WWE board investigating large undisclosed settlements paid out to former employees
Seinfeld sets huge cast for NETFLIX Pop Tart pic / Denzel & Dakota reteam for SONY pic / New BEYONCE ups yesterday's Gosling
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY June 16, 2022.
Where… I’m pretty sure we’re all still thinking about this.
That of course being the first solo image of Ryan Gosling, totally not posing or flexing as “Ken” in the upcoming “Barbie” movie at WB co-starring Margot Robbie. WB Merch group better get moving on those “Ken” boxer-briefs before the pic hits theaters in about a year.
BUT: I’m sure we’ll all be talking about this in about 6 weeks - BEYONCE set July 29 for her next album “RENAISSANCE”… part 1, so take from that what you will.
ALSO: Beanie Feldstein & Jane Lynch are both leaving “Funny Girl” on Sept 25, after the show got just one TONY nom.
PLUS: A slainté to Tom Hiddleston & Zawe Ashton who are now engaged to be married 💍.
HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: For new Wakeup readers, as a couple folks have inquired about links for items - the underlined Headline for each main item in each section also contains the link to the source story.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
SONY sets Dakota Fanning to re-team with Denzel in “The Equalizer 3”
Antoine Fuqua returning to direct, pic currently has a Sept 2023 release date but no real plot details avail. /Deadline
Seinfeld’s directorial debut“The Pop-Tart Story” at NETFLIX sets huge cast
Melissa McCarthy, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Jim Gaffigan, and James Marsden… as well as Tom Lennon, Bobby Moynihan, Jack McBrayer, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater, Adrian Martinez and Sarah Cooper.
And Jerry Seinfeld. It’s inspired by a Seinfeld joke about the invention of Pop-Tarts: Set in 1963 Michigan, where rivals KELLOG’S and POST compete to create the infamous pastry. /Variety
ALSO IN MOVIES
LIONSGATE moves “Are you There God? It’s Me Margaret” from Sept 16 to April 2023. /Deadline
SONY PICS CLASSICS buys “Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” docu, about the 86 year-old PULITZER Prize winning author and his 91 year-old editor as they work to finish Caro’s final volume of his “The Years of Lyndon Johnson” project 📙.
Directed by Robert’s daughter Lizzie. Just played TRIBECA, no price disclosed, SPC has global rights. /Variety
HOLLYWOOD BUSINESS AFFAIRS
UK is getting a new talent agency - MAISON TWO, founded by former TROIKA agency co-founder Michael Duff. He’ll represent Juno Temple (“Ted Lasso”), Michaela Coel (“I Will Destroy You”), Matt Smith (“Doctor Who”) and Karen Gillan (“Jumanji” pics) to start. /Deadline
If you’d like to Share this newsletter 🤝 or Post on Socials - here’s a handy button:
📺 THE TV SET
APPLE TV+ sets Billy Crystal to lead limited series “Before”
Barry Levinson directing, about a recently widowed child psychiatrist who encounters a troubled young boy. /Deadline
AMAZON sets Gina Rodriguez to lead “Last Known Position” series
Based on a QCode mystery podcast, about a state of the art plane that goes missing while making its initial trip over the Pacific, when evidence of a “creature of the deep” surfaces as possibly playing a role during the investigation 🐉.
Unclear if this has a series order or just in ‘development’. Gina also voiced the lead in the podcast. /Deadline
PAR+ sets “Cobra Kai”’s Peyton List to star in YA series “School Spirits”
Based on a graphic novel about a high school girl stuck in the afterlife investigating her mysterious disappearance with…other students are in the same “limbo” situ 👻.
Think “limbo” also describes my high school experience pretty accurately… although I decidedly did not hang around with anyone who looked like Peyton List. Oliver Goldstick (former EP of “Pretty Little Liars”) is showrunning. /THR
ALSO IN TV
APPLE TV+ renews “Swagger” for a Season 2. /Variety
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
SPOTIFY is slowing new hiring rate by 25% for the rest of 2022
Still filling open heads… but just not so quickly. For now. We’ll see how the Q2 earnings call goes this Summer. /Variety
VICE is also “slowing down” on new hires according to CNN. To reiterate my Q2 assesment after the Q1 earnings calls in April… it’s gonna be dark.
