Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY June 23, 2021.

Where let’s have our mid-week morning coffee at Kate Winslet’s NYC apartment in Chelsea. Well - she won’t be there, she just sold it for $5.3 Million… so bring your own Dunkin. And gotta say that’s one classy NYC bathroom in the link for any bathroom enthusiasts (that’s really not the term for that is it 🤔).

BTW the median price for a home in the US crossed $350k for the first time ever this month. That’s +24% from last year.

ALSO: Britney addresses the court in her conservatorship case today…

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

DISNEY casts Rachel Zegler (“Maria” in December’s “West Side Story”) as “Snow White” in upcoming live-action pic

Will be directed by Marc Webb (“The Amazing Spider-Man”, “500 Days of Summer”), and shoot 2022 TBD. Rachel also has a role in the upcoming “Shazam” sequel at WB. /Deadline

Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody & Riley Keogh starring in a “Fight Club”-esque thriller

Called “Manodrome” - UBER driver & aspiring bodybuilder (Eisenberg) is introduced to a Libertarian masculinity cult and loses his grip on reality. Yup that’ll do it.

Rights to be sold at CANNES next month, CAA repping US sale. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

• Next PARAMOUNT “Transformers” movie will be called “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”. Just starting production, starring Anthony Ramos, directed by Stephen Caple Jr. (“Creed II”). Overall plot details in the link for the inclined. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

FX ON HULU sets Kate Mara & Brian Tyree Henry for limited series

Called “Class of ‘09”, about the FBI class of 2009 at Quantico as they reunite following the death of a friend in a “near future” world, where criminal justice has been transformed by AI.

8 episodes, written by Tom Rob Smith (FX’s ACS: “The Assassination of Gianni Versace”). No timeline indicated. /Variety

APPLE TV+ adds Glenn Close to “Tehran” Season 2

She’ll play a Brit living in Tehran, but not much else known about the season. Will begin shooting “soon” and air in 2022. /Variety

NETFLIX orders 2 seasons of dating show “Sexy Beasts” narrated by Rob Delaney

People go on blind dates… dressed up as various animals 🐼 & creatures 🦄 using professional prosthetics. Participants will go on 3 dates and only see their dates after they’ve picked the one they liked most. I mean it’s no “Studs” but I’m in.

6 episode Season 1 will premiere Wed July 21. /Variety

ALSO IN TV

• HULU renews “Solar Opposites” for Season 4. Season 3 not airing until 2022. /Variety

• SHOWTIME renews late night series “Ziwe” for Season 2. Will air in 2 different six episode installments - guessing there’s some reason why we can’t just call them Seasons 2 and 3… but above my paygrade. Timelines TBD. /Variety

• NETFLIX renews “Somebody Feed Phil” food / travel show for Season 5. Will have 10 episodes, no timeline indicated. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

TWITTER accounts can now apply to participate in new “Super Follows” and “Ticketed Events” functions

• “Super Follows” is essentially their PATREON - people can subscribe to TWITTER accounts for exclusive content outside of free TW-feed tweets. Creators / accounts can charge either $3, $5, or $10 a month. Presumably TWITTER’s recently acquired newsletter service REVUE will be incorporated here at some point. Details here on TWITTER

• “Ticketed Events” is essentially their paid CLUBHOUSE - pay to get access to audio events / talks held by accounts. Tickets can be anywhere from $1 to $999 for an event. Details here on TWITTER

Both are US-only and Mobile-only for now.

Creators / accounts will keep 97% of revenue until they hit $50k in a year, then TWITTER will up their cut to 20% on all revenue above the $50k.

ALTHOUGH… that’s only based on the money left after APPLE and GOOGLE take their hard earned 30% of your revenue off the top.

So that headline again: Creators will get to keep 2/3rds of the revenue they generate on both products up to $50k. Then - it’ll be half.

APPLE already has over $200 Billion of cash on hand in 2021, GOOGLE $135 Billion. /Variety

AMAZON - MGM deal will face FTC review

Deal was either going to be reviewed by the Justice Dept or FTC, and FTC taking it because it already has an open investigation on AMAZON into their business tactics (mainly focused on their Marketplace business).

The other eyebrow is raised because the FTC has a brand new leader Lina Khan who has been critical of AMAZON’S business in the past. Either way - a quick deal approval is not expected. /WSJ

ROKU sets sights on Europe to expand their US branded Smart TV dominance

Partnering again with Chinese electronics company TCL to launch ROKU-powered Smart TV’s in the UK this month, with eventual expansion in Europe and also South America.

While ROKU/TCL has become the #1 selling Smart TV brand in the US, SAMSUNG has a sizable lead over all players in the Smart TV market in Europe, and GOOGLE is a large player as well when smart speakers and other products are included. /NextTV

ALSO IN MEDIA

• NETFLIX takes another step into gaming with a ROBLOX deal for a“Stranger Things” Starcourt Mall game that has additional show-themed game extensions. /Variety

• Jemele Hill expands her SPOTIFY deal to create podcast network focused on Black women. Will be called “The Unbothered Network”, no speicific projects mentioned. Hill’s SPOTIFY podcast also renewed for a 3rd season. /THR

• UK Producer Kate Horton replacing Scott Rudin in upcoming production of “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. Kate will produce the show alongside Barry Diller and David Geffen. /THR

• FUSE MEDIA launching subscription FUSE+ service for $2 / month. Avail on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Channels, will go wider in the Fall. /THR

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Speaking of ROKU… their stock continues to go on a tear this month 🚀 up another 5% yesterday, and up 20% in June alone.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NETFLIX “Too Hot to Handle” - First 4 episodes.  Watch or Add to your List here. Final 6 episodes drop next Wed June 30.

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

WARNER BROS “The Suicide Squad” movie trailer. Hits theaters and HBO MAX on Fri Aug 6.

HULU “Only Murders In the Building” teaser trailer. Premieres Tue Aug 31.

NETFLIX “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” Season 2 trailer. The sketch comedy show returns on Wed July 6.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New RAYE - “Call On Me”. Just a fun bouncy dance track if you need a new addition to a spin / running / workout playlist.

Listen to the song here on Spotify or:

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-Sean McNulty

@theseanmac on TWITTER

@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM

or also here on CLUBHOUSE