Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY July 19, 2021.

Where Japan has a lot more Ad time to fill in The OLYMPICS this week as TOYOTA has pulled their sponsorship there, including all planned commercials and the company’s execs won’t attend the opening ceremony on Friday either, due to the high “why the F are we doing this?” public sentiment in the country.

ALSO: In the latest covid shutdown news…

• “Bridgerton” Season 2 had more covid cases and is taking an indefinite pause

• GOT’s “House of the Dragon” is shutting down for a couple of days

• WME is closing their offices all week and

• Kenneth Branagh has pulled the plug on his new play in London that was set to debut next month due to too many positive covid tests among the core members of the production. /Deadline

AND: Here is your list of CANNES winners for the inclined, won by “Titane” which NEON will distribute here TBD. Also the 2nd time ever that the winning film was directed by a woman. /Indiewire

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Bill Murray joining Wes Anderson’s next movie

Shooting next month in Spain, Tilda Swinton also involved but… that’s about all the details for now. /Variety

BOX OFFICE

1. “Space Jam” : $31 Million ($55 Million globally)

   • That pretty much matches the “Godzilla vs Kong” opening weekend back at the end of March.

2. “Black Widow” : $26 Million ($132 Million US, $264 Million globally)

   • That’s a 67% drop from opening weekend.

   • No DISNEY+ Streaming revenue reported this week…🤔

3. “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” : $8.8 Million

4. “F9” : $7.6 Million, ($155 Million US, $591 Million globally)

   • Still to open in Japan and Italy, global total was about $29 Million this weekend so still some business to be had.

5. “Boss Baby: Family Business” : $4.7 Million ($44 Million US)

ALSO: The Bourdain doc “Roadrunner” took in an impressive $1.9 Million in its opening weekend from 927 theaters, putting it in 8th place. The movie is scheduled to hit PVOD in 3 weeks, then onto CNN and HBOMAX TBD.

Guy Ritchie’s “Wrath of Man” hit $100 Million globally this weekend.

ALSO IN MOVIES

• VENICE FILM FEST will open with Pedro Almodovar’s latest “Madres Paralelas” starring Penelope Cruz on September 1. /Deadline

• NETFLIX opening 170k sq ft Soundstage facility in Bushwick, Brooklyn in Sept. Will house 6 soundstages. /Bloomberg

📺 THE TV SET

PARAMOUNT+ orders “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” series

10 episodes, set 4 years before the first movie - so, all new characters. Created by Annabel Oakes (NETFLIX’s “Atypical”), PARAMOUNT TV producing. /Deadline

STARZ sets Albert Hughes to direct 3-part “John Wick” prequel event project

Called “The Continental”, will be set in the “hotel for assassins” from the movies. Set in 1970s NYC, will focus on Ian McShane’s character about 40 years before the movies.

Three, 90 minute installments, each with a $20 Million budget, Hughes (“Book of Eli”) directing eps 1 and 3. No word on a shoot timeline. /THR

ALSO IN TV

• AMC Networks paying director / showrunner Frank Darabont $200 Million to settle long running litigation over “The Walking Dead” profit participation. Case began in 2013 and was set to go to trial next year. /THR

• FOX sets Alanis Morrissette & Grimes to join Nick Lachey, will.i.am as judges for “Alter Ego” - ordinary people perform as CGI rock star avatars using motion capture technology. Set for Wednesday nights this fall with “The Masked Singer” in case you need 2 hours of… the same basic conceit. /THR

• ABC’s longtime Head of Drama Brian Morewitz is leaving after 17 years. No next destination indicated. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

SPAC deal for 10% of UNIVERSAL MUSIC falls apart

The SPAC that was gonna buy 10% of the world’s biggest music label UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP for over $3 Billion… is now not gonna do that.

Bill Ackman’s PERSHING SQUARE (name of the SPAC) said their share price has dropped about 20% since they announced the deal in June so - no more deal. /THR

ALSO IN MEDIA

• Subscription sports reporting site THE ATHLETIC bumps annual subscription price by 20% up to $72/year. /Variety

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

CINEWORLD (REGAL Cinemas parent co) bounced back about 13%, but otherwise a slightly down (1-4%) day for most media companies.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

Nothing new… but UK Cinemas are back to full capacity.

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

No new trailers today, but this story about Paul Rudd giving Seth Rogen a massage as a prank is pretty great.

🕵️‍♂️ THE WEEK AHEAD

TUE - NETFLIX releases 2Q earnings, new subscriber #s at 4pm

WED - NETFLIX gives us the dating show COMIC-CON die hards have been waiting for… “Sexy Beasts”, where contestants go on dates dressed up as animals thanks to elaborate, professional level prosthetics / costumes.

THU - AT&T does earnings in the AM (new HBOMAX #s), and TWITTER and SNAP announce earnings (new user #s) late afternoon.

FRI - M. Night freaks you out at the movies with “Old”

SAT/SUN - First full OLYMPICS weekend

🥳 TODAY'S FUN READ

Apparently watching too much “Peppa Pig” is giving American toddlers British accents and vocabularies. /WSJ

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

Shout-out to one of the greats… rest in peace BIZ MARKIE.

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