Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY April 7, 2021.

Where fun fact: opening this email counts as morning exercise.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

More details on the “Knives Out” sequels at NETFLIX: Price = $469 Million

Budgets for parts 2 and 3 must be at least the same as the original.
Buuuut… most of the money isn’t for actually making the movies: Daniel Craig, writer/director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman could each take home about $100 Million from the deal 😲.
Rian gets final cut/no NETFLIX notes. Good read on how it all went down from Borys Kit at THR

SEARCHLIGHT gets next movie from director Sam Mendes - “Empire of Light” starring Olivia Colman

1980’s love story set around an old cinema in the South of England. Mendes also wrote script, & reteaming with his “1917” & “Skyfall” cinematographer Roger Deakins. /Deadline

Stallone not coming back for “Creed III”

But announces he’s finished his re-cut of “Rocky IV” though no word on a release at this point. Random prediction: NETFLIX Christmas this year. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

LIONSGATE sets director Mark Romanek (“One Hour Photo”) for horror film “Mother Land”. Family is haunted by evil spirit for years… until one of the kids begins asking if it’s real. The spirit woulda gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for the pesky kids… 👻. /Deadline
The life story of Former Israeli PM Golda Meir is now a hot Hollywood property 🤷‍♂️:
- Helen Mirren is gonna play her in an indie movie centered on the 1973 Yom Kippur War. CAA & ICM co-repping sales, shoots this Fall.
- Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”) previously announced to play her in a TV series with Barbra Streisand as a producer. That one’s currently out to buyers from MGM TV.
AMAZON sets Naomi Watts to star in remake of Australian film “Goodnight Mommy”. Twin boys are sent to live with their mother after she has a massive surgery leaving her in bandages… and soon suspect it may not be their mom. Doesn’t help when she welcomes them with “Hey… you!”. /Variety
Celebrity publicist Erica Gray departs VIEWPOINT and starts her own firm: THE SPOTLIGHT Co. Full client list including Elisabeth Moss and Joseph Gordon-Levitt joining her - 👏 Erica! /THR

📺 THE TV SET

MARCH MADNESS Men’s Final ratings down 14% vs 2019

Still got an impressive 16.9 Million viewers (and worth noting the game was a blowout throughout).

Overall NCAA 2021 Men’s Tournament TV ratings down by 13%, but no word on the streaming #s via the heavily promoted MARCH MADNESS app.
NCAA Women’s Final up 10% to 4.1 Million viewers on ESPN. /THR

ALSO: SAG Awards audience drops 50% from 2020, about 70% from 2019, to about 1 Million viewers on Sunday night.

Meghan & Harry set first NETFLIX project

A docu on the INVICTUS GAMES which features former military service members from around the world. Harry is heavily involved in the games and he’ll also appear in the docu, but no timeline given. /THR

ALSO IN TV

“Big Little Lies” director Jean-Marc Vallee sets 3 year first-look TV deal at HBOMAX. He already has a first-look Film deal at ENDEAVOR CONTENT, and is currently writing his next project - an authorized biopic on John Lennon & Yoko Ono. /THR
FOX renews animated show “Duncanville” for a 3rd season. Season 2 premieres in late May. /Deadline
Tyler Perry ends quarantine bubble shooting approach at Atlanta studios, now shifts to industry standard daily covid shooting protocols, no more housing entire productions on site. /Deadline
5 senior execs leave DICK CLARK PRODUCTIONS (“Golden Globes”, “ACM Awards”) over toxic culture under DCP prez Amy Thurlow. /The Wrap

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

Michael Eisner’s TOPPS Trading Cards company going public for $1.3 Billion, thanks NFT’s!

His company TORNANTE bought TOPPS in 2007 for $385 Million, and it’s now going public via, well I’m sure you coulda guessed this - a SPAC. Eisner remaining as Chairman and retaining his stake in the company.

No specific NFT activity was indicated but definitely was noted on the horizon. TOPPS also has trading card rights to WWE, German Soccer’s BUNDESLIGA, America’s MLS and WALT DISNEY - though presumably NFT rights are not currently part of those deals. /THR

ALSO IN MEDIA

Dave Grohl putting out a memoir in October - “The Storyteller”. /THR
ESPN parts ways with commentator and former CELTIC Paul Pierce after his IG Live video this weekend playing poker & doing shots with strippers. Wait is there another way to play poker? /TheWrap
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL “All-Star” game moves to Denver. /Deadline
SONY movie-themed waterpark with rides based on “Men in Black”, “Ghostbusters” and “Jumanji” launching this Fall in… Thailand. SONY only licensing the IP, no operational role in the AQUAVERSE park. /Variety

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

ROKU rose almost 10% based on an analyst’s new forecast for the stock price. Err upward.
DISCOVERY & VIACOM both recovered from yesterday, up 3-4%.
TWITTER, PINTEREST, SNAP all up about 4-5% in a relatively good day on the tech index.

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

PEACOCK “Girls5eva” series trailer. Girl-band from the 90’s reunites to give it another shot. Created by Meredith Scardino (writer on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), and Tina Fey & Robert Carlock among exec producers. Premieres Thu May 6.

FX “Pose” Season 3 trailer. This final season premieres Sun May 2.

NETFLIX “Monster” movie trailer. 17 year-old honor student from Harlem is charged with murder; repercussions surface all around. With Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Hudson and Nas among others. Premieres Fri May 7.

IFC FILMS “Mainstream” movie trailer. Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke as YouTube stars getting… I guess you’d call it a bit out of control. Well mainly Andrew. Directed by Gia Coppola. Hits PVOD & Movie Theaters on May 7.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

ABC “Home Economics” - sitcom starring Topher Grace, premieres at 830p

TheCW “Kung Fu” series premiere at 8p

NETFLIX “This is a Robbery” - 4 part docuseries about a huge art heist in early 1990s Boston. Watch or add to your list here.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

ROSEELU “Playing Alone” - kind of cool dark, haunting pop song… maybe a la Halsey?

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-Sean McNulty

The Wakeup

WED: Daniel Craig making up to $100 Million…