☀️DISNEYFOX sets 3rd Agatha Christie pic, with Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey
Next round of WBD layoffs rumored for today / Albrecht now 'on leave' at LEGENDARY / NETFLIX sets Ad-tracking firms
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY October 11, 2022.
Where it was a relatively quiet Monday. From word around town today though… it will likely not be a quiet Tuesday. #WBD👀
AND: Just a shout out to my homestate + a heads up for any Jersey/Tri-State readers - tix for the MONTCLAIR FILM FEST this month are now on sale and… really impressive lineup👏. “Glass Onion” opens it on Oct 21, and “She Said” will close it on Oct 30.
Plus they’ll screen “Women Talking”, “White Noise” and A24 pics “The Whale” and “Inspection” and more.
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Pretty sedate start to the week so this’ll be quick. And Free for everyone! Not exactly a #TacoTuesday level of excitement, but I do what I can.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
DISNEYFOX sets cast for next Agatha Christie pic
Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Jude Hill and Kelly Reilly are the principals.
Kenneth Brannagh is back to play lead detective “Hercule Poirot” and direct the pic, called “A Haunting in Venice”, inspired by the Christie book “Hallowe’en Party”. 🎃
Pic finds good ol’ Hercule retired in Venice, and attending a séance at a haunted palazzo as ya do… and one of the guests is killed. No word if everyone pivots to trying to ya know, contact that person instead at the séance to see what’s up.
Will begin shooting in a few weeks. Right about when “Knives Out 2” will be in full promo mode. I mean gotta wonder how “Murder She Wrote” IP is just sitting on the shelf at this point no? /THR
Previous 2 Christie pics:
“Murder on the Orient Express” (2017): $102 Million US, $351 Million global
Budget: $55 Million
“Death on the Nile” (2022): $45 Million US, $130 Million global
Caveats: Released during early Feb/end of omicron boom this year. It also starred Armie Hammer.
Budget: $90 Million
What’s a reasonable budget to roll the dice on for a third pic here?
ALSO IN MOVIES
NETFLIX sets deal with UK theater chains VUE and CINEWORLD to show “Glass Onion” in theaters for the same week as the US stunt in November. No word on # of theaters. /Variety
NATO (movie theater owners trade group) head John Fithian will retire in May. /Variety
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📺 THE TV SET
Next WBD layoffs are expected this week
At least according to Deadline, with the WBTV group is thought to be a ‘main target’, perhaps with unscripted & animation being the first in line… but we’ll see how it shakes out. Good probability the moves will be made today according to trades reports.
ALSO: WARNER HORIZON head of Unscripted Brooke Karzen is departing at the end of the year after 22 years at the company. She was known as the driving force behind “The Bachelor” franchise. No word on what’s next. /Variety
AMAZON “Thursday Night Football” hits sizable Week 5 drop
Granted, it was for an absolutely horrible DENVER vs. INDIANAPOLIS game, where even the local DENVER newscasters apologized for it in the newscast that followed the game 🤦♂️.
But it was 9.7 Million viewers total, the first 4 games have all been getting over 11 Million. It was also down -34% from the Week 5 game on FOX last year, but again the matchup here was pretty dismal.
However AMAZON is +67% in the 18-34 demo through the first 4 games last year (does not include this game). /SBJ
ALSO IN TV
Chris Albrecht has been put on a paid “leave of absence” by LEGENDARY TV, reportedly coinciding with a new book on the rise of HBO that’s coming out in Nov from Felix Gilette and John Koblin called “It’s Not TV”, including previously reported incidents of violence, one of which led to his resignation in the 2000s. /THR
“The Man Who Fell to Earth” is 1 & done at SHOWTIME. /THR
Director Todd Field (“TAR”) follows Keanu in departing “Devil in the White City” series project. /Variety
NBC orders 6 additional episodes of “Quantum Leap”, making for a totalof 18. /THR
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💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
JUST TWO THINGS
YOUTUBE is enabling “@username” handles on the platform (both og YT and SHORTS), in a bid to further attract more creators to use SHORTS and foster community (make it easy to tag people in videos etc). #innovation /Variety
NETFLIX has enlisted ad-viewability firms DOUBLEVERIFY and INTEGRAL AD SCIENCE (IAS) to track ad viewing for their ad-supported tier, according to Ad Agencies. However they’re reportedly not starting until January. We’re a week away from the NETFLIX Q3 earnings report and very likely some more color here. /AdAge
AND INTERNATIONALLY: AMAZON PRIME has set 6 new Australian unscripted projects for 2023, including a series of comedy specials. This in addition to 3 already announced scripted projects. #InvestLocal /Variety
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🏦 STOCK NOTES
Pretty quiet Monday
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
ESPN NHL Season Opener: Tampa Bay vs NY Rangers
NETFLIX “Hot Forever” Iliza Shlesinger special - STREAM HERE
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
NETFLIX “Wendell & Wild” movie trailer - From director Henry Selick, co-written by Jordan Peele. PREMIERES FRI OCT 28
APPLE TV+ “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” docu trailer - PREMIERES FRI NOV 4
HBOMAX “Doom Patrol” Season 4 teaser - PREMIERES DEC 8
PARAMOUNT+ “Wolf Pack” teaser trailer - PREMIERES JAN 26
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New song from GAYLE, “Snow Angels”.
If you need some new tunes:
Email me anytime at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com or connect here on LINKED IN.
-SEAN MCNULTY
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
If there is any on-location shooting in Venice, then the budget will need to be higher (I'm guessing). But they probably can get away with a few key shots there and do the rest in the Mandalorian immersive green screen thing. So the middle option seems like the best one.