Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY May 18, 2023.

Where I heard they had some pretty amazing uh, donut holes at the WBD Upfront yesterday… but somebody on The Ankler staff polished them off before sending me a photo 🙄. Richard, know that I’m as upset as you are.

Also donut holes are actually a pretty good analogy for the Fall TV schedules this year.

Oh I’m just kidding Elaine 😁 – and kudos on a job really well done 👏 over at the Strikegeist newsletter this week covering all of the NYC Upfronts action outside and in! Your steps count must be very impressive for the week. Again – it’s all totally free to read and sign up for here.

PLUS: The PGA Awards will be Sun Feb 25, the same day as the INDEPENDENT SPIRIT Awards, and a day after SAG.

AND: Here’s TheCW’s Fall schedule, imported from CANADA. Plus All American and the F-Boy universe.

ALSO: Today at the MOFFETT NATHANSON Conference:

• 9a David Zaslav, WBD – listen here

• 10a Neil Mohan, YOUTUBE – listen here

• 11a Chris Winfrey, CHARTER – listen here

• 1p Nick Khan, WWE – listen here

• 2p Jim Burtson, CAA (no link)

WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL: Fast X

In 4,000 theaters this Friday, tracking at $60 Mil+ in the US.

Comps are tough: F9 opened to $70 Million on its way to $173 Million US… but that was May 2021 so take that as you will.

Hobbs & Shaw was $60 Mil open in 2019, and $173 Mil US total.

F8 (Fate of the Furious) opened to $98 Million… but that was 2017.

IN TODAY’S EDITION:

• Eddie Murphy circles an iconic MGM property

• Decipher the numbers NETFLIX put out yesterday on their Ad-Tier.

• IMAX expands in FRANCE.

• All the series order and Summer premiere date news from the past 24 hours.

• YOUTUBE’s efforts to get folks who are used to watching free stuff to pay $350+ for a season of out-of-market NFL games.

• HULU in DIS+ won’t be exactly what it is outside of DIS+ apparently, and more.

INTERN SEASON

As the Collegiate Spring Semester is now finished up… if you had an amazing Spring intern in your group, and would like to both thank them & help keep their industry education going in the year ahead – you can gift The Ankler!

Here’s a button:

🪧 STRIKE NEWS

• Well, just impending strike news today, as SAG-AFTRA has authorized a vote to take place among its 160k members to authorize a strike.

  • SAG-AFTRA negotiations begin in about 3 weeks on June 7.

  • Their last strike was in 1980 (95 days over VHS and PayTV terms).

  • Voting closes 5p PT on Mon June 5.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN