CREED III sets Apollo's nemesis at WB
CREED III sets Apollo's nemesis at WB
OBAMAS set next NETFLIX project / CANNES announces lineup / NETFLIX, SNAP executive moves / Damien Chazelle sets movie cast
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY June 3, 2021.
Where you can now stream all of HBO… ad-free for $10/month or $100/year. Plus you get all HBOMAX content with ads for free (but not the new WB movies that are also in theaters). Or put another way… the ad supported version of HBOMAX launched yesterday in the US for $10/month, Subscribe at hbomax.com if ya like.
ALSO: COACHELLA 2022 advance tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10a - looks like you have to pre-register here and you’ll be sent a link for the advance ticket sale tomorrow. No acts announced but will be in the usual April timeframe: the weekends of April 15 and 22, 2022. The first weekend is Easter, so you know Kanye’s gonna be there.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
WB setting Jonathan Majors (“Lovecraft Country”) to go head to head with Michael B. Jordan in “Creed III”
No word on plot specifics. Jordan also directing this one, currently has a Thanksgiving 2022 release plan 🥊. /Deadline
Director Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”) rounds out cast to his next movie “Babylon” at PARAMOUNT
Brad Pitt & Margot Robbie already set as the leads, Max Minghella, Flea, Samara Weaving and Eric Roberts (🙌) are among the new names to join.
Movie is set in the 1920’s transition from Silent Movies to Talkies, said to be “Great Gatsby”-esque 🤷♂️. A Christmas release next year is planned. /THR
ALSO IN MOVIES
Here is your list of CANNES FILM FEST titles for July. Now we’ll see who’ll attend… Adam Driver & Marion Cotillard French film “Annette” kicks things off July 6. /THR
NETFLIX adding Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”) to Noah Baumbach’s next movie - an adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 book “White Noise” with Greta Gerwig & Adam Driver. Story follows a year in the life of a college professor and an obsession with mortality. /Deadline
BLUMHOUSE’s “Firestarter” reboot casts the kid - Ryan Kiera Armstrong (FX’s “AHS”, AMAZON’s upcoming “The Tomorrow War” movie). Zac Efron also starring in the UNIVERSAL movie (a pic of Ryan in-character from the set of the movie is in the Deadline link for the inclined).
📺 THE TV SET
The Obama’s producing 10 short animated music videos at NETFLIX a la “Schoolhouse Rock” but for civics
Or… I guess that was kinda what “Schoolhouse Rock” was about huh. Anyway - certainly could use a fresh spin. The Supreme Court one should be interesting ⚖️.
Called “We the People”, Kenya Barris and Chris Nee also Exec Producers, and will have original songs performed by Lin Manuel, HER, Janelle Monae, and Amanda Gorman among others.
Trailer down below in the TRAILER HOUSE, and they’ll thematically drop on July 4. /THR
NETFLIX cancels Mark Millar’s “Jupiter’s Legacy” after one season
Show premiered just 4 weeks ago. Millar (“Kingsman”, “Kick-Ass”) will release a comic this month to tie up cliffhanger elements from the season finale. NETFLIX bought his company MILLARWORLD 3 years ago, and he’s still working on several other projects… 👇 /THR
ALSO: NETFLIX has ordered a new show from Millar callled “Supercrooks” set around 8 villains, some of whom sound like they’re from the “Jupiter’s Legacy” universe so… it may kinda live on 🤷♂️. “Supercrooks” will also be an Anime series at NETFLIX later this year - this new order for a live-action version is still in early stages. /Deadline
PEACOCK orders series from Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot”) and Andy Siara (“Palm Springs”)
8 episode drama called “The Resort” - multi-generational family story exploring love and marriage… set against a “bizarre unsolved mystery” in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera. 🤞 for that Cozumel press junket tho 😎. /Variety
ALSO IN TV
HBO adds Mary-Louise Parker to Natalie Portman movie “Days of Abandonment”. It’s a journey into the the mind of a woman whose husband has left her with the kids, and how she navigates the darkness. Based on a book by the author of HBO’s “My Brilliant Friend”. Mary-Louise playing a character named “Mysterious Woman” (literally), whom Natalie’s character keeps seeing out and about, making her question her sanity. /THR
