‘Wreck-It Ralph’ and ‘Flight’ soar! James Bond tries to stay cool.
After the coffee. Before deciding if I need a new look.
The Skinny: Because I know you are curious, I finished my 10K in 53:17, which is a pace of 8 minutes and 35 seconds per mile. Not bad for an old man. Monday’s headlines include the weekend box-office recap, a look at keeping James Bond relevant and a profile of Showtime Entertainment chief David Nevins.
Daily Dose: With Cox Cable signing on to carry Time Warner Cable’s new Lakers channel, SportsNet, the only holdouts are satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish Network. While talks with DirecTV continue, it is unclear how interested Dish is in carrying SportsNet. Dish has not been shy about reducing programming costs. That said, with DirecTV playing tough, it does seem like an opportunity for Dish to try to grab some subscribers in the area.
Flying high. Hollywood had a stronger-than-expected weekend at the box office. Not only did the animated “Wreck-It Ralph†take in almost $50 million to finish first, the adult drama “Flight†made $25 million. The performance of “Flight†was much better than expected. The fears that the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy would hurt box office in New York, New Jersey and other parts of the East Coast went unfounded. A recap of the weekend box office from the Los Angeles Times and Movie City News.
Shaken and stirred up. Keeping the James Bond movie franchise relevant decades after its debut is no longer as easy as just throwing some fancy gadgets, hot cars and beautiful babes into the script. Spying has changed. War has changed. And now Bond has to change as well. A look at how the latest Bond film “Skyfall†addresses all this from the Los Angeles Times.
It’s starting to not look a lot like Christmas. Normally, media companies are giddy in the fourth quarter. Christmas means lots of ad dollars, and this year’s holiday follows a strong election season. But this year, advertising has been softer than expected, and on top of that, the TV networks are off to a slow start this season. If that isn’t enough, last week’s Hurricane Sandy cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost ad revenue. The Wall Street Journal on the ad market.
Wait until the votes are in. Tomorrow is election day (bet you’ll be glad when it’s Wednesday), and the TV networks are prepping for their big night covering the races. In the age of social media that may be even more of a challenge. Networks like to call races as fast as they can, and sometimes that leads to big mistakes (remember Florida in 2000?). The New York Times with a curtain-raiser on TV’s election coverage plans.
Disney North. Walt Disney Co.’s $4-billion purchase of Lucasfilm gives the media giant an even larger presence in Silicon Valley, which is already home to its Pixar unit. “You have a new generation of up-and-coming Hollywood leaders who were steeped in digital technology as teenagers and don’t view it as alien,†Silicon Valley futurist Paul Saffo told the San Jose Mercury News. Meanwhile Variety columnist and former editor Peter Bart takes a look at what a long, strange trip it’s been for George Lucas.
New rules. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has made lots of changes to the Oscars voting process, including online voting. Deadline Hollywood takes a look at how this year’s Oscar season will be different.
October surprise. Fox Business News’ “Lou Dobbs Tonight†scored its first monthly win over CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report†in both viewers and the adults 25-54 demographic. That’s a big moment for FBN as it tries to take on the much bigger CNBC. Details on the ratings from TV By The Numbers.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: How Showtime Entertainment chief David Nevins went from a glorified gopher to a big-shot programmer. How reality TV has embraced gays.
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