THU: Chris Rock, Guy Ritchie fill MAY Summer Movie Release void

Cary Fukunaga sets next movie / CBS "All Rise" creator fired / "National Treasure" as DISNEY+ series

Mar 25, 2021

Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + MediaBiz news to know on THURSDAY March 25, 2021.

Where “Nomadland” won the top Movie prize from the Producers Guild last night. Here is the full list of PGA Winners across Film & TV for the inclined.

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

VIACOM dropped another 23%: Wall Street really didn’t like that “diluting the value of our shares to pay for PARAMOUNT+” idea.

DISCOVERY also down over 13% on fears its 120+% stock price growth over the past 2 months… may have been a bit inflated.

And AMC THEATERS dropped another 15% because of the DISNEY abandoning May & June thing.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

MGM sets next Guy Ritchie/Jason Statham pic “Wrath of Man” (fka “Cash Truck”) for May 7 in theaters

LIONSGATE moves Chris Rock/Sam Jackson “Saw” franchise movie “Spiral” to May 14. WB/HBOMAX Angelina Jolie“Those Who Wish Me Dead” Western already set for that day as well. /Variety

MGM buying Zack Braff’s next directorial effort “Good Person”

Taking US rights + many Int’l territories. No price disclosed.

Morgan Freeman & Florence Pugh star - young woman’s life falls apart after a fatal accident. Years later she finds meaning in life striking up a bond with her former would-be father-in-law. Will shoot this Fall. /Deadline

NEW LINE adds Pierce Brosnan to Dwayne Johnson’s DC movie “Black Adam”

Will play “Dr. Fate”… real name Kent Nelson. Yeah I see why you’d change that. /THR

AND: WB sets Ron Livingston to replace Billy Crudup as the father of “The Flash”. /Variety

ALSO IN MOVIES

Steven Soderbergh adds Derek Del Gaudio to his HBOMAX movie “KIMI”. Still no real plot details, script by David Koepp, Zoe Kravitz starring. /Deadline
Cary Fukunaga set to direct adaptation of comic “Tokyo Ghost” at LEGENDARY. Set in 2089, humanity fully addicted to technology. 2 LA Peacekeepers are sent to the only tech-free zone in the world, Tokyo. Cary currently directing first 3 eps of Hanks/Spielberg “Masters of the Air” miniseries at APPLE TV+. /THR
SONY giving a “Bewitched” movie another go. John Davis producing, “MacGyver” writing team doing the script. /Deadline
AMAZON STUDIOS orders John Cho movie “Don’t Make Me Go”. Father brings his teen daughter on a road trip to find her estranged mother. /Deadline
”LOTR” trilogy following “Avatar” footsteps - doing staggered 3 film re-release in China starting Apr 4. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

DISNEY+ orders 10 episode “National Treasure” series

Mira Nair (“Queen of Katwe”, “The Namesake”) directing, written by the Webberlys (team who wrote the movies), Bruckheimer producing.

20 year-old DREAMer sets out with her friends to uncover her mysterious family history (🙏 for a Nic Cage crazy uncle cameo) and of course, hidden treasure. Of a National variety. /Deadline

NETFLIX gets Steven Yeun/Ali Wong series from A24

A dramedy called “Beef”, 10 half-hour episodes - 2 people let a road rage incident consume their lives.

Created by Lee Sung Jin (writer/producer on “Dave”, “Silicon Valley” among others). No timeline given. /Deadline

Issa Rae signs $40 Million, 5 year deal with WARNER MEDIA

Exclusive in TV, First-Look for Movies for her HOORAE production company. No new projects mentioned, pricetag is “from sources”, not WARNER. She’s had deals at HBO for the past 5 years. /Variety

ALSO: Jamie Foxx signs deal to produce original movies across MTV ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKS with BIPOC filmmakers & storytelling. This is in addition to his SONY film deal. /THR

ALSO IN TV

Creator of CBS’s “All Rise” Greg Spottiswood fired, dropped by agency after unprofessional and offensive behavior issues in Season 1 did not change in Season 2. /Deadline
Spinoff of FX show “What We Do in the Shadows” goes to TheCW & HBOMAX. Called “Wellington Paranormal”, first season will air this Summer. 3 Seasons have already aired in New Zealand. /Deadline

CBS renews its 2 Dick Wolf “FBI” shows, orders a 3rd - “FBI: International”. Wonder what it’ll be about? Original “FBI” averages about 11 Million viewers for CBS. /THR
NETFLIX takes international rights to 4pt BBC project “Inside Man” from Stephen Moffat (“Sherlock”), starring Stanley Tucci and David Tennant. Plot details minimal - apparently Moffat isn’t even telling BBC or NETFLIX how it ends 🧐. /Deadline
APPLE TV+ renews “Trying” for a 3rd season - UK series about parenting/adoption process with Rafe Spall. Season 2 premieres May 14. /THR
Producer David Heyman (“Harry Potter” movies) gets rights to next book from “Big Little Liars” author Liane Moriarty. Called “Apples Never Fall”, comes out in September. No network/streamer attached yet. /Deadline
MEREDITH renews its daily syndicated show “PeopleTV” through 2024. It currently airs on 12 MEREDITH owned local TV affiliates. Will be sold to other station groups starting in 2022 via SonyTV. /Variety
EXECUTIVE SUITE:
- AMAZON adds Nick Pepper from LEGENDARY TV as Head of Creative Content - overseeing IP driven franchise content & talent development. /Deadline
- Aisha Summers leaving WBTV to head up BET STUDIOS. /Deadline

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

REGAL Theaters parent company CINEWORLD loses over $2.2 Billion in 2020

Compares to $725 Million profit in 2019 for the world’s 2nd largest movie theater owner.

Their internal projections expect moviegoing levels to be -10% even next year versus 2019 business. Stock down 8% in London this morning to start. /Deadline

ALSO IN MEDIA

Danielle Belton of THE ROOT is the new EIC at HUFFPOST. /Variety
YES Network streaming 21 YANKEES games on AMAZON PRIME this season. Games will still air locally in NYC on PIX 11 for free. AMAZON owns a stake in the YES NETWORK. /NextTV
AMAZON PRIME adds Six Nations Rugby tournament streaming rights in the UK to portfolio of Premiere League soccer rights and major Tennis tournaments (US Open, ATP). /Deadline
UTA adds 2 agents from FULLSCREEN to their Digital Talent group. /Deadline

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

NETFLIX “Stowaway” movie trailer. Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, and Toni Collette get a surprise when they find Shamier Anderson unexpectedly on their ship to Mars. Problem is… only enough life support systems for 3 people. 😬 #awkward. Premieres April 22.

HBO “Our Towns” documentary. About how people are generally more optimistic about the towns where they live vs. how they see the country at large. Premieres Apr 13.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NBC “Superstore” - 1 hour Series Finale at 8p. America Ferrera returning.

Also Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and Pichai doing another Zoom with Congress today. This time about disinformation. Wait - that’s still a problem?

🎧 MUSIC TO READ BY

DREAMERS + Big Boi feat UPSAHL : “Palm Reader” - Snappy new tune, with a chill ska skew. Listen on Spotify / YouTube

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

If you’re new to THE WAKEUP and know someone who would dig it:

Have a great day! If you wanna connect or send a note on LinkedIn - the link in my name brings you there.

-Sean McNulty