Box Office: ‘Zootopia’ Reigns with $50M This Weekend, While ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ Earns its Keep at $25M
Disney’s animated animal adventure Zootopia continued to dominate the box office over the weekend, but 10 Cloverfield Lane also won over audiences in a big way. (DT)
So it Turns Out Kevin Spacey Will Not be Chairman of Relativity After All
Kevin Spacey now says he will not head Relativity. The studio, however, is moving forward with Spacey’s Trigger Street partner Dana Brunetti, who will run Relativity with CEO Ryan Kavanaugh when it emerges from bankruptcy. (THR)
Martin Scorsese, Frank Marshall & More Film Heavyweights Advocate $50 At Home Screening Service
The roster of filmmakers who’ve become advocates for a new set-top box technology that would allow consumers to see movies at home when they open in theaters, at a $50 price point is expanding. AMC has also signed on, but more theaters and studios both will have to join up or this venture will not happen. (DL)
‘Captain America’ Directors Anthony and Joe Russo Head to China to Launch New Studio
Anthony and Joe Russo, the directing duo behind Marvel’s Captain America franchise, are setting up shop in China. The brothers secured financing for Anthem & Song, a startup studio to be based in Los Angeles and Beijing, which will develop and produce Chinese-language films for the country’s booming theatrical market. (THR)
Forget Hall H, Lionsgate and Comic-Con Join Forces to Launch Comic-Con SVOD Service
Comic-Con and Lionsgate will launch a subscription video on-demand service, now officially called Comic-Con HQ, that will roll out just in time for the annual San Diego event in July. Subscribers will get free beta access beginning on May 7, with an official launch scheduled for sometime in June. The cost of the service will be announced shortly before beta access opens. (MB)
‘Keanu’, ‘Hush’ & These 14 Other Movies Are Gathering Buzz at SXSW Film Festival
SXSW has a strong lineup once again that proves the Austin gathering as a formidable player for big and small movies. SXSW used to focus more on micro-budgeted indie features and documentaries, but in recent years studios have also started to flock to Texas, which has given SXSW more star power and clout. Here are 16 of the buzziest titles from this year’s festival. (VAR)
Taylor Swift Music Videos Beats Out Network TV Audiences in New Vevo Nielsen Study
TV may not be the biggest audience driver for much longer: New Nielsen research commissioned by Vevo shows that music videos from well-known artists routinely gather equal if not bigger audiences than network TV shows. (VAR)
Want ‘Star Wars’ Sans Special Effects? Wish Granted as Disney Releases Teaser for the Epic Table Read
The Force Awakens will release on Blu-Ray next month. One of the things that you’ll be treated to as part of the extras attached to the disc will be a chance to hear that very first table read where it all began. Click here to watch the preview. (CB)
15 Surprising Things Productive People Do Differently
Over 200 ultra-productive people including seven billionaires, 13 Olympians, 20 straight-A students and over 200 successful entrepreneurs were asked “What is your number one secret to productivity?” Here are the results. (FB)
Screenwriters: Paul Haggis Discusses ‘The Next Three Days’, a Script that Marked a Departure for Him
The Next Three Days is a departure for Paul Haggis. The Oscars for Crash left him well-ensconced as a writer of intelligent dramas, and the success of Casino Royale, on which he shared credit, showed he could bring gravitas to a tentpole franchise. With The Next Three Days, though, Haggis remade a French movie about a schoolteacher who must break his wife, who was wrongly convicted of a crime, out of prison. (SM)