Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY July 14, 2021.

Where Ryan Reynolds once again caused an internet meltdown yesterday 🤯, doing a “trailer review” for his upcoming movie “Free Guy” as ”Deadpool”, and was joined by “Korg” from the MCU (played by Taika Waititi, also in “Free Guy”). It may now be 2.5 years since the DISNEY FOX deal closed, but guessing this is the kinda synergy hoped for at the time.

Ryan Reynolds @VancityReynolds

If you include Deadpool’s cocaine rider, this is the most expensive reaction video ever made.

July 13th 2021

22,596 Retweets112,770 Likes

ALSO: Here is your EMMYS Nominations list if handy. And a breakdown by series and studio/network if that’s your thing. Nice work VARIETY. Wait does that say QUIBI??

AND: Everyone was pretty much consumed with EMMYS talk yesterday, so not a lot goin’ on except for MEDIA things. Thusly - gonna combine Movies & TV into one today. Purely to make an easier read, not a thematic gesture about the state of the business…

📽 📺 THE SILVER TV

“WandaVision” director Matt Shakman to direct next “Star Trek” movie at PARAMOUNT

Movie hopes to be in production in the Spring, Noah Hawley (“Fargo”) did the last draft of the script but no real details at this point. /Deadline

A24 studio explored a sale for $2.5 to $3 Billion in recent years

Doesn’t sound like that process is actually still happening in the VARIETY piece… but at least tonally, it didn’t sound like a sale was entirely off the table.

They have a deal with APPLE of course so that’s the logical first thought, but the library… while certainly prestigious (“Lady Bird”, “Moonlight”, Uncut Gems”) is not full of blockbusters, or comparatively deep (they’ve only been around since 2013). So, we’ll see.

ALSO

• AMAZON PRIME shelves their planned Nic Cage as “Joe Exotic” project. PEACOCK’s is of course well on its way already… so it’s looks like AMAZON made the very un-Hollywood decision that one project on the exact same topic that already been vastly covered was enough. 👋 #GameStop. /Variety

• FOX sets Oliver Hudson in a lead role for their Fall drama “The Cleaning Lady”, in a role that has been reconceived since the pilot. It’s about a doctor who comes to the US for medical treatment for her son, but is forced to become a “cleaning lady” for the mob due to some… immigration issues. Hudson playing an FBI Agent. /Deadline

• EURO soccer tourney final on Sunday between ENGLAND & ITALY got 6.5 Million viewers on ESPN. No word on streaming via ESPN+. Another 3 million people watched it on UNIVISION.

  • For comparison, 9 Million is about the same size audience as this year’s 2 most-recent NBA FINALS games, and 3-4X the audience for NHL STANLEY CUP games.

  • Viewership for the EURO tournament overall was up 36% across ESPN channels from the 2016 EURO tournament. Granted it was still like 1.3 Million a game, but going in the right direction (and the EURO was a lotta games…). /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

NETFLIX takes post-PEACOCK window for UNVIERSAL Animated movies

DEADLINE had hinted that NETFLIX may extend their current PayTV output deal for UNIVERSAL’s ILLUMINATION titles (“Minions”, “Secret Life of Pets”) when the AMAZON PRIME deal was announced, and… it looks like they’re doing just that. and then some.

So, Revision #2 for the UNIVERSAL MOVIES shifting to PEACOCK for the PayTV window story.

THE SAME: As of January 2022, all UNIVERSAL movies will go to PEACOCK for 4 months, beginning (no more than) 4 months after their theatrical release date.

BUT NOW: After that window, all live-action UNIVERSAL movies will go to AMAZON PRIME for 10 months, and all UNIVERSAL animated movies (ILLUMINATION and DREAMWORKS) will go to NETFLIX for 10 months.

AFTER THAT: All movies will come back to PEACOCK for another 4 month exclusive run (about 18 months post-theatrical release date).

ALSO: As part of this deal, NETFLIX will get all UNIVERSAL movies 4 years after their theatrical release date fwiw.

No price indicated for this Animated movie deal or the library deal, and it’s only described as “multi-year”. /Variety

LEBRON entertaining offers to sell his SPRINGHILL COMPANY for $750 Million

NIKE looks to be a major interested party, although this sounds like it’s more driven by people asking vs. Lebron & Co seeking a buyer. Could alternatively lead to a large investment by an outside company vs. a sale so… still a ways to go here. /The Information

ALSO IN MEDIA

• YOUTUBE expanding their TIKTOK-ripoff SHORTS to over 100 countries this month. Still has 60 second limit, compared to soon-to-be 3 minute TIKTOK limit. I guess the one benefit of YT, TIKTOK and INSTA all morphing into basically the same thing is that creators soon won’t have to customize their videos for each 🤷‍♂️. /Variety

• Bob Iger’s top 2 execs also retiring from DISNEY around end of year - Chief Communications Officer Zenia Mucha and Iger’s top legal counsel Alan Braverman. And looks like that’s a combined $14 Million in annual compensation off the books as well. /THR

• With no OLYMPICS spectators at events or on the grounds in Tokyo, multiple hundreds of millions 💰💰 worth of marketing spends are just falling flat in Japan. /WSJ

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Not a great day…

AMC NETWORKS down 6%

The 3 major Movie Theater chain stocks (AMC, CINEWORLD, CINEMARK) dropped again between 6 and 7.5%, and IMAX down over 4%.

ENDEAVOR down 6%. It’s now back to $24 a share, the price it went public at. Was around $30 til mid-June.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

ABC - NBA FINALS Game 4 at 9p. PHOENIX up 2-1, game is in MILWAUKEE

You can now watch “A Quiet Place 2” on PARAMOUNT+ here.

Oh and something called a“Loki” finale is now on DISNEY+. Also it’s been renewed for a 2nd Season.

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

nil

BUT: AXIOS shared that there is now an AirBnB for pools called SWIMPLY, where you can rent people’s backyard pools by the hour for usually like $30-$45 and I just thought that should be further out in the world. Despite that choice of name.

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-Sean McNulty

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