RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Hell’s Kitchen’, ‘America’s Got Talent’ Down, CBS Takes Night With Repeats

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 17:09 UKTags: America's Got Talent, Hell's Kitchen, Love in the Wild, TV Ratings

On Fox there were some contestant tears last night on Hell’s Kitchen (1.9/7) but Gordon Ramsey held it together even though the show was down 17% from last week. On MasterChef  (2.0/7), eyes stayed dry but the show was also down, 13% from last week.

Fox took the night among adults 18-49 but CBS’ repeats won in total viewers with an audience of 6.6 million.  CBS went with NCIS (1.0/4), NCIS: Los Angeles (0.8/3) and 48 Hours Mystery (1.1/3) ABC also ran repeats with Wipeout (0.9/3) and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition (0.7/2)

Leading into the 4th of July holiday, Tuesday evening started off on NBC with an America’s Got Talent (1.0/4) repeat. Then it was a new America’s Got Talent (2.3/8) live from New York for the second night. The competition show was down 28% from last week as it held its first results night of the season. The reality show Love In The Wild (1.3/4) was down 19% from last week

Happy 4th of July!

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R.I.P. Eric Sykes

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 17:00 UKTags: BBC, Eric Sykes, The Others

Eric Sykes, a well-loved British comedian, actor and writer whose career spanned more than 50 years, has died. His manager Norma Farnes tells Reuters Sykes passed away peacefully this morning after a short illness. He was 89. Sykes began his career as a comedy writer in the 1940s in London on the radio show Variety Bandbox and went on to co-write 24 episodes of the classic radio comedy The Goon Show on BBC. His breakthrough in television came in 1960 in Sykes and a…. in which he co-starred with Hatti Jacques in a brother-sister act. He had several supporting roles in feature films including Heavens Above (1963), Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (1965) and The Spy With A Cold Nose (1966). He is possibly best remembered for the virtually dialogue-free film called The Plank  in which he and Tommy Cooper appeared as two workmen delivering planks to a building site. Most recently Sykes appeared in The Others (2001) starring Nicole Kidman, and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005).

 

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Europe Rejects ACTA: “Disappointment” For The Studios, But No “Substantive” Difference

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 14:02 UKTags: MPAA

As expected, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), was rejected by the European Parliament today. An overwhelming majority voted against the treaty designed to establish international rules for cracking down on piracy and copyright infringement. Concerns raised over the agreement included a perceived lack of clarity and a window for misinterpretation that could jeopardize citizens’ rights. The Motion Picture Association was active in developing the treaty, but MPA Europe president, Chris Marcich, tells me that while the outcome is a disappointment for the studios, the result does not “substantively” change anything. “Certainly we’re disappointed with the vote, but I don’t think it was based on the treaty itself, it was based on politics and institutional issues. For Europe, ACTA didn’t mean any change at all in the current legal framework.” ACTA was negotiated by the EU and its member states along with the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland. Thousands of EU citizens have protested the agreement fearing it would place limits on freedom of speech. The European Parliament also received a petition signed by 2.9M people worldwide calling for it to reject the agreement.

Related:
Will Hollywood Acknowledge That Anti-Piracy Legislation Is Dead In 2012?

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BBC Names George Entwistle Director General With £450K Annual Salary

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 11:26 UKTags: BBC, BBC Trust, George Entwistle

BBC Vision director George Entwistle has been appointed by the BBC Trust to take over from outgoing director general Mark Thompson. The public broadcaster, which is in the midst of a belt-tightening phase, will pay Entwistle a £450,000 annual salary. Thompson, who has held the post since 2004, is currently earning £671,000 per year. Thompson announced his departure earlier this year with the search for his replacement heating up recently. Candidates who are understood to have made a shortlist included BBC COO Caroline Thomson and Ed Richards, chief exec of UK regulator Ofcom. Entwistle joined the BBC in 1989 as a broadcast journalist trainee. He has since held various posts including head of current affairs, and been responsible for such programs as Newsnight and investigative magazine Panorama. He has run BBC Vision, the in-house commissioning department, since 2011. In the role of director general, he will be the editorial, operational and creative leader of the BBC. The handover from Thompson to Entwistle will take place in the fall.

