Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY February 11, 2022.
Where SNOOP DOGG bought DEATH ROW RECORDS this week from a BLACKSTONE private equity-backed firm MNRK Music Group (though just the brand – no music rights are included).
No price or deal terms revealed because that’s how they roll… And by they I mean BLACKSTONE.
THEN: SNOOP also dropped 25,000 “Stash Boxes” for sale on Wednesday, and no they’re not full of weed… they’re full of NFT’s. 90’s Snoop > 2020’s Snoop. Each “box” contains (among other items) an NFT for 1 of the 17 tracks from his new album B.O.D.R., with 1,470 NFTs existing for each song.
Each box can be purchased for the low, low price of… $5000 each. Which would net $125 Million total if all sold. This all just has to end terribly doesn’t it?? #$noopDoggyDogg
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
SONY buys Tom Hanks movie for $60 Million
Global rights, called “A Man Called Otto”, remake of a hit 2017 Swedish film about a grumpy widower who strikes a reluctant friendship with new neighbors and undergoes a subtle transformation.
Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland”, “Quantum of Solace”) directing, about to start shooting. /Deadline
MGM gives Zendaya $11+ Million payday to star in tennis drama “Challengers”
Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”) directing, no further plot details reported. /Puck (no link avail)
FOCUS FEATURES sets July 29 release for “Vengeance” directed by BJ Novack
A “darkly comic thriller” starring Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher, from BLUMHOUSE.
About an NYC journalist / podcaster who road trips to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with. /Variety
ALSO IN MOVIES
MGM sets Joel Edgerton to lead the cast of Clooney’s next directorial effort “The Boys in the Boat”. About the 1936 University of Washington underdog men’s rowing team that won gold at the Berlin Olympics, based on the best-selling book. /Deadline
SONY sets Shawn Mendes to voice the Crocodile in “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” adaptation starring Javier Bardem and Constance Wu. /Deadline
Paul Weitz (“About a Boy”, “Fatherhood”) directing movie about formative years of comedian Taylor Tomlinson for VILLAGE ROADSHOW. Taylor co-wrote script and will star in the movie.
No studio or streamer attached although ROADSHOW usually puts movies out through WB… but they’re also suing WB over “The Matrix 4”/HBOMAX thing so… who knows. /Variety
Judd Apatow will host the DGA AWARDS on March 12. /THR
IN THE HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE SUITE
WME promotes TJ Bernardy and Chris Fioto to partners in the Talent group. /Deadline
IN OTHER WORDS
“Maybe people just don’t care. I don’t care who wins the automobile awards. No other industry expects everyone to care about what awards they shower upon themselves.”
– SETH ROGEN on why the OSCARS (and presumably awards shows in general) have hit ratings troubles.
📺 THE TV SET
DISNEY+ hits pause on “Beauty & the Beast” prequel series with Gaston and LeFou characters
Josh Gad and Luke Evans were set to reprise their roles from the movie… but the show cites “delays with creative elements and scheduling challenges” including song development, and now… who knows. Gad & Evans may not even participate anymore.
Show got an 8 episode order last Summer and was to shoot this Summer, and had just cast Rita Ora this month, but now… no.
Sounds like they may try again next Summer, as the goal was to shoot when the UK has its “nice weather”😎. /Deadline
STARZ’s “Power Book IV: Force” had the biggest series premiere ever for STARZ on Sunday
Got 3.3 Million viewers across platforms Sunday night – That’s bigger than the “Dexter: New Blood” premiere on SHO last year, and way bigger than “Succession” numbers.
735k linear, 2.6 Million Streaming / OnDemand. /THR
APPLE TV+ orders Dior + Coco Chanel series called “The New Look”
Ben Mendelsohn is Christian Dior, Juliette Binoche is Coco. About the rise of Dior as he dethrones the Grande Dame Coco Chanel in post WWII France.
Created by Todd A. Kessler (co-creator “Bloodline”, “Damages”). /Variety
ALSO IN TV
ABC airing Questlove’s HULU docu “Summer of Soul” in primetime on Sun Feb 20.
