December 20, 2015

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Business December 20, 2015

Oops: Wrong Name Announced As Winner Of Miss Universe Pageant

Former Miss Universe Paulina Vega removes the crown from Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo before giving it to Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday night in Las Vegas. Arevalo was incorrectly named the winner before Wurtzbach was given the crown.

Former Miss Universe Paulina Vega removes the crown from Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo before giving it to Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach at the Miss Universe pageant Sunday night in Las Vegas. Arevalo was incorrectly named the winner before Wurtzbach was given the crown. John Locher/AP hide caption

toggle caption John Locher/AP

For a brief moment in Las Vegas Sunday night, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo was crowned Miss Universe.

Then host Steve Harvey apologized, saying he had read the card wrong.

The real winner was Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach.

Miss Colombia it turns out was the first runner-up.

The crown was taken off Arevalo’s head and place on Wurtzbach.

The Assoicated Press reports that after the live broadcast on Fox, Harvey and an executive for pageant owner WME-IMG, an entertaiment company, called it human error.

Harvey is quoted as saying, “Nobody feels worse about this than me.”

“I’d like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines for my huge mistake,” Harvey said on Twitter. “I feel terrible.”

Had Arevalo been the winner, Colombia would have won the contest two years in a row.

The pageant got attention in June when co-owner Donald Trump made anti-immigrant remarks while announcing his bid to run for the Republican presidential nomination.

The other owner was Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal.

Spanish-language network Univision pulled out of a deal to televise the pageant, and NBC cut ties with Trump.

Trump sued and eventually settled with NBC and bought the network’s stake in Miss Universe.

Trump later sold Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants to WME-IMG.

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Entertainment December 20, 2015

Box Office Report: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Breaks Nearly Every Opening Weekend Record

Here’s your estimated 3-day box office returns (new releases bolded):

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – $238.0 million ($238.0 million total)

2. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip – $14.4 million ($14.4 million total)

3. Sisters – $13.4 million ($13.4 million total)

4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – $5.6 million ($254.4 million total)

5. Creed – $5.0 million ($87.9 million total)

6. The Good Dinosaur – $4.3 million ($96.6 million total)

7. Krampus – $3.7 million ($34.8 million total)

8. In the Heart of the Sea – $3.4 million ($18.6 million total)

9. Dilwale – $1.8 million ($1.8 million total)

10. Bajirao Mastani – $1.6 million ($1.6 million total)

The Big Stories

For weeks, even months, industry analysts have been flummoxed with just how much money Star Wars: The Force Awakens was going to make. Would it be the biggest opening, let alone film of all time? Would it succumb to overinflated expectations and be considered some kind of a disappointment? As early as this week, the best, the brightest and the tracking put the range somewhere between $180-220 million, hedging their bets on whether the film would surpass Jurassic World’s record-breaking start of $208 million just six months ago. Well, it would seem that all bets are off as J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, in three days only, is already laying the groundwork that no record is safe as long as it remains in theaters.

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A Galaxy Not So Far Away

If we adjust for inflation, the loose estimates place the original Star Wars at approximately $1.485 billion. That’s in the U.S. alone, good enough for second all-time behind 1939’s Gone with the Wind. The Empire Strikes Back ranks 12th on that list with $818.8 million and Return of the Jedi comes in 15th at $784.4 million. It is only fair to give the original trilogy its due in terms of its lower ticket costs and it gives an even greater perspective to just how high The Force Awakens could actually climb. Bringing us back to 2015 though, The Force Awakens is already making other blockbusters this year look paltry by comparison especially after grabbing the highest per-screen-average in history for a wide release – approximately $57,571 on 4,134 screens.

The two biggest moneymakers of the holiday season, Sony’s SPECTRE ($193.9 million) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 ($254.2 million) have been out for seven and five weeks, respectively. The Force Awakens has already surpassed the former in three days and will pass the latter in no more than five days. Those Thursday night previews racked up an estimated $57 million alone. That was higher than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($43.5), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($27.6), The Avengers ($18.7) and Jurassic World ($18.5). Harry Potter‘s $91 million was the previous champion for a Thursday/Friday combined release. Now it belongs to The Force Awakens with $120.5 million. The Saturday & Sunday records belonged to Jurassic World with $69.6 & $57.2 million. And, well, at least Saturday still belongs to it as estimates put The Force between $65.5-68.7 million on Saturday and $48-52 million on Sunday bringing its weekend total to $238 million, over $30 million more than Jurassic World whose director, Colin Trevorrow, will get his shot to reclaim the throne when he helms Episode IX.

