Weekend Box Office Wrap-up: August 7, 2016
Suicide Squad earned the #1 spot in a landslide, earning $135 million during its first three days. That shatters the August record for largest opening weekend, surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy‘s $94.3 million two years ago. (SR)
Brie Larson To Make Directorial Debut With ‘Unicorn Store’ Comedy
The actress, who won the Oscar this year for her performance in Room, is set to make her directorial debut with the independent quirky comedy Unicorn Store. (THR)
NBCUniversal Places Big Bet On ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Fantastic Beasts’
In a seven-year deal with Time Warner Inc. ’s Warner Bros. that takes effect in 2018, the Comcast Corp. -owned media company will obtain commercial television rights to the eight Harry Potter movies, which will air mainly on the USA and Syfy channels. (WSJ)
George R.R. Martin’s ‘Wild Cards’ In Development At Universal Cable Productions
Universal Cable Productions has acquired the rights to develop Martin’s anthology series Wild Cards. Due to Martin’s exclusive development agreement with HBO, the author will not be working on the project. (VAR)
Blake Griffin’s Animated Comedy Gets Pilot Order From Fox
The L.A. Clippers superstar will present the pilot of his semi-autobiographical animated pilot Okies of Bel Air to Fox. (EW)
Martha Stewart And Snoop Dogg Will Host A Cooking Show On VH1
Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg are joining forces for good: a new VH1 reality show. The pair will host a cooking show this fall, tentatively called Martha & Snoop’s Dinner Party. (VER)
Antoine Fuqua Sells Medical Drama ‘The City’ To Showtime
Antoine Fuqua has signed a deal with Showtime to produce a medical drama called The City. Amy Holden Jones will handle the screenplay and take on a producer role. (VUL)
Nasim Pedrad Comedy Pilot ‘Chad’ Not Going Forward At Fox
Fox has passed on Chad: An American Boy, the single-camera Middle-Eastern family comedy pilot starring Saturday Night Live alumna Nasim Pedrad as a teenage boy. I hear 20th Century Fox TV is planning to aggressively shop it. (DH)
Can Broadcast Networks Compete In A World Of Binge-Worthy TV?
According to NBC’s President of Research and Media Development, more than half of all viewers won’t watch a show unless they have the same access to older episodes. In fact, 72 percent of viewers would be more likely to start watching returning series on broadcast networks if they had access to all the past episodes on demand or online. (TB)