IFC releases creative details for the 6 episode, Season 4 of “Documentary Now!”. No premiere date given for this year, but will also air on sister-network AMC. /Deadline
HBO orders series from Julio Torres (“Los Espookys”), called “Little Films”. He’ll also star in the comedy which will tell little stories along the way as a man searches for a lost golden oyster. Julio also set a 2yr first look deal at HBO/MAX. /Deadline
PEACOCK sets Todd Strauss-Schulson (“Harold & Kumar 3”, “Isn’t It Romantic”) to direct first 2 episodes of “Pitch Perfect” spinoff series with Adam Devine. /Deadline
BLEECKER STREET signs 3 year PayTV output deal with SHOWTIME. Will begin with film’s released in March. Adds to SHO’s existing output deals with A24, AMBLIN and STX. /Variety
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
NBCU in final stages of changing its content sharing deal with HULU
Starting this Fall, NBCU is looking to make PEACOCK the exclusive streaming home for many NBC properties like SNL, “The Voice” and shows that it owns that air on the network (“American Auto” etc). Or at least get rid of the “available next day on HULU” aspect.
Details still being finalized and no word how or if this may affect COMCAST’s 25% stake in HULU. /WSJ
AMAZON MUSIC & subsidiary WONDERY make streaming deal for NPR’s “How I Built This” podcast
They’ll sell the ad inventory, and episodes will premiere a week early for WONDERY+ and AMAZON MUSIC subscribers so… no spoilers mmmkay?
Episodes will then air on NPR, who can put their own ads (underwriting) in the radio version, and the show is upping output to 2X a week. /THR
So essentially NPR keeps the ‘broadcast’ rights, AMAZON / WONDERY has the streaming rights. how novel.
ALSO IN MEDIA
DISNEY confirms they are bidding for the NFL SUNDAY TICKET package of games that becomes available starting with the 2023 Season, and if DISNEY is victorious… expect that ESPN+ price to go up just a little bit. /CNBC
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
VIMEO -19% ($11.24)
BUZZFEED +7% ($4.43)
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👩💻 THE FSS FEED:
(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday – Saturday – Sunday)
WEEKEND READS
Bob Odenkirk gets the NYT Magazine treatment, where he also details his heart attack experience last year on the set of “Better Call Saul”, whose final season Part 1 will hit AMC on Monday April 18. Part 2 will be in July.
FRIDAY
IN THEATERS:
UNIVERSAL / PEACOCK “Marry Me” – In Theaters or STREAM HERE
MGM “Cyrano” goes wide – Only in Theaters
DISNEYFOX “Death on the Nile” – Only in Theaters
BRIARCLIFF“Blacklight” – Liam Neeson movie, Only in Theaters
STREAMING:
MOVIES
NETFLIX “Tall Girl 2” – STREAM HERE
PARAMOUNT+ “The In Between” – Joey King supernatural romance – NO Google-able link
APPLE TV+ “The Sky is Everywhere” – A24 pic about a teen girl navigating the loss of her sister and first loves – STREAM HERE
PEACOCK “Copshop” – The Gerard Butler / Joe Carnahan action pic from the Fall hits streaming if you need an action fix – STREAM HERE
SERIES
NETFLIX “Inventing Anna” – Limited series based on the infamous NY MAGAZINE story of a fake socialite – STREAM HERE
NETFLIX “Love Is Blind” Season 2 – STREAM HERE
HULU “Dollface” Season 2 – STREAM HERE
SATURDAY
NBC – More OLYMPICS
SUNDAY
NBC – SUPER BOWL kicks off at 630p, CINCY vs RAMS, also streaming on PEACOCK.
AMC+ “The Walking Dead” Season 11, pt 2 drops in advance of linear premiere – STREAM HERE
PEACOCK “Bel Air” – STREAM HERE
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
NETFLIX “The Adam Project” movie teaser – Although at 3 minutes… teaser is generous. NETFLIX really going for the big screen 4-quadrant action adventure crowd on this, even more so than “Red Notice”, looks promising! Premieres Fri Mar 11
UNIVERSAL “Jurassic World Dominion” trailer – In Theaters June 10. Gonna guess this one’s not going to pivot PEACOCK same day.
SONY “Father Stu” trailer – Opens April 15
NETFLIX “Ali Wong: Don Wong” Special trailer – Premieres.. uh, Monday. Well that’s lead time for ya.
HBOMAX “My Brilliant Friend” Season 3 trailer – Premieres Mon Feb 28
HBOMAX “The Tourist” trailer – I think it’s a limited series? Stars Jamie Dornan (sans ID in the trailer) as a guy who gets run off the road in the Australian outback, loses his memory and… yeah lotta shady stuff ensues. Premieres Tue Mar 1
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
New EDDIE VEDDER solo album “Earthling” drops today, here’s a tune I was digging with some big Stadium vibes.
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
