☀️TIFF Buying, A-List Packages Heat Up Pre-Fest
☀️TIFF Buying, A-List Packages Heat Up Pre-Fest
R-rated comedy finds life on NETFLIX / College 🏈's big TV ratings wknd / CHARTER & AMC seal streaming deal
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY, September 4, 2024.
Where once every 3 to 4 months, I log into my FB account to see if anyone has sent me a message there trying to reach me, for naught (see: logging in once every 3 to 4 months).
I also do a scroll in the Newsfeed for about 5 minutes or so . . . mostly to remind me what hot garbage this thing is (and see how much some of my fellow young Gen Xer contingent still apparently use this as their main social media 🤯).
Posts from actual people I’m connected with made up about 50% of the feed, with the the rest being:
NY & NJ history accounts (that I don’t follow)
Things related to baseball (a sport I generally don’t watch)
A lotta clickbait garbage from very odd accounts (anyone follow “I Bet This Will Blow Your Mind”?)
No less than five posts of topless women breastfeeding — I have no idea what FB is trying to tell me . . . but I have zero doubt that this is 100% indicative of the level that FB has sunk to in 2024 in order to “increase engagement.”
So . . . how exactly are we losing to this, Hollywood? This is a f’ing hot mess, and I further understand why AMAZON is really focusing on sports to increase share in the ad business vs. its fellow tech titans. See ya in December, FB Newsfeed.
WELL: Never call print media lazy — add the NY TIMES to the list of companies doing a subscription price hike. A digital news subscription will now cost you $23 a month, a 15% hike. 😳
THEN: The Apprentice filmmakers have launched a KICKSTARTER to raise $100k to help promote the movie — I mean, hey, hitting folks up for a marketing budget works for ANGEL Studios. $3,500 for Sebastian Stan’s Trump toupee anyone? Or maybe just $500 to put your name in the credits.
It’s already at $127k — think they set the bar too low.
The film has an Oct. 11 release plan via BRIARCLIFF.
AND: SONY will world premiere Here on October 25 at the AFI as the Centerpiece Gala. It hits theaters on November 15.
SO: Here’s what happens when the tech group is favored over what those yahoos over in marketing say — MICROSOFT’s latest Windows PCs with AI use chips that . . . are incompatible with many top video games like Fortnite and League of Legends. Have fun at the corporate retreat, fellas.
PLUS: X’s valuation took another -4% hit at FIDELITY, which once again cut the value of its investment in the company. To date, it has put its losses at -72%. Don’t worry, I’m sure X’s new dedicated video app will turn things around.
ALSO: Alex Cooper is doing some West Coast dates of her Unwell Tour starting later this month, and ending in L.A. on October 10. Tix on sale here tomorrow.
OH: CNN has re-enlisted Brian Stelter as a Chief Media Analyst, and he’ll restart the Reliable Sources newsletter on Monday. He departed the network about 2 years ago. /THR
AH: CBS Mornings is indeed launching a 3rd hour on September 30, to be hosted by Tony Dokoupil and Adriana Diaz. It’ll stream on the CBS NEWS app, and air on select CBS O&O stations to start.
NOTE: AGBO is doing its annual No Sleep 'Til film festival on Friday, September 27, when AGBO will announce a theme, and folks then have 48 hours to shoot/submit an under 3-minute short film for the competition. Winners are selected by the Russo Bros. and AGBO execs.
FINALLY: The BOFA Media Conference lineup today (link to listen in each participant’s name, times in ET):
11:20a: Jessica Fischer, CHARTER CFO (Think DISNEY will come up?)
1:20p: Dennis Matthews, ALTICE CEO
3:35p Gunnar Wiedenfels, WBD CFO
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
Early TIFF sales
Eh, who needs a festival to begin officially before buying movies?