☀️Zaz Sets Free HBO Deal for #2 U.S. Cable TV CompanyMBJ, Apatow Set New Directing Gigs / AMAZON 🏈 welcomes more sponsors / OPEN AI valuation keeps growing
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, September 12, 2024. Where ya gotta love a local culture where more than 6,000 folks pay $50+ each to come listen to billionaires in an arena that cost $1.4B to build — this NYT story on the Acquired podcast’s recent live-recording event with Zuck was fun, complete with special cameos by Jamie Dimon and Jensen Huang on the jumbotron (but sadly, neither came out for an encore). Plus hey, where else are you gonna get a killer Aeschylus analogy? You don’t get that on Smartless, people.
PLUS: Frances Ford Coppola is suing Jay Penske’s Variety for $15M for libel over its story asserting Frances was kissing or attempting to kiss extras and others on set. OH: AMAZON signed up 50 new advertisers for TNF this season, starting tonight of course. Gotta say— going ad-tier with PRIME VIDEO is still my leader for biggest 2024 flex in the streaming business. The benefits keep trickling down. BUT: DISNEY is still trying — $2 a month DIS+ for 3 months anyone? The company employed this same tactic last September in the CHARTER dispute, so it seems like DISNEY found some things it liked (DIS+ added +500k subs in Q3 last year).
THEN: The Presidential Debate got 67.1M viewers according to NIELSEN across 8 networks on Tuesday (the 4 broadcast nets, CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS and FOX BUSINESS).
KUDOS: To the WNBA’s Aja Wilson who set the new single-season scoring record last night against the FEVER (Aja’s ACES also won the game, 86-75). BUT: Kinda seeing why so many PREMIER LEAGUE ⚽️ teams are having trouble closing new investor deals. Storied franchise MANCHESTER UNITED lost $124M last season, despite having record-setting revenues and one of the world’s most recognizable sports team brands. 👀 AND: Just when you thought Elon couldn’t get any creepier . . .
THOUGH: It’s always fun when the valuation of your company goes up 50% in a week like it’s an auction. 😳 OPENAI went from looking at a new $1B investment at a $100B valuation last week (up from $80B earlier this year) to moving up to talks for a new $6.5B investment at a $150B valuation this week.
THANKS: To the folks at MTV for the invite to the VMAs last night (winners here). UBS Arena — pretty nice! Where do those Katy Perry skills end . . .
TODAY IN MEDIA CONFERENCES
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLLUNI’s See No Evil is targeting a $10M to $13M opening . . . which, if you view this as a horror-thriller, would continue the somewhat lackluster 2024 for the genre. So, what say you?
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
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