Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY December 15, 2022.

Where gotta say, this Henry Cavill “Superman” news bummed me out last night, after hearing his great excitement at returning to the role only about 6 weeks ago ☹️.

SO: James Gunn is writing a new “Superman” script… which will feature a new actor in the title role, and Ben Affleck is likely going to direct a TBD pic in the DC 2.0 world too, as detailed in this new thread below.

A more comprehensive version of the DC 2.0 plan will be unveiled sometime in Jan.

JAIL: Dave Chappelle’s attacker at the Hollywood Bowl got about 9 months in prison after pleading no contest.

PLUS: Sending a good morning to Janice since we’re in the same city for once! (she was on-stage for an interview the inaugural Axios Communicators event last night). Although gonna go out on a limb and say she’s not staying in Queens so, uh, hey – we have 2 boroughs covered today! #GoAnkler!

AND: Just sending a thought of condolence out to the family of Stephen “Twitch” Boss, who died by suicide at age 40.

ALSO: Sending a thought of encouragement to folks this time of year, to consider making an extra call to someone not on your call sheet who you know may be having a tough time personally, or was laid off this year, or a relative who is all on their own, or just maybe someone you’ve worked with who’s not having the hottest year in the industry.

While congratulatory calls are great to get in success, the ones you get just to say “how are you” when no one is calling you, usually mean a lot more.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

PEACOCK sets Melissa McCarthy to star in CHRISTMAS pic from Richard Curtis (“Love Actually”)

Untitled, but it’s a fairy-tale comedy about a workaholic who gets help from a magical genie to win his family over before the big day. Curtis is writing, Sam Boyd (HBOMAX’s “Love Life”) is directing.

WORKING TITLE is producing (they’re also celebrating their 30th year at UNIVERSAL 👏, coming off of their Fall hit “Ticket to Paradise” at the studio). /Deadline

AHEAD IN TODAY’S EDITION:

• WBD content write-off plans grow up to 40% since just 2 months ago – a look at the Streaming strategy coming into view, somewhat enabled by the new distribution platforms in the streaming era.

• NETFLIX is returning some 💰 back to Advertisers to spend elsewhere in Q4, and reportedly is lowering their Ad rates – a look inside what’s afoot

• Tyler Perry doing next pic at NETFLIX… after just signing a 4 picture deal at AMAZON 🤷‍♂️.

• CHARTER stock takes biggest dip in 2 years due to increased infrastructure tech costs in Broadband battles.

• AMAZON checkbook continues to be red hot while the rest of the company is seemingly on a freeze, buying a Reese Witherspoon show and PLAYSTATION game series.

• WaPo job cuts loom without details, NETFLIX picks up another high profile Japanese project, FOX Networks makes yet another Animation investment, and much more on a busy Thursday….

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