Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY June 11, 2021.

Where let’s wake up in Channing Tatum’s house, since we’ll never actually be able to say that phrase in any other context. He dropped $5.6 Million, mostly in small bills for a new rustic home in Brentwood, with some really nice cozy woodwork (pics in the link). But let’s face it - the pool waterfall is where it’s at for the house that Magic Mike (somewhat) built.

ALSO: Reminder for NYC folks - FOO FIGHTERS tix for Sun June 20th show at MSG go on sale this morning - link here, begins at 10am EST.

AND: Nadal vs. Djokovic today in the French Open semi-final at 1130a, watch on NBC (or I think can stream on PEACOCK too).

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Jonah Hill starring in Kenya Barris’s film directorial debut at NETFLIX

Jonah and Kenya also wrote the script called… well they’re not telling anyone. Or what it’s about. Ah come on guys…

The comedy is said to touch on themes adjacent to the 1960’s movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. Movie will shoot this Fall in LA. /THR

NEW LINE / WB greenlights new anime LOTR movie, “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”

Seems like it’ll center on Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan, and a place called HELM’S DEEP, and the timeline will be about 260 years before the movie trilogy. Again, really hope a few of you know what any of that means.

WB ANIMATION is producing. /Variety

ALSO IN MOVIES

• Rose Byrne is gonna play New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a movie called “They Are Us”, centered on the 2019 NZ Mosque shooting and subsequent assault rifle ban. Backed by FILM NATION, will go out to buyers at Cannes next month (CAA handling US sale). /THR

• Sanaa Lathan to direct first movie at PARAMOUNT PLAYERS. Adaptation of the NYT Bestseller “On The Come Up” about a 16 year old girl/aspiring rapper who goes viral for controversial reasons. /Deadline

• Jane Campion’s next movie“The Power of The Dog” will premiere at Venice. NETFLIX premiere date TBD.

  • Benedict Cumberbatch & Jesse Plemons star as brothers who are ranching big wigs in 1927 Montana. One of them secretly marries a local widow (played by Kirsten Dunst) and let’s just say Christmas gets awkward. /Variety

📺 THE TV SET

PEACOCK orders Seth MacFarlane“Ted” TV series

Will be live-action just like the movies and take place before the events of the 2 movies. No timeline indicated.

PEACOCK has kept it pretty Broadcast-clean so far with it’s Originals, will be interesting to see which way this one goes. /Deadline

HBOMAX orders “FBoy Island” reality show, hosted by Nikki Glaser

From producer Elan Gale (produced“The Bachelor” for years) - 3 women on a tropical island must choose between 12 “Nice Guys” looking for love, and 12 “F(*ck)Boys” competing for cash.

Gonna presume the women don’t know who’s who. The 10 episode MENSA-sponsored series will hit HBOMAX this Summer TBD.

Who’da thought Jack Donaghy’s #MilfIsland would ever be outdone…

ALSO IN TV

• Jess… err Milo Ventimiglia will guest star on next season of “Mrs Maisel”. No word on his role. (“Maisel” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino also did “Gilmore Girls”. Hence the Jess thing). /Variety

• OK this isn’t TV but Jeff Daniels is reprising his “To Kill a Mockingbird” role when the show re-opens on Oct 5. Scott Rudin will apparently not be reprising his credit on the show… /Variety

• HULU sets large supporting cast for “The Dropout” limited series, including William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, and Utkarsh Ambudkar among many others. Amanda Seyfried set to play Elizabeth Holmes. /Deadline

• DISNEY+ sets villain for “She-Hulk” series - Jameela Jamil (from “The Good Place”), will be playing “Titania” if that means anything to ya. /Variety

• “Billions” returning to finish Season 5 on SHOWTIME Sun Sept 5 with 5 new episodes. If I type 5 again, I’ll have typed 5, 5 times. Ah dammit I got greedy.

  • “Never Have I Ever” Season 2 hitting NETFLIX Thu July 15. And yes I’ll remind you on the day for both items.

• “Friends” Reunion was the 2nd most watched program ever for SKY in the UK, getting about 5.3 Million viewers across airings on SKY ONE. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

NETFLIX launches Netflix.shop merch site

I mean where else can you get a “Lupin” pillow for $60? #FathersDay

Will be US only for now, but plans are to expand internationally, and offer product for many more shows. /Deadline

BUZZFEED looking to raise $200 Mil in bond offering to merge with/buy COMPLEX

Another big scoop from THE INFORMATION (subscripton only). BUZZFEED already looking to go public via a SPAC, it looks like this is $200 Million of additional cash that’ll be put toward adding COMPLEX to the company. Obviously all still in progress, nothing a done deal.

