BILLBOARD-2

THЄ ЄXISTЄNTIΛL CHRONICLЄS

►About | ►Explore | ►Links | ►Updates | ►Alerts

Strong World Series Ratings; Sony's 'Ghostbusters' Pain; How Trump TV Could Look; Meet Hollywood's Election Xanax

November 03, 2016

What a World Series! Fox Sports is celebrating after Game 7 delivered big early ratings. Plus: Sony's Ghostbusters loss is worse than feared, Doctor Strange and Trolls look like hits, the hypothetical Trump TV gets a blueprint and the annual THR Roundtable series kicks off with producers. — Matthew Belloni and Erik Hayden.

A historic night. Michael O'Connell has early numbers for the huge game:

Viewers tuned in, solidifying the 2016 World Series the most-watched since 2004. With a huge overnight 25.2 rating rating among households on Fox, the Cubs' 8-7 win over the Cleveland Indians ranks as the biggest in the seven-game series.

It tops the previous high set on Sunday night by 65 percent, when Game 5 earned a 15.3 rating — and, ultimately 23.6 million viewers.

Early indicators for the finale have the total audience going as high as 40 million viewers. If that is the case, it will rank as the most-watched baseball game in over 15 years — and potentially longer.

It's the most-watched individual telecast this year outside of the Super Bowl.

Box-Office: 'Strange' Eyes $65M In U.S.

The heavy-hitters are here: Marvel Studios and Disney's Doctor Strange should have no trouble chasing away the fall blues at the domestic box office, writes Pamela McClintock in the weekend forecast:

Doctor Strange is projected to open in the $65M-$70M range this weekend from nearly 3,882 theaters after conjuring up a stellar $100M from select international markets in its first week.

Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation and Fox's Trolls should debut in the $35M-$40M range from 4,060 locations. On the more serious side, Lionsgate opens Mel Gibson's World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge, which is projected to earn $12M-$15M from 2,800-plus locations.

For awards season watchers: Focus Features opens director Jeff Nichols' interracial marriage drama Loving in two theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

Elsewhere in film (lots of deals)...

► Scoop: Sony feels more Ghostbusters pain due to finance partner's exit. From Kim Masters: The woe inflicted on the studio by the July reboot was magnified by the fact that key financing partner LSC Film Corp. pulled its backing shortly before the film went into production.

► Tristar president Hannah Minghella renews deal. Since the exec was named president of the label in August 2015, TriStar has been an active buyer of literary properties and filmmaker-driven projects. Her slate includes The Nightingale and a new Narnia project.

► Girl With The Dragon Tattoo sequel eyes director. Sony Pictures is looking at Don't Breathe helmer Fede Alverez to direct a new installment. Stephen Knight is adapting the novel for the screen, along with Scott Rudin, Amy Pascal, Elizabeth Cantillon and Eli Bush.

↱ Alfonso Cuaron film set turns violent. Crewmembers working on the director's untitled Mexico period drama came to blows yesterday with city authorities who tried to shutter the production over a permit dispute. Additionally, the crew has filed a crime report alleging that during the incident some members were robbed of their personal belongings, including cellphones, wallets and jewelry. ↲

► Elle Fanning, Ben Foster to star in Galveston. The actors are teaming with Melanie Laurent, who will direct the moody crime thriller from True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto's screenplay. Production will begin in January.

► Tom Holland in talks for Current War. The Spider-Man actor is looking to join Benedict Cumberbatch in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's new project. The film chronicles the feud between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.

► Stephen King's 1922 adaptation finds leads. Thomas Jane and Molly Parker are starring in the Netflix film of the author's novella. Zak Hilditch will direct from the screenplay he wrote based on King's 131-page story telling of a man's confession of his wife's murder.

↱ American Film Market Day 2 Daily. The 36-page THR fest print paper features a look at the unusual lack of male-driven action films at the market, a recap of Bob Weinstein's TWC-Dimension presentation and a chat with the co-founders of Aardman Animation. Download here. ↲

The Producers Roundtable Arrives! It's that time of year again: Matt Damon (Manchester by the Sea), Frank Marshall (Sully), Darren Aronofsky (Jackie), Todd Black (Fences), Emma Tillinger Koskoff (Silence) and Marc Platt (La La Land) have a candid chat moderated by Stephen Galloway and Matt about their awards contending films. Video I Discussion.

And more film deals...

► Niki Caro to direct DNA scientist film. The Whale Rider helmer has signed a deal to develop and direct Exposure, eOne's film about the groundbreaking scientist Rosalind Franklin. Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi penned the script.

► Gareth Evans to tackle period thriller. The Raid director will write and helm Apostle, about a mysterious man who travels to a remote island in search of his missing sister. The film is eyeing a March 2017 start of production in the U.K.

► Matt Dillon joins Lars Von Trier's serial killer drama. The actor will play the titular character in The House That Jack Built, which will be shot in Sweden and Denmark and also features Bruno Ganz. The project was originally planned as a TV series.

