Hulu Upfronts: New Marvel, PEN15 and Ramy renewed, Elizabeth Holmes limited series with Kate McKinnon and more

Today, during the Hulu ‘19 Presentation at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, executives took the stage to reveal the company’s continued rapid growth, announce original programming and exclusive talent deals that expand Hulu’s content offering, and unveil new brand initiatives, advertising products and user experience enhancements that bolster its goal of becoming the #1 choice for TV, in and out of the home.

The company announced today that it has increased its total customer base to more than 28 million — 26.8 million monthly paid subscribers, and 1.3 million promotional accounts.

“In today’s direct-to-consumer world, viewers are demanding better when it comes to TV — from the user experience to their content choices to the advertising,” said Hulu CEO Randy Freer. “Hulu’s continued growth, as well as the shows and initiatives announced today, reflect our deep investment in product, programming, brand, customer experience and business strategy to ensure that with Hulu, consumers can connect with the stories they love, at the right time and price, on any device.”

Announcements at this year’s presentation included:

Marvel and Hulu Expand Partnership With Two New Live-Action Series

The Spirits of Vengeance are coming! In an expanded partnership, Marvel Television will bring two new live-action series to Hulu from a unique corner of the Marvel universe. The iconic adventures into fear properties, Marvel’s Ghost Rider and Marvel’s Helstromare slated to debut on Hulu in 2020.

Marvel’s Ghost Rider, also known as Robbie Reyes, is a quintessential antihero, consumed by hellfire and supernaturally bound to a demon. Reyes lives on the Texas/Mexico border and when he unleashes the Rider, Robbie brings vengeance for the innocents he encounters, but struggles to control the power he wields. Marvel’s Ghost Rider is executive produced by Ingrid Escajeda, who will serve as showrunner, Paul Zbyszewski and Marvel’s Jeph Loeb.

Daimon and Ana Helstrom are the son and daughter of a mysterious and powerful serial killer in Marvel’s Helstrom. The siblings have a complicated dynamic as they track down the terrorizing worst of humanity — each with their attitude and skills. Marvel’s Helstrom is executive produced by Paul Zbyszewski, who will serve as showrunner and Marvel’s Jeph Loeb.

Both series are co-productions with Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios and join the upcoming season three of Marvel’s Runaways and recently announced adult animated series based on the popular Marvel Television characters including Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K, Marvel’s Hit-Monkey, Marvel’s Tigra & Dazzler Show and Marvel’s Howard The Duck, which will culminate in a special event, Marvel’s The Offenders.

Hulu Partners With Vox Media Studios, Majordomo Media, and Suit & Thai Productions In Multi-Year Deal to Create Food-Focused Hulu Originals

In a new, multi-year, multi-show partnership, Hulu will partner with Vox Media Studios, David Chang’s Majordomo Media, and Chrissy Teigen’s Suit & Thai Productions to develop and produce a slate of premium food-centric programming for the platform. As the founder and chef of the Momofuku restaurant group, Chang brings a profound understanding of global food culture, while Vox Media Studios lends its world-class storytelling capabilities and a wealth of experience built through its food and travel network, Eater. New York Times bestselling cookbook author Teigen will co-produce and headline a diverse cast of compelling and knowledgeable personalities—from household names and celebrated chefs to everyday home cooks—who will entertain and provoke viewers with a variety of inventive new shows.

Among the first projects being produced by this new partnership is a cooking show featuring Chang and Teigen. Tentatively titled Family Style, the show will revolve around the ways in which people express their love for friends and family by cooking and eating together. Also in the pipeline is a documentary series tentatively titled Eater’s Guide To The World, which taps into Eater’s extensive knowledge of the most interesting and delicious restaurants on the planet.

Hulu Greenlights Straight-to-Series Order For Nine Perfect Strangers, Reuniting  Emmy® and Golden Globe Award-Winning Actress and Producer Nicole Kidman, Emmy® Award-Winning Producer and Writer David E. Kelley, Author Liane Moriarty and Emmy® Award-Winning Producers Bruna Papandrea and Per Saari

David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth to Co-Showrun and Co-Write

Emmy® and Golden Globe Award-winning actress and producer Nicole Kidman and Emmy® Award-winning producer Bruna Papandrea will adapt the latest book by New York Times best-selling author Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers, for Hulu via their respective production companies, Blossom Films and Made Up Stories. Emmy® Award-winner David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth will co-showrun and co-write the series. Nine Perfect Strangers was an instant hit that spent 13 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The series takes place at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation as nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them during this ten-day retreat is the resort’s director Masha (played by Kidman), a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. However, these nine “perfect” strangers have no idea what is about to hit them.

The series is the latest project from Blossom Films, Made Up Stories and Endeavor Content.  Blossom Films, created by Nicole Kidman and Per Saari, is a lateral thinking production company known for creating content featuring deep and complex characters. Since its inception in 2010 and their first film, RABBIT HOLE, Blossom has aimed to foster creative autonomy and champion artists. Their most recent success comes from executive-producing season one of Big Little Lies, HBO’s groundbreaking limited series, which garnered eight Emmy®nominations and five wins, including Best Actress for Kidman and Best Miniseries or Television Film. Made Up Stories is a development, production and finance company committed to creating content with compelling female figures squarely at the center and enabling female creatives to tell the stories they want to tell. Made Up Stories was founded and is run by Papandrea, the award-winning producer of the HBO series Big Little Lies and feature films WILD, GONE GIRL, WARM BODIES and MILK. Endeavor Content specializes in financing, sales and advisory services for television series, documentaries, and feature films.  Its primary goal is to empower artists and content creators by providing them with more ownership and creative freedom as they navigate the media landscape. The company’s upcoming TV slate includes Damien Chazelle’s musical drama The Eddy, hit series Killing Eve, and See starring Jason Momoa.

