Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY February 17, 2022.

Where DISNEY is now getting into the home building business… building its first community in Rancho Mirage (near Palm Springs), including a separate 55+ community for grandparents looking for a new way to lure their families who don’t visit anymore.

Initially I was 😏 about this… until I thought about how many people I know that would totally move into a DISNEY-based community.

ALSO: Tim Cook’s $99 Million 2021 compensation package may be in trouble! 😢

Well ok not really since the board is never gonna reject it… but a group of APPLE shareholders is now on the record as encouraging the board to reject Cook’s compensation package, saying that the $82 Million stock-grant package is too much. I mean come on - you try paying rent in Palo Alto.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

WB sets John Cena to star in “Coyote vs. Acme” live action+CGI pic

About a down-on-his-luck attorney taking on Wile E. Coyote as a client in a lawsuit against ACME over its defective products… when said lawyer finds out his boss at his old firm is defending ACME. Cena plays the old boss.

Dave Green (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”) is directing, James Gunn is among the producers, begins shooting late next month. /THR

• ALSO: HBOMAX renewed “Peacemaker” for Season 2. The season 1 finale drops today. /THR

STX sells Chris Pine - Ben Foster international action pic “The Contractor” to SHOWTIME / PARAMOUNT

PAR will release in limited theaters and PVOD same day on April 1 (same day STX was to release it). SHOWTIME will get the movie later in the year TBD.

No word on price, trailer below in the TRAILER HOUSE. /Deadline

Mindy Kaling sets AMAZON PUBLISHING deal to set up her own imprint with PRIME VIDEO tie-in

Will be called MINDY’S BOOK STUDIO 📖simply enough, and will publish novels from emerging and established diverse voices, with an emphasis on projects that can be made into AMAZON MOVIES.

One has to think an AUDIBLE component could very well come into play here too either for podcasts or audiobooks, although that wasn’t stated in the announcement.

Mindy has a separate deal for TV over at WBTV, where she has the “Sex Lives of College Girls” series. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

• WB adds Kate McKinnon to “Barbie” movie with Margot Robbie & Ryan Gosling, plus America Ferrera and Simu Liu. Still no word on roles outside of Barb & Ken. /Deadline

• M. Night Shyamalan adds Rupert Grint and Nikki Amuka-Bird to his next UNI pic “Knock At The Cabin” starring Dave Bautista. Full plot details in the link. Just kidding. There’s nothing. But - will hit theaters in a year. /Deadline

IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE

• Margot Robbie’s LUCKY CHAP production co names MEDIA RES exec Dani Gordon as their new Head of TV. They produced “Maid” at NETFLIX and “Dollhouse” and THE upcoming “Iron Mike” at HULU. /Deadline

• Former WME agent Brian DePersia signs Mahershala Ali, Caitriona Balfe & Tobias Menzies as his first clients at his new management shingle CONTAGION. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

NETFLIX sets Keri Russell to star in new drama series “The Diplomat”

She’ll play a career diplomat who gets a high-profile job she’s unqualified for right in the middle of an international crisis, repurcussions ensue.

Created by Debora Cahn (”Homeland” writer). Will shoot in the UK. /THR

ALSO IN TV

• SHOWTIME sets Quentin Tarantino to narrate “Super Pumped” season 1 about UBER, premiering next Sunday. /Deadline

• HULU gets Paul Reiser to replace Michael McKeon in new Steve Levitan show “Reboot”. Judy Greer also replaced Leslie Bibb from the pilot as well, as Levitan reconceived both characters afterward. It’s the series about a reboot of a fictional sitcom from the early 2000s with Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, and Rachel Bloom, Reiser plays the show’s creator. /Variety

• COMEDY CENTRAL renews Tha God’s Honest Truth With Charlamagne tha God” for a season 2. The Colbert-produced show will return this Summer. /THR

• HBOMAX cancels animated Royals series “The Prince” after 1 season. /Deadline

• NETFLIX sets Melissa Fumero (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) to co-star with Randall Park in their BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO store in America sitcom “Blockbuster”. /Variety

📝 IN OTHER WORDS

“Death Row will be an NFT label,” said Snoop. “We will be putting out artists through the metaverse…”

-SNOOP DOGG revealing his plan behind buying DEATH ROW… without also getting any of the music. Then again if I just got people to pay me $5000 for one of 1400 versions of a single I just dropped… I’d probably lean in this direction too

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

PARAMOUNT stock dives 17% on earnings news

Wall Street basically saw through the 326 content announcements Tuesday, saying… yeah - they’re gonna lose a lotta money for at least the next two years, and that a good portion of the new content announced won’t even kick in til 2024 (“South Park” return, the PARAMOUNT movies off EPIX thing, etc). Some financial analyst reactions in the link 👆for the inclined.

Unlike PEACOCK… PARAMOUNT doesn’t have a robust Broadband & Cable TV business to fall back on to steady the ship financially during the deep streaming content investment phase.

PLUS: A correction from yesterday - VIACOMCBS lost $1 Billion on Streaming in 2021, expects to lose $1.5 Billion this year, and even more so TBD in 2023.

• AND: AMC NETWORKS stock fell 15% based on a not exactly sizable streaming growth, coupled with lower net profit. Although I’m sure the acquisition vulture traders will drift back into it over time.

ALSO IN MEDIA

• TELEVISA-UNIVISION calls streaming service VIX, will have pay & free versions. Free launches March 31, subscription later in the year. Replaces current brand PRENDE TV. /Deadline

• SPOTIFY buys podcast analytics firms PODINSIGHTS and CHARTABLE in a bid to up their ad-sales game. /Variety

• CNN+ giving Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” show a daily edition, in addition to his Sunday CNN show (and pod and newsletter).

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

ROBLOX -26% ($53.87) (missed guidance on earnings report, user growth kinda stagnates at 49.5 Million DAU)

LIONSGATE -5% ($13.69)

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👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

Looks like its a book day.

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HBO “The Larry David Story” documentary trailer - 2 part documentary, looks like a convo between Larry Charles & Larry is the centerpiece. Premieres Tue Mar 1.

AMAZON PRIME “The Boys Presents: Diabolical” series trailer - Animated spinoff featuring stories set in the show’s universe. Premieres Fri Mar 4

PARAMOUNT/SHOWTIME “The Contractor” trailer - In theaters and PVOD on April 1

HBOMAX “Our Flag Means Death” series trailer - From Taika Waitii, starring Rhys Darby (“Murray” in “Flight of the Conchords”). Premieres Thu Mar 3

HBO “Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches” docu trailer - 6 actors (Nicole Beharie, Colman Domingo, André Holland, Jonathan Majors, Denzel Whitaker, Jeffrey Wright) bring 5 of Douglass’s speeches to life. Premieres next Thu Feb 23

NBC “The Courtship” reality dating series trailer - “Bridgerton” meets “The Bachelor”. yeah that does it. Formerly a PEACOCK exclusive, now Premieres on NBC Sunday March 6

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New MARY J “Good Morning Gorgeous” - #funfact that’s how I start my day before I dive into the morning newsletter update.

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