WB plans to bring back OCEANS 11 with Margot Robbie
UNI sets Momoa for action comedy / The NBA & China have made up? / STARZ gets into Ava DuVernay biz
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY May 20, 2022.
Where let’s have our Friday morning coffee enjoying the views at Emma Stone’s MALIBU house (she won’t mind, she already bought a new place outside Austin).
And for just $4.295 Million (use the extra $5k to splurge on the coffee), it can be all yours everyday.
ALSO: Congrats to RiRi on her BiBi! Ok yes fine, baby. No word on a name.
PLUS: Dave Chappelle’s on-stage attacker was arrested for allegedly stabbing a man back in December at a transitional housing facility.
AND: HARRY STYLES’s “One Night Only In New York” (on Long Island) concert tonight will live stream on APPLE MUSIC for their subscribers. Link to watch is here, and kicks off at 9p EST.
Link to his… rather chill new album Harry’s House down in the PLAYING ME OFF section at the bottom of this email of course.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
WB looking to revive “Oceans 11” franchise with Margot Robbie starring
Jay Roach is on board to direct, pic will be set in 1960’s Europe so this sounds more like an attempt to create a new take on a… pretty perfect movie, which always works out well.
Carrie Solomon is writing the script (she doesn’t seem to have any produced writing credits?). No greenlight yet but WB is hoping to shoot Spring 2023. /THR
UNI sets Jason Momoa to star in action comedy “Shots! Shots! Shots!”
Which should make a nice double feature someday with Pete Davidson’s upcoming “Bodies Bodies Bodies”. Also… I think Jason Momoa is now booked through 2025.
Oh right the movie - described as “True Lies” + “Taken” + “The Lost City” so… it’s an action pic. Script being written now, Jason also producing. /THR
SEARCHLIGHT / HULU sets $25 Million deal for Amy Adams comedic horror pic from ANNAPURNA
Called “Nightbitch”, about a mom raising a toddler in the suburbs who thinks she’s slowly turning into a dog.
Based on a book by Rachel Yoder who also wrote the script for the “darkly comic neo-horror” project to drop on HULU in the US.
So, guessing “Fresh” did pretty well for HULU this year. Marielle Heller (”Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) directing. /Variety
ALSO IN MOVIES
“Top Gun: Maverick” will not be on PARAMOUNT+ 6 weeks after theatrical release… will forgo keeping the 45-day theatrical window PAR has been doing for their movies this year. /WSJ
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📺 THE TV SET
“Stranger Things 4” MONOPOLY game mistakenly drops early… reveals spoilers
Ah retailers… sounds like games were shipped a bit early and like a sneaker drop gone wrong, some were either sold to people… fell off a truck… or a guy knew a guy… but either way images of cards that reveal S4 plot points have been showing up online before the game’s official planned release.
Duffer Bros were… not a fan. Especially as it sounds like they weren’t consulted about the game. /THR
No such issue with their very wide-reaching QUICKSILVER merch apparel line dropping today.
STARZ orders potential 3 seasons of new Ava DuVernay drama
Script to series commitment (so if STARZ likes the initial script/s, the show gets a 3 Season order), untitled half-hour relationship drama starring Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff (“Eternals”).
About two opposites who attract (one is ambitious, commitment centric, Black and deaf, the other is restless, not-so-much on relationships, White and hearing. Thinking you’ve figured out who is playing whom).
Ava now overseeing the writing with her team. /Deadline
ALSO IN TV
PEACOCK adds Thomas Hayden Church to “Twisted Metal” series created by the “Deadpool” guys and based on the popular video game. Anthony Mackie starring as a “motor-mouthed Milkman” navigating a post-apocalyptic world filled with savage vehicles as he brings supplies between settlements. /THR
HBO renews “Barry” for a Season 4. Hader directing all 8 episodes. /THR
DISNEY+ / MARVEL puts new “Daredevil” season into development. Matt Corman and Chris Ord (USA’s “Covert Affairs”) writing. /Variety
APPLE TV+ sets Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) as lead director for their upcoming GODZILLA and the TITANS series. /Variety
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
JUST 3 THINGS
NBA Games are back on TV in CHINA, for the first time since the whole Hong Kong freedom tweeting of Oct 2019. Although… neither the NBA nor CHINA are talking / touting this fact. /ESPN
THE INFORMATION looked at what happened at CAMEO, where they were targeting $200 - $300 Million in 2021 revenue… but came in at just $100 Million, which affected their recent significant layoffs.
Pete Williams retiring from NBC NEWS this Summer after a 30 year run. /THR
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
Relatively quiet Thursday. finally.
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👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)
WEEKEND READS
“It’s not show friends, it’s show business.”
- “Jerry Maguire” quote that WBD CEO David “Zaz” Zaslav has reportedly been using often on the lot according to the WSJ’s look at Zaz’s early days at WBD, including:
Questioning why WB still makes Clint Eastwood pics
Asking WB Movie stars to promote Shark Week
and… making the lot STARBUCKS open earlier to make him his mocacchino among other insights. Ok yes the drink is just a guess.
THE ANKLER asked around town for thoughts on working with DISNEY Streaming Strategy decider Kareem Daniels since… there is very little written about the person who decides where DISNEY kingdom Movie & TV projects will be released.
#FunFact - While Chapek’s contract is known to be up in December, Peter Rice’s contract is also apparently up later in the Fall….
Here’s the story of SNL’s Please Don’t Destroy comedy trio for any other big fans out there. Turns out they were literally still doing day jobs at ice cream shops and temp jobs in NYC when they debuted on the show. /THR
This Q&A with IFC head Arianna Bocco on the state of the Independent Film Theatrical and Streaming biz in 2022 had some good, front line perspectives. Plus she’s renovating a movie theater near where I’m from in Jersey so - #family.
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
FOCUS FEATURES: “Downton Abbey: A New Era”
A24: “Men”
STREAMING:
MOVIES
HULU “The Valet” - STREAM HERE
SERIES
NETFLIX “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” - STREAM HERE
AMAZON PRIME “Night Sky” - JK Simmons, Sissy Spacek series- STREAM HERE
TV:
HBO “George Carlin’s American Dream” - Docu from Judd Apatow & Michael Bonfiglio, at 8p
FX ON HULU “Elon Musk’s Crash Course” - NY TIMES docu, at 10p
HBO “Pause with Sam Jay” - New Season at 11p
SATURDAY
SNL season finale is Natasha Lyonne and JAPANESE BREAKFAST
SUNDAY
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP on CBS all afternoon.
New “60 Minutes” CBS at 7p post golf
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
AMAZON PRIME “The Terminal List” series teaser - Chris Pratt stars in a series about a Navy Seal operation that went south… which may not have been what it seems, co-starring Taylor Kitsch. Premieres Fri July 1
NETFLIX “The Umbrella Academy” Season 3 trailer - Premieres Wed June 22
APPLE TV+ “Prehistoric Planet” trailer 2 - Premieres Mon May 23
PARAMOUNT+ “Evil” Season 3 trailer - Way different tonal presentation for this show than what CBS used to do… and I’d personally say more intriguing. Definitely not as just, well, dark. Premieres Sun June 12
NETFLIX Letterman with Ryan Reynolds, about the time he got an earring at 12 years old, and last clip I’ll post! You can Stream whatever ya like here.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
Here’s the new HARRY STYLES album on Spotify, and man is this a chill album… but here’s a song that I’m guessing will get a lot of chatter this weekend, speculating on the lyrics.
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