UNIVERSAL sets NY Times WEINSTEIN movie leads

CBS's "The Neighborhood" releases writers / Anya Taylor-Joy sets SEARCHLIGHT pic / COMCAST - DISNEY tensions rising?

Jun 8, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY June 8, 2021.

Where I’ll be curious to see the business justification Jeff Bezos puts on his August expense report for his flight into space next month. Really hope Blue Origin has an Economy Plus section.

To note - Jeff is only gonna be in space for 11 mins and won’t be getting out. via Giphy

AND: Congrats everybody! You did it… COACHELLA 2022 is sold out. Granted - many people who already paid for tickets for the 2020 show just rolled them over to this one… but impressive for an event with no announced performer lineup, that is still 10 months away.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

UNIVERSAL sets Carey Mulligan & Zoe Kazan for “She Said” movie about breaking the Harvey Weinstein story

They’ll play NY TIMES reporters Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey (movie will be based on their book). Maria Schrader (“Unorthodox”) directing.

A24 & Brad Pitt’s PLAN B producing, will shoot sometime this Summer. /Deadline

SEARCHLIGHT sets Anya Taylor-Joy & Ralph Fiennes for dark comedy produced by Adam McKay

Called “The Menu”, will be directed by frequent “Succession” & “Entourage” director Mark Mylod.

Young couple goes to an exclusive restaurant on a middle-of-nowhere island to experience an… extravagant tasting menu (Fiennes plays the chef). /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

J.Lo signs overall, multi-year production deal with NETFLIX. No price disclosed. She just wrapped a LIONSGATE movie, but has already set 2 upcoming movie projects at NETFLIX . /THR
PARAMOUNT announces “Paw Patrol: The Movie” will also stream on PARAMOUNT+ on it’s Aug 20 theatrical release date, first PAR movie to do so. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

CBS’s “The Neighborhood” brings in new showrunner, releases entire writing staff except for 1

New showrunner is Meg DeLoach, she created the NETFLIX sitcom “Family Reunion” with Tia Mowry-Hardrict. If that show gets a Season 3, she’ll only be involved in an Exec Producer capacity.

“Neighborhood” creator and previous showrunner Jim Reynolds left back in April after Season 3, saying he wasn’t the right person to continue leading the show. /Deadline

Matthew Goode to play producer/exec Robert Evans in PARAMOUNT+ making of “The Godfather” limited series

He joins Miles Teller in “The Offer” (Miles is playing producer Al Ruddy).

10 episodes, Dexter Fletcher (“Rocketman”) is the lead director.

Jake Gyllenhaal is playing Evans in the movie version of this story, that director Barry Levinson is shooting. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

NBC sets Taraji P. Henson to play “Miss Hannigan” in their “Annie” live musical event this December. /Variety
MTV VMA’s returning with IRL audience on Sept 12 to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Will be the day after the 20th anniversary of 9/11. /Variety
NETFLIX renews “Shadow & Bone” for a Season 2. Eight episode order. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

DISNEY - COMCAST beef rising over HULU

COMCAST still owns 1/3 of HULU, and DISNEY has to buy them out by 2024 per an earlier agreement (price to be set thru independent arbitration, currently targeting $9 to $13 Billion according to this story in The Information). Essentially - this seems to be a big reason why DISNEY chose not to roll out HULU worldwide.

Instead, they launched a brand called STAR which is now included in most DISNEY+ plans internationally (you get areas/tabs for DISNEY, MARVEL, PIXAR, STAR WARS, NAT GEO, and now also a STAR tab in the DIS+ app). STAR essentially contains… all the HULU shows and some other ‘adult’ skewing shows from DISNEY & TWENTIETH TV that DISNEY has rights to (ABC’s “Big Sky” etc).

So - why did DISNEY bother to launch this new STAR brand, and not just call it HULU worldwide? Well, one line of thinking indicates it’s because it would make HULU far more valuable… and then DISNEY would have to pay COMCAST more $$ for that 1/3 stake in 2024. The Information (subscription only) reports this… isn’t going over so well with COMCAST and tensions are rising between the companies. Finally something to satisfy your “Succession” needs between seasons…

VIACOM CEO says free streaming service PLUTO to hit $1 Billion of revenue next year

Had $70 Million of revenue just 3 years ago, currently has a presence in 25 countries.

VIACOM Bob also said Upfront TV ad sales are “going to be off the hook” 🤙 . /THR

ALSO IN MEDIA

A list of all the new APPLE FaceTime enhancements (👋 ZOOM and GOOGLE Meet) and new iOS 14.5 features for anyone inclined - including eliminating ability for newsletters to track engagement in the Apple mail app so… we’ll see how that affects the future of this one as the year goes on 😳. /CNN
DISNEY+ launching in Thailand at the end of June at a price of… about $2.50 a month, or as little as $1.15 via certain mobile carriers. /Variety
NYC planning a Central Park “Mega Concert” on the Great Lawn on Sat August 21. The city’s enlisted Clive Davis to organize, aiming for 8 A-List acts, 60k attendees and a TV deal. All pending. /NY Times
Springsteen coming back to Broadway this Summer - reprising his “Springsteen on Broadway” show from June 26 to Sept 4. Tix on sale this Thursday here, proof of vaxx & Jersey passport required for entry. /Variety
ROKU cuts price of new 4K Streaming box by 25% to $30 after WALMART announced they’re entering the streaming box biz with their own ONN branded 4K box that… also costs $30. /Next TV
PEACOCK app now avail on SAMSUNG’s Smart TV’s, but still not available on the 2nd most popular connected TV streaming device AMAZON FIRE - Clock is ticking toward the OLYMPICS…. /Deadline

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

AMC NETWORKS up another 5%, now at $70/share. Was at $46 a month ago.

AMC THEATERS up 15%. Come on Reddit… “The Conjuring” didn’t do that well 🙄

ENDEAVOR -4.3%, now back below $28/share.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

Eh, it’s June 8 - Hollywood said go get some sun.

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

PARAMOUNT+“Infinite” trailer. Premieres this Thursday.

HBO MAX “No Sudden Move” trailer - New Soderbergh movie about low level criminals in Detroit 1955 who get caught up in something that’s… a bit above their paygrade. Don Cheadle & Benicio Del Toro star, but quite an ensemble (David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Kieran Culkin, Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta). Hits HBOMAX Thu July 1, also at TRIBECA this month.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New WOLF ALICE - “How Can I Make It Ok” from their new album that dropped this month.

Kinda FLORENCE + THE MACHINE with slow building anthems, kinda 90’s alt-rock. The Album is definitely one of my tops of 2021 so far.

(note: this song starts slow but really builds up to a big anthemic banger end).

Listen to the album here on Spotify or:

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Hey it’s Tuesday. Cool. Well back to work.

Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-Sean McNulty

@theseanmac on TWITTER or @TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM

or also here on CLUBHOUSE