Executive producers for Nine Perfect Strangers include Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver for Made Up Stories, Nicole Kidman and Per Saari for Blossom Films, Liane Moriarty, David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth. Nine Perfect Strangers is expected to debut on Hulu in late 2020 and joins the company’s growing slate of upcoming scripted Hulu Originals, including Little Fires Everywhere, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Looking For Alaska, Dollface, Reprisal and The Great.

Hulu To Launch Binge Advertising Experience as Company’s Second New Non-Intrusive Format

As part of Hulu’s viewer-first approach to advertising, Hulu announced today it is increasing its investment in non-intrusive ad formats with the industry’s first binge advertising experience.

The new format will make it possible for marketers to target binge viewers with a creative that is situationally relevant to their viewing behavior.  

“This is a monumental time for Hulu’s advertising business and for brands who are looking to reach the most valuable audience in television,” said Peter Naylor, SVP and Head of Advertising Sales at Hulu. “Because of our viewer-first advertising principles, we’re scaling rapidly. We’re offering advertisers the most sophisticated targeting, the largest addressable footprint in on-demand television, robust measurement solutions, and new ad models. Hulu is future-proofing TV advertising and transforming the way brands connect with consumers.”

The binge advertising experience is the second format in Hulu’s suite of situational advertising solutions available to marketers in 2019.  Hulu also announced it will expand the availability of its pause ad experience beginning in August.

Hulu Greenlights Limited Series The Dropout, Starring Kate McKinnon as Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes

Today, the company confirmed an order for The Dropout, a limited series executive produced and starring Kate McKinnon, inspired by the ABC News podcast on the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos. The series will explore what caused the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire, once heralded as “the next Steve Jobs,” to lose everything in the blink of an eye. Along with McKinnon, executive producers on the limited series include the producing team behind the ABC News podcast, host and Chief Business, Technology and Economics Correspondent for ABC News Rebecca Jarvis, Taylor Dunn and Victoria Thompson. The series comes to Hulu from Fox Searchlight Television and is the studio’s first project since announcing the creation of the television division in April 2018.

Hulu Renews Freshmen Comedies With Second Season Orders for Pen15 and Ramy

Following the success of Hulu’s 2019 new comedy slate, the platform has ordered second seasons of  Pen15, Ramy and previously announced, Shrill. All three new series broke through by generating passionate fan bases and critical reception; each series currently rank in the Top 25 TV Shows of 2019 on Metacritic.

After debuting to rave reviews, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle return to star in a 14-episode, second season of adult comedy, Pen15. Playing versions of themselves as thirteen-year-old outcasts in the year 2000, the series features Erskine and Konkle surrounded by actual thirteen-year-olds where the best day of their lives can turn into the worst with the stroke of a gel pen. Pen15 is created, written and executive produced by Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle and Sam Zvibleman; Debbie Liebling will serve as executive producer alongside Marc Provissiero and Brooke Pobjoy from Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer of The Lonely Island and Becky Sloviter of Party Over Here. Pen15 is produced by AwesomenessTV.

Hulu’s critically-acclaimed comedy series Ramy has been picked up for a 10-episode second season. The groundbreaking series follows first-generation, Egyptian-American Ramy Hassan who is on a spiritual journey in his politically-divided New Jersey neighborhood. Ramy brings a new perspective to the screen as it explores the challenges of what it’s like to be caught between a Muslim community who believes life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences. Ramy is written, executive produced, created by and starring Youssef, executive produced by Jerrod Carmichael, A24’s Ravi Nandan, co-creators Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch, and produced by A24.

Company Inks Two-Year Deal With Chrissy Teigen to Develop Original Programming

In a new two-year partnership announced today, tastemaker, trendsetter and recent TIME 100 Most Influential People honoree, Chrissy Teigen, will bring her trademark style to Hulu to develop Original content for the platform.  

Chrissy personifies the Hulu brand through her outspoken, passionate, authentic nature. Whether it’s her love of food, witty social media commentary, activism for social injustice and women’s rights, fans know Chrissy always tells it like it is. Now, under a new pact, Chrissy and her production company, Suit & Thai Productions, will curate and produce original content, which could range from scripted drama series to original talk shows. The Hulu platform is Chrissy’s oyster.

About Hulu

Hulu is the leading premium streaming service offering live and on-demand TV and movies, with and without commercials, both in and outside the home. Launched in 2008, Hulu has grown to more than 28 million customers in the U.S. and is the only service that gives viewers instant access to current shows from every major U.S. broadcast network; libraries of hit TV series and films; and acclaimed Hulu Originals like Emmy® and Golden Globe Award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale, Emmy® Award-nominated The Looming Tower, Shrill, The Act, Marvel’s Runaways and Castle Rock, and Oscar®-nominated documentary film Minding the Gap, as well as live news, entertainment and sports from 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, CBS Corporation, The CW, Turner Networks, A+E Networks and Discovery Networks – all in one place. Upcoming Hulu Originals include Catch-22 from George Clooney; Four Weddings and a Funeral from Mindy Kaling; Wu-Tang: An American Saga from Brian Grazer and The RZA; and Little Fires Everywhere from Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.