TBS will bring back its Friday Night Vibes movie programming block on January 5 with new hosts Nina Parker and Kevin Fredericks.

Friday Night Vibes, which originally launched in 2021 with hosts Tiffany Haddish and Deon Cole, celebrates popular films with diverse voices in front and behind the camera, said TBS. The monthly Friday Night Vibes episodes will debut with the films Black Panther and King Richard, with Parker and Fredericks hosting segments around the films featuring special guests and discussions about the movies, according to the network. 

Future Friday Night Vibes episodes will feature such films as 21 Bridges, Creed 2, Tenet, White House Down, Angel Has Fallen, Girls Trip and Ride Along 2.

“One of the best parts about the movie-watching experience is to get with your friends to talk about your favorite actors, the best lines, the biggest action scenes and more,” Turner Networks president Jason Sarlanis said in a statement.  “With Friday Night Vibes, we’re creating that experience with the brilliant and hilarious Nina Parker and Kevin Fredericks whose wealth of pop culture and film knowledge, mixed with their amazing charisma and humor, will create a fun and lively watch-along experience for film fans every month.”

Quietly, one of the biggest box-office success stories last weekend was a continuation of an almost 19-year-old, 10-film-long horror franchise.

Saw X, which sees series antagonist Jigsaw (played by Tobin Bell) travel to Mexico for a risky medical procedure, earned $18.3 million in North American ticket sales. That's not terribly impressive on paper, but coupled with its $11.3 million in international receipts, Saw X performed well enough to recoup its widely reported $13 million production budget, along with its prints and advertising cost, in its first weekend, while landing in the second-to-top spot at this weekend's domestic box office.

Revenue from subsequent TVOD, SVOD and FAST windows will further incentivize studio distributor Lionsgate to narratively ensure tormenter Jigsaw’s survival from his cancer scare, and commission Australian filmmakers Australian filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell to shoot Saw XI.

Indeed, as we're shown every October in an era when the domestic box office remains in steep secular decline, the horror genre is as enduring as Jigsaw.  

The annual theatrical “screamfest” will continue this coming weekend with the premiere of Exorcist: Believer, the first Exorcist film made by Universal Pictures and prolific and acclaimed horror producer Jason Blum following a $400 million deal for rights to shoot three new series installments. 

With Blum calling it the riskiest move of his career, the buzz entering Exorcist: Believer's first weekend isn't great, with Rotten Tomatoes aggregating the film at 22%, so who knows if the risky gambit will pay off for Universal and parent company Comcast. 

But even outside the pre-Halloween release window, horror franchises have continue to deliver predictably solid performances at the domestic box office without the need of movie-critic sanctioning. 

Consider that Warner Bros.’s The Nun II just grossed $233.6 million worldwide globally in September, while leading the domestic box office for three consecutive weekends, with an aggregated reviews score of 52%.

In July, the latest installment of yet another Blumhouse horror franchise Insidious — which was also originally created by Saw impressario Whannell — also led the weekend domestic box office. Insidious: The Red Door went on to gross $188.6 million globally with critics aggregation of only 38%. 

And in March, the premiere of Paramount's Scream VI led North American theaters with $113.6 million in receipts on the way to a global haul of nearly $169 million. 

Mathias Clasen, director of the Recreational Fear Lab and associate professor at Aarhus University in Denmark, believes horror's endurance ties directly to the emotional engagement of the audience. 

“Horror appeals to us because it simulates dangers that humans have evolved to attend to,” Clasen wrote her 2017 book Why Horror Seduces. “The idea here is that evolution has wired our reward system to activate in response to experiences that allow us to learn threatening information.” 

In short, scary movies cater to our hardwired, primal fears — sharp teeth, long claws and murderous men.

According to a 2019 study published by Margie Kerr, author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, our bodies release hormones when scared by things like horror films. “When you look at the brain of someone who is screaming, it looks very similar to someone who just watched somebody scream … Horror movies do allow us to connect with these different types of characters, and in doing so, think about who we are.”

