‘The Martian’ Remains Out Of This World At the Box Office, Takes a Second Straight Weekend
Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the best-selling book nabbed $37 million to finish first again, giving it $108.7 million in its first 10 days. Hotel Transylvania 2 came in second with $20.3 million, while Pan opened flat with just $15.5 million for third. The Intern came in fourth place, with $8.6 million, while Sicario rounded out the top five with $7.3 million. The Walk, meanwhile, continued to perform weakly, with just $3.65 million in its first weekend of wide release. (BO)
Take Don Cheadle Out Of This Year’s Oscar Race: His Miles Davis Biopic Won’t Come Out Until Spring
In a new update published for contributors to the project’s Indiegogo campaign this evening, Cheadle says the film will be released in the spring of 2016, and not this year, even if only for an Oscar-qualifying run. He did not give a specific date. In August, Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide distribution rights to Miles Ahead, which made its World Premiere as the Closing Night film at the 53rd New York Film Festival, last night. (SAA)
George R.R. Martin Has Another Project With the HBO Family, Sets New Project At Cinemax
The premium cable network has ordered a script of Martin’s werewolf noir novel The Skin Trade. Published in the 1980s, story was originally written for an annual horror anthology published by Dark Harvest. Kalinda Vazquez will pen the script, which follows a collections agent who happens to be a werewolf and his friend, a private investigator, as they discover a dark secret behind a series of grisly murders in their decaying industrial city. (LF)
Fox Sees the Future and ‘Minority Report’ Probably Isn’t In It, as Network Cuts Show’s Episode Order
New hourlong will only see 10 episodes for its first season. The low-rated Monday night show was originally handed a 13-episode order. After under-performing for its first three episodes — most recently bringing in just over 2 million viewers — Fox reduced the original order, though sources say the network has not made a decision regarding cancellation. It seems likely, however, that the final episode of this fall’s 10-episode run will serve as the series finale. (VAR)
Morton Tyldum Acquires Bobbie Peers’ Children’s Novel ‘William Wenton And The Luridium Thief’
In a preemptive deal on the eve of the Frankfurt Book Fair, The Imitation Game director and his production company Norse Code have acquired screen rights to the debut children’s novel by Bobbie Peers. It is the first novel in a series of books, and follows a 12-year old code-breaking genius who, when his extraordinary talent for cracking codes is suddenly revealed, faces the dangers that have been lurking around him for years. (DH)
Charlize Theron Signs On To New Spy Thriller For Sony and Joe Roth
Oscar-winning star of Mad Max: Fury Road will star in The Gray Man, based on the novel by Mark Greaney. Joe Russo and Anthony Russo have adapted the script and will produce alongside Roth, DeDe Gardner of Plan B and Elizabeth Murdoch for Shine. Story centers around an American operative known as ‘The Gray Man’, who must save his daughters from a team of assassins determined to eliminate them. Theron will play the female lead. (TB)
In Case You Were Wondering Who Is Going To Direct ‘xXx 3’, Vin Diesel Just Answered Your Pressing Question
Hot on the heels of landing a director for Furious 8 in F. Gary Gray, another Diesel franchise has finally found a filmmaker to take on the next sequel. xXx 3 has been teased by Diesel since 2008, and now a director has finally been revealed. Diesel confirmed that Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso would be at the helm of the sequel. Diesel also said that the two projects are now in a race for production, but Furious 8 has an April 14th, 2017 release scheduled. (SF)
R.L. Stine’s ‘Fear Street’ Series Being Developed as Horror Movie Project
Twentieth Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment are already deep in the works to bring the series to the big screen. Stine himself confirmed that the deal is currently being negotiated, and that no talent has officially signed on in terms of cast and crew. Book series focuses on teens being confronted by horror and terrors of all sorts, inside and outside of high school. (COL)
No Surprise Here, as NBC Awards a Full Season Order From Rookie Hit ‘Blindspot’
Peacock Network has done so after only three weeks on the air, during which the show has consistently dominated among adults aged 18-49. The series has averaged roughly 9.6 million viewers per episode, and has seen consistent growth ever since its premiere on September 21th. NBC has ordered what is referred to as the “Back Nine,” meaning they have enough faith in the series to air a full 22-episode season. (CB)
Screenwriters: Meet the Reader — Writing Your First Screenplay
Every screenwriting career begins with a first script – with that first time someone who dreams of telling a story on the big screen sits down and puts pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to construct a blueprint for the (hoped for) movie to be. A lot of heart and soul (and blood, sweat, and tears) go into these initial efforts. Despite all of this emotional and physical investment, however, most first scripts aren’t very good. Why? (SM)