CHANNING TATUM and TOM HARDY team up for Afghanistan pic at UNI

DEXTER sets 2021 PayTV ratings high / ROBLOX's huge day on Wall Street / Brian Williams leaves NBC

Nov 10, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY November 10, 2021.

Where the early “House of Gucci” TWITTER… reviews (?) from the now un-embargoed movie press dropped yesterday, and sounds like it’s as over the top as you’d hoped… or feared it would be. VARIETY has a roundup of them here.

ALSO: For anyone also not familiar with the raucous mosh-pit style “raging” concert atmosphere that TRAVIS SCOTT built his career with, which resulted in 2 prior arrests for inciting riots at shows in 2015 and 2017 after encouraging fans to rush the stage, the NY TIMES read in the link was pretty fascinating look into his unique brand of live-show performance in the rap game.

AND: The 5 initial NETFLIX Mobile Games are now avail to play on iOS as well as ANDROID versions of the app.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Chan already prepping for the first day on set. via giphy

UNI sets Channing Tatum & Tom Hardy to star in Afghanistan evacuation movie

About 3 former US special forces guys who go back into danger to rescue families and allies alongside their Afghan counterparts, based on real events from August.

Script to be written by George Nolfi (“Oceans 12”, “Bourne Ultimatum”), so will be a while. But with talent like this, guessing UNIVERSAL will be checking in soon to see uh… ya know, how it’s goin. /Deadline

MGM moves Peter Dinklage movie “Cyrano” to Jan 21 NY + LA, and Feb wide release

Will get a 1 week run in LA starting Dec 17 to qualify it for the OSCARS. Previously was slated to start its platform run on Dec 31. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

Director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”, “Shame”) sets up next pic at NEW REGENCY called “Blitz”, but no story details releaesed. Will shoot next year. /Deadline
“The Hitman’s Bodyguard” franchise director Patrick Hughes sets up next movie at LIONSGATE. A Sci-fi action movie called “War Machine” - about recruits in a special ops boot camp who take on a deadly force from Cleveland. No wait - they’re from space. /Variety
Peter Jackson sells his WETA DIGITAL FX company for $1.6 Billion to an interactive 3D tech company called UNITY. Peter will remain a majority owner in WETA FX, and UNITY will make WETA’s digital tools and resources avail to creators globally via the cloud. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

“Dexter” revival gets 2.2 Million viewers on SHOWTIME Sunday night

866k on TV, and 1.3 Million on Streaming + OnDemand. For comparison - “Succession” S3 premiere got 1.4 Million across all platforms in October. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

Season 5 of “Search Party” will be its last on HBOMAX. Final 10 episodes drop in January. /THR
Kim Cattrall books 2nd gig in a week - This time a recurring role on PEACOCK’s “Queer as Folk” ‘re-imagining’ as a “martini-soaked, high society Southern debutante with trailer park roots.” Ya know… I’m just gonna go with this here 🤐. /Variety

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

ROBLOX with anyone who shorted them yesterday. via giphy

ROBLOX stock pops 42% on earnings report

Daily Active Users of the online gaming brand hit 47.3 Million, an uptick of 4 Million from July thru Sept, and +31% vs a year ago.

Revenue was ok…but growing exponentially: $509 Million in Q3, up 102% vs this time last year, and they said their October usage was extremely promising to kick off Q4. /CNBC

Brian Williams leaving NBC NEWS at the end of the year

Leaving to “spend time with his family”, contract was up and sounds like he wanted to move on from the 11pm hour where he’s been on MSNBC since 2016 and do something new… whether NBC was open to those new ideas, who knows.

So come 2022, no more Williams at 11p, and Maddow no longer daily at 9p on MSNBC (also expected to leave her slot entirely in the Spring). /THR

ALSO IN MEDIA

NETFLIX announced plans to do 50 new shows, anime projects & films in JAPAN to take on market leader AMAZON PRIME. They also set a long-term lease on a soundstage space in JAPAN in the Spring. /Variety
- NETFLIX is estimated to have 6 Million Japanese subscribers, compared to 15 Million for AMAZON PRIME.

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

AMC THEATERS down 11% after being up 8% in after hours trading the night before. Amazing what sobering up will do.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

ABC “CMA Awards” - Hosted by Luke Bryan, and watched at home by Morgan Wallen. Airs at 8p

PARAMOUNT/PAR+ “Clifford the Red Dog” hits theaters or Stream it here on PAR+

NETFLIX ”Passing” - Starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, directed by Rebecca Hall, Stream or Add to Your List here, also playing in theaters

NETFLIX “Gentefied” Season 2 - Stream or Add to Your List here

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

quiet week continues 🤷‍♂️

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

CHARLI XCX “New Shapes” - Kind of New Age 80’s pop vibes layered with some autotune, still pretty catchy.

Listen to the song here on SPOTIFY or:

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-Sean McNulty

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