WWE’s Board is looking into previously undisclosed settlement payments to employees
The board has hired an outside law firm to look into this new-to-them info… including a $3 Million payment to a woman with whom Vince McMahon had an affair.
Other more broadly described payments to other employees are outlined in the piece. /WSJ
ALSO IN MEDIA
AMAZON PRIME adds Richard Sherman as analyst in broadcast team for ”Thursday Night Football” this Fall. /The Wrap
The stock for BTS’s Korean music label / empire HYBE dropped 28% yesterday after the big “hiatus” announcement, after which HYBE blamed the English translation on what BTS said… issuing this very reassuring statement which I can only imagine was made in the voice of Kevin Bacon’s character at the end of “Animal House” :
“BTS are not taking a hiatus. Members will be focusing more on solo projects at this time.”
#alliswell!!!
Get The Wakeup as part of your subscription to The Ankler:
Hits your inbox weekdays by 830am (ish) East Coast time
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
Mortgage rates are about to boom… but WALL STREET was happy to see the FED take serious steps to dial down inflation. In theory.
AMAZON +5% ($107.67)
WWE +5% ($67.18)
WBD +6% ($14.85)
NETFLIX +7% ($180.11)
SPOTIFY +7% ($105.35)
AMC THEATERS +7% ($12.77)
ROBLOX +10% ($28.90)
ROKU +11% ($83.00)
SNAP +11% ($13.20)
🎙NEW ANKLER Podcast Episode
A fresh episode of Rob Long’s MARTINI SHOT pod is up, entitled “Pitch Face” - all about how to read the hidden messages when pitching an idea in a Hollywood conference room.
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
ABC NBA Finals Game 6 at 9p
HBOMAX “Father of the Bride” - STREAM HERE
PEACOCK “Rutherford Falls” - Season 2, all 8 episodes - STREAM HERE
BET+ “Martin” reunion - STREAM HERE
TRU TV “Impractical Jokers” at 10p
FX “The Old Man” - Jeff Bridges show, at 10p
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
AMAZON PRIME “My Policeman” movie teaser trailer - With you know who. Gotta think this’ll be the hot ticket at VENICE or TIFF. or both. IN LIMITED THEATERS OCT 21, hits PRIME on Nov 4
NETFLIX “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical” teaser trailer - PREMIERES somewhere around Christmas.
PARAMOUNT+ “Tulsa King” series 30 sec promo - Brief look at Stallone’s new mob series, PREMIERES SUN NOV 13
HULU “Maggie” series trailer - This was previously an ABC show that was moved to HULU, about a young single woman who’s also a psychic 🔮 which…. complicates things when she starts to see her own destiny when she meets a guy. PREMIERES WED JULY 6 (all episodes)
NETFLIX “Beauty” movie trailer - Story of a young Black woman trying to maintain her identity as she becomes an on-the-rise singer. Written by Lena Waithe, stars Niecy Nash, Giancarlo Esposito, Gracie Marie Bradley and Sharon Stone. PREMIERES WED JUNE 29
HBOMAX “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” series teaser - PREMIERES THU JULY 28
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
Gonna go with some FOO FIGHTERS today as the guest lineup announcements for the FOO FIGHTERS concerts in London on Sept 3, and LA on Sept 27 are bringing some heavy hitters.
LA tix go on sale here tomorrow at 9a PT, and London tix are here tomorrow at 9a UK time.
LONDON
Liam Gallagher (OASIS)
Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor (QUEEN)
Dave Chappelle
Chrissie Hynde
DOING BOTH LONDON & LA
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (RUSH)
Stewart Copeland (THE POLICE)
Josh Homme (QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE)
Chris Chaney (JANE’S ADDICTION)
Wolfgang Van Halen
Mark Ronson
Omar Hakim
Taylor Hawkins cover band CHEVY METAL
LA’s show on SEPT 27:
Miley Cyrus
Alanis Morissette
Gene Simmons
Joan Jett
Chad Smith (RHCP)
Brad Wilk (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE)
Nikki Sixx (MOTLEY CRUE)
If you need some new tunes:
Email me anytime - just Reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-SEAN MCNULTY
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
