☀️UNI Pairs Glen Powell, Barry Jenkins for Sci-Fi Pic
APPLE gets more ‘Lasso’ / BLACKSTONE 👀 HELLO SUNSHINE options / Olympics 💰 bump for NBCU
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKEDIN if ya like or email me seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, March 14, 2025.
Where who wants to go to Orlando in June? Please folks, not all at once.
But if you want to check out UNIVERSAL’s new EPIC theme park — it’ll run you $135 to $200 per day for each family member above 3 years old. #PayUpAmerica!
So uh, maybe eat before ya go (you’ll have plenty of time to digest on the lines).
BUT: Maybe see if CHARTER CEO Chris Winfrey can take you? He’s probably good for it.
His 2024 comp package was $5.75M — although thanks to a stock option package in 2023, that compensation was $89M the year before. So yeah, totally go for the $13 bottle of water instead of the $9 one.
OR: Perhaps ask Jason Sudeikis — APPLE TV+ just officially renewed Ted Lasso for a season 4 with Sudeikis in tow. 🤑 No further details if he’ll be in all episodes, but Deadline puts episode 1 in Kansas, with the rest back in the U.K.
ALSO: Dick Wolf’s son Elliot has created WOLF GAMES, which focuses on using AI to create daily murder mystery mobile games. Dick, Jimmy Iovine and UTA Chairman Paul Wachter were the pre-seed round investors, and the company just raised a $4M seed round. Check out the AI realism in the trailer that . . . definitely does not feature any real actors.
OH: Remember when billionaire newspaper & digital news organization owners were seen as a savior for the industry? Yeah, good times. 😂
The latest L.A. Times folly according to Status appears to be including an item in a recent LAT daily news pod about how a drug company is saving lives. What’s that? Mention that the drug company is owned by LAT owner Patrick Soon-Shiong? I mean, is that really necessary?
THEN: It’s always a sign that “We are very confident in our business practices” when a company like, say, oh I dunno, META, decides to enforce a gag order in a severance agreement from . . . 8 years ago for an employee that subsequently wrote a book about your company’s questionable business practices. Thankfully her publisher MACMILLAN is not party to that agreement.
YEAH: Ya know, I’m not too sure exactly how far Elon’s influence is going in the new pay-to-play political era — the FTC has sent new requests to OMNICOM and INTERPUBLIC for more documents relating to their pending $13B merger. The WSJ reported last month that an X attorney, uh, encouraged the companies to increase their buying on X as their deal entered the Feds scrutiny phase. 😉
TESLA also sent a letter to a U.S. trade representative saying essentially, oh yeah, uh, those China tariffs are gonna have “disproportionate impacts” on its business, according to the FT.
Although I’m not sure that has anything to do with a recurring problem of the exterior trim parts on Cybertrucks seemingly having trouble staying attached to the vehicles.
OR: Maybe just drink ’em while ya got ’em? As the WSJ breaks down how those proposed 200% EU alcohol tariff would affect pricing — namely your bottle of VEUVE would go from something like $50 to $90. But a NYC sommelier reminded us of what I’m sure is the proper average American common man perspective on the reality:
“You don’t just switch to American wine. You drink French wine for a reason.”
OK: Fine, maybe we just go to enjoy the symphony to escape it all? Ah dammit . . . 🤦♂️
FINALLY: Some actual good news — radio DJ / music biz personality Matt Pinfield is out of the ICU and in a rehab facility. He shared a message that he is on the mend after 2 months of being unresponsive due to suffering a debilitating stroke that put him in a coma in January.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
WAKEUP POLL
Wow, pretty even spread here on Novocaine. I’m keeping a good thought with the 38%.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
