☀️'Kung Fu Panda' Overperforms, 'Oppenheimer' takes top Oscar

ILLUMINATION sets new Mario Bros pic / NETFLIX ends tennis series / TKO expands WWE sponsorship

Mar 11, 2024

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Evenin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on SUNDAY, March 10, 2024.

Where I’d like to start off tonight’s newsletter by saying in my book, you’re all winners.

Well, except for the people who lost tonight. I mean, Hollywood has spoken — not much I can do, folks.

I mean, we all know who the real winner is tonight. Via giphy

ALSO: Ramy Youssef will host SNL on March 30, with musical guest Travis Scott.

AND: A shout out to some great women’s college hoops this weekend 🏀:

First, IOWA won the BIG10 Championship for the third year in a row (although I don’t think Travis Scott made this game).
Then, SOUTH CAROLINA beat TENNESSEE to move onto the SEC Championship on this wild 3-pointer buzzer-beater . . . the first 3-pointer that its center, Kamilla Cardoso, has ever made for the school (a bank shot, no less 🤯).

WAKEUP BOX-OFFICE POLL

Kudos to me and the rest of the 33% who were optimistic this weekend!

WAKEUP OSCARS RATINGS POLL

Lotta folks thinking that the Oscar audience growth has more or less topped out (last year was just under 19 Million), although know that my heart is with the 5%.

THE ANKLER OSCAR POOL WINNER 🥳:

The big contest winner congrats goes out to an R. Rushfield — hey wait a second . . . okay yes, it really goes out to our two winners… the first I’m telling you about tonight is Adam Evans who got 21 out of 23 points! 👏 (Stay tuned on Tuesday to find out the other, and which streaming service he works for.)

Enjoy screenshotting this for posterity and to impress all of your friends Adam, as well as your Ankler hat!

THE OSCARS

In case you prefer not to go through the uh, 35+ emails in your inbox from the trades tonight — here is your full list of Oscar winners.

FIRST: Very weird to have this show start when it’s still daylight in NYC 😎. Not sure how I’m feeling about this 7 p.m. thing.

THEN: ABC spent all that time telling people the Oscars will start at a brand new time of 7 p.m. — and then it ended the red carpet at 7 p.m. . . . and shoved in a five-minute commercial break before starting the show circa 7:06 p.m. #NotHelping

PLUS: Nice to see that ties are out — well done, Bradley, RDJ and Hemsworth.

NOW . . . I give you The Randos:

BEST OUTFIT: John Cena. Just ⛳️👏

MOST AWKWARD TRANSITION: An incredibly passionate speech about Ukraine and the power of films . . . followed by dancers flexing for “I’m Just Ken” and a tequila plug. 😬

SHAMELESS PLUG AS AN IRISH CITIZEN 🙋‍♂️🇮🇪 (Hey, it’s March):

MOST SURPRISING NON-AD BUY: SONY only spent 💰 for a 15-second spot for the new Ghostbusters pic, in theaters, uh, next Friday. 🤔

HONORABLE MENTION: WB did nothing for Godzilla vs. Kong (in theaters in three weeks).

BEST FUTURE HOST: John Mulaney (think he gets the next Globes . . . or Emmys?)

MOST DGAF REACTION: Robert DeNiro during the Best Supporting Actor presentation.

Literally this reaction the whole time. Via Giphy

MOST EMBARRASSING THOUGHT: Anyone else immediately think of Step Brothers when hearing the song chosen for the In Memoriam segment? 😳 #CatalinaWineMixer

MOST BAFFLING CALENDAR ABNORMALITY: The U.K. has a different Mother’s Day 🤯. This seems like a big miss in the greeting card business. Or — most egregious double dip.

BEST SURPRISE CAMEO: Slash 🎸 #ImJustKen

WORST AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT: Yeah I’m pretty sure Al won’t be asked to present again. #WTF

NOW

More importantly, a look at which studios came to play in the ad breaks, and spent the $1.7 Million to $2.1 Million for 30 seconds of ad time 🤑. . . and what things DISNEY chose to promote with their in-house time.