THE LOST BOYS getting remake at WB
Elizabeth Banks doing AMAZON musical / CHINA limits TIKTOK use for kids under 14 / Why AMAZON is now making TV's
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY September 20, 2021.
Where I fell asleep before the end of THE EMMYS, how did it end? Ok fine I was watching the end of the SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL game. Although after the first winner of the night… I was pretty sure no one was gonna match this 🔥. 👏 Hannah!
AND: Your list of EMMY winners is here if of use -“Lasso”, “The Crown” and “Queens Gambit” seemingly the biggest winners, and “Handmaids Tale” and “WandaVision” both shut out completely.
ALSO: Chris Rock announced he got a breakthru case of Covid (he’s previously shared that he is vaccinated).
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
WB doing a remake of “The Lost Boys”
Noah Jupe (the son from the “A Quiet Place” movies) and Jaeden Martell (one of the kids in the “It” movies, APPLE’s “Defending Jacob”) will star. Jonathan Entwistle will direct (NETFLIX’s “The End of the F***ing World”). Will be set in present day.
First ”The Bodyguard” and now this… looks like someone found the key to the VHS library on the WARNER lot last week. But hey the“Flatliners” reboot worked out great a few years back, so why not.... 😦 /THR
AMAZON STUDIOS picks up Musical project with Elizabeth Banks, directed by David Wain
They both were of course involved with “Wet Hot American Summer” - this one’s called “Where the Fore Are We?” and is about the survivors of a commercial plane crash on a deserted island who… launch a Shakespearean play to pass the time. Well that’s new.
Wain also co-wrote the script, no word on a production timeline. /Variety
BOX OFFICE
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” : $22 Million ($177 Million US, $320 Million globally)
Only a 39% drop from last weekend.
And Only $6 Million away from where “Black Widow” topped out at in the US.
“Free Guy” : $5.2 Million ($108 Million US)
The Summer Movie that Could continues… just a 10% drop from last weekend
“Cry Macho” : $4.5 Million
“Candyman” : $3.5 Million ($53 Million US)
“Malignant” : $2.7 Million ($10 Million US)
ALSO: “Copshop” opened at #6 with $2.3 Million
“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” took in $675k, a $1500 per screen average.
AND: “Dune” took in $37 Million internationally this weekend (mainly FRANCE, GERMANY, SPAIN, ITALY & RUSSIA), and will hit China Oct 22, the same day as the US.
“No Time To Die” will hit China a week later on Oct 29.
ALSO IN MOVIES
PARAMOUNT PICS Head of Comms Chris Petrikin departing, following the departure of Jim Gianopolous from the CEO role. /THR
SEARCHLIGHT handed out some promotions - Taylor Friedman is now SVP of Production, Richard Ruiz is now VP. /Variety
📺 THE TV SET
NETFLIX signs Dan Levy to $10+ Million TV & Film deal
Film deal starts now, TV deal starts when his ABC SIGNATURE deal is up in July - sounds like he was looking for a bigger $$ payday than the $2 Million / year SIGNATURE deal, and DISNEY wasn’t feelin it.
He’s currently working on a movie that he’s gonna star in, write, produce and direct at NETFLIX, but no details available. /THR
PEACOCK sets Matthew Fox to lead limited thriller series “Last Light”
5 episodes, about a petrochemical engineer who discovers world’s oil supply has been compromised, sending the world into chaos. “Brought to you by, TESLA.” 🔌 /THR
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
The final WSJ FACEBOOK story on how it knew anti-vaxx material was rampant but… 🤷♂️
The amount of Big Tobacco / ”You knew your product was harmful but did nothing to stop or fix it” sentiment out there seems to be building from the 5 “FACEBOOK Files” WSJ story series last week full of insider info.
Why is AMAZON launching a line of TV’s in 2021? It’s not about making $$ from selling TV’s
Taking a relatively quiet Monday to do a #MediaNerd 🤓 dive into this for a sec for anyone wondering why AMAZON is now in the literal TV business.
AMAZON announced this month that they’re selling a line of Smart TV’s starting in October, at rather low prices ($370 for a 43” TV to start).
Smart TV makers like SAMSUNG, ROKU & VIZIO have started to get real ad money selling ads to people who watch their TV & Apps thru their respective Smart TV interfaces (and not external things like an APPLE TV box or AMAZON Fire Stick).
VIZIO alone has $100 Million in just Upfront ad commitments this year, and has around 14 Million SmartTV interface users.
AMAZON is all about Advertising as a major source of their future growth, and as more people watch/stream stuff thru their Smart TV’s… that means fewer people potentially doing so thru Amazon Fire Sticks.
So - the AMAZON TV is basically sold at (or below) cost to gain market share -plus they already have the tech to run the SmartTV’s with the Amazon Fire platform. This is all an attempt to get a piece of this growing Ad $$ pool, and also to provide an AMAZON option for people who prefer to stream their TV without connecting an external device. Or - they’re basically trying to copy the ROKU business plan.🥸
No matter what - expect to see a LOT of promotion for AMAZON TV’s in peak Christmas and January new TV buying season this year.
ALSO IN MEDIA
VIACOM postpones their return to office until January, joining NBCU & DISNEY, and CAA’s required return to office won’t happen before January 10 either but the office is open for those who want to come in. /Deadline
CHINA government sets 40 minutes a day TIKTOK limit for users under 14 years old, with a complete shutoff at 10p. The algorithm will also serve up more educational content to them (science experiments, history lessons etc). /WSJ
HBOMAX offers 6 months at half-off / $7.50 a month to the now 5 Million HBO-less customers from AMAZON PRIME CHANNELS. Offer good til this Sunday. /Deadline
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
Quiet Friday
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
FOX “911” season premiere at 8p, “The Big Leap” series premiere at 9p
CBS’s MONDAY Night lineup leading up to the premiere of“NCIS: Hawai’i” at 10p
ABC “Dancing with the Stars” - New season premiere at 8p
NBC “The Voice” - Season Premiere at 8p, followed by the debut of “Ordinary Joe” at 10p
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
HBO “Succession” Season 3 trailer. Gonna guess most of you have already seen this - so just in case. Also I’m not entirely sure what Adrien Brody is up to this season… but I’m here for it. 🙋♂️ Premieres Sun Oct 17
PARAMOUNT+ “Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin” teaser promo. Premieres Fri Oct 29.
NETFLIX “You” Season 3 trailer. Premieres Fri Oct 15
PARAMOUNT+ “Guilty Party” series trailer. Kate Beckinsdale as a disgraced reporter trying to regain her rep by helping a Black woman convicted of murdering her husband… but a darkly comedic take on that idea. Premieres Thu Oct 14.
🕵️♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD
TUE - 🤷♂️
WED - AUTUMN arrives, and“The Masked Singer”, “Survivor” and “The Connors” all return, and “The Wonder Years” reboot arrives.
THU - I’m thinking about heading down the shore after work for a long weekend before the Fall really kicks in, but haven’t decided 100% yet. Thanks for asking.
FRI - APPLE TV+ drops “Foundation”… UNI drops the “Dear Evan Hansen” movie
SAT - TUDUM aka NETFLIX-Con streaming event, and the GLOBAL CITIZEN LIVE global concert event
SUN - The TONYS!
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
CARLY PEARCE “Diamondback” - From her brand new album that you can stream here on SPOTIFY. Carly had great success this year with “Next Girl”, so if you dug that Country jam - here’s more:
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
or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE