The Rock producing Yahya Abdul-Mateen II action movie at WB
SNL tops 18-49 TV ratings for the season / Issa Rae joining SPIDER-VERSE / Some new trailers but pretty quiet weekend overall
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY June 7, 2021.
Where FACEBOOK added a “Trump-Free til 2023” sticker to their masthead on Friday. At least figuratively. Pretty quiet weekend so this will be quick.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
WB buys action movie project to star Yahya Abdul Mateen II, produced by The Rock
Called “Emergency Contact”, will be written by the guys behind the upcoming Rock DC movie “Black Adam”.
Not many plot details avail, other than it’s a high-concept action movie set in Austin, Texas’s underground music scene. Cue the Gary Clark Jr. cameo.
TBD if The Rock will also be in the movie. /THR
BOX OFFICE
“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” : $24 Million ($57 Million Global)
“The Conjuring 2” opened to $40 Million back in 2016, so given that theaters are still at about 80% open and… that it’s been 5 years since the last installment… and that this movie was also avail to stream on HBOMAX - not bad.
Also it beat the opening of 2019 franchise spinoff movie “Annabelle” by about $4 Million.
“A Quiet Place 2” : $19.5 Million, a drop of 59% from opening weekend. ($88.6 Mil US, $138 Million Global)
“Cruella” : $11.2 Million ($43.6 Million US, $87 Mil Globally)
Down 48%, also DISNEY has officially put a sequel into development.
“Spirit Untamed” : $6.2 Million
“Wrath of Man” : $1.2 Million ($24.6 Million US, $83 Million Global)
MEANWHILE IN CHINA… “F9” took in $13 Million, its China total stands at $203 Million (far below the last 2 installments), and the movie is now at $256 Million total from release in 8 countries.
ALSO IN MOVIES
DISNEYFOX hires “A Monster Calls” writer to do a prequel to the 2003 Russell Crowe 1700’s ships at sea Napoleonic War movie “Master & Commander”. /THR
SONY adds Issa Rae to voice cast of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse” sequel. Set for release next October. /THR
Shamier Anderson joins “John Wick 4” cast at LIONSGATE. Movie shooting this Summer. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
SNL was the highest rated show in 18-49 for the 2020-21 TV season
First time that’s… ever happened. Excludes sports of course. /THR
ALSO IN TV
MTV hires Snooki to host another “Ridiculousness” spin-off show. This “clips from the internet” show is called “Messyness” which sounds like it’ll basically focus on young drunk people. Tori Spelling, Adam Rippon, and Teddy Ray co-hosting. Now if there was a show about the behind the scenes of this show… that I would watch. /Deadline
HBOMAX hires away DISNEY+‘s head of Southeast Asia & India, Amit Malhotra to run their impending operations there. Exact launch TBD (likely not til 2022). /Variety
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
Quiet weekend, but Ben Smith at the NY Times caught up with where Anthony Weiner’s life is in 2021 post-prison, and on the NYC mayoral election race if you’re up for a read.
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
AMC NETWORKS was up over 17% because… of things having nothing to do with their business. Can’t find news of any kind to justify this kinda action.
AMC THEATERS down over 7% and, well we’ll see what happens today.
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
DISNEY+ “Raya and the Last Dragon” is no longer an extra $30 on DIS+, $8/month commoners can now watch it here.
PARAMOUNT+ Ad supported version drops a buck to $5/month or $50/year today.
ABC “The Bachelorette” - Premieres at 8p.
Also according to former THR editor Matt Belloni… sounds like Chris Harrison will not be coming back to the franchise, and is about to enter a conentious split possibly involving some not great revelations about “Bachelorette” creator Mike Fleiss (ah remember him? Still waiting for the reboot of “The Cougar” reality series).
I’d link to it… but Matt is just doing the email thing from his TBD new venture with no links so…you can email Fritz@puck.news if you want to get his twice weekly email.
If you were sent this email or… just kinda found it:
And if you wanna send the newsletter to someone:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
AMAZON PRIME“Mary J Blige’s My Life” trailer. Amazon keeps the music docus coming… Premieres Fri June 25.
HBOMAX “Starstruck” trailer - UK show that’s now dropping here, about a regular gal who unknowingly sleeps with a famous actor, and the… sorta dating situation that ensues. Looks like a sharp show, and already ordered to a 2nd season in the UK. Premieres this Thurs June 10.
PARAMOUNT+ “The Good Fight” Season 5 trailer. Premieres Thu June 24.
🕵️♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY- Apple’s developer conference kicks off at 1p EST - likely some new announcements on iPads, maybe software updates and Macbook news but TBD.
WED - TRIBECA FILM FEST kicks off with premieres of “In The Heights” in all 5 boroughs.
“Loki” episode 1 hits DISNEY+
THU - PARAMOUNT+’s first “Original Movie” drops… the Mark Wahlberg sci-fi action movie “Infinite”.
FRI - “In The Heights” hits theaters and HBOMAX.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New JOHN MAYER , “Last Train Home”, bringing the 80’s keyboard synth vibes on strong…
If you need new tunes:
Have a fine first full week of June because, well this is the only day I can say that this year.
Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER or @TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE. If you want to reach me on FACEBOOK, go back to 2015.