Mornin! Here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY March 30, 2021.
Where the planning for the annual Suez Canal Memorial Day regatta can thankfully get back underway. That was fun.
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
VIACOM dropped almost another 7%, so the freefall is over but not quite bottoming out yet.
Other mini-streamers AMC, DISCOVERY, LIONSGATE all down 1-3% but overall a slightly down day for the market.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
“Godzilla vs Kong” director doing “Thundercats” movie at WB
Adam Wingard will co-write and direct, but it’ll be a Cartoon/CGI take on it, not live action. /Deadline
Armie Hammer dropped from Amma Assante directed WALDEN MEDIA movie
Was supposed to play the lead of Cold War thriller “The Billion Dollar Spy”, but now… no. Mads Mikkelson still set as the other lead. /Variety
LIONSGATE moves up “The Hitman’s Bodyguard 2” from August to June 16
Ryan Reynolds / Sam Jackson / Salma Hayek movie also gets new title: “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard”. Avoids Ryan having 2 movies out in August (“Free Guy” set for Aug 13). /THR
WB moves Hugh Jackman sci-fi thriller “Reminsicence” up a week to Aug 27.
ALSO IN MOVIES
Russell Crowe joins MARVEL’s “Thor: Love and Thunder”. Role TBD but may be more of an extended cameo kinda thing. /Deadline
Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jake Lacy round out Aaron Sorkin’s “I Love Lucy” AMAZON movie “Being the Ricardos” with Nicole Kidman & Javier Bardem. Now shooting in LA. /THR
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL moves to June 9-20, will be series of outdoor IRL events around the 5 boroughs to celebrate its 20th year. /Indiewire
NETFLIX signs first-look Film deal with director Pete Berg/FILM 44 production company. His next project there is an upcoming opioid crisis limited series “Painkiller”. /THR
SONY re-opening Culver City offices June 1st at a limited capacity, but joins the rest of Hollywood in the Labor Day return to full Biz As Usual workplace policy. /Deadline
📺 THE TV SET
DISNEY+ adds 10 cast members to “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series alongside Ewan McGregor & Hayden Christensen
Joel Edgerton, Kumail Nanjiani and O’Shea Jackson among the names. Shooting in April, takes place 10 years after the events of “Revenge of the Sith”. /Variety
HULU sets Amanda Seyfried to play Elizabeth Holmes in THERANOS limited series “The Dropout”
Kate McKinnon dropped out of the role in Feb. Likely shooting this Summer. /THR
ALSO IN TV
STARZ cancels “American Gods” after 3 seasons. Door is open for a movie to tie things up. /Variety
FOX orders Lee Daniels / Karen Gilin (FOX’s “Star”) series “Our Kind of People”. Single mother/entrepreneur finds out family secrets that change everything, set in Black community on Martha’s Vineyard called Oak Bluffs. /Deadline
Newcomer Nate Mann set in a lead role for APPLE TV+ Hanks/Spielberg WWII limited series “Masters of the Air”. /Deadline
ENDEAVOR CONTENT partner/EVP Lorenzo De Maio departs, launches his own company with Freemantle. /THR
FREEFORM Original Programming SVP Lynn Barrie leaving after 3 years. /Deadline
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
T-MOBILE realizes launching a new streaming TV bundle business was terrible idea
Shutting down their TVision offering after just 6 months. Will offer/promote YouTubeTV & PHILO packages to customers instead starting in May. /Variety
ALSO IN MEDIA
PELOTON and VERZUZ set partnership – creating special VERZUZ rides with songs from 2 artists, where riders can also vote for their favorite using the “Tag” function. Monica vs Brandy kicks it off this week, class list in the link. /Peloton
The Biebs ends Morgan Wallen’s 11 week run at #1 on the ROLLING STONE album chart. Morgan falls to #3, Lana Del Rey takes #2. /Variety
Exclusive US Seller of OLYMPICS tickets only refunding the face value of the tickets; it’s keeping the additional 20% “processing” fee people paid for tickets they will now never receive. /Yahoo
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
MGM “Wrath of Man” trailer. Lotta plot in this trailer… so I don’t feel bad telling you that Post Malone doesn’t survive his cameo. Statham/Ritchie joint + Josh Hartnett. Hits theaters Fri May 7.
HBOMAX “Wahl Street” docuseries trailer. “Entourage” meets “Shark Tank”… a look inside the Mark Wahlberg business empire. Come to think of it – a Wahlberg “Shark Tank” guest judge spot in April would be a great PR move 🤔. Premieres Fri April 15.
SEARCHLIGHT ”The Night House” trailer. Rebecca Hall stars as a widow living in a house on a lake where some kinda f’d up shit starts happening after the death of her husband. This one’s creepy yo 🥺. Hits theaters July 16.
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
NCAA MARCH MADNESS – Elite Eight games, 7p and 945p on TBS
ABC “Pooch Perfect” series premiere. Dog competition show hosted by Rebel Wilson. Airs at 8pm.
TheCW “Supergirl” final season, begins at 9pm
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
Demi Lovato “Dancing with the Devil” – song featured in the trailer for her YT docuseries, now out as a single.
Listen on Spotify / Watch on YouTube
If you need new tunes:
If you’re new to THE WAKEUP and know someone who would dig it:
Have a tip top Tuesday (just couldn’t go with ‘terrific’…) and Email me anytime with ways to improve this thing for ya – just reply to this email, or my name below goes to my LinkedIn.
