PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Paul Rudd will topline new Netflix comedy Living With Yourself from Timothy Greenberg (The Daily Show with John Stewart), Likely Story and Jax Media. Created and written by Greenberg, the project centers on a man (Rudd) who undergoes a novel treatment to become a better person and ends up replaced by a new, improved version of himself, who’s his own worst enemy.
Glee’s Matthew Morrison is set to star in Simon Cowell’s The Greatest Dancer with Cheryl Tweedy (Girls Aloud) and Oti Mabuse (Strictly Come Dancing). The trio will comprise the Dance Captains in the BBC One show, hosted by Alesha Dixon and Jordan Banjo.
Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas inked a deal to produce McMillions. The true crime original documentary series, which is in development, explores the story of the rigged McDonald’s monopoly game and will be shopped to broadcast and cable networks.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: August 10-12, 2018
The Meg (Warner Bros.) $44.5 million, opening weekend
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) $20.0 million (week 3), cume revenue $162.0 million
Disney’s Christopher Robin (Buena Vista) $12.4 million (week 2), cume revenue $50.0 million
Slender Man (Sony/Screen Gems) $11.3 million, opening weekend
Blackkklansman (Focus Features) $10.8 million, opening weekend
The Spy Who Dumped Me (Lion’s Gate) $6.6 million (week 2), cume revenue $24.6 million
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (Universal) $5.8 million (week 4), cume revenue $103.8 million
The Equalizer 2 (Sony) $5.5 (week 4), cume revenue $89.6 million
Hotel Transylvania (Sony) $5.1 (week 5), cume revenue $146.9 million
Ant-Man and the Wasp (Buena Vista) $4.0 million (week 6), cume revenue $203.5 million
Source: comScore
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Crisis on Wall Street: The Week That Shook the World debuts Wednesday, September 12 at 10p on CNBC. The doc explores the most tumultuous days of the historic financial crisis of 2008.
A&E’s Nighwatch Nation, an expansion of the net’s Nightwatch, premieres Thursday, August 16 at 10p. Rasha Drachkovitch, Co-Founder & CEO of 44 Blue Productions and Executive Producer of Nightwatch Nation, talks about how – and why – this iteration is different, in the new Cynsiders.
COMING UP
CBS News presents Sunday’s Best: Celebrating 40 Years of CBS Sunday Morning on Friday, September 14 at 8p on CBS. The primetime special, anchored by Jane Pauley, spotlights original reporting on the arts, humanities, entertainment, music and more.
Disney will premiere Under the Seas: A Descendants Story, a new live-action short-form special for premiere on Friday, September 28. Project stars Dove Cameron and China Anne McClain, who are reprising their roles as Mal and Uma in the special about arch nemeses facing off in an underwater showdown.
CASTING
On the Netflix front, Max Jenkins (The Mysteries of Laura) and Luke Roessler (Legion) nabbed series regular roles in the streamer’s straight-to-series dark comedy, Dead to Me…. Meanwhile, drama series Central Park Five revealed its leading men: Chris Chalk (Gotham), Ethan Herisse (Miss Virginia), Marquis Rodriguez (Chicago Fire), Caleel Harris (Goosebumps 2) and newcomers Freddie Miyares and Justin Cunningham…. Colleen Ballinger will reprise her Haters Back Off! role, Miranda Sings, in a new comedy special.
Mark Consuelos’ son, Michael Consuelos, will play his Riverdale character Hiram Lodge in a Season 3 flashback episode of The CW series… Chris Vance (Transporter) is set to recur in the fifth season of Amazon drama Bosch… Christy Carlson Romano and Patton Oswalt have joined the cast of Disney Channel original movie Kim Possible.
VIDEOS IN SHORT
Unity and DisneyTelevision Animation announced new series of shorts, Baymax Dreams. Based on Big Hero 6 The Series, the 2 to 3 minute long shorts will debut on DisneyNOW and Disney Channel You Tube on Saturday, September 15.
DIGITAL DATA
FOX is rolling out new mobile video game show FN Genius, a response to the viral success of HQ Trivia, and is already live in app stores and has been pitched in sales meetings dating back to May, according to Deadline. Jordan L. Jones, who stars in the network’s comedy, Rel, is hosting the short-form show, which will award cash prizes to players who download the app and play along.
In an effort to double its monthly video starts to 8 million and grow loyal app users, NBCUniversal is putting video clips front and center on its NBC News mobile app. The new version launches today and replaces a text-heavy newsfeed design with titles of clips. Clips at the top of the app will be previewed automatically without sound, which also increases the chances of being watched.
Roku is expanding its channel and posting stronger overall revenue and advertising TV results. Its second quarter revenues rose 57% to $156.8 million, with net income at break even, $526,000, versus a $15.5 million loss year ago. Meanwhile, the company expects 35% revenue growth in the third quarter. Licensing revenue of the Roku platform to TV manufacturers now accounts for 58% of all revenue, up 84% from a year ago. As for specific hardware sales of it set-top boxes, Roku has 24% higher revenues to $90.3 million, while its active accounts grew 46% to 22 million.
Club Mickey Mouse, which launched on Disney Digital Network last September, is adding former Mouseketeer JC Chasez as a mentor in an upcoming back-to-school special. Ahead of the special, he appeared in a music video that debuted on Friday.
GOING GLOBAL
Bomanbridge Media sold Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s From Above documentaries to public broadcasters in Asia Pacific.
Endemol Shine International secured a deal with Prosieben in Germany for Younger. The agreement includes all five seasons the TV Land series produced to date.
The Bridge producer Lars Blomgren is looking to bring remakes of the hit Scandinavian crime drama in China and India.
British pay-TV operator Virgin Media and UKTV, a joint venture between Discovery and BBC Studios ended the carriage dispute that led to a blackout of all UKTV channels on the Liberty Global-backed service. A new agreement was reached between the two companies restoring channel service.