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FX Lands Off-Net Rights To ‘Mike & Molly’ For Bargain Basement Price Of $750,000

By NIKKI FINKE AND NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 08:35 UKTags: cable syndication, FX, Mike & Molly, Warner Bros. TV

WEDNESDAY 12:30 AM UPDATE: Insiders tell Deadline that FX as recently as last week wasn’t even going after the off-network cable syndication rights to the CBS comedy Mike & Molly from Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution. “We were not in the bidding and had  no intention to be, based on how crazy-high pricing on sitcoms has been lately,” an executive explains. Conventional wisdom in the syndication community had the sitcom going to TBS in yet another Time Warner synergistic deal. But now the sitcom will debut on FX in September 2014, and the network has cable syndication exclusivity and the ability to air the series in all dayparts. Mike & Molly now joins fellow comedies Two And A Half Men and How I Met Your Mother on the FX roster. So what happened? The bargain basement price.

According to sources, the license fee is under $1 million an episode, with insiders detailing that it sold for as low as $750,000 an episode. ”We came into the bidding at the very end of last week when we got a sense of where the marketplace was,” one executive explains to Deadline. “We felt that this was a very good show that was going to go for a reasonable price and could not resist the value proposition.” Indeed, the price for Mike & Molly looked like pennies compared to the record-setting … Read More »

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‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Shatters Tuesday Opening Box Office Record With $35M

By NIKKI FINKE | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 06:17 UKTags: Hollywood box office, Sony Pictures, The Amazing Spider-Man

TUESDAY 11 PM, 3RD UPDATE: More fireworks at the North American box office on the eve of U.S. Independence Day. My sources say Sony Pictures’ superhero reboot  The Amazing Spider-Man opened with $35M (though some rival studios put the number in the neighborhood of $32M tonight). It easily sets a new domestic record for a Tuesday opening – helped by its 3D premium pricing – and is ahead of the original 2D Transformers ($27.8M) that debuted on Tuesday July 3rd, 2007. ”That is one huge number,” a Sony exec gushed to me tonight. “Unbelievable start to what should be a very exciting 6 days.”

TUESDAY 10 PM, 2ND UPDATE: No grosses yet. But I’m told Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man received an ‘A-’ Cinemascore from audiences (an ‘A’ from under age 18 moviegoers) which should spur good word of mouth.

TUESDAY 6 PM UPDATE: Usually if a movie is opening well in 4,318 North American theaters, the Hollywood studio wants to shout the results. For some reason Sony Pictures today is “trying to keep a lid” on the North American grosses for its 3D The Amazing Spider-Man, in the words of one exec to me. “At the end of the matinees we still have an incredible story to tell, especially knowing its a Tuesday night and not a Friday night. But the numbers don’t lie.” Frankly, I don’t get all … Read More »

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MGM Files ‘Raging Bull 2′ Lawsuit Against Jake LaMotta & Sequel Producers

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 03:57 UKTags: Hollywood lawsuit, Jake LaMotta, Martin Scorsese, MGM, Raging Bull, Raging Bull II

Claiming breach of contract and four other counts, MGM put the legal gloves on today with Jake LaMotta and the producers of Raging Bull 2. In a 7-page complaint filed today (read it here) against the 91-year old former boxer and RB II Productions, MGM wants the courts to order production on Raging Bull 2, which is currently filming in LA, stopped. Additionally, the studio wants to make sure the indie movie never sees the light of day. MGM also wants compensatory damages and punitive and exemplary damages and more “awarded in an amount sufficient to punish the RB II defendants and to deter those who would commit or knowingly seek to profit from similar actions, now or in the future.”