And it works in favor of the traditional theatrical release window that people — particularly those age 18-34 — like to experience these films in groups rather than alone on the couch watching Netflix. 

“Where else can you be with hundreds of strangers in a room all having the same exact experience?” Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s worldwide marketing and distribution president, said in an interview with CNN last year. “You’re not distracted, you’re just sitting there and you have no idea what’s going to happen next. You can only experience in a theater.”

Horror is especially popular among young people, with a study by Movio revealing that the genre’s audience skews 11% younger than the film industry average. Considering the Global Cinema Advertising Association’s findings that more than half of movie theater visits come from the 14-to-35-year-old demographic, capturing a young audience is critical to the industry’s success.

Hollywood Friday paid tribute to iconic actor/director and civil rights activist Sidney Poitier, who died Thursday night at the age of 94. 

Poitier’s prolific movie career features such groundbreaking films as In The Heat of the Night, Raisin in the Sun, The Defiant Ones, To Sir, With Love and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner that helped paved the way for Black actors in the 1950s and 1960s. Poitier was the first Black man to win the Academy Award for best actor for his role in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.

Poitier also directed several hit films, including Buck and the Preacher starring Harry Belafonte, Uptown Saturday Night with Bill Cosby and Stir Crazy with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. In 2009, Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

On TV, Poitier was nominated for Emmy Awards for his portrayals of Nelson Mandela in Showtime’s Mandela and De Klerk, and Thurgood Marshall in ABC’s Separate But Equal.

In tribute to Poitier, OWN on January 9 will present a day-long, Poitier programming tribute including re-airings of The Oprah Winfrey Show episodes in 2000 and 2007 and Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way from 2015; and the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, said the network.

Weigel Broadcasting's retro services Movies! network and Decades network will feature Poitier-themed programming blocks over the next two months. Movies! will air Poitier’s first credited screen role in No Way Out on February 7, as well as three of his films -- No Way Out, Edge of the City and Blackboard Jungle on February 28, said network officials. 

Decades Network will air a 1972 episode of The Dick Cavett Show on January 10 featuring Poitier and Belafonte discussing their movie Buck and the Preacher, said the network.

Industry celebrities from Oprah Winfrey and Morgan Freeman as well as cable networks BET and TV One also paid tribute to Poitier on social media.

Disney Plus will add to its lineup of Marvel Studios-produced films when it premieres Eternals on Jan. 12. 

The film, which debuted in movie theaters on Nov. 5 and garnered a reported $157 million at the U.S. box office, follows a group of mystical heroes protecting the Earth since the dawn of man who reunite to defend the planet against a group of monstrous creatures called the Deviants. The movie stars Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harrington and Salma Hayek. 

Eternals joins 13 other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies now streaming in IMAX's expanded aspect ratio for home viewing on Disney Plus, according to the service.  

NBCUniversal, along with sponsor Target, will be spotlighting Black filmmakers during its Summer Movie Nights and showing their work on its other platforms.

The commercial loads during movies on NBCU cable networks Bravo, Syfy and USA are being cut by 25 to 35 minutes, creating a platform for shorts from the Scene in Color Film Series.

NBCU and Target worked with producer Will Packer to identify three artists and films to feature as part of the Scene in Color Film Series.

NBCU will be providing blind script deals for all three emerging filmmakers with the opportunity to work with NBCU executives to develop a TV pilot script. Packer will also serve as a mentor to the filmmakers, supported by a grant from Target.

The program starts Thursday with White House Down on Syfy. 

Featured in the Scene in Color Film Series are Chicago filmmaker Addison Wright, who spotlights Black ballerinas who are blending hip-hop with classical pointe in Hiplet: Because We Can; activist and filmmaker Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah shows Black women there is room for them in the media industry with her visual poem To The Girl That Looks Like Me; and Brooklyn-based Kristian King’s Twice as Good tells the story of an over-achiever readying to chart her own path. 

“We know that in order to change the industry, we must start from within,” said Miguel Rodriguez, senior VP, production operations, creative partnerships, advertising & partnerships, NBCUniversal and Steven Rummer, senior VP, strategy and creative partnerships, advertising & partnerships, NBCUniversal, in a blog post about the program.

“That’s why NBCUniversal has doubled down on its commitment to hire and retain diverse talent, from the decision-makers casting our shows, to the people yelling ‘cut,’ to the costumers and makeup artists and set designers that bring our stories to life. Because when people from all backgrounds, experiences, and cultures bring their own stories to the ones we’re telling onscreen—that’s how we create content that truly resonates,” they said.

Docu-style custom content where the filmmakers discuss their stories will appear across the summer on the three cable networks, while the films are featured on NBCU’s digital properties including Peacock, the NBC One app, Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango Movieclips.

Target will have consistent branding throughout the movie nights via branded elements such as open bumpers and snipes, across all custom content.

“Inclusivity is core to the Target brand, and partnering with NBCU to share the stories of the Scene in Color Film Series broadly and boldly helps create a more equitable and representative creative landscape,” said Maurice Cooper, senior VP of marketing at Target. “We need the voices of these emerging creators now more than ever, and are proud to invest in their continued mentorship, development, and ingenuity.”

Comscore launched Comscore Movies Everywhere, a product that will measure the viewing and box-office performance of films across platforms.

Also Read: Comscore Gets Fresh Start With Charter, Qurate, Cerberus Funds

Comscore Movies Everywhere will combine Comscore’s box-office census with its transactional video measurement capabilities. Those will be connected to over-the-top rentals and streaming views to track movies across all post forms. Comscore’s rival Nielsen recently launched a product tracking views on streaming platforms.

"We've seen incredible changes in audience behavior over the past year in the way that people consume content. As a result, the industry needs to reinvent the way we capture audience engagement," said Erik Lomis, president of distribution at United Artists Releasing. "We are excited to see that Comscore is staying ahead of the curve when it comes to measuring movie performance. Going forward, it will be essential to have a complete picture of how content is performing across platforms."

Also Read: Can Anyone Top Nielsen in the Measurement Business?

Comscore will be able to determine the demographics of moviegoers as well as individuals who viewed advertisements. Studios will be able to use this data to identify behavioral trends and design optimal release windows for their films.

"The undeniable reality is that the pandemic has forced us all to throw out conventional wisdom and take a fresh look at how we operate," said Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at Paramount. "We're confident that people are going to return to theaters in force. But with more consumer choices for content consumption means we need new solutions to truly understand audience behavior as they engage with content on their terms and their screens. One thing that hasn't changed is that the customer is always right. We all have to adapt."

Comscore and other measurement companies have had to scramble as the pandemic has accelerated changes in consumer behavior, especially when it comes to how media is being used.

"We look forward to continue to set new measurement standards that harnesses our decades of unmatched box office and transactional video information," said Comscore CEO Bill Livek. "Just as we delivered the first transparent studio share reports and the first Movies on Demand promo conversion analysis, we are once again innovating to provide studios the consideration needed to reinvent their strategies and thrive in this new era. We are uniquely positioned to deliver smarter audience insights that will ultimately help the entire ecosystem succeed."

Warner Bros. is the latest movie studio to alter movie distribution windows as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, announcing Tuesday that it will move up the digital release of Just Mercy to March 19 from March 24.

The movie, which stars Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, will be available to digital retailers on March 19 and will available via on demand on March 24, according to the studio. Both dates are within the typical 90-day theatrical window for major studio films.

The studio's decision to move up windows for theatrical movies follows the closing of most theater chains around the country due to coronavirus fears. Warner Bros. also moved up VOD windows for its DC Comics-based theatrical film Birds of Prey, which will be available for digital purchase on March 24 -- about 45 days after its Feb. 7 theatrical release.

Earlier this week NBCUniversal announced a reduction of the theatrical window for several of its movies, including The Hunt, The Invisible Man and Emma, which will be available vie on demand for $19.99 starting March 20.

