Chappell Roan's Next Era, A New Global Animated Juggernaut, And The Magic of 'SNL50'

Happy Friday y’all!

In this week’s TFL, we’re covering:

• The latest on Chappell Roan’s next era, new music

• A closer look at China’s massive animated blockbuster that’s breaking records globally as we speak

• A deeper dive into this past Sunday’s 50th-anniversary special for Saturday Night Live

• A banging new “Good Noise” playlist featuring 30 new songs you need to hear from this week

• A round-up of this week’s new trailer drops

• Plenty of tidbits across the entertainment industry going on and in the works!

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Thank you for being here - now let’s get into it!

—Stephen Frost

🎵 Looking For An Attorney? Chappell Roan Embody’s “The Giver” While Teasing New Single

The court’s now in session according to “The Lawyer” and Grammy Award-winning singer Chappell Roan!

Catch me up: This week, Roan began teasing her new era and the rollout of her next single “The Giver” via a series of billboards with Spotify in Los Angeles, Nashville, and New York that reads a number to call 620-HOT-TOGO for “your ex’s worst nightmare” where she’s dressed as a lawyer. When you call the number, you’ll hear five different snippets of the unreleased song after selecting a prompt between one and five where you’re given options to speak to a dentist, an attorney, a plumber, “any other construction services,” and a private investigator.

She previously performed the upcoming single on SNL last November, where she gave a taste of her country and midwest flare to be heard in the vein of Dolly Parton with a fiddle.

While no release date has been revealed yet, she launched a 7” vinyl pre-order for the song that sold out in minutes (to no one’s surprise) with an August 18th shipping date.

This all follows her meteoric rise last year after nabbing four Grammy nominations with one win for Best New Artist and spending the greater part of last year touring with Olivia Rodrigo and landing major music festival slots at Coachella, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza to name a few. Needless to say, fans are excited to see what the Hot To Go singer has in store next for this upcoming album cycle!

🍿 China’s Newest Flick Just Unseated “Inside Out 2” As Highest Grossing Animated Movie Ever

Ne Zha 2, a new Chinese animated action flick, has become a giant blockbuster that’s breaking records left and right across the global box office (records and precedents that Hollywood hasn’t even touched yet).

Fill me in: the new film, a sequel to the 2019 film that follows a mythical child on a quest to save the world, became the highest-grossing animated movie ever this week. This title once belonged to Inside Out 2 for seven months and now makes it the fastest animated film to be unseated from this title (for context, Frozen held this title prior for six years). On just a budget of $80 million, Ne Zha 2 has grossed $1.7 billion globally with $1.63B driven from China alone. This marks a particularly impressive feat for Ne Zha 2 given that no movie has ever crossed the $1B mark solely in North America (not even a Star Wars or an MCU film has achieved this feat).

What this means for China’s future box office draw: Ne Zha 2’s success has two things to thank for its Earth-shattering records. Per the South China Morning Post, the film was released on the Lunar New Year and has resonated with audiences for its authentic representation of Chinese culture. Additionally, per Variety, China has become a major market for IMAX screens housing nearly 800 theaters (which is almost half of IMAX’s global footprint) and drawing in $121M on IMAX screens.

While most Americans haven’t heard of or seen Ne Zha 2 (yet), the craze of this fan-favorite film may soon catch on in North America as it’s currently in limited release. This unprecedented success shows that China may not be as reliant on Hollywood for its future blockbusters and could continue making its domestic-based films to power its thriving box office draw. Only time will tell, but keep your eyes on this film!

📺 ‘SNL50’ Cements Its Pop Culture Legacy In Knock Out & Star-Studded Anniversary Special

Live from New York…it was Saturday Night Live on a Sunday!

This past weekend’s SNL50 celebration pulled just about every stop it could to make it the well-decorated event it deserved for being on the air for half a century (making it the longest-running network comedy series ever).

Recapping SNL’s nostalgic special: From bringing nearly every major host, musical guest, and name in Hollywood like Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Kevin Costner, Jenna Ortega, Eddie Murphy, and Robert De Niro to serve as some of its highest profile cameos, to seeing all of the cross-over and extended versions of the show’s most prolific sketches in recent memory including Domingo, Black Jeopardy, John Mulaney’s lobster diner/musical theater number, Steered Straight, Close Encounters, and Debbie Downer to name a few (this all is just truly cracking the surface).

After watching the 3+ hour-long special (and seeing the show’s ratings from Sunday night’s broadcast), the Lorne Michaels-helmed show proved on Sunday that it’s still got its culture moving magic and as a reminder of how it shaped dozens of today’s biggest performers and comedians since its premiere in 1975.

Fill me in on the numbers: the anniversary special brought in an impressive 14.8 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, making it NBC’s most-watched prime-time telecast in five years since the 2020 Golden Globes. The special’s viewership continues to grow in its delayed viewing on Peacock and its dozens of viral clips shared on SNL’s social channels.

All and all, SNL50 was a spectacular watching experience for the real SNL fans and a truly once-in-a-lifetime TV special to witness as it is not every week you see multiple generations of iconic entertainers and funny people packed in one room for a mega high school comedy reunion. All eyes are on the rest of the show’s season and its future with Michaels as the lead (who’s 80 years old) to see how SNL will carry on as the American comedy institution it is.

SNL returns for its next two episodes with host Shane Gillis and musical guest Tate McRae on March 1st and Lady Gaga pulling double duty on March 8th.

That’s it for this week folks. Let me know if you have any feedback or comments on what’d you like to see in this newsletter, feel free to reply to me on this email.

We’ll see you back again next Friday & have a great weekend!

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