'Purge' Fireworks; Sacha's Cryptic Trump Video; Netflix's 'Ultra' Test; Endemol Shine Bidding

What's news: A political horror sequel jumps ahead at the holiday box office, at least until Ant Man and The Wasp arrives. Plus: Speculation swirls about who will buy TV producer Endemol Shine, Netflix is reportedly testing an "ultra" subscription option and Sacha Baron Cohen posts a mysterious Trump message. — Erik Hayden [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( July 05, 2018 What's news: A political horror sequel jumps ahead at the holiday box office, at least until Ant Man and The Wasp arrives. Plus: Speculation swirls about who will buy TV producer Endemol Shine, Netflix is reportedly testing an "ultra" subscription option and Sacha Baron Cohen posts a mysterious Trump message. — Erik Hayden Horror's Holiday Reign Marking the fourth installment in Universal and Blumhouse's successful horror franchise, The First Purge is targeting a $25 million-$30 million Wednesday-Sunday launch, Pamela McClintock notes: The launch is in line with July 2016's The Purge: Election Year, which debuted to $31.5 million after earning $3.6 million in Thursday night previews (that film opened on a Friday). [Daily box office.]( + How the Purge franchise began. "Blum had recently signed a three-year deal with Universal Pictures and was tasked with delivering genre movies that cost $4 million or less to make. He gave [James] DeMonaco and [Sébastien] Lemercier $3 million to make their film" for 2013, Sonaiya Kelley writes. [[Los Angeles Times](] Elsewhere in TV... ► Who's buying Endemol Shine? "Several bidders, including Liberty Global, are preparing offers for TV production company Endemol Shine, maker of classic reality show Big Brother and the dystopian Black Mirror dramas, before an initial deadline next week. ITV, RTL Group’s FremantleMedia and Lions Gate Entertainment are also eyeing Netherlands-based Endemol," per a three-byline news wire report. [[Reuters](] ► "Netflix testing new 'Ultra' streaming plan in Europe." The new plan "costs €16.99 per month. The aim appears to be to gauge if customers are willing to pay more for higher quality visuals. Two versions of the new plan are being offered to some users in Germany and Italy," Orlando Parfitt reports. [[Screen Daily](] ► "Sky CEO downplays OTT threat to paid TV." "Viewers aren’t as quick to replace paid TV with streaming services in Europe as they are in the U.S., the media executive told attendees at an annual ISBA gathering July 3. That’s despite Amazon and Netflix in the U.K. pushing their players into a combined 12.7 million households in 2017," Seb Joseph writes. [[Digiday](] ► BBC buys majority stake in producer Lookout Point. BBC Studios, the production and commercial arm of the BBC, has [bought]( the remaining 51 percent stake in U.K. production banner Lookout Point (War & Peace) that it didn't already own. A price tag wasn't disclosed. ► World Cup TV ratings highs for second round. A total of 24.4 million Brits caught the England-Colombia penalty thriller, while 12.5 million in France cheered on Les Bleus to a 4-3 victory over Argentina. [Country-by-country.]( Sacha Baron Cohen's mysterious July Fourth message. The controversial comedian teased a new project involving Trump after posting a video of the president criticizing Cohen for being a "third grade character" who needs to "learn about being funny." [Details.]( Elsewhere in film... ► Disney faces "voter revolt" in Anaheim. "In November, Anaheim voters will decide whether to impose a living-wage ordinance on tourism-district businesses that receive city subsidies. It got on the ballot thanks to a coalition of 11 labor unions active at Disney, whose members easily gathered 22,000 local signatures in just two months," writes columnist Gustavo Arellano. [[Los Angeles Times](] ► New Sony Pictures sale speculation. "If a Hollywood player knocks on [CEO Kenichiro] Yoshida’s door with an offer for Sony Pictures at 3.9 times revenue – the median of comparable deals – the game would change. The unit, with $9.1 billion sales in the latest year, would be worth an eye-popping $35 billion," notes columnist Nisha Gopalan. [[Bloomberg](] ► Lionsgate finds leads for Six Minutes to Midnight. Oscar winner Jim Broadbent has [joined](Judi Dench and Eddie Izzard in the 1930s-set thriller. It will be directed by Andy Goddard and written by Celyn Jones. ► Paramount casts key Top Gun 2 role. Miles Teller [will star]( opposite Tom Cruise in the long-in-the works sequel that sees Cruise reprising his role as the hotshot pilot with the call sign Maverick. *R.I.P., Claude Lanzmann. The French director behind the landmark nine-and-a-half-hours-long Holocaust documentary Shoah has died in Paris at the age of 92. [Full obit.]( Terry Gilliam says legal battle won't stop Don Quixote release. After a quarter century of false starts and many rewrites, ex-Monty Python member finally completed the film only for a legal dispute with a now former Portuguese producer Paolo Branco to threaten to derail it. [Details.]( What else we're reading... — "Lakeith Stanfield is playing us all." Cara Buckley's profile: "The new symbol of Hollywood weird, who is starring in Sorry to Bother You, refuses to be categorized as part of a movement. 'I’m just doing me.'" [[New York Times](] — "Marisa Tomei knows what’s she’s worth." Stella Bugbee's interview: "A frank conversation on money, beauty, and sticking with work you love." [[The Cut](] — "The YouTube star who created a Fyre Festival-style disaster." Will Sommer writes: "Police aren’t buying video personality Tana Mongeau’s explanations for why she oversold the event, leading 15,000 people to rage and call the cops." [[Daily Beast](] — "Etsy shares hit record as it gets tough with artisans." Anna Nicolaou notes: "A year ago, observers had all but written off the eccentric crafts marketplace as another victim of Amazon." [[Financial Times](] — "How the SEC could target Facebook." Renae Merle and Elizabeth Dwoskin report: An investigation "could put every public utterance on the issue by company executives, including chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, under close examination." [[Washington Post](] From the archives... + On July 5, 1989, 20th Century Fox unveiled dark comedy Weekend at Bernie's in theaters: "knock-down slapstick with just the right dose of cruelty thrown in." [Flashback review.]( Today's birthdays: Ryan Hansen, 37, Jenji Kohan, 49, RZA, 49, Michael Stuhlbarg, 50, Edie Falco, 55, Huey Lewis, 68. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( July 5, 2018