The most active director in Hollywood, Antoine Fuqua attached to another project going out to buyers - a show about George Washington. Fuqua would direct the pilot, Brian Burns (“Blue Bloods”) and William N. Collage (wrote Fuqua’s upcoming slave true-story movie“Emancipation” with Will Smith at APPLE TV), wrote it. 8 episode first season. We’ll see who bites… and yes that’s a very poor allusion to APPLE 🥴. /Deadline
SHOWTIME renews “City on a Hill” for a 3rd Season. Bacon, Hodge & showrunner Tom Fontana all returning for a new 8 episode season. /Variety
APPLE TV+ renews “The Mosquito Coast” for Season 2. Season 1 finale drops this Friday. /THR
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
ENDEAVOR revenue down 10% in Q1 vs last year to $1.07 Billion, but they had a…small profit of $2.4 Mil
Stock mostly unmoved either way, down 1.5% after hours. Pretty uneventful. /Variety
ALSO IN MEDIA
NETFLIX sets new head of US/Canada Marketing: SPOTIFY’s co-Head of Music, Marian Lee Dicus is coming over to be VP of Marketing, reporting into CMO Bozema St John. VP’s of Films & Series marketing Jonathan Helfgot & Shelly Gillyard respectively will report into Marian. /Variety
APPLE sets September return to office policy, at least 3 days a week - Wed & Fri gonna be optional. Pants will not be. Employees can work OOO for 2 weeks straight of their choosing each year pending approval. /The Verge
Euro Soccer’s CHAMPIONS LEAGUE final got about 2 Million viewers on CBS Saturday. So… roughly NHL kinda numbers. Does not include PARAMOUNT+ streaming numbers which were not released. /Deadline
SNAPCHAT’s Head of Original Content, Sean Mills is leaving after 6 years. No word on where he’s going, but will stay on thru September so seems like he’s just ready for something new. Vanessa Guthrie will now head up Original Content solo for SNAP. /Variety
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
AMC THEATERS +95% yesterday. In Charlie Sheen movie terms, it’s now “Game Stop, Part Deux”. Trading was stopped 4 times yeserday by the NYSE because of too rapid increases in the price. It’s entirely driven by Reddit groups driving/bidding up the price, a la the GAME STOP phenomenon from earlier this year. Part trying to hurt institutional investors shorting the stock, and part… well lemme call Bud Fox and I’ll get back you. #Sheen2fer
Also probably a dig at MUDRICK CAPITAL, who would have 2X’d their money if they had just held onto the $230 Million worth of shares that AMC sold them on Tuesday… for a 24 hour period. 🙇♂️
AMC is now devoting an area of their corporate website to the 3 Million people who now hold AMC Stock (and 80% of the company’s worth) to… try and get them to sign up for essentially a version of their “Stubbs” monthly membership plan, with screening invites and special messages from their new BFF in Kansas, Adam Aron the CEO. Ooh Look - Free large popcorn! 🙌
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
PARAMOUNT+ “Why Women Kill” season 2 - Watch or add to your list here
FOX “Beat Shazam” - New season premieres at 8p
If you were sent this email or… just kinda found it (no questions asked):
And if you wanna send the newsletter to an industry colleague, or hell even a nemesis who might dig it (always good to keep them confused):
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
ABC “When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren” promo. And somehow… Helen literally isn’t even heard or seen in it. Basically, non-Mirren actors give voices to funny animal footage, an alum from “The Soup” is showrunning, and Helen is a part of this… somehow. Show premieres June 24.
NETFLIX “We the People”, as mentioned earlier. Drops on July 4.
AMAZON PRIME “Bosch” Season 7 trailer. Final season premieres Fri June 25.
AMAZON PRIME “Flack” Season 2. Picked up from POP TV, premieres next Fri June 11.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New BILLIE EILISH - “Lost Cause”
If you need new tunes:
Have fun storming the castle. Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
And a couple of Corrections for yesterday’s email (Editor? who needs an Editor?) : The HBO Limited Series with Sophie Turner is “The Staircase” not “The Suitcase”. And more egregiously MELISSA Barerra is the star of the new NETFLIX show “Breathe”, not Maria. My apologies to all 🙏 , and here’s hoping I spell my own name right 👇 .
-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER or @TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
or also here on CLUBHOUSE