Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Friday, July 23, 2020.

Where Jordan Peele announced his next movie for UNIVERSAL will be called “Nope”. It’ll hit theaters one year from now, and he revealed all the plot points here- ah no wait… all we have is this poster and that it stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. Yeah that sounds more like it.

ALSO:  COMIC CON AT HOME begins today thru Sunday. Schedule of events is here.

AND: Happy Birthday to my friend Joel! His birthday is easy to remember because it’s always the day after mine. Which is… I suppose how birthdays work really. Also Joel this counts as my gift to you.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN 

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS moving 3 weeks before The OSCARS

The typically day before the OSCARS event held on a Saturday will now be on a Sunday (March 6), 3 weeks before the OSCARS (March 27) and before OSCARS voting season ends, looking to up their influence.

Show will now go live at 8p, still from Santa Monica, but is rumored to be looking for a new TV home other than IFC. /Deadline

• ALSO: NY FILM FEST will open with Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” on Sept 24 at Lincoln Center. The movie stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. A24 putting the film in theaters, will hit APPLE TV+ after that. Fest will be primarily IRL, but also have some TBD outdoor and online components. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

• APPLE TV+ signs director of their SUNDANCE acquisition “Coda” Sian Heder to direct a memoir called “Being Heuman”. Tells the story of noted crusader for federal rights for the disabled Judy Heuman. Ali Stroker will star - she uses a wheelchair for mobility and won a Tony for “Oklahoma!”. Sian also writing the script. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET 

NETFLIX casts Michelle Monaghan to play twins in new show “Echoes” from “13 Reasons Why” creator and others

Twins who have been secretly switching between each other’s lives, including through getting married and having kids, run into a bit of an issue when… one of them disappears. Wait how will we know which one?? Oh…. clever.

Created and written by Vanessa Gazy (“Eden”), “13 Reasons Why” creator Brian Yorkey among showrunning and producer team. /THR

SHOWTIME sets Shailene Woodley to lead new series “Three Women”

Based on the #1 Best Selling book, tells the story of 3 different American women in the midst of change in their lives around their sex lives. Shai will play the writer creating the book (character will have a different name than the author, Lisa Taddeo).

Will shoot this Fall TBD. /Deadline

Sean Penn not returning to STARZ limited series about Watergate, “Gaslit” until all cast & crew are vaccinated

Producer UNIVERSAL CONTENT PRODUCTIONS already has instituted a vaxxed-only policy in “Zone A” on the set, but Penn insisting on extending across everyone, and is also willing to pay for it with his CARE foundation. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

• NETFLIX picks up Kenya Barris-produced docu on Mohammed Ali and Malcolm X, “Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X”. Will premiere Thu Sept 9.

• VIACOM found a show from the 2000s heyday they somehow haven’t revived yet, and ordered a reboot of “The Simple Life”… which is now kinda just Celebrity Big Brother no? But this Fall you can hang with Dennis Rodman, Stormy Daniels, Frankie Muniz, Kim Coles and others on VH1. /Deadline

• HULU doing animated special for “Pen15” series. Will take place after the Season 2, part 1 that was released this year, as they go to Florida on vacation with their families. Hits HULU Fri Aug 27. /Deadline

• Philippa Soo (“Hamilton”) joins APPLE TV+ Elizabeth Moss series “Shining Girls” based on the 2013 best selling book. Moss plays a Chicago reporter who’s attacked, and finds her reality shifting a bit afterward as she searches for the culprit. Also starring Jamie Bell. /Deadline

• PEACOCK sets Damon Wayans Jr. to host “Frogger” game show. 13 episodes, from the producers of ABC’s “Holey Moley”. /THR

• HBOMAX renews “That Damn Michael Che” for a Season 2. /Variety

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ 

SNAPCHAT hits 293 Million Daily Active Users

An increase of 13 Million global users from April to the end of June. They also cut their losses in half, down to about $150 Million. Company took in just under $1 Billion in revenue in the 2nd quarter.

Stock up 17% in after-hours trading. /THR

TWITTER loses 1 million Daily Active Users in the US in the 2nd Quarter

Globally though - they added 9 million Daily users, hitting 208 Million, and took in $1.2 Billion from April thru June.

That’s up 74% from this time last year, and Ad revenue was up 87% - granted this time last year… no so great for Advertising revenue.

• Of note: 50% of TWITTER Ad revenue comes from the US even though it only represents 17 percent of its users… (about 36 Million people in the US now use Twitter on a daily basis).

For reference, FACEBOOK has almost 1.9 Billion daily users globally… so TWITTER & SNAP have about 10% of it’s user size. And as the vast majority of the user growth is coming from outside of the US… the race is on to figure out how to make more money from International users not from rich countries. /CNBC

Former CBS CEO Joe Ianniello is launching a $300 Million SPAC

The longtime Les Moonves regime exec took over when Moonves was fired and left VIACOM CBS soon after, once the merger was done in 2019 with a $125 Million payday.

SPAC will look to acquire a company in the media space, and former CBS comms head Kelly McClintock and former CBS Digital head Marc DeBevoise are joining the company’s management. Company is called ARGUS CAPITAL, named after… the many-eyed giant of Greek mythology. Ah - many Eyes… CBS… got it. /WSJ

ALSO IN MEDIA

• CBS fires heads of their Chicago & LA stations after internal probe into accusations of longtime harrassment & misconduct at their owned-stations division. The head of which (and head of their NYC station) was fired back in April, launching this probe. /LA Times

• HBOMAX likely delaying European launch until early 2022 TBD. Although as HBO’s content is locked up with SKY in most of the big countries… this won’t be a big factor in their subscriber growth. /THR

• NFL teams who have to cancel a game due to a positive covid test from an unvaccinated player will be considered a forfeit this Fall. Team will lose, and players will lose a paycheck for the game . /Deadline

🏦 STOCK NOTES: 

AMC NETWORKS down 5.5%

LIONSGATE down another 6% (down about 25% this month)

AMC THEATERS down almost 9%

👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend)

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

UNIVERSAL “Old” - M Night creeps us out… in the good way.

PARAMOUNT “Snake Eyes” - Origin story spinoff for the character from the GI JOE universe.

AMAZON “Val” - Documentary on Val Kilmer, in theaters. Hits PRIME in August.

STREAMING:

APPLE TV+ “Ted Lasso” Season 2. Watch or Add to your List here

AMAZON PRIME “Jolt” - Kate Beckinsdale high-concept action movie a la “Crank”. Also with Bobby Cannavale, Jai Courtney and Laverne Cox. Watch or Add to your List here

NETFLIX “Sky Rojo” Season 2. Watch or Add to your List here

NETFLIX “Last Letter from Your Lover” movie - Felicity Jones, Shailene Woodley and Callum Turner in a British love story about a 60’s affair, and a present-day journalist who finds the love letters and attempts to find out what happened. Watch or Add to your List here

NETFLIX “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” - Animated reboot of the 80’s cartoon, from Kevin Smith.  5 episode pt1 hits today.  Mark Hamil as Skeletor, also with Sarah Michelle Gellar andd Lena Headey. Watch or Add to your List here

“Zola” available on PVOD

TV

OLYMPICS BEGIN on NBC and PEACOCK.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

Hmm. Maybe finish “Ted Lasso”? Oh wait APPLE TV+ does the weekly episode drop thing don’t they? Well either way - I’ll be at the beach.

But if you’re a Saturday early riser - cheer on the US Women’s Soccer team at the Olympics as they attempt to rebound from their shocking first game loss this week. They play New Zealand at 730am on PEACOCK .

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

WB / HBOMAX “Dune” trailer - Lot more plot in this one vs. earlier ones (although maybe a bit too much? Outlook not look good for Oscar Isaac in this… ), definitely hit the “full screen” button on YouTube to watch this one. And - still sticking to the ol’ HBOMAX same day as theaters on Fri October 22.

COMEDY CENTRAL “Nora From Queens” Season 2 trailer. Premieres Wed Aug 18.

NETFLIX “Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami” trailer - Docuseries on a couple of Miami drug kingpins from the 80’s. Always trust a guy who says “Drug dealing was always something that was natural to me.” Premieres Wed Aug 4.

SHOWTIME “UFO” doc trailer - Exec produced by JJ Abrams, 4 episode docuseries. Premeires Sun Aug 8.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New LIL NAS X- “Industry Baby”.  Co-produced by KANYE, the video references his uh, copyright issues with NIKE earlier this year. Think that screenshot will help the view count?

Listen to the song here on Spotify or:

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

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My apologies for forgetting the H in Michaela Coel’s name yesterday! My hate / hate relationship with (somewhat) silent letters continues. Email me anytime - just hit reply to this email.

-Sean McNulty 

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