What Prequels?

When The Phantom Menace opened back in 1999 it posted the second-highest three-day total in history. That’s right – second! With $59.3 million. The top three-day opener at the time remained Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park at $72.1 million. Those numbers are a little skewed each way as Episode I opened on a Wednesday and The Lost World opened over the Memorial Day holiday. Over their first five days, the much-maligned Phantom Menace bested Jurassic 2 $105.6 million to $95.8 million. Jurassic World‘s five-day total this year was over $258 million. The Force Awakens nearly has that in three.

In 2002, Attack of the Clones opened 13 days after the kickoff of the Spider-Man franchise. Once again, its five-day total was only the second all-time, trailing Sam Raimi’s film’s $135.8 million to $120.8 million. The Force Awakens made more than Episode II on Thursday/Friday alone. When it came to actual record-breaking though, 2005’s Revenge of the Sith finally laid the competition to waste. Its first three-days (once again opening on Thursday) tallied $124.2 million which bested Spider-Man’s $114.8 million. It ultimately came up short on its final gross, losing $403.7 million to $380.2 million, but it is still the 24th highest-grossing film in history though only 89th after inflation. Before inflation, though, you have the series ranked as follows: The Phantom Menace (6th), Star Wars (7th), Attack of the Clones (47th), Return of the Jedi (49th) and The Empire Strikes Back (65th). After one weekend, The Force Awakens is 107th all-time and will be reaching the Top 100 on the inflation list shortly.

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But Seriously, How Much?

The Force Awakens marks the 34th film in history to post over $100 million over its first weekend. When Revenge of the Sith debuted in May 2005 there were only two – Spider-Man and Shrek 2. Since then we have had four Hunger Games, three Harry Potters and two each of The Dark Knight, Avengers, Iron Man, Transformers, Twilight and Pirates of the Caribbean to cross those marks. Not to mention another Spider-Man, another Shrek, an Indiana Jones, a Man of Steel, a Minions, a Fast & Furious, a Toy Story, an X-Men, and an Alice in Wonderland. It is the 6th film just this year to reach that milestone. 2010 & 2012 each had four reach. So the only question now is just how high it can climb.

Though we are dealing in unchartered waters with The Force Awakens being on top of just about every opening weekend record imaginable, we can still look at the previous Top 5 record holders to get the first clue to its ceiling. Over the course of the next seven days after its first weekend, Harry Potter 8.2 grossed 61.6% of its opening weekend. Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Age of Ultron each made 63.6% & 63.8%, respectively. The Avengers did 79.8% and Jurassic World did 92.9%. If we took that just as a rough average that would give The Force Awakens approximately $410 million by the end of next weekend, making it the 11th highest-grossing film of all-time (and 90th after inflation) in just 10 days. However, if we consider that the five films underneath them each did an increasing percentage from the bottom on up and we give The Force Awakens just a fraction above Jurassic World‘s next seven days that would give the film over $459 million. Roughly $57 million better than Jurassic World, 8th best all-time (73rd after inflation) and setting its sights on both Titanic and, ultimately, Avatar.

Can The Force Awakens Beat Avatar?

If we apply the same formula to each of the top five’s third weeks at the box office you will find a remarkable consistency. Harry Potter 8.2 did 43% of its second weekend in that time. Iron Man 3 did 47.5%. Avengers: Age of Ultron did 48% and The Avengers‘ 51% just bested Jurassic World‘s 50.2%. Again, just taking an average there, The Force Awakens could conceivably be somewhere between $492-$564 million. By then the kids will be going back to school. A lot of their parents will be going to see The Hateful Eight and The Revenant. But it is not out of the realm of possibility. Not by a longshot. Word-of-mouth is strong. It received an “A” Cinemascore (better than any of the prequels) and a 95% at Rotten Tomatoes (the 6th best wide-release of 2015). Repeat viewing will be the key. That and a pretty week winter schedule. Avatar spent 14 straight weeks in the top ten. (Frozen spent 16.) Those are the only films to do 12 or more straight weeks since 2002. The Force Awakens has a shot at least at that.

Will it best Avatar‘s $760.5 million in the states or the $2.7 billion it did worldwide? It sits at $517 million as of now. While we wait its next record, you can always go out and see it again to give it a push.

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So Which Records?

· Biggest Thursday preview gross with $57M.

· Biggest Friday and biggest single-day gross with $120.5M.

· First film ever to post a single day over $100M.

· Fastest film to $100M and $200M.

· Biggest December debut (nearly 3 times previous record of $84.6M).

· Biggest IMAX Thursday night preview ($5.7M), single-day ($14M, Friday), and weekend ($30.1M).

· Highest theater average for a wide release ($57,568).

· Biggest opening weekend of all time in UK (4-day), Australia, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Poland (3-day), Denmark (5-day), Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia, New Zealand. Second biggest opening weekend in France, Belgium, Israel, Chile.

· Biggest IMAX global debut of $48M.

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Erik Childress can be heard each week on the WGN Radio Podcast evaluating box office with Nick Digilio as well as on Business First AM with Angela Miles.

[box office figures via Box Office Mojo]

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Sports December 20, 2015

This Week In Sports: Team Leaders

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Mike Pesca, host of Slate’s The Gist podcast, has some opinions about how Adam Silver of the NBA and Roger Goodell of the NFL run thir respective sports leagues.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Time now for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: And today we’re going to talk about leadership because our friend Mike Pesca has some opinions about how the men at the top of their respective sports leagues use their positions to greater and lesser effect. We are talking about the head of the NBA, Adam Silver, and the commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell. Mike is, of course, the host of The Gist on Slate. He joins me now. Hey, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Yes, I lead The Gist.

MARTIN: You do. You’re the leader. OK, Adam Silver was in the news this past week because he gave this interview with Yahoo Sports that you found particularly illuminating. How come?

PESCA: That’s right. That’s right. So the incident we’re talking about is on December 3, Rajon Rando was suspended for going nuts on the basketball court, staring down an official. And for a little while, no one knows what was behind it. But it turns out he directed an anti-gay slur at the official. And he wasn’t suspended. It took eight days for that suspension to come down. Three days after the suspension came down, the official came out as gay. And so Adam Silver was a bit criticized. On the one hand, no one has ever been suspended for an anti-gay slur. They have been fined. Joakim Noah and Kobe Bryant have been fined. So it was unprecedented. So you could say, wow, this was the stiffest penalty. On the other hand, a lot of people were saying there was a huge delay and he should’ve been suspended more to send a message. So this interview with Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo, he laid out his thinking. And it was really illuminating. It was illuminating on a couple – for a – on a couple levels but because I think implicitly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if explicitly, he was contrasting his thought process with how Roger Goodell suspends people in the NFL.

MARTIN: OK, explain because he – Silver has been given a lot of props and treated very kindly by the media – Roger Goodell, not so much.

PESCA: Yeah, overall. Although this Rando thing, I’ve seen headlines – is this is first misstep? And one of the reasons Silver was given props is he handled the Donald Sterling incident, the owner of the Clippers, very well. So in this, Silver said a few things. One, if he came out with a harder suspension before Bill Kennedy, the referee, had come out, it would sort of be putting the onus on Kennedy to come out. He thought – he’d worried that he’d out Kennedy. But he also talked about how much he values due process. There are a couple unions involved, not just Rando’s but Bill Kennedy, the referee, is in a union. And that is in contrast with how Roger Goodell does his job. He doesn’t say I don’t value due process, but if you look at the facts, he suspends harshly. And then in really prominent cases, like the New Orleans Saints, like Ray Rice, like Adrian Peterson, they all get overturned either on appeal or by an independent arbitrator. So it doesn’t hold up. And the other thing – and I think this was really illuminating – specifically Silver said, quote, “I don’t think we should be making examples of anyone. I think that’s why the Players Association exists through check authority.” Whereas if you look at what Goodell says, he believes in making examples. And after the Saints case, he says, it calls for a very significant and clear message. It’s a different management style and it seems that Silver is more of a 21st century or second eighth of the 21st century type of manager, also a better communicator. Maybe, I better…

MARTIN: But these are really different leagues, Mike.

PESCA: That’s right.

MARTIN: I mean, they’re different animals.

PESCA: Yes, and, you know, I would say what it really comes down to is you have to serve your constituency. Adam Silver’s owners, a lot of them are tech billionaires, a little younger, a little more progressive. And the NFL owners, old-school owners. And of course, they love Roger Goodell. That’s why he gets paid, you know, 30, $40 million. So people are acting as if they are – as they are incentivized to act. But I see a real difference and I think it’s really interesting.

MARTIN: Mike Pesca, he’s the host of The Gist on Slate. Thanks, Mike.

PESCA: You’re welcome.

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