Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY March 29, 2021.

Where (as you probably saw) we lost two major authors this weekend - Beverly Cleary at 104 years old (!!), whose books sold over 85 Million copies during her career. And Larry McMurtry who won a Pulitzer for “Lonesome Dove” and wrote other memorable books from “Hud” to “Terms of Endearment”. He died at the age of 84.

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

VIACOM & DISCOVERY well… simply tanked on Friday. Both down 27% in 1 day.

AMC NETWORKS also -11% on Friday, down 21% from one week ago. More on this in the MEDIA BIZ section.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

COMIC CON doing IRL event in San Diego the weekend of Nov 26-28

Exact details, capacity etc still TBD obviously but… Happy Thanksgiving Movie & TV publicists! 🤦‍♂️ /Variety

BOX OFFICE

1. “Nobody” : $6.7 Million

2. “Raya & the Last Dragon” : $3.5 Million ($28 Million US)

3. “Tom & Jerry” : $2.5 Million ($37 Million US)

4. “Chaos Walking” : $1.1 Million ($11 Million US)

“Godzilla Vs. Kong” opens to $70 Million in China (note - WB not handling China release; producer LEGENDARY has those rights). Had 82% Box office share there this weekend.

It hit $122 Million total worldwide across 39 markets (not opening in Japan til May). /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

• CAA lit agent Jay Baker fired after racially insensitive email surfaced. /Deadline

• PARAMOUNT hires Marco Ramirez to write a new “Transformers” movie (Marco is the showrunner for the MARVEL show “The Defenders” on NETFLIX). /THR

• FOCUS FEATURES sets July 30 release date for Matt Damon/Abigail Breslin movie “Stillwater” from Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”). Oklahoma oil rig worker must go to France to help his estranged daughter charged with murder. /Variety

• WB sets July 29, 2022 date for The Rock’s DC COMICS movie “Black Adam”. /Deadline

• MRC Films launches division focused on Romance movies. Producer/former SONY exec Elizabeth Cantillon to run it. MRC Films set a female-driven comedy movie division last year with Becky Sloviter as the head. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

HBO signs George RR Martin to 5 year, $50 Million (ish) deal

Described as ‘mid eight figures’ so take that as you will. Basically this deal is for him to work on all the GOT spinoff shows that HBO/MAX has in development. /THR

ALSO IN TV

• HULU hires “Outlander” showrunner Ron Moore to adapt the best selling “A Court of Thorns and Roses” books into a series. /THR

• CBS axes Sharon Osbourne from “The Talk”. Show not returning for 2 more weeks, on April 12th. /THR

• Eric Stonestreet to host FOX competition show “Domino Masters” for the Fall schedule.

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

ViacomCBS was worth $101/share last Monday. It starts this Monday at $48. Why?

I’m trying something new here for anyone looking to understand what’s going on with the extreme stock price fluctuations with ‘mini-streamers’ like VIACOM, DISCOVERY and AMC NETWORKS in 2021 thus far.

So, if you’re up for a small explainer (maybe a 3-4 min read), I’ve created a separate post here.

ALSO IN MEDIA

• Paula Reid moves from CBS NEWS to CNN. Will be senior legal affairs correspondent, was at CBS for over 10 years. /Variety

• NEWS CORP close to deal for HOUGHTON MIFFLIN consumer publishing group. They hold the rights to works from J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Roth, and George Orwell among others. Make your own “Rupert Murdoch owns the writings of George Orwell” jokes here. Division will be added to NEWS CORP’s HARPER COLLINS Publisher. /WSJ

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

WARNER BROS “The Suicide Squad” red band trailer. James Gunn’s take on the DC Universe. Hits theaters + HBOMAX on August 6.

And not a trailer but let’s call it a… Monday bonus on a slow news day - This SNL music sketch from Saturday night was awesome, really well done 👏.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NCAA MARCH MADNESS - Elite Eight games, 715p and 10p on CBS.

NAT GEO “Running Wild With Bear Grylls” at 9p.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

Joywave: “After Coffee” - just a new song I found this weekend that I was into - live a little and take a listen here if you’re feeling adventurous.

Listen/Watch on YouTube / Spotify

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

If you’re new to THE WAKEUP and know someone who would dig it:

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Have a super Monday! Is that a thing? Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or my name below goes to my LinkedIn.

-Sean McNulty