UNCHARTED dominates box office, STUDIO 666 is DOA
CNN chooses new head / SPIELBERG chooses new pic at WB / L&O Organized Crime showrunner exits
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY February 28, 2022.
Where here are the SAG AWARD winners for those inclined. “CODA”, “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” took the cast awards, and APPLE TV seems to be pouring the gas on the Feb TV Ad spend for “CODA”. Given I’ve yet to find a person who didn’t love that movie, plus this nod, and the seeming lack of real, uniform momentum around anything else…it kinda seems to be the late-race favorite no? I mean even Savannah & Hoda were pouring on the love this morning.
But - let’s face it, in one race… Ted is the gif that keeps on giffing.
ALSO: MLB is going to start cancelling baseball games if an agreement is not reached with the players union for a new deal today.
PLUS: FIFA is keeping up their incredible record of integrity, allowing the RUSSIA team to participate in the Qualifier rounds for THE WORLD CUP… But hey - they do have standards: RUSSIA is not allowed to play their national anthem at matches, which will totally show ‘em.
Catch that WORLD CUP tournament in late November for the first time, instead of its usual June/July window because it’s taking place in QATAR, one of the hottest places on Earth… that definitely didn’t bribe anyone to get the tournament. Have fun competing with the heart of the NFL and College Football seasons. 8 hours ahead of the US Eastern time zone.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
BOX OFFICE
“Uncharted” : $23 Million ($83 Million US, $226 Million Global)
Respectable 47% drop from opening weekend
IMAX is 30% of US total
SONY continues to be the DJ KHALED of the box office… (4th big win in a row).
“Dog” : $10 Million ($31 Million US)
Very solid 32% drop from opening weekend
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” : $6 Million ($780 Million US, $1.85 Billion global)
“Death on the Nile” : $4.5 Million ($33 Million US, $101 Million global)
“Jackass Forever” : $3 Million ($52 Million US)
OTHERWISE AT THE BOX OFFICE
OPEN ROAD’s FOO FIGHTERS horror pic “Studio 666” was a no-show with $1.6 Million from 2300 screens.
MGM’s “Cyrano” got $1.2 Million from 800 theaters… close to the $900k that PAR’s “The Godfather” 50th Anniversary re-release got on 156 screens.
“Licorice Pizza” crossed $16 Million US, will surpass PTA’s “The Master” US box office this week.
WB atttaches Steven Spielberg to direct new pic starring the detective character “Bullitt”
It’ll be a new story featuring the cop character from the 1968 film, famously portrayed by Steve McQueen, and even more famous for its all-time great car chase sequence.
Script is being written so it will likely not be Steven’s next pic. AMBLIN producing as well of course. /Deadline
ALSO IN MOVIES
Some release date news:
SONY bumps up the Wahlberg / Mel Gibson pic “Father Stu” two days to drop on the Wed before Good Friday, April 13.
UNIVERSAL sets April 2023 release for Dracula pic “Renfield” with Nicholas Hoult & Nic Cage.
DISNEY sets March 2023 release for “Haunted House” redux with Tiffany Haddish & Owen Wilson.
MANDEVILLE partners David Hoberman & Todd Liberman going their own ways after 20+ year partnership. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
NBC’s “Law & Order: Organized Crime” showrunner exits
Ilene Chaiken was in the role for a little over a year, and initially came in herself to take over for the original showrunner before it premiered.
Show still has 5 more episodes to shoot this season. /Deadline
ALSO IN TV
STARZ has put an “Outlander” prequel into development, because STARZ likes making money. No real details at this point. /Variety
Lebron producing HISTORY CHANNEL docu on Black baseball players after Jackie Robinson, called “After Jackie”. /THR
A&E orders 4-part docuseries on JAMES BROWN, exec produced by MICK JAGGER & QUESTLOVE. Will drop in 2023. /Deadline
HBOMAX renews comedy “Sort Of” for a Season 2, along with the CBC. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
CNN sets COLBERT and CBS THIS MORNING exec Chris Licht as their new leader
The one-time “Morning Joe” wunderkind’s star continues to ascend. He left “Joe” to rescue reinvigorate CBS This Morning in 2011, leaving to launch/Exec Produce “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” for the past 6 years.
Move should happen once the WARNER DISCO deal officially closes in April. /Puck
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
CINEWORLD (REGAL Cinemas) +13% ($0.55)
DISH +11% ($32.80) on beating Wall Street estimates with their earnings.
BUZZFEED +10% ($4.50)
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👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
FX “Better Things” - Season 5 / Final season Premieres at 10p
AMC “Ragdoll” - Premieres at 10p
🕵️♀️ THE WEEK AHEAD
TUE - STATE OF THE UNION speech at 9p. Somehow I think the New Orleans viewership will be quite low.
WED - LENT begins
THU - “The Dropout” drops on HULU, Jon Stewart returns to APPLE TV+
FRI - “The Batman” arrives, first WB film to drop without the HBOMAX thing
SAT - SNL is Oscar Isaac & CHARLI XCX
SUN - HBO’s 80’s LAKERS series “Winning Time” debuts, “Outlander” returns on STARZ
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
No new trailers, so a couple of sketch highlights from SNL instead:
PLEASE DON’T DESTROY continues to kill it, and a way too accurate musical sketch about the NYC Subway.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New KYGO“Dancing Feet” - Where if this doesn’t get you moving on Monday, I have bad news for you - you’re dead.
If you need some new tunes:
Email me anytime - just Reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-SEAN MCNULTY
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM