FRI Mar 26 - John Wick director sets new SONY movie
FRI Mar 26 - John Wick director sets new SONY movie
Bo Burnham & Jason Segel join HBO series / New TV + Movies this weekend / LA TIMES loses $50 Mil
Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY March 26, 2021.
Where DISNEY+ now costs $8/month or $80/year (and about $9.50/month in Europe) and the DIS+/HULU/ESPN+ bundle is $14/month. I mean somebody’s gotta subsidize how cheap DISNEY+ is in India…
And - apologies to ZacH Braff for the name misspell yesterday 🤦♂️. I’m blaming the popularity of ZacK Snyder this month. Zac Efron - thanks for keeping it simple.
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
VIACOM dropped another 6%: Finished at $66/share yesterday. Was at $100 on Monday.
DISCOVERY down almost another 7%.
AMC THEATERS stock never has a dull moment, +21% yesterday.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
SONY sets “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski for “Ghost of Tsushima” video game adaptation
Game has sold 6.5 Million copies since July, Chad also producing, but needs a writer if ya got one. /Deadline
ALSO IN MOVIES
APPLE TV+ signs writer Tracy Oliver (“Girls Trip”, “Little”) to $10+ Million multi-year Film & TV deal. /THR
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE CEO Keri Putnam leaving by end of this year. No new destination mentioned. /THR
ABC charging $2 Million for OSCAR ads, on par with most recent editions. /Variety
📺 THE TV SET
Bo Burnham cast as Larry Bird for Adam McKay’s HBO series about the 80’s LAKERS
Jason Segel will play LAKERS assistant coach Paul Westhead, opposite (already cast) Adrien Brody as Pat Riley. /Variety
Patrick Schwarzenegger joins Chris Pratt, Taylor Kitsch in AMAZON action-conspiracy series “The Terminal List”
Will be a recurring role. Antoine Fuqua directing. /Deadline
ALSO IN TV
John Waters guest starring on “Mrs Maisel” season 4 at AMAZON. /Variety
USA NETWORK renews their “Crisley” shows for new seasons. /Deadline
TUBI adds “Barney & Friends” library to their streaming platform. Launches April 9. /Variety
PARADIGM promotes 5 to agent (2 Lit, 1 Media Rights, 1 Youth Talent, 1 ‘music crossover’). Also GERSH Lit agent Michael Romero-LoSasso coming over to PARADIGM as well. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
“The OC” getting the ‘episodic breakdown podcast’ treatment
Rachel Bilson & Melinda Clarke will re-live all… 100+ episodes of the show (with special guests) in “Welcome to The OC Bitch!” podcast. Launches April 27. /Deadline
AXIOS & THE ATHLETIC in merger talks
Could then go public together via a SPAC (no specific ones identified). Talks began last week so the deal is definitely TBD. /WSJ
ALSO IN MEDIA
The LA TIMES & SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE lost a total of $50 Million in 2020. /TheWrap
New AMAZON FIRE TV remote has dedicated PRIME and ALEXA buttons… as well as for competitors NETFLIX, HULU and DISNEY+. /CNet
Sportscaster Dick Stockton retiring after 55 years. Last 27 years were at FOX SPORTS. /THR
Former HBO CMO Pam Levine joins virtual book-club platform BOOK CLUB as CMO. Former HBO, NETFIX, FB mktg exec Talia Gerecitano joining as Marketing VP. /Variety
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
AMAZON PRIME “Frank of Ireland” - Thirtysomething man-child in Ireland needs to grow up. His best friend’s name is Doofus, so let’s just start there. Exec Produced by Sharon Horgan. Series Premieres Fri April 16.
📰 WEEKEND READS
Get to know #BookTok - Essentially teen/college age girls posting TikTok book recommend videos set to popular songs. But it seems to be moving a lot of IRL book copies… /NY Times
According to one ‘older’ #BookTok’er (who is 25): “The most popular videos are about the books that make you cry. If you’re crying on camera, your views go up!”
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)
FRIDAY:
IN THEATERS: “Nobody” - Bob Odenkirk drama-action movie from UNIVERSAL. “Tom & Jerry” now also only in theaters / no longer on HBOMAX.
NEW ON PVOD: “The Father” - With Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Colman. Not bad to be able to watch Best Picture OSCAR Nominees from home before the OSCARS. Rent on iTunes, or on Amazon or wherever you like to pay $20 rent a movie from your couch.
NETFLIX “Bad Trip” - Comedy with Eric Andre, Lil Rel Howery and Tiffany Haddish. They pull real pranks…. but it’s kind of a fictional movie? 🤷♂️ Watch or add to your List here.
NETFLIX “The Irregulars” - New YA’ish series where teenage misfits investigate creepy things in Victorian England for Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson. Watch or add to your List here. And 👏 for the THR review which gave it my favorite new complement: “The ultimate Netflix Algorithm Show” (“Stranger Things” + “Enola Holmes” + “Bridgerton”). Well played.
AMAZON PRIME “Invincible” - New superhero-themed animated series from Robert Kirkman, with a pretty big cast including Steven Yeun, JK Simmons, & Seth Rogen. Watch or add to your List here.
HULU“Solar Opposites” - Season 2. Watch or add to your List here.
DISCOVERY+“Cocktails and Tall Tales with Ina Garten & Melissa McCarthy” - I’m in from the title alone. Well if I had DISCOVERY+. But if you do - I’ll bring the booze if you invite me over to watch outside. You’ll have to supply the… PEEPS-flavored PEPSI though (yup that’s now a thing 🤢). BTW I would put a streaming link… but DISCOVERY does not make that easy to find 🙇♂️.
DISNEY+ “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” - 10 episode series based on the movie, Emilio Estevez returns, Lauren Graham joins. Watch or add to your List here.
APPLE TV+ “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” - For subscribers only, no free-to-all windows like the Christmas special. Watch or add to your List here
NETFLIX “Nailed It!: Double Trouble” - new season of the baking show hosted by Nicole Byer. This time featuring teams, including one with Joey King and her sister. Nice synergy NETFLIX 👏. Watch or add to your List here.
SATURDAY:
NCAA MARCH MADNESS Sweet 16 starts at 2:40pm. CBS gets first 2 games, night games on TBS. Or stream all on the MARCH MADNESS App.
PASSOVER starts for… Judaism, at sundown.
Also - Earth Hour is at 8:30pm, where people are encouraged to turn off their lights for an hour. So let the light of Tina Turner be your guide 👇.
HBO“Tina” documentary at 8pm. From producers of “Searching for Sugar Man” docu. Oh its about Tina Turner… so Tina Fey back to the drawing board for yours.
NAACP Image Awards at 8pm on BET.
New SNL : Maya Rudolph & Jack Harlow
SUNDAY:
NCAA MARCH MADNESS continues at 2:10pm. CBS gets the afternoon games again, TBS at night. Can stream all on MARCH MADNESS App.
SHOWTIME“City on a Hill” Season 2 premiere at 10pm.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
Brand new TAYLOR SWIFT - “You All Over Me (From The Vault)” with Maren Morris on backing vocals.
If you need new tunes:
If you know someone who would dig THE WAKEUP and you’re feeling generous 🙏 :
🕵️♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD
TUE - ABC’s “Pooch Perfect” premieres. NCAA Final Four lineup will also be finalized tonight.
WED -“Godzilla Vs Kong” hits HBOMAX and movie theaters
THU - “Law & Order: Organized Crime” premieres on NBC! Baseball Opening Day! And… April! Plus more pandemic related April Fools Jokes than you’ll want. In that it’ll be more than 1.
FRI - The first WEWORK project comes out, as the HULU docu premieres.
That’s a wrap for this week! Rest in peace Jessica Walter. While most will remember you as Lucille Bluth… you’ll always be Phyllis Brody in “The Flamingo Kid” for me.
Email me anytime with ideas to make THE WAKEUP better or send new songs you like - just hit Reply to this email or click my name below to send a LINKED IN message.
Thanks!