9p (2 hours)
WEEKEND READS
Alison Roman got THE NEW YORKER profile treatment this week. Lotta food talk in the first third… but if you’re more interested about her and where she’s at these days on her business, the controversy and life overall, keep going.
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
PARAMOUNT PICS “The Lost City” trailer - Bullock, Tatum, Radcliffe action-comedy with an assist by Pitt. In theaters in March..?
HBO “The Righteous Gemstones” Season 2 trailer - Premieres Sun Jan 9
APPLE TV+ “Severance” teaser trailer - Pretty much the definition of “high concept” - group of employees agree to have a procedure to their brains that will separate work memories from home memories so they can’t access either when they’re not in those environments. Directed by Ben Stiller. #FunFact: the opening building shots are from next to my Jersey hometown, so, yeah, there’s that. Premieres Fri Feb 18
HULU “How I Met Your Father” series trailer - Premieres Jan 18
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
There’s a star-studded (Fred Armisen, Vanessa Bayer, Jon Hamm, Mark Hamill, Taika Waititi and more) new video for GEORGE HARRISON’s“My Sweet Lord”. Made to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the album.
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