MGM alleges LaMotta had no right to allow RB II Productions the rights to his 1986 sequel book without first offering it to them. That comes from a 1976 agreement the boxer and co-author Peter Savage entered into with Chartoff-Winkler Productions. That agreement, which MGM is the successor-in-interest to, not only included his 1970 memoir but extended to any “owner-written sequel,” says the studio. MGM says that RB II has ignored the studio’s attempts to get them and LaMotta to comply with the 1976 agreement.

Read More »

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TV Teaser: Lifetime’s ‘Steel Magnolias’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 03:02 UKTags: Lifetime, Steel Magnolias

The 1989 film has gotten a contemporary remake with an all-black cast. Queen Latifah stars and exec produces the movie, which chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. She is joined by Alfre Woodard, Phylicia Rashad, Jill Scott, Adepero Oduye and Rashad’s daughter, Condola Rashad. Here’s the clip.

Related:
Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard & Phylicia Rashad Lead The Cast Of Lifetime’s ‘Steel Magnolias’ Remake
Lifetime To Remake ‘Steel Magnolias’ With All-Black Cast

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Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy Set For Cameo In ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 02:00 UKTags: Patrick Leahy, The Dark Knight Rises

It looks like the senator will be adding another Batman film to his resume. Leahy says he was invited to make a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight Rises in a scene with Christian Bale (Batman) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox). The movie will be screened in the senator’s home state of Vermont on July 15 ahead of its July 20 U.S. premiere. Leahy says Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer will join him at the Vermont screening. This isn’t Leahy’s first big screen appearance. Leahy, a lifelong Batman fan, also appeared in The Dark Knight in 2008.

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TV Production Takes Another Big Hit Says FilmL.A.

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday, 4 July 2012 00:26 UKTags: California Production Tax Incentives, Film Production, FilmL.A.

California’s lack of strong tax incentives is killing TV production in Los Angeles said FilmL.A. today. “For many years, we’ve relied on Television to backfill the hole left by the flight of feature film production from the L.A. region. Television has been our bread and butter, but with Sacramento’s inaction to stem our losses, other states and countries are eating off our plate,” claims the non-profit permitting group’s president Paul Audley. The statement came as the organization released a mixed second quarter report Tuesday. It also comes less than a week after the $100 million annual state incentive inched its way towards a two year extension in the Legislature. Off lot television production days in Los Angeles were down 15.4% this quarter, FilmL.A found. Last quarter the drop was 9%. The biggest drop was among Drama, which was down 39.2% from last year to 581 days, and Reality, which fell 16.8% from the same quarter last year to 1,461 days. At the same time the organization also says that production for Sitcoms was up 35.6% and TV pilots were up 36.8% to 253 days. The latter in no small part thanks to a late start to pilot season this year. Features were also actually up 9.1% for the quarter and commercials were up an impressive 28.1%. Of course, as indicative as those numbers appear, they have to be put into context. FilmL.A. does not … Read More »

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RealNetworks CEO Resigns After 8 Months, Not A “Right Fit” Founder Says

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 23:31 UKTags: RealNetworks, Rob Glaser

The soap opera continues at the streaming media company. Thomas Nielsen, a former exec at Adobe Systems, took the top job in November — about eight months after the previous CEO, Robert Kimball, abruptly left in the middle of a restructuring. He lasted about a year. Nielsen and the board “mutually agreed that the CEO position wasn’t the right fit,” company founder Rob Glaser says today. He stepped in as Interim CEO but the company says he “is not a candidate for the permanent CEO position.” According to an SEC filing, Nielsen can collect severance of $37,500 a month for 18 months and $168,299 in a lump sum. He’s also subject to a one-year non-solicit, non-disparagement, no-hire and non-competition agreement. RealNetworks shares are up 17% in 2012, but are down 36% for the last 12 months. Here’s the company’s announcement. Read More »

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Australian Media Companies Warn Media Reforms Would Curb Free Speech

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 23:28 UKTags: Australian media, Fairfax Media, Gina Rinehart, News Ltd

