Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY April 2, 2021.
Where happy Good Friday to my Catholic readers! You’re just 2 days away from going back to all of your pre-Lent habits.
Oh right – also Happy #PizzaFriday!
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
Jordan Peele adds Steven Yeun to his next movie at UNIVERSAL
Steven joins Keke Palmer, and as usual for a Peele movie… no plot details. Just a July 2022 release date.
It’s the 2nd high profile project for Yeun in a week, after NETFLIX bought his limited dramedy series “Beef” with Ali Wong last week. /Deadline
“Godzilla vs Kong” opening Day total would’ve made it the 3rd largest opening Weekend of the pandemic
Cleared about $10 Million on Wednesday. And it’s adding 600 more theaters today. WARNER MEDIA CEO Jason Kilar should expect a lot of interview requests on Monday morning. /Variety
ALSO IN MOVIES
PARAMOUNT sets Anthony Ramos (“Hamilton”, “A Star is Born”) as a lead for new “Transformers” movie. No plot (or character) details avail. /THR
WB/DC Comics kills “Aquaman” spinoff “The Trench” from James Wan, and movie on “New Gods” written by Ava Duvernay. /Deadline
Erika Christensen joins HBOMAX Soderbergh movie “KIMI”, and DISNEY+ reboot of “Cheaper by the Dozen” with Zach Braff & Gabrielle Union. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
PARAMOUNT+ sets Dexter Fletcher (“Rocketman”) as lead director for their making of “The Godfather” project “The Offer”
He’ll direct the first 2 episodes, and the plan is to shoot this Summer.
Still no casting news since Armie Hammer departed the lead role of “Godfather” producer Al Ruddy. /THR
HULU lands “1619 Project” docuseries from NY TIMES & Oprah
LIONSGATE producing the project on slavery and its effects on all aspects of society. No episode count or deal price given. /Deadline
HULU also buys US rights to 3 part docuseries on the VON DUTCH fashion brand from the 2000s. /Deadline
ALSO IN TV
Director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) leaves AMAZON for HBOMAX. Sets 2 year first-look TV deal with A24 as a partner. His “Underground Railroad” limited series hits AMAZON on May 14th. /THR
AMC reveals cast for animated series “Ultra City Smiths”: Jimmi Simpson, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, John C. Reilly and Bebe Neuwirth will lead the detective murder mystery stop motion-animation show… that’s using baby dolls as the characters. From the “Robot Chicken” gang. /THR
If you can’t get enough BRIDGERTON – here are 2 more actors joining the Season 2 cast now shooting. /Deadline
If you can’t get enough LIFETIME MOVIES, here is your Summer Film slate. Films include Jennie Garth, Annabeth Gish. I’m in for “Soccer Mom Madam”. /Deadline
FOX ending animated show “Bless the Harts” after 2 seasons. /THR
20TH TELEVISION promotes Chet Dave to lead Comedy Development 👏. Reports into 20TH EVP Carolyn Cassidy. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
AMAZON-owned podcast production co. WONDERY plans to double staff this year
Most additions will be in podcast development staff. /Variety
Bieber & Grande’s management merges with company behind BTS
Scooter Braun’s ITHACA HOLDINGS merging/selling to the huge South Korean company behind BTS’s success, HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment).
Private Equity backed ITHACA has management arm with Bieber, Ariana, and Lovato, plus the popular Country Music label BIG MACHINE, home to Florida Georgia Line, Lady A, Thomas Rhett and others. They are also renowned for selling Taylor Swift’s catalog to a different private equity firm, which is the reason behind her re-recording all of her music (Taylor will not be sending Scooter a bottle of bubbly here).
ITHACA’s private equity backer will cash out (no price disclosed), and ITHACA will de-facto be the US arm of HYBE. HYBE and UNIVERSAL MUSIC also launching a new label in the US. Braun joins HYBE’s board, business as usual at BIG MACHINE. /MBW
ALSO IN MEDIA
MEADOWLARK MEDIA (production co. started by former ESPN head John Skipper & former ESPN talent Dan Le Batard) gets $12 Million in funding. DRAFT KINGS, Snap CEO Michael Lynton, and Skipper’s former home – sports streaming service DAZN among investors. /THR
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
VIACOM & DISCOVERY have both leveled off, relatively stable for a 2nd day yesterday.
