☀️ Sad January Gets Bleaker as Box Office Loses Another Pic
AMAZON makes Boxing deal / A24 and HBO team up with output deal / JLO + Dreamgirls director for new musical
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY, December 9, 2023.
Where… good news! We’re getting 900 new MCDONALD’S restaurants in the next four years, and the rest of the world is getting… over 9,000, making for about a +25% location count expansion. No one tell them about Ozempic mmmkay? 🤫
PLUS: Happy start of Hanukkah!
ALSO: Here is your list of NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW film winners, with Killers of the Flower Moon taking the top prize. Last year’s winner was Top Gun: Maverick. They also gave out an inaugural Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry award to John Wick 4. Yeah that tracks, although an honorable mention to TSwift for a different kind of theatrical stunt artistry in 2023.
THEN: Here is your SUNDANCE 2024 lineup, featuring filmmakers such as Soderbergh, Linklater, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Chewitel Ejiofor and more, and acting talent including Pedro Pascal, Kristen Stewart, Michael Fassbender and Saoirse Ronan.
40% of films are from first-time filmmakers
37% have had a film previously at SUNDANCE
It all kicks off Thurs. Jan. 18
NOTE: That day will now have a full day of premiere screenings starting at 12 noon.
Ticket packages are now on sale here (individual tix go on sale Jan. 11).
HMM: Yeah Casey Wilson definitely didn’t enjoy her experience shooting The Santa Clause DIS+ series pilot with Tim Allen… always gotta love a set of anecdotes that begin with “the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a co-star ever.”
ELSEWHERE: Oh just a couple of things for readers on each coast:
Eric Adams now has the lowest approval rating of any NYC mayor in the 27 years of the QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY poll on the topic (currently at 28%).
Interest rate-inspired austerity is now hitting folks in Northern Cal too, as the amount of start-ups collapsing due to lack of new funding is growing by a large margin.
PLUS: Elaine had a great read yesterday at The Ankler on the TV series pitching and buying atmosphere that writers have come back to… or not… in the now two months since the WGA strike ended.
Find out what’s the format everyone suddenly wants, the genres they now don’t, the appetite for procedurals, and what in the world that certain buzzword all the buyers are using suddenly actually means:
AND
All broadcast TV networks aired a brief ‘in memoriam’ spot at 8 p.m. last night in honor of Norman Lear’s contribution to television.
PLUTO is also streaming blocks of Lear series All in the Family, Maude, Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons across a few of its “Classics” channels tonight starting at 7 p.m. ET.
AND: Kimmel had a nice brief open to his show last night, sharing a great anecdote and letter from Norman that he received last year, and I saw a few posts on IG sharing similar reach-outs from Norman over the years.
While we all have a lot going on and uh, well no one’s perfect… it’s just a great reminder as 2023 begins to round out, that it’s important to take time when you can to write note or give a brief call to say thanks - or even just check in on folks to see how they’re doing - especially after a year (and continued environment) where thousands of folks are now out of a job in our business, or perhaps have still not returned to work even though the strikes are over. Sending a kindness always goes a lot further than you think or sometimes even will ever know.
SO - a THANKS! To the SEARCHLIGHT folks for the invite to check out the Poor Things premiere last night in NYC. t’s one of those movies that I feel like would have had a “Delightfully Wicked Comedy!” critic’s quote across the top the VHS box at the video store back when I worked at one of those.
Great performances and vision across the board. Honestly I had… no idea where it was going about 20 minutes in - but unexpected laughs throughout and the plane was well-landed so to speak, enjoyed it. Hope people show up to see it!
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
