Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY July 28, 2021.

Where the full lineup of acts for NYC’s Central Park “WE LOVE NYC” concert on Sat Aug 21 is out - includes LL Cool J (🤞 he brings back the “Jingling Baby” yellow Kangol hat. And yellow shirt. And kelly green pants), plus Kane Brown, Andrea Bocelli, and Barry Manilow, who I also hope wears a yellow Kangol cap. Full list and more details in the link, or uh just scroll down.

80% of tix will be free, but NYC is “keepin’ it NYC”… so there will be a paid ticket VIP section. Tix become avail this Mon Aug 2, or you can just watch it on CNN (or cord cutters will be able to stream for free on CNN GO). Do I need to include that proof of vaxx is needed to enter or… we good on this NYC?

ALSO: Keeping a good thought for Bob Odenkirk who collapsed on the set of “Better Call Saul” last night in New Mexico and was rushed to the hospital.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

NETFLIX buys Will Smith action-thriller project from the director of “Hobbs & Shaw”

Called “Fast & Loose” : Man wakes up in Tijuana with no memory (#beenthere), and begins to sort out that he’s been leading 2 lives - one an undercover CIA agent, the other a drug kingpin. So “Bourne”… but with a lot more blow.

David Leitch directing (also did “Deadpool 2”), no price or timeline indicated but there is a finished script. /Deadline

“Bridgerton” star Rege´-Jean Page starring in PARAMOUNT’s reboot of “The Saint”

Val Kilmer starred as the titular International thief the 90’s version of the movie. Dexter Fletcher (“Rocketman”) was gonna direct Chris Pratt in the movie but that fell apart somewhere around the turn of the year.

Fletcher still may be involved in some capacity (tbd), the script currently undergoing a re-write. /THR

HBOMAX buys SXSW Grand Jury & Audience award winner “The Fallout”

Centers on 2 high school students in the aftermath of a school shooting. Written & Directed by actress Megan Park (her debut film).

Shaliene Woodley, John Ortiz & Julie Bowen have supporting roles, and the soundtrack was done by Finneas O’Connell (Billie Eilish’s brother/producer).

No acquisition price or premiere date listed. /THR

ALSO IN MOVIES

Director Sam Mendes (“1917”) sets Michael Ward to co-star with Olivia Colman in his new SEARCHLIGHT movie “Empire of Light”. Michael was the lead in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe - Lovers Rock” movie. Mendes also wrote this script, a 1980’s love story revolving around a cinema on England’s southern coast. /Deadline
Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) sets “Witness Protection” movie at MRC’s female comedy label. Woman who defines herself by her relationships is suddenly forced to discover who she is when put into, well - see title, all while keeping a low profile under a different name. Two“Schitt’s Creek” writers are doing the script. /Deadline
NY FILM FEST adds Fri Oct 1 “centerpiece screening” of Jane Campion’s new NETFLIX movie “The Power of the Dog”. The 1920’s Montana cattle ranch movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst & Jesse Plemmons. /THR

📺 THE TV SET

This came up when I searched Party Aunt and I couldn’t resist. via Giphy

NETFLIX orders “Chicago Party Aunt” animated series

Lauren Ash (“Superstore”) will play the hard livin’ aunt, and Ike Barinholtz & RuPaul are among the other voices. First 8 episodes will premiere Fri Sept 17, the other 8 TBD. /Variety

TBS orders “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” reboot script

“Schitt’s Creek” co-star Emily Hampshire (she played “Stevie Budd”) will star if TBS orders it to series, and she will also co-write the script. Norman Lear exec producing of course.

Plot updated to be about a small town “nobody” who becomes a social media “somebody” after her nervous breakdown goes viral. /THR

ALSO IN TV

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

(hope you like 💵 and #s! Very Busy day for both. Or just scroll down to the trailers - couple good ones today!)

GOOGLE took in $62 Billion dollars in 3 months, ad biz +69% from last year

$18.5 Billion of that income was profit. But ya know… hey those margins on YOUTUBE TV are getting pretty tight so… Ok yeah I got nothin. This is a gold rush with no competition whatsoever.

YOUTUBE alone took in $7 Billion in revenue, that’s +83% from this time last year. NETFLIX took in $7.3 Billion in same timeframe.

120 Million accounts watch YOUTUBE on their TV at least once a month globally, and connected TV’s are their fastest growing viewing platform. Growing almost as fast as my hatred for VERIZON, GRAMMARLY and VRBO ads. Though I still get occasional ads for HULU’s “Happiest Season” Christmas movie… so that ad money is still well spent 👍. /CNBC

NOTABLY: No updates on YOUTUBE TV streaming bundle subscribers. Last number I saw was 3 Million back in… October of last year. Category leader HULU TV saw a 200k drop in their subscribers back in April to 3.8 Million.

Then APPLE said “hold my 🍺” and took in $82 Billion in 3 months, +32% from last year

They also made $22 Billion in profit, their biggest April thru June profit ever. So yeah… they can afford the free year of APPLE TV+ they just gave me. (can we talk “Ted Lasso” premiere btw? Email me if your face was also this emoji afterward 🤔).