AMC THEATERS was down 9% after their CEO asked for approval to sell another 500 Million shares to raise more $$ (that ol’ stock value dilution issue). Will be voted on in May.
But LIONSGATE had a nice day – up over 4% because, well, it said please. Or because it sold its stake in a Spanish streaming service to free up more cash to invest in STARZ streaming.
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
ABC “Big Sky” Season 1 pt2 trailer. Returns Tuesday, April 13.
📰 WEEKND READS
The Weeknd is literally selling just one copy of his brand new song tomorrow. It’s being sold via auction, to one winning bidder. And chances are, you’ll be reading a lot of headlines about it on Monday because yes, he’s selling it exclusively as a NFT*.
While the NFT thing has primarily been a digital art and sports collectables phenomenon so far… in addition to The Weeknd – Will Smith, LEGENDARY PICTURES, and former DISNEY streaming head Kevin Mayer all made NFT headlines this week alone.
So – I wrote something up about it (click this to read), and what the potential is for NFT’s in HOLLYWOOD in 2021. Potential of course meaning $$.
* I also did a layman’s terms breakdown of what a NFT is if you’ve basically just “heard about them” at this point and could use a refresher, or just want to get in the know.
This piece is another new expansion for me into some long(er) form industry analysis, so I’d honestly love to hear any feedback – the more candid the better – if you have time this weeknd. er…weekend. Speaking of which 👇
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)
FRIDAY:
IN THEATERS:
SONY/SCREEN GEMS “The Unholy” – Horror movie with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, produced by Sam Raimi.
ALSO: “Godzilla vs Kong” continues of course.
STREAMING:
HULU ”WeWork: Or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” – New documentary on… well I’m thinking you’re up to speed here from the title. Watch or add to your List here.
NETFLIX “Concrete Cowboy” – Idris Elba father/son coming of age movie set amongst a group of cowboys who live in a city. Based on real story and got some pretty solid notices on the Film Festival circuit this Fall. Watch or add to your List here.
ON TV:
WOMEN’s MARCH MADNESS Final Four on ESPN:
6p : Stanford (1) vs South Carolina (1)
930p : UCONN (1) vs Arizona (3)
FX “Hysterical” – Docu profiling women in comedy, Airs at 9pm. Or add to your list/watch it on HULU tomorrow here.
IF YOU’RE ON CLUBHOUSE:
I’m doing one Today at 12noon EST discussing the top Hollywood & Media stories from the week with my friend and former HBO exec Caroline Giegerich, should be a fun 30-45min chat, including how I got a 50% off deal on PARAMOUNT+!
Link to join us at 12noon here and I’m @theseanmac if you want to connect there.
SATURDAY:
MEN’s NCAA MARCH MADNESS Final Four on CBS.
515p : Baylor (1) vs. U of Houston (2)
830p : Gonzaga (1) vs. UCLA (11)
New SNL : Daniel Kaluuya and music guest St Vincent
SUNDAY:
NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship on ESPN at 6pm
SAG Awards – Pre-Taped 1 hour show on TNT and TBS at 9pm.
And a welcome to this week’s new readers 👋 Share THE WAKEUP with your work team! Here’s an easy to use button:
🕵️♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD
MON – Men’s NCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL Championship at 9p on CBS.
Also – WWE Streaming service officially shuts down… all content exclusively now on PEACOCK.
TUE – “Chad” premieres on TBS
THU – “Rebel” premieres on ABC
FRI – “Lord of the Rings” begins its China re-release, goes up against “Avatar” in the battle of “wait what year did I wake up in??”
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
THE KNOCKS – “Bittersweet Symphony” – The Knocks did remakes of some 90’s songs with FOSTER THE PEOPLE. This one was pretty cool. Odd that this song still makes me think of the end of “Cruel Intentions”?
Listen on Spotify / Watch on YouTube
If you need new tunes:
A NEW week-ending poll: (click on the poll image to go to the vote)
Email me anytime – just hit Reply to this email or click my name below to send a LINKED IN message.
Thanks!
