Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY May 26, 2023.

Where let’s toast our Friday Morning Coffee ☕️ to the end of the 2022-2023 Broadcast TV season. We’ll see ya again in ‘23-’24… this side or the other.

ALTHOUGH: As we all know, the true buzz this weekend is around the huge weekend for IPL Cricket! The semi-final match this morning will determine who will face off against the CHENNAI SUPER KINGS in the IPL Cricket Final on Sunday! (which is expected to have a viewing audience well over 3X the size of the SUPER BOWL).

• 36 of the initial 57 IPL matches had over 30 Million viewers on DISNEY STAR linear TV.

• JIO CINEMA streaming hit 25 Million viewers for a recent match (in addition to the tens of millions of DISNEY STAR viewers on Linear as well).

• DISNEY STAR reported a +44% pop in TV ratings for Week 6 of the tournament vs. a year ago (they’ve also put select matches as free-to-air this year for the first time), and set sizable ratings records into Week 7 of the tournament as well.

SO: If you’re in NYC, swing on by this morning with some bagels (I have the mimosas covered) for my Watch Party at 10a! I just hope my uh… WILLOW TV Streaming service (🤷‍♂️) doesn’t have the same tech support as TWITTER 🤞.

WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL RESULTS

Well, we’ve got a weekend of extremes on Little Mermaid thinking it seems… with the bulls winning but not by much – here’s where ya’ll landed. Happy moviegoing everyone!

IN TODAY’S EDITION:

• LIONSGATE shows some solid Q1 numbers now that a large (very unprofitable) portion of their STARZ Int’l biz has been written-off/shut down from the business.

  • And it turns out – it pays to have a solid Film & TV library full of titles people know! Who knew?

  • But uh yeah – still no idea what’s gonna happen with splitting the company in… 4 months. #MediaNerd🤓 does one final Q1 Earnings Season breakdown.

• NEW LINE sets Jack Quaid in a leading role.

• DIRECTV gets their NFL Sunday Ticket bar business back.

• EMMYS get a new producer, plus a look at the new things to watch & stream this weekend and more!

🪧 STRIKE UPDATES

• MAX’s JJ Abrams / LaToya Morgan series Duster has shut down production in NEW MEXICO due to picket line troubles. /Deadline

• DISNEY is hitting pause on production of the MARVEL Thunderbolts pic, which was to begin shooting in June. /Deadline

• LIONSGATE is not factoring a “prolonged strike” into their financials at this point, joining the Q1 Earnings Call chorus from other studios… But they did mention the 2007 strike as a realistic comp here for a duration (3 months-ish) 🧐.

  • Granted their Film Division had a huge Q1, and Film is likely to be less affected, but they also produce CBS’s hit Ghosts and have a Jon Cryer show on NBC’s Fall sched so… may be some hit here to the LGF TV line if the strike goes into the Fall.

📽 THE SILVER TV