Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY August 20, 2021.

Where I just couldn’t come up with an ONLY FANS subject line that didn’t include the word porn, and was pretty sure that might not fly with a lotta email filters. Which is also the problem with the ONLY FANS business model.

However as it’s Friday, let’s class up the nudity and have our Friday morning coffee in the house that “Grey’s Anatomy” built… but “Bridgerton” redecorated - For just $25 Million and change you too can live in Shonda Rhimes’s Hancock Park, LA estate. Can you believe this is just the walkway to the guest bathroom?

ALSO: The new “Jeopardy” host Mike Richards uproar that I’m… somewhat certain most people who actually watch the show have no idea about, continues to grow as the Anti-Defamation League called for an investigation into past comments.

Mike has issued a thorough apology for the comments in question made 7 years ago on his old podcast, and his first day of shooting was yesterday as SONY TV execs continue to white-knuckle the situation.

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📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

NY FILM FEST adds “Dune” and Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch” for Spotlight screenings

Other additions include Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut starring Olivia Colman, and “Red Rocket” starring Simon Rex as a washed up porn star who returns to his Texas hometown, which got very positive notices at CANNES in July.

Festival kicks off in about a month on Sept 24. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

• Nicole Kidman getting flack for skirting mandatory 7-day quarantine in HONG KONG to shoot AMAZON PRIME TV project… about elites. Yeah this may need some smoothing over. /THR

• SEARCHLIGHT adds John Leguizamo to the dark satire comedy “The Menu” starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Nick Hoult and Ralph Fiennes, and directed by Mark Mylod (“Succession”). About a young couple who visits an exclusive island for a meal from an eccentric chef. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

AMAZON PRIME now the exclusive home of Country Music’s ACM Awards

The show will be live streaming-only next year, after CBS declined to renew its TV deal (CBS will focus on growing the CMT Awards instead - VIACOM owns CMT). Cue the AMAZON MUSIC tie-ins now.

The 2021 show had 6 Million viewers on CBS in April, where it has aired since 1998, but in pre-pandemic 2019 the show had over 9 million viewers. /Deadline

PARAMOUNT NETWORK and PAR+ overloading late 2021 with “Yellowstone” series

Let’s call this the anti-DISNEY+ approach to franchise series programming:

• “Yellowstone” Season 4 premieres Sun Nov 7 with 2 episodes.

  • Spin-off “Mayor of Kingstown” starring Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest hits PAR+ on Nov 14.

  • Prequel “1883” with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill will hit PAR+ on Dec 19.

ALSO IN TV

• NETFLIX renews “Never Have I Ever” for Season 3. /THR

• PEACOCK cancels “Punky Brewster” after 1 season. /Deadline

• NBC sets Ava Duvernay produced reality show “Home Sweet Home” for Fri Oct 15 premiere. Features families swapping homes for a while. /THR

• Peter Gallagher joining “Grey’s Anatomy” for the upcoming season, it’s 18th. /Deadline

• SHOWTIME sets Hank Azaria to play APPLE CEO Tim Cook in season 1 of new anthology show “Super Pumped” about the rise of UBER (Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing founder Travis Kalanick), from the “Billions” creative team. /Variety

• NETFLIX sets Hong Kong director Derek Tsang as the lead director for “Three-Body Problem”, the first show from Benioff & Weiss since they ran“GOT” . It’s a sci-fi epic based on a Chinese book trilogy about humanity preparing for the arrival of an alien species. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

ONLY FANS banning pornographic content

Guessing you’ve heard all about this already… but some things to note:

• They’re banning sexually explicit content… but nude images and videos will still be allowed so - who knows what this exactly means when the porn ban starts in October, but they’ll know it when they see it.

• WHY DO THIS: AXIOS reported yesterday morning that ONLY FANS can’t find investors to grow, or likely more important - for their porn impresario majority owner Leo Radivinsky to cash out, all because of its… reputation. So what’s a popular website worth if you can’t monetize it? A question I’m also apparently also exploring with this newsletter.

• Some Net Revenue numbers & projections to note:

  • 2020: $375 million

  • 2021: $1.2 billion

  • 2022: $2.5 billion

But… thinking that 2022 projection may now take a bit of a hit, as most of that $1.2 Billion this year likely did not come from cooking videos. At least clothed ones.

