MON 3.1.21: Clooney + Roberts for RomCom at Universal

Kev Hart + "Meet the Parents" creator @NETFLIX / DISNEY+ US subscriber #s revealed

Mar 1, 2021

Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + MediaBiz news to know on MONDAY March 1, 2021.

Look at that - it’s March! The month where you think it’s Spring in NYC… but it’s really not. Here’s your list of GOLDEN GLOBES winners if handy to have. Once again, I wrote a speech for nothing.

🎧 MUSIC TO READ BY

ELLE KING x MIRANDA LAMBERT Brand New song - “Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)”

Although in the pandemic - the good part is… I’m already home. Fun video too - YouTube / Spotify / AppleMusic

Also FYI T-Swift cancelled her rescheduled Summer Concerts this Summer if you had tix.

And… Kayne spent $12.5 Million of his own money for his 2020 Presidential Campaign. Good thing Kim had that prenup.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

George Clooney & Julia Roberts doing Rom-Com at UNIVERSAL

Called “Ticket to Paradise” - Divorced couple goes to Bali to break up daughter’s wedding & keep her from repeating the mistake they made. Can’t wait for the Brad Pitt cameo (just please don’t be the guy she’s supposed to marry).

Oi Parker (“Mamma Mia” sequel) directing & also a co-writer. /THR

Kevin Hart sets up another NETFLIX project, a movie called “Me Time”

Kev plays a dad who has a wild weekend with an old friend when his wife and kids go away on a trip.

Written/directed by John Hamburg (“Meet the Parents”, “I Love You, Man”, also wrote “Night School”). /THR

KevHart continues to be the hardest working man in showbiz:

He just wrapped SONY action-comedy with Jason Statham
Also doing a NETFLIX limited series with Wesley Snipes
About to shoot LIONSGATE movie based on video game “Borderlands”
AND has another movie with director Tim Story (“Ride Along”) ready to go at UNI

Winston Duke to play political activist Marcus Garvey in AMAZON movie “Marked Man”

Set in 1920’s, follows young FBI agent who infiltrates Garvey’s UNIA organization. Script is from acclaimed playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah. /Deadline

BOX OFFICE:

“Tom & Jerry” : $13.7 Million ($19 Million int’l, including $12 Mil in China).
- 2nd biggest US pandemic opening weekend (WW84 still has biggest).
“The Croods 2” : $1.2 Million ($52 Mil US)
“The Little Things” : $1 Million ($13 Mil US)

US Movie Theaters remain about 50% open, NYC opens at 25% this Friday.

ALSO IN MOVIES

Ta-Nahisi Coates writing a Black “Superman” script at WB. JJ Abrams producing, no other details yet. /THR
Christian Bale sets next movie “The Pale Blue Eye” with director Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”, “Black Mass”). Set in 1830’s West Point, Bale’s character investigates murders with the help of a young Edgar Allen Poe. CAA repping sale. /Deadline
Zach Braff sets next directorial effort “A Good Person”. Stars Florence Pugh (also Zack’s girlfriend) whose character is involved in a fatal accident, and years later befriends her would-be Father In-Law played by Morgan Freeman. CAA repping sales. /Deadline
Rachel Zegler (“Maria” in upcoming “West Side Story” movie) gets big role in “Shazam” sequel at WB. /The Wrap
AMC Movie Theaters CEO gets $3.75 Million bonus for 2020. Other top execs split additional $4.5 Million bonus pool. So… guess they’re not that hard up for cash. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

APPLE TV+ sets leads for 3rd Spielberg/Hanks WWII mini-series “Masters of the Air”

Austin Butler (Elvis in new Tom Hanks/Baz Luhrmann “Elvis” movie) and Callum Turner (the most recent“Emma” movie, upcoming “Fantastic Beasts” movie) will be your 2 top WWII Bomber Boys. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

CNN found out why new “WandaVision” episodes drop at… 3am on Fridays.
FREEFORM orders comedy series “Single Drunk Female”. Stars Sofia Black-D’Elia (“Your Honor”, “The Mick”) as an alcoholic forced to move back in with her mom after a drunk public spectacle to avoid jail time. 10 episode order. /Deadline
NBC re-ups Seth Meyers for 4 years, through 2025 (his “Late Night” start was in 2014). Sets production deal with UNI STUDIOS also thru 2025. /THR
NETFLIX spending $100 Million over 5 years to invest in organizations that help under-represented communities find work in TV & Movies, and on internal programs to train & give jobs to “up and coming talent globally”. /Variety
Clues for APPLE TV+ “Dickinson” fans as for where Season 3 will go, from it’s creator. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

DISNEY+ reportedly has about 40 million US Subscribers

Once again THE INFORMATION comes through with some “internal documents” at a streaming service that cite their actual numbers. Now - if they’d just report them publicly… services could avoid this ‘gotcha’ sentiment entirely.

Anyway - DISNEY not commenting, but if accurate - DISNEY+ would have more US subscribers than HULU just 14 months into its existence.

And the total DISNEY+ numbers would break down like this (approximately):

US: 40 Million (in 14 months)
INDIA: 30 million (whose subs pay far less for the service)
EUROPE, AUSTRALIA & LATIN AMERICA: 25 million (DIS+ launched 9 to 11 months ago in EUROPE, 14 months ago in AUS, and 4 months ago in LATAM)

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

PARAMOUNT+ “The Real World: Homecoming” trailer. With just one shot of Eric Nies….🤔. Drops on PAR+ premiere day this Thursday.

NETFLIX “Shadow and Bone” fantasy series. Based on the Bestselling book (so if you read it… hopefully this trailer makes more sense to you than it did to me 🤷‍♂️). April 23 release date.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

FIRST - this goes out to me

I forgot “The United States vs. Billie Holliday” in my Friday weekend Movie roundup - that one is now streaming on HULU here.

Otherwise New Today:

“The Voice” season premiere 8pm on NBC. Nick Jonas returning to the show, alongside Legend, Clarkson and Blake.

“Debris” new NBC sci-fi show follows at 10pm.

“Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell” new NETFLIX documentary. Has new home video footage and stories from friends and family, almost 24 years from the day he was killed. Add it to your Watchlist here.

That’s all ya’ll - if you like the newsletter, share it with your friends, or your work team. Just not Bill. He knows why.

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-Sean McNulty