Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY August 19, 2021.
Where KANYE is basically turning his album working-sessions into a tour, announcing another “listening party” event for the ever-evolving “Donda” album in Chicago next Thu Aug 26 at Soldiers Field. For my Chicago reader – Tix go on sale tomorrow at 12noon CHI time.
ALSO: Garth Brooks has canceled the remaining dates on his tour due to rising covid rates. There’s gotta be a more clever way to describe that than “I’ve got friends in… no places” but that’s all I got. You’re welcome.
AND: October’s NAB Show (National Association of Broadcasters) is also now requiring proof of vaxx for entry in Vegas.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
Anthony Mackie returning for MARVEL’s “Captain America 4” movie
Creative team behind “The Falcon & Winter Soldier” handling writing & directing duties. Script still to be completed so gonna be a little while. /Deadline
VARIETY releases their “How much actors make” lists
Leo & J-Law got $55 Million total for their upcoming Adam McKay NETFLIX movie “Don’t Look Up”
Steve Martin & Martin Short getting $600k an episode for HULU’s “Only Murders in the Building”
Denzel & Will Smith got $40 Million buyout checks for “The Little Things” and “King Richard” respectively at WB / HBOMAX…
For those inclined, more in the links:
ALSO IN MOVIES
Frequent “Harry Potter” & “Fantastic Beasts” director David Yates lines up SONY movie to shoot this Spring. Untitled female-led movie would be a shift into a new genre for David – a drama set in the world of Big Pharma and opioids but not much else known. /Deadline
Jack O’Connell (“Unbroken”) set to co-star with Emma Corrin (Princess Di in “The Crown”) in SONY’s “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” update. First movie in SONY’s NETFLIX pact, where the streaming service has first look at movies SONY is making explicitly for streaming. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
WB TV making deals with “Manifest” creative talent in hopes of NETFLIX pickup
Deals seem contingent on an “if” NETFLIX orders a season 4 scenario… but a promising sign for fans of the show which has been very popular on NETFLIX since its NBC cancellation earlier this Summer. /Deadline
NAT GEO signs Will Smith’s WESTBROOK ENTERTAINMENT to first look deal
5-year deal for unscripted series. Will has a NAT GEO show premiering on DISNEY+ later this year called “Welcome to Earth” 👋, where he goes to exotic and dangerous locales with professional guides. /Deadline
ALSO: DISNEY+ ordered a series starring the guy from “Free Solo” called “On the Edge with Alex Honnold”. Will feature him climbing crazy things in GREENLAND, often ones that have never been climbed before because of, ya know… the whole Earth melting thing 🥵. /Deadline
ALSO IN TV
APPLE TV+ adds Tim Robbins to apocalyptic series “Wool”, set in a toxic future where a human community lives underground in a silo. Rebecca Ferguson (recent “Mission Impossible” movies, “Dune”) already set as one of the leads. /Variety
HBOMAX orders Season 2 of “FBoy Island”. Now… where does one find more FBoys 🤔? Gotta think there’s a casting spin-off special to be had here too amirite? /THR
FOX renews Gordon Ramsay’s “Masterchef” for another season. /THR
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💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
WWE partners with THE RINGER to create exclusive podcasts for SPOTIFY
WWE will also use SPOTIFY’s CLUBHOUSE-ripoff feature Greenroom for live chats after PPV events, which will then also become podcasts under “The Ringer Wrestling Show” banner… as the audio circle of life completes itself.
Longtime wrestling fan Bill Simmons will also create a TBD narrative podcast as part of the deal. No $$ or duration info given. /THR
FACEBOOK & IG removed many of the hateful comments LIZZO received over the last week…
But took no actions against the accounts that posted them. So, problem solved 🥸 /THR
Only Mark Zuckerberg would think of a way for you to be stuck in your office, without being in your office
Meet “Horizon Workrooms”, from FACEBOOK 🙇♂️. $300 (FB owned) OCULUS headset required while “WFH”. Can’t wait to see how they incorporate your IRL kids interrupting your VR presentaion.
Though gotta say… not sure I bought it when Zuck said he was “Looking forward to seeing his colleagues in the office again” on “CBS This Morning” today, when Gayle King essentially said “Hey this is great… but I miss seeing people in the office” to his virutal face right there in the VR demo. /CBS News
Meanwhile FB says they removed 18 Million covid misinformation posts… but won’t say how many of their users saw or interacted with them. Yeah that definitely sounds like they have their priorities straight over there, all good.
And we’ll round out with today’s “No, that’s not a headline from THE ONION” news – AMAZON announced plans to open a series of small IRL department stores in the US. #Innovation. /WSJ
ALSO IN MEDIA
FOX NEWS requiring all employees to reveal vaccination status, and mask wearing for all employees working in somewhat tighter quarters like control rooms. /CNN
3 former NETFLIX employees in engineering dept plead guilty to Insider trading, making over $3 Million based on knowing impending subscriber growth info. /Variety
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
Stocks mostly down again yesterday as the August sell off continues, but:
VIACOM got about a 4% bump on that Eastern European streaming service with COMCAST/SKY news, as Wall Street kind of zones out after “new streaming service” these days.
VIMEO finally bounced back a bit though, up 5%, and WARNER MUSIC also up 4%.
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
HBOMAX “Marlon Wayans: You Know What It Is” stand up special. Click here to Watch or Add to your List
HBOMAX “Sweet Life: Los Angeles” – Issa Rae produced reality show about a group of young black female friends in South LA. First 3 eps drop today – Click here to Watch or Add to your List
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
Fin
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
VICTORIA MONET “Coastin’” – New song with some serious Mary J / 90’s R&B vibes for any fellow throwback fans.
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-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE
