NIELSEN under-counts audience group for 15 months

JOHN WICK 4 moved to 2023 / James Franco returns / Big Holiday TV & Movie weekend preview

Dec 23, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY December 23, 2021.

Where the most streamed song on SPOTIFY ever is… Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You”. Yeah I thought it woulda been Barry Manilow too 🤷‍♂️. It became the first song to cross the 3 Billion streams mark on the service. And in our hearts. Cheers Ed!

ALSO: James Franco did an interview for the first time in a long time… sitting down with Jess Cagle for his SIRIUSXM show, where he addressed dealing with sex addiction, sleeping with students at NYU, Seth Rogen and his general silence for the past 3 years.

OTHERWISE: Yeah super quiet again… but a very special CHRISTMAS FEED a bit further down with the list of the new TV & Movies to enjoy over the long Holiday weekend.

AND: A Merry Christmas weekend everyone! 🎄 I’ll be back with a newsletter and with any luck wearing a new shirt from mom on Monday because I’m a nerd, but then gonna play by ear.

📽 📺 💻 THE SILVER TV BIZ

5 THINGS OF NOTE:

LIONSGATE punts “John Wick 4” from this May 27 to March 2023. May 27 is the newest date for “Top Gun: Maverick”. /THR
Michael Keaton will appear in the upcoming “Batgirl” movie. Playing “Batman”… naturally. Currently shooting but a 2023 release. /THR
“Spider-Man” will become the top-grossing US movie of the pandemic globally today, overtaking the $774 Million “No Time to Die” tally. It’s already at $328 Million in the US alone through Tuesday. /Deadline
NIELSEN says it under-counted Out of Home viewership for the past… 15 Months due to a “software issue”. Sure that’ll go over well.
- But don’t worry - they’re on it 👍: Some data will be revised by… mid-January, then more… sometime in Feb. And the revised Out-Of-Home viewing data for Sept 2020 to Dec 2020 is literally “TBD” 🤦‍♂️. /Variety
WARNER MEDIA - DISCOVERY deal gets stamp of approval from EU regulators. US still gonna be a minute, but figure it’s a done deal by start of Summer. /THR

And a #bonusjonas that… didn’t apparently get a lot of coverage early this week, but the BLACKSTONE-backed company run by former DISNEY execs Kevin Mayer & Tom Staggs is buying the Israeli TV production company FARAWAY ROAD, who did “Fauda” for NETFLIX. Price is said to be about $50 Million, and it’ll join Reese Witherspoon’s HELLO SUNSHINE and the company behind COCOMELON in the new, still-nameless company. /Bloomberg

In today’s Covid-ponements…

The “Well That was Fast” Award goes to the CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS… which are now not going to be Jan 9, despite re-confirming the date 3 days ago. New date TBD.
The Academy’s GOVERNORS AWARDS are postponed from Jan 12 to…?
DISNEY+’s “Boba Fett” LA premiere event has been pushed from Jan 4 to celebrate the finale on Feb 8.
NHL players will not take part in the OLYMPICS in Feb.

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Quiet day save for some movie theater action:

AMC THEATERS -5% ($28.68)

CINEWORLD THEATERS (REGAL Theaters) +6% ($0.44)

And look - BUZZFEED back in the mix… -6% ($5.54)

🎅 THE CHRISTMAS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)

TONIGHT

NFL NETWORK - NINERS at TITANS at 820p (game is exclusive to NFL NETWORK)
HBOMAX “Beanie Mania” - Docu on Beanie Babies. Stream or Add to Your List here

FRI - CHRISTMAS EVE

IN THEATERS:

APPLE TV “The Tragedy of Macbeth” - Hits theaters if you’re looking for an… unusual (?) Christmas Eve choice.

STREAMING:

MOVIES

NETFLIX ”Don’t Look Up” - DiCaprio, JLaw pic. Stream or Add to Your List here
DISNEY+ “Encanto” - Comes to streaming, Stream or Add to Your List here
PAR+ “Reno 911: The Hunt for QAnon” - Stream or Add to Your List here

TV CHRISTMAS MOVIES (all at 8p):

NBC “It’s a Wonderful Life”
STARZ “Elf”
TBS “A Christmas Story” marathon begins
AMC “Christmas Vacation” (kicking off Christmas movie marathon)

SAT - CHRISTMAS DAY

IN THEATERS:

SONY “A Journal for Jordan” - Denzel directs, Michael B Jordan acts
LIONSGATE “American Underdog” - Kurt Warner NFL movie
MGM “Licorice Pizza” - Goes into wide release

ON TV:

FOX “All Madden” documentary at 2p
NBC - BROWNS at PACKERS at 415p
NFL NETWORK - COLTS at CARDINALS at 815p

SUNDAY

HBOMAX “Insecure: The End” docu-special - Stream or Add to Your List here
NBC Sunday Night Football - WASHINGTON at COWBOYS at 8p

WEEKEND READS & LISTENS

SOPRANOS FANS: David Chase joined the Imperioli / Schirippa podcast “Talking Sopranos” for their 91st and final episode, giving some scoop (yes Ralphie killed Tony’s horse) and final say on a few other matters. YT Link is here - summary of some highlights is in the other link.

BEING THE RICARDOS: The LA TIMES breaks down the historical accuracy of some things the Aaron Sorkin script.