F9 drops 85% at China box office in week 2

Miles Teller replaces Armie Hammer in GODFATHER series / BRIDGERTON adds another lead / HBOMAX Latin America launch dive

Jun 1, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY June 1, 2021.

Where…uh, it’s June. Yeah that’s all I got - hey I take holiday breaks too!

I mean when former VICE MEDIA CEO Shane Smith calls you up to come hang at his new modest $11.7 Million house in Sierra Retreat, Malibu, I leave the laptop at home. He insists he hasn’t changed a bit since the $50 Million sale of his Beverly Hills estate this Spring but I dunno… Malibu changes people man.

Although my favorite story from the weekend… Matt LeBlanc was trending in Ireland, as the country crowned him a classic Irish uncle with his his fashion choices and jovial demeanor in the “Friends” reunion. Slainté Joseph!

Triona Wynne @TeeCunningham

Who wore it best, #mattleblanc or my Dad??!! 😂😂

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

How box office revenue is delivered to Paramount. via Giphy

BOX OFFICE (4 day totals)

“A Quiet Place II” : $57 Million ($79 Mil globally)
- Part 1 budget: $17 Million. Part 2 budget: $61 Million according to VARIETY
“Cruella” : $26.5 Million ($42.6 Million globally)
- Also was avail for $30 DISNEY+ rental so…🤔.
“Spiral” : $2.9 Million ($20 Million US, $27 Mil globally)
“Wrath of Man” : $2.7 Million ($23 Million US, $80 Mil globally)
“Raya and the Last Dragon” : $2.6 Million ($51 Million US, $128 Mil globally)

About 30% of US movie theaters are still closed.

MEANWHILE IN CHINA… “F9” is kinda crashing like… well you get the analogy here. Down 85% from opening weekend to $21 Million. Currently at $185 Million, expected to finish up around $210 Million. The last 2 Fast movies did well over $300 Million each in China. Sounds like word of mouth is bad, and the whole John Cena calling Taiwan a country in an interview there (which China residents just won’t stand for) didn’t help matters.

“A Quiet Place II” opened to about $15 Million in China, about the same as the first one, which made $32 Million total there.

ALSO: Masks are no longer required at the US’s 3 largest movie theater chains for vaccinated people… although they’re using the “honor system”.

So that headline again - Masks are no longer required for people at US movie theaters. Employees will still wear them, and distancing/capacity limit measures still in place, varying by locality.

ALSO IN MOVIES

Annual Movie Theater owners/Movie Studio execs confab CINEMA CON will happen in Vegas this August. All major players commit to going, attendees will need to show proof of vaxx or negative test.
Will be Aug 23-26 and at Caesars as usual… just in time to ruin everyone’s late August vacations. Any bets where AMC Theaters stock price will be at that point? /Variety
Michel Stuhlbarg and Chloe Sevigny join the next joint from director Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”) and Timotheé Chalamet called “Bones and All”. The horror/coming of age movie is about a young woman on a cross-country trip to find the father she’s never met… to find out why she has the urge to kill and eat people who love her. Now that’s a logline. Currently in production. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

Miles Teller takes over Armie Hammer’s role in PAR+ making of “The Godfather” series

Miles is gonna play producer Al Ruddy in the 10 episode limited series called “The Offer”, and will be an Exec Producer as well. Dexter Fletcher (“Rocketman”) is the lead director, no other cast set yet. /Variety

Barry Levinson is already shooting a movie on this very same topic, with Jake Gyllenhaal as exec Bob Evans and Oscar Isaac as Frances Ford Coppola. (not sold to a streamer or studio as of yet).

APPLE TV+ orders comedy series from “Schitt’s Creek” producer

David West Read will adapt a book called “The Big Door Prize”, about a small town that finds a destiny-predicting machine in their local grocery. 10 episode Season 1 order, SKYDANCE producing. /Variety

And if “Prediction on Aisle 5” isn’t the tagline on the poster, I think we can all agree that’s a missed opportunity. No? Just me on that huh?

ALSO IN TV

“Bridgerton” season 2 adds Rupert Evans (“Charmed”) in a key role as “Edmund Bridgerton”. Character details in the link if inclined. Though gotta say woulda been refreshing if his character was named like Steve or something. /THR
Charlie Hanson, a producer of Gervais series “After Life”, “Derek” and “Extras” has been removed from NETFLIX’s “After Life” Season 3 (now shooting) due to 11 allegations of sexual misconduct. /THR
If HBOMAX’s streaming issues this weekend didn’t prevent you from watching the HBO “Mare of Easttown” finale and you wanted some answers - THR has a chat with the show’s creator here.

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

CHARTER pretty blatantly ripping people off for Broadband service in places where it has no competition

Or at least in Rochester, NY where there was a study indicating CHARTER charges people who live just a block or 2 apart, about $20 more a month for broadband service depending on whether a broadband competitor (FIOS etc) provides service on their street or not. /Ars Technica

Gotta bookmark this one for the next Cable company Congressional hearing, where the companies emphasize how much they care about providing “low cost internet” for people, and that “the market” will regulate itself.

A Further dive into the HBOMAX Latin America launch this month for fellow media nerds

LATAM folks will have 2 options to subscribe to HBOMAX starting June 29: a “Standard” plan, and a “Mobile only” plan. While not broken out specifically, plans will cost between $3 to $6/month. Exact service price will vary per country. /NextTV

For comparison: NETFLIX’s Avg Rev Per User/ARPU per month in all of LATAM is about $7.12 as of end of 2020. That is NETFLIX’s lowest ARPU generating region in the world by far. But to note - in some countries like Brazil, NETFLIX is about $4/month, so it too has a range of prices across LATAM countries (MEXICO plans range from $7-$13).

NETFLIX currently has about 37 Million LATAM subscribers
HBO LATAM subscribers via satellite/cable TV providers currently stands around 10 Million

ALSO: DISNEY+ just launched in LATAM at the end of 2020, with prices ranging from $5.25 in Brazil, to $7.50 to $8 in places like Uruguay and Mexico. But I haven’t seen any overall DISNEY+ subscriber # breakout in LATAM as of yet. I know - what good am I??

So looks like HBOMAX is shooting below both DISNEY+ & NETFLIX by a couple bucks a month to try and build out a wider base, figuring they can raise prices later on - or essentially the route NETFLIX and DISNEY+ already took in several other territories.

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

LIONSGATE popped over 4% yet again to hit $19.48/share.

AMC THEATERS had a pretty wild ride, popping over 25% at the open… but ending down 1% But… thinking that may change today. #QuietPlace2

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

HULU “Changing the Game” - Docu on transgender high school athletes. Watch or add to your list here

NBC “America’s Got Talent” - New season premiere at 8p

FOX “Lego Masters” - New season premiere at 8p

If you were sent this email or… just kinda found it:

And if you wanna send the newsletter to a co-worker:

Share The Wakeup

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HBOMAX “Gossip Girl” teaser trailer. Meet the new cast of the reboot of the show, that last aired in 2012. Wow Kristen Bell’s voice hasn’t aged a day! Drops on Thu July 8.