Cordkillers 320 - Brian's Dark Materials (w/ Andrew Mayne)
A Hollywood feature film secretly (and responsibly) shot on-location. Plus, a low-down on Peacock's launch next week, a reboot of The Wonder Years, and teaser for The Boys season 2. All this and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Andrew Mayne.
CordKillers: 320 - Brian's Dark Materials
Recorded: July 13 2020
Guest: Andrew Mayne
Intro Video
Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia
Primary Target
Zendaya & John David Washington Make Secret Movie ‘Malcolm & Marie’ During COVID-19
- A movie called Malcolm & Marie starring Zendaya and John David Washington from Sam Levinson has laid claim to be the first feature film to go back into production in the US.
- That's because they finished filming July 2.
- The idea began March 16 when shooting shut down on Euphoria which stars Zendaya and is run by Levinson.
- At some point after the lockdown started Zendaya called Levinson with the idea of writing and producing a movie during quarantine.
- Levinson wrote the script in 6 days, funded it himself along with his wife and production partner Ashley Levinson and put together a barebones crew with folks doing multiple roles. New Regency jumped in on funding later saying it will donate proceeds to charity.
- Caterpillar House was chosen partly because its on 33 acres of land.
- Unions and doctors signed off on a plan.
- The cast and crew tested, quarantined for two weeks in a location in Monterey with separate dwellings. A separate pod of production designers, set dressers and grips quarantined together so they could work to prep the house for production.
- June 17 the crew began filming at Caterpillar House in Carmel, California compliant with WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA approvals and COVID-19 safety protocols.
- No more than 12 people were on set at a time all socially distanced. Temperarture checks were done at the beginning and end of every day.
- No word on release or plot though it supposedly reflects the current pandemic in its story.
‘Tenet’ Likely to Be Delayed Again Because of Coronavirus Surge, Analyst Predicts
- Another John David Washington film Tenet is still scheduled to premiere August 12. But Eric Handler at MKM partners now estimates there is a low likelihood that date will stick as cases rise in the US. Handler believes cinemas won't open until after September.
How to Watch
Peacock won't have mobile downloads to binge offline at launch next week
Peacock to Stream Premier League 175-Plus Soccer Games Exclusively
Signing up for Peacock? Use an Android device to get the best deal
Peacock without Roku and Amazon Fire TV? Top exec is OK with that
- Peacock launches to everyone in the US July 15.
- Now downloads for offline viewing at launch though it will supposedly come to the Premium tier "soon."
- Same for 4K, HDR or Dolby Atmos.
- Oh and separate profiles won't be available at launch either.
- And you most likely won't get apps for Roku or Fire TV. Just like HBO Max, the two platforms could not come to a deal so NBC will not release apps for the platforms.
- But you will get a seven-day free trial of the premium tier.
- The basic tier is free though has a more limited selection
- The premium tier is $5 a month with ads or $10 a month without ads.
- A deal with Google means if you use an Android device to sign up you'll be offered three months of Premium with ads free.
- The Premium tier will also feature live sports including 175 Premiere League matches, the Tokyo Olympics and a Sunday NFL Wild Card playoff game in January.
What to Watch
ABC plans to reboot the Wonder Years. But the new version of the show will follow a black family in Alabama from 1968-1973, the same time periods as the original.
’30 Rock’ Reunion Teaser Trailer: Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon Takes On Maskless New Yorker
- A teaser trailer for the 30 Rock special is out. That special airs Thursday July 16 at 8 PM and will be available on Peacock after. It does appear the show shot outside of people's houses and is not entirely devoted to telling you how awesome NBC's fall lineup is. Though it will supposedly also tell yo how awesome NBC's fall lineup is.
A trailer is out for the animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks coming to CBS All Access or whatever it will eventually be called, August 6. The show is run by Mike McMahan, formerly of Rick and Morty.
HBO Max plans spin-off series based on upcoming 'The Batman' movie
- And HBO Max is developing a police drama set in tthe same universe as the movie The Batman which will star Robert Pattinson as The Batman. The Batman director Matt Reeves is developing the HBO Max show with The Batman producer Dylan Clark and Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter. The Batman movies is scheduled for release October 1, 2021.
Disney+ ordered a series based on characters form the final season of The Clone Wars. Star Wars: The Bad Batch will be set immediately after the end of the Clone Wars and is set to premiere in 2021.
An adaptation of the graphic novel Snowblind starring Jake Gyllenhall is coming to Apple TV+
CBS announced new episodes of the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful are set to resume airing July 20. The show was the first series to resume production on June 16.
A Paul Feig space comedy called Other Space, which was developed for Yahoo Screen will show up for free on SciFi streaming service Dust August 1.
