Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY December 3, 2021.
Where 2003 continues to roar back with a vengeance – first Bennifer 2.0… then a new “Matrix” movie… now DIDDY is trying to revive SEAN JOHN out of bankruptcy.
He sold 90% of it to a brand management company in 2016 – always a good idea when your name is on it. The label had $450 Million in annual sales in 2016… but that brand management company went belly up this Summer. So Sean has put in a $3.3 Million bid to get it back in full. Final bids are due by Dec 15.
ALSO: Here is the list of NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW 2021 film award winners, with “Licorice Pizza” and director Paul Thomas Anderson leading the way with Best Picture and Director nods.
The NY FILM CRITICS are up today, their TWITTER feed here should have links starting around 10a EST.
AND: A suspect has been arrested in the murder of Jackie Avant: 29 year-old Aariel Maynor, a convicted felon out on parole was arrested after shooting himself in the foot with his AR-15 when trying to rob another house in Beachwood Canyon later that night.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
NETFLIX orders movie based on a grandma’s mistaken text that’s resulted in an unlikely Thanksgiving tradition
Well this is a nice story… VARIETY has more details in the link for anyone inclined – but the short of it is an AZ grandma sent a text to a number she thought was her grandson, asking him if he was coming to Thanksgiving dinner that week in 2016. Instead it went to a high school senior named Jamal Hinton, who asked if it was cool if he came anyway, and they’ve made it a tradition ever since.
Abdul Williams (“The Bobby Brown Story”) is writing “The Thanksgiving Text” script, George Tillman Jr. (“The Hate U Give”, “Barbershop”) is producing. Directing gig is open so give NETFLIX a call if you have a client with a take.
ALSO IN MOVIES
Laverne Cox joins NETFLIX movie “Uglies” starring Joey King. The fantasy film will be directed by McG – based on a best selling book set in a world where 16 year-olds have to have a mandatory operation that makes everyone pretty according to an ideal beauty standard. Granted at 16 I probably woulda taken all the help I could get. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
NETFLIX doing another year-end “Death to 2021” special
Well ok yes last year’s was called “Death to 2020” but same general conceit of sketches related to the themes of the year that was from Charlie Brooker, the guy who created “Black Mirror”.
Hugh Grant, Tracy Ullman, Lucy Liu, Stockard Channing and William Jackson Harper all joining. Will drop Mon Dec 27. /Deadline
APPLE TV+ adds Michelle Monaghan & Jodie Turner-Smith to Vince Vaughn comedy series “Bad Monkey”
Created by Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs”, “Ted Lasso”) based on a Carl Hiaasen novel, about a one-time detective turned South Florida restaurant inspector, who’s drawn into a world of corruption after a tourist finds a severed arm while out fishing. Yeah that’s never good.
10 episode order, Marcos Siega (“The Flight Attendant”) is directing the first episode, and Meredith Hagner from “Vacation Friends” also landed a role. /THR
ALSO IN TV
Jon Stewart is joining the “Facts of Life” episode for “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” on ABC Tuesday, playing a “surprise role”. Hmm. the school headmaster? or well since the “girls” are played by adult actresses (Aniston, Union, Hahn and Tolman) I guess he could be a boyfriend. /THR
“Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses” gets 3.1 Million viewers on Sunday night combined between TBS (2.3 Million) and CARTOON NETWORK (830k). Next episode airs Sunday at 8p. /Deadline
NBC’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree special got about 6 Million viewers on Wednesday. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
The SPAC that BUZZFEED is “merging” with next week to go public has had a “wave of investor withdrawals”
Thus reducing the funding raise to about $16 Million when it goes public, which is expected to happen on Monday, including its rollup with COMPLEX into the same company.
That $16 Million is only about 6% of the $287 million that the SPAC initially raised – meaning that 94% of investor money wanted out of the company before it went public. /WSJ
ALSO IN MEDIA
GOOGLE has postponed its return to office from Jan 10 to…. 🤷♂️ . Although 40% of their employees have come back to in-office work in some capacity already. /CNBC
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
People generally bought the dip yesterday, with most media stocks up 4 to 5% with few exceptions. Although this chart doesn’t bode well (from AXIOS).
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday – Saturday – Sunday)
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
“Dune” heads back into IMAX (for at least a week, maybe 2 until “Spider-Man”?), but nothing new of note otherwise
STREAMING:
MOVIES
DISNEY+ “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” animated movie – Stream or Add to Your List here
SERIES
HULU “Pen15” Season 2, part 2 – Stream or Add to Your List here
NETFLIX “The Great British Baking Show: Holidays” – Stream or Add to Your List here
IMDBTV “Alex Rider” Season 2 – Stream or Add to Your List here
NETFLIX “Coming Out Colton” docu/reality show – Stream or Add to Your List here
AMAZON PRIME “Harlem” season 1 – Stream or add to Your List here
APPLE TV+ ”Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues” special – although to note, it’s only like 20 mins. Stream or Add to Your List here
SATURDAY
I dunno, if you’re out shopping… maybe buy your favorite newsletter writer something nice? And if you have a little left over from Matt Belloni’s gift – just sayin’ I’m an XL.
Oh wait! I saw Ana Gasteyer & Rachel Dratch on TODAY yesterday and this looks fun – COMEDY CENTRAL “A Clusterfunke Christmas” – a movie parody of every other movie you watch on LIFETIME, HALLMARK etc in December. Airs at 7p and 9p
SUNDAY
New “60 Minutes” at 7p on CBS
EPIX “Mr. A & Mr. M: The Story of A&M Records” at 10p
NBC Sunday Night Football – BRONCOS at CHIEFS at 8p
Although stellar human being Antonio Brown won’t be playing for the TAMPA BAY BUCS in the afternoon – he’s been suspended for 3 games for lying about his covid vaxx status.
WEEKEND READS
MICHAEL B. JORDAN: THR did a good profile on where Michael B. Jordan is at in his personal life and career, including his somewhat slow burn approach to building his budding OUTLIER SOCIETY production empire.
BEN AFFLECK: This WSJ Magazine profile of Ben Affleck also got a few mentions – it’s behind the WSJ paywall but if you’re a subscriber have at it.
TOM BRADY: This ESPN story about how a Michigan High School basketball team ended up on a group facetime chat with Tom Brady, Gronk and the TAMBA BAY BUCS is just a fun Friday read.
80s/90s NOSTALGIA: And for any GEN X’ers looking for some fun nostalgia – The NY TIMES profiled a growing car show called RADwood which brings together 80’s & 90’s vintage car owner enthusiasts and their rides. I mean – it’s mentally healthy to embrace your age right? 👴
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
HBOMAX “Station Eleven” trailer – Limited series based on the global pandemic book, flashing forward between the time of the outbreak to 20 years in the future. Premieres Thu Dec 16
AMAZON PRIME “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” teaser #3 – This one centered on Susie. Still Premieres Fri Feb 18
AMAZON PRIME “Reacher” trailer – Based on the Lee Child books, bit of a different take than the Tom Cruise movie, tonally and… casting wise. Premieres Fri Feb 4
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
ED SHEERAN and ELTON JOHN teamed up for a “Merry Christmas” song if that does anything for ya.
Listen to the song here on SPOTIFY or:
If you need new tunes:
Email me anytime – just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-SEAN MCNULTY
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
