PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Disney Channel greenlit 2 original animated series, Amphibia, from director Matty Braly (Gravity Falls), and The Owl House, from Dana Terrace (DuckTales). Both are slated to premiere in 2019
Vida showrunner and exec producer Tanya Saracho (Girls) inked a 3-year deal with Starz. Under the pact, Saracho will develop new projects for the network as well as continue her role on Vida.
Netflix ordered home renovation series Amazing on the Inside (wt) from the UK’s Barcroft Productions, reports Deadline, focused on homes whose unassuming exteriors mask incredible interiors.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: February 23-25, 2018
Black Panther (Buena Vista) $108.0 million (week 2), cume revenue $400.0 million
Game Night (Warner Bros.) $16.6 million, opening weekend
Peter Rabbit (Sony) $12.5 million (week 3), cume revenue $71.3 million
Annihilation (Paramount) $11.0 million, opening weekend
Fifty Shades Freed (Universal) $6.9 million (week 3), cume revenue $89.6 million
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Sony) $5.7 million (week 10), cume revenue $387.3 million
The 15:17 to Paris (Warner Bros.) $3.6 million (week 3), cume revenue $32.3 million
The Greatest Showman (Fox) $3.4 million (week 10), cume revenue $160.8 million
Every Day (Orion) $3.1 million, opening weekend
Early Man (Lionsgate) $1.7 million (week 2), cume revenue $6.8 million
Source: comScore
COMING UP
The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X premieres on Smithsonian Channel tonight at 8p, and John Cavanagh, Executive Producer, Smithsonian Channel calls it “immersive filmmaking at its best.” Director Tom Jennings, who used no recreations, narration or interviews, “lets Malcolm’s voice take center stage, combining his speeches, rare home movies and audio, and media coverage into a sweepingly immersive story of a man determined to fight racial injustice by any means necessary,” Cavanaugh tells Cynopsis. “Above all, it lets you listen to a man who demanded to be heard.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Bob the Drag Queen will co-host the remaining 5 episodes of season 1 of Viceland’s The Trixie & Katya Show, starting Wednesday, February 28 at 10:30p. “I’m neither Trixie or Katya, but it is Black History Month, so….” said Bob.
Gael Garcia Bernal, Mary J. Blige, Andra Day, Natalia Lafourcade, Miguel, Keala Settle, Sufjan Stevens and Common will perform this year’s nominated songs at the 90th Oscars ceremony on ABC Sunday, March 4 at 8p.
HBO’s Paterno, starring Al Pacino as former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, premieres Saturday, April 7. Story is set in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
New ABC drama Deception launches Sunday, March 11 at 10p, centered on a disgraced superstar magician who puts his talents to use for the FBI.
Chrisley Knows Best star Savannah Chrisley is in for a surprise on the season 3 premiere of E!’s Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry, airing Wednesday, February 28 at 9p.
Bar Rescue is back for season 6 – but this time on Paramount Network – on Sunday, March 11 at 10p. Jon Taffer continues his work giving failing businesses one last shot at success.
Conspiracy thriller series Condor isn’t debuting on AT&T Audience until Wednesday, June 6 at 10p, but some SXSW attendees don’t have to wait that long. There will be a screening and panel discussion at the festival on Saturday, March 10, along with an interactive activation where guests take part in CIA-like experiences.
Nashville returns to CMT for the second half of its sixth and final season on June 7, with the series finale slated for July 26. Ronny Cox (True Detective) and Argentine actress Mia Maestro will recur.
Earth, Mars and The Belt are battling when Syfy’s The Expanse returns for season 3 Wednesday, April 11 at 9p.
DIGITAL DATA
Amazon will invest upwards of $5 billion in video content this year, estimates JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth, who said video helps with Prime conversions and retention. Big budget original shows and sports rights are expected to take a major bite out of that total, which beats the $3-4 billion broadcast net spend on content, but falls behind the $8 billion Netflix is expected to lay out.
Facebook reported changes to its ad metrics aimed at giving advertisers greater transparency in measuring campaign performance. In a blog post, Facebook listed about 20 reporting metrics it says will be removed in July that were redundant, rarely used or outdated, including the social reach metric. Rolling out in March is the Measure What Matter program, with tracks for advertisers focused on brand objectives, and advertisers focused on direct response.
Content distributor Cinedigm is using Amagi’s cloud-based channel playout platform, Cloudport, to bring its CONtv channel to social video service Twitch. The linear offering on Twitch features fan-centric content aligned with the streaming service’s audience. “Managing linear channel playout and delivering video content across a multitude of vMVPDs poses significant operational challenges for content providers from both a cost and workflow perspective,” said Erick Opeka, EVP of Cinedigm Networks, who said partnering with Amagi would reduce costs and improve operational efficiencies.
USTelecom and the Information Technology Industry Council have teamed to form the Council to Secure the Digital Economy. “As our hyper-interconnected world becomes increasingly dependent upon the internet and communications infrastructure, threats to the global digital ecosystem have become more frequent, sophisticated and consequential,” said USTelecom president Jonathan Spalter. “The CSDE reflects a shared commitment across the leadership of the global information and communications technology sector to pursue security mitigation as intensely as digital innovation.” Partners in the council include Akamai, AT&T, CenturyLink, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, NTT, Oracle, Samsung, SAP, Telefonica and Verizon.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai was given the NRA “Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award” on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Pai was recognized for enduring heavy criticism, and at least one bomb threat, for repealing the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The award is a handmade Kentucky long gun.
ADVERTISING
The total national TV ad market was up 7.1% in January year to year, reports Standard Media Index. “Scatter volume is up 50% on 2017 as a host of advertisers have stormed back into the market,” said SMI CEO James Fennessy. While some growth was driven by the move of several big college football games and the Grammys into January, “even so underlying growth is still an impressive 5.3%,” he added. Based on those results, SMI predicts National TV to grow 1.6% in Q1, excluding the Winter Games.
The Academy Awards and red carpet coverage generated $128 million for ABC in 2017, according to Kantar Media. While last year a 30-econd spot averaged $1.91 million, this year it’s expected to top $2 million.
GOING GLOBAL
BBC Director General Tony Hall has appointed BBC Scotland head Donalda McKinnon to review working practices, policies, culture and procedures to determine what barriers have held women back at the broadcaster. The initiative follows accusations of discrepancies in gender pay.
But the BBC pay disparity problem isn’t just a matter of gender or ethnicity, said presenter Steph McGovern in an interview with the Sunday Times. “We concentrate too much on ethnic diversity and not enough on class,” McGovern says. “It’s dead important to represent loads of different cultures. But what the BBC doesn’t do enough of is thinking about getting people from more working-class backgrounds. It’s just posh.”
StudioCanal is opening a new TV production company in France, overseen by head of CANAL+Creation Originale Arielle Saracco. StudioCanal already has units in the UK, Germany, Spain and Denmark.
CASTING
John Larroquette (Night Court) will star in ABC comedy pilot Three Rivers, as scoundrel cowboy dad to a character played by Annaleigh Ashford (Masters of Sex).
Alyssa Diaz (Ray Donovan) landed a series regular role in ABC crime drama The Rookie, starring Nathan Fillion (Castle).
Pilot lights: Roselyn Sanchez (Devious Maids) will star in ABC drama pilot Grand Hotel….Natalie Morales (The Grinder) joins NBC comedy pilot Abby’s in a starring role…Harriet Dyer (Love Child) will play the female lead in NBC drama pilot In Between Lives….The CW nabbed Taye Diggs (Rent) to narrate its untitled football drama pilot.
