July 20th
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The top-ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
Copyright 1999, Studio Briefing. All Rights Reserved.
SCHLOCK MANIA?
UPN chief Dean Valentine butted heads with reporters Monday over his network's decision to carry professional wrestling on its schedule next fall. At a session of the Television Critics Association summer tour in Pasadena, Valentine told writers who criticized UPN's decision that maybe there was a "disconnect between you guys and the people who watch" wrestling. UPN is planning to air matches staged by the WWF, more raucous than Ted Turner's WCW, whose matches air on Time Warner's TNT channel. When reporters noted that the WWF has been criticized for bloody violence, obscene gestures and language, and overall "schlock," Valentine responded, "I don't think it's schlock. If you really look at the statistics, demographically, wrestling has gone much more mainstream and gone much more upscale. I think there's a disconnect between what most people over 20 or 25 think of wrestling and what your children and their children really see in it."
MTV'S RESULTS: MUSIC TO VIACOM'S EARS
Crediting a 25-percent surge in cash flow from its MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon cable channels, Viacom on Monday reported second-quarter income of $59.3 million on revenue of $3 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations. The results also represented a propitious comeback from a year ago, when Viacom reported a second-quarter loss of $9 million on revenue of $2.78 billion. "The [cable] networks continue to be the real growth driver for the company," Schroder & Co. analyst Scott Davis told Bloomberg News. Viacom said that MTV's audience during the quarter was the largest in its history.
MTV DIALING DOWN TO RIO
MTV's online operation is expected to announce today (Tuesday) that it will take a stake in RioPort Inc., the company that makes the portable Rio recorder and player that can download CD-quality music from the Internet. Earlier this year, the music industry unsuccessfully sued Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., the San Jose, CA-based parent of RioPort, in an effort to halt sales of the Rio, saying it would foster music piracy. However, MTV Networks president Fred Seibert told today's (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal that RioPort has adopted antipiracy standards approved by the music industry. "We did business with them because they are the best partner for secure downloading," he said. Meanwhile, today's Los Angeles Times is reporting that Universal Music Group will announce today that it will make some of its artists' musical available on the Internet for downloading on the Rio and similar products from Toshiba and Panasonic.
MTV TO AIR CONTROVERSIAL DOCUMENTARY
MTV said Monday that it plans to air a half-hour documentary, DWB: Driving While Black, that is intended to examine alleged cases of "racial profiling" by police officers. The film, set to air in the fourth quarter of this year, was described as the latest installment in MTV's campaign, "Fight For Your Rights: Take a Stand Against Violence."
FCC MAY LIFT ANOTHER TV REGULATION
In the latest move to deregulate the broadcasting business, the FCC may allow owners of TV stations to acquire more than one outlet in some markets, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday), citing people familiar with the situation. The FCC's Mass Media Bureau submitted a draft of the relaxed regulations to the commission on Monday, the WSJ said.
FRENCH MAGAZINE PUBLISHER SAYS IT WILL STILL BACK GEORGE
Hachette Filipacchi said in a statement Friday that it "continues to be committed" to George magazine, the publication founded and edited by John F. Kennedy Jr. Prior to Kennedy's death it was unclear whether the French publishers would continue to back the political monthly and the latest statement did not specify how long it would do so. Meanwhile, Kennedy's recently announced plans to launch a TV version of George appeared to be in limbo, at least for the time being, published reports indicated. And Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd reported that a Sunday photo shoot for George, featuring the cast of NBC's upcoming West Wing series, was canceled.
BEEB SAYS IT WON'T FLOAT BEEB.COM
The BBC today (Tuesday) denied a report appearing in the London Times that it is planning a public offering of its commercial Internet service, beeb.com. (The BBC also operates a noncommercial Internet service, BBC Online.) The Times had said that the BBC was considering a float next year as part of an effort to increase the corporation's overall funding and help pay for its costly entry into the digital era. It also suggested that the plan could point the way to raising money from other BBC commercial ventures.
GREEN EYES
Final figures confirmed Monday that Eyes Wide Shut did what no other Stanley Kubrick film has ever done before -- enter the box office at No. 1. The film, which stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, earned $21.7 million last weekend, taking over the top spot from American Pie, which slipped to second place with $13.6 million in its second weekend.
1. Eyes Wide Shut, Warner Bros., $21,706,163, (New); 2. American Pie, Universal, $13,559,430, ($45,522,645); 3. Lake Placid, 20th Century Fox, $10,974,145, (New); 4. Big Daddy, Sony, $10,416,407, ($134,480,100); 5. The Wild, Wild West, Warner Bros., $10,063,277, ($94,076,486); 6. The Wood, Paramount, $8,515,223, (New); 7. Tarzan, Buena Vista, $7,535,288, ($142,973,292); 8. Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, 20th Century Fox, $5,647,641, ($395,201,250); 9. The General's Daughter, Paramount, $5,202,549, ($87,907,277); 10. Muppets From Space, Sony, $4,826,049, ($6,686,522).
VIACOM TO OFFER BLOCKBUSTER AT CUT-RATE PRICE
Viacom said Monday that it plans a public offering of 31 million shares of Blockbuster (a 17.7-percent stake), priced at between $16 and $18 a share. The low price stunned analysts since it appeared to put a valuation of $2.8 billion to $3.2 billion on the business that Viacom acquired for $8.4 billion in 1994. The sale is expected to take place during the week of Aug. 9. The sale, which would net about $500 million, would be used to pay down debt, Viacom said. (See related story in TV section.)
TINA CALLS OFF THE LAWYERS
After receiving a complaint from lawyers for the Walt Disney Co., Internet service provider Earthlink shut down a site created by writer Michael Colton parodying Talk magazine, the upcoming publication edited by Tina Brown that is being underwritten by Disney's Miramax unit and Hearst Magazines. Colton is a staff writer for Brill's Content magazine. Today's (Tuesday) New York Times reported that Earthlink had notified Colton by E-mail that the site was "making unauthorized use of copyrighted materials and trademarks owned and controlled by Talk Magazine L.L.C. and/or Miramax Film Corp." However, the Times reported, Earthlink agreed to restore the site after Brown read the parody and told the Disney lawyers to back off.
VALENTI SAYS RATINGS BOARD TOO LENIENT ON SOUTH PARK
MPAA chief Jack Valentine has told USA Today that South Park, Bigger, Longer and Uncut should have been rated NC-17, not R. "We probably made a mistake on South Park," Valenti told the newspaper.
SOUTH PARK KIDS TAME LION IN AUSTRALIA
The Lion King is no longer the king of animated features -- at any rate, not in Australia. South Park, Bigger, Longer and Uncut set a new opening-weekend record for an animated feature over the weekend, Deutsche Presse Agentur, the German news service, reported from Sydney on Monday. It did not provide figures.
STAR WARS DESTROYS U.K. BOX-OFFICE RECORDS
Twentieth Century Fox confirmed on Monday that Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace set a record for an opening weekend in Britain, taking in $15.03 million between July 15-18, an enormous increase over the previous record holder, Independence Day, which earned $10.9 million in its 1996 debut. Shown on 460 screens, the film averaged $32,641 per screen, an astonishing figure, analysts agreed. Reporting on the results, Carlton Communications' Popcorn Web site commented today (Tuesday): "It remains to be seen if the film has any stamina. Lukewarm reviews may hinder its longterm prospects."
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