Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + MediaBiz news to know on THURSDAY March 11, 2021.

Where you can now get 4 months of PEACOCK PREMIUM (with ads) for $10 total. Mainly targeted to WWE NETWORK fans, as that streaming service shuts down on April 4th and WWE content moves to PEACOCK. But… the deal is open to anyone here til April 9th (not open to current PEACOCK subs).

🎧 MUSIC TO READ BY

ALY & AJ - brand new video for “Pretty Places”. Some chill West Coast pop vibes for a sunny warm NYC Thursday. Listen on Spotify / YouTube

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

Michael B. Jordan will direct “Creed III” at MGM

Will hit theaters Thanksgiving weekend 2022. /THR

ALSO: Kenneth Brannagh directing Bee Gee’s movie at PARAMOUNT. Script still in writing phase, so Timberlake & Fallon have plenty of time to warm up. /Variety

AMC THEATERS loses $4.6 Billion in 2020

AMC also lost $150 Million in 2019 - granted not the strongest year for movies, but even if the moviegoing business returns to previous levels in the 2nd half of 2020… AMC getting into the black anytime soon to also start paying off debt in a material way is a tough sell, especially with theatrical windows now shortened, or eliminated. /THR

Anyone looking to dive deeper - industry analyst Rich Greenfield broke down the looming 2022 AMC debt payment issue further here… and valued the stock at 1 cent by March 2022. After Hours traders boosted the stock by over 6% last night to about $10.50.

ALSO IN MOVIES

• Meghan & Harry pick Ben Browning to lead their NETFLIX production company. He was the Prez of TV/Film at FILM NATION production, sales & financing company. /THR

• HULU buys US rights to Chloe Grace Moretz SciFi movie “Mother/Android”. MIRAMAX financed, no price disclosed. Pregnant couple must escape their country when it becomes involved in a war with AI. Matt Reeves among producers. /Deadline

• LA Movie Theaters will likely now be able to open this Saturday… but most not expected to do so until next Friday.

📺 THE TV SET

APPLE TV+ sets Natalie Portman & Lupita Nyong’o for limited series

Called “Lady and the Lake”, based on a book. Alma Har’el (“Honey Boy”) directing, no production timeline or episode order indicated.

Set in 1960’s Baltimore, an unsolved murder presses a housewife to become an investigative reporter, clashing with a mother holding several jobs who is involved in the city’s Black progressive agenda. /Deadline

NETFLIX renews reality shows “Bling Empire” and “Selling Sunset”

They also ordered 2 more reality shows (or as they’re trying to now call them…“docu-soaps” 🙄 #fetch) from the producers of those series. /Variety

ALSO IN TV

• APPLE TV+ renews animated show “Central Park” for 3rd season, ahead of Season 2 debut at the end of June. /THR

• AMAZON PRIME picks up DirecTV Audience Network (RIP) show “Loudermilk”. Previously aired Seasons 1 & 2 get added tomorrow. Un-aired but already shot Season 3 will debut TBD. /THR

• EPIX President Michael Wright will now also run MGM TV. Will report into Mark Burnett. /THR

  • Current MGM TV prez Steve Starkey will segue to production deal at the studio. /Variety

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

More details on the (now official) ESPN/ABC + NHL deal

• ABC will air the 4 Stanley Cup Finals included in the 7 year deal (not ESPN).

• ESPN / ABC will air 25 exclusive games a year, and can stream 75 more on ESPN+/HULU.

• Unspecified International rights in Latin America and parts of Europe also included.

• DISNEY paying approx $2.8 Billion total for the deal (roughly $400 Million/year, or a 100% increase from what NBC is currently paying at the end of their 10 year dea1) per The WSJ.

• There will be another NHL TV partner for more games, but still TBD. (probably NBCU, but never count out a hungry streaming co).

• NHL’s streaming package of out-of-market games sold via NHL.com (for $150/year) will now be avail for free in ESPN+ starting this Fall. /Sportico

ALSO: The XFL won’t have a season next year in 2022 either. Considering a “partnership” with Canada’s CFL. The Rock was part of the group that took a controlling stake in the XFL last year. /USA TODAY

YOUTUBE viewing on TV’s is booming in the US

25% of US YOUTUBE viewers (who were logged into their YT accounts) almost exclusively watched all of their YT content on a TV in December.

Granted, that’s December when you’re more likely to be home (esp in a booming pandemic), but YT viewership on TV’s was +40 to +60% across categories in 2020, from Music to Cooking to Educational content.

Further evidence to support the projected growth in viewers & Ad revenue for AVOD services like TUBI & PLUTO in the next 4 years: While pay streaming services proliferate… More people wanna stream free things on their TV.

Solely My Thought Bubble: YOUTUBE launches a cable-like themed channel interface in its TV App (like those found on PEACOCK, TUBI etc - pic below), programmed with guaranteed "advertiser safe" content to compete against TUBI, PLUTO etc for those increasing AVOD Ad $$s.

ALSO IN MEDIA

• Kevin Mayer & Tom Staggs sign on for another SPAC with the same finance firm they advised on purchasing fitness app BEACHBODY.

  The guys will be co-CEO’s & Chairmen for this one, which will look to acquire/take public an existing company in the media/tech/telecomm space, TBD of course. /Deadline

• While we’re on SPACs: BUZZFEED Is apparently in talks to be acquired/taken public by one… named after the AVENGERS headquarters. Negotiations ongoing. /Bloomberg

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HBO documentary ”Tina”. Great spot - HBO and the music docus lately 🙌. Airs Sat March 27th.

And HBO had a 2fer sale on Docu trailers this week - “Q: Into the Storm” from Exec Producer Adam McKay. Premieres Sun March 21st at 9pm.

APPLE TV+ dropped a “Central Park” Season 2 ‘Weehawken Rap’ video to promote the new season, which drops on June 25th.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

HBOMAX new series“Genera+tion” - A group of high schoolers exploring sexuality in their conservative-ish community. First 3 eps of 8 drop today here.

BET+ “Tyler Perry’s Ruthless” Season 2’s first 3 episodes hit the service today. Watch here.

Joe Biden national address at 8pm. Pick your favorite network.

Also PARAMOUNT+ put a bunch of 1st episodes from shows on their YouTube page. Many are from former CBS ALL ACCESS shows like “Coyote”, “The Stand” etc, but also “The Real World: Homecoming” and “Kamp Koral” are there.

That’s all ya’ll! If ya dig this newsletter, why look - its a button to easily share it:

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Enjoy your Thursday! You’ll love my March Irish tan tomorrow 😎 .

-Sean McNulty