Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY December 10, 2021.
Where DISNEY CEO Bob Iger swung by the LA local ABC affiliate KABC yesterday… as all good media moguls do from time to time to make sure no one’s stealing Sharpies, and he was coaxed back to his 1970’s Ithaca, NY weatherman roots to do the forecast, as he continues his farewell to the DISNEY Kingdom at the end of the month. Stay tuned for Bob Chapek’s Sports Beat, right after the break.
If you prefer video: DEADLINE found an IG link someone recorded of their TV here if inclined, or you can watch the link here on the ABC7 website… which took 30 seconds to load in their custom website player… after having to wait for an annoying full screen pop up ad to go away. Way to keep it real old media.
ALSO: AMAZON PRIME will live-stream another concert this month for free, well 2 really – METALLICA’s 40th Anniversary shows on Dec 17 and 19 in SF. Both start at 9p West Coast time.
AND: ADELE is making at least $2 Million a show in her Jan – April weekend residency. All-in that’s about a cool $50 Million for 3 months work. Before ADELE hits the slots naturally.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
Christopher Nolan adds 3 to “Oppenheimer” at UNIVERSAL
Florence Pugh as “Jean Tatlock”, a member of the US Communist Party who has an off & on again affair with Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy)
Benny Safdie as “Edward Teller”, a Hungarian physicist and member of the Manhattan Project who is known as “the father of the hydrogen bomb”
Rami Malek as… a scientist. Sorry Rami that’s all we got.
Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are already also cast of course. /THR
The SUNDANCE 2022 lineup is out
Takes place Jan 20-30th in Park City but there will be an online screening component as well.
The Scripted Film Competition will only have 10 movies, vs the 16 that was the norm pre-pandemic.
Full lists / film descriptions are in the link, but Competition films have talent such as Regina King, Dakota Johnson, Aaron Paul, Common, Michelle Monaghan, and the last movie performance of Michael K. Williams.
Plus Lena Dunham’s next movie will Premiere there, and there are Docs about YE, TIKTOK, an Amy Poehler directed doc “Lucy and Desi”, and a docuseries premiere from W. Kamau Bell called ”We Need to Talk About Cosby”. /THR
Most 2022 UNIVERSAL films can (will) hit PEACOCK PREMIUM 45 days after theatrical release
“Jurassic World : Dominion” and the new “Minions” movie will stick with the close to 4-months-after-theatrical window established in the UNIVERSAL PICS – PEACOCK output deal earlier this year…
But looks like pretty much every other film will hit PEACOCK PREMIUM 6 weeks after they debut in theaters unless their Box Office is a runaway hit, starting with the spy action movie “The 355” that hits theaters Jan 7. So figure that’s on PEACOCK PREMIUM by mid Feb. /THR
ALSO IN MOVIES
Seth Rogen & Elle Fanning in talks to join “Chippendales” biopic at NEW REGENCY (Fox). Dev Patel already on board to play the founder, Steve Banerjee.
Word is Rogen would play the lead choreographer #priceless, and Fanning would play PLAYBOY playmate Dorothy Stratten, who was murdered by one of the CHIPPENDALES co-creators. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
NETFLIX cancels “Cowboy Bebop” after 1 season
Didn’t even need a full month’s worth of streaming data to make the decision (show dropped 3 weeks ago), but – still one of the best TV Series trailers of 2021.
According to NETFLIX’s “minutes watched” metric, viewership dropped 60% from week 1 to week 2. 📉 /THR
FREEFORM orders high-profile animated series “Praise Petey”
Created by Mike Judge, Greg Daniels (“The Office”), and Anna Drezen (SNL head writer). About a NYC “it” girl whose life comes crashing down, as a mysterious gift from her father then gives her a new lease on life – an offer to modernize his small-town cult.
Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) plays “Petey” and John Cho, Christine Baranski and Stephen Root are among the voice cast.
FREEFORM also put 2 other animation series into development, as they add “Family Guy” reruns to their lineup as well as “The Office” in 2022. /THR
NETFLIX sets cast for next series from “Haunting of Hill House” & “Midnight Mass” creator Mike Flanagan
Show is “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and while sadly Usher is not among the cast – it’s pretty pretty good: Frank Langella, Mark Hammill, Carla Gugino, and Mary McDonnell.
8 episodes, featuring several tales from Edgar Allen Poe. /Variety
ALSO IN TV
NETFLIX casts newcomer Aria Mia Loberti to lead 4-part adaptation of best-selling novel “All the Light We Cannot See”. Shawn Levy (“Free Guy”) is directing, Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”) is writing the WWII story of a blind teenager in occupied FRANCE who meets up with a GERMAN soldier. NETFLIX held a worldwide search for a blind and low-vision actress for the role. /THR
IMDBTV gives “Leverage: Redemption” a Season 2. /Variety
IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE
Stephen Colbert names Carrie Byalick as Prez of his production outfit SPARTINA. She transitions into the role after running her own management firm B.COMPANY for the past 5 years. SPARTINA has a 1st look deal at CBS STUDIOS, and 👋👏 if you’re reading today Carrie.
FOX CORP names Lauren Townsend as their new SVP of Comms, reporting into Chief Comms Officer Brian Nick. She most recently headed comms at STARZ. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
PARAMOUNT PLUS adds 18 themed Live Streaming channels
They’ll all be programmed with TV shows you can watch on the service, and channels will be Ad-free. For now. None will have VIACOM cable network branding (MTV, COMEDY CENTRAL etc) but rather 13 will be named by Theme, such as:
24/7 LAUGHS: “Hot in Cleveland,” “Reno 911”, “Tosh.0”, etc
ADULT ANIMATION: “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Celebrity Deathmatch”, “Daria” etc
CRIME & JUSTICE: “Bull,” “Blue Bloods,” “CSI: Miami,” “MacGyver,” “The Good Wife” etc
NOSTALGIC HITS: “Beverly Hills 90210,” “Cheers,” “Frasier,” “Wings” etc
And 4 by Franchises
STAR TREK series, SPONGEBOB, SURVIVOR and THE CHALLENGE channels
You can click a button to stream anything that’s playing “live” back from the start of the episode. Although notable that Movies don’t seem to be included here at all.
Essentially this is a mini-version of sister VIACOM service, free-streamer PLUTO TV… but programmed with all PAR+ content, not lower-rent 3rd party licensed content. NOTE: the guy who started PLUTO is now the head of VIACOM Streaming strategy.
PEACOCK has already done this similar tactic since its launch with ad-supported channels, although those channels are accessible on its free version (PAR+ is subscription only) and it includes movies. /Variety
ALSO IN MEDIA
AMAZON PRIME reportedly having discussions about creating daily studio sports news shows with SONY TV-owned production outfit EMBASSY ROW. /NY Post
NETFLIX launches TUDUM website , which features stories and news about the services’s content. One of the first big manifestations of all the editorial role hiring they did this year (Michelle Lee – fmr editor of ALLURE, Evette Dionne – fmr editor of BITCH Media etc). Site is here https://www.netflix.com/tudum /THR
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
ROKU came down to earth a bit, -8% from its huge boom yesterday ($235.09)
ROBLOX -7%, also down after a big-ish day, ($116.30)
AMC THEATERS -9% ($29.46) #omicron
ALTICE -5% as concern over heavily slowing Broadband additions in 2022 grows
BUZZFEED -23%. I kinda feel bad even writing about it at this point ($5.87)
👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday – Saturday – Sunday)
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
DISNEYFOX “West Side Story”
NETFLIX “Don’t Look Up” in limited theaters
AMAZON PRIME “Being the Ricardos” in limited theaters
STX “National Champions” – Collegiate sports drama with Stephan James and JK Simmons
A24 “Red Rocket” – Simon Rex porn star returns to his Texas hometown movie that was a hit on the film fest circuit this year
STREAMING:
MOVIES
NETFLIX “The Unforgivable” – Sandra Bullock woman just released from prison drama. Stream or Add to Your List here (Also in limited theaters)
AMAZON PRIME “Encounter” – Riz Ahmed takes his young sons to escape alien forces that have infiltrated humanity. Stream or Add to Your List here
SERIES
HULU “Crossing Swords” Season 2 – Animated series from the “Robot Chicken” guys, all 10 episodes up today. Stream or Add to Your List here
NETFLIX “Saturday Morning All Star Hits!” – Kyle Mooney 80s morning show parody. Stream or Add to Your List here
ROKU CHANNEL “Punk’d” Season 2 – CHANCE THE RAPPER is back to host a new season, featuring Tiffany Haddish, Adam Devine, Lil Nas X, and Odell Beckham Jr… although pretty sure the BROWNS already took care of the punking this season. Stream or Add to Your List here
HBOMAX “Mr Saturday Night” – Bill Simmons Music Box docu on music & film mogul Robert Stigwood as he put together “Saturday Night Fever”. Although from the reviews… it sounds like it’s a bit thin. Too bad. Stream or Add to Your List here
SATURDAY
NBC SNL – Billie Eilish and… Billie Eilish
SUNDAY
New “60 Minutes” at 7p on CBS
NBC Sunday Night Football – BEARS at PACKERS at 8p
WEEKEND READS
DENZEL: This NY TIMES Maureen Dowd profile piece on Denzel got some notices earlier this week if you missed it, showcasing where Denzel Washington is at in his career, including the large role faith plays in his life, and his increasing emphasis on providing mentorship to younger actors. Plus he apparently doesn’t watch TV.
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
HBOMAX “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” Series teaser trailer – This spot is fantastic – big 🙌 to my former HBO Marketing folks on this one. And to Adam McKay’s cinematographer. Excited for this one.
Although these HBO Series trailer endcards that… don’t even mention that it’s airing on HBO (they just say “streaming on HBOMAX”), and the fact that this is on the HBOMAX YouTube page vs. the HBO one, both fascinates… and confuses me. Premieres on HBO, Streams on HBOMAX in March TBD.
NETFLIX “Cobra Kai” Season 4 trailer – Drops New Years Eve
PARAMOUNT PICS “Sonic The Hedgehog 2” trailer – In theaters April 8
AMAZON PRIME “Yearly Departed” trailer – Comedy special hosted by Yvonne Orji with female comedians looking back at / roasting the year that was. Premieres Thu Dec 23
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
A little Friday holiday cheeah from our friends in Boston, one of my favorite newer uh, classics (?) from the DROPKICK MURPHYS “The Season’s Upon Us”.
Listen to the song here on SPOTIFY or:
If you need new tunes:
Email me anytime – just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-SEAN MCNULTY
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM
