Evenin’! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on SUNDAY February 4, 2023.
Where flipping around the 📺 dial late this afternoon… my Sunday sports options have gone from the NFL to:
Indoor track 🏃♂️ on NBC
A Pebble Beach ⛳️ Pro-Am rerun on CBS due to the rain
The PBA 🎳 on FOX
NFL flag football on ABC
Well, my Tuesday sports ratings report had a good run.
KUDOS: To The Grammys, which always puts on a solid 3 hour 3.5 hour show… and Trevor Noah should have that hosting job until he no longer wants it 👏.
Thanks to Jon Batiste for bringing some much needed life to the ‘in memoriam’ portion of the show 🙌, and to Jay-Z for using his speech to call out the Grammys for Rap artist slights while accepting his achievement award 👊.
Additional kudos to performances from SZA, Luke Combs/Tracy Chapman, Olivia Rodrigo, and Joni Mitchell, plus it’s always great to see Billy Joel — even if all of the A-list near the stage completely ignored his show-capping “You May Be Right” performance #PoorForm… but U2 – that “Atomic City” heavily edited pre-tape at the Sphere was a complete dud. Yikes.
OH RIGHT: TSwift used one of her two acceptance speeches to plug/announce a new album coming on April 19.
AND: Here is your full list of Grammy winners.
ONTO THE AD BUYS:
We had spots for Dune 2 (WB), Madame Web (SONY), Kung Fu Panda 4 (UNI), One Love: Bob Marley (PAR) – although just one (come on CBS!), and a 15-second spot for Argylle.
CBS gave PAR+ time for Halo, UEFA⚽️ and a quick MI:7 spot (and CBS programming was very well promoted of course).
Oddly no spots from APPLE MUSIC, SPOTIFY or AMAZON MUSIC 🧐 (note: APPLE did have iPhone and VisionPro ads). But hey at least TIKTOK got a shout out from Trevor Noah… for not properly compensating artists.
BUT: The “It’s a Bold Strategy Cotton” Award goes to… SNAPCHAT for running an ad saying they’re… not “social media” 🤫 (note: that link is the 2-minute version).
OK: I have no idea what this Ben Affleck DUNKIN’ thing is… but I’m 💯 here for it, whatever the “to be continued” is (I’m guessing Super Bowl spot – he had the drive-thru spot with JLo last year). Plus, ya gotta love the subtle shout out to the Mrs. and her new album at the end.
ALSO: SPOTIFY re-upped with Joe Rogan for a ‘multi-year’ deal, which involves an unknown upfront fee, and an ad rev-share deal, with his pod now being available on all platforms.
THEN: SNL is having comedian Shane Gillis host on Feb. 24, with music guest 21 Savage. Shane was hired on the show in 2019, but was soon un-hired after racial & homophobic comments surfaced from his podcast.
REST IN PEACE: Goes out to Carl Weathers, whose death in his sleep on Thursday at the age of 76 certainly was a shock. Definitely one of the more unique, fun and surprising careers I can think of, and someone whom it was always great to see pop up in any project.
And Mark Gustafson who co-directed Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio and the animation director for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox died on Thursday at age 64-years-old of a heart attack.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Kudos to the 24% who predicted “$17 Mil to $20 Mil” for Argylle — it seems the above average contribution from PLF screens put this over my own $15 Mil to $17 Mil prediction (which most of you had as well, at 36%).
BUT: Let’s redeem ourselves with The Grammys! Last year was 12.4 Million on CBS, pre-pandemic the show did 18.7 Million in Feb 2020, and 19.9 Million in 2019.
PARTNER MESSAGE
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IN THIS EDITION
Just how bad was January at the box office… and what lies ahead for Feb, plus the comps from previous years that it’s up against.
A look inside this weeks numbers, including some real promise in the Specialty market for a couple titles.
DIAMOND SPORTS sets deals with more MLB teams as the season is two months out, and more.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