ALSO IN MEDIA

• NY TIMES hires Stella Bugbee from NEW YORK MAG as the new Editor of the NYT Styles section. Also was former Editor of The Cut. /NY Times

• POP SUGAR co-founder & President Lisa Sugar steps down. No new gig, destination or plan cited. GM and longtime employee Angelica Marden named the new Prez. /Variety

• CNN brings back work-zoom masturbater and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. He addressed his pants-less work zoom incident last year in his first appearance on CNN yesterday, some bytes in the link if inclined. /THR

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

AMC NETWORKS down almost another 5%. Again correcting from a huge stock price burst in June.

AMC THEATERS down another 13%. Lot riding on Lin-Manuel this weekend!

👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

WB/HBOMAX “In The Heights” - In theaters or Watch or add to your list here

SONY “Peter Rabbit 2” - Only in movie theaters.

STREAMING:

NETFLIX “Lupin” - Part 2 of Season 1, Watch or add to your list here

HULU “Love Victor” all 10 episodes S2, Watch or add to your list here 

APPLE TV+ “Home Before Dark” Season 2. Centers on a young kid/investigative journalist in a small town, with Jim Sturgess as the dad. Watch or add to your list here

AMAZON PRIME “Flack” Season 2 (moves over from POP TV). Watch or add to your list here

ATX TV Festival begins - 10 days of panels, reunions and such. Check out the lineup of events here.

TV:

The month-long EURO soccer tournament kicks off at 3pm on ESPN.  Think World Cup… but just 22 European teams. and Russia & Ukraine. And no Irish allowed apparently.  Airs across ESPN channels for the next month.

HBO“Betty” - Season 2 premieres at 11pm

WEEKEND READS:

In GenY news, the NY TIMES did the “social media stars burning out” piece that seems to resurface every 2-3 years, just with the platform names switched out. This time - TIKTOK mostly is starting to burn 20something creators out.

But over with the new Olds - a fun read from Kevin Roose at the NY TIMES diving into how the “Millenial Lifestyle Subsidy” era of the 2010s is over. Basically, constant deals on things like LYFT’s, AIRBNB’s and DOOR DASH’s are over, and the services are starting to cost what they should. The products have reached mass appeal / passed their stage of having to heavily discount and burn millions of private equity $$ in search of a customer base. So, gone are the days where you could get an Uber to from Los Feliz to Santa Monica for $16. (why do I suddenly sound like an SNL “Californians” sketch?)

Bigger picture, an intriguing read as you consider this in context with the radical changes in Movie Theater business, and the rise of Global Streaming brands other than NETFLIX (and ok fine and AMAZON PRIME).

Change between decades (90s vs 2000s, etc) is often only seen in retrospect, but it’s already pretty obvious how the 2020’s are going to be way different than the 2010’s.

SATURDAY

“Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” - Docu by Morgan Neville, you can stream it for $15 via the TRIBECA FILM fest site here for the next 2 weeks or so. Also hits theaters on July 16.

FRENCH OPEN Women’s final at 9am on NBC. Men’s is Sunday at 9am.

SUNDAY

AMC “Kevin Can F*ck Himself” - New comedy series starring Annie Murphy from “Schitt’s Creek” as a typical “King Of Queens”ish sitcom wife who breaks the 4th wall and also exists in the real world. Kinda sitcom… kinda “Truman Show”. Drops on AMC+ Sunday here, and hits uh… regular (?) AMC next Sunday.

ADULT SWIM “Tuca & Bertie” Season 2. Animated show with Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong moves over from NETFLIX. Premieres at 1130p

STARZ “Blindspotting” series premiere. Based on the 2018 movie with Daveed Diggs, picking up where it left off and adding Helen Hunt in a supporting role. Debuts at 9p

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

DISNEYFOX “Free Guy” new trailer. This one probably best explains the plot out of all of the trailers so far… although the “From the Studio that brought you DEADPOOL” graphic is a bit 🙇‍♂️. “Featuring the guy who was in DEADPOOL” woulda been a lot funnier. Diggin this trailer otherwise though. Only in theaters Fri Aug 13.

NETFLIX “Tick, Tick… Boom!” trailer ish? - Kinda teaser, kinda trailer 🤔. Either way all directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, about “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson. Written by Stephen Levinson (“Fosse/Verdon”, “Dear Evan Hansen” movie). Premieres this Fall TBD.

APPLE TV+ “See” Season 2 teaser. Dave Bautista and Alfre Woodard join for the action this season. Premieres Fri Aug 27 and was officially renewed for Season 3.

AMAZON PRIME“Making the Cut” - Season 2 trailer. Premieres Fri July 16.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New MAROON 5 album “JORDI” is out today: Listen here to the album on Spotify or here’s a new song/video “Lost”

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

CORRECTION from yesterday: Christian Bale’s co-star in the NETFLIX Edgar Allen Poe movie is Harry Melling, not Henry (my brain could not justify a guy named Harry being in a Harry Potter movie ). My apologies to Mr. Melling.

Hope you have an error free weekend, from your friend Steve. I mean Sean. Ok I need some sleep…

Email me anytime with ideas to make the email work better for you, or - if you like it just the way I… are 🤔. Just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-Sean McNulty

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