↱ Exec Q&A: Tencent film chief Cheng Wu. In a visit to his Beijing office, the exec who heads the tech giant's film and TV division chats about Warcraft's disappointing U.S. performance, China's recent box-office slowdown and why the country's movie industry still has "a lot to learn." ↲

► Michael Moore's TrumpLand sells internationally. IMG has sold the latest release from the progressive director, a 73-minute performance film in which he tells Ohio residents to vote against Donald Trump, to broadcasters in 13 countries.

► R.I.P., John Travers. The well-respected veteran editor, writer and director on feature documentaries was found dead Tuesday in his apartment in the Hollywood Hills. No cause of death has been determined. He was 57. Full obit.

Oscar producers won't be back. David Hill and Reginald Hudlin, who produced the 88th Oscars, are among those who have met with Academy officials. Their meeting took place several months ago, and there have been no follow-up talks. The organization has yet to name either a producer or host.

What Trump TV Could Look Like

New clues dropped by the Trump campaign offer a potential road map should the mogul decide to move forward with a post-election venture. Marisa Guthrie outlines the scenario:

Unlike a cable network — which would require millions of dollars in startup costs to secure distribution and advertisers and create a lot of content — a subscription-based OTT channel has a low cost of entry.

"A digital network can be up and running immediately, which we saw on debate night," says former CNN president Jon Klein. "It can generate significant amounts of revenue on day one and be profitable by lunchtime."

Does Trump, 70, have the drive to build a digital network, and will his followers watch people other than Trump? Certainly his campaign CEO Steve Bannon's background at Breitbart could be useful. According to the campaign, the first edition of Trump Tower Live on Oct. 24 peaked at only 60,000 live viewers.

Adds Glenn Beck: "We are in the beginning of a Dadaist movement. And Trump TV can be the urinal of that movement."

Elsewhere in TV...

► Showtime expands its remake footprint. The cabler has landed the TV remake of American Gigolo. First put in development two years ago, the project hails from Paramount TV and Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the 1980 film starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton.

► CBS' Kevin Can Wait changes showrunners. Weeks after the Kevin James starrer was picked up for a full 22-episode season, Bruce Helford has exited the show and will be replaced by Rob Long. Helford's departure stems from differences he had with James.

► NBC sets baseball comedy from Mindy Project writers. The network has handed out a hefty put-pilot commitment to All Stars, by Jack Burditt and Charlie Grandy. The project hails from Universal Television, where the duo are under overall deals.

↱ Trailer watch: A&E's Scientology series. Leah Remini's new docuseries is not shying away from controversy. The show has released its first trailer, and it features former members of the Church of Scientology detailing the abuse they encountered during their tenure. ↲

► CW developing noir drama based on black PI. The network is teaming with prolific producer Aaron Kaplan to develop Marlowe, inspired by the real-life African-American private investigator who inspired Raymond Chandler's famed fictional character Philip Marlowe.

► Netflix to give Longmire a proper send-off. The streaming giant has renewed the Katee Sackhoff starrer for a sixth and final season. It will consist of 10 episodes, and will premiere in 2017 in the U.S.

► David S. Goyer puts down some new TV roots. The prolific writer-producer has signed a two-year first-look deal for his Phantom Four banner with IM Global Television. With the pact, Goyer moves to IM Global from Universal Television, where he had been under an overall deal.

► The Cosby Show is leaving Hulu. The streamer has opted to not renew its deal with producers Carsey Werner, and as part of the deal, The Cosby Show will no longer have a streaming platform.

In THR, Esq: The Justice Department is targeting AT&T and DirecTV in an antitrust lawsuit over the L.A. Dodgers TV negotiations ... After years of litigation, Gawker is set to pay Hulk Hogan $31 million to settle the infamous sex tape lawsuit. Nick Denton: "The saga is over."

Jon Favreau Is Hollywood's Xanax

Hillary can't lose this thing, can she? Not a chance, insists Jon Favreau. The former Obama speechwriter has become the voice of calm for liberals during a tumultuous election season, Matt writes:

In many ways, Favreau and his Keepin' It 1600 podcast pals have become Nate Silvers of this wild campaign, calmly (and often hilariously) picking apart polls, media spin and Trump's missteps, giving what they call liberal "bedwetters" a chance to calm down.

"The race, to us, has been remarkably stable when you look at the fundamentals, which most of the horse-race coverage doesn't do," says Favreau, who escaped D.C. for L.A. in 2013 to write for film and TV while helping tech companies and nonprofits hone public speeches.

Favreau was pitching a political TV show when his fellow Holy Cross alum Bill Simmons suggested a podcast on Simmons' The Ringer. Now it's generating at least 300,000 listens an episode, appears in the iTunes top 50 podcast list and lures top guests in political media like NBC's Savannah Guthrie and Katy Tur and GOP strategist Mike Murphy (Favreau hasn't asked Obama to appear — yet).

Of course, interest in politics is about to wane: "That's the big question: figuring out what's next. But I'd like to keep doing it for as long as people want to listen." A TV version is possible.