PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Stephen Schiff (The Americans) will serve as exec producer and showrunner for the upcoming prequel to Rogue One, one of streamer Disney+’s two Star Wars-themed series, reports Deadline. The Lucasfilm project, starring Rogue One’s Diego Luna, is slated to start production next year.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: November 30-December 2 2018
Ralph Breaks the Internet (Buena Vista) $25.8 million (week 2), cume revenue $119.3 million
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (Universal) $17.7 million (week 4), cume revenue $203.5 million
Creed II (MGM) $16.8 million (week 2), cume revenue $81.2 million
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Warner Bros.) $11.2 million (week 3), cume revenue $134.3 million
Bohemian Rhapsody (Fox) $8.1 million (week 5), cume revenue $164.4 million
Instant Family (Paramount) $7.2 million (week 3), cume revenue $45.9 million
The Possession of Hannah Grace (SGem) $6.5 million, opening weekend
Robin Hood (Lionsgate) $4.7 million (week 2), cume revenue $21.7 million
Widows (Fox) $4.4 million (week 3), cume revenue $33.1 million
Green Book (Universal) $3.9 million (week 2), cume revenue $14.0 million
Source: comScore
COMING UP
Ion’s A Royal Christmas Fashion, focused on the romance of a fashion assistant and a prince, debuts Sunday, December 16, at 9p.
Season eleven of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles premieres on Thursday, January 3, at 9p. Among the celebs eager to sell this time round: NFLer Antonio Pierce and singer Kelly Rowland.
Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen holiday special O Come OG Faithful airs Thursday, December 20, at 11p. Housewives Vicki Gunvalson, NeNe Leakes, Ramona Singer, Bethenny Frankel, Teresa Giudice, and Kyle Richards gather to “deck the halls and spill some tea.”
HGTV’s David Bromstad is back to help the suddenly wealthy find fantasy homes in a new season of My Lottery Dream Home, returning Friday, January 4, at 9p.
Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina returns for “Part 2” on Friday, April 5. The popular witch saga premiered in late October. A standalone Christmas episode debuts Friday, December 14.
DIGITAL DATA
AT&T is prepping a WarnerMedia SVOD service with three tiers to launch in late 2019. An entry-level service will focus on movies; a premium service will offer original programming and blockbuster movies; and the top tier will include content from the first two, plus family, comedy and the theatrical library from WarnerMedia. “We understand that this product has to be good enough to be part of the essential consumer set that somebody thinks about when they spend their $150 per month,” said WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey at an investor event last week.
Every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly is now available on Facebook Watch. The deal with 20th Century Fox Television brings Facebook buzzworthy thirtysomething cult faves. Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar broke the news to her fans in a video on her Facebook page.
Apple Music will be available on Amazon’s Echo smart speakers starting the week of December 17. “Music is one of the most popular features on Alexa – since we launched Alexa four years ago, customers are listening to more music in their homes than ever before,” said Dave Limp, SVP, Amazon Devices. Spotify’s premium service is also available through Echo.
Digital publisher Mic Network struck a deal to be acquired by Bustle Digital Group. The Wall Street Journal pegs the sale price at $5 million. Most of the staff was laid off, and publisher Cory Haik left the company. Mic, launched in 2011, raised $60 million in funding in 2017.
Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next passed 46 million viewers in the 24 hours after it was released on YouTube Friday, setting a new one-day record for most-watched debut video. Previous record holder was BTS’s Idol.
ADVERTISING & BRANDS
Ninety percent of A25-34 stream video, up 18% from 2016, according to the Video Advertising Bureau report “Linear TV and OTT: Living Together in Harmony.” TV’s the place to be: Viewers spend an average of two times longer engaging with ads on connected TV versus similar ads online, and the video completion rate for CTV is 25% higher than it is for desktop and mobile.
October’s national ad market was up 7% year over year, according to Standard Media Index. Digital media, up 17%, was the biggest driver. Cable networks rose 5%, while broadcast dipped 5% due in large part to fewer NFL games (27, down from 31).
Brands that are perceived as innovative and that also provide a great experience grew the most in value in the second annual “BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable U.S. Brands” ranking, from WPP and Kantar Millward Brown. As Americans engage with brands in more and more places, according to the study, the brands that continually innovate customer experience are growing 200% more than those that don’t. Apple topped the charts, increasing its brand value by 13% in the last year, to $316.1 billion, by continuing its innovation across an ecosystem of services. Netflix grew its brand value the most over the past year, up 93% to $30.2 billion, based on personalizing its service. Uber, #35 on the list, provides the best brand experience, according to U.S. consumers.
“Innovative companies such as Netflix and Uber are disrupting markets and creating new ones, while larger brands like Apple continue to shake things up with data, digital and marketing technology investments to maintain leadership in the new era of consumer experience,” said Tim Wragg, CEO Kantar North America Insights Division. “This year’s ranking shows that while U.S. brands are amongst the most innovative in the world, innovation alone is no longer enough for brands to grow.”
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
NYC’s Carnegie Deli, which closed in 2016 after 79 years, is back in business this week, thanks to Amazon’s The Marveous Mrs. Maisel. A pop-up Jewish-style deli in Nolita is offering 1958-era jukeboxes and blackboard specials, including the Maisel (for “women who eat, not ladies who lunch”) through December 8.
National Geographic and WeWork are teaming to bring experiences and events for the net’s new limited series, Valley of the Boom, into the workplace. Beginning today, select WeWork locations in New York, LA and San Francisco will be transported back in time to the early days of the tech boom, with interactive activities from the era and takeovers that include practical career development opportunities.
KIDS CORNER
Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck debuts on UK’s Tiny Pop next week. In each five-minute episode, Cookie Monster and his pal receive a video call from a child who orders a favorite dish; partway through preparing each recipe they realize that they’re missing a key ingredient.
CASTING
Gerald McRaney (This Is Us) and wife Delta Burke (Designing Women), as well as Ben Lawson (Designated Survivor), Michele Weaver (Love Is _) and Tim Reid (Greenleaf), will star in Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: If I Had Wings, an episode of Netflix’s upcoming anthology series...Nick Nolte (Graves) has joined the cast of The Mandalorian, one of two Star Wars series coming up on the Disney+ streaming service.
GOING GLOBAL
Endemol Shine Group landed the first European deal for culinary competition format Family Food Fight. Metronome, part of Endemol Shine Nordics, has been commissioned to produce a local Danish adaptation for Discovery, making it the fourth territory to launch the show.
UK producer Spun Gold Television is producing a documentary with exclusive access to music and entertainment industry icon Sir Cliff Richard as he reaches 60 years in show business. Sir Cliff Richard: 60 Years In Private And In Public covers a traumatic year in Richard’s life as he fights a high-profile court case against the BBC over the invasion of his privacy.
