The 11th Hour Dispatch — Friday, August 3, 2018
BIG BUSINESS
Thanks to Mission: Impossible — Fallout’s absolute domination of the box office, newcomers like Christopher Robin (the trailer of which may or may not have made me cry like a baby in a Williamsburg theater recently) aren’t projected to have the best opening weekends. The Tom Cruise-led film is expected to rake in somewhere in the range of $31 million to $33 million during its second weekend. On the other hand, newly debuted films Christopher Robin, Kate McKinnon/Mila Kunis buddy comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, and YA drama The Darkest Minds are expected to only pull $23-$25 million, $11-$13 million, and $6-$8 million, respectively. Christopher Robin will, however, continue to pull tears from my eyes, and you can catch me watching it alone.
BINGE WATCH
FX has opened its ad-free FX+ hub to all 90 million of its subscribers. The expansion had previously only been available as an add-on option for Comcast and Cox subscribers. Don’t get too excited though, because opting into the service will still cost users $5.99 per month no matter their cable subscription. If you decide to drop that coin, you’ll unlock all new seasons of FX originals and almost the entire library from FX’s vault. This is likely a move on FX’s part to compete with other networks, like AMC Networks and CBS, whose similar services are thriving. For example, CBS’s service, CBS All Access, and its Showtime product expect to boast a collective 16 million subscribers by 2022. Not too shabby, my dude.
YOUNG MONEY
The latest funding round from the “Netflix of fitness,” Peloton, may be its last before it goes public. It recently closed its $550 million Series F funding round, bringing its valuation to $4.15 billion. The company, which sells bikes with attached screens that stream classes 24/7 for $2K a pop, has raised around $1 billion in total equity. The company reports to have over 10,000 classes on demand. The latest round was led by TCV. Existing investors Tiger Global, True Ventures, Wellington Management, Fidelity, NBCUniversal, Kleiner Perkins, and Balyasny also participated.
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
Honestly same.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE 11TH HOUR DISPATCH
The 11th Hour Dispatch is your daily dose of all things media without the boredom but with all the snark. We mash what you need to know with what we truly think into one hot mess of knowledge, just for you. Subscribe to get it live and in color in your inbox every weeknight.