Related: Comcast NBCU Bypassing Shuttered Theaters With Streaming Releases of Movies

Why on earth would television audiences be drawn to a 40-year-old sci-fi Western, a 30-year-old buddy-cop movie or an 11-year-old horror flick?

Hollywood movie titles like Westworld, Lethal Weapon and Wolf Creek have found new life on smaller screens — including the TV — as original scripted series, as TV networks seek out original content that pops in a crowded entertainment marketplace.

While the trend isn’t new — networks have tapped the silver screen over the years to produce such hit series as M*A*S*H, The Odd Couple and In the Heat of the Night — film adaptations have taken on more relevance in a crowded television marketplace that features more than 400 current scripted shows offered by cable, broadcast and digital streaming services.

“There’s an audience for it, and the compelling and complicated characters have already been developed for it, which gives you a much better chance to succeed,” said Ben Mankiewicz, on-air host for Turner Classic Movies. ”If the demographic that you’re seeking is already aware and interested in either the particular franchise or characters, obviously you have an even better chance at success.”

New HBO series Westworld is only one of several debuting shows adapted from theatrical films that have made their way to the “small” screen this year. Others include Fox’s redo of the 1980s movie franchise Lethal Weapon — currently one of the highest-rated freshman series among adults 18-49 on broadcast TV this season — and Pop’s reimagining of the 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek, which debuted last month.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW

“Everyone is looking for any angle that makes their property stand out and that has any familiarity with the audience,” said Mina Lefevre, senior vice president of scripted programming at MTV, which has successfully adapted two horror/ thriller movies into series in Teen Wolf and Scream. “It’s another element that really helps the show.”

The key to adapting a movie franchise for television is to maintain the film’s main themes that appeal to hardcore fans, but to reimagine the story in a way that expands the franchise’s appeal to newer, and hopefully younger, viewers, programming executives said.

“I would be wary of adapting something and then banking on the original [film’s] fans making or breaking the show,” HBO president of programming Casey Bloys said. “I don’t think that’s enough in this competitive world.”

During July’s Television Critics Association press tour, Westworld executive producer Jonathan Nolan told reporters that the original 1973 Michael Crichton film explores an issue that has become even more relevant decades later: the complexities of artificial intelligence.

Westworld executive producers Nolan and Lisa Joy retained the original movie’s Wild West-themed adult amusement park backdrop, where humans interact with lifelike, artificially intelligent beings, but twisted the series’ point of view from human to robot. That allows viewers to explore the series’ moral underpinnings from a different perspective.

“That’s an example of [the producers] taking a movie and embracing its themes, but having their own spin on it,” Bloys said. “They were always very clear that they wanted to switch the protagonists from the humans in the movie to the robots in the TV show.”

So far, that twist has worked. Westworld has averaged 12 million viewers across multiple platforms, according to HBO, while generating positive social media chatter and critical acclaim.

HBO isn’t the only network to create a whole new world based on a successful Hollywood movie while sticking to the source material’s basic premise. A&E successfully reimagined the iconic 1960 Alfred Hitchock film Psycho in Bates Motel, a prequel about the teen years of Norman Bates, Psycho’s likeable-but-sadistic adult villain. It even gave life to Norman’s dead mother, Norma Bates, earning actress Vera Farmiga an Emmy nomination in 2014 for her portrayal of the role.

NEW, FAMILIAR STORIES

“The beauty with doing a show like Bates Motel is that we have adapted the story and made it our own while not alienating the core fans of Psycho,” A&E executive vice president and head of programming Elaine Frontain Bryant said. “It’s a genius idea, because you know how it ends, yet viewers fell in love with Norman. It’s like watching a slow-moving train and you want to say, ‘No, Norman, don’t,’ even though you inevitably know what’s going to happen.”

Bryant said the show’s fifth and final season, premiering next year, will move even closer to the original Psycho film by introducing Marion Crane, the movie’s tragic lead character originally played by Janet Leigh. Pop star Rihanna will take on the role in the series.

