NETFLIX sets Mark Wahlberg & Kevin Hart for buddy comedy

COMCAST & VIACOM launching SKY SHOWTIME streamer in Europe / WB Film marketing changes / SNAP launches a Whats Trending website tool

Aug 18, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY August 18, 2021.

Where early October’s NY COMIC CON is requiring all attendees over 12 years-old to be vaxx’d. All under-12 to be accompanied by guardian and have proof of negative test. Masks required except when eating or drinking… but pretty sure that rule existed pre-covid.

ALSO: LA County now requiring masks at all outdoor concerts and festivals.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

really hope this mullet returns 🙏. via giphy

NETFLIX sets Mark Wahlberg to co-star with Kev Hart for wild-weekend buddy comedy

Called “Me Time” - Stay-at-home dad (Kev) gets a free weekend from the fam and reconnects with a buddy from his long ago past (Wahlberg) and… the weekend takes a turn.

John Hamburg (“Along Came Polly”) writing & directing. /Deadline

NETFLIX doing “Murder Mystery” sequel, Sandler & Aniston expected to return

Jeremy Garelick (writer on “The Break Up”, “The Wedding Ringer”) is directing and doing a final pass on the script.

NETFLIX looking to shoot soon-ish in Paris & the Caribbean. /Deadline

AMAZON sets Sterling K. Brown & Randall Park for untitled action-comedy

2 estranged childhood best friends, now on opposite sides of the law, are framed and have to team up to clear their names.

Will be written by Alex Tse (co-creator of HULU’s “Wu-Tang” show). Sterling and Randall both among the producers here. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

Wed Anderson can’t seem to stop casting boldfaced names in his next movie - Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Liev Schreiber… I’m beginning to get concerned how he’s now gonna get all of these people into Spain. /THR
NEON’s Kristen Stewart as Princess Di movie “Spencer” will hit theaters Fri Nov 5. /Deadline
- Or if you want some images of Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Di instead (and Dominic West as Prince Charles) in “The Crown” Season 5 - click here.
DISNEYFOX adds Minnie Driver to “Romeo & Juliet” re-telling from Romeo’s ex’s POV movie “Rosaline”. Joins Kaitlyn Dever, Bradley Whitford already cast. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

“The White Lotus” triples Sunday night viewership from Premiere night to Finale on HBO

Finale viewership hit 1.9 Million across platforms on Sunday. And seemingly on my IG feed. /Variety

ALSO IN TV

EMINEM to guest star as “White Boy Rick” in 50 Cent’s new STARZ 1980’s Detroit crime family series “BFM” (Black Family Mafia). /Deadline
“Carpool Karaoke” series moving to APPLE TV+ for Season 5. Timeline TBD. Previously was on APPLE MUSIC. /Deadline
HBO orders Season 2 for unscripted series “Painting with John”. /Variety
FREEFORM cancelled “Everything’s Gonna Be Ok” after 2 seasons. /THR
“Young Sheldon” coming to TBS in syndication starting Sept 27. /Deadline

AND IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE

WARNER MEDIA putting HBOMAX Original Movies marketing under the WARNER BROS team. Will set 3 teams to handle all WARNER MEDIA movie marketing, regardless of theatrical or streaming.
- 2 teams will be led by Terra Potts and Susannah Scott, both promoted to EVP reporting into Marketing Prez Josh Goldstine. 3rd EVP is TBD. /Variety
  - WB also promotes 2 to co-EVP’s of international marketing - Danielle Bekas in LA and Charlie Coleman in London. /Variety
Former HBOMAX, SHOWTIME and NBC head Bob Greenblatt sets first look deal at LIONSGATE TV. /Variety
AMAZON hires longtime NFL NETWORK exec Mike Muriano as Exec Producer as they look ahead to producing their own THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL games next season. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

ONLY FANS launches free streaming app OFTV, with a no-nudity policy

So… basically MAXIM for streaming? But - surrounded by far more helpful cooking and exercise content. /Variety

COMCAST & VIACOM set joint venture SKYSHOWTIME streaming service in Eastern Europe in 2022

It’ll feature movies from UNIVERSAL & PARAMOUNT, shows from SHOWTIME, NICKELODEON, PAR+ and PEACOCK, and UK shows from SKY STUDIOS.

Price TBD, and will launch in 20 mostly Eastern European & Nordic countries in 2022 TBD, with a potential reach of 90 Million customers. But, these 20 are not EUROPE’s major markets (UK, GERMANY, FRANCE etc), where COMCAST-owned SKY already has a PayTV channel presence, and where SKY & VIACOM recently made a deal to offer PARAMOUNT+ to SKY customers. PEACOCK will also be coming to the UK as a free add on for SKY customers soon. /Deadline

This was just announced this morning, so a bit more to come here… but certainly another step tying NBCU and VIACOMCBS further together - let the “just get a room already!” sentiment continue to build from Wall Street.

However, this once again puts a huge question mark on just what the ambitions are for the PEACOCK and especially PARAMOUNT+ brands on a global scale.

NETFLIX, DISNEY+, AMAZON & APPLE TV+ each exist as one brand, in every country they exist in the world (DISNEY+ HOTSTAR notwithstanding in India), with HBOMAX certainly following in that direction.

For PEACOCK and especially PARAMOUNT+, this is now a list of 20 countries where the 2 brands won’t exist. Instead, VIACOM specifically keeps trying to push SHOWTIME as a separate brand for… some reason. They chose to keep it a separate streaming service in the US and not fold into PARAMOUNT+, and apparently they’re now doubling down on that “dual service / brand” approach globally.

I’ve not had my morning coffee yet so perhaps my brain is missing something, but an overarching global streaming strategy here at VIACOMCBS is a bit hard to discern.

SNAPCHAT launches TRENDS website showing what’s most popular on the service

You can search for specific things to see how much people are talking about them, or see the most talked about things etc (simliar to GOOGLE Trends or TIKTOK hashtags).

Search info is available from US, UK, Canada, and Australia users. /AdAge

ALSO IN MEDIA

BUZZFEED CEO Jonah Peretti guarantees to NBCU that the stock price of his soon-to-be public company (via a SPAC, combining with COMPLEX) will rise, by offering up some of his ownership stake (and other debt equity) if it does not. NBCU had big concerns their investment in BUZZFEED was being undervalued in the SPAC deal. /WSJ
January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to require proof of vaxx for entry in Vegas. There will also be a digital/virtual component. /Next TV
If you have SPECTRUM CABLE TV, you can now download the SPECTRUM app again on ROKU after a 9 month impasse. /NextTV

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Generally another slightly down day, except for ENDEAVOR which was up almost 8% on their optimistic revenue guidance for the rest of the year.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

HULU “Nine Perfect Strangers” limited series (weekly episode drops). Click here to Watch or Add to your List

COMEDY CENTRAL “Nora From Queens” Season 2 at 10p. 2 eps back to back. Also streaming on HBOMAX the day after.

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

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HBO “Scenes From a Marriage” trailer. HBO marketing killing it with this one, starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac. From “Mare” to “Lotus” to this… get those “HBO dominates 2022 EMMYS nominations” stories ready. Really Impressive run. Premieres Sun Sept 12

NETFLIX “Dear White People” Season 4/final season trailer. Going out with a musical season, Premieres Wed Sept 22.

HBO “In the Same Breath” trailer. This Trailer isn’t new, but it’s for a documentary airing tonight at 9p or tomorrow on HBOMAX - a well reviewed look at the covid outbreak and what really happened in it’s earliest days from Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang.