Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY February 9, 2022.

Where get ready for more 90’s nostalgia during the CRYPTO SUPER BOWL on Sunday - VERIZON looks to be cutting a TBD sizable check of their own to Jim Carrey to reprise the “Cable Guy” character for a Big Game ad (no preview yet… may just premiere in the game 📺 #oldschool).

OTHERWISE: A real quiet day as everyone was writing OSCARS reaction pieces so this’ll be quick.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Chris Pine sets directorial debut co-starring Danny DeVito & Annette Bening

This is one of the myriad of films whose distro rights are for sale at the virtual EUROPEAN FILM MARKET this week, so should be a lot of sales news going on in the near future.

Mystery-comedy called “Poolman”, Chris plays a philosophic pool guy for an LA apartment complex who crashes City Council meetings with neighbors (DeVito & Bening) when he uncovers “the greatest water heist in LA history since Chinatown”. Hijinx and investigating ensues.

Stacey Sher & Patty Jenkins producing. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

• THR’s Scott Feinberg has a good handicap of the OSCARS race as it now stands for anyone inclined.

• AMAZON signs major 10 year deal at UK’s SHEPPERTON STUDIOS sound stage location for 450k sq ft of space across 9 sound stages that… happen to be right next to NETFLIX’s massive UK outpost there. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

HBO buys FACEBOOK limited series “Doomday Machine” starring Claire Foy

She’ll play Sheryl Sandberg, although technically the project is described as in development, not full greenlight.

Pulitzer-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar is currently writing, so it’ll be a while - based on the book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination”. /Puck /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

• Sherri Shepherd nearing deal to take over permanent hosting gig for “The Wendy Williams Show” in September. Wendy’s been sidelined all season with health issues, and looks like she won’t return. Show name change… TBD. /TMZ

• HBOMAX renews “South Side” for a Season 3. /THR

• HBO renews “How To with John Wilson” for Season 3. /Deadline

• HULU’s upcoming 3rd season “Love, Victor” will be its last. Premieres June 15. /THR

• FOX buys Gumby character, looking to ‘re-imagine’ it in case you have anyone with a take for a live-action or animated idea. /Variety

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

Yeah… this chart 👆

Sara Fischer at AXIOS kinda summed up the digital advertising business in 2021 real quick.

Although FACEBOOK’s number is gonna be about $10 Billion less due to the APPLE iOS privacy changes this year.

Most of AMAZON’s money is from Sponsored Posts when you search for things there.

TIKTOK tracks your online activity the most of any social media app. By far. And no one knows who they’re giving it to

TIKTOK gives 13 “third party” (ie unknown/not disclosed) tracking companies access to your data according to a recent study by URL Genius.

Third party trackers can also track your activity once you leave the TIKTOK app. Just a reminder - even though you use “TIKTOK US”… TIKTOK’s own privacy policy allows it to share user data with its Chinese parent company, and that company is 10% owned by CHINA’s government.

And if you think activating a “Do not track” privacy function protects your data on social media platforms - while the recent APPLE iOS updates may provide some additional protection, the study noted that:

“third-party tracking still happened even when users didn’t opt into allowing tracking in each app’s settings.” /CNBC

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

WARNER MUSIC -7% ($37.75) Not really sure on this one… earnings report was pretty solid

AMC THEATERS +10% ($16.43)

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

The Wakeup

Get the key Hollywood + Media Biz news to know by 8:30am EST each morning.

By Sean McNulty

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

• COMEDY CENTRAL “Fairview” - Animated series from Stephen Colbert, Premieres at 830p

• Also DISNEY earnings after the bell.

🤦‍♂️ D’OH!

My apologies to Regina Hall - she co-stars in the “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” SUNDANCE movie picked up by FOCUS and PEACOCK, not Regina King.

And I was 1 for 2 on spelling Kristen Wiig’s first name yesterday.

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HULU “Life and Beth” series trailer - Woman decides to makes some changes in her increasingly stagnant life, including a romance with farmer Michael Cera. Written & Directed by Amy. Premieres Fri March 18, all episodes

DISNEY PIXAR “Lightyear” trailer - In theaters June 17

HULU “Conversations with Friends” limited series teaser - Next Sally Rooney series (“Normal People”), Premieres in May TBD

HULU “The Girl from Plainville” limited series teaser - Based on the infamous Texas texting-suicide case in 2014, Premieres Tue Mar 29

AMAZON PRIME “Thursday Night Football” logo reveal - Ok this is just for fellow Marketing trailer / video design-heads. This feels like a mix of an AT&T ad and UK Premiere League feel to me for some reason but… .

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

Ok now a new video… and a new song! New RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS “Black Summer”

If you need some new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

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