Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY May 5, 2022.
Where it’s Cinco de Mayo. Yeah that’s all I got today. It’s been a long month. Yes I know it’s the fifth, so let’s just dive in.
AND: OSCAR winner Ariana DeBose is your 2022 TONY AWARDS host on Sunday June 12.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
📺 THE TV SET
PEACOCK cancels “SBTB” reboot after 2 seasons
That’s all there really is to know here, but I had to put it in the gif slot as a proper memorial. /Deadline
BBC doing “The Elon Musk Show” docuseries project
3 parts, will premiere later this year… no US home as of yet. No spoilers on pt 3 mmmkay? 🕊 /Deadline
ALSO: Elon has lessened his personal investment in his TWITTER bid, bringing in over $6 Billion in additional outside financing – including a cool Billion from Larry Ellison, and convincing that rich Saudi prince who loves media investments Prince al-Waleed bin Talal to roll over his near $2 Billion current TWITTER investment into the new company vs. taking a payout. /Variety
ALSO IN TV
HBOMAX renews “Julia” for a 2nd season 👏 🍳. /THR
NETFLIX renews “Sweet Magnolias” for a Season 3. /Deadline
SAG AWARDS need a TV new home – TNT / TBS dump their telecast rights. This year the show had 1.8 Million viewers across both networks. /THR
APPLE TV+ sets Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to play the husband who mysteriously disppears in the Jennifer Garner limited series “The Last Thing He Told Me”. Will center on the relationship she forms with her 16 year old stepdaughter as they try to figure out wtf happened. /THR
A24 is shopping a TV project with Janelle Monae as Josephine Baker, focusing on her WWII life as a spy for the Allies in the French Resistance and her career as an entertainer. We’ll see who bites… would think APPLE was the first call? /Deadline
AMAZON developing limited series about the launch of BOEING’s disastrous 737 MAX plane, with Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) starring. Chris Terrio (“Argo”) is writing. /Deadline
NETFLIX orders docuseries “The Future Of…” from VOX and THE VERGE, looking at cutting edge tech developments. Will drop in late June. How this show is not called “On The Verge Of…” is 🤔. /Variety
AMAZON orders 3 dating / reality series:
“The One That Got Away” – 10 episodes, each featuring someone getting a 2nd shot at love later in life with… well I think you got the gist here.
“Cosmic Love” – Matchmaking by astrological sign.
“Forever Summer: Hamptons” – Let your jealousy seethe as twentysomethings work at a restaurant while they party and hook up all Summer. /Deadline
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💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
TWITTER sets E! and CONDE partnerships
E! will do a live-stream show “While You Were Streaming” covering major TV shows (new seasons of “Stranger Things”, “Real Housewives” etc). No episode count or cadence indicated.
CONDE will do a series of live-streams around their big events (MET GALA and OSCAR red carpets, PITCHFORK festival) and other select one-off Spaces.
ESSENCE, FOX SPORTS, REVOLT and the WNBA also made pretty broad partnerships as well (descriptions in the link for the inclined). /Deadline
NETFLIX reportedly installing more firmly established salary ranges for execs
Essentially another move to try and reign in spending.
According to THE INFORMATION, they’re making moves to somewhat mirror what traditional Entertainment companies do for positions (establish specific pay ranges for specific titles in each department etc) vs. the previous kind of a “pay top dollar for all-stars” philosophy.
Still in early stages, starting with Tech positions.
AMC NETWORKS adds about 500k Streaming subscribers in Q1, now at 9.5 Million
No breakout between their AMC+, SHUDDER, ALLBLK, and ACORN services. And SUNDANCE NOW, and I think there’s an IFC one too? No ARPU given for any or in aggregate. But the subscriber add total is in line with earlier projections.
And they have 3 years to double that total number to meet declared expectations by 2025. Otherwise, Domestic revenue was +6% vs a year ago, but International biz was -9%. /THR
DAZN Sports streaming service reportedly at 11 Million subscribers… but they planned to be at 13 Million by now
Their Billionaire owner Len Blavatnik was also reportedly hoping that DAZN would be going public by now to get some of his money back… but that’s not happening either as the SPAC market unsurprisingly collapsed last year.
They lost about $1 Billion in 2021, on $1.4 Billion of Revenue, and are on track to lose another $900 Mil this year. /The Information
ALSO IN MEDIA
CAMEO lays off 80 employees, representing 25% of the staff. Likely since entertainers may not need to rely on it as much… now that they can go out and do shows again for $$. /The Information
FLORIDA residents sue the State Government / DeSantis over his anti-DISNEY tax zone elimination law, saying their rights have been violated as they will now have to repay the DISNEY zone’s $1 Billion in bond payments as a result. Your move Ron. Great use of everyone’s taxpayer dollars and time. /THR
SINCLAIR hires former HULU CEO and FOX SPORTS exec Randy Freer to try and get their BALLYS SPORTS NETWORKS regional streaming service off the ground and frankly just make a business of the BALLYS SPORTS Networks, which SINCLAIR already said they overpaid for by $4 Billion (40%) back in 2020. /Deadline
A NETFLIX shareholder is suing the company saying they misled them about the potential damage things like password sharing and increased competition was having on their business in previous Earnings Calls.
One of these kinda things sometimes pops up whenever a company’s stock takes a big dive and someone loses their shirt – Said lawsuit success is… varied. /THR
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
BUZZFEED +9% ($5.40)
FACEBOOK +5% ($223.41)
CHARTER +5% (448.34)
ROKU +6% ($110.01)
ALTICE +6% ($10.39)
ENDEAVOR -5% ($21.83)
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👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
Just me or is Thursday the new Friday with a lineup like this?
MARVEL “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” – Only in theaters tonight
PEACOCK “Girls5Eva” Season 2 – STREAM HERE
HBOMAX “The Staircase” – STREAM HERE
NETFLIX “The Pentaverate” – STREAM HERE
PAR+ “Strange New Worlds” Star Trek show – STREAM HERE
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
DISNEY+ “Obi-Wan Kenobi” trailer – 90 second spot for the new STAR WARS series, drops Fri May 27
NETFLIX “Uncoupled” series teaser – NPH as a newly single gay man navigating the dating world for the first time in a long minute. Premieres Fri July 29
NETFLIX “Love on the Spectrum US” series trailer – Where people on the autism spectrum seem to be able to articulate what they genuinely want and value in a relationship than most. Premieres Wed May 18
PARAMOUNT+ “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Season 7 trailer – Premieres Fri May 20
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New MUNA, “Kind of Girl” – digging this one! Kinda country ballad… but still MUNA.
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
