‘42’ hits it out of the park. Dish makes a run at Sprint.
After the coffee. Before remembering how to drive in the rain.
The Skinny: I guess I’m getting old, as I had no desire to watch the MTV Movie Awards -- and the tweets told me I wasn’t missing too much. Monday’s headlines include the weekend box office recap, Dish Network’s surprise bid for Sprint and concerns about whether the American Humane Assn. is doing a good enough job policing animal safety on movie and TV sets.
Daily Dose: Edward Pound, a former New York Times and Wall Street Journal reporter has been tapped by Al Jazeera America to oversee its investigative reporting unit. Pound most recently was director of communications for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, an independent federal agency that oversees how funds are spent under the economic stimulus program. Al Jazeera America is set to launch later this year.
It’s outta here! The Jackie Robinson biopic “42” hit a home run in its first at-bat. The Warner Bros. flick about the man who broke baseball’s color line took in $27.3 million, which easily beat even the most optimistic of industry projections and appealed to a broad, albeit older, audience. Coming in second was “Scary Movie 5,” which didn’t scare up much business. Featuring Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan, “Scary Movie 5” took in just $15.2 million. Overseas, “Oblivion,” the Tom Cruise sci-fi film, made over $60 million in advance of its opening in the U.S. this weekend. Weekend box-office recaps come from the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter.
PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times
Dish makes run for Sprint. Satellite broadcaster Dish Network made an unsolicited $25.5-billion bid for wireless carrier Sprint Nextel. If Dish is successful, it would combine one of the nation’s biggest pay-TV distributors with the third-largest wireless carrier. Dish’s bid is worth $5.5 billion more than an offer Sprint is weighing from Japan’s SoftBank Corp. More on the latest offer from the Wall Street Journal.
All bark and no bite? The American Humane Assn., the outfit that oversees the treatment of animals on television and movie sets and issues the “No animal was harmed” disclaimer for films and shows, has been catching heat from animal-rights activists. There are worries that the AHA is too close to the industry it is supposed to police. The AHA claims that it needs greater resources. The New York Times looks at the AHA’s push to have more influence and at the concerns some have about the association.
On a roll. ABC’s “Good Morning America,” once a distant second to NBC’s “Today” is now clearly in the driver’s seat. Partially the beneficiary of some goofs at “Today” (Ann Curry) and its own team’s growing chemistry, “Good Morning America” will now look to cash in on its success with advertisers during the upfront season. Broadcasting & Cable goes behind the scenes of “GMA” to see what makes it tick.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Robert Lloyd on Peter Lassally, the real king of late night. Did you skip the MTV Movie Awards? Well, here’s your recap.
Follow me on Twitter. It’s better than a tax refund. @JBFlint.
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