StudioDailies: Friday, October 21, 2016

Weekend Box Office: Jack Reacher Sequel Faces Tyler Perry Halloween Project

There is no consensus over who will win the weekend at North American movie theaters, with observers trying to figure out whether a relatively new Tom Cruise franchise has what it takes to eke out a victory over the proven box-office appeal of Tyler Perry's Madea series. Both Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Boo! A Madea Halloween are expected to open in the high teens. With surprisingly strong reviews, the 1960s horror throwback Ouija: Origin of Evil is thought to be in a race for third with holdover release The Accountant; both films are expected to land in the mid teens. Zach Galifianakis/Isla Fisher comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses is not expected to place in the top five.

AT&T, Time Warner Consider Mega-Merger

AT&T and Time Warner have had "informal" talks about a possible merger. AT&T is valued at about $238 billion; Time Warner rejected a 2014 bid from 21st Century Fox that would have valued it at more than $75 billion. If it happened, the merger would instantly give the telecommunications giant a huge library of content, including the HBO line-up. [Bloomberg] Update: Per The Wall Street Journal, the deal could happen "as early as this weekend."

Amazon Breaks Out Film Division As Prime Movies

Amazon is breaking out film production, distribution and licensing into a new division called Prime Movies, run by Worldwide Head of Motion Pictures Jason Ropell. The move is a signal that Amazon intends to ramp up its efforts at creating and licensing standalone movies in addition to episodic programming. Series production will continue under the authority of Head of Half-Hour Programming Joe Lewis and Head of International Productions Morgan Wandell, while Roy Price remains the head of Amazon Studios overall. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Is HFR Like New Coke?

Slate columnist Daniel Engber grapples with Ang Lee's high-frame-rate showcase Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, wondering if Douglas Trumbull's longstanding dream of "liquid realism" in cinema is about to come true, despite all of the short-term grumbling. [Slate]

Ang Lee on HFR: "It's Like Football and Baseball — It's Going to Be a Different Sport"

Is it time for vendors to deploy systems with the storage and bandwidth to let directors work on set and in the cutting room at 120fps? Ang Lee says the experience of screening Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk  in New York was "overwhelming," in part because he was working with footage running a mere 60fps during shooting and editing, and hadn't seen the 120fps version of the full film until the day before the premiere — when he was still cutting.  [Collider]