Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + MediaBiz news to know on FRIDAY March 5th, 2021.

Where it’s a pretty light end to the week - this should be a quick scroll so you can get back to your “Real World” reunion watching, I mean work emails.

🎧 MUSIC TO READ BY

Brand new BRUNO MARS + ANDERSON .PAAK. They teamed up for a new album, here’s the first single “Leave the Door Open”

YouTube / Spotify

If this doesn’t put you and your lady or man friend in the mood on a Friday night… the pandemic has officially gotten to you. Classic Soul throwback slowjam.

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

📽THE SILVER SCREEN

“F9” moves back a month to June 25; “A Quiet Place 2” moves to MEMORIAL DAY wknd

Joins DISNEY’s “Cruella” on May 28th. Which means it’ll hit PARAMOUNT+ by… mid July.

PAR slots Mark Wahlberg video game movie “Infinite” for Sept 24th. /Deadline

Also “Minions: The Rise of Gru” pushing back another year to July 1, 2022. /THR

PLUS: SONY sells KevHart’s “Fatherhood” to NETFLIX, will drop on Fathers Day weekend (June 18). Widowed husband must raise his newborn on his own, Paul Weitz directing. No price disclosed, SONY keeping China rights. /THR

Annette Benning to play Diana Nyad in biopic (swam from Cuba to FL at 64 years old)

Called “Nyad”, from “Free Solo” directors. CAA repping sales. /Deadline

A new “Star Trek” movie script is in the works

From Kalina Vazquez (“Star Trek: Discover”, “Fear the Walking Dead”), JJ Abrams producing. Last “Star Trek” movie was 2016. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

Edie Falco set as Hillary Clinton in FX’s “Impeachment: American Crime Story”

Here is your cast: Clive Owen as “Bill Clinton”

Beanie Feldstein as “Monica Lewinsky” (she’s also a producer on this)

Sarah Paulson as “Linda Tripp”

Billy Eichner as “Matt Drudge”

Betty Gilpin as “Ann Coulter”

No airdate/timelines given. /THR

ALSO IN TV

• “Party Down” 6 episode limited series is (likely) a go at STARZ. Cast deals still in negotiations. /THR

• ATX TV Festival extending to 10 days for this Summer’s (virtual) edition, starting June 11th. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

Jack Dorsey’s SQUARE buys majority stake in TIDAL music streaming service for $297 Million

Yes SQUARE, the… uh, small business payments/credit card swiping device company. Also runs the CASH app.

Previous TIDAL majority owner Jay-Z and other artist owners will still be “co-owners” but likely getting payouts, possibly as much as $9 Million - from Beyonce to Madonna and Rihanna (people with last names were banned from ownership).

TIDAL hasn’t released paid subscriber numbers in 5 years. It had 3 million in 2016, before APPLE MUSIC, and SPOTIFY as we now know it. Variety has a good read on this for the inclined.

Dorsey’s strategy was… vague in a way that only Jack can do. Perhaps it becomes like a SPOTIFY where Artists can also release exclusive content/merch/things you can’t get on SPOTIFY/APPLE etc for additional fees? (Hence the SQUARE payment integration 🤷‍♂️)

Jay also getting a seat on the SQUARE board (TIDAL will be an independent division). He sold this and half a stake in his Champagne brand (for $300 Million) within a week’s time…. 🧐

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

😳

🙋‍♂️ MY ONE WEEKLY ASK

This Friday’s Theme - Tell a Friend about the Newsletter! Maybe you’re favorite person to talk movies & TV with, or your go-to for an opinion on what to watch - Would you share/forward THE WAKEUP with them?

If I can get 10 new readers this weekend… I get a free sub from SUBSTACK (they’re getting very creative with their promotions).

And many MANY 🙏 to the several readers who already have shared the newsletter, your support is really the key to keeping this going.

Share The Wakeup

Thank you! - Sean

📰 WEEKEND READS

Doing improv in a pandemic.. 🤔. How THE SECOND CITY, GROUNDLINGS et al survived . /THR

👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)

FRIDAY:

“Coming 2 America” on Amazon Prime, OR you can be a real fan and go see it at the Queens Drive-In.  Just look for the Golden Arcs. Watch it Here.

“Raya and the Last Dragon” hits Disney+ for $30 and movie theaters.  And China.

“Chaos Walking”  hits movie theaters from LIONSGATE. Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, and a $100 Million budget 😬.

“Boogie” hits movie theaters from FOCUS FEATURES. Directed by Eddie Huang, about a New York City high school kid trying to balance the wishes of his Chinese parents and heritage with his aspirations on the basketball court. 

“My Salinger Year” hits movie theaters from IFC. Margaret Qually, Sigourney Weaver, about a 20something woman working for JD Salinger’s agent, who begins to respond to the fan mail he gets.

“Boss Level” streaming on HULU. Frank Grillo, “Groundhog’s Day” meets Joe Carnahan - thinking you get the gist from that. Also has Naomi Watts, and Mel Gibson as the bad guy. Watch it here.

“WandaVision” dropped its season finale here at an ungodly hour on DISNEY+.

Aaannnd… “Tenet” is playing in 5 NYC theaters in 70mm.

Aaaaaannd… Liam Neeson is showing up at the AMC Linc Sq in NYC tonight introduce/thank moviegoers who see his movie “The Marksman”. Well, up to 49 of them per NYC guidelines. Thinking you’ll be seeing a lot more of these ‘celebrity visits’ to theaters in the months ahead.

PLUS: I did a PARAMOUNT+ Day 1 review with an industry TV marketing friend Caroline Giegerich on THE WAKEUP PODCAST, link here for the inclined - will be up at 10a EST today. Listen/subscribe to the podcast here:

THE WAKEUP Podcast

Also if you’re a LINKED-IN user, follow/connect with Caroline, she does some great Media trend & story breakdowns that are a solid add to your feed (uh… if LI decides to show them to you).

SATURDAY:

NO New SNL

“Super Soul” on OWN at 8pm. That’s Oprah’s interview series there. The one you’re more likely to watch…. is 👇

SUNDAY:

Oprah + MEGHAN & HARRY (2 hour ) interview special on CBS at 8pm, after a new “60 Minutes”.

“Vice”  Season 2 premiere on SHOWTIME at 8pm.

“Good Girls” Season 4 premiere on NBC at 10pm.

NBA ALL STAR GAME on TNT at 8pm. Dunk contest at halftime.

That’s all ya’ll! Email me anytime - just reply to this email. See ya’s Monday - Have a great weekend!

-Sean McNulty