Speaking of which… still absolutely no subscriber or usage metrics for APPLE TV+ or APPLE MUSIC so - moving on. /CNBC

BUT FIRST OF NOTE: Racial justice has only been mentioned on one 2nd qtr earnings call so far this year. Terms related to the topic were mentioned on 500 calls this time last year. /Bloomberg

NBC NEWS NOW free streaming service is hiring 200 heads and expanding live programming hours

Essentially… COMCAST / NBC is doubling down on the streaming news app space before CNN+ launches next year. They’ll add more live weekday programming this year, plus more TODAY branded content, and also launch the app Internationally later this year as well.

More Network talent from NBC and MSNBC (Tom Llamas, Hallie Jackson, etc) will also appear more frequently on NOW. /Axios

TO NOTE: COMCAST-owned SKY already runs the long-existing free global streaming news service SKY NEWS NOW based in the UK. COMCAST was planning to combine efforts into a NBC SKY WORLD NEWS streaming service but those were abandoned last Summer… So we’ll soon have 2 live-streaming global news services… under the same corporate parent.

With NBC NEWS NOW and the dominant CBSN service both free, well promoted and ubiquitous, CNN+ definitely has its work cutout for itself to scale a paid streaming product next year.

SPOTIFY ad revenue +22%, paid subscribers +20% vs 1 year ago

Monthly Global Users (Paid + Free): 365 Million, that’s up 9 Million from April thru June, and +22% from this time last year. However this was actually just slightly below their previous guidance, so the stock is -3% in pre-market trading.

Paid Subscribers: 165 Million, up 7 Million from April thru June, +20% from this time last year. Comparison - that’s pretty much right between DISNEY+ (103 Million) and NETFLIX (209 Million) subscriber bases.

7 million new paid subscribers definitely bigger than NETFLIX’s 1.5 Million 2Q adds (we’ll see about DISNEY next month), but SPOTIFY also didn’t get 2-3 new major competitors in the US over the past year either. None of SPOTIFY’s competitors (APPLE MUSIC, YOUTUBE MUSIC, or AMAZON MUSIC) release subscriber #s.

Avg Revenue Per User (ARPU): $5.07, slightly down but basically flat. This is a mix of subscription revenue from the 165 Mil paid subs, and ad revenue from their 200 Million freeloaders 🙋‍♂️.

TO NOTE: It’s not even close which users are more lucrative 👇

Ad revenue: $324 Million, +110% from this time last year (again keep in mind, the depth of the covid pandemic), This also includes podcast ad revenue.
Subscription revenue: $2.4 Billion, +17% from this time last year.

So - SPOTIFY is primarily a subscription-based service by far, despite 55% of their monthly global users not paying for it, and their big 💰 moves into podcasting. /WSJ

AND A COUPLE MUSIC THINGS

JOHN MAYER’s new “if I made music in the 80s…” album “Sob Rock” opens at #1, mostly due to selling 56k actual albums (vs. singles sales & streaming numbers). For comparison, POP SMOKE’s new 2nd posthumous album came in at #2, selling about 3k actual albums. /Variety
Singer Ryan Adams takes to his Instagram account to beg for a label to take a chance on him, saying he’s about to be broke and soon may be homeless. Ryan was the center of mentally abusive #MeToo stories from his ex Mandy Moore and singer Phoebe Bridgers among others in 2019 and dropped by his label CAPITOL. /Variety

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

SIRIUS +5% on their subscriber news in their earnings call.

Otherwise a relatively quiet but slightly down day across the board.

👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

DISNEY+ ”Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts” - Roundtable interview series hosted by Robin. I couldn’t find the link easily on the Google, so alas… you’re on your own on this one.

NETFLIX “Love is Blind: After the Altar” - 3 episode reunion, including the 2 couples that actually got married in the show on the eve of their 2nd anniversaries. Watch or Add to your List here

FACEBOOK’s earnings call is at 5p today. Get excited for some quality DAU #MediaNerd talk tomorrow AM.

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🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

SONY PICTURES “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” trailer 2. Definitely a more in-depth look at the movie, which also definitely has more action-adventure “Stranger Things” vibes vs Ha-ha / comedy vibes (obviously a good call without Bill Murray in your cast). Hits Theaters on Thanksgiving weekend.

HULU “Only Murders in the Building” trailer. Limited murder-mystery comedy series with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as crime obsessed co-op neighbors who set out to solve a murder in their building. Looks fun! Premieres Wed Aug 31.

FOCUS FEATURES “The Card Counter” trailer. Paul Schrader’s next movie with Oscar Isaac in the title role as a gambler with a… well it looks like a very “diverse” past. Tiffany Haddish & Willem Dafoe co-star. At VENICE in early Sept, in US Theaters on Fri Sept 10.

NETFLIX “Cooking with Paris” trailer. Just me or is there a lotta glitter here for a cooking show? The 6 episodes drop Wed Aug 4.

BET “The Ms Pat Show” series trailer. Show based Ms. Pat’s life - she was a convicted felon who became a stand-up and suburban mom when she got out. Premieres Thu Aug 12.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

New LEON BRIDGES - “Steam”. New single I’m digging off his new album this Summer.

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-Sean McNulty

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The Ankler.

YOUTUBE revenue now nearly matches NETFLIX's