Deadline; Amazon Upfront: Here’s What Happened At Pier 36 With Jake Gyllenhaal, Will Ferrell, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Ritchson & Octavia Spencer

Story from Deadline:

It’s Day 2 of the Upfronts and Amazon is making its primetime debut.

The streamer is already making news with a series order for a Nic Cage-from Spider-Man noir live-action drama, a Jeopardy! spinoff and a slew of sports docs including a third season of Coach Prime.

There have also been renewals for The Boys and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

This comes after Tom Brady was in the huddle for yesterday’s Fox Upfront and NBCUniversal held their annual ad blowout at Radio City Music Hall.

Held at Pier 36, Amazon kicked off thirty minutes late with thousands of people lining up outside a construction site to get in.

Alicia Keys opened the show; a few chords on the piano before promoting her Amazon Premium Beauty lifestyle brand (obviously) and kicking into No One and her Jay-Z duet Empire State of Mind (New York). “It’s going to be a beautiful day,” Keys concluded.

Paul Kotas, SVP, Advertising was the first exec through the curtain, talking up how Amazon got into advertising, before Mike Hopkins, SVP, Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, talked about the company’s “new chapter”, promoted Fallout and The Idea of You.

Jen Salke, Head of Amazon and MGM Studios, apologized to the crowd for “whatever you went through to get in”.

She talked up the company’s slate, bringing out Road House star Jake Gyllenhaal, who is involved in a sequel, Reacher star Alan Ritchson and Cross star Aldis Hodge, Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, who are in You’re Cordially Invited, Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer, who are fronting an action comedy drama.

Ritchson and Hodge both want to “honor” the books and legacy of their IP.

Witherspoon and Ferrell joked that the audience stood in a “super long line” to see them. “As the rom-com king, I was able to give Reese a couple of pointers,” Ferrell joked. “I’m kind of known for my rom-coms and you aren’t,” responded Witherspoon as part of a bit of witty banter between the pair.

The Summer I Turned Pretty author Jenny Han revealed that she’s going to direct her first episode of television for season three, which features 11 episodes, up from seven in season one and eight in season two.

Salke then departed the stage before it was sports turn.

Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez and Ryan Fitzpatrick from Thursday Night Football, were brought on stage by Jay Marine, VP, Global Head of Sports, Prime Video, who said the company was “doubling down” on live sports. It will kick off the season with Miami Dolphins taking on the Buffalo Bills.

Dale Earnheardt Jr. raced to the stage to promote NASCAR before Roger Federer was given a huge applause as he talked up his upcoming sports doc Federer: The Final Twelve Days. “It’s going to be emotional,” said the tennis legend.

There was one last surprise with Witherspoon returning to reveal that she’s working on a Legally Blonde prequel – Elle.

“We’re going nuts for this and couldn’t think of a better note to end on,” said Salke.