☀️PAR + SKYDANCE Part 2, CANDLE 💰 Cuts & Re-Org
☀️PAR + SKYDANCE Part 2, CANDLE 💰 Cuts & Re-Org
NETFLIX gets new Matt & Ben movie, again / Movies take key role in Upfronts / Iger nears sports ownership
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY, July 3, 2024.
Where who knew I shoulda clarified that I was joking last week when I said I was mostly taking this week off, unless of course Shari decided to sell her company. 🤦♂️
But a congrats goes out to Shari for winning the Bob Iger Thanks For Ruining our Holiday Break award (est. the Sunday night before Thanksgiving week, Nov. 2022). I’ll be sure to bring the trophy to the Hamptons BBQ this weekend . . . and Richard, I hear she hasn’t hired a bouncer for the bouncy house yet, in case you’re up for a 2nd gig this weekend (that one’s for The Ankler pod listeners).
AND: As always, while this is just a survey (from Axios and The Harris Poll) — 1/3 of Millennials and 60+% of Gen Z say they still rely on their parents for at least some form of financial support 💰. Millennials are now primarily in their 30s and early 40s.
Be sure to hide mom & dad’s eyes from this follow-up:
About 40% of those financially-squeezed Millennial and Gen Z folks primarily attribute that predicament to
college loans / high rent /"excessive spending on non-essentials."Remember, that’s just the % who actually admitted that in a poll.
What? I mean . . . you don’t expect me to cut back on my Brazilian Bum Bum cream at the height of beach season, do you dad?
THIS JUST IN: Sorry Shari, we have a last-minute contender for the Bob Iger Thanks For Ruining our Holiday Break award, as President Biden is gonna give it another go all weekend in a new sitdown on ABC, when Americans will of course be totally glued to their TVs and not enjoying their holiday weekends.
The full chat with George Stephanopoulos will air on Sunday morning’s This Week, with clips on the, uh, highly-viewed weekend GMA editions, plus the Friday, July 5 edition of World News Tonight.
PLUS: SIX FLAGS and CEDAR FAIR completed their theme park conglomerate merger, now housing 27 theme parks, 15 water parks and 9 hotels/resorts across North America. So, which Hollywood studio wants in?
HMM: Hmm, I’m told something changed with this Boston Marathon logo redesign 👇 after taking some corporate money . . . but I just can’t put my finger on it. Ah! Of course — the unicorn is looking the other way! 😂 Can’t believe I missed the only obvious change.
Also note: they put the BofA logo on the medals this past year too.🤦♂️ Enjoy your EMIRATES NBA Cup this December, NBA fans — can’t wait to see the trophy.
A REST IN PEACE: Goes out to legendary screenwriter Robert Towne, who died at the age of 89 on Monday.
PLUS: This NYT read with teacher accounts of the troubling state of kids coming into preschool and kindergarten is really worth a read. The pandemic effects are one thing, but even more so when combined with raising a generation on iPads and iPhones at way too young of an age — the results are startling. Several anecdotes from things like kids not knowing how to play, to not being able to hold a pencil or having basic motor skills at 4 and 5 years old.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Okay, we’ve got 5 (really 6) days of Despicable Me 4 ahead — where are we by Sunday? Tracking has it at $110M to (more like) $120M for the 5-day.
Which is basically what Minions: The Rise of Gru did in the 3-day in 2022 . . . although it didn’t have Inside Out 2 next to it. So — call it as ya like.
Enjoy your days off! I’ll see you again Sunday night.
IN THIS EDITION
Well, so much for an ease in to a 5-day holiday weekend 🤬. PARAMOUNT embraces the sequel theme of summer movie season a bit too much — the things to note about SKYDANCE: The Sequel, plus what’s ahead and . . . oh yeah, that new BET thing.
Elsewhere in production company-ville, CANDLE and IMAGINE re-emerge back into the spotlight (separately).
Great new intel from the frontlines of the Upfronts, including more evidence supporting how much #TheatricalMatters for films.
An active day in sports media, with another major pro team ditching BALLYS for a free-to-air local deal, Iger on the cusp of team ownership, TKO makes a new investment and much more.
Plus a busy day in TV and Movie deal news, the NETFLIX comp audiences for the Nicole Kidman/Zac Efron pic, and — ok let’s just get going, we all need to clock out to get that BBQ shopping done that we didn’t do on Monday 🤫
Meanwhile on PARAMOUNT Mountain . . .
I mean, you didn’t think SKYDANCE was going away, did you? After all, these are the same folks who attempted to bring back the Terminator franchise.
Here’s what’s afoot with Ellison & co., and the big differences to note so far from part 1 of the saga that ended about 4 weeks ago.