"Causeway" to Apple / ESPN+ price hike / R-rated films on Disney+ / Russells join Legendary Monsterverse series

Plus today's calendar, streaming market share record, YouTube abortion content standards, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," and more

Inside.com Part of   Network July 21, 2022

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Lawrence and Neugebauer Apple acquired the drama feature "Causeway," starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, from the A24 studio. "The Maid" and "The Sex Lives of College Girls" vet Lila Neugebauer makes her feature directorial debut with the film, which previously went by the title "Red, White and Water." More: Lawrence stars as a soldier who returns to her hometown of New Orleans; the film was shot on location in Louisiana. Lawrence will also star in Apple's "Bad Blood," a scripted feature about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes for filmmaker Adam McKay. Disgraced producer Scott Rudin was originally attached to the film but stepped away following the publication of a Hollywood Reporter investigation into allegations about his abusive behavior. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Disney plans to charge more for an ESPN+ subscription, raising the price from $6.99/month to $9.99/month, or from $69.99 to $99.99 for an annual plan. Subscribers accessing ESPN+ via the "Disney Bundle" along with Disny+ and Hulu will continue paying the same price. More: The change was first reported by Sports Business Journal; the ESPN+ website has yet to be updated but the information has been confirmed by Disney. ESPN+ raised its prices twice in 2021. The company pointed to the increasing cost of content deals as the reason for the price hike. THE VERGE

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DAILY CALENDAR THURSDAY, JULY 21 AMERICAN HORROR STORIES: Horror anthology series from creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, spun off from FX's "American Horror Story" franchise. Season 2 features the return of "AHS" franchise vets Cody Fern, Max Greenfield, Nico Greetham, Denis O'Hare, and Gabourey Sidibe along with first-time appearances by Dominique Jackson, Judith Light, Alicia Silverstone, Bella Thorne, and Quvenzhané Wallis. [Hulu] GROWN-ISH: The Freeform comedy-drama series -- a spin-off of "Black-ish" -- follows Yara Shahidi's Zoey Johnson as she leaves home and attends California University. Trevor Jackson and Diggy Simmons return for Season 5, along with "Black-ish" vet Marcus Scribner as Junior Johnson, who's part of an incoming crop of new Cal U students. New episodes air Wednesday nights on TV and hit Hulu on Thursdays. [Hulu] YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER: 2021 Irish psychological horror film from first-time feature writer/director Kate Dolan. Hazel Doupe stars as a young woman whose mother (Carolyn Bracken) goes missing, only to return with a radically different personality. It was a runner up for the "Midnight Madness" People's Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. [Hulu] RAP SH!T: Debut comedy series from "Insecure" creator Issa Rae, starring Aida Osman and KaMillion as estranged high school friends from Miami who reunite and form their own rap group. Jonica Booth, Devon Terrell, and RJ Cyler co-star; Yung Miami and JT of City Girls are onboard as executive producers and consultants. [HBO Max] THE LAST MOVIE STARS: 6-part documentary from CNN Films and director Ethan Hawke, chronicling the personal and professional partnership between actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, largely based on unpublished interviews conducted for a scrapped memoir project. Segments from the interviews with Newman, Woodward, and their friends and colleagues are read by George Clooney, Laura Linney, Oscar Isaac, Melanie Griffith, Sam Rockwell, Billy Crudup, Sally Field, and others. [HBO Max] ALMOST FLY: 6-part German coming-of-age comedy-drama series, set in the year 1990, about three young outsiders whose lives are changed forever by their first encounter with hip-hop music on a US Army base. [HBO Max] PACTO BRUTAL: O ASSASSINATO DE DANIELLA PEREZ: 5-episode true-crime docuseries from Brazil examining the 1992 murder of actress and dancer Daniella Ferrante Perz Gazolla by her former co-star Guilherme de Pádua and his wife, Paula Nogueira Thomaz. The new series was made in collaboration with Perez's mother, the writer Glória Perez. [HBO Max] JURASSIC WORLD CAMP CRETACEOUS: The animated spinoff series -- following a group of teens who are trapped around the island of Isla Nublar after the events of "Jurassic World" -- returns today for a fifth and final season. The voice cast includes Paul-Mikél Williams, Andrew Kishino, Ryan Potter, Sean Giambrone, Jenna Ortega, Jameela Jamil, Glen Powell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Haley Joel Osment. [Netflix] THIS IS GWAR: Documentary profiling the heavy metal "monster band" and art collective from filmmaker Scott Barber ("The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story"). The film features interviews with a number of the group's rotating members -- including never-before-seen footage of frontman Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus) -- plus famous fans Weird Al Yankovic, Thomas Lennon, Alex Winter, Bam Margera, and others. [Shudder] SHOWTRIAL: Five-part BBC legal drama series from creator Ben Richards ("The Tunnel"), chronicling the arrest and trial of an arrogant heiress (Céline Buckens) who's implicated in a classmates' (Tracy Ifeachor) disappearance. The series follows the action from the perspectives of both the prosecution and defense teams. [AMC+ / Sundance Now] BILLIONAIRE TYCOONS: Original docuseries profiling the world's wealthiest entrepreneurs, with episodes dedicated to Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, the Kardashian family, and others. [CuriosityStream]

Disney+ will add three R-rated superhero films -- "Deadpool," "Deadpool 2," and "Logan" -- to its US platform on Friday, July 22. The films were originally produced by 20th Century Fox; Disney took over Fox's entire X-Men content library following its acquisition of Fox assets in 2019. More: Initially, Disney resisted putting any adult-oriented fare on the Disney+ platform, but recently made an exception for the "Defenders" Marvel Comics shows originally produced for Netflix. In the "Deadpool" and "Logan" announcement, Disney reminded subscribers about the platform's parental controls settings, which allow parents to block certain programming from their children's accounts. While "Logan" apparently closed out Hugh Jackman's run of appearances as the superhero Wolverine, a third "Deadpool" film is in the early stages of development. VARIETY

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Father-and-son acting duo Kurt and Wyatt Russell signed on for the upcoming "Monsterverse" series from Apple and Legendary Television. No details have been announced about their roles. More: The cast also includes Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski. The film is set in the aftermath of the 2014 film "Godzilla," as a family investigates their connections to the Titan-monitoring organization known as Monarch. Chris Black ("Star Trek: Enterprise") co-created the series with comic book writer Matt Fraction ("Hawkeye") and will serve as showrunner; "WandaVision" vet Matt Shakman will direct the first two episodes. Kurt Russell stars in the "Christmas Chronicles" films for Netflix; Wyatt Russell recently appeared in Hulu's "Under the Banner of Heaven" and had featured roles in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "The Good Lord Bird." Kurt and Russell Wyatt last appeared together in the 1998 film "Soldier," playing the same character at different ages. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

According to Nielsen, about 33.7% of Americans' total TV viewing time for the month of June went to streaming platforms, setting a new record. Nielsen started keeping track of these numbers in May of 2021. More: Streaming's share of overall TV usage has been on the rise in the US since March, buoyed by popular hit shows like Netflix's "Stranger Things" and Disney+'s "Obi-Wan Kenobi." Broadcast networks earned just 22.4% of US viewing time in June, while cable brought in 35.1%; both of these were record lows since May of last year. Netflix won out among individual streaming services, with a 7.7% audience share, followed by YouTube (6.9%), Amazon Prime Video (2.9%), and Disney+ (2%). HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

YouTube updated some of its policies regarding videos that discuss the topic of abortion. The service will globally remove any video that "promotes or provides instructions" for alternative or unsafe abortion methods. More: The service will also remove "false claims" and medical misinformation about abortion, such as the allegation that the procedure can lead to infertility or cancer. A YouTube spokesperson told Axios that the company will also include an information panel for viewers with additional context on all videos dealing with the topic of abortion; such info panels are already common regarding divisive or politicized subjects, including COVID-19, vaccines, climate change, and election reform. AXIOS

The Korean legal drama series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" has become the latest breakout success for Netflix. The series was the most-watched non-English language series on the platform from July 4 through the 17th, and appeared in the Top 10 list in 22 different countries. More: Park Eun-bin stars in the series as Woo Young-woo, a lawyer with autism spectrum disorder who's employed at a large firm. The show comes from South Korea's Astory Co., which also produces the hit Netflix zombie series "Kingdom." Netflix touted the show's international success in a blog post on Wednesday, specifically highlighting its popularity throughout Southeast Asia. According to a report from NextShark, producers are already discussing a potential US remake of the series. CNN

The two-night "South Park" 25th anniversary concert -- to be held at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheater on August 9 and 10 -- will be recorded to air on Comedy Central and stream on Paramount+. The live event will feature "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with performances from the bands Primus and Ween. More: The show airs on Comedy Central on August 13 and will be available to stream on Paramount+ the following day. The concert will feature performances of notable songs from throughout the history of "South Park," including Primus' original theme song. A version of the "South Park" theme was apparently recorded by Primus frontman Les Claypool at the Red Rocks venue many years ago. "South Park" continues to air on Comedy Central; four specials made specifically for Paramount+ are streaming now. HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

QUICK HITS The right metrics make a difference. Read our fact sheet and learn what you should be measuring to prove marketing impact.* Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka announced her first comedy special for HBO and HBO Max, taping this fall; she was previously named one of this year's 10 Comics to Watch by Variety. QEWD, the latest app aimed at helping viewers find new content to watch on streaming platforms, launched in beta mode on Apple's App Store and Google Play. HBO posted a new trailer for the second season of the financial drama series "Industry," about young staffers working out of the London office of the elite international bank Pierpoint & Co; new episodes arrive on August 1. Deadline reports that Netflix is streamlining the management team overseeing its film animation division, following the company's acquisition of animation studio Animal Logic; Karen Toliver, former VP of Animated Films, will oversee the new team. During a Thursday call with investors, AT&T CEO John Stankey indicated that the company may return to offering free HBO Max subscriptions as a perk for its unlimited wireless customers. Peacock released a new trailer for "They/Them," the Blumhouse horror/thriller about a slasher stalking the grounds of a conversion camp for LGBTQ+ teens; the film debuts on August 5. Paramount+ ordered a series adaptation of the Elizabeth Macneal novel "The Doll Factory," a dark thriller about the complex relationship between twin sisters in 1850s London; playwright Charley Miles will script the adaptation, with Sacha Polak ("Hanna") on board to direct. Three more actors -- Lashay Anderson, Faith Alabi, and Ahmed Elhaj -- joined the cast of Hulu's drama series "Black Cake," based on the book by Charmaine Wilkerson. Director, producer, and actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield extended her overall deal with HBO and HBO Max for two additional years; she'll continue working on "The Gilded Age" and will join the Lakers drama series "Winning Time" as a director and executive producer for its second season. See how to make sense of the security industry’s infamous “alphabet soup” of acronyms and complex technical tools.* *This is sponsored content

Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor."

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