Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #19 of 2014 looks like $127 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 10% from the norm for this weekend (somewhat better than we expected due to the impressive strength of Neighbors).   Opening at 3,279 theaters, Neighbors from Universal grossed $19.6 million Friday, putting the film on track for a $49.7 […]

  It’s not going to be close, and it doesn’t deserve to be.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, the much-better-than-you’d-expect NEIGHBORS (Universal) trounced THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony) on Friday, $18M to $10M, and although Spider-Man will recoup some of that with stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees, Neighbors should hold on with […]

  After a bit of down-to-the-wire negotiating, ABC and Lionsgate have come to an agreement for a Season 3 renewal of NASHVILLE, although details are not yet clear, including just how many episodes have been ordered (ABC had been pushing for 13, while Lionsgate wanted the traditional 22). The last few bubble shows apparently dealing […]

  With the need to replace The Colbert Report now that its host will be leaving for network pastures when his contract expires at the end of 2014, and knowing that since that show is built entirely around Stephen Colbert’s particular character, the new series would necessarily be very different, Comedy Central had a very […]

  NBC has perfected the art of releasing bits of information each day throughout pre-Upfront week, and today’s nuggets introduced a trio of additional new sitcoms.  It appears that at least 2 of these will be given small midseason runs of 6 episodes to see if they catch anyone’s fancy before potentially expanding. MISSION CONTROL:  […]

  CBS was, for the most part, very CBS in its choice of new series for next season, with a pair of spin-offs, some additional procedurals, one retread sitcom and another that fits right into the network’s multi-camera family comedy sweet spot.  The biggest surprise was the omission, at least for now, of How I […]

  One more drama for ABC:  the murder-driven soap SECRETS & LIES, which had a high-profile deal that would have required the network to pay a large penalty if it hadn’t ordered the series (it has a 10-episode order, which may tag it as more likely for midseason than fall).  It’s based on an Australian […]

  If #6seasonsandamovie is going to happen for COMMUNITY, it won’t be at NBC, which finally fired the bullet that’s been aimed at Dan Harmon’s show seemingly every season since it went on the air.  That doesn’t necessarily mean Community is dead, since there have been murmurs of a possible move to cable or a […]