Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY March 25, 2022.

Where expect all of your DUKE friends to either be super psyched or super despondent tomorrow night (either way - they’ll definitely be looking blue) as the Blue Devils and Coach K’s Last Dance advanced last night to the Elite Eight this Saturday on TBS.

My guess is they’ll be the later game (circa 9p). 🏀

AND: Pretty quick read today, but some #goodreads in the FSS Feed to check out, and the new MAREN MORRIS album at the end.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Seth Rogen joins Bill Murray in Aziz Ansari directorial debut at SEARCHLIGHT

Aziz also wrote & is starring in the pic as well, based on Atul Gawande’s book “Being Mortal” which looks at how medicine often just treats conditions rather than the actual person overall, through the lens of mortality.

No word on roles or more specifics other than it’ll start shooting in April. /Deadline

• ALSO: Bill is releasing a line of NFT’s under the theme “Bill Murray Stories”, essentially text of classic Bill stories accompanied by a, of course, unique NFT graphic photo. /THR

Hilary Swank starring with “Reacher” lead Alan Ritchson in LIONSGATE drama pic

Called “Ordinary Angels”, inspired by a true story of a hairdresser who rallies a Kentucky community to help a dad save the life of his critically ill daughter in a snowstorm.

Independently produced, LIONSGATE handling marketing + distro. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

• HBOMAX adds Parker Posey to “The Parenting” pic, about a gay couple hosting the meeting of their parents at a country rental house when they find out it’s inhabited by a 400-year-old evil entity.

  • Parker is playing the manager of the house, Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, and Dean Norris are the parents, begins shooting next week. /THR

• Former ANONYMOUS CONTENT exec Keith Redmon suing for breach of contract, to basically get cut of “Schitt’s Creek” $$ he thinks he’s owed. He was fired in 2021 over claims of sexual misconduct. /Variety

📺 THE TV SET

NETFLIX orders 2 more “Love is Blind” seasons, new seasons of “Indian Matchmaking” and the soon to premiere “The Ultimatum”

Plus new dating shows “Jewish Matchmaking” and “Love on the Spectrum”. And yet somehow my pitch for “Irish Repression” was shot down.

• Also word is they’re putting together some kind of “dating all stars” series … or maybe “dating no stars” is more apt as it will be singles from various shows who haven’t found love. “The Island of Misfit Dates”? Free idea NETFLIX! And yes it would take place on an island (don’t all of these shows for legal reasons?). /THR

ALSO IN TV

• NETFLIX cancels “Archive 81” after 1 season. /Deadline

• PARAMOUNT+ sets production deal with France’s GAUMONT studio (“Lupin”, “Narcos”) to produce series for the service internationally. PAR+ plans to greenlight 50 International scripted original productions this year. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

SPOTIFY paid out $7 Billion to artists in 2021, up $2 Billion from 2020

That’s roughly 73% of all revenue the company took in last year.

Here’s how it breaks out (these are global #s):

• 36,100 artists made between $10k and $50k (+7k from 2020)

  • 28% uploaded their music themselves

• 7,000 made between $50k and $100k (+1400 from 2020)

• 7,330 made between $100k and $500k (+1330 from 2020)

• 1,130 made between $500k and $1 million (+190 from 2020)

• 1,040 made over $1 million (+180 from 2020)

More #s in the link for anyone inclined. /MBW

ALSO IN MEDIA

• NETFLIX buys BOSS STUDIO ENTERTAINMENT video game studio. The 130 employee company is the 3rd studio they’ve bought, no price disclosed. /NY Times

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Pretty quiet day unless you were a Weed stock, then I’d say it was a good day.

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👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)

WEEKEND READS

Nic Cage elaborates a bit on his famously massive 2010’s debt and how his “…Massive Talent” movie coming out next month finally got him out of it, in a new GQ profile.

The“MI: 7” budget has hit $290 Million, (Pt 6 was $180 Million), and other fun facts in Kim Masters’s #goodread looking at Tom Cruise’s unique clout at PARAMOUNT. Including how Cruise got covid this Summer as did director Christopher McQuarrie, putting him in a London hospital in a late stage of production so… take from that what you will. 😳

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

PARAMOUNT “The Lost City” - Only in Theaters

A24 “Everything Everywhere All at Once” - Only in Theaters

SPC “The Duke” - Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren pic - In Limited Theaters

BLEECKER STREET “Infinite Storm” - Naomi Watts trapped in a storm on a mountain movie - Only in Theaters

STREAMING:

MOVIES

• DISNEY+ “Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u (a Sour film)” - couldn’t find a link so… yer on yer own.

• APPLE TV+ “Pachinko” - STREAM HERE

SERIES

• NETFLIX “Bridgerton” Season 2 - STREAM HERE

• AMAZON PRIME “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” - STREAM HERE

TV:

• MARCH MADNESS Sweet Sixteen across CBS + TBS starting at 7:10p, and Women’s tourney on ESPN starting around 7p.

SATURDAY

• MARCH MADNESS Elite Eight on TBS (6p start) and Women’s tourney on ESPN (1130a start).

• “Stars in the House” is doing an event to support UKRAINE relief efforts with names like Steve Martin, Billy Porter and a SCTV reunion. Goes from Noon to 10p

SUNDAY

• MARCH MADNESS Elite Eight across CBS (starts at 2p)

• The OSCARS on ABC

🤦‍♂️ D’OH

Well yesterday definitely made a case for not staying up past 1am to write a newsletter… HBO’s period show is “The Gilded Age”, not Guilded… but if there’s ever a docu about the history of Hollywood unions - you’re welcome.

AND: It’s Steve Levinson not Steve Levitan who is co-creating the new HULU musical series. “Up Here“.

PLUS: I’m 75% sure that I mis-identified a Jonas brother… but think I’m ok with that one.

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

APPLE TV+ “ROAR” anthology trailer - “Genre-bending stories told through eight women’s eyes”, with Issa Rae, Nicole Kidman, Alison Brie and… well a lotta big names really. Premieres Fri April 15

PEACOCK “Killing It” series trailer - Craig Robinson as a guy hard up for cash who begins killing a pervasive rabid snake population for $$. Premieres Thu April 14

PARAMOUNT+ “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” trailer - It’s the director’s cut of the 1979 original that was released on DVD in 2001, but now in 4k with new visual effects and Dolby Atmos Sound that I’m sure will look and sound awesome… as you stream it on your phone. Hits Par+ on Tue April 5

NETFLIX “Mike Epps: Indiana Mike” comedy special trailer. Premieres Tuesday.

HBO “The Invisible Pilot” docu trailer - 3 parts, about an Arkansas small plane pilot who apparently killed himself… but apparently was leading a double life as a drug smuggler involved in a political scandal. Premieres Mon April 4

NETFLIX “Along for the Ride” movie trailer - The streamer’s latest in their patented “Female High School Romance” genre:

• Girl who’s spent too much time studying goes to spend the Summer before college with her dad (Dermot Mulroney) and stepmom (Kate Bosworth) at the beach … making a vow to do things she hasn’t done in her sheltered life with mom (Andie McDowell)… meets dreamy guy with a mysterious past, and then… a giant Sea Monster appears!!! Ok sorry I had to entertain myself somehow writing that. Premieres Fri April 22

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New MAREN MORRIS “Tall Guys” - Ok yeah this one goes out to me. Hey it’s my newsletter! #PreachMaren! Her new album dropped today, stream that here on SPOTIFY

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