While the platform has over 2 million creators, some numbers to note:

• Only 16,000 users make over $50k a year on it

• Only about 300 ONLY FANS creators make over $1 Million annually.

There is speculation that a crypto-backed version of this may emerge, cutting out the whole direct involvement of banks / credit card companies thing which is also a big driver behind this. But in the end, porn can’t catch a break - I mean, first CINEMAX axes After Dark programming, and now this.

STARZ and DISNEY settle lawsuit over DIS use of STAR+ name for a paid streaming service

STAR+ is essentially a version of HULU but for Latin American countries, priced between $6-$10 a month depending on the country. It’s scheduled to begin launches at the end of month.

STARZ was granted an injunction against DISNEY earlier this Summer for the name use given the similarity, but it’s now resolved and STAR+ is a go - terms were not revealed. /Variety

ALSO IN MEDIA

• Black viewership over-indexing on AVOD / Free streaming services (TUBI, PLUTO etc) according to Nielsen. Represent 24% of viewership there vs. 16% on Linear TV. /Next TV

  • 39% of TUBI audience

  • 36% of PLUTO

  • 22% of ROKU CHANNEL

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

NETFLIX +4%, seemingly just for fun 🤷‍♂️

AMC THEATERS down over 7%, CINEMARK down over 5%. Apparently not a lotta Hugh Jackman believers out there on Wall Street this weekend.

👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

WB/HBOMAX “Reminiscence” - Hugh Jackman sci-fi / noir mystery, In theaters and stream on HBOMAX here.

MGM “Flag Day” - Sean Penn fraught father/daughter relationship movie with his IRL daughter Dylan. Only in theaters

SEARCHLIGHT “The Night House” - Mystery thriller with Rebecca Hall as a widow who begins to discover her deceased husband's disturbing secrets. Only in Theaters

PARAMOUNT+ “Paw Patrol: The Movie” - Stream it here on PAR+ or it’s Also in movie theaters

• ALSO: DISNEY PIXAR’s “Luca” hits China (now at 70% theater capacity).

STREAMING:

MOVIES

AMAZON “Annette” - French Adam Driver & Marion Cotillard musical thing that opened CANNES. Click here to Watch or Add to your List

NETFLIX “Sweet Girl” - Jason Momoa as a recent widower looking for justice for his deceased wife while protecting his daughter. Click here to Watch or Add to your List

SERIES

NETFLIX “The Chair” - Sandra Oh college professor / academia culture comedy, created by Amanda Peet. Click here to Watch or Add to your List

APPLE TV+ “Truth Be Told” - Kate Hudson joins Octavia Spencer for Season 2, which centers on solving a new case. Click Here to Watch or Add to your List

SATURDAY

CNN “WE LOVE NYC” Central Park concert at 5p (or cord-cutters can stream for free on CNN GO)

SUNDAY

AMC “The Walking Dead” - Final Season Part 1 (of 3) premieres at 9p (but you can already watch it on AMC+)

HBO “NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½” - Spike Lee directed 4 part docuseries. Premieres at 8p. (note: final part will air on Sat 9/11)

SHOWTIME “Gossip” - Docuseries on the gossip journalism trade, Premieres 8p

SHOWTIME “Work in Progress” - Season 2 premieres at 11p

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

DISNEY / MARVEL “Eternals” final trailer. Still slated for In Theaters Only on Fri Nov 5.

APPLE TV+ “Foundation” series trailer. Ok now I get what this series is about... Stunning visuals still abound - Sci-Fi show where Jared Harris can predict the future using math, and the ruling party led by Lee Pace is… not crazy about his newest visions about the future. Based on the Isaac Asimov book trilogy. Premieres Fri Sept 24.

STARZ “BMF” series trailer. 1980’s Detroit crime family drama from 50 Cent. Snoop Dogg and Eminem have peripheral roles. Premieres Sun September 26.

NETFLIX “Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali” docu trailer. Looking at the bond and subsequent strife in their relationship during the 1960’s. Produced by Kenya Barris. Premieres Thu Sept 9.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

THE KILLERS “West Hills” - New album “Pressure Machine” just dropped a week ago.

Listen to the album on SPOTIFY here or here’s a song I liked:

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-Sean McNulty

@theseanmac on TWITTER

@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM

or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE