NETFLIX dropping 42 films in the next 18 weeks

KACEY MUSGRAVES drops new single, PAR+ movie / AMC NETWORKS CEO steps out / SPOTIFY podcast #s leak

Aug 24, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY August 24, 2021.

Where we’ll see what Mother Nature has in store for the just-announced 3 day TIMES SQUARE “Curtain Up!” festival on the weekend of Sept 17th, mainly celebrating the return of BROADWAY. Maybe just don’t invite Barry Manilow this time? Although it would be a shame to deny these moves to the crossroads of the world…

ALSO: My apologies to THE SEX PISTOLS for leaving the S off the end of their name yesterday. They may be punk royalty… but we all know they’re huge sticklers for spelling & grammar 😳.

AND: CHINA’s cultural crackdown continues, as they’re banning songs that “insult or defame others” from their 50,000 Karaoke bars in the country. Damn. I just perfected my take on ICE CUBE’s “No Vaseline”.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Will Smith, The Chainsmokers, and NASCAR walk into a bar… and come out with a movie at AMAZON PRIME

Ok maybe there was no actual bar involved, but the unlikely trio (?) are all producing a movie for AMAZON PRIME that’s kinda “Jerry Maguire” meets father-daughter story called “Clean Air”.

Agent loses superstar NASCAR client, takes a chance on a 17 year-old female dirt-track racer with a reclusive ex-NASCAR driver dad. No director or actor talent attached as of yet. /Deadline

NETFLIX dropping 42 movies from Sept thru Dec

Which definitely now makes me feel a lot worse about my Fall plans… Too many to list here obviously, but DEADLINE did the work for me in the link if inclined (and the 42 includes a lot of family & holiday movies fwiw).

A few of note below, and many films are getting 2 week windows in theaters - so good news for movie theater chains… if they choose to show them.

“The Starling” - Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd dramedy from director Ted Melfi (“St Vincent”, “Hidden Figures”) in theaters Sept 17, on NETFLIX Sept 24.
“The Harder they Fall” - Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors Western with a modern directorial take. In Theaters Oct 22, on NETFLIX Nov 3.
“Don’t Look Up” - DiCaprio & JLaw star-studded satire from director Adam McKay. In theaters Dec 10, on NETFLIX Dec 24.

ALSO IN MOVIES

UNIVERSAL adds Samantha Morton to “She Said” Weinstein movie. She’ll play a former longtime Harvey assistant who is then bound by NDA agreements. Movie is now shooting. /THR
NETFLIX sets Marlon Wayans for untitled Halloween movie. Teenage girl accidentally unleashes spirit on Halloween, causing decorations to come to life and must team up with her skeptical dad (Wayans) to save their town. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

Kirk Douglas with the provocative moves for a 50’s family film… 😲. via giphy

DISNEY+ orders series based on “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”

Called “Nautilus”, a 10 episode origin story for “Captain Nemo”. Will shoot early 2022, produced by UK production companies. /THR

AMC NETWORKS head Josh Sapan leaving his CEO role - former SHOWTIME head Matt Blank joining Sept 8 on interim basis

Josh just renewed his CEO contract 8 months agao through 2022… but apparently he had a clause allowing him to become “Vice Chairman” which he is exercising.

Blank is coming on board in a “one-year interim deal” while the company looks for a new head. which is… a curious announcement:

A late Summer departure… happening in a 2 week timeframe… for someone who has led the company for 26 years is a bit sudden, regardless of having a broad “Vice Chairman” clause in his deal.

ALSO: That “Vice Chairman” clause was described as an option starting in “early 2022” at the time of his Dec 2020 CEO deal renewal… making this even a bit more unusual.
AND: Bringing in an “interim CEO” instead of Josh staying around while AMC finds a new CEO is also an unusual move.