On the flip side, Starz’s Ash vs Evil Dead, based on the 1981 horror film The Evil Dead, picks up the story 30 years later, with Bruce Campbell reprising his role as unlikely demon-killing hero Ash Williams. The network was able to capitalize on Evil Dead’s passionate cult following, creating a series that was renewed for its third season just last month, according to Carmi Zlotnik, managing director of Starz.

“There’s a fan base that’s had this pent-up desire to see the continuation of the story and the character that they love,” he said.

FX took the reimagining of a Hollywood film even further in 2014 by turning the Academy Award-winning crime thriller Fargo into an anthology series, with each season set in a different era with a new storyline and cast. The sophomore series, which won an Outstanding Miniseries Emmy Award in 2014, will return for season three in 2017.

“When we developed Fargo, we wanted to make sure it wasn’t an adaptation of the tone of the movie,” Nick Grad, FX’s original programming president, said. “We can do something really different and original with a really strong point of view that happens to have their origins in a movie franchise, but the most important thing for us is quality and originality. We’re pretty reluctant to do an adaptation of something you’ve seen before.”

BUILDING ON BRANDS

For networks looking to break into the scripted series arena, launching with an already branded franchise — as Pop did last month with horror series Wolf Creek — is invaluable in trying to draw and retain viewers.

The series takes the 2005 Wolf Creek movie plot, which follows demented killer Mick Taylor as he murders three backpackers in the Australian outback, and turns it on its head. The series, which premiered last month on the former TV Guide Channel, chronicles the hunting of Taylor by a young American tourist whose family was recently butchered by the Australian killer.

“The content world is more cluttered than ever, so if you can base something on intellectual property that people already are familiar with puts you one step ahead of the competition, especially for a smaller network,” Pop president Brad Schwartz said. “Having some familiarity for a title gives you a bit of a head start, versus all the work you have to do to explain a show that no one has ever heard of before.”

Despite the built-in advantages, some movie adaptations have tanked. CBS in May cancelled its freshman series Rush Hour, based on the Chris Tucker-Jackie Chan film franchise, due to lackluster ratings. In July, ABC pulled the plug on Mike Epps-starrer Uncle Buck, based on the 1989 John Hughes film starring John Candy, after one season.

A&E cancelled its Omen sequel series Damien this past May, after one season. The series followed Damien Thorn, the movie’s devil child, as a 30-year-old photographer unaware of his satanic past.

Despite the marketing and promotional advantage that shows like Damien may have, there’s no guaranteed ticket to success, Bryant said. “It was a franchise that maybe didn’t have the same type of appeal [as Psycho],” she said.

When transitioning a movie franchise to television, TCM’s Mankiewicz said networks must walk a fine line of providing a different take on the familiar plot or characters of that movie without upsetting its core fans.

“You have to make it compelling, but if you do create a compelling story and alter the universe significantly, you’ll get some very angry fan reaction from Twitter,” he said.

Added Starz’s Zlotnik: “As producers and network executives we have to take our Hippocratic oath: ‘Thou shalt do no harm to the property that you’re working with.’ For the fans, you have to meet or exceed their expectations in order to be successful.”

MORE COMING

It’s a risk that more network executives are willing to take. Already on the docket for 2017 are scripted series based on Spike Lee’s 1986 independent film She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix) and the dance-based movie franchise Step Up (YouTube).

“There are a lot of these fantastic tit les that have not been explored on television and now they can be,” MTV’s Lefevre said. “We’re really excited to take these properties that have been more specific to the big screen.”

Added TCM’s Mankiewicz: “I’m sure there a lot of writers mining moderately successful movies from the 1970s and 1980s that are right now trying to turn them into TV shows.”

Coming Attractions

A partial list of movies that have been turned into TV series pilots orwill launch as full-fledged series in 2017:

Show                                     Distributor                                           Status

She’s Gotta Have It . . . . . . . . . . . Netflix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Series

American Gigolo . . . . . . . . . . . Showtime . . . . . . . . . . . . In Development

First Wives Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . TV Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Pilot

Heathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TV Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Pilot

War of the Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . .  MTV . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   In Development

Step Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . YouTube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Series

The Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Syfy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Pilot

Get Shorty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  EPIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Series

SOURCE :Multichannel News research

Netflix continues to make inroads into the film business, signing independent filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass to a multi-film deal.

