☀️'Bourne' Rights Exit UNI, Up For Sale
WB + Sydney Sweeney / New NBA ad 💰 snapshot / ‘Meet the Parents 4’ gets director
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKEDIN if ya like or email me seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, March 21, 2025.
Where ya gotta love the hustle when two companies that hover around turning a profit come together to create . . . well, mainly fodder for social media dunking.
But yes — the advanced future we’ve long been promised has finally arrived . . . as DOORDASH’s new agreement with KLARNA means you can now pay for your SWEETGREEN salad on, essentially, layaway.
Another one of those days where I’m really happy to have grown up in the Gen X world and not Gen Z’s, mainly because I could very well still be paying off a case of RED DOG I bought in my 20s if we had these kinda things then (and yes, that beer reference was about as ’90s Gen X as I could think of — and know that I almost went with PETE’S WICKED ALE).
AND: Well, so much for taking time to think about the potential Boston Blue title for the Donny Wahlberg Blue Bloods spinoff — CBS was already promoting this series as Boston Blue on March Madness yesterday.
THEN: CBS will air 2 WNBA games in primetime in June and August, essentially the first regular season WNBA games to air in broadcast TV primetime ever.
And yes, they’re both Clark vs. Reese games.
PLUS: CBS Mornings is moving out of its Times Square studio where it’s been for the past 4 years (which to my admittedly very basic understanding does not include any visual nods to being in Times Square) and moving back to the CBS News center on the far West Side of Manhattan, according to the NY Post.
OH: The writer at The Atlantic who discovered AI was reading your scripts has now discovered that it’s reading many of our books as well. See? Who needs an official government clearance to use America’s copyrighted material without paying for it in the name of “fighting China”? Enjoy your billions, fellas.
ALSO: The athletic creator genre keeps getting 💰 attention, as GOOD GOOD GOLF just got $45M in a new funding round. Peyton Manning’s OMAHA PRODUCTIONS took part in the round. GGL is also an investor in the L.A. TGL indoor golf league team.
MAN: March Madness is brutal — TEXAS basketball coach Rodney Terry is reportedly being let go after losing the team’s First Four game earlier this week. His potential replacement? The coach of the team who beat him.
Don’t worry about Rodney though — he’ll get a $5.6M payout to leave from his contract.
REALLY?: Et tu, WSJ? “Pretty much everyone”? Curious to see that polling data. Again, Rushfield couldn’t have put this whole embarrassing episode better earlier this week for the media at large, with this 🍒 on the release date itself.
Gonna go out on a limb and say more Americans are discussing other things 👇 these days. So WSJ, beers are on me at the bar in Jersey tonight as we go around asking people for their particular reason for Snow White anger. And yes — this number looks to be a good 10 points higher than the onset of a global pandemic.
BTW: Trump just lowered the minimum wage for federal contractors by over $4/hr back to the Obama-era rate, as part of the overall DOGE efforts. Among those affected are folks like janitors and food workers who work for companies with federal contracts.
PLUS: Celebrity / public figure digital likeness protection software company LOTI AI has released a product to the public so that anyone can track if their likeness is being used online (including in adult content). There are free and pay subscription tiers available here.
LOTI already has business relationships with WME and DOLPHIN MEDIA (42 WEST, SPECIAL PROJECTS, SHORE FIRE, etc).
NOTE: That thing about panels peeling off of TESLA Cybertrucks that I told you about last week has now led to the 8th recall for the 46k trucks out there in 15 months.
Although U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is a TESLA stock buy — on FOX NEWS this week: “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.” Noted! The inauguration was Jan. 20. 👇
SEE: Tim Cook really does love the streaming business! Andy Jassy — you’re up next for releasing the MrBeast renewal when it’s ready.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
WAKEUP POLL
Well, looks like a lotta folks out there are WSJ readers. Look — the doubters are probably right, but I’m gonna cast my vote with the 17% dreamers out there this weekend.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