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney

The heads of most major Australian media companies have written an open letter to the government warning that its proposed media reforms will lead to a massive increase in regulation, stymie free speech and jeopardize billions of dollars’ worth of media assets. They say a  mooted public interest test could be misused by politicians to block the acquisition of media companies by people they don’t like or agree with. This is widely seen as a reference to mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, the largest shareholder in Fairfax Media, who is demanding three seats on the board. The board has refused, citing Mrs Rinehart’s unwillingness to sign the company’s charter of editorial independence. Many Fairfax journos fear Rinehart, who owns nearly 19% of Fairfax, would use her influence to pursue her agenda against the government’s carbon tax and the tax on mining profits. The Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, said last week he will soon present to the cabinet plans to regulate the media and impose on owners a public interest test. That could allow a new independent regulator to veto media deals if they curbed editorial independence, free expression of opinion or fair and accurate presentation of news. The letter was signed by the heads of News Ltd,  Foxtel, AAP, APN, Seven West Media, Nine Network and the Australian News Channel. Fairfax was not a signatory … Read More »

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TV Stations’ Political Ad Data Gets Due Date

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 23:26 UKTags: FCC, Political Advertising

The top four TV stations in the top 50 markets will have to send their political ad data to the Federal Communications Commission for online posting beginning the first week of August, according to Multichannel News. The approval of the paperwork collection requirements of the rules were published today in the Federal Register. The rules take effect in 30 days. In June, the House Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to allow the FCC’s rule on putting political ad data online to stand.

Related:
House Panel Now OKs FCC TV Political Data Rule
TV Station Political Ad Data Will Be Available Online, One Way Or Another

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IATSE Ratifies Hollywood Basic Agreement

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 23:05 UKTags: AMPTP, IATSE

Related: TOLDJA! Official IATSE-AMPTP Tentative Deal Announced After Deadline Broke News

UPDATED: The AMPTP has released its own statement:

“Ratification of the IATSE Hollywood Basic Agreement will put the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan on track to overcome its funding crisis as well as provide those working under that Agreement the same two percent (2%) annual wage increases as negotiated in all recent industry deals. The new contract is a critical step in keeping feature film and television production in Southern California as a vital part of the regional economy.”

Los Angeles, July 3 – The 14 Hollywood-based locals representing over 38,000 members of the IATSE working in motion picture and television production have ratified the new Hollywood Basic Agreement with the AMPTP. The three-year contract, which will go into effect August 1, 2012, is the result of negotiations that began March 7 and concluded April 12.

IA President Matthew D. Loeb stated, “The AMPTP knew we were going to stand fast on several important points in the negotiations and this agreement represents a fair and equitable contract for our members.”

Loeb added, “This is a strong contract at a time when unions in both the public and private sectors are under fire nationwide. We have protected our members in all the areas we cover and look forward to keeping our members working.

“We exceeded standards significantly, especially in health contributions.”

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Netflix CEO Says Monthly Viewing Exceeded 1B Hours In June

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 22:59 UKTags: Netflix, Reed Hastings

It was the first time the streaming service has pumped out so much content in a month according to a post that CEO Reed Hastings made on his Facebook page. “Congrats to [Chief Content Officer] Ted Sarandos, and his amazing content licensing team,” Hastings wrote. He added: “When House of Cards and Arrested Development debut, we’ll blow these records away. Keep going, Ted, we need even more!” BTIG’s Richard Greenfield made some back-of-the-envelope calculations and figures that Hastings’ data means the average Netflix subscriber watched it 80 minutes a day — up from 64 minutes a day in the last three months of 2011. If true, he says, then ”Netflix would have been the 7th most watched network inclusive of broadcast and cable networks (up from#15 in Q4 2011).  It also would have been #2 among cable networks, slightly larger than ESPN and just below Disney Channel.” Hastings’ news, along with an upbeat report today from Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney, contributed to a 6.2% jump in Netflix shares to $72.04. That’s not bad. But here’s something worth remembering as we approach the anniversary of Netflix’s July 12 announcement of its plan to split the streaming and DVD rentals into separate businesses, with a 60% price hike for people who wanted to keep both services. A year ago the company shares traded for close to $300.

