NETFLIX buys Anna Kendrick 70's serial killer movie project
PEACOCK orders Damon Lindelof show / KILAR staying at WARNER MEDIA, for now / New TV & MOVIES this weekend
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY May 28, 2021.
Where - BBQ at DiCaprio’s new house in Los Feliz this weekend! Granted it seems likely that he bought it from Jesse Tyler Ferguson for $7.1 Million for a family member’s use…. but hey - that pool will make for a super classy hang with or without Leo. Anyone have the address? He said he’d text me but….🤷♂️
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
Wes Anderson’s SEARCHLIGHT movie “The French Dispatch” hitting theaters Oct 22
Also hitting Cannes in July, and NY Film Fest in late September.
OF NOTE: Scott Rudin is an Exec Producer on it (and has been a Producer on most of Wes’s movies) so I’d expect this to come up. /Variety
NETFLIX picks up Anna Kendrick movie project “Rodney & Sheryl”
Based on a true story of when a serial killer made his way onto “The Dating Game” …and won. 😳. Ah the 70’s man. No production timeline indicated. /Deadline
2022 OSCARS moving to Sunday March 27
Presumably not in a train station. Movie eligibility goes back to needing a release by Dec 31, but still can be VOD/Streaming first (doesn’t need to debut in a theater). /Variety
ALSO IN MOVIES
AMAZON buys US rights to Val Kilmer docu “Val” from A24. Includes a lot of self shot/home video footage from the younger years. Will premiere later in the year TBD. /THR
SONY’s George Foreman biopic has found its grillmaster…er its lead actor: Khris Davis (”Judas and the Black Messiah”). Will shoot this Fall, directed by George Tillman Jr. (“Soul Food”, “The Hate U Give”). /Deadline
Sounds like PARAMOUNT never definitively told Mark Wahlberg or director Antoine Fuqua that they were shifting their new movie “Infinite'‘ from theatrical release to PARAMOUNT+ before the announcement. Always a solid way to go. /THR
📺 THE TV SET
SHOWTIME adds Kyle Chandler to UBER series “Super Pumped”
Will play Bill Gurley, a Texas venture capitalist who stakes his rep on UBER and… uh has to deal with all that, as well as CEO Travis Kalanick, played by Joseph Gordon Levitt.
Series will focus on a different story from the business world each season and is from Koppelman & Levien (“Billions”) and Beth Schacter. /THR
PEACOCK orders series from Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and Tara Hernandez called “Mrs. Davis”
Described as “exploration of faith versus technology, an epic battle of biblical and binary proportions” in a world where most decisions are made by algorithm.
No word on a production timeline for the multi-cam sitcom. (although Tara was a writer on “Young Sheldon” and “Big Bang Theory” so ya never know). 10 episode order. /Deadline
ALSO IN TV
HULU sets Trevante Rhodes to play Mike Tyson in “Iron Mike” series from “I, Tonya” filmmakers. He played the adult version of the central character in “Moonlight”. /THR
PEACOCK sets Nat Wolff (“Fault In Our Stars”) to play Travis Maldonado in “Joe Exotic” limited series. /THR
FX renews Martin Freeman parenting show “Breeders” for a Season 3. /Variety
NBC cancels “Debris” after 1 season. /Variety
TNT sets Tues July 6th for its 4some NFL/PGA competition “The Match” : Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady vs Bryson DeChambeau & Aaron Rodgers. All 4 will play with open mics at a course in Big Sky, Montana. /NextTV
AMAZON sets rom-com series from Gloria Calderon Kellett (“One Day at a Time”) called “With Love” . Hour-long eps will center on siblings on a mission to find purpose and love during the holidays. Err… not with each other, to be clear. Will debut late this year. /THR
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
WARNER MEDIA head Jason Kilar staying until at least 2022
DISCOVERY deal won’t go through officially until at least mid-2022, so he’s gonna stick around, run up the AT&T corporate AMEX and do some more work til 2022 gets here, then decide what to do. No word if his deal was adapted to give him some… incentives to do so. /WSJ
ALSO: PARAMOUNT+ Programming head Julie McNamara departing after 15 years at CBS / VIACOM. No next destination indicated. /Deadline
Looks like PARAMOUNT TV head Nicole Clemens is likely to add overseeing PAR+ scripted to her duties. /Variety
STARZ hits 16.7 Million global streaming subscribers, +2.1 Million in Q1
Which…. carry my 1 🧐, means they have about 12.8 Million linear TV subscribers. Given what I last saw for a US streaming count at end of 2020, I’d say about 10 Million are US streaming, and about 6.7 Million international.
However… looking at financial filings, unless I’m reading this entirely wrong, it looks like the US cable/streaming business is still propping things up almost entirely.
The international streaming business (which I think all falls under the STARZPLAY brand) is available in 55 countries… but makes up just 6% of STARZ revenue.
ALSO IN MEDIA
CBS NEWS moves John Dickerson from “60 Minutes” to “CBS Sunday Morning”. Will now also be Chief Political Analyst for all CBS NEWS properties. /Variety
FOX NEWS regulars Clay Travis and Buck Sexton set to replace Rush Limbaugh radio show timeslot on PREMIERE RADIO NETWORK. That sounds about right. Will start June 21, PREMIERE has been airing Rush reruns since his death 3 months ago - although FOX NEWS ‘personality’ Dan Bongino has already taken the Rush timeslot on some station groups. /THR
CLUBHOUSE hires TED’s head of conferences, Kelly Stoetzel. She will lead “thought-leadership programming” - essentially convincing thought leaders in various fields to hold chats on CLUBHOUSE. /Variety
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
VIMEO down another… 5%. Well at least they’re consistent.
ROBLOX is killing it this week… up another 8% yesterday, +23% this week so far.
And AMC THEATERS up… 35% yesterday because-I can’t even anymore.
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
PARAMOUNT“A Quiet Place 2” - 15 months after the date on the billboard that was up in my neighborhood for the entire pandemic and kinda creeped me out. Note it also opens in China.
DISNEY“Cruella” - or pay $30 and watch at home on DISNEY+ here
STREAMING:
NETFLIX“The Kominsky Method” - 3rd and final season. Kathleen Turner joins for this season. Watch or add to your list here
NETFLIX “Lucifer” - 2nd half of season 5. Watch or add to your list here
TV:
HBO “The Shop: Interrupted” at 9:30p after a new “Pause with Sam Jay” at 9p.
SATURDAY
CBS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE soccer/football Final at 3pm. Man City vs Chelsea.
HBO “Oslo” - Movie starring Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott, about the 1993 Israeli-PLO peace accord. Premieres at 8p
SUNDAY
Tennis FRENCH OPEN - Streaming on PEACOCK starting 12noon
HISTORY CHANNEL “Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre” - Airs at 8p
MONDAY
NBC “Small Fortune” - 6 episode game show hosted by Lil Rel Howery. Premieres at 10p (also “America Ninja Warrior” new season premieres at 8p)
PBS “Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten” airs at 9p
CNN “Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street” - documentary exec produced by Lebron. Airs at 9p
If you were sent this email or… just kinda found it:
And if you wanna pay it forward. send the newsletter to a co-worker 🙏:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
UNIVERSAL “Old” trailer - Where for once - the scariest beach in the world is not in New Jersey. (its ok, I’m from there - I can say that). The new M. Night joint Hits theaters Fri July 23.
APPLE TV+ “Physical” series trailer. Rose Byrne’s 80s housewife finds an escape + builds a budding empire through Aerobics. Plus a pretty great use of “Point of No Return” by Exposé - 👏 Apple Marketing team. Series premieres Fri June 18.
DISNEY “Jungle Cruise” trailer 2 - In theaters and $30 DISNEY+ rental on July 30.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
Even if there’s no party at Leo’s house, we can go to CARSIE BLANTON’s in her fun new, kinda southern rock sing-along “Party At the End of the World”:
If you need new tunes:
3 Day weekend ya’ll!! I’ll see ya’s in June on Tuesday with a pretty sick tan. Just hopefully not on my typing hand. Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER or also here on CLUBHOUSE or on IG @TheWakeupNews