Netflix will finance four movies produced by the brothers, with each film debuting with a short theatrical run before hitting Netflix’s lineup, according to Deadline. Among the projects the brothers have directed and produce together or individually include film The Puffy Chair and TV shows Togetherness (HBO) and The Mindy Project (Fox).

The deal follows Netlfix’s four-film deal with actor/director Adam Sandler announced last October.

Amazon Studios will produce and stream original and acquired movies that it will stream to Amazon Prime subscribers as early as a month after the film's theatrical release, company officials said Monday.

Amazon, which currently streams original series such as Golden Globe-winning series Transparent, will create original movies under the leadership of Ted Hope, former co-founder of independent movie company Good Machine (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

The company will look to create as many as 12 movies a year, with production starting later this year. The movies will appear on Amazon Prime Instant four to eight weeks after its theatrical debut and will focus on "unique stories, voices and characters from up-and-coming creators," said the company.

The move follows Netflix’s announcement last year to create a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that it will stream to subscribers simultaneously with the movie's release in IMAX theaters.

“We look forward to expanding our production efforts into feature films,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios in a statement. “Not only will we bring Prime Instant Video customers exciting, unique, and exclusive films soon after a movie’s theatrical run, but we hope this program will also benefit filmmakers, who too often struggle to mount fresh and daring stories that deserve an audience.”

Many industry observers are speculating that the holiday-weekend digital distribution of Sony’s controversial movie The Interview will build momentum toward the release of big-ticket movies on digital video-on-demand platforms at the same time as the film’s theatrical release.

Sony on Dec. 28 reported that the movie drew 2 million downloads and $15 million from digital sales on YouTube, Google Play, Xbox Video and Sony’s SeeTheInterview.com standalone site since its Dec. 24 digital release. Sony said The Interview has already generated more revenue than any other studio digital release, but that statement requires an asterisk.

First, the movie was distributed under unprecedented circumstances. The Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy, which portrays the assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un by two TV personalities — and North Korea’s alleged digital hacking of Sony’s servers that superseded the release — created a phenomenon that is unlikely to be replicated again. The news coverage surrounding the film combined with a curiosity factor among consumers afforded The Interview with awareness and publicity that no other film is likely to receive.

Second, the film was only released in 331 independent movie theaters after hackers threatened those exhibitors distributing the film. It’s unclear that the studio’s digital performance would have been as robust had the movie been fully distributed theatrically, as intended.

Still, a $15 million take from digital distributors under any circumstance is nothing to sneeze at, especially since it didn’t include traditional cable video-on-demand revenue. In Demand and other VOD distributors did not strike a deal to pick up the film until Dec. 31.

Many independent film distributors are already offering movie titles on digital VOD at the same time or before a film’s theatrical release. In August, Netflix will stream the much-anticipated sequel to 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, simultaneously with its release in IMAX theaters.

While The Interview may or may not turn out to be the panacea that the digital VOD industry is expecting, it’s clear the movie’s digital performance has opened some eyes in the film industry. Time will tell if The Interview will sure the major film distributors to experiment with day-and-date digital/theatrical releases of big-budget movies in the near future.

Lifetime will air the sequel to its successful original movie Flowers In The Attic on Memorial Day, the network officially said Tuesday.

Petals On The Wind, based on the second novel of the iconic V.C. Andrews series about the beleaguered Dollanganger family, will premiere May 26 at 9 p.m., said network officials. Flowers In The Attic, which stared Heather Graham (Drugstore Cowboy) and Ellen Burstyn (Political Animals), drew 6.1 million viewers in its Jan. 18 premiere, the most watched made for cable movie so far in 2014.

Lifetime is also developing three additional V.C. Andrews’ books, including If There Be Thorns,Seeds of Yesterday, and My Sweet Audrina, said network officials.