SPIELBERG casts newcomer in lead role for next movie
SPIELBERG casts newcomer in lead role for next movie
HBOMAX sets Latin America launch plan / KELLY CLARKSON will take ELLEN slot / EVIL DEAD sequel 👍 at HBOMAX
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY May 27, 2021.
Where TURNER SPORTS is paying Wayne Gretzky $3 Million a year to be the lead analyst for their new in-studio NHL show around TNT hockey games starting this Fall.
The Great One is thus departing his Vice Chairman role at the EDMONTON OILERS… and his Thousand Oaks home for a cool $17.6 Million, making a $4.1 Million profit in 7 years. As the famous quote goes: “You lose 100% of the houses you don’t bid on - Wayne Gretzky” - Michael Scott
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
LIONSGATE lands Gershwin-themed, Scorsese produced musical from John Carney (“Once”, “Modern Love”)
Called “Fascinating Rhythm”, will center on a young woman’s journey through NYC past and present set to Gershwin tunes (🙏 “Someone to Watch Over Me”).
Carney also co-wrote script, Irwin Winkler (“Goodfellas”, “Rocky”) also producing. LIONSGATE bought worldwide rights but no price disclosed. Did you know George Gershwin died at just age 38?? /Deadline
MARVEL / SONY PICTURES sets Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the lead in Spider-Man villain movie “Kraven the Hunter”
JC Chandor (“Margin Call”, “Triple Frontier”) directing, set for early 2023 release. /Variety
HBOMAX doing “Evil Dead” sequel
Called “Evil Dead Rise“, two estranged sisters reunite… briefly, before flesh possessing demons interrupt. Alyssa Sutherland (“Vikings”, her imdb here) will star.
Sam Raimi will be an Exec Producer, but Irish horror filmmaker Lee Cronin (his imdb here) will direct. NEW LINE producing. /THR
Spielberg sets newcomer to play younger version of himself in upcoming semi-autobiographical film
So - get to know the name Gabriel LaBelle (“The Predator”, his IMDB here).
Michelle Williams set to play mom, Seth Rogen is an uncle, and Paul Dano set as dad, about a kid growing up in Arizona in the 1950’s.
Spielberg co-wrote script with Tony Kushner, shooting this Summer. Studio/streaming home doesn’t seem to be set yet…. /Deadline
ALSO IN MOVIES
PARAMOUNT+ sets Thu June 10 premiere date for Mark Wahlberg Sci-Fi thriller “Infinite”. Was previously set for Sept release in theaters… no word on a trailer. /Deadline
Dave Chappelle docu to close TRIBECA FEST at Radio City on Sat June 19. It’s about issues facing a rural Ohio town in 2020, directed by the team behind the OSCAR winning NETFLIX film “American Factory”. /THR
NETFLIX adds Omari Hardwick, John Ortiz, and Molly Parker to Halle Berry Sci-Fi film “The Mothership” - Halle plays a woman who finds an extraterrestrial object under her house, one year after her husband disappeared 🤔. /Deadline
HOWARD UNIVERSITY re-names College of Fine Arts after alum Chadwick Boseman. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
The TONY AWARDS set Sun Sept 26 PARAMOUNT+ / CBS extravaganza
Awards will stream exclusively on PAR+ from 7-9p, and then CBS will air a 2 hour “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” special to blow the doors off the place, full of new songs and classics from 9p to 11p. /Deadline
“The Kelly Clarkson Show” will take premo “Ellen” timeslot on NBC-owned stations starting Fall 2022
This covers most major TV markets, but deals still to be struck with outside station groups in smaller markets (NBCU produces the show). /Variety
ALSO IN TV
“Mr Big” himself, Chris Noth will be a part of the new HBOMAX “SATC” season. No details on how many episodes etc. You know how mysterious he is. /Variety
“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” moves from VH1 to PARAMOUNT+ on Thu June 24, when new Season 6 season will premiere. /Variety
HBO adds Parker Posey to cast for limited series “The Staircase” based on true crime docuseries, alongside Toni Collette, Colin Firth, Juliette Binoche, and Rosemarie DeWitt. /Variety
APPLE TV sets Michael Huisman (played “Daario Naharis” in“GOT”) to co-star with Luke Evans in new South American action thriller series “Echo 3”. Created by Mark Boal (“Zero Dark Thirty”), about a scientist who goes missing near the Colombian border, setting her brother and husband with military pasts off to go find her. /THR
AMAZON PRIME sets Fri Aug 13 premiere for “Modern Love” season 2. This is more just a note for my viewing calendar… but by all means add to your own.
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
HBOMAX to launch in 39 Latin American & Carribbean countries on June 29, at $3 to $6 a month
That last part will be very important to keep in mind - expect HBOMAX’s Avg Rev Per User / ARPU to take a hit in Q3 and beyond with this launch.
They are committing to doing 100 HBOMAX “productions” (shows, docus, movies, specials, kids shows etc) in LATAM by the end of next year.
WB Movies will hit the service 35 days after theatrical release there, and HBOMAX also has Soccer’s CHAMPIONS LEAGUE rights in Brazil and Mexico… which should help. /Variety
HBO currently has about 10 Million subscribers in LATAM, all of whom will get HBOMAX free. So, anything on top of 10 Million in the region will pretty much be due to HBOMAX in the future. HBO estimates there are 100 Million potential households/customers in the region.
You can now hide “like” counts on your FACEBOOK & IG posts
You can also hide seeing them on other people’s posts if… that makes ya feel better. IG adds it now, FB will be soon. /The Verge
As I’m sure you saw…. AMAZON made their purchase of MGM official yesterday morning, for $8.5 Billion
AMAZON had $73 Billion of cash on hand at the end of March, so guessing the $8.5 Billion will be delivered in a suitcase. Dropped from a drone. Launched from a rocket.
Not much else disclosed.
One Certainty, Many Questions and a Thought:
CERTAINTY: BOND movie “No Time To Die” will still premiere in theaters, very likely still this November.
MANY QUESTIONS: MGM STUDIOS Film Chairman Mike DeLuca has already greenlit films from many high profile talent like Ron Howard, George Miller, Paul Thomas Anderson, and of course the Ridley Scott“Gucci” movie with Gaga & Driver. How will they be released? Plus:
WTF happens with EPIX (does AMAZON want to operate a TV network?)
How/will Mike DeLuca’s role change (if he even wants to stay?). He is halfway thru a 3 year contract according to Variety.
How will MGM Studios operations assimilate with AMAZON Studios (ie #layoffs?)
A THOUGHT: One likely winning property that… not too many people have talked about thus far: AMAZON’s free streaming service IMDB TV.
In the Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV service arms race with PLUTO, TUBI, PEACOCK and the like… IMDB TV just secured a crapload of premium ammo with the MGM library to better program the service (once existing Movie & TV output deals with other services begin to expire). Ammo that AMAZON can sell a lotta advertising against.
Also if AMAZON has no appetite to run a cable TV network, perhaps EPIX Original Series get moved over to IMDB TV as well. Even more premium inventory to sell ads against and to advertise the service with. Either way… a lot more to come.
ALSO: Jeff Bezos is gonna leave the CEO role on July 5 (will become Executive Chairman). Head of AMAZON WEB SERVICES Andy Jassy takes the keys as new CEO. And Finally gets free AMAZON PRIME! And gets to find out early what happens on Mrs Maisel season 4 🤨. /Variety
ALSO IN MEDIA
Jay-Z sets 2-day “Made In America” festival return to Philly on Labor Day weeknd Sept 4-5. Early tix on sale here… but no lineup as of yet. 2 day pass about $130. /Variety
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
DISCOVERY and VIACOM each up almost 4% after a pretty stagnant period.
ENDEAVOR -5%
VIMEO drops another 5.5% on day 2.
AMC THEATERS +19% because that’s how - eh even I’m getting tired of this Reddit trader stonk ridiculousness.
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
The 90’s called, they want their TV Back. Yes in the 4:3 SD ratio.
HBOMAX “Friends” Reunion, Watch or add to your list here.
PARAMOUNT+ “Rugrats” Reboot, Watch or add to your List here
IF YOU’RE ON CLUBHOUSE 👋
Come join me Tonight at 8pm EST for my fun Weekly REWIND chat diving into the biggest Entertainment & Tech stories of the week, with my friend & fellow former HBO’er Caroline Giegerich.
We had a lively convo last week with some folks from the industry dropping in to offer up some valuable different perspectives so - should be fun. You can set a personal notifier for it here.
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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
AMAZON PRIME “The Tomorrow War” movie trailer. High school teacher (but really ex-military guy) Chris Pratt is recruited to fight an alien invasion 30 years in the future. Where #funfact - apparently wars are fought entirely in CGI. Hits PRIME on Fri July 2.
HULU “False Positive” movie trailer - Pierce Brosnan as one… creepy Fertility Doctor, with newly pregnant Ilana Glazer and Justin Theroux. Hits HULU Fri June 25.
SONY PICTURES “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” trailer. Basically “Saw” meets your favorite corporate retreat activity from The Before Times. Sequel hits theaters Fri July 16.
IMDBTV “Leverage: Redepemption” series trailer. The former TNT series returns on AMAZON’s free streaming service with Noah Wylie in the lead role. Launches Fri July 9.
HBOMAX “Genera+ion” new season (ish) trailer. Season 1, part 2 premieres on Thu June 17 with a 3 episode drop.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New LIL NAS X - “SUN GOES DOWN”. Something different stylistically from Lil Nas, liked this one. Plus his pants don’t split when singing it.
Listen here on Spotify or here:
If you need new tunes:
Have thappenin Thursday. Ok that’s not a thing. Unless you’re a Looney Tunes character. Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER or also here on CLUBHOUSE or on IG @TheWakeupNews