But, certainly could be nothing more to it… and nothing more official to know here at the moment. /Deadline

Cynthia Erivo 1970’s London arms dealer TV project going out to buyers from MRC TV

Francis Lawrence directing (“The Hunger Games”, “I Am Legend”), called “Steel” - Erivo plays a single mother arms-dealer in 1970’s London as she makes a name for herself in the male-dominated “profession”. Inspired by a true story. We’ll see who bites… /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

Mayim Bialik will guest host “Jeopardy!” starring Mon Sept 20 for at least 3 weeks while SONY… “sorts things out". The 5 Mike Richards-hosted episodes will kick off the season on Sept 13 for a week first. /CNN
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Insecure” also returning to HBO in October on… a secret date that only HBO knows and doesn’t want to tell us.
ROKU renews “Most Dangerous Game” for Season 2. Christoph Waltz returning, David Castañeda (“The Umbrella Academy”) joining as his co-star. Kevin Hart’s “Die Hart” is the other former QUIBI series that has been renewed so far at ROKU. /THR
PEACOCK orders Australian series “Irreverent”, a co-production with NETFLIX AUSTRALIA. Drama about a Chicago criminal who has a busted heist and has to hide out in a small Australian town… for some reason, where he poses as the new church Reverend. So - reverse“Crocodile Dundee” meets“We’re No Angels”? #80sDeepCut /Deadline
VH1 renews RuPaul’s 3 “Drag Race” shows. /Variety
FREEFORM renews “Motherland: Fort Salem” for a 3rd and final season. /THR
SHOWTIME replaces Cybill Shepherd with Jennifer Lewis (“Black-ish”) in Vanessa Bayer’s upcoming comedy series “I Love This For You”. She’ll play the CEO of the Home Shopping Network where Bayer’s character aspires to become an on-camera host. /THR
BET+ orders gospel music industry series “Kingdom Business”. Renown gospel artist Kirk Franklin among the producers. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

VIACOM looking to sell CBS RADFORD soundstages in LA

No word on the $$ price they’re looking to get for the 40 acre lot with 18 soundstages, as VIACOM continues to sell-off their real estate holdings. /Deadline

Internal numbers reveal SPOTIFY-owned podcasts accounted for 19% of all pod listening on SPOTIFY in Sept 2020

However… just .4% of listening was for podcasts from GIMLET, which SPOTIFY bought for $230 Million.

Then again, GIMLET released just 19 hours of content in Sept 2020, compared to 233 hours from SPOTIFY-owned THE RINGER, so certainly a contributing factor.

GIMLET has long aimed/positioned itself as the HBO of podcasts, focusing on narrative formats vs. guys shooting the shit for 2 hours formats like on most of THE RINGER content, so the % number isn’t too surprising. But still from a return-on-investment POV, probably not great. /Insider

ALSO IN MEDIA

NY POST requires employees to wear masks at the office when not at their desks. Oddly this news was not in the NY POST. /CNN
VOX MEDIA’s EATER buys drinks journalism website PUNCH from RANDOM HOUSE. No price revealed. /WSJ
AMAZON’s WONDERY hires WB’s head of “Harry Potter” franchise development Nicole Blake as their new head of podcast franchise development. /Deadline

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

FDA vaccine approval led to a mostly up day all around, especially for movie theater stocks:

AMC THEATERS up almost 7%
CINEMARK +8%
IMAX up almost 7%
CINEWORLD (Regal Cinemas)… left out of the fun, basically flat.
VIMEO also continues its climb back, up another 8%

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

Late August strikes again 🤷‍♂️.

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

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

SONY “Spider-Man: No Way Home” teaser trailer. Spidey asks Doctor Strange to mess with the metaverse for him so people will forget his real Peter Parker identity and… it goes great! Real smooth. No unforseen issues at all. Hits theaters Fri Dec 17.

APPLE TV+ “The Morning Show” Season 2 trailer. Gotta love a trailer that ends with the line ‘This is a battle for the soul of the universe!” Premieres Fri Sept 17.

NETFLIX “Maid” teaser trailer. Limited series based on the best-selling memoir about a single mother (Margaret Qually) raising a young daughter while taking a job as a maid, after leaving an abusive relationship. Premieres Fri Oct 1.

PARAMOUNT+ “Star-Crossed” trailer. 50 minute “film” based on Kacey Musgraves’s new album. Yeah I got nuthin here tbh… but hey see if you can tell what’s going on - wait was that Eugene Levy?? Premieres Fri Sept 10 along with…👇 (see below)

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New KACEY MUSGRAVES song “Star-Crossed” - This is the first track from a 15 track album, that tells a 3 act love story… and it kinda feels like a bit more of a “pre-amble” track that kicks off a larger album, vs. a 1st single from a highly anticipated new album… but still worth checking out.

The album drops Fri Sept 10 along with the 50 minute film.

Listen to song on SPOTIFY or: