Summer movie season begins; awaiting 1/6 commission vote; new 'Morning Edition' host; HBO Max at the one-year mark; two Lowry reviews

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TGIF! Brian Stelter here at 10:44pm ET Thursday with the latest on "Morning Edition," Paul Ryan, Jason Kilar, Reuters, Paramount+, and much more...

Box office test

"This weekend poses the first real test of the summer box office," Brian Lowry writes, "with a pair of complementary titles based on proven intellectual property: 'A Quiet Place Part II' and 'Cruella.'"

Box Office Mojo's Sam Mendelsohn describes the moment like this: "At last, the summer blockbuster season is here. If audiences flock to these two newcomers as hoped, we should see the biggest weekend at the domestic box office since March 2020."

"We are still a world away from pre-pandemic numbers, however, where $150+ million overall weekend grosses in May were the norm," Mendelsohn notes. "For now the combination of capacity restrictions, closed theaters, and audience hesitancy will continue to blunt grosses, but having stars headline a sequel from Paramount and a prequel from Disney -- along with a four-day holiday weekend -- should help the box office get some of its groove back."

Lowry's reviews

Brian Lowry writes: "'A Quiet Place Part II,' John Krasinski's horror sequel, is serviceable but generally supports the adage that less is often more. (Details here.) As for 'Cruella,' it's a delicious showcase for Emma Stone and Emma Thompson in an origin story for the '101 Dalmatians' villain. It's worth noting, though, that the latter runs well over two hours, and might actually play better on Disney+, where it will simultaneously be available, like 'Mulan' before it, for a premium fee. Read on..."

This summer is about optics

Frank Pallotta writes: "The summer movie season has been vital to the health of Hollywood ever since Steven Spielberg cleared out beaches with 1975's 'Jaws' but it's arguably never been more important than this year. This weekend's debuts obviously matter to the bottom line of Paramount and Disney, but more importantly, this summer is about optics. The performance of these films — as well as others this summer — will be critical in building enough buzz to lure people back to theaters at a time when many have forgotten what it's like to go to a movie, or can just watch big flicks at home. If this summer is a busy one for theaters, it could lead to a bustling fall and winter, which then could pave the way for a strong 2022. The path to Hollywood's future, whatever that is, likely starts this holiday weekend..."

Franks first time back in a movie theater

I asked Frank to write about his recent return to a theater because, well, I saw him post about it on Instagram, and I was jealous. I haven't been back yet! Here's what he shared:

Frank Pallotta writes: "I had not seen a film in 475 days. I'll say that again, 475 days. That changed on Monday when I went to a press screening for Universal's 'F9.' So how was going back to the movies? It was honestly everything I wanted. The pandemic caused me to forget what it was like to be engrossed by a film on a giant screen, watching with strangers, just letting the rest of the world fade away. I mean, the nearly two and a half hours I spent with the Fast Family was the longest I've gone without checking my phone, for example. That said, it was not a complete escape yet since there were restrictions in place (like wearing a mask) there weren't real crowds. But I know this for sure: Don't trust anyone who tells you that watching a movie at home is the same thing. It's not."

Bursting into the "playground of life"

"For millions of Americans, the next six months are going to be great," David Brooks writes in his brand new NYT column. "The power Covid had over our lives is shrinking, and the power we have over our own lives is growing. The image that comes to mind is recess. We've been stuck emotionally indoors for over a year. Now we get to sprint down the hallway and burst into the playground of life..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- "Interest in getting vaccinated against Covid-19 increased right after" the CDC said that vaccinated people could take off their masks, Elizabeth Cohen reports... (CNN)

-- Thursday's "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" revealed that "Kim Kardashian had a really bad case of COVID-19 along with her kids, which shut down production of her show for 2 weeks..." (TMZ)

-- On Facebook's decision to stop removing content claiming Covid-19 is human-made: "Lisa Fazio, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt, said the reversal shows the difficulty of fact-checking in general, particularly with something unprecedented like the coronavirus, when experts can disagree and change their minds with new evidence..." (AP)

-- "A bubble of fake consensus:" David Leonhardt says shifting views of the lab-leak theory are a reminder that "the world is a complicated place, where almost nobody is always right or always wrong..." (NYT)

-- Viral video of the day: CNN's Manu Raju was (bleeping) surprised by a cicada while waiting for a live shot on Capitol Hill... (CNN)

FRIDAY PLANNER

Memorial Day weekend travel begins in earnest...

President Biden holds a Covid event in Virginia with Gov. Ralph Northam...

Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry's "The Me You Can't See: A Path Forward" streams on Apple TV+...

Still awaiting the 1/6 commission vote...

The vote was expected earlier in the evening, but it hasn't happened yet. Check CNN.com for the latest updates overnight.

While the timing is unclear, the result is not. "It will be blocked by Republicans – which may sound like a political statement by me, but it's not – it's a political statement by those Republicans," Anderson Cooper said on air Thursday night. "It's a statement of fealty to the man who inspired the insurrection and praised the attackers..."

>> Susan Glasser's newest piece for The New Yorker: "A country that cannot even agree to investigate an assault on its Capitol is in big trouble, indeed..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- Chris Cillizza's lead for The Point newsletter on Thursday: "This is how dangerous right-wing media *actually* is." He cited new polling from PRRI showing that people who trust far-right media outlets also tend to believe in crazy QAnon ideas... (CNN)

-- Giovanni Russonello has more takeaways from PRRI here: "QAnon now as popular in US as some major religions, poll suggests..." (NYT)

-- Philip Bump investigates: "It appears that all of those odd Greg Kelly tweets are actually coming from Greg Kelly..." (WaPo)

-- Speaking of the Newsmax host, here's the latest sign that the network's ratings have dramatically receded: "Trump's Tuesday interview was Newsmax's top-rated hour -- with 295,000 total viewers." Under 300,000 viewers for an interview with a former president... (Twitter)

-- New and crucial reporting from Dan Merica and Donie O'Sullivan: "Democrats fight to keep up with the changing landscape of political disinformation..." (CNN)

Paul Ryan is not happy with "outrage peddlers" 🤔

Oliver Darcy writes: "Paul Ryan — yes, the same Paul Ryan that sits on the board of Fox and receives a paycheck for doing so — is criticizing 'outrage peddlers.' The former House speaker delivered a speech Thursday night and said some conservatives are 'detached from reality and not worth anybody's time.' Ryan didn't name anyone in particular, but I imagine he was referring to people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. That said, his statement rings rather hollow given that he is quite literally on the payroll of what can be accurately described as an outrage peddling company." Here's more from the speech...

Two new hosts for Limbaugh's time slot

Oliver Darcy writes: "Premiere Networks has made its pick to fill Rush Limbaugh's void: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton. Limbaugh's longtime syndicator said Thursday that Travis and Sexton will begin hosting a three-hour show in Rush's former time slot of noon to 3pm ET. WSJ's Anne Steele, who broke the news, said the duo 'will serve up similar right-wing fare' as Limbaugh, while also taking calls from listeners. Six plus hours later, her story was still the most-read article on the WSJ website..."

>> Darcy adds: "It's, of course, noteworthy that Premiere is betting on a program with two hosts, versus one. And it's also notable that Travis and Sexton bring a slightly different background to the world of right-wing radio. While Sexton has had a more traditional career in conservative media, Travis is largely known for his commentary on sports. They'll be up against several others, including Dan Bongino, who recently struck a deal with Cumulus Media's Westwood One and started to host a show in the same time slot. Here's my full story..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Margaret Sullivan's newest column is about fallout at The AP: News orgs "need to seriously grapple with the worsening plague of bad-faith attacks on journalists. They need to educate newsroom managers at all levels about how to respond..." (WaPo)

-- "Newsrooms are debating, in real time, what's okay to say out loud and what you're supposed to keep in your head," Peter Kafka writes... (Recode)

Reuters delays paywall launch

"Reuters News postponed the launch of its website paywall following a dispute with financial data provider Refinitiv over whether the move would breach a news supply agreement between the two companies," Kenneth Li writes for Reuters...

NPR hires A Martinez for "Morning Edition"

"NPR has named the fourth host for one of its defining shows, 'Morning Edition:' A Martinez will become the network's newest voice at a time when it is trying to attract more Latino listeners. He comes from Southern California Public Radio, where he has been a leading presence for the past nine years," NPR's David Folkenflik reported Thursday.

A ("there is no period after the letter A in his name, as it is not an abbreviation," Folkenflik notes) has co-hosted KPCC's "Take Two" since 2012. He'll join "Morning" co-hosts Steve Inskeep, Noel King and Rachel Martin sometime after starting at the organization on July 6...

Jason Kilar says he's staying

WSJ reporter Joe Flint, who wrote that brilliant but badly timed profile of Jason Kilar earlier this month, followed up by breaking some news about the WarnerMedia CEO on Thursday. Despite the Discovery-WarnerMedia deal, "Kilar said in a companywide address Thursday that he has no plans to step down this year." The key quote: "My plan and my focus is to remain here in my CEO role," Kilar said... "I am not thinking right now about post-merger. There will be a time to consider that topic in 2022." Kerry Flynn has more here...

HBO Max at the one-year mark

"After a year of upheaval, HBO Max has carved out its place," The Ringer's Alison Herman writes: "Despite almost unceasing corporate shake-ups, the one-year-old streaming service has managed to establish itself alongside the likes of Netflix and Amazon." Vulture's Joe Adalian reaches a similar conclusion: "For all the behind-the-scenes tsuris, HBO Max is actually doing pretty damn well. I don't even think it's a stretch to call it a significant success on multiple fronts..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- John Dickerson is moving off "60 Minutes" and "shifting the focus of his political analysis and national affairs reporting to 'CBS Sunday Morning' and other" shows, Brian Steinberg reports. He's also developing a series for Paramount+... (Variety)

-- Will Oremus is joining WaPo as a tech news analysis writer. He was most recently at Medium's OneZero... (WaPo)

-- Hanna Trudo is joining The Hill as a senior political correspondent, helping to create "a new beat focused on progressive politics in the Biden White House and Congress..." (Twitter)

"Just rings false"

Oliver Darcy writes: "During an appearance on 'New Day,' Andrew Yang continued to criticize the NY Daily News for a political cartoon it printed this week that depicted him as a tourist in Times Square. 'I think anyone objective looking at that cartoon knows that it's playing on an idea of Asian-Americans as permanent tourists and outsiders,' Yang said, adding: 'So the Daily News characterizing it as simply a political commentary that does not include race just rings false.' The paper has stood by the cartoon, saying its intention was to simply knock Yang for declaring Times Square to be his favorite Subway station..."

"We are concerned"

Oliver Darcy writes: "Twitter on Thursday expressed concern about its employees in India and about online free speech in the country. 'Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve,' a spokesperson for the company said. As Reuters' Sankalp Phartiyal noted in his story, the statement from Twitter comes 'days after police visited one of its offices as part of a probe related to the firm's tagging of some ruling party posts as manipulated.' The Delhi Police responded to Twitter saying its statements 'are devised to seek dubious sympathy...'"

>> Peter Kafka's point: "India is a key market for social media companies – and an increasingly repressive regime. Feels untenable..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- "Calling it a 'frontal assault on the First Amendment,' a federal lawsuit is seeking to strike down a Florida law that penalizes social media companies for barring the speech of political candidates," Jessica Guynn reports... (USA Today)

-- Ryan Mac reports about how Facebook employees are "accusing their own company of bias against Arabs and Muslims..." (BuzzFeed)

-- "Clubhouse has hired Kelly Stoetzel, a 17-year veteran of TED and the executive responsible for lining up the company's famous TED Talks," Todd Spangler reports... (Variety)

-- You never know what you might spot in an Instagram photo. "Some Apple experts think they've spotted" Apple's rumored Beats earbuds "in Lebron James's ears..." (The Sun)

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- "Julie McNamara, the EVP and head of programming at ViacomCBS-owned streamer Paramount+, is exiting the company just two months after the service officially debuted..." (AdWeek)

-- Paramount TV Studios president Nicole Clemens "is in final negotiations to add head of originals" at Paramount+ to her duties, which means she'd be taking some of McNamara's duties, "though the role is said to be different than her predecessor's..." (THR)

-- "Shares of AMC soared about 36% Thursday as investors on the popular Reddit WallStreetBets board were once again touting the stock in an effort to hurt short sellers who have bet against the theater operator," Paul R. La Monica wrote... (CNN Business)

Massive hype for the "Friends" reunion

Brian Lowry writes: "Barring details about viewing levels that usually aren't released, it feels possible that 'Friends: The Reunion' will actually generate as many tweets and stories as viewers, which, for a service like HBO Max, is more than half the battle. Premium TV in general has always thrived on attention, which is why you can expect to see more of these kind of events in the future..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN

By Lisa Respers France:

-- Sean Combs was serious when he added "Love" to his name. On Thursday, Combs posted a throwback photo of himself with ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and plenty of folks want to believe the move was the greatest attempt at shooting a shot since Michael Jordan's legendary buzzer beater during the 1989 NBA Finals between Jordan's Chicago Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers. After all she's reportedly seeing another ex, actor Ben Affleck, so why not?

-- Regé-Jean Page talked about life after "Bridgerton" and that James Bond speculation -- which he jokingly refers to as "the B word..."

-- Emily Wickersham is leaving "NCIS," much to the sadness of her many fans...

The 2022 Oscars are set

Brian Lowry writes: "ABC and the Academy have set March 27 for the 94th annual Oscars, and returned to a standard calendar, meaning movies released from March 1 through Dec. 31 will be eligible. The ceremony, of course, is coming off record-low ratings..."