Netflix's The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 4 will be the series final season when It arrives later this year.
The Crown WILL get a sixth season after all. Five months ago Netflix announced it would end with season 5. The show will still end in the 2000s, it will just take two seasons to tell hat story.
A trailer is out for season 2 of the Umbrella Academy which comes to Netflix July 31.
NBC is creating a 24-hour version of 'Today' for Peacock
-Peacock announced it will launch a 24 hour streaming show called Today All Day featuring 4 six-hour blocks of content with a mix fo Today Show segments and original shows with the Today hosts. It will show on all tiers of Peacock.
ViacomCBS signed a three year deal with UEFA Chanpions league starting in 2021 with games to show on broadcast. Cable and CBS All Access.
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play, a filmed version of the characters final stage tour will premiere on BET+ August 27.
And ViacomCBS added 40 shows from CBS and Comedy Central to stream for free on PlutoTV. Shows include Survivor, Star Trek: The Next Generation and the first 10 seasons of South Park.
New season 2 trailer for The Boys is out. The Boys comes to Prime Video September 4
Eyes On
Brian: finished the Last of Us, Part 2 with my kid, Maniac on netflix (3 eps)
Tom: Devs
Andrew: The Watchmen extended cut
On the Lookout: Palm Springs
Front Lines
Theatergoers Eager To Return Even As PVOD Carves Out A Niche
-A study by United Talent Agency's research platform Suzy polled 1,000 people who generally go to movies once a month. 73% said they were excited to go back to the theaters. 19% of those who have tried paid VOD say they will now watch films exclusively on demand, giving up their theater habit. 44% said they will do both.
‘Empire Strikes Back’ Leads At The Weekend Box Office With $644K, 23 Years After Sequel’s Special Edition
- Some people are watching movies in theaters right now, often drive-in theaters.
- And that means that Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back led the box office this weekend with $175,000 at 483 locations. That's its 11th week at number 1, the first 7 coming in 1980 and two more coming with a re-release in 1997.
- Black Panther was number two this weekend followed by Inside Out.
Quibi reportedly lost 90 percent of early users after their free trials expired
- SensorTower estimates that 8% of the 910,000 users who signed up for Quibi's three month trial stayed around as paid users. That's about 72,000. This does not represent all of Quibi's users just the ones who got the free trial in the first three days. For comparison, Sensor Tower estimates that 11% of the 9.5 million users who signed up for a free trial of Disney+ converted to paid users. Quibi told the Verge that more than 5.6 million people have downloaded the app since launch. Sensor Tower puts the estimate at 4.5 million. Quibi says SensorTower's numbers for paid subscribers "is incorrect by an order of magnitude."
Amazon Prime Video launches multiple profiles
- Amazon Prime Video is rolling out user profiles so multiple viewers of the same account can have their own, recommendations, playlists and watch histories. Customers can create up to six profiles. Profiles will arrive first on Android, iOS, fire Tablet and Fire TV. The profile feature first rolled out in India and Africa earlier this year.
The Fire TV is integrating Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu + Live TV so that shows that are on live will show up in the interface, including On now, a live TV tab and channel guide.
Comcast Launches Dish’s Sling TV App on Xfinity Fl
Amazon Prime Video launches multiple profiles
- Amazon Prime Video is rolling out user profiles so multiple viewers of the same account can have their own, recommendations, playlists and watch histories. Customers can create up to six profiles. Profiles will arrive first on Android, iOS, fire Tablet and Fire TV. The profile feature first rolled out in India and Africa earlier this year.
The Fire TV is integrating Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu + Live TV so that shows that are on live will show up in the interface, including On now, a live TV tab and channel guide.
Comcast Launches Dish’s Sling TV App on Xfinity Flex Boxes for Broadband Customers
- Comcast has added the Sling TV app to the Xfinity flex box provided to broadband-only customers. The Flex box is marketed to Comcast broadband customers at a discount and includes other streaming apps like Netflix.
Dispatches from the Front
Unfortunately, I just got a whole new reason to value my TiVo. Our DSL, the only Broadband available in my area aside from satellite, went down yesterday and will not be back, they predict, for at least a week. Not only do I already have a bunch of Law and Order and JAG episodes left, but I immediately set up to record some movies and other shows. Without OTA I would been pretty much SOL as I have a pretty limited data plan.
BTW, I do not have a monthly fee for my TiVo as I bought it on sale with lifetime included several years ago, but it should also be noted that the TiVo OTA is only $7 a month anyway and so is very competitive with any single streaming channel's monthly fee. For sure I would rather have full online access this is a pain in a lot of ways besides entertainment but it is great to be able to soften the blow to this degree.
- Dan
Links