☀️A24 & The Rock Pt. 2; NBC's Play For ⚾️
NEON buys at Cannes / Altman, Ive come for AI devices / SONY casts up on video game pic
Mornin! 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 Thursday, May 22, 2025.
Where I gotta say — if this is the creative AI is coming up with to announce billion-dollar deals . . . yeah maybe we have a shot after all, humanity! Unless of course the input was “Hey CHATGPT — give me a business deal announcement that looks like a baby shower invitation!”
Maybe some of the $6.5B from this deal, bringing former APPLE exec Jony Ive’s io Products company into OPENAI coulda been used on just one more agency pitch. Or, an agency pitch?
Note that OPENAI already took a 23% stake in io Products last year — so this deal cost is more like $5B, and it’s an all-stock deal (with io’s valuation put at $6.5B).
The somewhat ironic conceit here behind the low, low $6.5B pricetag for a one-year-old io company with . . . zero products, is to make IRL, tangible hardware products based around the decidedly not IRL, intangible AI.
Place your bets on this being another form of glasses (that META already has, GOOGLE is actively looking to launch and APPLE is rumored to be working on as well), but we shall see what Jony’s team cook’s up. #punintended
The previous attempt backed by Sam Altman of a wearable “AI pin” that was about 2 sq. inches and came with a . . . $24/month subscription pricetag to use somehow didn’t go so well.
Altman declared internally this week that he plans to eventually ship 100M AI “companion” devices . . . at some point . . . once they have the actual device locked in. Here are the hints for this magical, soon-to-be must-have item — it’ll be:
Fully aware of a your surroundings and life
Unobtrusive
Able to rest in one’s pocket or on one’s desk
A 3rd core device to have on your desk next to a MacBook Pro and an iPhone (or uh, whatever cheaper laptop and phone you use)
So . . . a pocket Alexa? 🤷♂️
If you’re inclined, the deal also comes with a 9-minute uh, short film (🤷♂️) on the deal announcement page starring Jony and Sam that couldn’t be more Silicon Valley if it was done by the staff of Silicon Valley.
Although clearly the takeaway here is that Shari and Larry really missed the mark by not doing one of these last summer (but still not too late David Ellison and Jeff Shell!).
SPOILER: The first 90 seconds is the guys very casually walking separately through San Francisco to the restaurant, which is Coppola's Zoetrope cafe, set to some pretty great VO copy of the guys talking about how great each other are . . . and gotta say, I’m kinda curious how many takes they did to nail the “casually entering the restaurant” shot.
AND: GOOGLE is keeping things very on-brand as well, already figuring out ways to stuff its new “AI mode” with ads (that’s the new tab where GOOGLE gives answers to search queries using chatbot format).
Yeah — the AI future that folks are imagining . . . needs to start being imagined with ads, unless you think folks are going to pay $20 a month for AI on a mass scale. Clearly some already are, but it’s also time to start thinking about the FAST version.
OVER ON THE EAST COAST: Hey NYC — take it down a notch, bud. It’s not even the NBA Finals yet . . . act like you’ve been in the playoffs before, mmmkay? This is why we lost last night, obviously.
AH: Look at ABC talking to the kids! Welcome Alix Earle to the DWTS cast next season.
AND: Nothing like Trump’s new head of FEMA telling folks in meetings that FEMA doesn’t have a fully-formed disaster response plan in the new regime, just 2 weeks before hurricane season officially starts. Eh, I’m sure they’ll get it sorted, ya know, after the holiday break.
OH: Good news though — Trump’s $5M “gold cards” allowing folks with, well, $5M lying around to buy permanent U.S. residency will go on sale next week — sure to attract only the best and brightest, naturally. Norwegians, come on over!
BUT: I’m a bit concerned that the influencer business has a reputation problem! 😱 A weight-loss influencer with 5M TIKTOK followers, who was peddling $200 micronutrient courses and other advice that helped her lose weight neglected for a long time to disclose that she was also uh . . . taking a GLP-1 for the past year (she eventually made a post about it and yeah, lo and behold — no more micronutrients business).
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL x 2
Welcome to the OG start of the summer movie season! Hollywood finally has a banger for ya, America! (Furiosa who?) Also to note — Final Destination: Bloodlines did another $11M just on Monday and Tuesday this week alone. 🤯
While tracking is putting the 4-day for the 2 big new releases anywhere from around $235M to $300M combined . . . no one seems too certain about any prediction. But that’s what separates the wheat from the chaff here at The Wakeup — so it’s time to ante up!
Lilo & Stitch
4-day tracking currently stands at anywhere from about $150M to $200M or more. Remember, Moana 2 did $225M over the Thanksgiving 5-day last year. The NY Times also laid out the huge merch phenomenon that the IP has for folks like myself who are not as dialed in.
MI:8
4-day tracking stands at roughly $75M to $80M. The last one opened to $55M in 3-day totals in 2023. This movie is also 2h 50m long, although the last one was 2h 43m.
THANKS: To (HBO) MAX for the invite to the And Just Like That . . . new season celebration party last night in NYC.
I asked Janice if this meant that I’m now a fashion influencer, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard her laugh so loud. Sadly, no one could seem to tell me where the TV showing the KNICKS game was 🤷♂️ . . . so I had to duck out early.
BUT: Kudos on the sweet parting gift, which got me some great attention on the streets of Chelsea walking to the subway . . . and let’s just call it different attention on the actual subway home.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
