PIXAR's Lightyear international ban grows, TONYS audience not returning

GAGA in talks for JOKER sequel role / DISNEY spends $3 Bil on INDIA cricket TV rights / UTA buys UK talent agency

Jun 14

Apologies if you’re getting today’s Wakeup twice - just some First Day of School tech issues on my end it seems. Who brought the noob?

-Sean

Morning Ankler readers!

I’m Sean McNulty, the creator of The Wakeup daily newsletter that The Ankler CEO Janice Min told you about in her email this weekend, and well…here it is. Clearly I need a hype-guy.

The Wakeup is the new daily morning news roundup that comes with your Ankler subscription, and here I am on LinkedIn if you’d like to connect there of course.

IF: You’re an OG Wakeup subscriber and had trouble getting this email today - remember to add the email address on this newsletter today as being street legal to your inbox (add to Contacts, mark as Not Spam etc), or check your Promotions tab on Gmail.
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Also you’ll notice a few cosmetic changes here - still dialing a couple things in so any feedback - reply to this email!

So let’s get to the Hollywood + Media news to know on TUESDAY June 14, 2022.

Where I think the word of the day in Hollywood finance departments yesterday was “Fuuuuuu…” Couldn’t even finish the curse 🤬, thanks Bear market. (STOCK NOTES section below is not pretty today).

AND: Sorry Ladies… he’s taken! Congrats to POST MALONE on his engagement to… someone. With whom he apparently… also has a baby girl with. POSTY was intentionally a little short on the details on Howard Stern yesterday, which honestly is kinda refreshing.

PLUS: A Rest in Peace goes out to Philip Baker Hall, who died at 90 years old on Sunday. “Hard Eight” is still an all time great performance.

ALSO: “Knives Out 2” will be called “Glass Onion” and hit NETFLIX TBD in the Christmas holiday season this year.

Rian Johnson @rianjohnson

Benoit Blanc’s next case, the follow up to Knives Out, is called GLASS ONION.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

ah the infamous Gaga dealmaking phone. via Giphy

LADY GAGA in early talks for “Joker” sequel at WB which… is apparently a musical

Ok did not see that one coming… GAGA would play “Harley Quinn” if the stars align, Joaquin’s deal is also not 💯 yet either. /THR

12 other MIDDLE EASTERN and ASIAN countries have joined SAUDI ARABIA / UAE in banning PIXAR’s “Lightyear”

This is all due to including a same sex kiss in the movie, and it likely won’t play in CHINA either after they “asked for edits” which DISNEY refused to make. /Reuters

LIONSGATE + ROADSHOW buy Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline pic “The Good House”

Taking North America rights only, played TIFF last Fall, no price disclosed and will hit theaters Sept 30.

The (likely) Key Party-less comedic drama re-team of “The Ice Storm” talent is about a New England realtor & descendant of the Salem witches (Weaver) who’s in denial about her problems even though she understands everyone else’s - gonna assume that mean’s Kline’s. /THR

SONY sets Justin Lin to direct pic based on hit magna series “One Punch Man”

Script is still being written by Scott Rosenberg & Jeff Pinkner (“Venom”, “Jumanji” sequel), but they hope to be shooting by year’s end, and with Lin’s 2022 dance card clear of “Fast X” 🏎 I’m sure he’s ready to move on something asap.

It’s about a superhero who can beat any opponent with a single punch 👊, #ThatTracks but he grows bored with his lack of challenges to fight against evil. So he starts a daily newsletter and - I’ve said too much 😳. /Deadline

ALSO IN MOVIES

HOLLYWOOD talent looks to put their names and actions where there words have been on guns - My new colleagues Richard & Tatiana have a good read on the petition launching for Studios to “model responsible gun safety practices in their productions and to limit the use of guns in scenes involving children,” although lets hope talent isn’t going to just rely on Studios for action on projects they’re involved in if it really matters to them. /TheAnkler
The 3rd “Paddington” pic will be “Paddington in Peru”, and the extremely well reviewed film series will have a new director for this one - Dougal Wilson, who’s making his feature directorial debut. (Paul King who did the first 2 is doing “Wonka” at WB). Shoots next year. /THR
HBO Docs set pic on pioneering 1960’s Black model Donyale Luna, who appeared on the covers of several top European fashion mags. /Deadline

IN HOLLYWOOD BUSINESS AFFAIRS

UTA bought UK Lit & Talent agency THE CURTIS BROWN GROUP. Known for repping Robert Pattinson & Margaret Atwood among others and is one of the UK’s larger rep firms at 240 employees. They’ll keep their name and operate as a subsidiary if you will… but UTA’s biscuit game just went up a notch 🍪. No price disclosed. /Deadline
Joe Flint at the WSJ has more Peter Rice anecdotes for those still looking for a more plausible… or any real rationale for Chapek’s move last week.
Producer Liza Chasin (“The Lost City”, “Stillwater”) sets 1st look TV deal at ENDEAVOR CONTENT. /Deadline

📺 THE TV SET

this scene still kinda freaks me out. via Giphy

NETFLIX sets Michelle Yeoh to lead action drama series “The Brothers Sun”

8 episode series, about a Taipei gangster whose father is shot by an assassin, who must then go to LA to protect his mother (Yeoh) and younger brother Bruce. Err the gangster goes to LA that is - I’m sure the assassin has his own personal matters goin’ on.

Will shoot in LA and TAIWAN, created by Brad Falchuk (“Glee”) and Byron Wu (indie movie “The Getaway”). /Variety

TONYS drew 3.9 million viewers on CBS Sunday night

As you may just assume by now… yes it’s above the 2 hour TONYS special they did last year (in Sept, up against NFL Football)… but it’s the 2nd lowest TONYS ever.

2019 had 5.4 Million.

Also not great news - it’s “60 Minutes” rerun lead-in beat it by about 1.4 Million viewers. /Deadline

ALSO IN TV

James Corden plans to go back to the UK after his CBS show wraps next year 🇬🇧. /Variety
HBOMAX renews “Starstruck” for a Season 3. /THR

💻 THE MEDIA BIZ

ah I couldn’t resist. #cricket&disney via Giphy

DISNEY pays-up to retain INDIA IPL Cricket TV rights for $3 Billion

Guessing they see the increased $$ they can get for TV ads (vs. streaming $$s) as justifying the pricetag? This is basically $500 Million over the price DISNEY (nee FOX) previously paid for TV and Streaming rights together 5 years ago.

But DISNEY will just have IPL matches on linear TV via DISNEY’s STAR TV service, and the DISNEY+HOSTAR streaming service’s 50 Million subscribers who could stream IPL this past season will now….

Have to subscribe to VIACOM 18 to watch them come the Spring 2023 IPL season, a service which is backed by:

Indian media giant RELIANCE
James Murdoch & Uday Shankar
PARAMOUNT GLOBAL in a minority stake

VIACOM also took the Australian & European rights (incl UK), price not disclosed. Not sure how that’ll work in terms of a streaming home in Europe as VIACOM18 doesn’t exist there (SKYSHOWTIME? PAR+?).

SO:

DISNEY+ HOTSTAR is gonna face a formidable subscriber loss issue in Q1 next year (if not earlier) unless DISNEY figures out some very creative bundling with STAR. Add this to the Chapek list of “let’s see how this works out” 🥴 2nd half of 2022.

Although I guess at least the linear games will certainly give a nice promo platform for… whatever else is on DIS+HOTSTAR next April?

OTHERWISE: SONY & new Indian partner ZEE are the ones left out in cold (again - AMAZON decided it was too rich for their blood on Friday, and NETFLIX never engaged the process). /Deadline /India Times

ALSO IN MEDIA

PAGE SIX head Emily Smith demoted and may be on the way out after HR probe into toxic work environment charges from staff. /TheDailyBeast
AD AGE named Dan Peres as President in addition to his Editor in Chief duties. /AdAge

🏦 STOCK NOTES

#TheBigHurt

AMAZON, TWITTER, WBD, ENDEAVOR, WARNER MUSIC all -5%

META -6% ($164.20)

CINEMARK THEATERS -6% ($14.62)

AMC THEATERS -7% ($11.48)

ALTICE -7% ($9.25)

NETFLIX -7% ($169.69)

IMAX -8% ($14.99)

AMC NETWORKS -8% ($30.39)

PARAMOUNT -8% ($25.81)

DISH -9% ($18.29)

SNAP -9% ($12.02)

ROKU -11% ($73.25)

NY TIMES -11% ($28.99)

BUZZFEED -13% ($1.78)

and… the stock that always kind of astounds - WWE managed to eek out a positive day +0.33% ($63.85) 👏

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👩‍💻 NEW TO WATCH:

NETFLIX “Halftime” JLo doc - STREAM HERE

HULU “The Worst Person in the World” - Saw a lot of people saying this was fantastic in theaters earlier this year… so posting for anyone else who’s been meaning to see it - STREAM HERE

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

HBOMAX “Rap Sh!t” teaser trailer - EP’d by Issa Rae, 2 estranged high school friends re-team in Miami to try and become rappers. Kudos to the editor or producer who chose the end tag for this one 🤝 . PREMIERES THU JULY 21

NETFLIX “Boo, Bitch” limited series trailer - Lana Condor is back in high school… although this time she becomes a ghost 👻after an accident in her Senior year. Wait - well, people can see her… and she interacts with the world, but I think she just now has a limited time to live? Unless she becomes famous? Can you tell this one kinda lost me? PREMIERES FRI JULY 8

HULU / ONYX “Aftershock” docu trailer - About a family dealing with the aftermath and searching for answers after their daughter dies from complications after a c-section, examining what lies behind the much higher death rate for Black mothers in the US and a movement the family started to change that. PREMIERES TUE JULY 19

DISNEY+ / NATGEO “America the Beautiful” - The photography just doesn’t get any better than NAT GEO… 📸 not exactly sure what the angle on this docuseries is narratively, but if inclined - PREMIERES MON JULY 4

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

As COVID is apparently showing no mercy whatsoever… first getting Hugh Jackman for a SECOND time, and now hitting Mick Jagger of all people. So let’s go out with a feel better soon Mick! Hopefully his sense of humor is still in tact 😬.