☀️ Sudden PAR Board Exits Put 🧐 on SKYDANCE Talks
All CinemaCon updates from yesterday / WB gets new Blitz pic / Reboot fever spreads
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, April 11, 2024.
Where get ready to find out how to say “cheesehead” in Portuguese — the GREEN BAY PACKERS have been selected to face the EAGLES in the big São Paulo NFL game on Friday, Sept. 6 this year during opening weekend, exclusively on PEACOCK.
WELL: Apparently the ‘90s got jealous of all of the turn of the 2000s sequels announced this month . . . and now we’re getting a Melrose Place reboot, in development at CBS STUDIOS with Heather Locklear, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga, which picks up “years after the original series” in case, uh, there was any doubt on the take here. Huh, you’d think they all would have moved out of an apartment complex by now . . . 🤷♂️. But until Grant Show signs on, I’m out.
BUT: Not to be outdone, the turn of the 2000s are still going strong — BLUMHOUSE and LGF are gonna “reimagine” The Blair Witch Project. Now, who wants to explain what a VHS tape is to the kids 🤔.
OH: Then the late 2000s got jealous, and we also have a Heroes reboot going out to buyers as well from UNI TV.
Ya know — some folks say it feels like Hollywood is out of ideas, but I just don’t see it.
I guess if there’s one theme about what folks did during the strikes . . . it’s watch a lot of old TV. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish the latest episode of Night Court.
SWEET 🤑: AMAZON has made a change to its compensation packages, abandoning its stock-only bonus policy, and allowing employees to get as much as 25% of their annual bonuses in cash, according to The Information. Is it possible to get them in NVIDIA stock instead? Asking for a friend.
ALSO: The WNBA will be airing 36 of the INDIANA FEVER’s 40 games on national TV next year. #CaitlinClark
8 on either ABC or ESPN/2
3 on CBS
The rest on a mix of ION stations (they have a Friday night WNBA franchise), AMAZON PRIME (it streams 21 games a year, mostly on Thursday nights), or NBA TV and the CBS SPORTS NETWORK.
The difference a year makes? Last season, 8 of the FEVER’s games were streamed on the FEVER FACEBOOK account.
But as per usual for the mid-2020s sports fan — have fun figuring out where any given game is airing, much less for your own favorite team.
The WNBA bumped the total number of games a season from 36 up to 40 this year.
YAY: Public colleges! Granted, this Bloomberg data is only based on students who took out federal loans to attend college, but here’s how the ROI works out on a 10-year time horizon (factoring in cost and how much folks earned):
OH: U.S. 30-day credit-card delinquencies were at their highest level in Q4 since the Philadelphia Fed started this data set back in 2012. The % of folks only making their minimum payments also rose to a record high since 2012.
This of course follows the not-so-great inflation report yesterday, indicating yeah . . . if you were hoping for significant interest rate cuts this year — 😬. So those high credit-card balance interest rates likely ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon. It also casts a shadow over any potential dealmaking involving debt financing.
TODAY IN EVENTS:
The Oscars are going a week earlier next year on Sunday, March 2, but still sticking with the 7 p.m. thing.
Cannes announced its competition lineup, including the Yorgos Lanthimos SEARCHLIGHT pic, the new one from Sean Baker (Red Rocket), plus new pics from Paul Schrader, David Cronenberg and more.
Tribeca also announced that it will be holding a 2-day international edition in Lisbon in October.
FANATICS also announced it’ll be doing a huge Fanatics Fest NYC at the Javits Center from Aug. 16-18, meant to be kind of a Comic-Con for sports fans. Tom Brady, Kevin Durant, the Manning Bros., Derek Jeter, Hulk Hogan and Sophie Ionescu have all committed to attending.
Tickets are $50 a day, and let’s hope the MLB isn’t setting the quality specifications for FANATICS on the fest merch (see tweet below).
ENDEAVOR’s IMG is a minority partner in the FANATICS EVENTS group that will be putting on the event.
FANATICS EVENTS also just did a huge WWE World activation in Philly with TKO around WrestleMania . . . from which I personally saw a ton of people carrying bags (and belts) en route to the event last Saturday.
YEAH: The MLB still hasn’t fixed its uniform issues (made in partnership with FANATICS and NIKE) — this is a hot look 👇. Good thing this happened sliding into home in the 9th inning.
WAKEUP BOX-OFFICE POLL
A24’s Civil War has a pretty broad tracking range of $20M up to possibly $30M, and remember there is an IMAX component here, too.
So, let’s open it up! I’ll save the comment about picking sides.
CORRECTION FROM YESTERDAY: Sue Naegle & Ali Krug’s new production company is called DINNER PARTY, not DINNER TIME, and I’m sure that Sue & Ali will now not be inviting me to either occasion.
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Well, at least the PARAMOUNT situation isn’t dull. A look at the pending board exits, who’s left (including someone with former ORACLE ties) and some key timing things to note about what’s to come.
The actual news to come out of CinemaCon yesterday (not just mentions of previews that . . . you can’t watch yourself).
Comps for the Curb finale, new casting news, moves in the executive suites at SKYDANCE, MGM and more.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