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Hammond On Andy Griffith: Not Just Another ‘Face In The Crowd’

By PETE HAMMOND | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 22:50 UKTags: A Face In The Crowd, Andy Griffith, Elia Kazan, The Andy Griffith Show
Pete Hammond

UPDATED: Andy Griffith gave the greatest performance of his career the first time he ever stepped in front of a film camera. In fact his portrayal of country bumpkin-turned rabidly ambitious and menacing media force in Elia Kazan’s 1957 masterpiece A Face In The Crowd is not only one of the great screen performances of that decade, but just about any other decade too. It’s almost criminal more people have not seen this film, a flop in its time but a hugely influential movie in the intervening years. Paddy Chayefsky’s brilliant Oscar-winning satire Network is often cited as being way ahead of its time in predicting the future power of the media. If that’s the case then A Face In The Crowd, which represented the re-teaming of Kazan and his On The Waterfront screenwriter Budd Schulberg, was about 20 years ahead of Network.

Related: R.I.P. Andy Griffith

Griffith, who died today at the age of 86, was simply brilliant playing this country nobody who in his ability to relate to the regular folks turns into a huge media star, but a fake one with an ice-cold inner being who uses his newfound celebrity status as an unbridled grab for power behind the mike. “The whole country’s just like my flock of sheep….I’m not just an entertainer. I’m an influence, a wielder of opinion, a force…a force!,”  said Lonsome Rhoades. “Rednecks, crackers, hillbillies, … Read More »

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Marco Müller Brings New Spin To Rome Film Festival In His First Year As Artistic Director

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 22:21 UKTags: International Rome Film Festival, Marco Müller, Venice Film Festival

This year will mark the 7th edition of the Rome Film Festival, but will be Marco Müller’s first running the show. Announcing a new look event today, the former Venice Film Fest chief will oversee a selection to include roughly 60 world premieres, various sidebars, a focus on emerging trends in contemporary film and an emphasis on Italian cinema. The Rome fest, a somewhat unwelcome upstart when it began, is now well-liked by the European industry. The arrival of the respected Muller will help grow the appreciation and should also act as a catalyst to bring more US films to the fest as awards season is gathering steam Stateside. All the films in the official selection will be world premieres, but notably there will be special exceptions for films not yet publicly screened outside their country of origin. The festival runs November 9-17. Concurrent film and co-production markets will run from Nov 14-18. Full details of the new regulations follow:
Read More »

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Should Time Warner Follow News Corp And Split Entertainment And Publishing?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 21:47 UKTags: News Corp, Time Warner

Some analysts are beginning to wonder after seeing News Corp’s shares rise 11.6% from its decision last week. Time Warner would seem to be a natural candidate to try the same gambit: Like News Corp, Time Warner has a major publishing unit that many investors would like to ditch — and its stock could use a jolt after rising just 5.2% over the last 12 months. But analysts say that investors would be unimpressed if CEO Jeff Bewkes stole a page from Rupert Murdoch’s playbook. Time Warner’s publishing unit is much smaller than News Corp’s with $3.7B in revenues last year vs $8.5B for the owner of Dow Jones. “The relatively small size of the publishing segment suggests that a spin-off might prove to be too challenging” for Time Warner, says Dave Novosel of the independent corporate bond research service Gimme Credit. What’s more, he adds, Time Warner would feel the loss more acutely since Read More »

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Sharon Stone Joins ‘Mother’s Day’

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday, 3 July 2012 21:00 UKTags: Mother's Day, Movie Casting, Paradigm, Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone Mother's DaySharon Stone is celebrating Mother’s Day. She joins Andie MacDowell and her real-life daughter Rainey Qualley, who were announced yesterday, in the indie drama about the relationship between 12 mothers and their daughters. Previously announced cast members include Susan Sarandon and her real-life daughter Evan Amurri Martino as well as Christina Ricci. Mother’s Day will be directed by Paul Duddridge, who also wrote the screenplay. Danielle James is producing. Stone is repped by Paradigm and Binder & Associates.

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